Igraine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Igraine |
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| Matter of Britain character | |
King Uther and Igraine after Gorlois's death, from Uther and Igraine by Warwick Deeping, illustration by Władysław T. Benda, 1903
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| First appearance | Historia Regum Britanniae |
| Created by | Geoffrey of Monmouth |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Duchess, queen |
| Family | King Arthur's family |
| Spouse(s) | Gorlois, Uther Pendragon |
| Children | Elaine, Morgan, Morgause (with Gorlois), Arthur (with Uther) |
| Nationality | Briton |
In the Matter of Britain, Igraine is the mother of King Arthur. She becomes the wife of Uther Pendragon, after the death of her first husband, Gorlois.
Legend
In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Igerna enters the story as the wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. In Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, her daughters by Gorlois are Elaine, Morgause and Morgan le Fay. In other works, the names, roles and even number of Arthur's half-sisters vary depending on the text (including none in the Historia, in which Arthur has only a younger sister). In the Brut Tysilio, Cador of Cornwall is their son. John Hardyng's Chronicle calls Cador Arthur's brother "of his mother's syde".
Geoffrey describes her as one "whose beauty surpassed that of all the women of Britain." High King Uther Pendragon falls in love with her and attempts to force his attentions on her at his court. She informs her husband, who departs with her to Cornwall without asking leave. This sudden departure gives Uther Pendragon an excuse to make war on Gorlois. In Layamon's Brut, Igraine "was sorry and sorrowful at heart / that so many men should be lost for her".
Gorlois conducts the war from the castle of Dimilioc but places his wife in safety in Tintagel Castle. Disguised as Gorlois by Merlin, Uther Pendragon enters Tintagel and manages to deceive Igraine – she believes that she is with her husband while real Gorlois dies in battle that same night. Uther Pendragon later marries Igraine and she becomes pregnant with Arthur. Geoffrey says "from that day on they lived together as equals, united by their great love for each other".
Malory has Arthur, who had been raised by Sir Ector, meet his mother for the first time after he had grown to manhood and become king. According to Geoffrey, Igraine also bore a daughter to Uther Pendragon: Arthur's full sister Anna, the future mother of Gawain and Mordred.
Igraine is indirectly mentioned several times in the 11th/12th-century Welsh text Culhwch and Olwen as the unnamed mother of Arthur.
In Robert de Boron's poem Merlin, Igraine's previous husband is an unnamed Duke of Tintagel and it is by him that she becomes the mother of two unnamed daughters. One marries King Lot and by him becomes the mother of Gawain, Mordred, Gaheriet, and Guerrehet. A second daughter, also unnamed in some variants but in some named Morgaine, is married to King Nentres of Garlot. According to Robert de Boron, Igraine died before her second husband. Some romances, however, show her alive after Uther's death.
See also
- King Arthur's family
