Queen Guinevere: Her Lovers and Suitors as Portrayed in the Mediaeval French Verse and Prose Romances

Abstract

<p>Except in her relationships with Lancelot, Guinevere has hitherto been comparatively neglected by Arthurian scholarship, with the result that many links between extant romances, and many suggestions of links with earlier, now lost, romances, have remained uncommented upon. These links are important to the establishment of the extent of the various romances' dependence on their antecedents; whether extant or postulated, as well as the extent of their borrowings from older tradition, Classical or Celtic. While it seems as if rather too much emphasis has been placed (by the Celticist school of thought in particular ) on the dependence of the Lancelot legend upon ancient Celtic tradition rather than upon the contemporary mores which it so vividly reflects, certain other liaisons involving Guinevere, which have been neglected (her almost-certain one-time dalliance with Gauvain, and her abduction by Brun de Morois for example), are shown in the present study to have greater dependence on anterior tradition than has been allowed by some scholars.</p> <p>Guinevere's relationship with her husband Arthur is also discussed; as are the various other dalliances and abductions in which she is involved . Brief mention has had to be made of the non-French abductions and suits of Guinevere, as they demonstrate intricate links with the French versions and also suggest the one-time existence of a written and oral Arthurian tradition widespread before Chrétien de Troyes and of which we now possess but a small proportion.</p>