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'{{other uses}} {{short description|Arthurian legend character}} {{Use British English|date=April 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}} {{Infobox character | colour = <!-- headers background colour; the foreground colour is automatically computed --> | name = Guinevere | series = [[Matter of Britain]] | image = Queen Guinevere by James Archer.jpg | caption = ''Queen Guinevere'' by [[James Archer (artist)|James Archer]] (c. 1860) | first = ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' by [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] | occupation = Princess, queen | family = Varied, including [[Leodegrance]] (father), [[Gwenhwyfach]] (sister) and [[Guiomar (Arthurian legend)|Guiomar]] (cousin) among others | spouse = [[King Arthur|Arthur]], sometimes [[Mordred]] | significant_other = Either Mordred, [[Edern ap Nudd|Yder]], or [[Lancelot]]; sometimes also others }} '''Guinevere''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|w|ɪ|n|ɪ|v|ɪər|audio=Guenevere.wav}} {{respell|GWIN|iv|eer}}; {{lang-cy|'''Gwenhwyfar'''}} {{audio|Gwenhwyfar.wav|pronunciation}}; {{lang-br|'''Gwenivar'''}}, {{lang-kw|'''Gwynnever'''}}), often written as '''Guenevere''' or '''Guenever''',<ref>[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Guinevere%2CGuenever%2CGuenevere%2CGwenhwyfar&year_start=1850&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CGuinevere%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CGwenevere%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CGuenevere%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CGwenhwyfar%3B%2Cc0 Google Ngram search for common spellings]</ref> is the wife and queen of [[King Arthur]] in the [[Matter of Britain|Arthurian legend]]. Guinevere has been portrayed as everything from a villainous and opportunistic traitor to a fatally flawed but noble and virtuous lady. She has first appeared in [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', a pseudo-historical chronicle of British history written in the early 12th century, and continues to be a popular character in the modern adaptations of the legend. In the later medieval [[Chivalric romance|romances]], one of the most prominent [[story arc]]s is Queen Guinevere's tragic love affair with her husband's chief knight and friend, [[Lancelot]], indirectly causing the death of Arthur and many others and the downfall of the kingdom. This story first appeared in [[Chrétien de Troyes]]'s ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]'' and became a major motif in the [[Lancelot-Grail]] of the 13th century, carrying through the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]] and [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''. ==Name== [[File:Guinevereford.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''Guinevere'' by [[Henry Justice Ford]] (c. 1910)|alt=]] The original [[Welsh language|Welsh]] form of the name {{lang|cy|Gwenhwyfar}} (or ''Gwenhwyvar''), which seems to be cognate with the Irish name {{lang|ga|[[Findabair]]}}, can be translated as "The White Enchantress" or "The White Fay/Ghost", from [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] ''*Windo-'' "white, fair, holy" + ''*sēbarā'' "magical being" (cognate with [[Old Irish]] ''síabair'' "a spectre, phantom, supernatural being [usually in pejorative sense]").<ref>{{cite book | last=Schrijver | first=Peter | title=Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology | year=1995 | publisher=Rodopi | isbn=978-9051838206 | pages=249–250 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_RMQkk3OSIC&lpg=PA255&pg=PA249}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author=Hamp, Eric P. | title=Varia: 1. 1 sál m. '(eau de) mer'; 2. 1 sed 'cerf'; 3. slabar; 4. slice 'coquille'; 5. ta- 'obtenir, trouver, pouvoir (féad-<ét-)'; 6. 1 tadg 'poète', 1 tál 'asciam'; 7. Irish tarr, torrach; 8. tinaid; 9. tindabrad, Findabair; 10. 1 úall, úabar, úais; 11. *uern~? | journal=Études Celtiques | volume=32 | year=1996 | pages=87–90| doi=10.3406/ecelt.1996.2087 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Koch | first=John T. | title=Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia | year=2006 | publisher=Abc-clio | isbn=978-1851094400| page=861}}</ref><ref>''Dictionary of the Irish Language'' (ed. E G Quin et al., Royal Irish Academy, Dublin 1913–76; Letter S, Column 205, electronic version at http://www.DIL.ie).</ref> Some have suggested that the name may derive from ''{{lang|cy|Gwenhwy-fawr}}'', or "Gwenhwy the Great", as a contrast to ''{{lang|cy|Gwenhwy-fach}}'', or "Gwenhwy the less". [[Gwenhwyfach]] (also spelled ''Gwenhwyach'') appears in [[Welsh literature]] as a sister of Gwenhwyfar, but Welsh scholars Melville Richards and [[Rachel Bromwich]] both dismiss this etymology (with Richards suggesting that Gwenhwyfach was a back-formation derived from an incorrect interpretation of ''Gwenwhy-far'' as ''Gwenhwy-fawr'').<ref>Richards, Melville, "Arthurian Onomastics", in: ''Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion'', vol. 2, 1969, p. 257.</ref> [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] rendered her name as '''{{lang|la|Ganhumara}}''' in [[Latin]] (though there are many spelling variations found in the various manuscripts of his ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]''). The name is given as '''''Guennuuar''''' in the ''Vita Gildae'', while [[Gerald of Wales]] refers to her as '''{{lang|cy|Wenneuereia}}'''. In the 15th-century [[Middle Cornish]] play ''[[Bewnans Ke]]'', she was called '''''Gwynnever'''''. The 15th-century English author [[Thomas Malory]] wrote her name as '''''Gwenever''''' or '''''Guenever''''' (both spellings were used). A cognate name in [[Modern English]] is [[Jennifer (given name)|Jennifer]], from [[Cornish language|Cornish]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Cleveland Evans: Jennifer went from 'strange' to popular | work=Omaha | url=http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111101/LIVING/711019971/1020867}}</ref> ==In medieval literature== ===Origins and family=== [[File:Arthur-Pyle The Lady Guinevere.JPG|thumb|upright|''Lady Guinevere'', [[Howard Pyle]]'s illustration for ''[[The Story of King Arthur and His Knights]]'' (1903)|alt=]] In one of the [[Welsh Triads]] (''{{lang|cy|Trioedd Ynys Prydein}}'', no. 56), there are three Gwenhwyfars married to [[King Arthur]]. The first is the daughter of Cywryd of Gwent, the second of [[Gwythyr ap Greidawl]], and the third of (G)ogrfan Gawr ("the Giant").<ref>Bromwich 2006, p. 154.</ref> In a variant of another Welsh Triad (''{{lang|cy|Trioedd Ynys Prydein}}'', no. 54), only the daughter of Gogfran Gawr is mentioned. There was once a popular folk rhyme known in Wales concerning Gwenhwyfar: ''"Gwenhwyfar ferch Ogrfan Gawr / Drwg yn fechan, gwaeth yn fawr'' (Gwenhwyfar, daughter of Ogrfan Gawr / Bad when little, worse when great)."<ref>John Rhys, ''Studies in the Arthurian Legend'', Clarendon Press, 1891, p. 49.</ref> Welsh tradition remembers the queen's sister [[Gwenhwyfach]] and records the enmity between them. Two Triads (''{{lang|cy|Trioedd Ynys Prydein}}'', no. 53, 84) mention Gwenhwyfar's contention with her sister, which was believed to be the cause of the [[Battle of Camlann]]. In the mid-late 12th-century [[Welsh folklore|Welsh folktale]] ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'', she is also mentioned alongside Gwenhwyfach; in some later prose romances, she appears as Guinevere's evil twin. German romance ''[[Diu Crône]]'' gives Guinevere two other sisters: [[Gawain]]'s love interest Flori and Queen Lenomie of [[Alexandria]]. Guinevere is childless in most stories.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QQTVR53IJo0C&pg=PA29 Walters 2001, p. 295.]</ref> The few exceptions of that include Arthur's son named Loholt or Ilinot in ''[[Perlesvaus]]'' and ''[[Parzival]]'' (first mentioned in ''[[Erec and Enide]]'').<ref>[https://archive.org/details/arthurianfiction0000medi/page/37 Mediavilla 1999, p. 37.]</ref> In the [[Alliterative Morte Arthure|Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'']], Guinevere willingly becomes [[Mordred]]'s consort and bears him two sons, although the dying Arthur commands Mordred's children to be killed (but Guinevere to be spared as he forgives her). There are mentions of Arthur's sons in the Welsh Triads, though their exact parentage is not clear. Besides the issue of her biological children, or lack thereof, Guinevere also raises the illegitimate daughter of [[Sagramore]] and Senehaut in the ''[[Lancelot-Grail|Livre d'Artus]]''. Other family relations are equally obscure. A half-sister and a brother named Gotegin play the antagonistic roles in the [[Lancelot–Grail]] (the Vulgate Cycle) and ''Diu Crône'' respectively, but neither character is mentioned elsewhere. While later literature almost always named [[Leodegrance]] as Guinevere's father, her mother was usually unmentioned, although she was sometimes said to be dead; this is the case in the Middle English romance ''[[The Awntyrs off Arthure]]'' (''The Adventures of Arthur''), in which the ghost of Guinevere's mother appears to her and Gawain in [[Inglewood Forest]]. Some works name cousins of note, though these do not usually appear more than once. One of such cousins is [[Guiomar (Arthurian legend)|Guiomar]], an early lover of [[Morgan le Fay]] in several French romances; others include Elyzabel (Elibel) and Garaunt (possibly [[Geraint]]). In ''Perlesvaus'', Guinevere relative Madaglan, the king of Oriande, is major villain who fights Arthur over possession of the Round Table after Guinevere's death, trying to convince Arthur to marry his sister Jundree. ===Portrayals=== [[File:Guinevere Takes Refuge in a Convent.png|thumb|upright|''Guinevere Takes Refuge in a Convent'', [[Edmund H. Garrett]]'s illustration for ''Legends of King Arthur and His Court'' (1911)|alt=|left]] The earliest datable mention of Guinevere (as Guanhumara, with numerous spelling variations in the surviving manuscripts) is in Geoffrey's ''Historia'', written c. 1136. It relates that Guinevere, described as one of the great beauties of Britain, was descended from a [[equites|noble Roman family]] on her mother's side and educated under [[Cador]], [[Duke of Cornwall]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Baron Hallam Tennyson Tennyson|first=Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson|title=Works of Tennyson, Volume 5|year=1908|page=506|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sSZHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA506}}</ref> Arthur leaves her in the care of his nephew Modredus (Mordred) when he crosses over to Europe to go to war with the Roman leader [[Lucius Tiberius]]. While her husband is absent, Guinevere is seduced by Modredus and marries him, and Modredus declares himself king and takes Arthur's throne. Consequently, Arthur returns to Britain and fights Modredus at the fatal Battle of Camlann.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilentz|first=Abigail|title=Relationship Devotional: 365 Lessons to Love & Learn|year=2009|publisher=Sterling|isbn=978-1-4027-5577-4|page=215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qr4IyCUeCiMC&pg=PA215}}</ref> [[File:Guinevere with Enid and Vivien.png|thumb|Guinevere with [[Enide|Enid]] and [[Lady of the Lake|Vivien]] by George and [[Louis Rhead]] (1898)]] Early texts tend to portray her inauspiciously or hardly at all. One of them is ''Culhwch and Olwen'', in which she is mentioned as Arthur's wife Gwenhwyfar, but little more is said about her.<ref>Christopher W. Bruce (2013). ''The Arthurian Name Dictionary''. p. 243. Routledge.</ref> It can not be securely dated; one recent assessment of the language by linguist Simon Rodway places it in the second half of the 12th century.<ref>Rodway, Simon, ''Dating Medieval Welsh Literature: Evidence from the Verbal System''. CMCS Publications, Aberystwyth, 2013, pp. 16, 168–70.</ref> The works of [[Chrétien de Troyes]] were some of the first to elaborate on the character Guinevere beyond simply the wife of Arthur. This was likely due to Chrétien's audience at the time, the court of [[Marie of France, Countess of Champagne|Marie, Countess of Champagne]], which was composed of courtly ladies who played highly social roles.<ref>Noble 1972, pp. 524–35.</ref> [[File:William Morris Guinevere and Iseult - cartoon for stained glass 1862.jpg|thumb|Guinevere and [[Iseult]] by [[William Morris]] (1862)]] Later authors use her good and bad qualities to construct a deeper character who plays a larger role in the stories. In Chrétien's ''[[Yvain, the Knight of the Lion]]'', for instance, she is praised for her intelligence, friendliness, and gentility. On the other hand, in [[Marie de France]]'s probably late-12th-century [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] poem ''[[Lanval]]'' (and [[Thomas Chestre]]'s later [[Middle English]] version, ''[[Sir Launfal]]''), Guinevere is a vindictive [[Adultery|adulteress]] and temptress who plots the titular protagonist's death after failing to seduce him. She ends up punished when she is magically blinded by his secret true love from [[Avalon]], the fairy princess Lady Tryamour (identified by some as the figure of Morgan le Fay<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IY-zIn5VHUC&pg=PT58|title=Morgan le Fay, Shapeshifter|last=Hebert|first=Jill M.|year=2013|publisher=Springer|language=en|isbn=978-1137022653}}</ref>). Appearing as Queen '''Gwendoloena''' ([[Gwendolen]]), Guinevere has prophetic powers in the Latin romance ''[[De Ortu Waluuanii]]''. Such stories can be radically different in their depictions of Guinevere and the manners of her demise. In the Italian 15th-century romance ''[[La Tavola Ritonda]]'', Guinevere drops dead upon learning of her husband's fate when [[Lancelot]] rescues her from the siege by Arthur's slayer Mordred. In ''Perlesvaus'', it is [[Sir Kay|Kay]]'s murder of Loholt that causes Guinevere to die of anguish and she is then buried in Avalon with Loholt's severed head. Alternatively, in what Arthurian scholars [[Geoffrey Ashe]] and [[Norris J. Lacy]] call one of "strange episodes"<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYWrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96|title=The Arthurian Handbook: Second Edition|last1=Lacy|first1=Norris J.|last2=Ashe|first2=Geoffrey|last3=Mancoff|first3=Debra N.|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|language=en|isbn=978-1317777434}}</ref> of ''Ly Myreur des Histors'', a romanticized historical/legendary work by Belgian author [[Jean d'Outremeuse]], Guinevere is a wicked queen who rules with the victorious Mordred until she is killed by Lancelot, here the last of the [[Knights of the Round Table]]; her corpse is then entombed with the captured Mordred who eats it before starving to death. [[Layamon's Brut|Layamon's ''Brut'']] (c. 1200) features a dream sequence in which Arthur himself hacks Guinevere to pieces after beheading Mordred.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7M6vuneJGSEC&pg=PA40|title=The Alliterative Morte Arthure: A Reassessment of the Poem|last=Göller|first=Karl Heinz|date=1981|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=978-0859910750|language=en}}</ref> === Abduction stories === Welsh cleric and author [[Caradoc of Llancarfan]], who wrote his ''[[Gildas|Life of Gildas]]'' sometime between 1130 and 1150,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/1150-Caradoc-LifeofGildas.asp|title= Caradoc of Llangarfan: The Life of Gildas|website= Fordham University Medieval Sourcebook|publisher= Fordham University|access-date= 9 April 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150906061946/https://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/1150-Caradoc-LifeofGildas.asp|archive-date= 6 September 2015|url-status= dead}}</ref> recounts her being kidnapped by [[Maleagant|Melwas]], king of the "Summer Country" (''Aestiva Regio'', perhaps meaning [[Somerset]]), and held prisoner at his stronghold at [[Glastonbury]]. The story states that Arthur spent a year searching for her and assembling an army to storm Melwas' fort when Gildas negotiates a peaceful resolution and reunites husband and wife.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XZFbczeMtYcC&pg=PA355 Bruce 1999, p. 355.]</ref> The episode seems to be related to an [[Old Irish]] abduction motif called the ''aithed'' in which a mysterious stranger kidnaps a married woman and takes her to his home; the husband of the woman then rescues her against insurmountable odds.<ref>Kibler, William W., ''The Romance of Arthur'', New York & London, Garland Publishing, Inc. 1994 p. 121.</ref> A seemingly related account was carved into the [[Modena Cathedral#Archivolt|archivolt of Modena Cathedral]] in Italy, which most likely predates that telling. Here, Artus de Bretania and Isdernus approach a tower in which Mardoc is holding '''Winlogee''', while on the other side Carrado (most likely Caradoc) fights Galvagin (Gawain) as the knights Galvariun and Che (Kay) approach. Isdernus is most certainly an incarnation of Yder ([[Edern ap Nudd]]), a Celtic hero whose name appears in ''Culhwch and Olwen''. Yeder is actually Guinevere's lover in a nearly-forgotten tradition mentioned in [[Béroul]]'s 12th-century ''Tristan''. This is reflected in the later ''[[Romanz du reis Yder]]'', where his lover is Guinevere-like Queen Guenloie of Carvain (possibly [[Caerwent]]). [[File:Tales of the Round table; based on the tales in the Book of romance (1908) (14580312508).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Lancelot]] and Guinevere in [[Henry Justice Ford]]'s illustration for Andrew Lang's ''Tales of the Round Table'' (1908)]] Chrétien de Troyes tells another version of Guinevere's abduction, this time by Meliagant ([[Maleagant]], derived from Melwas) in the 12th-century ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]''. The abduction sequence is largely a reworking of that recorded in Caradoc's work, but here the queen's rescuer is not Arthur (or Yder) but Lancelot, whose adultery with the queen is dealt with for the first time in this poem. In Chrétien's [[love triangle]] of Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot, Guinevere consummated her love affair with Lancelot when Arthur and his knights are trying to rescue Guinevere from the land of Gorre. It has been suggested that Chrétien invented their affair to supply Guinevere with a courtly extramarital lover; Mordred could not be used as his reputation was beyond saving, and Yder had been forgotten entirely.<ref>{{cite book|last=(de Troyes)|first=Chrétien|title=Lancelot, or, The Knight of the Cart|year=1990|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-1213-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_BkOv2P91UMC&pg=PR9}}</ref> This version has become popular and is most familiar today by its inclusion in an expanded form in the prose cycles, where Lancelot comes to her rescue on more than one occasion (see below). There are furthermore several other variants of this motif in medieval literature. In [[Ulrich von Zatzikhoven]]'s ''[[Lanzelet]]'', Valerin, the King of the Tangled Wood, claims the right to marry her and carries her off to his castle in a struggle for power that reminds scholars of her prescient connections to the fertility and sovereignty of Britain. Arthur's company saves her, but Valerin kidnaps her again and places her in a magical sleep inside another castle surrounded by snakes, where only the powerful sorcerer Malduc can rescue her. In ''Diu Crône'', Guinevere's captor is her own brother Gotegrim, intending to kill her for refusing to marry Gasozein who claims to be her rightful husband, and her saviour is Gawain. In ''[[Durmart le Gallois]]'', Guinevere is delivered from her peril by the eponymous hero. In the ''Livre d’Artus'', she is briefly taken prisoner by [[King Urien]] during his rebellion against Arthur. The 14th-century Welsh poet [[Dafydd ap Gwilym]] alludes to Guinevere's abduction in two of his poems. [[File:Meigle 2 Vanora.jpg|thumb|Meigle stone detail]] A version of the narrative of Guinevere is associated in local folklore with [[Meigle]] in Scotland, known for its carved [[Pictish stone]]s. One of the stones, now in the [[Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum]], is said to depict '''Vanora''', the local name for Guinevere.<ref name="HScot"/> She is said to have been abducted by King Modred (Mordred). When she is eventually returned to Arthur, he has her condemned to death for [[infidelity]] and orders that she be torn to pieces by wild beasts, an event said to be shown on Meigle Stone 2 (Queen Venora's Stone).<ref name="HScot"/> This stone was one of two that originally stood near a mound that is identified as Vanora's grave.<ref name="HScot">{{Cite web|url=https://www.historicenvironment.scot/|title=Historic Environment Scotland|website=historicenvironment.scot|access-date=22 December 2018}}</ref> Modern scholars interpret the Meigle Stone 2 as a depiction of the Biblical tale of [[Daniel in the lion's den]]. One Scotland-related story takes place in [[Hector Boece]]'s ''Historia Gentis Scotorum'', where Guinevere is taken by the [[Picts]] following Mordred's and Arthur's deaths at Camlann and spends the rest of her life in their captivity; after her death she is buried besides Arthur. Medievalist [[Roger Sherman Loomis]] suggested that this motif shows that "she had inherited the role of a Celtic [[Persephone]]" (from the [[Greek mythology]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Loomis|first=Roger Sherman|title=The Development of Arthurian Romance|year=2000|publisher=Dover Publications|isbn=978-0-486-40955-9}}</ref> All of these similar tales of abduction by another suitor – and this allegory includes Lancelot, who whisks her away when she is condemned to [[death by burning|burn at the stake]] for their adultery – are demonstrative of a recurring '[[Hades]]-snatches-Persephone' theme, positing that Guinevere is similar to the [[Celtic Otherworld|Otherworld]] bride [[Étaín]], who [[Midir]], king of the [[Underworld]], carries off from her earthly life after she has forgotten her past.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Neil|title=Diu Crône and the medieval Arthurian cycle|year=2002|publisher=D.S. Brewer|isbn=978-0-85991-636-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNjGNu2w7WcC&pg=PA39}}</ref> {{clear left}} ===French-inspired popular tradition=== {{further|Lancelot}} [[File:329 The Romance of King Arthur.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A scene preceding the kidnapping by [[Maleagant]]: "How Queen Guenever rode a maying into the woods and fields beside [[Westminster]]." <br> [[Arthur Rackham]]'s illustration from ''The Romance of King Arthur'' (1917), abridged from [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' by [[Alfred W. Pollard]]]] In French [[chivalric romance]]s and the later works based on them, including the influential ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' by Thomas Malory, Guinevere is the daughter of King Leodegrance, who had served Arthur's father [[Uther Pendragon]] and was entrusted with the [[Round Table]] after Uther's death. In these stories, Leodegrance's kingdom typically lies near the [[Bretons|Breton]] city of Carhaise (the modern [[Carhaix-Plouguer]]). In the fields to the south and east of Carhaise, Arthur defends Leodegrance by defeating King [[Rience]], which leads to his meeting and marriage with Guinevere. This version of the legend has Guinevere betrothed to Arthur early in his career, while he was garnering support. The following narrative is largely based on the Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) prose cycle, telling the story of Lancelot and Guinevere in accordance to the [[courtly love]] conventions still popular in the early 13th-century France (Guinevere's role in this romance is Lancelot's "female lord", just as the [[Lady of the Lake]] is his "female master"<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 27870447|title = Guinevere as Lord|last1 = Longley|first1 = Anne P.|journal = Arthuriana|year = 2002|volume = 12|issue = 3|pages = 49–62|doi = 10.1353/art.2002.0074|s2cid = 161075853}}</ref>), however soon afterwards directly condemned in the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]] retelling that also influenced Malory. {{multiple image | width = 250 | align = | image1 = Lancelot and Guinevere - Herbert James Draper.jpg | image2 = Arthur discovers the frescoes painted by Lancelot in Morgan's castle.png | footer = | direction = vertical | caption1 = ''Lancelot and Guinevere'' by [[Herbert James Draper]] (c. 1890) | caption2 = [[King Arthur]]'s sister [[Morgan le Fay|Morgan]] shows him the room where Lancelot had painted his relationship with Guinevere in [[Évrard d'Espinques]]' illumination for the [[Lancelot-Grail|Vulgate Cycle]]'s ''La Mort du roi Arthur'' (1470) }} When the mysterious White Knight (Lancelot) arrives from the continent, Guinevere is instantly smitten. The young Lancelot first joins the [[Knights of the Round Table|Queen's Knights]] to serve her. Following his early rescue of Guinevere from Maleagant (in ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' this episode only happens much later on) and his admission into the Round Table, and with [[Galehaut]]'s assistance, she and Lancelot begin an escalating romantic affair that in the end will lead to Arthur's fall. In the Vulgate version, the lovers spend their first night together just as Arthur sleeps with the beautiful [[Saxons|Saxon]] princess named Camille or Gamille (an evil enchantress whom he later continues to love even after she betrays and imprisons him, though it was suggested that he was enchanted<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8RKJhpaJ5sC&pg=PA193|title=The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend|last1=Archibald|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Putter|first2=Ad|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|language=en|isbn=978-0521860598}}</ref>). Arthur is also further unfaithful during the episode of the "[[Gwenhwyfach|False Guinevere]]" (who had Arthur drink a love potion to betray Guinevere), her own twin half-sister (born on the same day but from a different mother) whom Arthur takes as his second wife in a very unpopular bigamous move, even refusing to obey the Pope's order for him not to do it, as Guinevere escapes to live with Lancelot in Galehaut's kingdom. The French prose cyclical authors thus intended to justify Guinevere and Lancelot's adultery by blackening Arthur's reputation and thus making it acceptable and sympathetic for their medieval courtly French audience. Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', however, portrays Arthur as absolutely faithful to Guinevere, even successfully resisting the forceful advances of the sorceress [[Annowre]] for her sake, except as a victim of a spell in a variant of the "False Guinevere" case. On her side, Guinevere is often highly jealous regarding Lancelot's love life, especially in the cases of [[Elaine of Corbenic]] and [[Elaine of Ascolat]]. {{multiple image | width = | align = left | image1 = The Rescue of Guinevere.jpg | image2 = Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Arthur's Tomb (1855).jpg | footer = | direction = vertical | caption1 = ''The Rescue of Guinevere'' by William Hatherell (1910) | caption2 = ''Arthur's Tomb'' (''The Last Meeting of Launcelot and Guenevere'') by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] (1855) }} Years later, following the [[Holy Grail|Grail Quest]], Malory tells his readers that the pair started behaving carelessly in public, stating that "Launcelot began to resort unto the Queene Guinevere again and forget the promise and the perfection that he made in the Quest... and so they loved together more hotter than they did beforehand." They indulged in "privy draughts together" and behaved in such a way that "many in the court spoke of it." Guinevere is charged with adultery on three occasions, including once when she is also accused of sorcery.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BkgAQAAIAAJ|title=Studies in Malory|last=Spisak|first=James W.|date=1985|publisher=Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University|isbn=978-0918720542|language=en}}</ref> Their now not-so secret affair is finally exposed by Guinevere's sworn enemy and Arthur's half-sister, the enchantress Morgan le Fay who had schemed against her on various occasions (sometimes being foiled in that by Lancelot, who had also defended Guinevere on many other occasions and performed assorted feats in her honour), and proven by two of [[King Lot]]'s sons, [[Agravain]] and Mordred. Revealed as a betrayer of his king and friend, Lancelot fights and escapes. Incited to defend honour, Arthur reluctantly sentences his wife to be burned at the stake. Knowing Lancelot and his family would try to stop the execution, the king sends many of his knights to defend the pyre, though Gawain refuses to participate. Lancelot arrives with his kinsmen and followers and rescues the queen. Gawain's brothers [[Gaheris]] and [[Gareth]] are killed in the battle (among others, including fellow Knights of the Round [[Aglovale]], [[Segwarides]] and [[Sir Tor|Tor]], and originally also Gawain's third brother Agravain), sending Gawain into a rage so great that he pressures Arthur into a direct confrontation with Lancelot. Guinevere later returns to Arthur from [[Joyous Gard|Lancelot's castle]] and is forgiven (Arthur starts to doubt that Guinevere ever betrayed him). When Arthur goes after Lancelot to France, he leaves her in the care of Mordred, who plans to marry the queen himself and take Arthur's throne. While in some versions of the legend (like the Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'', which removed French romantic additions) Guinevere assents to Mordred's proposal, in the tales of Lancelot she hides in the [[Tower of London]], where she withstands Mordred's siege, and later takes refuge in a nun [[convent]] (at [[Amesbury Priory|Almesbury]] in [[Tennyson]]'s more modern retelling).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://childrenofarthur.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/while-king-arthur-was-away-did-guinevere-with-mordred-play/|title=While King Arthur was Away, Did Guinevere with Mordred Play?|date=19 June 2011|website=Children of Authur|access-date=7 December 2018}}</ref> Hearing of the treachery, Arthur returns to Britain and slays Mordred at Camlann, but his wounds are so severe that he is taken to the isle of Avalon by Morgan. During the civil war, Guinevere is portrayed as a scapegoat for violence without developing her perspective or motivation. However, after Arthur's death, Guinevere retires to a convent in penitence for her infidelity. Her contrition is sincere and permanent; Lancelot is unable to sway her to come away with him.<ref>{{cite book|ref=harv|last1=Roberts|first1=Sandye|last2=Jones|first2=Arthur|title=Divine Intervention II: A Guide to Twin Flames, Soul Mates, and Kindred Spirits|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYKT5aqg65QC&pg=PA52|year=2010|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4567-1255-6}}</ref> Guinevere meets Lancelot one last time, refusing to kiss him, then returns to the convent. She spends the remainder of her life as an abbess in joyless sorrow. {{clear}} ==In modern culture== <!-- there are lots of works, here are a sample handful singled out pretty much at random --> [[File:Ellen Terry as Guinevere costume by Burne-Jones.jpg|thumb|[[Ellen Terry]] as Guinevere in the play ''King Arthur'' by [[J. Comyns Carr]] in the Lyceum Theatre production, designed by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], in an American postcard mailed 12 January 1895]] Modern adaptations of Arthurian legend vary greatly in their depiction of Guinevere, largely because certain aspects of her story must be fleshed out by the modern author. In spite of her iconic doomed romance with Lancelot, a number of modern reinterpretations portray her as being manipulated into her affair with Lancelot, with Arthur being her rightful true love. Others present her love for Lancelot as stemming from a relationship that existed prior to her arranged marriage to Arthur. {{Clear left}} ===Literature=== * In the ''[[Deverry Cycle]]'' book ''[[Darkspell]]'', the character of Gweniver is a warrior priestess sworn to the Goddess of the Moon in Her Darktime, also known as She of The Sword-Struck Heart. An inspirational warleader, Gweniver is a [[berserker]] in combat. * Lavinia Collins's ''Guinevere'' is a historical romance trilogy dealing with Guinevere's marriage to Arthur and the subsequent development of her relationship with Lancelot. Along with typical themes of the romance genre, this adaptation also deals with concepts of magic and religion and builds on Collins's reading of ''Le Morte d'Arthur''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Collins, Lavinia|title=The Warrior Queen (The Guinevere Trilogy)|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/WARRIOR-QUEEN-Guinevere-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00IPRC0TE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393814952&sr=1-1&keywords=lavinia+collins|publisher=The Book Folks Arthurian fantasy romance publisher|date=2014}}</ref> * In [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s ''[[The Mists of Avalon]]'', Gwenhwyfar is brought up by a cold, unloving father, which leaves her with a deep inferiority complex and intense agoraphobia. Failing to produce an heir and unable to be with the love of her life, Lancelot, she falls into a deep depression and – hoping for salvation – becomes an increasingly fanatical Christian. Bradley's version is notable for popularising the Welsh spelling, which many subsequent writers have adopted. * Guinevere is a supporting character in [[Gerald Morris]]' ''The Squire's Tales''. She starts the series as King Arthur's newly-wedded queen and ends it as Sister Arthur, peacefully living in a convent after Arthur's departure. * [[Bernard Cornwell]]'s Arthurian series of novels ''[[The Warlord Chronicles]]'' depicts Guinevere as the princess of Henis Wyren in [[North Wales]]. She is fiercely anti-Christian as a devoted follower of the [[Ancient Egyptian]] goddess [[Isis]] and has ambitions of becoming queen of [[Dumnonia]] through her marriage with Arthur, the illegitimate son of Uther Pendragon in the novels. Guinevere is the cause of a civil war in ''[[The Winter King (novel)|The Winter King]]'' and later conspires with Lancelot against Arthur in ''[[Enemy of God (novel)|Enemy of God]]'', albeit later they reconcile as she plays a vital role in the victory [[Battle of Badon|at Badon]] and eventually she and her son accompany the wounded Arthur to exile in [[Brittany]] after Camlann at the end of ''[[Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur|Excalibur]]''. * In ''Once & Future'' by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy, Gweneviere is reincarnated as the queen of a planet called Lionel, a medieval throwback amusement park. She plays a key role in the plot of both ''Once & Future'' and the sequel, ''Sword in the Stars''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36233085-once-future?from_search=true&qid=6ItL25ViwH&rank=1work/best_book/57874613-once-future-once-future-1|title=Once & Future (Once & Future #1)|website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref> *[[Kiersten White]]'s ''The Guinevere Deception'' depicts Guinevere as an apprentice to Merlin, sent to become Arthur's wife and save him from a devastating fate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43568394work/best_book/67787916-the-guinevere-deception?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=iAgKSMciIo&rank=1|title=The Guinevere Deception (Camelot Rising, #1)|website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref> ===Other media=== [[File:Robert Goulet Julie Andrews Camelot.JPG|thumb|upright|A 1961 photo of [[Robert Goulet]] as Lancelot and [[Julie Andrews]] as Guenevere in the musical ''[[Camelot (musical)|Camelot]]'']] * Guinevere is portrayed by [[Cherie Lunghi]] in the 1981 [[epic film|epic]] [[medieval fantasy]] ''[[Excalibur (film)|Excalibur]]'' * Guinevere is a central character in the Broadway musical [[Camelot (musical)|''Camelot'']], in which she was initially portrayed by [[Julie Andrews]], then [[Sally Ann Howes]]. She was played by [[Vanessa Redgrave]] in the [[Camelot (film)|film version]] of the musical. * Guinevere is portrayed by [[Julia Ormond]] in 1995 film ''[[First Knight]]'', with [[Richard Gere]] as [[Lancelot]] and [[Sean Connery]] as [[King Arthur]]. * In the television series ''[[Guinevere Jones]]'', Guinevere is reincarnated into the main protagonist Gwen Jones portrayed by [[Tamara Hope]]. *Guinevere appears in [[Sabrina the Animated Series]] episode Hexcalibur. * In the film ''[[King Arthur (2004 film)|King Arthur]]'', Guinevere, played by British actress [[Keira Knightley]], is depicted as a [[Picts|Pictish]] princess in captivity of a Roman noble family in the far north of Britain. Arthur, charged by [[Germanus of Auxerre|Bishop Germanus]] with escorting the family to safety in light of an impending Saxon invasion, discovers her captivity and liberates her. While travelling back to Roman territory, she introduces Arthur to Merlin who attempts to persuade Arthur to lead the Picts (called Woads in the film) to battle the Saxon army. Once back in Roman territory, their relationship culminates in a brief romance, after which Arthur decides to remain at the Roman outpost to fight the Saxons at [[Hadrian's Wall]] while his knights return to Rome. In the climactic [[Battle of Badon]] Hill, Guinevere leads a Pictish detachment of archers against the first wave of Saxon invaders and is nearly killed there before being rescued by Lancelot. Following the battle, Arthur and Guinevere are married by Merlin in a ceremony at [[Stonehenge]]. * In the cartoon series ''[[King Arthur and the Knights of Justice]]'', Queen Guinevere is voiced by [[Kathleen Barr]]. She is Camelot's queen and the real King Arthur's wife who often wonders about the change in Arthur's demeanor and manner of acting, unaware of him being the time-stranded Arthur King. * In the 1983 [[DC Comics]] maxi-series ''[[Camelot 3000]]'', Guinevere appears reincarnated in the body of Commander Joan Acton, American-born leader of the United Earth Defense Forces, and is reunited with King Arthur to defend Earth from a race of extraterrestrial invaders. * In the 1989 American-British-Hungarian animated fantasy-comedy-adventure-musical TV movie ''Dragon and Slippers'' she is voiced by [[Bernadette Peters]] in the English version. * In the 1998 [[NBC]] television [[miniseries]] ''[[Merlin (miniseries)|Merlin]]'', Guinevere is played by [[Lena Headey]]. * Guinevere appears in the animated series ''[[King Arthur's Disasters]]'', where she is voiced by [[Morwenna Banks]]. * In the television series [[Merlin (2008 TV series)|''Merlin'']], Guinevere (called "Gwen" by most of the characters) is portrayed by [[Angel Coulby]] and is shown as the daughter of a blacksmith and maid to [[List of Merlin characters#Morgana Pendragon|Morgana]] along with being her best friend. [[Elyan the White]] is portrayed as her brother, and, eventually, one of Arthur's knights. At first, Guinevere is implied as the love interest of [[List of Merlin characters#Merlin|Merlin]] (who is far younger in the series than in usual tales) and is also shown as having an attraction to Lancelot. However, in this version of the story, Guinevere's true love is Arthur. Gwen and Arthur marry, despite [[List of Merlin characters#Uther Pendragon|Uther]]'s and Morgana's attempts to keep them apart. Following Arthur's death, Gwen herself becomes Queen of Camelot.<ref>{{cite web|title=Merlin|url=http://www.merlintvshow.com/|publisher=Merlin TV Series Fansite|accessdate=5 April 2012}}</ref> * In the television series ''[[Camelot (TV series)|Camelot]]'', Guinevere is depicted by [[Tamsin Egerton]]. An ambitious and strong-willed woman, she is a great support to Arthur and they develop a strong undeniable attraction. However, she is married to Leontes, one of Arthur's most loyal knights, which frustrates their relationship. * In the TV show ''[[Legends of Tomorrow]]'' episode "[[Camelot/3000]]", Guinevere is portrayed by [[Elyse Levesque]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2016/12/12/legends-tomorrow-elyse-levesque|title=Legends of Tomorrow books The Originals alum|work=Entertainment Weekly|last=Abrams|first=Natalie|date=12 December 2016}}</ref> In the episode, she is a knight who became queen because of her loyalty to Merlin. In response to Sara letting her know of her affection for Guinevere; [[Sara Lance]] felt attraction to her, and after Merlin, who was actually [[Courtney Whitmore|Stargirl]], confessed her love to King Arthur, she and Sara shared a kiss. * Guinevere appears in television series ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', played by actress Joana Metrass. This version of Guinevere is portrayed with a noticeable [[Spanish language|Castilian]] accent. * In the American original version of the animated series ''[[Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders]]'', Gwenevere (Gwen) is the show's titular main heroine and protagonist, voiced by [[Kerry Butler]] in the first season and [[Jean Louisa Kelly]] in the second season. Gwen is a daughter of Queen Anya and King Jared from the royal family of the magical kingdom of Avalon, who takes up the sacred Sun Stone and bonds with the flying unicorn named Sunstar to lead the all-girl Jewel Riders on their quest to rescue her mentor Merlin and to defeat the witches Lady Kale (Gwen's evil aunt) and Morgana before they can rule Avalon. Gwenevere was renamed Starla for the show's international version, ''Starla and the Jewel Riders''. * In the 2014 album ''High Noon Over Camelot'' written by The Mechanisms Guinevere is portrayed by Jessica Law. In this retelling of the story of King Arthur, set on a desert-like space station called Fort Galfridian, Guinevere is in a [[Polyamory|polyamoric]] relationship with both Arthur and Lancelot, who form the gang called the Pendragons together, where she is designated as the gang's fastest draw. *In the video game ''[[Mobile Legends: Bang Bang]]'', there is a playable character named Guinevere. Unlike in other stories, Guinevere is portrayed as the sister of Lancelot and is instead in a relationship with Gusion Paxley. *In ''[[Cursed (2020 TV series)|Cursed]]'', [[Bella Dayne]] portrays the Viking warrior woman Red Spear also known as Guinevere. ==See also== * [[King Arthur's family]] * [[Tristan and Iseult]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== * {{cite book |title=Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain |last=Bromwich |first=Rachel |date=2006 |edition=3 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=978-0708313862|authorlink=Rachel Bromwich}} * {{cite book|ref=harv|last=Bruce|first=Christopher W.|title=The Arthurian Name Dictionary|year=1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8153-2865-0}} * {{cite book|last= Coghlan|first= Ronan|year= 1991|title= Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends|publisher= Element Books|isbn= 978-1-85230-199-6|url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofa0000cogh}} * {{cite book | last=Hopkins | first=Andrea | title=The Book of Guinevere: Legendary Queen of Camelot | year=2004 | publisher=Saraband | isbn=9781887354042 | url=https://archive.org/details/bookofguineverel0000hopk }} * {{cite book | last=Korrel | first=Peter | title=An Arthurian Triangle: A Study of the Origin, Development, and Characterization of Arthur, Guinevere, and Modred | year=1984 | publisher=Brill Archive | isbn=978-9004072725}} * {{cite book|ref=harv|last=Mediavilla|first=Cindy|title=Arthurian Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography|year=1999|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-3644-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/arthurianfiction0000medi}} * {{cite journal | last=Noble | first=Peter | title=The Character of Guinevere in the Arthurian Romances of Chretien de Troyes | journal=The Modern Language Review | year=1972 | volume=67 | issue=3 | pages=524–35 | doi=10.2307/3726121 | issn=0026-7937| jstor=3726121 }} * {{cite book | last=Walters | first=Lori | title=Lancelot and Guinevere: A Casebook | year=2001 | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0415939119}} * {{cite book|last=Webster| first=Kenneth Grant Tremayne|authorlink=Kenneth Grant Tremayne Webster| year=1951|title= Guinevere: A study of her abductions|publisher= Turtle Press}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Guinevere}} * [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/guinmenu.htm Guinevere] at The Camelot Project {{Arthurian Legend}} {{Geoffrey of Monmouth}} {{Sir Gawain and the Green Knight}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Arthurian characters]] [[Category:British traditional history]] [[Category:Characters in works by Geoffrey of Monmouth]] [[Category:Fictional half-giants]] [[Category:Fictional Christian nuns]] [[Category:Mythological princesses]] [[Category:Mythological queens]] [[Category:King Arthur's family]]'