Gwenhwyfar I, Wife of King Arthur
In Welsh tradition, King Arthur had three wives, all of whom were called Gwenhwyfar. In this article, we will examine what we know about the earliest of these three wives. When was she born, which family was she from, and which children of Arthur’s did she bear? We will examine the answers to these questions and others.
Who Was Gwenhwyfar I?
Gwenhwyfar I was the first of King Arthur’s three wives in Welsh tradition. She first explicitly appears in the Welsh Triads, a collection of medieval traditions grouped into threes. She appears in the triad known as Arthur’s Three Great Queens. This triad lists Arthur’s three queens, each named Gwenhwyfar. The first of the three is recorded as:
“Gwenhwyfar daughter of Cywryd Gwent.”
This is all that is said about her in this triad. Similarly, the other two queens are listed only with their names and the names of their respective fathers.
Was She Really the First?
It is important to note that the entries in the triads are not necessarily in strict chronological order. However, as a general rule, it does appear that most of the time they are chronological. In the case of the three Gwenhwyfars, there is reason to believe that the second and third should be in the reverse order.
However, regarding the first Gwenhwyfar in the triad, she does indeed appear to have been chronologically the first of Arthur’s three queens.
The reason for stating this is, in part, that the evidence from King Arthur’s sons (see their respective articles) suggests that they can be grouped into three different clusters.
The second cluster is actually composed of just a single son, recorded as being a young adult at the time of the Battle of Camlann, with the third cluster being born just after Camlann (the evidence from Welsh tradition is that Arthur outlived Camlann by a few years). The mother of the second cluster, the one who was Arthur’s queen at the time of the Battle of Camlann, was Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Gogfran, as all tradition agrees.
The mother of the third group of sons, those born just after the Battle of Camlann, must have been Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Gwythyr. Scottish tradition calls this final wife the daughter of the king of France, while also associating her with Scotland, and Gwythyr is known to have had connections to both areas.
Therefore, by process of elimination, Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Cywryd Gwent must have been the first of Arthur’s three wives.
Name
The most obvious peculiarity about this figure is that she had the same name as Arthur’s other two wives. This seems like a most extraordinary coincidence, especially given that there is no evidence at all that it was a common name in that era. In fact, it appears that Arthur’s queens are the only individuals from the entire Arthurian period, in both history and legend, who had that name.
Therefore, by far the most logical conclusion is that this was actually some kind of title or throne name.
This situation seems comparable to that of Brychan. He is recorded as having three wives, whose names are given in the earliest source as Praust, Ribraust and Proistri. Another early source spells them ‘Eurbraust’, ‘Rybraust’ and ‘Proestri’. It is evident that these are all variations of the same name.
Hence, this would appear to be another example of a king using a title or throne name for his wives. Since Brychan was approximately contemporary with Arthur and from the same general region, this is especially significant.
The Meaning of the Name
What about the meaning of the name ‘Gwenhwyfar’? The first element is obviously ‘gwen’, which is simply the Welsh word for ‘white’. The second element is less obvious. However, most scholars agree that it is cognate with the Irish ‘siabair’. This element appears in the Irish name ‘Findabair’. In fact, that entire name is the Irish version of ‘Gwenhwyfar’, since Irish ‘Find’ in the equivalent of Welsh ‘Gwen’.
Therefore, this second element means ‘spirit’, ‘phantom’, or ‘fairy’. Thus, the name ‘Gwenhwyfar’ can be translated as ‘White Phantom’ or ‘White Fairy’.
Family
What do we know about the family of Gwenhwyfar I? Obviously, her husband was King Arthur. However, what about her parentage? As we saw from the entry in the Welsh Triads, she was the daughter of a man named Cywryd Gwent.
There is some evidence from the manuscripts that the epithet of this man was actually ‘Ceint’, which was a river in Gwynedd, but the evidence is slightly stronger that ‘Gwent’ is correct. Therefore, he was apparently a man from the kingdom of Gwent.
Despite this, Cywryd does not appear in any genealogical records. We simply have no idea what his lineage was. However, it stands to reason that Arthur would not have married the daughter of a completely unknown and obscure king.
Perhaps, then, Cywryd was the son of Ynyr Gwent. He appears to have been the most prominent king of Gwent in the second half of the fifth century, making him perfectly chronologically suited to be Cywryd’s father. The epithet ‘Gwent’ being common to the two men also supports the notion that they were father and son.
Therefore, although we cannot state this with any certainty, the most likely scenario is that Gwenhwyfar I was the granddaughter of Ynyr Gwent.
Sons
What about the sons of Gwenhwyfar I? They were born to her and King Arthur evidently quite early in Arthur’s reign. As mentioned earlier, the legendary sons of Arthur can be divided into three distinct groups. We have already seen when the latter two groups of sons were born. The first group would logically have been the children of Gwenhwyfar I.
These sons are Gwydre, Amhar, and Duran. The first of these, Gwydre, appears in the Welsh prose tale Culhwch and Olwen, which presents an account of a hunt for a monstrous boar across southern Wales. Gwydre died in this boar hunt. He appears to have been Arthur’s eldest son, likely being born approximately twenty-five years before the setting of Culhwch and Olwen.
Amhar was evidently too young to have participated in the boar hunt, hence why he does not appear in that tale. The evidence suggests that he was an adult and involved in some kind of profound misconduct at some point within the ten years that followed the events of Culhwch and Olwen.
Hence, the birth of Amhar can probably be placed approximately ten years after the birth of Gwydre. It is entirely possible that there were other siblings between them, most likely daughters who went unrecorded in Welsh tradition.
Duran is only known from a reference in Welsh poetry which appears to place his death at Camlann. Given that only some twenty-one years separated the Battle of Badon from the Battle of Camlann, and Arthur’s son Llacheu is presented as dying as a youth at the latter event, it is very unlikely that Duran could have been Llacheu’s full brother.
Given his participation at the battle of Camlann, Duran could hardly have been younger than Llacheu. He must have been older, yet Geoffrey presents Arthur’s marriage as occurring just after the Battle of Badon.
Hence, Duran must have been the son of Arthur’s previous wife, which would have been Gwenhwyfar I, while Llacheu was the son of the wife whom Arthur married just after Badon.
When Did Gwenhwyfar I Live?
Let us now establish when Gwenhwyfar likely lived. In the absence of any other evidence, we can comfortably assume that she was approximately the same age as King Arthur, although given the tendency for men to marry younger women, she may well have been somewhat younger.
In contrast, the second and third wives of Arthur must have been much younger than him.
Thus, the key factor involved in this is the issue of when Arthur himself lived. The traditional chronology places him in the latter part of the fifth century through to the early sixth century. The Annales Cambriae, for example, places the Battle of Badon in 516 and the Battle of Camlann in 537.
However, in view of the dates of the many contemporaries assigned to Arthur in the various records, there is reason to believe that these dates have been backdated by thirty-three years, meaning that they should be placed in 549 and 570, respectively.
Based on the traditional chronology, we could suggest that Gwenhwyfar I was likely born in c. 470. On the other hand, the late chronology would place her birth in approximately 505.
Gwenhwyfar in Culhwch and Olwen
The Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen contains what may be the earliest reference to Arthur’s queen. It does not explicitly say which Gwenhwyfar she was. In one part, Arthur refers to her as “Gwenhwyfar, my wife”.
Although it does not explicitly give her parentage, the chronology and details make it evident that this particular Gwenhwyfar must be Arthur’s second queen. The details in Culhwch and Olwen place it just after the Battle of Badon.
This is seen from the fact that one of Arthur’s men, who apparently dies during the boar hunt, is a certain Osla Gyllellfawr. Welsh tradition also makes him Arthur’s enemy at Badon, meaning that the boar hunt must have occurred after Badon. A comparison with Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae strongly suggests that it is set in the year after that battle.
This would set it at about the same time as when Geoffrey places Arthur’s marriage to Guinevere. As we have seen, this would have to be a description of his marriage to Gwenhwyfar II. Therefore, the Gwenhwyfar mentioned in Culhwch and Olwen is almost certainly Gwenhwyfar II, not Gwenhwyfar I.
What Happened to Gwenhwyfar I?
We know quite a bit of information about Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Gogfran, Arthur’s second wife. In contrast, there is essentially no information available about the life and death of Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Cywryd.
Perhaps it might be suggested that Gwenhwyfar I’s sons (Gwydre, Amhar and Duran) died after she had passed childbearing age, thus meaning that Arthur had to marry again.
This suggestion is not supported by the evidence, however. In fact, the evidence shows that Arthur married his second wife while Amhar was still alive, and almost certainly while Gwydre was still alive too.
Nonetheless, perhaps Arthur simply wanted to have more children to secure more heirs for himself, to increase the chances of one of them outliving him. Perhaps, then, despite Gwenhwyfar I still having living sons at the time, Arthur married his second wife simply because his first had passed childbearing age.
This ties in with the fact that the birth of Arthur’s son Llacheu, born to Arthur’s second wife, should be placed just after the Battle of Badon, which happens to be when Gwenhwyfar I would likely have been well into her forties.
What happened to her after that is simply unknown. She may have died during Arthur’s reign, or she may simply have continued reigning as Arthur’s queen. We simply do not know. However, it is noteworthy that the text of Culhwch and Olwen calls Gwenhwyfar the ‘chief lady’ of the island of Britain.
If Gwenhwyfar II was the ‘chief lady’ at this point, then what about Gwenhwyfar I? What had happened to her for her to no longer be classed as the chief lady? Was this simply the position held by Arthur’s current childbearing wife, or does this instead suggest that Gwenhwyfar I had died? We cannot say, but the latter is a distinct possibility.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Gwenhwyfar I was the first wife of King Arthur according to Welsh tradition. She was the daughter of a man named Cywryd Gwent. His lineage is unknown, but it seems likely that he was the son of Ynyr Gwent, the king of Gwent in the late-fifth century.
Gwenhwyfar I was probably born in the early years of the sixth century. She was the mother of Gwydre, Amhar, and Duran, and perhaps some unattested daughters. We do not know what ended up happening to her, but she may well have died by the time Arthur married his second wife, which was shortly after the Battle of Badon.
Sources:
Bartrum, Peter, A Welsh Classical Dictionary, 1993
Bromwich, Rachel, Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain, 2014
Howells, Caleb, King Arthur: The Man Who Conquered Europe, 2019
