The Once and Future Queen

by Nicole Evelina

  148 De Troyes, Lancelot, or The Knight, 8. The text itself gives a good indication of why Lancelot would fear for his reputation by riding in a cart: “Whoever was convicted of any crime was placed upon a cart and dragged through the streets, and he lost henceforth all his legal rights, and was never afterward heard, honoured, or welcomed at any court. The carts were so dreadful in those days that the saying was first then used ‘When thou dost see and meet a cart, cross thyself so that no evil may befall thee.’”

  149 Ibid., 67.

  150 Ibid., 59.

  151 Comer, "Behold Thy Doom," 16, 22.

  152 Walters, “Introduction,” xix.

  153 Krueger, Roberta L., “Desire, Meaning and the Female Reader,” in Lancelot and Guinevere: A Casebook, ed. Lori Walters (New York: Routledge, 2002), 232.

  154 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 37.

  155 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 39-40.

  156 Capellanus, Andreas, “De Arte Honeste Amandi [The Art of Courtly Love], Book Two: On the Rules of Love,” Medieval Sourcebook, accessed July 17, 2017. Applicable rules will be quoted in the following footnotes. For a full listing of the rules, see http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/capellanus.asp.

  157 From Capellanus’ "Rules:" “He who is not jealous cannot love,” “Real jealousy always increases the feeling of love,” “Jealousy, and therefore love, are increased when one suspects his beloved,” and “A slight presumption causes a lover to suspect his beloved.”

  158 From Capellanus’ "Rules:" “Every lover regularly turns pale in the presence of his beloved,” “When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates.”

  159 Bumke, Joachim, Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the Middle Ages (London: Duckworth, 2004), and Simpson, David L., “Chivalry and Courtly Love,” The School for New Learning, DePaul University. Accessed July 14, 2017. http://condor.depaul.edu/dsimpson/tlove/courtlylove.html

  160 As Capellanus’ "Rules" state: “The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.”

  161 One example is Lancelot’s actions after he bends the bars to get into the queen’s room. “He comes to the bed of the queen, whom he adores and before whom he kneels, holding her more dear than the relic of any saint.” 69.

  162 As Capellanus’ "Rules" state: “When made public love rarely endures.”

  163 As Capellanus’ "Rules" state: “Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.”

  164 Noble, Peter, “The Character of Guinevere in the Arthurian Romances of Chrétien De Troyes,” The Modern Language Review, 67, no. 3 (1972), 524.

  165 Comer, "Behold Thy Doom is Mine," 23.

  166 Ibid., 24.

  167 Ibid., 2.

  168 Ibid., 27.

  169 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 39.

  170 Samples, "A Re-Appraisal," 222.

  171 Walters, “Introduction,” xix.

  172 Ibid., lxi.

  173 Fries, “Female Heroes, Heroines,” 8.

  174 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 36.

  175 Comer, "Behold Thy Doom," 12.

  176 Ibid., 71.

  177 But emotional adultery is common. Most nobility were married for political purposes, rather than love.

  178 Bumke, Courtly Culture, 397.

  179 Ibid.

  180 Walters, “Introduction,” lxi.

  181 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 64.

  182 Comer, "Behold Thy Doom," 18.

  183 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 31.

  184 Walters, “Introduction,” 238.

  185 Bonner, "Guinevere as Heroine," 32.

  186 Fries, “Female Heroes, Heroines,” 9.

  187 De France, Marie, Marie de France: Poetry, International Student Edition (New York:W.W. Norton, 2015).

  188 Not to be confused with Marie de Champagne, Chrétien’s patroness. Very little is known of Marie de France, not even when she lived or where. There is debate as to whether, since she wrote in the French dialect of Northern France, she was a Frenchwoman, or if as tradition dictates, she was an English subject from Pitre, Normandy. See Mason, the introduction to French Medieval Romances p. 3 for more.

  189 Mason, "Introduction," 5.

  190 Hopkins, Andrea, The Book of Guinevere, 66.

  191 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 63.

  192 Chamberlain, David, “Marie de France’s Arthurian Lai: Subtle and Political," in Culture and the King: The Social Implications of Arthurian Legend (Albany: State U of New York P, 1994), 23.

  193 Matthews, John and Caitlin, The Complete King Arthur, 258.

  194 Korrel, An Arthurian Triangle, 125.

  195 Thomas, Alfred, Reading Women in Late Medieval Europe: Anne of Bohemia and Chaucer’s Female Audience (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 142.

  196 Whalen, Logan, A Companion to Marie de France (Boston: Brill, 2011), 67.

  197 Thomas, Reading Women, 142.

  198 Mason, "Introduction," 2.

  199 Medeiros, Jessica, “Why Marie De France Was A Medieval Bad Ass,” The Odyssey, August 22, 2016.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Middle Ages Part Four:

  The Vulgate Cycle

  “They agreed at last that they would speak to the nurse of King Arthur’s betrothed, and they would be so generous toward her that, on the night when Guenevere was to lie down with her husband, the old woman would put the seneschal’s daughter [the False Guinevere] with the king instead of her; and she would take Guenevere to play in the garden that evening and ‘then we will seize her and take her to such a place that he will never hear news of her.’”200

  — Lancelot from the Lancelot-Grail Cycle

  Importance of the Vulgate Cycle

  The Vulgate Cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle) is comprised of five interconnected tales that tell the story of King Arthur from his birth to his death. It is believed to have been written in early thirteenth century and to be the work of several authors, likely Cistercian monks and clerics. It is a very important piece of Arthurian literature, as it marks the shift from verse to prose, and its more famous cousin, Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, couldn’t exist without it. It was the first Arthurian story to include Arthur’s incest with his sister (in this version Lot’s unnamed wife, not Morgan) and Mordred being his son. It was also the first to associate Guinevere with witchcraft (through a poisoned apple), tell the story of the true and false Guineveres, and give Guinevere “hypnotic” power over Lancelot.201

  The True and False Guineveres

  In Chapter Two, we examined the idea that Arthur had three wives, all named Guinevere, as well as the episode where one of the Guineveres struck the other in Triads 53 and 54. By the thirteenth century, this idea had morphed into there being Guinevere the False and Guinevere the True. Their story is told in the book Merlin.

  Guinevere the False is the identical half-sister of the real Guinevere, fathered by Leodegan (or Leodegrance) and the wife of Cleodalis, his seneschal. Both Guineveres are conceived the same night, born the same day and look exactly alike, except the true Guinevere has a birthmark of a crown on her back.

  Leodegan’s enemies scheme to replace the true Guinevere with the false Guinevere on Arthur’s wedding night, but Merlin learns of the plan and commissions two knights to stop it. Years later, Guinevere the False forms an alliance with Bertholai, an old knight who had been banished from Leodegan’s court for murder. They send a message to Arthur proclaiming that Guinevere the False is the true quee
n, and that Arthur has been living with an impostor since his wedding night.

  Bertholai and his knights capture Arthur and give him a love potion which makes him fall in love with Guinevere the False and reject Guinevere the True. He accuses the True of being the False and demands she be stripped of the skin on her head, cheeks, and palms before she is exiled.202

  Lancelot acts as champion to Guinevere the True against three of Bertholai’s knights to prove her innocence. This is where the story diverges into two possible endings. According to the Vulgate Lancelot, Lancelot and the true Guinevere flee Arthur’s court for Sorelois, where they live for several years before Guinevere the False perishes of an illness, confessing on her deathbed. But in the non-cyclical, Post-Vulgate Lancelot du Lac, Bertholai and the False Guinevere immediately admit their guilt and are burned.203

  As Jane Burns points out, it is interesting that “the Old French text never labels one Guinevere ‘true’ and the other ‘false.’ In fact, the narrator’s initial distinction between the pretender to the throne [is] ‘Genievre, las fille le roi Leodagan de Tarmelide” [Guinevere, the daughter of King Leodagan of Tarmelide] and King Arthur’s wife as ‘la roine’ [the queen].”204 But yet the True and the False are how the two women have been known for centuries.

  This strange insertion into Arthurian legend is thought by some to be representative of the “tendency of medieval writers to polarize the female figure”205 into good/bad, Madonna/whore, true/false. This theory would certainly fit with the way women were generally portrayed by men in medieval society. Also fittingly for the time, we see here Guinevere punished for acting too independently, even though Arthur sinned with Guinevere the False just has she did with Lancelot. Burns explains,

  In her adulterous liaison with Lancelot, Guinevere oversteps [her] role as Arthur’s queen and royal consort to become too thoroughly and independently the lord herself…. Guinevere’s behavior is deemed unacceptable in this instance because it defies legal statutes and social codes. But her adulterous act is equally threatening to courtly society because it crosses proscribed gender boundaries. ‘How dare she, a woman, pursue an adulterous passion in defiance of her spouse?’ this text seems to ask. Adultery was acceptable for men, not women, in the Middle Ages; the province of lords, not ladies. That Guinevere pursues her adulterous liaison with such resolve smacks inappropriately of male prerogative. This feme [woman] and roine [queen] has taken the liberties of a man.206

  Guinevere in The Vulgate Cycle

  Guinevere figures the most prominently in the third book of the cycle, Lancelot. When the story begins, Arthur and Guinevere have a loving relationship. Lancelot meets Guinevere at court and is captivated by her beauty. She bestows the sword of knighthood on Lancelot, a role usually played by Arthur.207 He goes on many adventures and over time falls more in love with Guinevere, who secretly returns his feelings. Guinevere initiates their first kiss. Their love is chaste at first, but when Arthur is kidnapped by an enchantress named Camille, Guinevere and Lancelot become lovers. Lancelot comes to the Grail Castle where he is tricked into sleeping with the Fisher King’s daughter, Elaine, whom he believes to be Guinevere. Guinevere finds out and berates Lancelot, who goes mad and wanders in the forest for a long time.

  In the fifth book, Morte le Roi Artu, the story takes a darker turn. Lancelot returns to his affair with Guinevere, who is petty and jealous when she suspects Lancelot of having an affair with Elaine. Agravain, Morgan, and others suspect Guinevere and Lancelot are having an affair. Guinevere is accused of murdering the brother of Sir Mador de la Porte and is given forty days to find a champion, as recommended by law. Lancelot, who has been recovering from wounds, saves her.

  After her acquittal, the lovers become reckless, but Arthur refuses to believe they are having an affair, so Agravain, Mordred, and Guerrehes hatch a plot to catch the lovers together. They do and Lancelot escapes, but Guinevere is not so lucky and is sentenced to death at the stake. Lancelot rescues her, but in the process, he kills Gaheriet, angering Arthur. In retaliation, Arthur attacks Lancelot’s castle of Joyous Gard.

  At the urging of the Pope, Arthur takes Guinevere back after months of fruitless fighting, but at Gawain’s suggestion, follows Lancelot to Brittany, leaving Mordred alone with Guinevere. Guinevere becomes a nun, possibly to escape Mordred’s advances, and dies shortly after hearing of Arthur’s death. Lancelot sees Guinevere die in a vision and becomes a hermit. Later, he dies while stretched out on Guinevere’s tomb.

  It is notable that unlike in Chrétien’s story, this version of Arthurian legend introduces tremendous guilt on the part of the lovers, to the point where Guinevere and Lancelot never know a moment’s peace, and they are punished for their adultery. None of this is really too surprising given that the story was written by monks, but it is still a striking departure from previous legend. According to Meredith Ross, this is also in keeping with literary tradition. “In the tradition of French prose romance—especially in the Vulgate Cycle—the main characters are destroyed not by external enemies but by internal flaws.”208 So despite the punishment Arthur later metes out, the lovers’ true undoing is their inescapable guilt.

  The Vuglate Cycle’s Guinevere, while she does a lot more than many of her earlier counterparts, doesn’t have much personality. She exists, especially in Lancelot, only as an object of affection for the men in her life. Some scholars believe she isn’t meant to be seen as a person in her own right, but as a symbol of Lancelot’s fatal flaw209—it is loving her that costs him the Grail and brings about the fall of Camelot. Here again we see her not as a person in her own right, but as a person beloved by Lancelot.

  It very well could be that the monks who penned this version of Guinevere, being chaste and cloistered away from the outside world, simply didn’t have the experience with women necessary to craft a convincing female character. Or, it could be that they were more interested in getting across their religious message of the evils of woman and the importance of repentance than in representing Guinevere accurately. After all, she was nothing more than a tool to them.

  In the Vulgate Cycle, we witness Guinevere becoming Eve, the cause of the fall of Camelot just like Eve was to Paradise. Gordon-Wise explains the implications of this idea: “Riddled with clerical misogyny, this work emphatically associates the figure of Guinevere with the devil, thus echoing the medieval acceptance of the notion of woman as demonic temptress.”210 Given this—and the other overt religious messages of the tales—it’s only fitting that Guinevere and Lancelot can only find peace, and maybe even salvation, in the religious life they both turn to after their affair is exposed.

  The Vulgate Cycle is the last of the major works of Arthurian legend to be penned by monks and clerics; after this, lay people take over telling the story. But the condemnation and religious symbolism they (Gildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Layamon, and the Cistercians who wrote The Vulgate Cycle) threaded into the story remain, casting a long shadow of guilt that will become more prominent as the popularity of the Arthurian legend soars at Thomas Malory’s hands.

  * * *

  200 Lacy, Norris, J., The Lancelot-Grail Reader: Selections from the Medieval French Arthurian Cycle (New York: Garland Pub., 2000), 83.

  201 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 77.

  202 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 77. The head, cheeks, and palms are the traditional places a queen was anointed. Some scholars say this was an act of disfigurement or that it was a way of making her no longer tempting to men, or of taking her power and sexual control.

  203 Bruce, Christopher W., “Guinevere the False,” The Arthurian Name Dictionary (New York: Garland, 1999).

  204 Burns, E. Jane, “Which Queen?: Guinevere’s Transvestism in the French Prose Lancelot,” in Lancelot and Guinevere: A Casebook, ed.Lori Walters (New York: Routledge, 2002), 249.

  205 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen,
11.

  206 Burns, E. Jane, “Which Queen?: Guinevere’s Transvestism in the French Prose Lancelot,” 254.

  207 Walters, “Introduction,” xxi. Walters claims this symbolizes Guinevere’s true allegiance to Lancelot.

  208 Ross, Meredith, "The Sublime to the Ridiculous: The Restructuring of Arthurian Materials in Selected Modern Novels" (PhD diss., University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1985), 167.

  209 Kennedy, Edward Donald, “Introduction,” King Arthur: A Casebook (New York:Routledge, 2013), xxv.

  210 Gordon-Wise, The Reclamation of a Queen, 14.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The Middle Ages Part Five: Alliterative Morte Arthure and Thomas Malory

  “It was my darling dainteous and full dere holden,

  Keeped for encrownmentes of kinges annointed;

  On dayes when I dubbed dukes and erles

  It was burlich borne by the bright hiltes;