ABSTRACT
In the Arthurian Romances of Chrétien de Troyes Guinevere emerges as a character of importance to a degree which marks a change from the writings of his predecessors who were, of course, writing for a different sort of society. In the older Arthurian stories of the Mabinogion, for example, Rhonabwy’s Dream and Kulhwch and Oliven there is very little mention of her. She is presumably Gwenhwyfar, the first lady of the island, who appears in the long list of names in Kulhwch ana Olwen, but that is all we learn about her. Geoffrey of Monmouth mentions her briefly as Arthur’s Queen and Modred’s accomplice, while Wace adds the information that Arthur loved her greatly but that they could have no children. In both writers she appears as a lady of ancient Roman lineage, married very largely for political reasons. From this it can be seen that Chrétien took very little of his material for this character from his predecessors, with the result that she is very largely his own creation, made necessary by the type of society for which he was writing and by the demands of the stories themselves. As Chrétien was writing during at least part of his career for the sophisticated court of Marie de Champagne at which women played a considerable social role, it would be only realistic to portray a character fulfilling such a role, even if idealized, in the romances. For this reason alone the role of Guinevere was almost certain to increase in importance. Her position in each romance is dependent on the requirements of the story although she is always a secondary character, except in Le Chevalier de la Charrete (and for this reason it will be the last of the romances to be considered in this article).
