Guinevere

Guinevere was the Queen consort of King Arthur. Guinevere may be an epithet - the Welsh form Gwenhwyfar (in older spelling Gwenhwyvar) can be translated The White Fay or "white shadow" (see also Ishara) that falls over the knights of the Round Table and leads to Arthur's ruin. However, as Rachael Bromwich notes, it can also be analyzed as "Gwenhwy-vawr" or Gwen the Great in contrast to the personage "Gwenhwy-vach" -- Gwen the less (Gwenhwyvach appears in Welsh literature as a sister of Gwenhyfar). She is childless in most stories, two exceptions being the Perlesvaus and the Alliterative Morte Arthurehttp://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/alstint.htm. In the former, the character Loholt is apparently her son; he appears as Arthur's illegitimate son in other works. In the latter, Guinevere willingly becomes Mordred's consort and bears him two sons, though all of this is implied rather than stated in the text. There are mentions of Arthur's sons in the Welsh Triads, though their exact parentage isn't clear.

Related Topics:
Queen consort - King Arthur - Epithet - Welsh - Ishara - Gwenhwyvach - Alliterative Morte Arthure - Loholt - Welsh Triads

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~