Igraine

Merlin enables Uther, King Uther Pendragon, to disguise himself as the Duke of Cornwall so that he can sleep with the Duke of Cornwall's wife at Tintagel.

She's called Igraine.

And from that union, Arthur is born.

The Duke of Cornwall's killed.

Uther marries Igraine, and they actually have another child called Anna, a girl.

But there isn't reference made to, or, or, you know, explanation of what, of Arthur's childhood.

There's nothing about his childhood.

A mighty prince was he, and feared by all men.

Yet, when he sought the love of the fair Igraine of Cornwall, she would have naught to do with him, so that from grief and disappointment, Uther fell sick, and at last seemed like to die.

Now, in those days, there lived a famous magician named Merlin, so powerful that he could change his form at will, or even make himself invisible.

Nor was there any place so remote, but that he could reach it at once, merely by wishing himself there.

One day, suddenly, he stood at Uther's bedside and said, "Sir King, I know thy grief, and I am ready to help thee.

Only promise to give me, at his birth, the son that shall be born to thee, for thou shalt have thy heart's desire." To this, the king agreed joyfully, and Merlin kept his word, for he gave Uther the form of one whom Igraine had loved dearly, and so she took him willingly for her husband.

When the time had come that a child should be born to the king and queen, Merlin appeared before Uther to remind him of his promise, and Uther swore it should be as he had said.

Three days later, a prince was born, and, with pomp and ceremony, was christened by the name of Arthur.

Le Maudat Tower means the death of Arthur, by the way, which I find an interesting title.

This originates Morgana here sort of from this point after as the youngest daughter of Arthur's mother, Igraine, and her first husband.

So Igraine was married.

She had a couple daughters.

The youngest one is Morgan.

The Story of King Arthur in Twelve Tales by Winona Carolyn Martin And I saw Mage Merlin, whose vast wit and hundred winters Are but as the hands of loyal vassals toiling for their liege.

Tennyson's Coming of Arthur After the last story is told, the passing of Arthur, And the children standing with Sir Belvedere upon the highest crag of the jutting rock See the warrior king pass with the three tall queens in the dusky barge beyond the limits of the world, They too wonder gazing on the splendor of his passing.

Though defeated in the last weird battle in the west, Yet he was victorious in his ideals, for he became the spiritual king of his race.

From the great deep to the great deep he goes.

Presently Bedivere, well nigh overcome with awe and wonder, made his way back to the king's side, and Arthur, when he saw his knight's eyes, said as one whose mind was set at rest, "Now I know, Bedivere, that you have obeyed my command." After a while, when he had lain for some time in silence, he looked up into his knight's face, saying softly, "The end draws near.

Carry me, I pray you, to the water's edge." Bedivere, with tears in his eyes, obeyed, and as they reached the mere, shining in the pure cold light of the wintry moon, he beheld a dusky barge moving toward them.

Its decks were thronged with black-robed figures whose faces were hidden in their hoods, but among the rest stood three queens in crowns of gold, and from them came a wailing sound of lamentation, a cry that shivered to the tingling stars.

"Lay me in the barge," said the king faintly, as the little craft came to shore.

And it lives on in the secular legends that were consumed by the chivalric classes.

Of course, we should look to the bedtime stories that men who grew up to be knights, what they consumed, their ideological training, what it meant to be chivalric of what it meant to be part of this group of men or to be a great leader it's no coincidence that edward iii's wife gets him a new year's day present of a a goblet carved with the nine worthies including so nine worthy there's definitely there's a roland who isn't one but judas maccabeus i think there's another one these kind of heroic legendary slash historical figures Charlemagne so on and if I was going to turn it into a rant which I know I've got to do for this podcast there is it's it it continues you know it continues to the present the the use of we almost can't see the wood for the trees we're so we're so deeply in this culture of storytelling around certain kinds of masculinity against that kind of locker room machismo that is at once violent and glamorous and that bond of brotherhood that is perpetuated in these kinds of stories that can kind of transcend, that can, that can justify real brutality in its, within its ethos.

Yeah.

I think that,

But there are quite some notable ones, at least within the Arthur legends, that are sitting in my head at the moment.

You know, who are the women in these legends, both the ones we know and the ones we don't?

Well, I think the four main female characters that crop to mind for me are there's Guinevere, his wife, Morgan, the fairy.

Anna, his sister, who is described in Geoffrey Monmouth and a couple of other sources.

Because when he says Arthur and Durfel, he loves them the most of everybody.

We get the scene after the Battle of Bodone where Durfel's explaining to Igraine that, oh, he didn't see Guinevere and Arthur reunite.

He doesn't know what happened when they reunited.

He didn't get to see that.

And Igraine's like, oh, make something up.

Whatever.

And so he's like, I just didn't see that.

He gives it to Uther Pendragon, and Uther is declared king.

But king isn't enough for Uther, oh no. Uther makes peace with his rival, the Duke of Cornwall, but at a party to celebrate, the Duke foolishly commands his wife, Igraine, to seductively dance for the royals.

Well, Uther likes what he sees, as in Igraine, a little too much.

So Uther demands that Merlin use his magic to let him seduce Igraine, again, his rival's wife, choosing lust over peace.

Merlin agrees on one condition.

Uther will give him the product of what comes from his lust.

I don't care.

I'm gonna get this woman.