Guinevere watching the mortally wounded Arthur being sailed off to Avalon in Queen Guinevere by James Archer (c. 1860)
In-universe information
Title
Princess, Queen, Mother Superior
Occupation
High Queen of Britain Later tradition: Queen of Logres and Britain (or England), convent head
Family
Varied, including her father and her sister
Spouse
Arthur, occasionally also Mordred
Significant other
Varied, including either Lancelot, Mordred or Yder
Children
Usually none, occasionally a son with Arthur or children with Mordred
Relatives
Varied, including a cousin
Religion
Christian
Home
Malory version: Cameliard, Camelot, Tower of London, Amesbury Priory
Nationality
British
Guinevere (/ˈɡwɪnɪvɪər/ⓘGWIN-iv-eer; Welsh: Gwenhwyfarpronunciationⓘ; Breton: Gwenivar, Cornish: Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever,[1] was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in popular literature in the early 12th century, nearly 700 years after the purported times of Arthur, Guinevere has since been portrayed as everything from a fatally flawed, villainous and opportunistic traitor to a noble and virtuous lady. Many records of the legend also feature the variably recounted story of her abduction and rescue as a major part of the tale.
The earliest datable appearance of Guinevere is in Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-historical British chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae, in which she is seduced by Mordred during his ill-fated rebellion against Arthur. In a later medieval Arthurian romance tradition from France, a prominent story arc is the queen's tragic love affair with her husband's chief knight and trusted friend, Lancelot, indirectly causing the death of Arthur and the downfall of the kingdom. This motif had originally appeared in nascent form in the poem Lancelot prior to its vast expansion in the prose cycle Lancelot-Grail, consequently forming much of the narrative core of Thomas Malory's seminal English compilation Le Morte d'Arthur. Other themes found in Malory and other texts include Guinevere's usual barrenness, the scheme of Guinevere's evil twin to replace her, and the particular hostility displayed towards Guinevere by her sister-in-law Morgan.
Guinevere has continued to be a popular character featured in numerous adaptations of the legend since the 19th-century Arthurian revival. Many modern authors, usually following or inspired by Malory's telling, typically still show Guinevere in her illicit relationship with Lancelot as defining her character.
Guinevere (/ˈɡwɪnɪvɪər/ GWIN-iv-eer; Welsh: Gwenhwyfar pronunciation; Breton: Gwenivar, Cornish: Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere...
Guinevere Jane Turner (born May 23, 1968) is an American actress, screenwriter, and film director. She wrote the films American Psycho and The Notorious...
Lancelot and Guinevere (known as Sword of Lancelot in the U.S.) is a British 1963 film starring Cornel Wilde, his real-life wife at the time, Jean Wallace...
wife, Queen Guinevere, despite suffering from frequent and sometimes prolonged fits of madness. But when his adulterous affair with Guinevere is discovered...
USS Guinevere has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to: USS Guinevere (SP-512), a patrol vessel commissioned in 1917...
Lancelot, Julia Ormond as Guinevere and Ben Cross as Malagant. The film follows the rogue Lancelot's romance with Lady Guinevere of Leonesse, who is to marry...
The Guinevere trilogy is a trilogy of historical novels written by Persia Woolley about the Arthurian legend from the first-person perspective of King...
other family relations, as well as his relationships with Arthur's wife Guinevere, vary greatly. In a popular telling originating from the French chivalric...
film St Trinian's, Holly Goodfellow in the 2005 film Keeping Mum and Guinevere in the 2011 television series Camelot, one of three different roles in...
Leondegrance, Leodogran, or variations thereof, is the father of Queen Guinevere in Arthurian legend. His kingdom of Cameliard (or Carmelide) is usually...
Guinevere Jones is a fantasy television series and a series of four novels created by Elizabeth Stewart. It revolves around the adventures of the title...
1850) which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom...
of Lancelot's adultery with King Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere. In the same tradition, Guinevere is featured with her own personal order of young knights...
Guinevere van Seenus (born 1976) is an American model, photographer and jewelry designer. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Guinevere van Seenus was raised...
biographical drama film directed by Mary Harron. The screenplay by Harron and Guinevere Turner focuses on 1950s pinup and bondage model Bettie Page, portrayed...
an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. Her 1999 film Guinevere won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Wells was born in San Francisco...
2483 Guinevere /ˈɡwɪnɪvɪər/ is a dark and elongated Hilda asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 43 kilometers (27 miles)...
Guigomar) by Guinevere. Usually, Guiomar is depicted as Guinevere's cousin (alternatively, appearing there as Gaimar, he is Guinevere's early lover instead...
Guinevere Planitia is an expansive lowland region of Venus that lies east of Beta Regio and west of Eistla Regio (quadrangle V-30). These low-lying plains...
Hughes in the supernatural series Dead of Summer (2016). Lail starred as Guinevere Beck in the psychological thriller series You (2018–2019), and as Jenny...
Guinevere Alice Mei-Ing Kauffmann was born in California. She is an astrophysicist and is known for her work studying galaxies among other subjects. Kauffmann...
including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, the magician Merlin, Arthur's wife Guinevere, the sword Excalibur, Arthur's conception at Tintagel, his final battle...
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