Gwenhwyfar II, Wife of King Arthur
Gwenhwyfar II was the second wife of King Arthur according to Welsh tradition. She was one of three queens who all had that name and were all married to King Arthur. Why did they all have the same name? And what do we know about the life of this second queen? In this article, we will examine the answers to these questions and many others.
Who Was Gwenhwyfar II?
According to medieval Welsh tradition, King Arthur had three wives, each one recorded as having the name ‘Gwenhwyfar’. We see this tradition primarily in the Welsh Triads. This is a large collection of various traditions from medieval Wales, most of which are about the Arthurian era. They are arranged into groups of threes.
One of these triads is known as Arthur’s Three Great Queens. The third entry reads:
“Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran Gawr.”
This triad does not provide any more information about this Gwenhwyfar. All it says about all three of them, in fact, is who their respective fathers were.
Name
One obvious point of interest concerning this figure is the fact that she had the same name as Arthur’s other two wives. This seems like an astonishing coincidence, especially since this name was not common in early medieval Wales. For there to have been three women all with this rare name living at the same time and all married to the same person is surely not reasonable.
For this reason, the most plausible explanation is that it is some kind of title or, perhaps more likely, a throne name for Arthur’s queen, whatever her personal name was. This would explain why all three queens are recorded as having this same name.
Regarding what this apparent throne name meant, the first element, ‘Gwen’, is transparently the Welsh word for ‘white’. The second element is believed to mean ‘phantom’, ‘spirit’, or ‘fairy’. In other words, this throne name meant something along the lines of ‘White Phantom’.
Which Wife Was This Gwenhwyfar?
In this article, we having been calling this Gwenhwyfar ‘the Second’, yet she appears third in the triad which mentions her. What is the basis for suggesting that she was actually the second of Arthur’s wives rather than the third?
The first thing to consider is the fact that the entries within each of the Welsh Triads are not strictly in chronological order. They are often chronological, but not always. Therefore, in the absence of any other evidence, the most secure conclusion would be that this Gwenhwyfar was indeed the third of Arthur’s wives, since she appears third in the triad.
However, there is not an absence of other evidence. There is actually a lot of other information available about this particular wife. An analysis of this evidence shows very firmly that the daughter of Gogfran was Arthur’s second wife. Let us now consider this evidence in detail.
When Arthur Had His Three Wives
First, we need to understand when Arthur had his three wives. This is revealed by an analysis of the children assigned to him according to the legends. This reveals that his sons were born in three distinct clusters.
Gwydre, Amhar, and Duran appear to have been born relatively early in his reign. Llacheu appears to have been born just after the Battle of Badon. Finally, Morgan and Adeluf (from the late Le Petit Bruit, but supported by earlier records) were born just after the Battle of Camlann, in line with the evidence from Welsh tradition that Arthur outlived the Battle of Camlann for several years. See their respective articles for the evidence in each case.
This analysis reveals that Arthur’s second wife was the one who bore Llacheu, an adult (albeit young) by the time of the Battle of Camlann. Arthur did not marry his final wife until after that battle.
Where Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran Gawr Fits In
What this evidence makes clear is that Arthur’s second wife was the one who was with him when the Battle of Camlann broke out. This is very helpful to know, because Welsh tradition is absolutely clear that Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Gogfran was Arthur’s wife when that occurred.
Evidence from the Welsh Triads
Some of this evidence comes from the Welsh Triads themselves. For example, consider a triad known as the Three Sinister Hard Slaps of the Island of Britain. The second entry reads:
“The second [hard slap] Gwenhwyfach struck upon Gwenhwyfar: and because of that there took place afterwards the conflict of the Battle of Camlann.”
Although the evidence is clear that it was not in the original, there are at least two manuscripts of the Welsh Triads which add the words ‘daughter of Gogfran’ to clarify which Gwenhwyfar this was. In contrast, there are no manuscripts of this triad which make her one of the other two Gwenhwyfars.
Evidence from the Bruts
Another piece of evidence comes from a Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. Geoffrey’s work was written in c. 1137. One of the Welsh translations of this work (often referred to collectively as the Bruts) is known as the Cleopatra version.
In this particular version, in the account of Mordred’s rebellion against Arthur just before the Battle of Camlann, Arthur’s wife is referred to as ‘Gwenhwyuar verch Ogvran Gawr’. This is Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Gogfran Gawr.
While this clarification does not appear in any other versions of the Welsh translation of the HRB, there are no versions which give any alternative tradition. Hence, this is the tradition which is best supported, just as in the case of the triad of the Three Sinister Hard Slaps.
Evidence from a Welsh Rhyme
While not particularly strong evidence, there is also some supporting evidence from ‘an old rhyme’ highlighted by scholar Peter Bartrum in A Welsh Classical Dictionary. The rhyme, translated to English, says:
“Gwenhwyfar, daughter of Ogrfan Gawr,
Bad when little, worse when great.”
This clearly presents Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Gogfran Gawr in a negative light. Of all three of Arthur’s queens, treachery is assigned to only one of them, the one who betrayed him for Mordred at the time of the Battle of Camlann. Hence, this rhyme clearly supports the identification of Arthur’s treacherous queen at Camlann with the daughter of Gogfran.
Evidence from Fame
Another factor that we should take into account is the simple fact that the most famous part of Arthur’s reign was not the earliest part, nor was it the era after Camlann. Rather, it was the era from around the time of the Battle of Badon through to the Battle of Camlann.
For instance, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae entirely skips the early part of Arthur’s career, going straight to the twelve battles and soon getting to the Battle of Badon, with most of the account being based after that.
The Welsh Arthurian tale Culhwch and Olwen appears to be set just after Badon, while The Dream of Rhonabwy is set just before it.
With this being the case, it would make a lot of sense that the most famous of Arthur’s three wives is the one who was with him during that core part of his reign. Of the three Gwenhwyfars, the daughter of Gogfran Gawr is the one who is most commonly mentioned in the Welsh records. Therefore, it stands to reason that she was the one who was with him during that era.
Evidence from Culhwch and Olwen
A final piece of evidence comes from Culhwch and Olwen. This Welsh prose tale was written in c. 1100, and it is one of the earliest references to Arthur’s wife. In this tale, Arthur’s wife Gwenhwyfar is mentioned in association with her sister, Gwenhwyfach.
As we saw earlier, one of the Welsh Triads mentions that Gwenhwyfach’s ‘sinister hard slap’ against her sister is what led to the Battle of Camlann. Therefore, Gwenhwyfach was the sister of the Gwenhwyfar who was with Arthur in the prelude to that battle, which was Arthur’s second queen.
This shows that the same queen was with Arthur from the time of Culhwch and Olwen through to the Battle of Camlann. There is evidence that Culhwch and Olwen is set just after the Battle of Badon, for reasons which we will examine in more depth in one of the following sections.
For now, the important point is that the evidence from Culhwch and Olwen and the Welsh Triads shows that the same queen was with Arthur for the entire portion of his reign between the Battle of Badon until the Battle of Camlann. As we saw earlier, two manuscripts of the Welsh Triads support the conclusion that this wife, the one assigned a sister named Gwenhwyfach, was the daughter of Gogfran.
Family
Now that we have thoroughly established that Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran Gawr was the second of Arthur’s three queens, let us examine her family. The first obvious family connections are that she was the wife of King Arthur and the daughter of Gogfran Gawr. What more do we know?
Father
Her father, Gogfran Gawr, was a king of a large portion of Powys. He was evidently not the high king of that kingdom, since he does not appear in any king lists of the kings of Powys. Nevertheless, the records about him assign him with courts that span most of that region, meaning he was evidently a prominent subking.
His epithet, ‘Gawr’, means ‘the Giant’. Perhaps this is in reference to him being a very tall or large person. Alternatively, it might be in reference to a literal giant, Gogfran having acquired mythological characteristics within Welsh tradition over the centuries.
Possible Connection to the Kingdom of Dumnonia
There is also evidence that Gwenhwyfar II’s family was somehow connected to the dynasty that ruled over the kingdom of Dumnonia. This kingdom roughly corresponds to modern-day Devon and Cornwall, possibly extending further east. It was a powerful kingdom whose kings throughout the majority of the sixth century were allies of Arthur.
In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, he presents Guinevere (that is, Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran) as having a connection to this kingdom. He says that she was raised in the royal court of Cador of Cornwall. In Wace’s Roman de Brut, completed in 1155 and heavily based on Geoffrey’s account, Wace calls Guinevere the cousin of Cador on his mother’s side.
It is entirely possible that this is just a fictional embellishment of what Geoffrey wrote. However, we should not completely dismiss the possibility that this preserves a genuine tradition. In any case, Geoffrey’s statement that she was raised in Cador’s royal court itself suggests that she may have been related to those kings.
Children
What about the children of Gwenhwyfar II? Well, she was Arthur’s second wife, and we have already seen that Arthur’s second cluster of children (in reality, just one son) can be placed just after to the Battle of Badon. Therefore, it is obvious that Gwenhwyfar II must have been the mother of this son.
The son in question is Llacheu. He appear to have died at about the time of the Battle of Camlann. His death is placed at the Battle of Llongborth, which appears to have been the prelude to that battle. Alternatively, he was mortally wounded at Llongborth but then actually died in Powys, probably while the Battle of Camlann was being fought.
Llacheu is specifically referred to as a youth when he died in more than one source, which suggests that he was no older than his earlier twenties.
Given the fact that the Battle of Camlann occurred about twenty-one or twenty-two years after Badon, this suggests that Llacheu was born at approximately the time of that battle or just afterwards.
This is consistent with the fact that Geoffrey of Monmouth places Arthur’s marriage to Guinevere (evidently Gwenhwyfar II) just after the Battle of Badon. Llacheu was evidently born soon after this.
Gwenhwyfar II in Culhwch and Olwen
Let us now examine in more detail Gwenhwyfar’s appearance in Culhwch and Olwen. At one point in the tale, Arthur refers in passing to ‘Gwenhwyfar, my wife’.
In this story, there is a very long list of King Arthur’s allies who help him to complete several seemingly impossible tasks. The single most prominent challenge in the story is the hunt for a monstrous boar.
Among the numerous characters mentioned, two of them are specifically called the attendants of Gwenhwyfar. They are named Yscyrdaf and Yscudydd. The only thing said about them is:
“Their feet were swift as their thoughts when bearing a message.”
This reveals that Gwenhwyfar’s two attendants were evidently capable of fighting in battle. It also implies that their main responsibility to Gwenhwyfar was relaying messages. Nothing more is known about them.
The third and final mention of Gwenhwyfar in Culhwch and Olwen is at the end of this large section about Arthur’s allies. Culhwch, King Arthur’s cousin, requests Arthur’s help and states, after listing their allies, that what he is requesting would be ‘for the sake of the golden-chained daughters of this island’.
What follows is a long list of important women, but the first woman mentioned is:
“Gwenhwyfar its chief lady.”
According to this, Gwenhwyfar was considered the ‘chief lady’ of Britain. This is consistent with her being the wife of Arthur, the high king of Britain according to this tale.
When Is Culhwch and Olwen Set?
One of the allies of Arthur in Culhwch and Olwen is a figure named Osla Gyllellfawr. He dies during the events of the story. However, he also appears elsewhere in Welsh tradition as Arthur’s enemy at the Battle of Badon.
Peter Bartrum suggests, very reasonably, that Osla appears as Arthur’s ally in Culhwch and Olwen because he had already been defeated by Arthur, meaning that this story takes place after Badon. However, a comparison with Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae strongly suggests that it is set just a year or two afterwards, when Geoffrey presents Arthur as sailing to Ireland, just as he does in Culhwch and Olwen.
This being the case, it would mean that this particular wife of Arthur’s was already married to him just after the Battle of Badon. As we saw earlier, this is definitely supposed to be Gwenhwyfar the daughter of Gogfran Gawr, since the text in this Welsh tale mentions her sister Gwenhwyfach, whom the Welsh Triads make the sister of Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran.
Therefore, the evidence from Culhwch and Olwen is that Gwenhwyfar II was already married to Arthur at least as early as just after the victory at Badon. This is consistent with the evidence regarding the birth of Llacheu.
Gwenhwyfar II in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae
In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, written in c. 1137, there is only an explicit reference to one queen. This is evidently the most famous, which would be Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran.
The Marriage to Arthur
Notably, Geoffrey directly describes the marriage between her and Arthur. The passage in question reads:
“At length, when the whole country was reduced by him to its ancient state, he took to wife Guanhumara, descended from a noble family of Romans, who was educated under duke Cador, and in beauty surpassed all the women of the island.”
According to this, Arthur took Gwenhwyfar, or Guanhumara, as his wife after he had completed his conquests over Britain.
When This Really Happened
According to Geoffrey’s narrative, this appears to be set about a year or two after the Battle of Badon, after his invasion of Ireland. Strictly speaking, it appears that this cannot be perfectly correct.
The reason is that Culhwch and Olwen appears to be another perspective of that same invasion of Ireland recorded by Geoffrey, yet it portrays Arthur as already being married to Gwenhwyfar II.
Nonetheless, the generally time frame is correct. We see the same grouping together of events that happened in the same general era somewhat later in Geoffrey’s narrative. At the time of Arthur’s special coronation, Geoffrey mentions how David succeeded Dubricius as the archbishop of Britain, while Teilo succeeded Samson as the bishop of Dol.
In reality, the evidence suggests that David succeeded Dubricius in c. 560, while Teilo’s succession of Samson occurred about ten years later. Thus, it is evident that Geoffrey’s chronology is not perfect. Nonetheless, the general placement of this marriage is consistent with what we discern from the birth of Arthur’s son Llacheu.
Gwenhwyfar’s Name
Another interesting observation regarding this passage is that Geoffrey calls this figure ‘Guanhumara’. The main difference between this spelling and the spelling found in the Welsh texts is the presence of the ‘m’ in Geoffrey’s text. Furthermore, there is no equivalent of the ‘y’ in the spelling used by Geoffrey.
The presence of the ‘m’ could be easily explained by the fact that ‘m’ is often used to represent the ‘v’ sound, just like the letter ‘f’ in Welsh. Hence, the final ‘mara’ could just be another way of spelling the Welsh ‘far’. The fact that another spelling of her name from Geoffrey’s HRB is ‘Guenhuuera’ supports this conclusion, with the final ‘u’ representing a ‘v’ as well.
However, given the absence of anything corresponding to the ‘y’ from the Welsh spelling, the truth is probably somewhat more complicated than this. In fact, it would seem that the spelling with the ‘m’ preserves an earlier form written ‘Guanhuiuar’. In this case, the ‘iuar’ is equivalent to the ‘yfar’ from the Welsh spelling.
Hence, ‘Guanhuiuar’ or ‘Guenhuiuar’ is a hypothetical spelling which was likely used by Geoffrey. From this form, the two letters ‘iu’ would easily be misread as the single letter ‘m’. This would very conveniently explain the disappearance of the Welsh ‘y’ from Geoffrey’s spelling.
Raised in the Court of Cador
As this passage from the Historia Regum Britanniae also shows, Arthur’s queen was supposedly ‘educated under duke Cador’. In other words, she was raised for at least some of her youth in the royal court of Cador.
Cador of Cornwall, as Geoffrey presents him, appears in Welsh genealogies and other texts as Cadwy, the king of the kingdom of Dumnonia. He was the son of Geraint and, according to Geoffrey, the father of Constantine the successor of King Arthur.
Geoffrey’s statement about Gwenhwyfar being educated in Cador’s court does not necessarily mean that Cador was the one who educated her or was in any way older than her. It may well simply seem that she was raised in his court, perhaps even alongside Cador.
The fact that Wace, following Geoffrey’s account closely, makes Arthur’s queen a cousin of Cador demonstrates that Geoffrey’s text can comfortably be understood as not making Cador older than Gwenhwyfar.
While it might seem most logical to mention the court as belonging to the one who was the king at the time, Geoffrey simply never mentions Cador’s father, whereas he had already mentioned Cador various times in the account before this point. Therefore, it makes sense that Geoffrey decided to refer to the court in association with Cador rather than his otherwise-unimportant father.
Descended from a Noble Family of Romans
One final notable point from this passage is the fact that Gwenhwyfar is described as being descended from ‘a noble family of Romans’. If this was in reference to Gwenhwyfar III, the final wife of Arthur, this would be easily explainable. She was the daughter of Gwythyr, whose descent is recorded as being from Magnus Maximus.
It is possible that this detail has been misapplied to Gwenhwyfar II from that final wife. However, while we cannot rule this possibility out, this interpretation involves an unproven corruption. There is no reason why this could not apply to the second Gwenhwyfar.
Put simply, Welsh tradition does not give us any information concerning the ancestry of Gogfran, the father of Gwenhwyfar II. There is thus no independent corroboration of Geoffrey’s claim that this wife came from a noble Roman family.
If true, then this gives us some valuable insight into the ancestry of Gwenhwyfar II’s father Gogfran. As we saw earlier, Gogfran appears to have been a prominent subking of the kingdom of Powys. Interestingly, the main dynasty ruling over Powys was descended from Magnus Maximus through a granddaughter named Sevira.
Therefore, it may well be that Gwenhwyfar II’s father Gogfran was a prince from this line. Given the apparent extent of his territory within Powys, his proximity to the high kingship was probably not distant. He may, even, have been the brother of the high king, probably Brochwel Ysgithrog given the chronology.
This would provide a satisfying explanation for why Geoffrey referred to Guanhumara as being from a noble family of Romans.
Betrayal with Mordred
Arthur’s queen appears later on in Geoffrey’s Historia Regum Britanniae. She is mentioned in the account of the attempted usurpation of Mordred (called Modred by Geoffrey). According to this narrative:
“[Arthur] had news brought him that his nephew Modred, to whose care he had entrusted Britain, had by tyrannical and treasonable practices set the crown upon his own head; and that queen Guanhumara, in violation of her first marriage, had wickedly married him.”
Geoffrey does not give any information about what led to Gwenhwyfar’s treachery. Nonetheless, this treachery is somewhat supported by Welsh tradition, as we will see later. In any case, Geoffrey describes what happened after Arthur achieved some initial successes against Mordred:
“As soon as queen Guanhumara heard this, she immediately, despairing of success, fled from York to the City of Legions, where she resolved to live a chaste life among the nuns in the church of Julius the Martyr, and entered herself one of their order.”
This claim is particularly interesting due to the fact that there are other traditions (albeit later) to the effect that Arthur pursued and killed his unfaithful wife. When we combine this with the firm tradition that Arthur had multiple wives, a sensible explanation is that Arthur pursued and killed the wife who betrayed him with Mordred, while it was his next wife who lived out her life peacefully as a nun.
Gwenhwyfar II in Welsh Tradition
Outside of Culhwch and Olwen, it is likely that most or possibly all other references to Gwenhwyfar within Welsh literature post-date Geoffrey’s Historia Regum Britanniae. Nonetheless, most of these references preserve traditions which are uninfluenced by Geoffrey.
One of the greatest insights into Gwenhwyfar II is what we learn from the Welsh Triads. This valuable source of information does not provide extensive narratives, but it does provide us with glimpses into stories that existed about her. Let us now examine what they are.
The Conflict of the Battle of Camlann
The first is Triad 53, known as the Three Sinister Hard Slaps of the Island of Britain. It reads in full:
“The second Gwenhwyfach struck upon Gwenhwyfar; and because of that there took place afterwards the conflict of the Battle of Camlann.”
This attributes the Battle of Camlann to a dispute that occurred between Gwenhwyfar and her sister Gwenhwyfach. This is not obviously consistent with what Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote about Arthur’s queen, saying that she joined Mordred in his rebellion against Arthur.
It is also not easily linked to the tradition seen as early as Culhwch and Olwen, which attributes the Battle of Camlann to a conspiracy involving a number of leaders.
The Likely Explanation
The second triad in which Gwenhwyfar appears is very interesting indeed. It may well shed some light on this matter. Known as the Three Violent Ravagings of the Island of Britain, it reads:
“One of them was when Medrawd came to Arthur’s Court at Celliwig in Cerniw; he left neither food nor drink in the court that he did not consume. And he also dragged Gwenhwyfar from her royal chair, and then he struck a blow upon her.”
According to this, Mordred treated Gwenhwyfar violently when he attempted to usurp Arthur’s kingship. It specifically mentions that he slapped her, similar to how Gwenhwyfar was said to have been slapped by Gwenhwyfach in the previous triad. Regarding that previous triad, scholar Rachel Bromwich wrote:
“It is possible that the name Medrawt should be restored here, in place of Gwenhwyfach, as Ifor Williams suggested.”
Similarly, Bromwich went on to suggest that very few sources mention Gwenhwyfach for the simple reason that ‘her name was in fact merely a variant of that of Gwenhwyfar’. In other words, Gwenhwyfach did not actually exist as a separate character. She was simply a duplicate of Gwenhwyfar, probably borne from a variant spelling of the queen’s name.
This harmonises with the evidence from Geoffrey of Monmouth and Culhwch and Olwen regarding the Battle of Camlann being the result of a political conspiracy rather resulting from retaliation over one royal woman slapping the queen.
How This Relates to Gwenhwyfar’s Faithfulness
The understanding that Gwenhwyfach did not actually exist but was simply a duplicate also harmonises well with the evidence surrounding records of her faithfulness. As we saw, Geoffrey presents her as being unfaithful, joining Mordred.
Triad 80 also supports this, specifically listing Gwenhwyfar as one of the three most prominent Faithless Wives of the Island of Britain. It is easy to interpret this is a distortion of Mordred taking her for himself by force. However, it is hard to see how her being treated violently by another woman could have led to the belief that she had been unfaithful.
Therefore, in view of all the evidence, the most likely explanation is that Mordred took Gwenhwyfar by force and made her his queen, treating her violently in the process. This then evolved, through one line of transmission, into the tradition that she had been unfaithful to Arthur.
Through another line of transmission (or perhaps as an extension of the previous one), this evidently evolved into the tradition of a conflict between her and another woman of essentially the same name, probably because of a recollection of Arthur having a faithful wife at about that time, in reality his last.
That final point is supported by the fact that one manuscript of Triad 53 actually refers to a conflict between ‘Gwenhwyfar and another Gwenhwyfar’, rather than Gwenhwyfach.
Was Gwenhwyfar II a Real Person?
There is an obscure reference which may well reveal the personal name of this Gwenhwyfar, as well as giving strong evidence that she was a real person. The reference in question comes from the Life of St Cadoc, written towards the end of the eleventh century.
According to this record, the forces of Maelgwn Gwynedd came down to South Wales and took for the king a beautiful woman named Abalcem, daughter of a certain prefect named Guiragon. This led to a small war between his kingdom and that of Glywysing.
In view of the presence of Maelgwn as a ruler, but with David still present in southeast Wales, this suggests that this event took place somewhat towards the end of Arthur’s reign. This corresponds to the time in which Lancelot, according to the Arthurian legends, had an affair with Arthur’s queen and started a conflict with Arthur’s kingdom.
There is substantial evidence that the character of Lancelot was based directly on legends about Maelgwn. Therefore, Lancelot’s legendary affair with Queen Guinevere may well be related to this record of Maelgwn taking a beautiful woman from Arthur’s kingdom.
The name of the father of this woman, Guiragon, is very similar to the likely original form of the name of Gwenhwyfar II’s father, which is ‘Goguran’. See the article ‘Gogfran Gawr’ for more evidence for this connection.
This being the case, it is very likely that Abalcem the daughter of Guiragon should be identified with Arthur’s queen, the so-called Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran. In view of the antiquity of this record and the fact that it is clearly independent of the surviving tales about Gwenhwyfar, this identification would lend very strong support to the existence of Gwenhwyfar II.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Gwenhwyfar II was the second of Arthur’s three queens. She was the daughter of Gogfran Gawr, a prominent subking of Powys. All the evidence indicates that this Gwenhwyfar was the one whom Arthur married around the time of the Battle of Badon and continued with him until the Battle of Camlann. At that time, the evidence suggests she was forcibly taken by Mordred as a wife, although she was executed afterwards all the same.
Her son was Llacheu, who died around the time of the Battle of Camlann while still a young adult. It appears that at some point prior to that event, Maelgwn had tried to take her as his wife, sparking a limited conflict with Arthur’s kingdom and leading to the legend of Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere. The real name of this Gwenhwyfar was most likely Abalcem.
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
https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadog.html
