Gwyar, Sister of King Arthur

Gwyar was a sister of King Arthur in the Arthurian legends. She plays a vital role in these legends, being the mother of two very important characters. Furthermore, there is also some mystery surrounding her character, since there is a lot conflicting information about her. In this article, we will examine what we can conclude about her based on the weight of evidence. 

Who Was Gwyar?

Gwyar is an important woman from the Arthurian legends. She was the sister of King Arthur who married into another dynasty. This was a dynasty based in the north of Britain, in what is now southern Scotland. She married King Lot of Lothian. 

The result of this union was Mordred and Gawain. The former was the infamous traitor who tried to usurp Arthur’s throne, leading to the civil war which culminated in the Battle of Camlann. The latter son was a famous and trustworthy ally of Arthur. 

Gwyar is known (by that name, at least) entirely from Welsh sources. While an equivalent figure does appear in the non-Welsh sources, she is called by a variety of different names. 

Gwyar is an interesting character because there is considerable confusion over her identity. Some records suggest that she was actually the wife of Budic of Brittany and the mother of Hoel, with Arthur’s sister Anna being the one who married Lot. However, we shall see later that the evidence does not support this conclusion. 

Family

According to legend, Gwyar was the daughter of Uther Pendragon and Igerna. She was thus the sister of King Arthur. As such, she would have been one of the most high-status princesses in Britain at that time. 

It is worth noting, however, that some later traditions claim that she was Arthur’s half sister, being the daughter of Igerna and her previous husband, Gorlois. 

Nonetheless, this tradition does not have as much weight as the tradition which makes her a daughter of Uther Pendragon. In fact, she must have been a late daughter of Uther, given the chronological information surrounding her husband. 

Gwyar’s Husband

Regarding her husband, Gwyar was married to King Lot of Lothian. He appears in some Latin records as Leudonus, and some Welsh records as Lleuddun. Other Welsh records call him Llew and identify him as the son of Cynfarch and brother of Urien. 

This was the most powerful family in the north of Britain in the mid- to late-sixth century. Lothian was a prominent kingdom, but Rheged, the kingdom of Lot’s brother Urien, was exceptionally powerful. It would make sense for King Arthur’s sister to marry into such a prominent dynasty. 

Children

Several children were born to Gwyar and Lot. According to the earliest sources, there were at least two children. These were Mordred and Gawain. 

Mordred’s name appears earlier in Latin records as ‘Modred’, likely coming from ‘Moderatus’. It appears in Welsh sources as ‘Medrawd’. He was a faithful and effective ally of Arthur for some time, but then he turned against his uncle and tried to overthrow him.

Gawain is the one who is most firmly associated with Gwyar in the records. In Welsh texts, he appears as Gwalchmai, and he is regularly given a matronymic rather than a patronymic. He is frequently called ‘Gwalchmai ap Gwyar’. 

This reveals that Gwyar was well remembered in association with her son Gwalchmai, or Gawain. It also likely reflects her prominent status as a queen. 

Later records ascribe more children to Gwyar. In the non-Welsh sources, which do not actually use the name ‘Gwyar’ for this sister, we find the children Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth. However, these latter two were almost certainly originally the same person. 

This original figure from whom both Gaheris and Gareth derive can be identified with Gwalhafed, also recorded as a son of Gwyar in Welsh tradition. Agravain, on the other hand, is not easily identifiable in Welsh texts. 

The Confusion Between Gwyar and Anna

As alluded to earlier, there is some controversy over who Gwyar’s real husband was. Some sources indicate that she was married to Budic of Brittany and was only a half sister of Arthur. The sister who married Lot, meanwhile, was Anna, mentioned as the wife of Lot in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, written in c. 1137.

Others support the conclusion that Gwyar was the one who was married to Lot of Lothian, and that she was Arthur’s full sister. What does the evidence really show?

To answer this question, let us consider the sources that have a bearing on this issue in chronological order. 

Culhwch and Olwen

Culhwch and Olwen is a Welsh prose tale which most likely dates from c. 1100, making it predate Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae by a few decades. 

In this story, there is a long list of King Arthur’s allies. One of the allies is ‘Gwalchmai ap Gwyar’. 

Therefore, the earliest available source makes it clear that Gwalchmai was the son of Gwyar, not Anna. Later on in Culhwch and Olwen, we find more information about Gwalchmai. He is described as the following:

“He was nephew to Arthur, the son of his sister, and his cousin.”

According to this, Gwalchmai was the son of Arthur’s sister. Since ‘Gwyar’ appears elsewhere in Welsh records as the name of a woman, and tradition is in universal agreement that Gawain’s father was Lot, the most logical conclusion is that the Gwyar mentioned here as the parent of Gwalchmai is supposed to be his mother, not his father. 

Later documents, such as the Jesus College MS 61 (where we find Brut Tysilio, a Welsh translation of Geoffrey’s account), support this conclusion by specifically referring to Gwyar as Gwalchmai’s mother. 

Hence, the evidence from the very earliest source which provides us with information about Gwalchmai’s mother is that she was Gwyar, not Anna. So, where does the claim that Gwyar was actually the wife of Budic of Brittany come from? 

Historia Regum Britanniae

The idea that Gwyar was actually married to Budic, not Lot of Lothian, and that Lot’s wife was instead Anna, can be traced back to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. As mentioned earlier, this was written in c. 1137, and so it almost certainly post-dates Culhwch and Olwen.

Two Different Sisters

According to Geoffrey’s account, Uther and Igerna had Arthur and Anna. Geoffrey does not explicitly mention any other siblings by name. However, he refers to two different individuals as marrying a sister of Arthur. These are Budic of Brittany and Lot of Lothian.

The most natural conclusion would be that these were two distinct sisters, despite the fact that Geoffrey only names Anna. While Anna could have remarried after her first husband died, this is not consistent with other information.

For instance, Budic is said to have fathered his son Hoel by Arthur’s sister (unnamed by Geoffrey). Hoel assists Arthur during his Saxon wars. In contrast, Gawain the son of Lot by Arthur’s sister is shown to have been born at about the time of the Battle of Badon. 

It is improbable, although not impossible, that the same sister was able to bear a son who was already an adult warrior by the time those Saxon wars were happening and also bear another son right at the end of those wars. 

Furthermore, both contemporary and later medieval records show that Budic outlived the Battle of Badon (Gregory of Tours shows that he died in c. 570), so the idea that she married Lot after Budic died is clearly not viable. 

Based on this information, it is obvious that Geoffrey’s account ascribes at least two different sisters to Arthur, not just one. 

The Confusion With Anna

In Geoffrey’s account, Anna is mentioned in the same passage which describes Arthur’s birth. However, the only other place he mentions her is in a reference to her marrying Lot, the one whom Uther had left in charge of the kingdom after he had to step down due to old age and poor health. 

After mentioning her birth, it is only in this context in which she is mentioned. All other references to Arthur’s sister marrying Lot, or Gawain and Mordred being the nephews of Arthur by his sister, all leave the sister unnamed. 

Therefore, there is only one reference in Geoffrey’s account which contradicts the Welsh tradition that Gawain’s mother was Arthur’s sister Gwyar. This singular instance is the description of her marriage to Lot when he was made regent in Uther’s absence. 

This is very interesting, because the evidence clearly shows that this part of the account is very confused. Historically, Lot was a mid- to late-sixth century king, the brother of Urien Rheged. He would not even have been born by the time Uther died. 

Since the birth of Gawain is placed many decades later in Geoffrey’s account, this is another obvious reason to conclude that the account of Anna marrying Lot before Uther’s death simply cannot be accurate. 

In other words, when we disregard the obviously erroneous account about Lot and Anna so early on, and we just look at the plausibly genuine reference to Arthur’s sister as the wife of Lot and mother of Gawain later on in the account, we see that the sister is, in fact, left unnamed. There is thus no contradiction between Geoffrey’s account and the earliest evidence, which makes her Gwyar. 

Brut Tysilio

Let us now consider an important Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s book. This is called Brut Tysilio. This is very useful, because it regularly exchanges names used by Geoffrey for more authentic forms familiar to Welsh tradition. 

Here, in the passage about Lot being made regent near the end of Uther’s life, Arthur’s sister is named Anna and is called the wife of Llew (that is, Lot). However, as we have seen, this passage evidently has no basis in authentic tradition, and this may explain why the translators left it almost unaltered. 

Notably, though, the account later refers to Gwalchmai as the son of Gwyar (specifically presented as Arthur’s sister) never mentioning Anna again. 

Therefore, the evidence from Brut Tysilio likewise supports the conclusion that the sister of Arthur who married Lot was Gwyar, not Anna. 

In summary, the weight of the earliest evidence (as well as most later evidence) clearly favours making Arthur’s sister Gwyar, rather than Anna, the wife of Lot. 

Was Gwyar Arthur’s Half Sister?

A related issue is that of Gwyar being Arthur’s half sister. The first reference to this appears to be in a Welsh version of a story known as The Birth of Arthur. This post-dates the sources considered thus far, possibly apart from Brut Tysilio. 

According to this source, Gwyar was the daughter of Gwrleis (Gorlois) and Eigyr (Igerna). The account describes how she was living as a widow in her father’s court after her husband, Emyr Llydaw (Budic), had died. She then went on to marry ‘Lleu’ (that is, Lot).

As we can see, there is the mistaken belief that the same sister married both Budic and Lot. However, what is particularly interesting about this is that it also claims that Gwyar was the daughter of Gorlois rather than Uther. 

That this tradition is false is easily discernible. As the mother of Gawain, the first cousin of Owain of Rheged, Gwyar must have been born long after Gorlois died. There is no chance that she could have been Gorlois’ daughter and also have been the mother of Gawain, born at about the time of the Battle of Badon. The chronology simply does not allow this. 

The Origin of This Tradition 

The origin of this tradition appears quite apparent. Since Geoffrey only names one sister for Arthur, it was assumed among some circles that Arthur only had that one sister. Hence, since Geoffrey says that a sister of Arthur married Budic, this must have been the same as the sister who married Lot.

However, since Geoffrey erroneously presents Arthur’s sister as marrying Lot very early, before Arthur’s reign had even began, there was the obvious difficulty of how she could also have been married to Budic and been the mother of Hoel.

Thus, the most convenient solution was to assume that she was much older than Arthur. Since Uther’s wife, Igerna, had a previous husband, the easy solution was to make her a half sister of Arthur, the daughter of Gorlois and Igerna.

As we can see, this belief about Gwyar being Arthur’s half sister is easily understood as originating from the false assumption that Arthur only had one sister. In reality, there is no factual basis whatsoever for making Gwyar the daughter of Gorlois.

When Did Gwyar Live?

Now that we have disregarded the belief that Gwyar was a half sister of Arthur, let us examine what we can really discern regarding the chronology of her life based on the more authentic information about her.

The Dating of Lot of Lothian

The first observation is that she was the wife of Lot of Lothian and the mother of his children. Hence, she must have been of child-bearing age by the time Lot’s children were born. All other things being equal, we can assume that she was no older than her husband, and was in fact probably somewhat younger, given the custom in that era.

Lot, as mentioned earlier, was the brother of Urien Rheged. According to Welsh tradition, these two brothers, along with a third brother, were triplets. In any case, we can assume that Lot was about the same age as his brother Urien, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary.

Based on the information about Urien being active in battle with his adult son in the latter part of the sixth century and dying in the 590s, it is reasonable to place his birth no earlier than the 520s. Thus, Lot himself should have been born at about that time too.

This is consistent with the fact that Lot’s grandson was Kentigern, a religious figure who interacted with Rhydderch Hael, a king who died in the early seventh century.

Hence, in the absence of any preconceived conclusions, we should conclude that Gwyar herself was probably born in the 520s.

The Dating of Uther Pendragon

This is a fascinating conclusion, because it seems to conflict with the information about Uther Pendragon. The evidence strongly suggests that he died before 520.

For example, Geoffrey makes him the brother and successor of Ambrosius. In reality, Gildas’ near-contemporary description of him makes this impossible, since he describes him as being ‘alone’, but he does reveal that Ambrosius had successors. Therefore, Uther could have been – and probably was – a son of Ambrosius.

Since Ambrosius was probably born around 420, given the fact that he is reported to have been a child when Vortigern became king, Uther would logically have been born in the 440s. On this basis, it is unlikely that he lived beyond the year 520.

This conclusion is reinforced even further by the fact that at about the time of Uther’s accession to the throne, there was said to have been a notable comet in the sky. Furthermore, it was at this time that Uther expelled the Irish from Dyfed in southwest Wales.

Both of these events can be dated with reasonable confidence to c. 500. Regarding the comet, there are at least two medieval documents (one of which is a Byzantine document dating to the sixth century) which report a notable comet in the final years of the fifth century.

Regarding the expulsion of the Irish from Dyfed, Irish king lists show a sudden change among the kings of Dyfed from Irish names to Romano-British names in c. 500.

Geoffrey’s account presents Uther as having relations with Igerna very shortly after this, indicating that Arthur was born right at the start of the sixth century. This is consistent with the weight of evidence concerning Arthur, such as the evidence that indicates that he was still active in the 570s, such as the Life of St Gildas.

Since Arthur is described as being fifteen years old when Uther died, this would mean that he probably died somewhere between 515 and 520.

Gwyar’s True Relationship to Uther Pendragon

The aforementioned evidence makes it very difficult to maintain that Gwyar really was the daughter of Uther Pendragon. It might just about be possible, perhaps if we stretch some of the dates a little and assume that Gwyar was born right at the end of Uther’s life.

However, this is far from ideal, especially when we take into consideration the fact that Uther was supposed to have been retired and infirm for at least several years before his eventual death, according to Geoffrey’s account.

Therefore, the question of how Gwyar was really related to Uther is an interesting one. The records are firm that Gwyar was the sister of Arthur, yet her chronological placement within the sixth century makes it awfully unlikely that she really was the daughter of Uther. How can this be explained?

More Than One Uther Pendragon

The answer may lie in the evidence indicating that ‘Uther Pendragon’ was actually a title. Notice, for instance, the fact that one of Arthur’s servants in the early Welsh poem Pa Gur describes himself as the ‘servant of Uthyr Pendragon’, suggesting that Arthur himself was known as Uthyr Pendragon.

Then there is the evidence from the poem known as the Elegy of Uthyr Pendragon, in which we see an instance of parallelism which appears to identify Arthur as Uthyr. Hence, ‘Uthyr’ must be a title. It is evidently the Welsh word ‘uthr’, meaning ‘fearsome’.

Given that ‘Pendragon’ means ‘chief warrior’, the entire title would translate to ‘Fearsome Chief Warrior’, which makes perfect sense as a title. 

However, in addition to the obvious evidence from Geoffrey of Monmouth and many subsequent sources, there is also evidence from Welsh tradition that Uther was the father of Arthur.

Therefore, the logical conclusion is that this was a title that was passed from father to son. This opens up the fascinating possibility that the legends about Uther Pendragon may not all be about Arthur’s father. Perhaps some are actually about Arthur’s grandfather.

Gwyar as the Granddaughter of Geoffrey’s Uther

This would provide a simple and elegant explanation for the apparent issue with Gwyar being the daughter of Uther. Rather than the Uther who features in Geoffrey’s account actually being the father of Arthur, perhaps he was actually the grandfather of Arthur.

This would help to reduce the implausibly long gap between Uther’s birth (in c. 440) and Arthur’s birth (in c. 500). If we take this viewpoint, Gwyar being Arthur’s sister would actually mean that she was the granddaughter of the Uther described by Geoffrey.

With this conclusion in mind, there is no conflict between the date of Uther’s death per Geoffrey’s account and the information regarding when Gwyar must have been born.

Likely Marriage to Geraint of Dumnonia

While the chronological information about Gwyar considered thus far seems quite straightforward, there is another element which makes the situation more complicated. There is reason to believe that Gwyar was married to Geraint of Dumnonia for several years before her marriage to Lot.

The evidence for this conclusion comes, in part, from Bonedd Y Saint, a medieval record containing many genealogical records concerning the Arthurian period. This record contains a reference to a woman named Gwyar who married Geraint.

Geraint was a king of Dumnonia, the kingdom encompassing most of the West Country. His dynasty was closely allied to King Arthur’s. For this reason, the idea of a marriage alliance between the two dynasties would make a lot of sense.

However, is there any actual evidence supporting the conclusion that Geraint’s wife named Gwyar was identical to Arthur’s sister by that name?

The Identity of Gwyar the Wife of Geraint

As it happens, there is such evidence. Another part of the Bonedd y Saint specifically says that Cador was the nephew of Arthur on his mother’s side. This would mean that Cador’s mother was Arthur’s sister.

While some records claim that Cador was the son of Gorlois, the evidence clearly indicates that Cador should be identified as King Cado of Dumnonia. He was the son of Geraint.

Therefore, if Cado was Arthur’s nephew through the latter’s sister, then evidently Arthur’s sister married Geraint. Since Geraint’s recorded wife, Gwyar, had the same name as Arthur’s recorded sister, the logical conclusion is that Geraint’s Gwyar should be identified as Arthur’s sister.

The Issue of Gwyar’s Ancestry

Additionally, we should bear in mind the fact that Bonedd y Saint claims that Geraint’s wife Gwyar was the daughter of Amlawdd Wledig. At first glance, this seems inconsistent with the idea that she was the sister of Arthur, since Arthur was recorded as the son of Uther.

As we saw earlier, ‘Uther Pendragon’ is evidently just a title, not the king’s real personal name. Does this mean that Uther was actually Amlawdd Wledig? No, that is not the explanation for this apparent contradiction.

The real explanation is the fact that Amlawdd Wledig is regularly used as a convenient ancestor figure in the records. Many of his recorded daughters, of whom there are lots, were actually his granddaughters of even great-granddaughters. It is not uncommon for genealogical records to abbreviate the lineage, but this seems to have been particularly common in the case of Amlawdd.

In reality, he seems to be identifiable as Aldwr, king of Brittany in the early fifth century. This is indicated by, among other things, the fact that Amlawdd’s wife is recorded as being the daughter of Cunedda Wledig, a king who was born in c. 370.

With this in mind, it is obvious that Geraint cannot really have married a direct daughter of Amlawdd Wledig. Geraint was probably born in c. 510. Amlawdd, given his identity as Aldwr of Brittany, was born over a century prior to that. Therefore, Geraint’s wife Gwyar cannot have been a direct daughter of Amlawdd, but she could well have been a later descendant.

It is important to remember that Arthur himself was allegedly the descendant of Amlawdd. We see this claim in the poem Kadeir Teyrnon, where he is called the descendant of ‘Aladwr’ (an intermediate form between ‘Amlawdd’ and ‘Aldwr’). This may be related to the tradition that Arthur’s mother, Eigyr, was the daughter (actually later descendant) of Amlawdd.

If Arthur was a descendant of Amlawdd, then so were Arthur’s siblings, including Gwyar. Hence, it would appear that Arthur’s sister Gwyar can indeed be identified with the wife of Geraint recorded as Gwyar ferch Amlawdd.

What This Means for Gwyar’s Dates

This is a very useful piece of information. The genealogical evidence places the birth of Geraint in c. 510 and the birth of his son Cado in c. 532. Since Gwyar was the mother of Cado, this would mean that she cannot have been born in the 520s as previously concluded based simply on the evidence from her marriage to Lot.

In reality, Gwyar must have been born in the 510s. However, it would be implausible to place her birth too early, because then it is highly unlikely that she would have married Lot and become the mother of Mordred and his younger brothers in the mid and late 540s.

Hence, it would appear that she was particularly young when she married Geraint. Perhaps she was as young as fifteen years old when she gave birth to Cado, placing her own birth in c. 517. This would allow her to have been old enough to have been the mother of Cado, but young enough to have been the mother of Mordred and his brothers.

One final point worth noting about this subject is the fact that Gwyar evidently did not remarry due to her first husband’s death. In reality, Geraint did not die until the Battle of Llongborth, which was actually part of Mordred’s civil war against Arthur and was thus long after her marriage to Lot.

Hence, it would appear that Gwyar and Geraint simply got divorced.

Marriage to Lot of Lothian

Now that we have cleared up the issue of Gwyar’s birth and seen that she was probably born in c. 517, what more do we know about her? 

At some point, Gwyar married Lot of Lothian. This likely occurred in the 540s. At this point, she would have been still fairly young and considered an appropriate choice for Lot for political reasons, even though she would have been somewhat older than him. The date of this event is interesting in view of the date of the Battle of Badon. 

While the Annales Cambriae places King Arthur’s Battle of Badon in 516, this is inconsistent with the plethora of sources which make Arthur a contemporary of mid- to late-sixth century figures (Lot of Lothian and Urien Rheged being two obvious examples). 

The simplest solution is to conclude that the date in the Annales Cambriae has been accidentally backdated by thirty-three years due to a confusion between the birth and the death of Jesus. This would place the Battle of Badon in 549. 

This being the case, the other eleven of Arthur’s famous twelve battles against the Anglo-Saxons would have occurred in the years leading up to 549 (possibly even covering one or more decades). 

Notably, some of the twelve battles can be confidently placed in the north of Britain, fairly near where Lot reigned. It may have been due to the contacts that were forged between Arthur and Lot during these northern conflicts that led to the marriage of Gwyar with Lot at this time. 

Birth of Gwyar’s Children

It was probably in about 545 when Mordred was born. The available evidence strongly indicates that he was the eldest son and therefore the heir. Presumably just a few years later, Gwyar gave birth to Gwalchmai, or Gawain. 

This would allow for Gawain to be twelve years old some thirteen years after the Battle of Badon, as Geoffrey’s account requires. 

At some unknown point, Gwyar also gave birth to Gwalhafed. Since this son appears as one of Arthur’s allies within Welsh tradition, he cannot have been born too late, otherwise he would not have been an adult before Arthur’s death. 

Gwyar in the Later Romances

Although Gwyar does not appear by this name in any non-Welsh sources, her character does appear in the later romance tales. 

These later sources give a variety of different names to Lot’s wife. The most famous version is ‘Morgause’. However, this is quite a late form. The reason that it is the most famous form is simply that it was the form used by Sir Thomas Malory in Le Morte d’Arthur. 

It is tempting to view it as somehow related to the Welsh ‘Gwyar’, perhaps with the ‘r’ being corrupted into ‘s’, as was fairly common. However, this suggestion falls down when we look at the demonstrable development of ‘Morgause’ over the centuries. 

In reality, this name comes from the place name ‘Orcades’, the Latin name for the Orkney Islands, which were often described (incorrectly) as being part of Lot’s kingdom.

However, there is one non-Welsh version of the figure of Gwyar whose name might just come from the original Welsh name of this woman. This form is seen in the German poem Parzival, written by the famous Wolfam von Eschenbach at the beginning of the thirteenth century.

The form used in this source for Arthur’s sister, the wife of Lot, is ‘Sangive’. This may well be derived from the Latin word for ‘blood’, which is ‘sanguis’. The reason that this is relevant is that the Welsh name ‘Gwyar’, means ‘shed blood’ or ‘gore’.

While this in itself is a reasonable connection, the fact that so many different names are provided for this sister in the non-Welsh sources means that this may instead just be a coincidence.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Gwyar is a figure from Welsh tradition who features prominently as the mother of Gwalchmai, better known as Gawain, and also Mordred. She was the sister of King Arthur and the wife of Lot of Lothian. Contrary to some traditions, she was not the older half sister of Arthur, nor was she the wife of Budic of Brittany. 

On the basis of chronological evidence, it appears that Gwyar was not actually the daughter of the Uther Pendragon who features in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account. Rather, it appears that she (along with Arthur himself) was actually the grandchild of that Uther, explaining how she could have been born after that Uther had died. Her birth would have been in the late 510s, allowing her to have been the wife of Geraint and then later the wife of Lot of Lothian.

Sources

Bartrum, Peter, A Welsh Classical Dictionary, 1993

Bromwich, Rachel, Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain, 2014

Green, Caitlin, Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the Legend, 2009

Lewis, Barry James, Arthurian references in medieval Welsh poetry, c. 1100-c. 1540, 2019

Howells, Caleb, King Arthur: The Man Who Conquered Europe, 2019

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