Gogmagog

Gogmagog—also spelled Goemagot, Goemagog, Goëmagot, and Gogmagoc—was a legendary giant featured in the Matter of Britain. In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae from the 12th century, he is described as a fearsome giant who lived in Cornwall. According to the tale, Gogmagog was defeated in a wrestling match by Corineus, a companion of Brutus of Troy and the legendary founder of Cornwall, who threw him from a cliff to his death.

In later traditions, Gogmagog was reimagined as a descendant of Albina and portrayed as the chieftain and largest of the giants who lived in Albion when Brutus and his followers arrived. Over time, the story took on a symbolic role in English pageantry. Effigies of Gogmagog and Corineus became fixtures in civic processions and were eventually established as guardian figures at London’s Guildhall. These figures came to be known as Gog and Magog.