None of the line items that are included in the following outline are meant to be links.
The outline itself represents the material that is to be covered in the upcoming book known by the above title (available after December 2030).

Foreword by Rachael Bulla

1. Introduction to Guinevere, Lady Queen of Logres
2. Meaning, Origin, Existence, and Comparison: Guinevere’s Name, Multiple Guineveres, and Other Similar Queens/Empresses/Goddesses
1. Introduction to the Meaning, Origin, Existence, and Comparison: Guinevere’s Name, Multiple Guineveres, and Other Similar Queens/Empresses/Goddesses
2. Meaning and Origin of the Name Guinevere
1. Introduction to the Meaning and Origin of the Name Guinevere
2. Gwenhw(y)far/Gwenhwyvar/(white phantom/apparition/ghost/fairy)
1. First appearing in the Welsh Culhwch ac Olwen (Culhwch and Olwen)
2. Name was not in use prior to the establishment of the Arthurian cycle
3. As Chief Queen, she had two servants
1. Yskyrdaw/Ysgardaf
2. Yseudydd/Ysgudydd
3. Who could run as rapidly as their thoughts
4. Both of them joined the expedition
• Mounted by Culhwch
• To locate Olwen
3. Gwenhumare/Guanhumara/Guenhumara/Guenhuiuar/Guennuvar
1. Guanhumara/Guenhumara in Historia Regum Britanniae
1. History of Kings of Britain
2. By Geoffrey of Monmouth
2. The earliest datable mention of “Guinevere”
1. With many spelling variants
2. In this manuscript’s tradition
3. Abducted by Medrawt
4. Guennuvar/Guennuuar
1. Guennuuar in Vita Sancti Gildae (Life of Saint Gildas)
2. By Caradoc of Llancarfan
5. Guinevere/Guinevar/Guenevere/Guenivere/Guenev(er)a/Guenievre/Guinievre/Gwenevere
6. Gyennevre/Gwynnever
1. Gwynnever in Bewnans Ke (The Life/Drama of Saint Ke(a))
2. Second Half of Fifteenth Century AD
3. A cognate name in Modern English is Jennifer (from the Cornish)
7. Jenover/Jennifer
8. Genever/Genievre/Ginevra/Ginovêr/Ginover
1. Ginover in Parzival (Perceval)
2. By Wolfram von Eschenbach
3. Late Twelfth/early Thirteenth Century AD (AD 1200/1210)
9. Guendoloena/Gwendoloena
10. Guittonia
1. In De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (On Fate of Illustrious Men)
2. By Giovanni Boccaccio
3. AD 1355/1362
11. Guenloie
1. In Le Romanz du Reis Yder, or Roman de Yder, or Roman d’Yder (Romance of King Yder)
2. Early to Second Half of the Thirteenth Century AD
12. Gveneoure/Gvenour/Gwennor/Gwenore/Gwinore
13. Gueneour/Gueneuora/Guenore/Guenoivre/Guineure/Gunnore
14. Genoyre/Gainor/Gaynor(e)/Gainovere/Ganora/Gonnore
1. Gaynor
1. In Stanzaic (Le) Morte Arthur ((The) Death of Arthur), Fourteenth Century AD
2. Alliterative Morte Arthure (Death of Arthur), c AD 1400 (Fourteenth/Fifteenth Century AD)
2. Gonnore
1. In Prose Merlin
2. Mid Fifteenth Century AD (AD 1450/1460)
15. Wander/Waynor/Wanor(e)
1. Waynor
1. Alliterative Morte Arthure (Death of Arthur)
2. c AD 1400 (Fourteenth/Fifteenth Century AD)
2. Wanore
1. In Lancelot of the Laik (Lancelot of the Lake)
2. Late Fifteenth Century AD
16. Winlogee
1. In Italian
2. This name (with others) is on the Archivolt/Archivault of the Porta della Pescheria on the Modena Cathedral in Modena, Italy
3. The carving possibly depicts Guinevere being abducted by
1. Carados/Caradoc of the Dolorous Tower
2. or possibly, as shown explicitly on the archivolt, by “Mardoc” — Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce/(Maelwys/Melwas/Melvas)
17. Wenhaver
1. In Brut (Brutus, or The Chronicle of Britain)
2. By Layamon
18. Wenneveria/Wenneuereia
1. Wenneuereia in (Liber) de Principis Instructione
2. (On Instruction of Princes or Book of Early Instruction)
3. By Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales)
19. Umara/Anora
20. Vanora/Vanour/Vanera/Velivera/(the British Helena)
1. The Detail of the biblical story of Daniel in the Lions’ Den
2. On a Pictish stone from Meigle
3. Has prompted local folklore to identify this with Vanora
4. Being fed to wild beasts as punishment for her infidelity
21. Ntzenebra/Zenevra/Zenibra/Zinevra
3. Existence of Multiple Guineveres
1. Introduction to the Existence of Multiple Guineveres
2. Gwenhw(y)far/Gwenhwyvar/(white phantom/ghost/fairy)
1. In the Welsh Triads (Trioedd Ynys Prydein) n56
2. Bride of Arthur
3. Daughter of Cywyrd of Gwent
4. Daughter of Gwythyr ap Greidawl
5. Daughter of (G)ogfran/(G)ogyrf(r)an/Gogrvan/Ocur-vran/Ocvran/(evil crow?) Gawr/(giant)
6. Some scholars (Rachel Bromwich and Melville Richards) suggest
1. That Gwenhwyfar/Gwenhwyvar should be spelled Gwenhwy-Fawr or Gwenh(w)y-Mawr
2. Thus translated to ‘Gwen(hwy) the Great’ (white the great)
3. Gwenhumare/Guanhumara/Guenhumara/Guenhuiuar/Guennuvar
1. Guanhumara/Guenhumara in Historia Regum Britanniae
1. History of Kings of Britain
2. By Geoffrey of Monmouth
2. The earliest datable mention of “Guinevere”
1. With many spelling variants
2. In this manuscript’s tradition
3. Abducted by Medrawt
4. Guinevere/Guenevere/Guenivere/Guenevera/Guenievre/Guinievre/Gyennevre
1. Lady of Lyonesse
2. Bride of Arthur
5. Gwenhwy(f)a(r)ch/Gwenhwy(v)ach/Gwenhwywach/Guinevak/Gwenhwy-Fach/(Gwen(hwy) the Small/Less(er))/(white the small/less(er))
1. Sister of Gwenhwyfar in Welsh tradition
2. She lived at Arthur’s court
3. In Culhwch ac Olwen (Culhwch and Olwen)
1. She is called
2. One of the “gold-torqued women of Britain”
6. Genievre/(Guinevere/Guenevere the False)
1. An identical half-sister
2. Daughter of Leo(n)deg(r)a(u)n(ce)/Leodogranz/Leodegranz/Laudegraunce/Lodegreon/Leodegarius and his seneschal Cleodalis’ wife
3. The two Guineveres are distinguished
1. By a crown-shaped birthmark
2. On the legitimate Guinevere’s back
7. Guinevere
1. “Lady of the Chapel”
2. An Ancestor of Perceval
3. Her daughter’s lover murdered Guinevere’s husband
4. Framed Guinevere for the murder
5. Her four sons walled her up in a chapel
6. God made the tomb holy
1. All who visited it were healed of wounds or disease
2. Galahad, Perceval, and Bors
• Visited the chapel
• At the conclusion of the Grail Quest
4. Comparison of Other Similar Queens/Empresses/Goddesses to Guinevere
1. Introduction of Comparison of Other Similar Queens/Empresses/Goddesses to Guinevere
2. Morgaine/(Morgan le Fay)/(Fata Morgana)
3. Igraine/Ygraine/Igerne/Igerna/Ygerna/Eig(y)r
4. Fand/(tear)/(teardrop of beauty)/Fann/(weak, helpless person)
1. Daughter of Áed Abrat and Flidais
2. Sister of Lí Ban and Angus
3. Wife of Manannán mac Lir
4. Wife of Eochaid Iúil
5. Findab(h)air/Fi(o)nnab(h)air/Findubur/(white/fair phantom/enchantress/fay/ghost)
1. Name is supposedly from the “Proto-Celtic”
1. Windo “white, fair, holy” + Sēbarā “magical being”
2. Sēbarā is cognate with the Old Irish síabair
3. Síabair as “a spectre, phantom, supernatural being” is used pejoratively
2. Daughter of Ailill and Queen Medb/Maeve/Mab(b) of Connacht
3. Daughter of Lugaid Laigde
4. Wife of Fráech
6. Étaín/Édaín/Edain/Éadaoin/Eadon/Etaoin/Aideen/Aedín/Adaon
1. Daughter of King Ailill of the Ulaid
2. Wife of High King, Eochaid Airem
3. Midir, her lover, names her Bé Find (Fair Woman)
4. Daughter of Étar (King of the Cavalcade of the Elfmounds)
5. Wife of High King Eochaid Feidlech
6. Wife of Prince Cormac Cond Longas of Ulster
7. As Eadon the poetess, she is a daughter of Dian Cécht
7. Niam(h) of the Golden Hair
1. Daughter of Manannán and Fand/Fann
2. Daughter of King Aengus Tírech of Munster
3. Lover/Spouse of Oisín
8. Gráinne/Grannia
1. Daughter of King Cormac mac Airt
2. Eloped with Diarmuid/(Diarmaid Ua Duibhne)/(Diarmid O’Dyna)/(Diarmuid of the Love Spot)
9. Crei(r)ddylad/Creurdilad/Creudylad/Kreiddylat, daughter of Lludd/Nudd Llaw Eraint/Ereint (Lludd of the Silver Hand)
10. Elaine/Helen/Amite/Helizabel/(Gwallwen) of Carbonek/Corben(ic)/Corbin
11. Floret(t)e
12. Blodeuwedd (Flower-Faced)
    1. Made from the Flowers of Broom, Meadowsweet, and Oak by Math and Gwydion
    2. Wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes
    3. Lover of Lord Gronw of Penllyn
13. Rhiannon
1. Rīgantonā/(Rīgantona/Riga(n)tona)/(rīgan(i) + (t)on = queen + divine/augmented = ‘great queen’)
2. Daughter of Heuedd/Hefeydd Hen/(the Old)
14. Queen Cordelia/Cordeilla(/Creiddylad)
1. Daughter of King Leir/Llyr II
2. Married King Aganippus of Gaul
3. Queen of the Britons
4. British Goddess
5. Reigned 801/798 BC to 796/793 BC
6. Died from suicide 796/793 BC
15. Eve/Hawah/Avâ/Khawa/Khâwâ/Chav(v)ah of Elda
16. The Great Mother as both Virgin and Calat
17. The Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven
18. Mary (the) Magdalen(e), bride of Jesus
19. Sarah, daughter of Mary (the )Magdalen(e)
20. Sekhmet, bride of Ptah
21. Hes-Taurt/Ta-Rert/Ta-Ur(t)/Trrt/(Khebt)/(Bosh-Kauf)/(Great Bear)/(Great Mother)/(spark-holder)/(mother of fire and time)/(corn-bearer)/Thauris
1. Mother of Sut/Sothis/(Dog-Star)/(seed/corn)
2. Bride of Sut/Sothis/(Dog-Star)/(seed/corn)
22. Bastet
23. Hathor
24. Queen Mab(b)/Maeve/Medb of Connacht
25. Deirdre
26. Satanaya/(Lady Satana)
27. Lara the nymph
28. Persephone
29. Anatu
30. Antiope
31. Marisha-Ten
32. Miranda, daughter of Prospero
33. Queen Urraca of León, Castile, and Galicia
1. Called the Reckless (la Temeraria)
2. Born April AD 1079
3. Reigned AD 1109 to AD 1126
4. Died 8 March AD 1126
34. ‘Goddess of Fertility’
35. ‘May Queen’
3. Beginnings
   1. Introduction to Beginnings
   2. Family
   1. Introduction to Family
   2. Father
   1. King Leo(n)deg(r)a(u)n(ce)/Leodegranz/Leodogranz/Laudegraunce/Lodegreon/Leodegarius of Camel(i)ard/Ca(r)melide
   1. ‘Leode’ — a Kentish term for a King’s man
   2. Or ‘Leod’ — meaning a man’s worth
   3. Or ‘Leo de Gan’ — Lion of Gan
   • Gan as a trap or snare for game
   • Or, in a Northeast England dialect, ‘to go’
   4. Leodegrance compared with
   • Lludd/Nudd Llaw Eraint/Ereint (Lludd of the Silver Hand), son of Beli Mawr
   • King Leir/Llyr II
   • Son of King Bladud
   • King of the Britons
   • British God
   • Reigned 861/858 BC to 801/798 BC
   2. King Garlin of Galore (in Diu Crône)
   3. Cywyrd of Gwent
   4. Gwythyr ap Greidawl
   5. (G)ogfran/Gogyrfan/Gogrvan/Ogrfan/Ocvran Gawr/(giant)
   1. Of (Caer Ogyrfan)/(City of Gogyrfan)/(Old Oswestry Hillfort)
   2. In Trioedd Ynys Prydein n54
   3. Only the daughter of Gogfran Gawr is mentioned
   4. There was 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.”
   6. Cador of Cornwall
   7. King Rions
   8. Merlin/Myrddin
   3. Mother
   1. nameless
   1. In The Awntyrs off Arthur(e) at the Terne/Turne Wathelan/Wathelyn(e)
   2. (The Adventures of Arthur at the Lake/Tarn Wadling)
   3. Also known as Sir Gawain and Sir Galeron of Galloway
   4. Occuring in Inglewood Forest
   5. An interesting meeting of Guinevere with her mother’s ghost
   6. The ghost describes her penitential suffering
   7. This lady appeared to Guinevere and Gawain (some report Arthur was present)
   8. She warns against Arthur’s greed (pride) as the cause of his future downfall
   2. Duchess of Logres
   3. Gwendolena
   4. Husbands
   1. King Arthur
   2. Mordred/Medrawt
   5. Sons
   1. Loüt/Lohut/(Lo)hoot/Lohoth/Loho(l)t/Loho(l)z/Loez
   1. As son of Guinevere and Arthur
   • Whose murder in Perlesvaus
   • Leads to Guinevere’s own death
   2. As son of Lionors/Lyzianor and Arthur
   2. Ilinot
   1. In Wolfram’s Parzival
   2. He dies a premature death
   3. Mordred’s/Medrawt’s two sons (in the Alliterative Morte Arthure)
   6. Daughters
   1. King (of) Cornwall’s daughter (in King Arthur and King Cornwall)
   2. Raises the illegitimate daughter of Sagramore and Senehaut (in Le Livre d’Artus)
   7. Sisters
   1. Angharhad
   2. Flori
   3. Lenomie
   4. Gwenhwy(f)a(r)ch/Gwenhwy(v)ach/Gwenhwywach/Guinevak/Gwenhwy-Fach/(Gwen(hwy) the Small/Less(er))/(white the small/less(er))
   1. Sister of Gwenhwyfar in Welsh tradition
   2. She lived at Arthur’s court
   3. In Culhwch ac Olwen (Culhwch and Olwen)
   • She is called
   • One of the “gold-torqued women of Britain”
   8. Half-Sister — Genievre/(Guinevere/Guenevere the False)
   1. An identical half-sister
   2. Daughter of Leo(n)deg(r)a(u)n(ce)/Leodegranz/Leodogranz/Laudegraunce/Lodegreon/Leodegarius and his seneschal Cleodalis’ wife
   3. The two Guineveres are distinguished
   1. By a crown-shaped birthmark
   2. On the legitimate Guinevere’s back
   9. Brothers
   1. Gotegrin
   2. Mordred/Medrawt (in an interpolation in a manuscript of Wace’s Roman de Brut)
   3. Bedivere
   4. [Lancelot]
   10. Lovers
   1. Mordred/Medrawt
   2. Lancelot
   3. Yder
   4. Gosengos
   5. [Kay and Gawain]
   11. Would-be-lovers/Abductors
   1. Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce/(Maelwys/Melwas/Melvas of the Summer Country/Region)
   2. Mordred/Medrawt
   3. Carados of the Dolorous Tower
   4. King Valerin
   5. Gotegrin
   6. Brun of Morrois
   7. King Urien
   12. Cousins
   1. Elyzabel
   2. Garaunt
   3. Guiomar
   4. Guy
   5. Labor
   3. The Heritage of Guinevere
   1. Introduction to the Heritage of Guinevere
   2. Guinevere had grey eyes, a pale complexion, and very fair blond hair
   3. Geoffrey of Monmouth identifies Guinevere
   1. The ward of Duke Cador of Cornwall
   1. She was raised in his house
   2. Educated under his tutelage
   2. Of noble Roman descent
   3. Ravishingly beautiful (one of the great beauties of Britain)
   4. Beram Saklatvala has suggestions of Guinevere’s indentity
   1. Guinevere was really a Saxon
   2. Named Winifred
   5. Norma Lorre Goodrich sees Guinevere as a native Pict
   6. Guinevere may simply have been a local Welsh maiden
   1. She married a local king
   2. Their story becoming expanded and enlarged over the years
   3. Eventually turning into the Arthurian legends known and loved today
   4. The Character of Guinevere
   1. Introduction to the Character of Guinevere
   2. Malory does not show, except perhaps between the lines
   1. As in the number of cases of conquered knights being sent to her
   2. In her presiding at Duke Galeholt’s/Galehaut’s tournament in Surluse/Sorelois
   1. When Arthur himself
   2. Was unable to attend
   3. How good a queen Guinevere was
   1. That part of her character being overshadowed
   2. By her affair with Lancelot
   3. The Vulgate
   1. Which calls her, after Elaine/Amite/Helizabel of Carbonek/Corbenic/Corbin, the wisest woman who ever lived
   2. Throws more light on this and other points — Guinevere was an excellent day-to-day administratrix
   1. Evidenced by how greatly the affairs of the kingdom slipped
   2. When Arthur banished her for two and a half years to Surluse/Sorelois
   3. While her look-alike, Genievre
   • Giving knights, court, and common people much cause
   • To yearn for their wise and generous true Queen
   3. Guinevere was reluctant to return to Arthur after Genievre’s death
   1. Arthur had in effect dissolved her marriage
   2. By condemning her to death in this case
   3. She was well content in Surluse/Sorelois
   4. With a man who would make her a much better husband
   4. Except for Elaine/Amite/Helizabel of Carbonek/Corben(ic)/Corbin (whom she made some attempt to accept)
   5. Elaine of Astolat/Escalot, whom she did not meet alive and grieved for dead
   1. She seems to have befriended all women
   2. Even accepting Amable as Lancelot’s platonic lady love
   6. Guinevere seems to have inspired more than common devotion
   1. In Gawain
   • Who lent to Lancelot Excalibur
   • When he fought to save her from Arthur’s sentence
   • In the Genievre episode
   2. In Kay
   • Who openly envied Lancelot his position
   • As her champion
   7. She was the best chess player of Arthur’s court
   4. In Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur Book VI, chapter 10
   1. An unnamed damsel remarks to Lancelot:
   1. “It is noised that ye love Queen Guenevere, and that she hath ordained
   2.   by enchantment that ye shall love none other but her”
   2. This is the only hint that Guinevere may have dabbled in magic
   1. This evidence comes under the heading of gossip and metaphor
   2. It reflects some confusion with Lancelot’s mentor Viviane
   • The French Damsel of the Lake
   • Who according to the Vulgate largely engineered the affair
   • With a bit of intrigue from Duke Galeholt/Galehaut
   • The Lady of Malahaut
   5. In The Awntyrs off Arthur(e) at the Terne/Turne Wathelan/Wathelyn(e)
   1. (The Adventures of Arthur at the Lake/Tarn Wadling)
   2. Also known as Sir Gawain and Sir Galeron of Galloway
   3. It describes an interesting meeting of Guinevere with her mother’s ghost
   4. The ghost describes her penitential suffering
   1. The sins — especially pride — that led to it
   2. The virtues that would have helped her avoid it
   3. Asks Masses for her salvation
   5. Warns against Arthur’s greed (pride) as the cause of his future downfall
   6. The description of the ghost’s appearance
   1. Would stir professional jealousy
   2. In the heart of any monster-movie makeup artist
   3. Guinevere has Gawain at her side (some say Arthur was also there)
   4. After her initial fright
   • Questions the spirit bravely and compassionately
   • Afterward ordering a million Masses for her
   6. In Chrétien de Troyes’ Érec et Énide (Erec and Enide)
   1. It showed Arthur’s queen as possessed with a goodly share of generosity
   2. With graciousness
   3. Wisdom
   4. Consider
   1. The rich garments she gives Enide for the asking
   2. The wise counsel she offers Alexander and Soredamors
   • After divining their unvoiced lovesickness
   • For each other
   7. In Chrétien’s Yvain, or Le Chevalier au Lion (Owain, or The Knight with the Lion)
   1. Guinevere is praised
   2. For her intelligence
   3. Friendliness
   4. Gentility
   8. In Marie de France’s Lanval and in Thomas Chestre’s Sir Launfal
   1. Guinevere is a vindictive adulteress
   2. Disliked by the protagonist and all well-bred knights
   9. Early chronicles tend to portray her inauspiciously or hardly at all
   10. Later authors use her good and bad qualities
   1. To construct a deeper character
   2. Who played a larger role
   11. The works of Chrétien were some of the first to elaborate on the character Guinevere
   1. Beyond simply the wife of Arthur
   2. This was likely due to Chrétien’s audience at the time
   1. The court of Marie of France, Countess of Champagne
   2. Which was composed of courtly ladies who played highly social roles
   12. In Perceval
   1. Gawain devotes his golden tongue
   1. To about twenty-six lines
   2. In eloquent praise of Guinevere
   2. He does not yet know
   1. That the venerable queen inquiring about Arthur’s wife
   2. Is Arthur’s mother
   5. Merlin has predicted Guinevere’s marriage to Arthur
   6. Arthur first saw Guinevere
   1. When he went to rescue
   1. Her father King Leo(n)deg(r)a(u)n(ce)/Leodegranz/Leodogranz/Laudegraunce/Lodegreon/Leodegarius
   2. Of Cameliard/Carmelide
   1. Which lies near the Breton city of Carhaise
   2. The modern Carhaix-Plouguer
   3. From King Ryons/Rience
   1. In the fields
   2. To the south and east of Carhaise
   2. With his allies Kings Ban and Bors
   3. Guinevere presents Arthur with a sword
   4. He falls into trances of rapture whenever he gazes upon her
   5. At first she is amused by his adoration
   7. When Arthur’s barons insisted he take a wife, Arthur told Merlin:
   1. “I love Guenever the king’s daughter Leodegrance of the land of Cameliard,
   2.   the which holdeth in his house the Table Round that ye told he had of my father Uther.
   3.   And this damosel is the most valiant and fairest lady that I know living”
   8. Merlin
   1. Agreed that Guinevere was above all women in beauty and fairness
   2. Warned Arthur that she would fall in love with Lancelot
   3. This love would ultimately bring about the King’s downfall
   9. Arthur’s heart was set
   1. Once he was firmly established on the throne
   2. Despite Merlin’s warnings
   3. Arthur chose Guinevere, to become his wife
   10. Finally Merlin went to King Leo(n)deg(r)a(u)n(ce)/Leodegranz/Leodogranz/Laudegraunce/Lodegreon/Leodegarius
   1. To tell him
   2. That Arthur wanted his daughter
   3. For his wife
   11. King Leo(n)deg(r)a(u)n(ce)/Leodegranz/Leodogranz/Laudegraunce/Lodegreon/Leodegarius
   1. Was overjoyed
   2. Immediately gave his consent
   3. Adding that he would send a gift to Arthur that would be far more pleasing than any land
   1. Arthur already had land enough
   2. Leo(n)deg(r)a(u)n(ce)/Leodegranz/Leodogranz/Laudegraunce/Lodegreon/Leodegarius sent the Round Table
   1. Given to him (for safekeeping) by Uther
   2. Which was capable of seating 150 knights
   3. Along with a company of 100 of the most noble knights in Leod(e)g(r)an(ce)’s own realm
   12. Arthur was already delighted with the gift of the Round Table
   1. He made preparations for the coming wedding
   2. Dispatched Merlin to find another fifty knights to complete the company
   3. They would become known as the Knights of the Round Table
   13. When Merlin returned from his mission
   1. There was but one remaining place to be filled
   2. The Siege Perilous — later to be filled by Galahad (son of Elaine/Amite/Helizabel of Carbonek/Corbenic/Corbin and Lancelot)
   14. As the knights assembled in Camelot for the wedding of Guinevere and Arthur
   1. The Knights of the Round Table had their duties set out for them by Arthur
   2. He charged them
   1. Never to commit murder or treason
   2. Never to be cruel
   3. Never to enter into battle for a wrongful reason whatever the reward
   4. Ever to grant mercy when it was asked for
   5. Ever to help ladies, whether gentlewomen or damsels, whenever help was needed
   3. Every knight
   1. Was sworn to this oath
   2. Every year at Pentecost they returned to Camelot to reaffirm it
   15. In Sir Gawayne and the Greene Knight (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)
   1. It is stated the reason Morgan le Fay sent the Green Knight to Camelot
   2. Was to frighten Guinevere
   3. Because of an old rivalry
   4. Dating back to the beginning of Arthur’s reign
   5. When Guinevere had banished one of Morgan’s lovers from court
   16. The Archetypal reasons for rivalry between Guinevere and Morgan le Fay
   1. Introduction to the Archetypal reasons for rivalry between Guinevere and Morgan le Fay
   2. Their representation as two Goddesses of very different aspects
   1. [John Matthews contends that Guinevere and Morgan
   1. Are like two sides of a coin
   2. The beneficent and maleficent aspects of sovereignty]
   2. Morgan le Fay
   1. As a Virgo, has her origins in the ancient mother Goddesses
   2. Typified by her Alchemical Mercury nature, and Water of Earth attributes
   3. Is a fickle Goddess, possessing the qualities of Change and Autumn
   3. Guinevere
   1. As a Scorpio is typified by Alchemical Salt
   2. Giving her Fire of Water attributes, thus associating her with Winter
   3. One of Guinevere’s aspects is as a mythical figure
   • Representing the sovereignty of Britain
   • Over which contenders fight
   • Similar to Eriu
   • One of the 3, 6, and/or 9 Goddesses
   • Of the “sovereignty” of Ireland
   4. [Caitlin Matthews contends that this interpretation
   • Is supported by the legend of three “Guineveres” (“Gwenhwyfars”) married to Arthur
   • Saying these are not three separate persons
   • But a single triune Goddess]
   • If so, then why are the three Gwenhwyfars listed as having three different fathers?
   5. She is sometimes called the Flower Bride (Flower Maiden), representing Spring and Life
   6. As well as the Flower Bride (Flower Maiden)
   • Guinevere represents the Sorrowful Queen or the Wounded Lady
   • Who suffers the burden of evil acts
   • Carried out in ignorance of love
   3. As such, these two women are constantly in conflict
   1. Lancelot, Guinevere’s champion
   2. Becomes the bitter foe of Gawain
   1. Who is the Knight of the Goddess
   2. Morgan’s champion[?]
4. Major Themes of Infidelity and Abduction
1. Introduction to Major Themes of Infidelity and Abduction
2. Infidelity
1. In Chrétien de Troyes’
1. Lancelot, or Le Chevalier de la Charrete (Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart)
2. The first to mention her affair with Lancelot
3. Which may have been invented by Marie de Champagne, Chrétien’s patroness
4. The acceptance of Andreas the Chaplain’s De Amour in Marie’s court
1. Which glorified adultery
2. May explain Chrétien’s ability to portray Guinevere
• As a noble queen
• An unfaithful wife
5. On the other hand
1. “Celtic” queens were free to take lovers at their pleasure
2. The affair may therefore have a “Celtic” origin
3. With the element of tragedy inserted by authors of different sensibilities
2. Other Infidelities in Source Texts
1. In several romances
1. She fails a variety of chastity tests
2. Suggesting affairs with any number of other knights
2. Guinevere’s affair with Lancelot
1. Continues in the Vulgate (Lancelot-Grail) Cycle
2. Carrying through the Post-Vulgate Cycle
3. To Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur)
3. Though her most famous affair is with Lancelot
1. Guinevere’s earliest lover seems to have been Mordred/Medrawt
2. With whom she is a willing conspirator in the chronicles
4. In Marie de France’s Lanval
1. She is said to have a number of lovers
2. She propositions Sir Lanval
5. In Roman de Yder
1. Guinevere’s infatuation with Yder
2. His subsequent marriage to a woman named Guenloie
• A variation of Guinevere
• May indicate an earlier tradition in which they were lovers
6. There is allusion to this tradition
1. In Béroul’s Tristan
2. And in La Folie Tristan de Berne (The Madness of Tristan)
7. According to the Vulgate/Prose Merlin
1. She apparently had a dalliance with a knight named Gosengos
2. Before her marriage to Arthur
8. [Jean Markale has an opinion
1. That Kay and Gawain
2. Were originally amongst her lovers]
3. Abductions
1. Introduction to Abductions
2. Guinevere was very susceptible to being abducted
1. Her story is a parallel of the Irish story of Midir and Etain
2. Etain was once an otherworldly bride of Midir
3. She retains no memory of this fact
4. Is now married to an Irish king
5. Midir turns up to lure Etain back to the Otherworld
6. Guinevere’s abductor, be he Meleagaunce, Lancelot, Gasozein, or Valerin
7. Is supposedly taking her back to the Otherworld from whence she came
3. By Mordred/Medrawt
1. In Historia Regum Britanniae (History of Kings of Britain) by Geoffrey of Monmouth
2. Guinevere is called Guanhumara
3. She is abducted by Medrawt/Mordred
4. By Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce/(Maelwys/Melwas/Melvas of the Summer Country/Region)
1. As the Flower Bride (Flower Maiden)
1. Myth calls for Guinevere to be stolen away by one of her suitors
2. Then to be rescued by another
• Representing shifting polarities
• With the change of seasons
2. An example of this role
1. Told in the Vita Gildae (Life of Gildas)
2. By Caradoc of Llancarfan
3. In this text
• King Melwas/Melvas
• Of the Summer Country/Region
• Who kidnapped (carried off) Guennuuar/Guinevere
• Guinevere’s rescue is orchestrated by Arthur
• Arthur is presented in the tale as a tyrant
• He rouses warriors from Devon and Cornwall to pursue
• Guennuuar’s/Guinevere’s freedom is shrewdly won by Gildas, the Abbott of Glastonia (later mistakenly equated with Glastonbury)
• This is the origin of the Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce stories
3. This abduction scene reappears in a similar story
1. Where the kidnapper is Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce
2. In this particular tale, the rescuer is Lancelot rather than Arthur
3. Guinevere shows better advantage in the adventure of Sir Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce
• Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce and his men ambushed
• Guinevere and her party
• While they were out a-Maying
• She kept her head
• Seeing her ten unarmored knights
• Outnumbered
• Defeated
• Wounded
• Guinevere surrendered rather than let them be slain
• Even calling on the four who were still on their feet
• To leave off fighting
• Since it was hopeless
• She managed, however
• To slip her ring to a child of her chamber
• Send him back to Lancelot
4. Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce took the Queen to his castle in Gorre
• Where Bagdemagus, (Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce)’s father
• Prevents Guinevere from being mistreated
5. When Lancelot arrived and cowed Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce
• Guinevere seems to have promoted the cause of peace and truce
• Though she prudently insisted that
• As long as they remained in (Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce)’s castle
• Her wounded knights should be put in her own chamber
• So that she could be sure they received the best treatment
6. Lancelot came to her at the garden window that night
• Injured his hands in pulling out the window bars to get in
• So left blood in her bed
• Giving Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce the chance
• To accuse her of lying with Kay, who is wounded, sleeping in the queen’s outer room
7. Again Lancelot had to fight her trial by combat to save her from burning
• This time she wagged her head
• As though she would say: Slay Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce
• Which may have been more prudence
• Than bloodthirstiness
• Was certainly understandable
• All things considered
8. Lancelot enters the tournament at Pomeglai/Pomelegloi
• Guinevere is present
• To test his love
• She tells him to act like a coward
• Lancelot does
9. At Arthur’s court
• Lancelot kills
• Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce
4. In a later adventure
1. It appears that Lancelot is dead
2. Guinevere is heartbroken
3. She rejoices when she learns he is alive
5. Carados of the Dolorous Tower
1. The earliest Arthurian bards have attached an abduction story to Guinevere
2. Such a tale is carved into the archivolt of Modena Cathedral in Modena, Italy
3. Which most likely predates Caradoc of Llancarfan’s telling the Vita Gildae (Life of Gildas)
1. Here, “Artus de Bretania” (Arthur of Britain) and “Isdernus” (Yder or Lancelot) approach a tower
• In which “Mardoc” (Meleagant/Maleagant/Meliagrant/Mel(l)iag(r)aunce/Meleagaunce/Maelwys/Melwas/Melvas)
• Is holding “Winlogee” (Guinevere)
2. On the other side “Carrado” (Caradoc) fights “Galvagin” (Gawain), while the knights
• “Galvariun/Galvarium” ((Gwallt Euryn)/Gales(c)hin/Gal(l)eron/Galaron)
• “Che” (Kay) approach
3. “Isdernus” is most likely an incarnation of Yder
• A hero whose name appears in Culhwch ac Olwen (Culhwch and Olwen)
• Who is Guinevere’s lover in a nearly-forgotten tradition
• Mentioned in Béroul’s Tristan
• And in La Folie Tristan de Berne (The Madness of Tristan)
• Later reflected in Roman de Yder
• Some say that “Isdernus” is Lancelot
4. The Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym
• Alludes to Guinevere’s abduction in two of his poems
• Written in the Fourteenth Century AD
• It tells of Melwas/Melvas
• Who abducts Gogfran the Giant’s daughter
• From Caerllion/Caerleon
5. [The medievalist Roger Sherman Loomis suggests this tale shows that “she had inherited the role of a Persephone”]
6. King Valerin
1. In Ulrich’s Lanzelet
2. Guinevere’s abductor is King Valerin of the Tangled Wood
3. Valerin had lost, in combat against Lancelot
1. A claim that Guinevere should be his
2. Because of a promise of marriage made when Guinevere was a girl
4. Unsatisfied with his loss
1. Valerin kidnapped Guinevere
2. Hauled her back to his fortress of the Tangled Wood
5. Arthur besieged the magic fortress
1. An effort that proved futile
2. Until he enlisted the aid of the wizard Malduc
• Who destroyed the palace’s defenses
• Allowed Arthur and his knights to seize the castle
6. Guinevere’s son
1. Loüt/Lohut/(Lo)hoot/Lohoth/Loho(l)t/Loho(l)z/Loez
2. Played an important role in the rescue
7. Heinrich von dem Türlin presents an interesting abduction tale
1. Gasozein of Dragoz
1. Arrives at Arthur’s court
2. Claiming that Guinevere is actually his wife
2. Guinevere refutes his claim
3. But her brother Gotegrin
1. Believes her wrong
2. Kidnaps her
3. Intending to kill her for her wickedness
4. Gasozein rescues Guinevere
1. But then kidnaps her himself
2. Tries to rape her
5. Guinevere is finally saved by Gawain
1. Who forces Gasozein to confess
2. The falseness of his claim
8. In Durmart le Gallois
1. She is kidnapped by Brun of Morrois
2. Rescued by Durmart
9. In Livre d’Artus
1. She is kidnapped and briefly held by King Urien
2. During the war between Arthur and the rebellious kings
4. In many texts, the themes of Infidelity and Abduction are intertwined with Guinevere’s rescuer sometimes becoming her lover (but not always)
5. Adulthood
1. Leod(e)g(r)an(ce)’s enemies conspired to replace the true Guinevere
1. With the false Guinevere on Arthur’s wedding night
2. But Merlin learned of the plan
1. Commissioned Sir Ulfin and Sir Bretel/Brithael
2. To stop it
3. They foil the plan
2. Guinevere as Wife of King Arthur
1. Introduction to Guinevere as Wife of King Arthur
2. In the Welsh Triads
1. (Trioedd Ynys Prydein n56)
2. Arthur was married to three Guineveres (Gwenhwyfars)
3. The cross discovered at “Arthur’s Grave”
1. In Glastonbury
2. Identifies Guinevere as his second wife
4. Another one of the Welsh Triads calls Guinevere
1. One of the ‘faithless wives’
2. Of the Isle of Britain
5. A third of the Welsh Triads talks of an episode
1. In which Mordred/Medrawt visited Arthur’s court
2. Beats Gwenhwyfar
6. Trioedd Ynys Prydein ns53, 84
1. Mention Gwenhwyfar’s contention with her sister Gwenhwyfarch/Gwenhwyvach/Gwenhwywach/Guinevak/(Gwenhwy the Small/Less(er))/
2. Which was believed to be the cause of the Battle of Camlann
3. Saying that the Battle of Camlann somehow began over a feud
7. Guinevere and Arthur were married
1. After the Saxon wars
2. In some stories, Saxons attack after the wedding as well
3. Guinevere forms her own body of knights called the Queen’s Knights
1. Who carried white shields
2. Whose ranks include Gawain
3. Yvain
4. Other young warriors
4. After Lancelot ends Arthur’s war with Galehaut/Galeholt
1. Galehaut/Galeholt brings about a meeting between Lancelot and Guinevere
2. Lancelot confesses his love
3. Guinevere rewards him with a kiss
5. Some Saxons invade Britain and Arthur opposes them at Saxon Rock
1. Guinevere goes with him
2. Lancelot also arrives
3. One night, while Arthur is sleeping with
1. Gamille/Camille
2. A Saxon enchantress
4. Lancelot
1. Visits Guinevere’s chambers
2. Their affair begins
6. Guinevere and Lancelot
1. Early versions of the Arthurian legends
1. Make no mention of the famous love affair between Guinevere and Lancelot
2. Instead give the reason for Arthur’s absence
1. As Arthur’s campaign against the Roman Empire
2. Leaving Mordred/Medrawt the chance to seize the throne and Guinevere
2. It is the later version of the legends
1. With which most are familiar
2. Guinevere is the mistress of Lancelot
3. Lancelot was a latecomer to the Knights of the Round Table
1. Almost immediately after his arrival
2. It became clear that he was attracted to Guinevere
3. She likewise
4. In clandestine meetings they affirmed their love
1. Even though other members of the court knew of the affair
2. Arthur would hear nothing against his queen unless proof could be given to him
5. Guinevere did have her own company, the Queen’s Knights
1. At first, the Queen’s Knights were made up of youthful aspirants to the Table
2. Eventually
1. There seems to have been considerable overlapping
2. In the membership of the Queen’s Knights and the Round Table itself
6. Malory is unclear on when and how
1. Guinevere and Lancelot
2. Slew Turquine and Peris de Forest Savage
7. Gossip was already hot enough
1. That the damsel who guided the Lancelot to Peris
2. Could mention it to his face
3. While by the time Tristan and Isolde/(La Beale Isoud) gave in to their passion
1. The relationship was sufficiently established and known
2. That Isolde could send Palomides to Arthur’s court charging him
• “There recommended me unto Queen Guenever,
•   and tell her that I send her word that there be within this land
•   but four lovers, that is, Sir Launcelot du Lake and Queen Guenever,
•   and Sir Tristram de Liones and Queen Isoud”
8. Perhaps Guinevere shows to her worst advantage in this long, stormy love affair
1. Lancelot called forth her jealousy in a way that Arthur seems never to have done
2. Ironically
1. Arthur probably deserved her jealousy more
2. Lancelot being drawn
• Into side affairs
• Appearances of affairs through trickery and misfortune
9. Guinevere accepted Lancelot’s explanation of the engendering of Galahad
1. Forgave him
2. Later
1. When Elaine/Amite/Helizabel of Carbonek/Corbenic/Corbin tricked Lancelot into her bed at Arthur’s court
2. Within earshot of Guinevere’s own room
3. The Queen’s rather understandable fury drove Lancelot mad
10. While Lancelot wandered out of his wits
1. Guinevere spared no expense to find him
2. Financing the knights who went out searching
3. So that when Perceval and Ector de Maris finally found him at Joyous/Joieuse Ga(u)rd(e)
1. Perceval could say that
2. “I was sent by the queen for to seek you”
11. The affair seems to have become even more tempestuous after the Grail Quest
1. Lancelot quickly forgot the vow he had made during the holy adventures
2. To break it off with Guinevere
1. Malory’s wording seems to put the responsibility
• For the resumption of the affair
• More on Lancelot than on the Queen
2. Lancelot also became more careless about secrecy
12. When he realized the scandal they were causing
1. Lancelot began championing as many ladies and damsels as possible
2. To throw the gossips off the scent
3. Guinevere waxed angry and jealous again
1. Speaking to him so hotly that he followed his cousin Bors’ advice
2. Left court again, hiding with the hermit Sir Brasias at Windsor
3. Until the Queen should repent her words and want him back
7. Guinevere and the Poisoned Apple
1. It was at this time that Guinevere held a “privy dinner”
1. For twenty-four other knights of the Round Table
2. To show that she took joy in all of them
2. The knight named Avarlan tries to arrange for Gawain to eat some poisoned fruit
3. Guinevere innocently gives the fruit
1. To Gaheris of Carahew
2. Or Sir Patrise of Ireland instead
3. The knight dies
4. Gaheris’ brother, Mador of the Gate, accuses Guinevere of murder
5. Guinevere
1. Was accused of the crime
2. Reproached by Arthur himself
1. For being unable to keep Lancelot at hand
2. When she needed him
3. Driven to beg Sir Bors to champion her in Lancelot’s place
6. Meanwhile, the body of the maiden (Elaine) of Escalot/Astolat arrives at Camelot in a boat
1. Guinevere learns that Lancelot did not love her
2. Lancelot
1. Was secretly informed of the situation by Bors
2. Lancelot laid low and let Guinevere stew
• Not showing up until the very last minute
• In time to defend Guinevere against the charge
3. Lancelot exonerates Guinevere
4. The lovers are reconciled
8. Shortly after the Poisoned Apple incident
1. Lancelot tried to stay in London with the Queen
2. While the rest of the court went to Winchester for a great tournament
3. This time Guinevere told Lancelot to leave her and attend the tournament
4. Lest their enemies use the occasion for further scandal
5. Lancelot said: “Madam, I allow your wit, it is of late come since ye were wise”
6. Somewhat illogically
1. After accepting Guinevere’s reasoning
2. He went to Winchester in disguise
3. His wearing of the favor of Elaine of Astolat/Escalot in the lists led to another jealous rift
4. Which was not quite healed until
1. Elaine of Escalot’s/Astolat’s death bore testimony
2. To Lancelot’s avoidance of sexual entanglement with her
7. In justice
1. Guinevere seems genuinely to have pitied the dead Elaine of Escalot/Astolat
2. She also prudently insisted
1. That from now on Lancelot wear her favour in tournament
2. To avoid such injury as he sustained at Winchester when his kinsmen
• Not knowing him
• Ganged up on him
9. Years later, Guinevere the False formed an alliance
1. With Bertelay/Bertholai
1. An old knight who had been expelled
2. From Leodegan’s court for murder
2. They sent a message to Arthur
1. Proclaiming that Guinevere the False
2. Was the true queen
3. That Arthur had been living with an impostor
4. Since his wedding night
3. Arthur decreed a judicial trial between Gawain and Bertelay/Bertholai
1. Before it could take place
2. The False Guinevere captured and imprisoned Arthur
3. Arthur succumbed to a love potion
4. Returned to court
5. Proclaimed Guinevere the False queen
4. Lancelot championed the real queen
1. Against three of Bertelay’s/Bertholai’s knights
2. To prove her innocence
5. In the non-cyclical , Bertelay/Bertholai and the False Guinevere
1. Admit the guilt of their deception
2. Are burned
6. According to the Vulgate
1. Lancelot and the true Guinevere
2. Fled Arthur’s court for Sorelois/Surluse
1. Where they lived for several years
2. Before Guinevere the False perished of an illness
3. Confessing on her death bed
7. The true Guinevere is restored to Arthur
8. By this time
1. Guinevere and Lancelot are irrevocably in love
2. Lancelot’s struggle with his conscience
1. Keeps him away from Camelot
2. Pursuing quests
10. When Arthur prepared to go and meet the five invading kings
1. Of Denmark
2. Ireland
3. The Vale
4. Soleise
5. The Isle of Longtains
6. Arthur took Guinevere along on the campaign
1. Saying that she would cause him “to be more hardy”
2. Promising to keep her safe
7. While they were camped beside the Humber, the invading kings attacked by night
8. Arthur, Kay, Gawain, and Griflet
1. Tried to get the Queen over the Humber River to safety
2. But the water was so rough that they were afraid to pass over
1. “Now may ye choose, said King Arthur, whether ye will abide
2.   and take the adventure on this side, for an ye be taken they will slay you.
3.   It were me liefer, said the queen, to die in the water than fall
4.   in your enemies’ hands and there be slain”
3. At Kay’s urging and example
1. The four men slew the five invading kings who were bearing down
2. For which Guinevere
• Praised Kay greatly
• Promised to bear his fame among the ladies
6. Endings
1. Guinevere’s adultery
1. With Sir Lancelot
2. Causes the downfall of the Fellowship of the Round Table
3. Guinevere and Lancelot came to the decision to end their affair for the good of the kingdom
1. Mordred/Medrawt
1. Arthur’s son via Morgause
2. In the company of Agravain and twelve other knights
3. Cornered them
• In the queen’s chamber
• At the Castle of Carlisle
2. Lancelot, even though unarmed
1. Managed to fight his way to freedom
2. Killing all thirteen knights who sought to capture him
3. Driving Mordred/Medrawt away wounded
4. Offers to take Guinevere with him at once to safety
3. Guinevere refused to go
1. Probably hoping that the good of the court might yet be salvaged
2. Telling Lancelot that if they saw then they would burn her
3. Then he might rescue her as he thought best
4. Guinevere’s and Lancelot’s intrigue discovered
1. Lancelot fled
2. Reluctantly Arthur
1. Tried his Queen
• With a heavy heart to bow to the righteousness of the law
• In sentencing Guinevere
• But a close reading of Malory and the Vulgate version
• Gives the impression of a kangaroo court
• Save that the King himself was presiding
• With Arthur seeming to rejoice in the law
• Though it is just possible his rage was less for Guinevere’s inconstancy than for the deaths of his thirteen knights
• Hotly refusing Gawain’s plea
• To allow Lancelot to fight a trial by combat yet again
• Prove their innocence
• Which would have averted the final catastrophe
• Condemned her to death
• Sentenced her to be burnt at the stake
3. Arthur
1. Forbade any trial by combat at all
2. Far from hoping that Lancelot would come to the rescue
4. Guinevere probably never knew
1. Lancelot had seemed to falter a little in his resolve to save her
2. Talking the matter over with his kinsmen, he said
1. “and this night because my lady the queen sent for me ...
2.   I suppose it was made by treason, howbeit I dare largely
3.   excuse her person, notwithstanding I was there by a forecast near slain”
5. Lancelot
1. Rescued Guinevere from the pyre
2. Championed her cause in combat, thus earning her pardon
6. In this action he killed Gareth and Gaheris, Gawain’s brothers
7. Lancelot then exiled himself
8. Arthur was fully prepared
1. To travel to France to make his peace with Lancelot
2. He took the advice of Mordred/Medrawt
1. Instead Arthur went to war
2. Against his old friend Lancelot
9. Despite Arthur’s previous attempt to burn Guinevere at the stake
1. She returned to him
2. Showed herself a loyal wife
3. A prudent queen while he was overseas besieging Lancelot
2. Malory records
1. From an earlier version of the story
2. That Guinevere “made great sorrow ... and swooned”
3. At the departure of her husband and his men for their continental war
4. With the Emperor/(Roman Procurator) Lucius Tiberius
5. Guinevere came to meet Arthur at Sandwich on his return
3. While Arthur was fighting the Roman war (or besieging Lancelot in France)
1. Mordred/Medrawt
1. Revolted against Arthur
1. Declared him dead
2. Proclaimed himself king
2. Abducted Guinevere
2. He took Guinevere to be his wife
3. Guinevere
1. Seemed to be a willing collaborator
2. Was not taken in
1. By Mordred’s/Medrawt’s forged letters
2. Purporting that Arthur was dead
3. Consented to the forthcoming marriage, or pretended to agree to marry
4. With Mordred’s/Medrawt’s approval
1. Guinevere travelled to London to buy all manner of things for the wedding
2. She laid in supplies (provisions) and men for the long siege
3. Locked (barricaded) herself within the Tower of London
4. When Mordred/Medrawt laid siege to the Tower
1. Guinevere answered him
2. “I would liefer slay myself than to be married with you”
4. News of Mordred’s/Medrawt’s treachery reached Arthur
1. Arthur returned home
2. Landing at Richborough, where he defeated Mordred/Medrawt
5. Giving chase
1. Arthur fought Mordred/Medrawt
2. Defeated him at Winchester
6. The forces gathered at Camlann for the fatal last encounter
1. Mordred/Medrawt was killed
2. Arthur received a mortal wound
7. Nunnery
1. Caerleon
1. Guinevere fled there
2. Ended her days in the nunnery (took the veil)
2. Almesbury
1. Learning of Arthur’s death/passing
1. Guinevere “stole away” with five of her ladies to Almesbury
2. Where she became a “nun in white clothes and black”
3. Lived in great penance, “fasting, prayers, and alms-deeds”
4. “and never creature could make her merry”
2. Which last must have been especially severe
1. As Malory shows her possessed of a keen sense of humour and fun
2. She became Abbess
8. Lancelot landed within the month at Dover
1. Though too late to save Arthur
2. He was determined to see Guinevere once more
1. For seven days he was on the road
2. On the eighth he came to a nunnery
1. As he entered the cloisters
2. A nun dressed in black and white saw him and swooned
3. For it was Guinevere
• When she had recovered
• They talked for a while
• Once Lancelot saw that she had taken to a life of penance
• Remembering his broken resolutions of the Grail Adventures
• Lancelot said
• “And therefore, lady, sithen ye have taken you to perfection,
•   I must needs take me to perfection, of right”
9. Taking his leave of Guinevere
1. Lancelot rode to Glastonbury
2. There he took the monk’s habit
10. Many years later
1. A vision charged Lancelot
1. To ride as fast as he could to Amesbury
2. This he did
3. But he was too late
4. For Guinevere had died not half an hour earlier
2. Without Guinevere
1. Lancelot could not eat nor drink
2. Within six weeks he too was dead
3. Guinevere’s body
1. Was taken from the nunnery
2. Laid to rest beside that of Arthur
4. Another version says
1. Lancelot and eight companions went on foot from Glastonbury to Almesbury
2. To bring back her body for burial
5. A different tale according to Perlesvaus says she died in Arthur’s lifetime
6. Boece says
1. She died as a prisoner of the Picts
2. At her death, she was laid to rest beside Arthur
11. In AD 1191
1. During restoration work at Glastonbury
2. The monks of the abbey reported
1. That they had uncovered the grave
2. Of Arthur and Guinevere
3. Their bodies were subsequently re-interred
1. In front of the high altar
2. Within the abbey
4. This archæological find
1. Was politically astute for the time
2. Led to the association of Glastonbury with Avalon
3. Cast doubt on the identity of the bones
4. Begs the question: Were they actually those of Arthur and his Queen?
7. Guinevere’s Association with Related Physical Objects/Locations
1. Guinevere’s Grave
1. Glastonbury
2. Meigle
2. Guinevere’s Monument
8. Occurrences of “Guinevere” (by various names and descriptions) in Related “Literature”
1. The Archivolt/Archivault of the Porta della Pescheria on the Modena Cathedral. AD 1090/1120/1135/1140.
2. of Monmouth, Geoffrey. Historia Regum Britanniæ (History of Kings of Britain), or De Gestis Britonum (Of Deeds of Britons). AD 1136/1138/1139.
3. of Llancarfan, Caradoc. Vita Sancti Gildæ (Life of Saint Gildas). c AD 1130 (mid Twelfth Century AD).
4. de Troyes, Chrétien. Lancelot, or Le Chevalier de la Charrete (Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart). late Twelfth Century AD (c AD 1135).
5. de Troyes, Chrétien. Érec et Énide (Geraint and Enid). late Twelfth Century AD (c AD 1170).
6. La Folie Tristan de Berne (The Madness of Tristan). late Twelfth Century AD.
7. von Eschenbach, Wolfram. Parzival (Perceval). late Twelfth/early Thirteenth Century AD (AD 1200/1210).
8. Culhwch ac Olwen (Culhwch/Kilhwch and Olwen/Olwyn),
            from Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch (White Book of Rhydderch) c AD 1325 and Llyfr Coch Hergest (Red Book of Hergest) c AD 1400.
9. Perlesvaus, or Le/Li Hauz Livre(s) du Graal (The High Book(s)/History of the Grail).
            early Thirteenth Century AD (AD 1192/1205/1220/1225).
10. Layamon. Brut (Brutus, or The Chronicle of Britain). late Twelfth/mid Thirteenth Century AD (AD 1209/1215).
11. von Zatzikhoven, Ulrich. Lanzelet (Lanzalet in French and Spanish; Lancelot in English). early Thirteenth Century AD (c AD 1200).
12. Vulgate Lancelot Propre (Lancelot Proper). AD 1210s/1215/1230.
13. Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal (Quest of the Holy Grail). AD 1210s/1215/1230.
14. Vulgate Morte Artu (Death of Arthur). AD 1210s/1215/1230.
15. Le Livre d’Artus (The Book of Arthur). early Thirteenth Century AD.
16. Vulgate Suite du Merlin (Story of Merlin). AD 1220/1230s/1235.
17. Post-Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal (Quest of the Holy Grail). AD 1230/1240.
18. Post-Vulgate Mort Artu (Death of Arthur). AD 1230/1240.
19. de Gat, Luce and Helie de Boron. Tristan en prose (Prose Tristan). AD 1225-1235, second half of Thirteenth Century AD (AD 1276).
20. De Ortu Walu(u)an(n)ii(i) Nepotis Arturi (Of Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur). late Thirteenth Century AD.
21. La Tavola Ritonda (The Round Table). AD 1325/1350.
22. d’Ou(t)remeuse/(des Preis), Jean. Ly Myreur des Histors (The Mirror of Histories). c AD 1350.
23. Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur (The Death of Arthur). Fourteenth Century AD.
24. Chestre, Thomas. Sir Launfal. late Fourteenth Century AD.
25. The Awntyrs off Arthur(e) at the Terne/Turne Wathelan/Wathelyn(e) (The Adventures of Arthur at the Lake/Tarn Wadling).
             late Fourteenth/early Fifteenth Century AD.
26. Malory, Syr Thomas. (Le) Morte Darthur (The Death of Arthur, or, as originally titled, The Whole Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table).
             This ‘Winchester Manuscript’ was published AD 1469/1470/1481/1483.
27. Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur). Printed by William Caxton in AD 1485.
28. King Arthur and King Cornwall. Sixteenth Century AD.
29. Boece (Boethius), Hector. Scotorum Historiæ (History of Scots). AD 1527 (1575).
30. Ymddiddan rhwng Arthur a Gwenhwyfar (Dialogue between Arthur and Gwenhwyfar, or The Dialogue of Arthur and Gwenh(w)yfar);
             also known as Ymddiddan Melwas a Gwenhwyfar (Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenh(w)yfer), versions one and two. Sixteenth Century AD.
31. Hughes, Thomas. The Misfortunes of Arthur. AD 1587.
9. Astrological Signs Associated with Guinevere
1. Scorpio — Mars- — Water
2. Virgo — Mercury- — Earth
3. Cancer — Moon-/+ — Water
4. Taurus — Venus- — Earth
5. Libra — Venus+ — Air
10. Geography, Genealogy, and Timeline of Guinevere
1. Geography of Guinevere
2. Genealogy of Guinevere
3. Timeline of Guinevere