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Wenn man die Bauten mit der Artus-Legende liest und ich das letzte Mal Lancelot präsentiert habe, so sehe ich jetzt hier Guinevere vor mir stehen. Das rasch wachsende Nordbahnviertel beim Praterstern in Leopoldstadt treibt in die Höhe, wie dieser Wohnblock hier gut veranschaulicht.

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Location: ///repaid.emerald.guru

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~ The legend of Guinevere, Conclusion ~

Guinevere plays a significant role in many other Arthurian works than those mentioned here and has continued to fascinate readers for centuries. The English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) revived the Arthurian Legend with his Idylls of the King in 1859 and portrays Guinevere as a fallen woman who recognizes her failings and is forgiven by her lord. Tennyson's Guinevere reflects the values of the Victorian Age he was writing in, and every writer since then has followed this same paradigm. Even a cursory knowledge of how Guinevere has been portrayed in film over just the past 50 years shows how she is constantly re-imagined to fit the values of the time while the other characters in the legends remain more or less the same.

Guinevere is a genteel queen torn between the husband she loves and her feelings for his best friend in the musical Camelot (film version 1967), while in Excalibur (1981) she is a flirtatious free spirit who embraces her affair with Lancelot as simple fun. In First Knight (1995) she is the independent woman, rebelling against her marriage to the older Arthur, drawn to Lancelot, the dashing knight her own age, and in King Arthur (2004) she is a Pict warrior-princess, owing nothing to any man and choosing her own path. As interesting as all these portrayals may be, none of them capture the essence of Guinevere any more than the medieval tales which gave birth to her. Probably more than any other literary character, Guinevere continues to intrigue and resist any attempts at defining her.

Painting : Guinevere by James Archer

#guinevere #lancelot #kingarthur #art #mythology #legend #arthistory #history #painting #womenfromhistory

~ The legend of Guinevere, The Vulgate Cycle & Malory ~

If it is true that the poetry of 12th century Southern France was actually a heretical religious allegory, its message was abruptly silenced by the Church's Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) which destroyed the Cathars as well as the culture of the region. The Arthurian legends continued to develop in the 13th century but authors increasingly Christianized the tales so that the Grail (introduced by Chretien as simply a magical vessel) became the cup of Christ at the Last Supper and the purpose of Arthur's knights on their quests was no longer chivalric romance but an effort to find the Holy Grail.

These tales continued to captivate audiences, however, and were rendered in prose in the work known as the Vulgate Cycle (1215-1235, also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle). This work is significant in that it is the first time Arthurian material is presented in prose. Prior to this, romances were written as poetry while prose was reserved for serious works on history, philosophy, or theology. It is a telling detail on the importance of the Arthurian Legend that it was considered worthy of prose treatment. This work was then edited sometime between 1240-1250 for clarity and form; the edited version is known as the Post-Vulgate Cycle.

Painting : Lancelot and Guinevere by James Archer

#guinevere #lancelot #kingarthur #art #mythology #legend #arthistory #history #painting #womenfromhistory

~ The legend of Guinevere, Chretien de Troyes & Marie de France ~

Guinevere first comes into focus as an individual in the works of Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France (wrote c. 1160-1215), two Provencal poets associated with Eleanor of Aquitaine (l. c. 1122-1204) and her daughter Marie de Champagne (l. 1145-1198). Eleanor and her daughter were patronesses of a number of poets writing in the genre of courtly love, a highly refined poetic medium of medieval literature featuring the truly novel concept of strong women with clearly defined characters. Eleanor and Marie were most likely models for a number of these women, and Chretien (who was patronized by Marie) says outright in his introduction to his Lancelot that the story was given to him by Marie who told him to form it as poetry.

As none of Marie de France's works can be authoritatively dated, it is not possible to tell whether her poem Lanval predates Chretien's Lancelot. It is probable that Marie's work is later because she frequently inverts a central paradigm of courtly love (in which a woman needs a man to rescue her) and has women rescue themselves, a man, or both. In her poem, the main character is Lanval, a knight of Arthur's court, who rides off after feeling insulted and enters the world of the fairy princess. The two fall in love and he spends some time there before he feels he should return to court. The princess makes him swear to keep their love a secret and, if he does, she will come to him when he most needs her; Lanval promises and then departs.

Painting : Knight and Lady, probably "Sir Lancelot and Guinevere", by Wilhelm List

#guinevere #lancelot #kingarthur #art #mythology #legend #arthistory #history #painting #womenfromhistory

~ The legend of Guinevre, Wace & Caradoc of Lancarvan ~

Later writers such as Wace (c. 1110-1174) and Layamon (c. late 12th/early 13th century) depict Guinevere as complicit in Mordred's coup, but theirs is the minority view, and most writers suggest she had no choice as she was abducted by Mordred along with the monarchy. The Welsh writer Caradoc of Lancarvan (12th century), a colleague of Geoffrey's, gives the first known story of Guinevere's abduction in his Life of Gildas (written c. 1136-1150).

Here she is taken by Lord Melvas, King of the Summer Land, and hidden away for over a year while Arthur searches for her. Once he finds her, he prepares to destroy Melvas' kingdom, but Gildas appears before hostilities begin and resolves the conflict peacefully: Guinevere is returned to Arthur and Melvas keeps his kingdom intact. As with Geoffrey, Caradoc gives no details on Guinevere's part in all of this. She remains a static figure with no personality or impact on the plot other than being Arthur's queen whom he must rescue.

Illustration : A scene preceding the kidnapping by Maleagant: "How Queen Guenever rode a maying into the woods and fields beside Westminster." Arthur Rackham's illustration from The Romance of King Arthur (1917)

#guinevere #lancelot #kingarthur #art #mythology #legend #arthistory #history #painting #womenfromhistory

~ The legend of Guinevere, Geoffrey of Monmouth ~

Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100-1155) establishes the basic outline of the Arthurian Legend in his History of the Kings of Britain which features many of the central characters who would later be developed by other writers, including Guinevere. Geoffrey calls her Gwenhuvara from the Welsh name Gwenhwyvar. The name Gwenhwyvar (meaning unknown) appears in earlier Welsh folklore referencing a woman of bad reputation.

Precisely what this early Gwenhwyvar did is unclear, but in Geoffrey's work, she is simply Arthur's queen, a ward of the Lord Cador of Cornwall, and a great beauty of Roman descent. When Arthur leaves Britain to wage war on the continent, he leaves Guinevere in the care of his nephew Mordred who seduces her and usurps the throne. Arthur returns to rescue his queen and kingdom, but Guinevere, stricken with guilt, flees the kingdom and enters a nunnery. Mordred is killed in battle, and Arthur, mortally wounded, is taken away to the Isle of Avalon.

Geoffrey provides no details of Guinevere's infidelity, only writing : Message was brought to [Arthur] that his nephew Mordred, unto whom he had committed the charge of Britain, had tyrannously and traitorously set the crown of the kingdom upon his own head and had linked himself in unhallowed union with Gwenhuvara the Queen in despite of her former marriage. (Book X.13)

Painting : The Rescue of Guinevere by William Hatherell

#guinevere #lancelot #kingarthur #art #mythology #legend #arthistory #history #painting #womenfromhistory

~ The legend of Guinevere, Introduction ~

Guinevere is the Queen of Britain, wife of King Arthur, and lover of Sir Lancelot in the Arthurian Legends best known in their standardized form from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur (1469). She first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136) as Arthur's wife, who is abducted by his nephew Mordred and must be rescued by Arthur, but her character remained undeveloped until Chretien de Troyes (wrote c. 1159-1190) made her central to the plot of his Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart (c. 1177).

Chretien introduced the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, and writers following Chretien developed the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot plot through to its most complete treatment in Malory's work. Guinevere has been depicted as a duplicitous, treacherous, seducer and as an honest, loving wife trapped in circumstances beyond her control but all attempts to finally define her are lacking.

She is frequently abducted and rescued in Arthurian tales and is, therefore, an early medieval paradigm of the damsel-in-distress literary figure. Modern-day scholars claim that she may have been a historical figure who was mythologized after her death as a “Celtic Persephone” or that she represents the sovereignty of Britain while still others claim she symbolizes the goddess Sophia (wisdom) as envisioned by the Cathars. No scholarly consensus has been reached on any of these claims which simply highlights the elusive nature of Guinevere in that she is as difficult to define for a reading audience as she is to the lords and knights of the tales.

Painting : Lancelot and Guinevere, by Herbert James Draper

#guinevere #lancelot #kingarthur #art #mythology #legend #arthistory #history #painting #womenfromhistory