Picrochole

Picrochole is a fictional character created by François Rabelais, who attacks the Kingdom of Grandgousier in the novel Gargantua and Pantagruel. He gives his name to the war he fights: .

Picrochole is a stereotypical bad king, whom Rabelais seeks to deride by putting him in apposition to the good king, represented by Grandgousier, Gargantua's father.

The expression ''guerre picrocholine'' (''Picrocholine War'') and the adjective ''picrocholin'' have since entered the French language, meaning an absurd conflict with futile motives. Provided by Wikipedia