The Once and Future Queen

by Nicole Evelina

  99 Korrel, An Arthurian Triangle, 124.

  100 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 46.

  101 Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain, 259.

  102 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 17.

  103 Ibid., 16.

  104 Tichelaar, Tyler, “While King Arthur was Away, Did Guinevere with Mordred Play?” Children of Arthur, accessed June 12, 2017.

  105 Slocum, Sally K., ed., “Popular Arthurian Traditions” in Popular Arthurian Traditions, ed.Sally K. Slocum (Bowling Green: B.G.S.U.P.P., 1992), 7-8.

  106 Merriman, James Douglas, The Flower of Kings: a Study of the Arthurian Legend in England Between 1485 and 1835 (Lawrence: The UP of Kansas, 1973), 24.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Middle Ages Part Two:

  Wace and Layamon

  Eleanor as Inspiration

  With the foundation of Arthurian legend established, we move into a period where authors rewrite each other, adding to and taking away from the story as they please. The pair first to be involved in this type of literary love-hate relationship were Norman poet Wace and an English priest named Layamon. Together, these two authors would go on to cement Guinevere’s reputation as we know it today. Peggy Donald Gibson writes in her dissertation about Guinevere as a medieval character, “[Guinevere’s] reputation is established because that is the way Wace and Layamon interpret Geoffrey’s bare bones story.”107

  Eleanor of Aquitaine was thought to be the model for Guinevere for both men, regardless of how they portray her.108 “[Wace] dedicated [Roman de Brut] to Queen Eleanor, who was the ardent propagator in England of the courtly ideals of southern France. Accordingly, Wace…partly because of his royal patroness wove into Geoffrey’s narrative more pronouncedly chivalric material.”109

  Under Eleanor’s rule, the power of noble women increased dramatically. Across Europe, queens educated in classical Greek and Latin encouraged literature, music, and the arts in their courts—and made sure Arthurian women were at the center of it all.110 Roman de Brut is thought to have been written at the urging of Eleanor of Aquitaine111 or at least inspired by her. According to Saux, it was written specifically for the nobility, and Layamon claimed that Wace personally presented a copy to the queen.112 “Wace’s Roman de Brut gives the tone of the new court: elegant, learned and sophisticated…[it’s] probably to be understood as a flattering gesture towards the young monarch [Henry II]…or as a gift to Eleanor.”113

  Fiona Tolhurst draws a more direct parallel between the two queens. “The decline of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s reputation in annals and chronicle histories at the turn of the thirteen century offers the most plausible explanation for the decline in the reputation of Guinevere as Eleanor’s fictional counterpart.”114 Indeed, Eleanor, like Guinevere, was accused of adultery by clerical chroniclers,115 but that is likely as far as the comparison goes. Most modern scholars now eschew attempts to link Eleanor and Guinevere directly, preferring to limit any connection to mere inspiration.

  Another Arthurian author, Marie de France, whom we will address at length in Chapter Five, may have had ties to Eleanor. Though little is known about Marie, it is speculated that her poems may have been “written at the Court of Henry of England. From political ambition the King was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine, a lady of literary tastes, who came from a family in which the patronage of singers was a tradition.”116

  Roman de Brut

  “The queen was lodged at York, in doubt and sadness. She called to mind her sin and remembered that for Mordred, her name was a hissing. Her lord she had shamed, and set her love upon her husband’s sister’s son. Moreover, she had wedded Mordred in defiance of right, since she was wife already, and so must suffer reproach in earth and hell. Better were the dead than those who lived, in the eyes of Arthur’s Queen.” 117

  — Roman de Brut by Wace

  Wace took on the Herculean task of translating from Latin to French Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain and then transforming it into an epic poem of nearly 15,000 lines. Written in 1155, it is the first Arthurian work written in the vernacular and the first ever to mention the Round Table.118 According to Mason, Wace’s accomplishments were significant and long-lasting. “He succeeded in uniting scattered legends attached to Arthur’s name, and in definitely establishing their place in chronicle history in a form that persisted throughout the later British historical annals…not only was it accepted as an authority by British historians, but French chroniclers also used it for their own purposes.”119

  In general, Wace holds faithfully to Geoffrey’s material, though Wace’s Guinevere is “more cultured and refined.”120 She is given a bit of personality to go with the beauty and Roman lineage with which Geoffrey endowed her, being described as “courteous, very gracious of manner…passing sweet and ready of tongue.”121 These traits are all what is expected from a woman in a court of courtly love.

  He clarifies many of Geoffrey’s ambiguities, especially regarding Guinevere. For example, he is more explicit about Guinevere’s willingness to have an affair with Mordred.122 Annette Hopkins emphasizes that “Wace not only says that Arthur left the kingdom in the charge of Guinevere and Mordred, but emphasizes at length the fact that part of the regent’s treachery lay in his conduct with her.”123

  Another clue comes when Wace clarifies her motivation to flee to the convent. It is clear enough that Mordred might lose the war. If he does, Arthur will be in control and she fears him because of her adultery with Mordred, which is clearly described as both a “trespass” and “sin.” As she thinks upon her relationship with Mordred, she thinks of how she “shamed” Arthur by “wed[ding] Mordred in defiance of right, since [she] was wife already.”124

  The language, and Wace’s changes in translation, also point to deep guilt for Guinevere. Le Saux explains, “Whereas in the Latin [Geoffrey’s History of the Kings of Britain] Guinevere takes the veil out of despair (‘desperans,’ both versions), in the French text [Wace’s Roman de Brut], it is out of shame—ostensibly shame at her sexual lapse, but in reality, shame at Mordred’s cowardice.”125 As Annette Hopkins points out, the language used “implies that she went [into the convent] merely for the reason that her cause was lost. Wace dwells on her recognition of her guilt, and we can imagine that he saw the end of Guinevere not without feeling.”126 Later, Hopkins adds, “W[ace], imbued with the ideas of chivalry, treats her as one to be pitied rather than condemned.”127 A kind thought for the author, but it still does nothing to rehabilitate Guinevere’s ruined reputation, which, while it looks bad now, is about to get worse under a Norman’s pen.

  Layamon

  “That was evilly done, that they [Guinevere and Mordred] were (should have been) born; this land that they destroyed with numerous sorrows; and themselves at the end Worse gan [sic] disgrace (or destroy) so that they there lost their lives and their souls, and ever afterwards became odious in every land, so that never any man would offer a good prayer for their souls.”

  —Brut by Layamon128

  Layamon’s Brut, written sometime between 1191–1205, was an English adaptation of Wace’s Roman de Brut in alliterative verse. Layamon, a country priest who was fascinated by the Saxons and their warrior lifestyle,129 made some changes, resulting in a story that is much harsher and is thought to be more like the chronicle sources of Wace and Geoffrey. Tyler Tichelaar succinctly sums up Layamon’s changes: “In writing of Arthur in English, Layamon was reclaiming Arthur from the somewhat romantic embellishments Wace had added.”130

  In this version of the tale, Arthur clearly loves Guinevere (or Wenhaver, as she is called), but she clearly loves Mordred, setting up a triangle of unrequited love. Unlike in Wace, there is no mention of Guinevere’s barrenness.

  “Layamon is much more specific in describing the affair of Mordred and Guinevere and in describing Arthur’s react
ion to their horrible deeds. Because of Layamon’s additions in these areas, his Guinevere is almost entirely unsympathetic and villainous,”131 notes Bonner. Layamon implies Guinevere willingly became Mordred’s queen. Some scholars go so far as to say that Layamon hinted that Mordred and Guinevere were together even before Arthur left, using this passage as proof: “It was all kept very quiet in parliament and at court,/Because nobody realized this could be going on.”132

  But realize it Arthur did, with a little Otherworldly aid. He had a prophetic and terrifying dream in which Guinevere pulled down the roof of his hall and Mordred hacked at its beams with an axe—symbolizing their roles in the fall of the kingdom of Camelot. In retaliation, he cut her to pieces with his sword for her suspected infidelity and dropped them into a “black pit.”133

  When he finds out Guinevere and Mordred’s betrayal isn’t just in his mind, Arthur is so outraged that he says he intends to “kill Mordred and burn the queen to death,”134—the first, but certainly not the last, time that punishment is meted out in Arthurian legend—“reveal[ing his] certainty of her guilt and need for punishment.”135

  Many scholars agree that this nightmare is “the most significant change Layamon makes to the narratives of Geoffrey and Wace.”136 It shows an unusually cruel and brutal side to Arthur that is in keeping with some early Celtic depictions of the famous king. Bonner argues this element was added to evoke pity for Arthur, the victim of the destructive and evil pair.

  As in Geoffrey and Wace, in this version Guinevere ends her days as a nun, alive “only because nobody knows where she is or even whether she lives or died.”137 Given Arthur’s earlier threat, her anonymity is merited. There is a slight implication that she may have drowned by her own hand or another’s in the line, “Then men knew not of the queen, where she were gone, nor many years afterward man knew it in sooth, whether she were dead, or whether she herself were sunk in the water.”138

  So the woman who began the century as a name without a true personal identity is now little more than an adulterous, traitorous wife. Bonner summarizes Guinevere’s transformation: “The overall contribution these authors [Geoffrey, Wace, and Layamon] make concerning Guinevere is negative. She is painted a woman with power, beauty and a noble background. These qualities fail to stop the demise of the kingdom, of the king and of Guinevere herself. She is portrayed as villainous and immoral. These three authors have her enter a convent at the close of her story. Whether they intended to show her desire for refuge or remorse in this action, they mold her into a queen of cowardice, deception and evil.”139

  And this is just the beginning of the changes to her character.

  * * *

  107 Cited in Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 3-4.

  108 Swabey, Fiona, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Courtly Love, and the Troubadours (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2014), 75.

  109 Mason, Eugene, “Introduction,” French Medieval Romances: From the Lays of Marie de France (Auckland, New Zealand: The Floating Press, 2013), 6.

  110 Day, The Quest for King Arthur (London: Michael O'Mara, 1999), 113.

  111 Lacy, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: New Edition, 524.

  112 Le Saux, Françoise Hazel Marie, A Companion to Wace (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2010), 81.

  113 Ibid., 83.

  114 Tolhurst, Fiona, “What Ever Happened to Eleanor? Reflections of Eleanor of Aquitaine in Wace’s Roman de Brut and Lawman’s Brut,” in Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, eds. Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi Parsons (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 320.

  115 Evans, Michael R., Inventing Eleanor: The Medieval and Post-Medieval Image of Eleanor of Aquitaine (London: Bloomsbury, 2016), 74.

  116 Mason, "Introduction," 7.

  117 Wace, Arthurian Chronicles: Roman de Brut, trans. Eugene Mason (Auckland: The Floating Press, 2013), 97.

  118 Le Saux, A Companion to Wace, 81.

  119 Mason, "Introduction," 4.

  120 Walters, “Introduction,” xvi.

  121 Wace, Roman de Brut, 56.

  122 Korrel, An Arthurian Triangle, 191. In some versions she is Mordred’s sister so that would have been incest – if so, this could have been the seeds of that part of the story.

  123 Hopkins, Annette, "The Influence of Wace," 36.

  124 Wace, Roman de Brut, 97.

  125 Le Saux, A Companion to Wace, 142-143.

  126 Hopkins, Annette, "The Influence of Wace," 8.

  127 Ibid., 37, n. 34.

  128 Layamon, Roman de Brut (Auckland: The Floating Press, 2013), ebook loc 2030.

  129 Mason, "Introduction," 8.

  130 Tichelaar, “While King Arthur was Away,” accessed June 12, 2017.

  131 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 24.

  132 Cited in Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 26.

  133 Layamon, Roman de Brut, loc 2438.

  134 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 76,80-81. This could have been an early medieval punishment for adultery, but is more likely linked to witchcraft and heresy.

  135 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 29.

  136 Ibid., 26.

  137 Korrel, An Arthurian Triangle, 152.

  138 Layamon, Roman de Brut, Loc 2505.

  139 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 29-30.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Middle Ages Part Three:

  Chrétien De Troyes and Marie De France

  “Come through the garden to-night and speak with me at yonder window, when everyone inside has gone to sleep. You will not be able to get in: I shall be inside and you outside: to gain entrance will be impossible. I shall be able to touch you only with my lips or hand, but if you please, I will stay there until morning for love of you.” 140

  — Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart by Chrétien De Troyes

  Lancelot or The Knight of the Cart

  Ah, yes, where would the great romance of Arthurian legend be without the French? Chrétien was a twelfth-century poet who gave the legends a softer side that would have the ladies swooning for centuries by adding in the love affair between Guinevere and Lancelot, and he was the one who first gave them these names (as opposed to the Welsh Gwehywfar or Latin Guanhumara).141 His poetry also contains the first incidence of Guinevere being falsely accused of a crime she didn’t commit142 and of the love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere.143

  Given all these “firsts,” one would think Chrétien wrote about Guinevere extensively, but he really only focuses on her in the romance Lancelot, also known as The Knight in the Cart. She is quite a minor character in his other poems, many times only called “the Queen.” When he does mention Guinevere, his treatment of her is wildly inconsistent, making her almost seem like different people. Peter Noble enumerates them: “Chrétien treats Guinevere in three ways. There is a marked contrast between the warm, capable and sympathetic queen of Erec and Enid (1170), (1176), and Yvain Chrétien de Troyes (1177-1181), the colorless and irreproachable queen of Perceval, and the calculating adulteress of Lancelot.”144

  In Erec and Enid, Guinevere is “a model consort and an inspiration to young knights of the court.”145 She is kind and generous, warm and friendly, playing matchmaker to lovers and intermediary between warring companions. Noble sees this as a type of role modeling or wish fulfillment. “Her role is no doubt an idealization of the role aspired to by many women of the period, as she is admired, respected and influential.”146

  It is only in Lancelot/The Knight of the Cart/Charette147 that Guinevere becomes a main character, likely at the behest of Marie de Champagne, Chrétien’s patroness. In this story, Guinevere is kidnapped by Kay, who gives her to Malegant. When Lancelot is on his way to resc
ue her, he hesitates for just a moment before riding in the back of a cart, which at the time was only used to transport criminals.148 When Guinevere hears of this, she berates him, accusing him of the sin of pride. “Did you not hesitate for shame to mount the cart? You showed you were loath to get in, when you hesitated for two whole steps. That is the reason why I would neither address you nor look at you.”149

  But not long after it is she who is prideful and self-centered. She coldly rebuffs Lancelot’s attempts to see her after his fight with Malegant, saying, “He cannot please me. I care nothing about seeing him…I shall never deny that I feel no gratitude toward him,”150 and blatantly disregards Lancelot’s safety and reputation in her manipulations of him at the tournament. Comer explains,

  Guinevere’s repudiation of Lancelot has more to do with the rules that govern courtly love than it has to do with her feelings for him. It seems like her behavior is erratic but in reality she has shifted priorities…Part of her duty [as a courtly lover] is to correct any behavior in her lover that does not follow the rules of courtly love, which Guinevere does…. The rules of courtly love suggest that in order to be a nurturing queen to her lover, she must be wanton and jealous. Guinevere is therefore vilified by the very rules of narrative that she is following.151