Guinevere's Tale

by Nicole Evelina

  The Famous Battles of King Arthur

  The battles I’ve chosen to show are only a few attributed to King Arthur by the Welsh historian Nennius, who records twelve great victories during Arthur’s reign as Dux Bellorum. There is much debate among scholars over their true dates, locations, and even who fought whom. As a fiction writer, I have picked what best fit my story and will leave it to the historians to hash out the rest.

  The name Caw is closely associated with Arthurian legend. There are likely a number of men by this name. A Pictish chief named Caw really did live somewhere near Strathclyde around the years 493-570 and may even have been father of Arthurian “historian” Gildas. I have chosen to make him a rebel and conflate the details with what Nennius tells us of the battles of Arthur, “The seventh battle was in the Caledonian Forest, that is, the Battle of Celidon Coit.” I have chosen to interpret that to mean the Caledonian Forest was in modern Scotland. The details of the battle are all from my own imagination, but legend has it that Arthur was victorious.

  One of the two battles most people are likely to be familiar with is the Battle of Mount Badon (the other being Camlann, which takes place in next book). Nennius writes, “The twelfth battle was on Badon Hill and in it nine hundred and sixty men fell in one day, from a single charge of Arthur’s, and no-one lay them low save he alone.” While the name comes from the book De Excidio Britanniae (The Ruin of Britain) written by the monk Gildas in the mid-500s, the battle itself is likely to have been real. Someone led a decisive battle against the Saxons sometime between 490 and 530 AD that resulted in a period of peace.

  That someone has come to be known in myth as Arthur and the battle called Badon. The location is a matter of much speculation, but I’ve chosen to go with the popular theory of it being at a hill fort near Bath, which the Romans called Aque Sullis. The use of battering rams by the Saxons is also historical. In his book Britannia antiquea, Or Ancient Britain brought within the limits of authentic history, Beale Poste, a nineteenth century historian writes, “We find by the History of Gildas that the Saxons had plenty of battering rams, in the use of which, they were very liberal (234).”

  Celtic Views on Death and Burial Practices

  The Celts believed in reincarnation. In mythology, the Cauldron of Rebirth was able to revive the dead. Pre-Christian Celts also believed in an after-death Otherworld (Annwn in Welsh mythology), a resting place between incarnations that was a heaven-like paradise.

  Graves were oriented west-east. West was the direction of the Otherworld, and Christians believed that this positioning allowed the dead to face Christ when he raised them on Resurrection Day. Single-person burials were the norm, with the dead person’s head facing west. Sometimes a mother and child were buried together. Bodies may have been laid in the bare earth, in a stone coffin, or in a hollowed-out log, but coffins as we think of them were rare.

  Ogham

  Chances are you’ve heard that the Celts passed all of their knowledge on orally, which is one of the reasons why we know so little for certain about their beliefs. This is true, but the Celts did have a system of written language called Ogham. The earliest inscriptions we have in this language date to somewhere in the fourth century, mostly in Ireland, Wales, and Southern Britain. But some historians and archeologists, such as Lloyd and Jenny Laing, believe it dates back much further than that—even as far back as the Sycthians, who may have been the Gaelic Celts’ ancestors dating to about 1300 BC. Ogham is mentioned often in ancient Irish myth, where it is said to have been used for poetry, Druidic spells, and even political challenges.

  The main source of written knowledge about Ogham is a fourteenth century manuscript called The Book of Ballymote, now housed in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy. When written, Ogham appears to the modern eye like a series of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, the number and shape of which indicate the letters. The alphabet had twenty characters arranged in series of four. Later, five additional characters were added.

  The use of Ogham as sign language, which Imogen employs, is very controversial and certainly not accepted by all historians. John Matthews explains in his Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom that the fingers of the hand and certain locations on the palm represent letters or phrases. A person signing this way would use the placement of fingers across the shinbone, nose, thigh, foot, or on the palm or fingers of the opposite hand to indicate a letter, word, or phrase.

  The Grail

  No explanation of an Arthurian legend story would be complete without talking about the Holy Grail. So many books have been written about it that I’m not going to go into theories, only explain how I came to the idea you see in this book.

  I chose to have a party of knights find the Grail because tradition varies as to which one did the finding. The most popular are Galahad, Perceval (Peredur), and Bors. In my version, Bors is not included because he’s not a nice person. Traditionally, though he is involved in the quest, Lancelot doesn’t ever see the Grail because he isn’t pure. I have chosen to force him to make a choice between Guinevere (as representative of the Goddess) or the Grail. Of course, he chooses Guinevere.

  Because there are so many possibilities of what the Grail could be (chalice, cup, cauldron, etc.) and they mean so much to people who believe in them, I didn’t want to alienate anyone by picking one over the other. My Grail changes because I really do believe it is whatever you wish it to be. The seals Guinevere sees on the sides were inspired by those on a small chalice I purchased years ago from a New Age store. I’m not even sure what faith it is an implement for. (If you’re ever at one of my book signings, I’ll have it with me, so maybe you can tell me.)

  The Grail Maiden is a title usually given to Elaine of Corbenic because she bore the man who finds the Grail. However, in many of the legends, a woman or angel is guarding it when it is discovered. I have chosen to extend this idea into a kind of special suborder of the Avalonian priestesshood. The stone circle they pass as Guinevere is tracking their progress (called this book the Sanctuary of the Stars) is Avebury.

  The Grail Castle can be found in the Vulgate Cycle of Arthurian legend as well as Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. It is usually associated with Corbenic, Elaine’s home, but I have chosen to make it a place that housed the Grail after the knights find it. I placed it on a fictitious island off the coast of Camelot to keep it well within reach of Arthur and Father Marius.

  BOOK 3: MISTRESS OF LEGEND

  The epigraph at the beginning of this book sets the tone for the whole story, which is one of warriors, war and change in Britain. It is an excerpt from “Y Gododdin,” the earliest surviving Welsh poem, which is also called the “Book of Aneirin.” There are two different versions of the surviving manuscript (one is shorter than the other, and generally believed to be more reliable). Cardiff MS 2.81, dates to the 13th century, but the poem itself is believed to be much older and may have first been written down in the ninth century from an oral source dating to the seventh century. Written in Old Welsh and Middle Welsh, it tells the story of the historical Battle of Catraeth between the Saxons and a motley crew of post-Roman Celts, Picts and Votadini sometime near the year 600 AD.

  It is used by some to justify the historical existence of King Arthur because of the line “although he was not Arthur,” as in “he was good, but not as great as Arthur.” However, most scholars point out that this line could be referencing any outstanding warrior who bore that name, and also if there was someone like King Arthur whom people lauded, chances are good many babies would have been named after him, just as we do with celebrities and royalty today.

  Traditionally, Guinevere is not involved in the Battle of Catraeth, for she and everyone who knew Camelot are long dead by the time of the battle or, if the story takes place in the Middle Ages, many generations yet to come. But I chose to set this battle about fifty years earlier than most scholars date it because of the Votadini heritage I have given Guinev
ere throughout this series. The Battle of Catraeth was the penultimate defeat of the Votadini, though here I have framed it as only the first in a line of disasters that would then end around the time of the historical Battle of Catraeth, ushering in the age of the Anglo Saxons and the formation of the country of England.

  Part One: The Broken Crown

  In most Arthurian stories, after Guinevere is rescued from the stake she flees with Lancelot to his castle, Joyous Gard, which has been variously placed throughout England, though one of the most accepted locations is Din Guayrdi, modern Bamburgh. From there he defends against attacks by King Arthur. Eventually, they part and Guinevere becomes a nun and Lancelot a monk, both living out their days in penance for their sin.

  This ending does not suit the strong, active, willful woman that my Guinevere is, so I chose to make her an active participant in the remainder of her life and in trying to save Camelot. Guinevere’s wounds are consistent with second and third degree burns. Why did she get them if she was a priestess? She couldn’t control the fire and concentrate on successfully jumping onto Lancelot’s horse at the same time. The ointment the priestesses make to help heal her is based on an Amish remedy still in use today. Similarly, the method of invisible ink Morgan uses on her herb and poison vials is historical, invented by Pliny the Elder. (Thanks to the American Bookbinder’s Museum in San Francisco for that tidbit.)

  Traditionally, when Arthur leaves Camelot in Mordred’s care, Guinevere is harassed by Mordred, who attempts to marry her (sometimes willingly, sometimes not) for her power. I have kept the element of the rulers desiring her sovereignty, but I chose not to exploit the relationship between Guinevere and Mordred, as these characters never had any chemistry to me. They are in my mind, much more like mother and son, than lovers. Besides, I planned to have Mordred and Elga get together and had no desire to create yet another love triangle in this already complex story.

  The convent that Elga sends Guinevere to is my own invention, although York is historically known for being a Saxon haven and then later, a capital, and was important enough to have had its own bishopric. I chose to include it as a nod to Guinevere’s traditional ending as a nun, but also to provide an update on Mayda’s fate from Camelot’s Queen and to give Guinevere a safe haven during the battle of Camlann.

  Religious orders, especially those comprised of women, were rare at the time, but we know from the famous example of St. Brigid and her dual monastery in fifth century Ireland that they did exist in Great Britain during the Dark Ages. The rituals the Sisters enact while Guinevere is at the convent are based on actual Anglo Saxon Christian rituals from around the year 900, as described in The Dramatic Liturgy of Anglo-Saxon England by M. Bradford Bedingfield. Some of them may seem familiar to Catholic readers, as the Tenebrae ritual is still used today with some revisions after Vatican II. If you are interested in the sign language used by the nuns, I recommend Monasteriales Indicia: The Anglo-Saxon Sign Language by Debby Banham. A few Catholic religious orders still use similar communication today during the period of their day known as the Grand Silence.

  The historical veracity and date of the Battle of Camlann is the subject of much debate. It is estimated as taking place anywhere from 515 – 542 AD. Camlann appears first in written record in the tenth-century Annales Cambriae, which says it took place twenty-one years after the Battle of Badon, the exact date of which is unknown. Based on that, Camlann can be placed at 515, 520 or 539, depending on the source, although the traditional date has become either 537 or 547. Confusing things even more, the Irish Annals of Tigernach place it in 541, Geoffrey Monmouth uses 542 and the Spanish Anales Toledanos dates it much later in 580.

  Scholars have been trying to definitively locate the location of the battle for years. That is one of the reasons why I portray it as a series of battles on the run, rather than being in one fixed location. Sites as varied as Somerset, Cornwall, Wales, and even as far north as Hadrian’s Wall have been suggested. I chose to locate the final battle in which Mordred and Arthur are mortally wounded on Hadrian’s Wall because that is in keeping with my northern Arthur. Like so much else about King Arthur and the legends that surround him, the true location is something we will likely never know for sure.

  Part Two: People of the North

  The People of the North is a name for the tribes that lived between Hadrian’s Wall and Antonine Wall in what is today southern Scotland. There were once many tribes in the area, but by the time in which this book is set, the Damnonii, Selgovae, Novantae and Votadini were the main four. Among those, the Damnonii and Votadini were the more powerful. The titles of Votad and Votadess are my own invention, based in the root meaning of the word Votadini, which is wo-tado or wotad, which translates as foundation or support.

  Mynyddog Mwynfawr and Morcant are based on historical people, while Evina, Rohan and most of the rest of the Votadini are fictional. According to Welsh tradition, Mynyddog was the ruler of the Gododdin, which was either part of the Votadini lands or another name for them. His capital is generally accepted to be Din Eidyn, which is today called Edinburgh. It is unclear if his name is a personal one or a title. He is thought to have been a brother or son to Clydno Eitin, a historical ruler of Strathclyde, who is mentioned briefly in this book. Clydno’s historical son, Cynan, is also a character. Morcant is the historical Morcant Bulc, the last British king of Bernicia before it became an Anglican holding. Included in his territory was Ynts Metcault, also known as the Isle of Winds, which is today called Lindisfarne (more on that in a bit).

  Traditionally in Arthurian legend, after the Battle of Camlann and the deaths of Arthur and Mordred, the country is plunged into civil war. The two main traditional contenders for the throne are King Mark of Cornwall (who in my story is dead by this point) and Constantine (who was traditionally Arthur’s heir, beginning with Gildas’ sixth century writing). Some authors even say Mordred had children who would have been in line for the throne, but that is not relevant to this story. For a good explanation of both Constantine’s role in Arthurian legend and Mordred’s possible sons, see King Arthur’s Children by Tyler R. Tichelaar. I chose to make the two main British contenders Constantine because of tradition and the House of Rheged (Owain and Accolon) because of their historical power.

  Guinevere’s possession of ancestral lands in Stirling and her mother being a Votadini are based on Norma Lorre Goodrich’s theory that Guinevere was a Pict born in Stirling. Goodrich is also the source for that area being Guinevere’s inheritance. The marking ceremony is my own invention, as are the marks and which animals belong to each tribe. The symbolism of the feathers is also fiction, but was inspired by the traditions of many ancient cultures.

  The plague that has affected the village outside of Stirling that Guinevere visits (and that we find out toward the end of the book has killed many of the inhabitants of the Grail Castle) is based on the plague of 537, also called the Plague of Justinian, which is generally thought of as the first ever recorded outbreak of plague. It is believed to have disproportionately affected the post-Roman Celts because they frequently traded with Mediterranean merchants (which is also where Sobian obtained the henna to dye her hair). It was more of a bubonic plague than the smallpox/typhus-like disease I have described. I changed it because I didn’t want people getting it confused with the better-known outbreak of bubonic plague during the Black Death in the fourteenth century.

  Part Three: The False Queen

  The revolution in Guinevere’s name was based partially off the real-life insurgency that Lady Jane Grey’s family led in her name in the sixteenth century. I know that many others have happened throughout history, but that one is my historical touchstone, especially for a revolution that happened without the person’s permission, as the one in this book does at first.

  I have purposefully conflated the Saxons and the Angles in this and the final section of the book for ease of reading. I thought it would be awkward to try to explai
n the different Germanic tribes to the reader in the course of a fictional story, so I chose to attribute everything to the Saxons. In reality, what occurred during the Battle of Catraeth took place between the Celts of the Gododdin and the Angles from Denmark, who were a separate invading tribe from the Germanic Saxons.

  King Ida and his sons, Theodric and Osmere, were historical personages, though Ida’s reign actually began in 547. Ida did really take over the capital of Bernicia and claimed Catraeth as his own. As cited in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, his son Theodric led a three-day the battle against King Uriens for the Isle of Winds, what we now call the Isle of Lindisfarne. Its strategic importance is just as I have stated in this book. See Brain Taylor Hope’s wonderful book Yeavering: An Anglo-British Centre of Early Northumbria for more information. The date of the siege is uncertain, but is usually placed somewhere between 547 and 590, depending on the source. During the battle, Morcant is said to have paid a foreign assassin to murder Uriens. Because I had already had Malegant murder Uriens in Camelot’s Queen, I substituted his eldest son, Owain, instead, and identified the assassin as the fictional character Rohan.

  Evina’s ritual with the horses is fictional and the part before the executions begin was inspired by a post on the rituals of the Celtic horse goddess Epona. I may have stretched the bounds of Celtic law in that scene, as execution was a last resort for the Celts, who liked to settle things with fines and the creation of outlaws instead. However, I find it difficult to believe that a warrior people who were rumored to practice human sacrifice and had an obsession with the heads of their enemies didn’t employ capital punishment for extreme cases.