|
Morgan le Fay
Origin Transformation Queen of Mischief Works Cited Related Sites E-Texts
Though most of Morgan's popularity comes from a revival in modern, popular literature, Morgan does hold an important - albeit minor - role in medieval Arthurian literature. Morgan’s status, lineage and loyalties are not as solidly set as other character’s are and her role as aid to Arthur evolves over time becoming a major antagonist to the king. Most of what is known about her and said to be from “tradition” comes from Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur yet she has a significant and different history before his work.
Origin of Morgan: What’s in a Name? Gerald of Wales gives an indication of where Morgan’s origins might be from, though he denies it is so, in his On the Instruction of Princes (c. 1190).
As a result of this, the Britons and their poets have been concocting legends that a certain fantastic goddess, also called Morgan, carried off the body of Arthur to the Isle of Avalon for the healing of his wounds.
The writer of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight also terms Morgan as such:
Morgain the goddess is she called therefore, and there is none so haughty but she can bring him low. (Weston)
Morgan may then be connected with the Welsh Goddess Modron or the divine mother. According to Ronan Coghlan, Modron may have changed into Morgan in Brittany mixing with the belief in a class of water fairies called Morgans. However, Thomas Green disagrees with this conclusion. Green shows that Morgen literally translates to “sea-born” and that Geoffrey’s mention of nine sisters points toward the nine virgins that guard the cauldron of Chief of Annwfyn (the Otherworld). Therefore, Morgen could have her origins in a Celtic goddess of the Otherworld. Either way, readers encounter an important new character that has magical, otherworldly powers surrounded by water.
Transformation: It’s a Family Thing Morgan first appears as an Arthurian character in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini (c. 1150) as a great sage and healer.
That is the place where nine sisters exercise a kindly rule over those who come to them from our land. The one who is first among them has greater skill in healing, as her beauty surpasses that of her sisters. Her name is Morgen, and she has learned the uses of all plants in curing the ills of the body. She knows, too, the art of changing her shape, of flying through the air, like Daedalus, on strange wings. . . . They say she had taught astrology to her sisters. . . It was there we took Arthur after the battle of Camlan, where he had been wounded . . . and Morgen received us with due honour. She put the king in her chamber on a golden bed, uncovered his wound with her noble hand and looked long at it. At length she said he could be cured if only he stayed with her a long while and accepted her treatment. We therefore happily committed the king to her care and spread our sails to favorable winds on our return journey. ( l. 910-940)
It is to the Isle of Avalon that Arthur is taken for healing and it is to the beautiful and intelligent Morgan that he is entrusted. In Vita Merlini, Morgan is already shown as a person capable of such magical accomplishments as shape-shifting. This acceptance of her magical abilities shows the evolution of thought where Morgan is eventually maligned for being a sorceress.
In Erec and Enide, as well as Yvaine (c.1170-91), Chretien de Troyes continues to tout Morgan’s healing and artistic abilities. In Erec and Enide, Chretien specifically links Morgan to Arthur:
The king then had an ointment brought out that had been made by Morgan, his sister. (Staines 53)
Gerald of Wales also changes Morgan’s relationship with Arthur as he turns her from a noble priestess to a relative of Arthur’s in his On the Instruction of Princes (c. 1193-9).
Morgan, a noble matron, mistress and patroness of those regions, and also King Arthur's kinswoman by blood, brought Arthur to the island now called Glastonbury for the healing of his wounds after the Battle of Camlann.
Thus, in a matter of a few decades, Morgan evolves from being an associate of Arthur’s to his sister. The oddity in timeline also shows that there was not a consistent view on her relationship with Arthur, though the Prose Merlin (c. 1215-35) continues the tradition of Morgan being Arthur’s sister:
And
whan the kynge entred into the citee, his
suster com agein hym, the wif of
In modern literature Morgan is often conflated with Morgause, one of Arthur’s other sisters; there is limited clarity to the extent of Morgan and Arthur’s family so some modern writers have taken more liberty in combining characters. The Prose Merlin does shed more light on the lineage of Morgan and seems to be the source for Malory’s later depiction of her. The section, “The Birth of Arthur,” tells of the arrangements that had to be reacted for Uther to marry Ygerne, which includes the marriages and settlements of Ygerne’s daughters from her previous marriage.
The daughter who became the wife of King Lot later gave birth to Mordred, to my lord Gawain, to Agravain and Gareth and Gaheris. Another daughter, a bastard, was married to King Neutre of Sorhaut. Finally, on the recommendation of the whole family, the king sent the daughter named Morgan to school at a convent. She was so gifted that she learned the seven arts and quite early acquired remarkable knowledge of an art called astronomy, which she used all the time. She also studied nature and medicine, and it was through that study that she came to be called Morgan the Fay. (Rosenburg 343-4)
Arthur here has two half-sisters, Morgan and Morgause, and one through marriage ties because of his mother’s former husband. These family connections are repeated in Malory’s Le Morte Darthur (c.1470) but his text also reflects the change in perception about Morgan’s magical leanings.
And King Lot of Lothian and of Orkney then wedded Margawse that was Gawaine's mother, and King Nentres of the land of Garlot wedded Elaine. All this was done at the request of King Uther. And the third sister Morgan le Fay was put to school in a nunnery, and there she learned so much that she was a great clerk of necromancy. And after she was wedded to King Uriens of the land of Gore, that was Sir Ewain's le Blanchemain's father. (v 1, 4)
Morgan is no longer a learner of astronomy but of necromancy—Malory switches her from a study of helpful magics to a study of dark magics, an attempt to control the dead. Malory has transformed the mystical healer into an evil witch.
Malory is not the first to shift Morgan from benign to malignant. In earlier tales, Morgan is a respected healer and craftswoman. She is present at Arthur’s death in the hope that she can bring him back to full health. Yet the Cantare on the Death of Tristan (sometime after 1250), has Morgan as the temptress who equips Tristan and sends him to his death.
6. When Tristain came to this rendezvous, He was not wearing any protective armor Except for a bright sword and the discarded lance, Which had been given to him by Morgan the Fay— A lance that could kill anyone without a doubt Because it had been charmed with an enchantment. And so Tristan went to meet the queen, He carried along the tool that would cost his life. (Wilhelm 297)
Morgan becomes the one who is behind mischief, often stealing things in an attempt to bring about Arthur’s death. In the Suite Du Merlin, the sequel often included with the Prose Merlin, Morgan steals Excalibur and gives it to Arthur’s opponent in single combat. In Le Morte Darthur she takes Excalibur’s scabbard while Arthur sleeps, leaving him without the magical properties that stop fatal blood loss.
Often times the rivalry is between Morgan and Arthur’s wife Guinevere. Chretien begins to hint at this rivalry in Erec and Enide, when Enide is presented with a wedding gift made from a fabric that had been made by Morgan le Fay, but
with great cleverness, Guinevere. . . had obtained it through the mediation of Emperor Gassa (30).
Guinevere has managed to steal away the material Morgan had worked hard on and turned it into a chausable that flaunts Guinevere's superiority as it sits in the chapel for all to see. After years of showing off, Guinevere is able to just give it away hinting at a rivalry that might exist between her and Morgan. In the Prose Merlin’s section “The Tournament at Logres; King Lot and His Sons; and Morgan and Gyomar” the cause of Morgan’s hatred for Guinevere is much clearer. Guinevere discovers Morgan’s love affair with Sir. Guyomar and manages to split them.
But after it knewe the Quene Gonnore, as ye shull here telle, wherfore thei were departed; and therfore she hated the quene and dide hir after gret annoye and of blames that she areised that ever en dured while hir lif lasted. (Conlee l. 88-91)
Morgan does not forgive this interference by the Queen. Morgan’s hatred is a motivation in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Sir Bernlak confesses that he has done his deeds because of the bidding of Morgan.
She taught me this marvel to betray your wits, to vex Guinevere and fright her to death by the man who spake with his head in his hand at the high table. (Weston)
A large part of Sir Bernlak’s purpose was then to bother the Queen and cause her fear.
These shifts in perception pre-date Le Morte Darthur, where Morgan consistently contrives to cause her brother problems and to entangle his knights. Morgan equips an unknowing Tristain with a shield that would shame Guinevere.
Queen Morgan le Fay ordained that shield to put Sir Launcelot to a rebuke, to that intent that King Arthur might understand the love between them. (v. 1, 429)
The shield depicts the love triangle of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot shaming the Queen for her affair and bringing Arthur awareness of her transgression. This seems to be Morgan’s last act, a true act of revenge and loyalty, as she slips away and does little more than harass Arthur’s knights in the rest of the tale. Despite the animosity between her and her brother, Morgan takes her place on the barge which carries his body to his grave as Queen Morgan Le Fay. Though unidentified several chapters before, Morgan holds her dying brother trying to comfort him.
Now put me into the barge, said the king. And so he did softly; and there received him three queens with great mourning; and so they set them down, and in one of their laps King Arthur laid his head. And then that queen said: Ah, dear brother, why have ye tarried so long from me? alas, this wound on your head hath caught over-much cold. (v. 2, 492)
With his death, ends their strife and again they are simply brother and sister.
Coghlan, Ronan. “Morgan Le Fay.” The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993. Conlee, John ed. Prose Merlin. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute, 1998. The Camelot Project. U of Rochester. 22 Oct. 2005 http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/confront.htm Geoffrey of Monmouth. Vita Merlini. Basil Clarke ed. Cardiff: Wales UP, 1973. Gerald of Wales. The Tomb of King Arthur. John William Sutton trans. Camelot Project. U of Rochester. 22 Oct. 2005 http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/gerald.htm Green, Thomas. "Chapter VI: Arthur's Death and Destiny." Concepts of Arthur. 2000. 16 Jul. 2004 Arthurian Resources. 22 Oct. 2005 http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/concepts/death.htm Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte Darthur: Sir Thomas Malory's Book of King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table. William Caxton, A. W. Pollard, and Sir Edward Strachey eds. 2 vols. New York: Macmillian, 1903. Electronic Text Center. Charles Keller ed. 1995. U of Virginia. 22 Oct. 2005 http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Mal1Mor.html http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Mal2Mor.html Rosenberg, Samuel N. “Chapter XIV: The Prose Merlin and The Suite Du Merlin.” The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation: New, Expanded Edition. James J. Wilhelm ed. New York: Garland, 1994. Staines, David trans. The Complete Romances of Chretien de Troyes. Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 1993. Weston, Jessie L. The Legend of Sir Gawain: Studies upon Its Original Scope and Significance. London: David Nutt, 1897. The Camelot Project. U of Rochester. 22 Oct. 2005 http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/sggk.htm Wilhelm, James J. “Chapter XIII: Cantare on the Death of Tristan.” The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation: New, Expanded Edition. James J. Wilhelm ed. New York: Garland, 1994.
Genealogy of King Arthur showing the variants that occur in the different traditions. A timeline of when texts were written, also with historical and major artistic events indicated.
General overview of Morgan Le Fey with some context in popular medieval texts. The Camelot Project’s quick summary of Morgan Le Fay, with much attention to modern works about her. Solid overview of Morgan Le Fey and her history in Arthurian Literature, brief mention of the texts.
Wikipedia entry on Modron, the Welsh Goddess believed to be the origin of Morgan Le Fey.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ME)
Created By Nan Macon, Nan Ink. 2005 |