Brewer's: Palamedes of Lombardy

joined the squadron of adventurers with his two brothers, Achilles and Sforza, in the allied Christian army. He was shot by Clorinda with an arrow. (Tasso Jerusalem Delivered, book iii. c. ii. 4.)

He is a Palamedes.
A clever, ingenious person. The allusion is to the son of Nauplios, who invented measures, scales, dice, etc. He also detected that the madness of Ulysses was only assumed.

Sir Palamedes.
A Saracen knight overcome in single combat by Sir Tristram. Both loved Isolde, the wife of King Mark; and after the lady was given up by the Saracen, Sir Tristram converted him to the Christian faith, and stood his godfather at the font. (Thomas the Rhymer.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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