Fan of Aruthur and his knights at Camelot. Story help please?

Question

I'm a big fan of King Arthur and the Knights of Camelot, but I have a question about the story as it is told.

I'm a big hater of Camelot. Don't ask why, it is just a big thing to do with his apparent betrayal.

My question is, was Gwenevere (sp?) wed to Arthur by arranged marriage or was it actual choice of both?

It would answer a vital question for me and either make or break my love of the legend of King Arthur.

Answer 1

It was supposed to be a marriage to merge countries!  

If you will think about the musical for a moment, think of Richard Harris in the forest singing (yes, I know it was strange, because he could not really sing!) but he was talking about meeting his bride for the first time.

But as you know, with time, he grew to love her.  But she betrayed him!

I really do not want to be the one to make or break your love of the story, but I hope this helped you!

Answer 2

There are many different versions of Arthurian stories so it is difficult to say that any particular version is right or wrong.

“First Knight”, for eample, has very little connection to any medieval account of Arthur or to any other modern account of Arthur.

Early versions of the Arthurian legend mentioned Arthur’s marriage to Guenevere without supplying any details.

The first romance to provide details is the “Prose Lancelot” which refers to a story of how Arthur disguised as a squire visited the court of Guenevere’s father, carved the peacock at the table, and won Guenevere's hand. This story has not come down to us.

The “Vulgate Merlin” tells a similar story in which Merlin leads Arthur and a group of his followers to King Leodagan’s court to gain Guenevere’s hand. The kngihts take service under King Leodagan but refuse to reveal who they are. They rescue King Leodagan from almost certain death outside the walls of his city, and his daughter Guenevere sees this from the walls and is much taken by the valor and strength of their young leader.

That night, at dinner, Arthur also becomes infatuated with Guenevere. “King Arthur was filled with great beauty, and the maiden [Guenevere] stared at him and he at her. And then she said softly to herself that a lady had reason to be very happy if such a good and handsome knight as he asked her for her love, and shame on her who refused him.”

King Leodagan thinks to himself that the leader of these knights would be a worthy husband for his daughter. When King Ban, one of Arthur’s followers, explains that they have been wandering through the kingdoms seeking a wife for their leader, he rightly takes this as a purposeful indication that they are specifically seeking his daughter.

After further fighting in which Arthur again reveals his valor, King Leodagan suggests to Merlin that Guenevere be taken by their leader as his wife. Merlin agrees on behalf of Arthur, and Guenevere is summoned for the betrothal ceremony. After the ceremony is complete, Merlin reveals that Guenevere is now betrothed to King Arthur himself.

You can read this account in full in English in Henry Wheatley’s old translation at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/tex... and http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/tex... , page 314.

There is a variant version of the end of the “Vulgate Merlin” called by its editor “Le Livre d’Artus” which tells how, after marrying Arthur, Guenevere was approached by a knight named Gosengos of Tharmadaise who wished to become her lover. Guenevere agreed, though the love affair was not consummated at that time. Gosengos refused to stay at court as he wanted to prove his worth against Arthur’s knights. Unfortunately this work breaks off incomplete before anything comes of this.

Gosengos may be identical to Gasozein of Dragoz in the German Arthurian romance “Diu Krone” by Heinrich von dem Türlin. This Gasozein tells Arthur he is Guenevere’s rightful love, bethrothed to her by the night spirits. Sometime later Gasozein abducts Guenevere but Gawain comes across the two of them. Guenevere is now rather angry with Gasozein's forceful attempts to fondle her and seeks Gawain’s aid. Gawain defeats Gasozein in battle and Guenevere and Gawain take the wounded Gasozein back to court where Gasozein forswears any claim to Guenevere and swears that she has never been physically untrue to Arthur.

Another account of how Arthur became married to Guenevere appears in a work sometimes called the “Post-Vulgate Merlin”. Merlin asks Arthur who he wishes to wed, and Arthur says Guenevere daughter of King Leodagan, first mentioned in the work at this point. Merlin attempts to warn Arthur that Guenevere’s great beauty will lead to trouble, though it will also save his kingdom. But Arthur insists on having his way. So Merlin goes off to Leodagan’s court and easily persuades Leodagan to bestow his daughter on Arthur. Nothing is mentioned of Guenevere’s feelings. Merlin brings Guenevere back to Arthur’s court.

A later work called the “Huth Merlin” is taken from the “Vulgate Merlin” up to the point where Merlin leads Arthur and his followers to King Leodagan’s kingdom. Then the author merely says that Arthur and his followers defeated King Rion and that Arthur met Guenevere, and then turns to the text of the “Post-Vulgate Merlin”. This “Huth Merlin” is the source of the first sections of Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur” and explains in part why there are so many contradictions in the early sections of “Le Morte d’Arthur”.

Modern authors have often invented their own accounts of how Arthur and Guenevere were betrothed, and they usually do not agree with one another.

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “The Mists of Avalon” and most modern works cannot be relied on to give the same account as medieval works or the same account as each other.

But even medieval works differ widely. There is a medieval German romance of Lancelot called “Lanzelet” by Ulrich von Zatzikoven which apparently provides largely an earlier version of the Lancelot story than otherwise known. In Ulrich’s version Lancelot and Guenevere are not lovers. Instead Lancelot marries four wives, one after the other, and then settles down with the third wife and has children by her.

Two damsels of the Lady of the Lake in the later French “Prose Lancelot” are almost certainly two of Ulrich’s wives transformed in order to keep Lancelot’s love for Guenevere pure.

In sort, don’t trust that any medieval or modern version of an Arthurian story is in any sense the “right” version.

Answer 3

arthur chose to marry gwenevere. i remember reading it somewhere in my studies but he met her somewhere and had to have her. and you can't like arthur and the knights of camelot if you don't ACTUALLY like camelot. that's where the most magical action happened.

Answer 4

It depends on whose version you read.

In general, Arthur married to seal a pact with Leon DeGrace, taking the first step towards a single Kingdom.

Arthur is a Celtic name, dervived from Latin. Think of all the Brythonic Celtic lands that benefitted from Rome's influence.

"DeGrace" is French. "DuLac" is French.

Imagine being married to someone who doesn't even speak your language, in a country unlike your own, coming from an established kingdom into a place where you're living in a construction-zone.

Then a cultured guy who SPEAKS your language and understands you comes around...

Answer 5

OK there are a few angles to your question.  Let me see if I can give them to you.  Guinevere's father was a very wealthy man in those times and it was suggested to help complete his beloved Camelot that he take her as a wife.  The new religion wanted them to marry to help bring Christianity to the region.  Arthur was very strong on his beliefs of the old ways that he let his people choose what faith they wanted to follow. The two did fall in love.  There are different directions as to what happened next  but those are the main reasons the two got together. I love all the stories about Arthur as well.  I hope this helps

Answer 6

From the version I know...

The marriage was arranged to combine kingdoms and secure horses for the troops.  In those days, royalty rarely had a say in who they were wed to.

Check out The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.  It is one of my favorite versions of the story.