Back to top

Guinevere

Guinevere

Character Name Variants: Guenevere, Ginevra, Gwenhwyfar, Gaynor, Guanhumara, Guennivar, Ganore, Guenever, WaynorBackground Essay Author: Alan Lupack
Guinevere is said to be the daughter of Leodegrance of Cameliard in late medieval romance. In many sources, she marries Arthur and then has a love affair with Lancelot which causes the downfall of Camelot.

The Welsh Triads speak of "Arthur's Three Great Queens," all named Gwenhwyfar (Triad 56) and name Gwenhwyfar as "more faithless" than the three faithless wives of the Island of Britain (Triad 80). One of the earliest Arthurian stories is about the abduction of Guinevere by Meleagant (or Melyagaunce or Melwas). The story is told in The Life of St. Gildas (c. 1130) by Caradoc of Llancarfan and in the Welsh "Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhwyfar." It is the subject of the earliest known Arthurian sculpture on the archivolt of the Porta della Pescheria on the Modena Cathedral. The story of the abduction is the central action in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot and appears in Malory.

Geoffrey of Monmouth introduces the notion of Guinevere’s infidelity (with Modred) while Arthur is fighting on the continent. In the twelfth-century Rise of Gawain, Arthur’s wife is called Gwendoloena and is said to have been initiated into sorcery and to be able to divine the future.
 
In Chrétien’s Lancelot, Guinevere becomes Lancelot’s lover after he rescues her from Meleagant. She is a demanding courtly lover; for example, she refuses to see Lancelot after he has suffered greatly in saving her because he hesitated two steps before leaping into a cart on his quest to rescue her, thus suggesting that his love was not absolute. But she loves deeply and contemplates suicide when she hears rumors of Lancelot’s death.
Read More
Adams, Oscar Fay (1855 - 1919)
The Maid's Alarm - 1886 (Author)

Akhurst, W. M. (1822 - 1878)
The Enchanted Shield - 1827 (Author)
Six Ballads About King Arthur - 1881 (Author)

Cian of the Chariots - 1898 (Author)

Baring, Maurice (1874 - 1945)
The Camelot Jousts - 1910 (Author)

Cian of the Chariots - 1898 (Artist)

Bridges, Sallie (1830 - 1910)
Camelot - Written 1917; published 1919 (Author)

Sir Tristem - March 22, 1862 (Author)

Buchanan, Robert (1785 - 1873)
Joyous Garde - 1859 (Author)
The Rendering - 1859 (Author)
The Rescue - 1859 (Author)
The Tryste - 1859 (Author)

Guinevere to Lancelot - March 1869 (Author)

The Amesbury Legend of the Death of Guinevere - 1902 (Author)
Launcelot - 1902 (Author)
Queen Guinevere - 1902 (Author)

Cawein, Madison J. (1865 - 1914)
A Guinevere - 1887 (Author)

Collins, W. Lucas (1815 - 1887)
Davidson, Gustav (1895 - 1971)
Musing on Camelot and Avalon - December 1922 (Author)

Davidson, John (1857 - 1909)
The Last Ballad - 1899 (Author)

The Wife of Bath's Tale - 1926 (Author)

Draper, John W. (1893 - 1976)
Arthur to Guenever - 1926 (Author)

Ellis, T. E. (1880 - 1946)
Fawcett, Edgar (1847 - 1904)
Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 - 1155)
The Queen's Crags - 1914 (Author)

Giles, J. A. (1808 - 1884)
Gosse, Sir Edmund William (1849 - May 16, 1928)
Guenevere - 1873 (Author)

Hawker, Robert Stephen (c. 1803 - 1875)
Heber, Reginald (1783 - 1826)
The Once and Future Queen - 1908 (Author)

Hovey, Richard (1864 - 1900)
Kipling, Rudyard (1865 - 1936)
The Hill of Illusion - 1888 (Author)

Guenevere - 1927 (Author)

Mitchell, S. Weir (1829 - 1914)
Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
The Defence of Guenevere - 1858 (Author)
King Arthur's Tomb - 1858 (Author)
Near Avalon - 1858 (Author)

Guinevere - July 22, 1880 (Author)
Sir Franklin - November 1865 (Author)
The True Story of Guenever - June 15, 1876 (Author)

The Swans of Camelot - 2008 (Author)

Rosenthal's Elaine - 1876 (Author)

Rhys, Ernest (1859 - 1946)
Lancelot - 1920 (Author)

The Farewell of Ganore - 1869 (Author)

The Day Before the Trial - 1928 (Author)
Lancelot - 1918 (Author)

Arthurian Songs - 1904 (Author)

Teasdale, Sara (1884 - 1933)
Guenevere - 1911 (Author)

Guinevere - 1859-1885 (Author)
Idylls of the King - 1859-1885 (Author)
Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere: A Fragment - 1842 (Author)

Thelwall, John (1764 - 1834)
The Fairy of the Lake - 1801 (Author)

Elaine: A Poetic Drama - 1923 (Author)

Ballad of Sir Launcelot - 1886 (Author)
The Death of Guinevere - 1886 (Author)

Young, Stark (1881 - 1963)
Dan Beard (1850 - 1941)
Aubrey Beardsley (1872 - 1898)
Walter Crane (1845 - 1915)
Arthur Dixon (1872 - 1959)
Gustave Doré (1832 - 1883)
H. J. Ford (1860 - 1941)
F. A. Fraser (1846 - 1924)
Innes Fripp (1867 - 1963)
Edmund H. Garrett (1853 - 1929)
Florence Harrison (1877 - 1955)
Alfred Kappes (1850 - 1894)
Jessie M. King (1875 - 1949)
M. L. Kirk (1860 - 1938)
W. H. Margetson (1861 - 1940)
Howard Pyle (1853 - 1911)
Arthur Rackham (1867 - 1939)
Louis Rhead (1857 - 1926)
John Moyr Smith (1839 - 1912)
Lancelot Speed (1860 - 1931)
G.H. Thomas (1824 - 1868)
F. H. Townsend (1868 - 1920)
N. C. Wyeth (1882 - October 19, 1945)