The story of Gorlois and Igraine isn’t one you hear very often. Igraine is the mother of Arthur, but she isn’t named in many versions of the story. Since she’s just a woman, the misogynistic writers of later ages didn’t deem her worthy to talk about. Gorlois is an even rarer mention. Most readers don’t care about Igraine’s first husband since he didn’t have anything to do with Arthur.
So who were Gorlois and Igraine?
Gorlois was the Duke of Cornwall and a very influential member of Uther’s party. Igraine was his beautiful wife, whose lineage conveniently traces back to the pre-Roman kings of Wales.
Igraine is often identified with the ancient Welsh character of Eigr, a daughter of Amlawdd Weledig in Culhwch and Olwen. Igraine’s ancestry in later stories was mentioned as a name-drop to make Arthur’s claim to royalty a little more concrete. After all, Uther was just a conquering war-lord who had no family history of royalty except perhaps a connection to an old romano-celtic family.
Many stories that deign to mention the existence of Gorlois (beyond affirming that Arthur’s sisters had a father of some sort) portray him as a puny noble with no hope of standing against Uther in the long run. From the ruins of Tintagel, we know that the occupying lord, (presumably Gorlois) during the time of the historical Arthur’s birth was actually very powerful and immensely wealthy. There is evidence of a thriving economy that traded all the way to the Mediterranean in the ruins of Tintagel, indicating that Gorlois was not just a small-time noble that Uther could push around. Gorlois would have been someone that Uther would have had to engage warily.
According to legend, Igraine warned Gorlois that Uther was trying to get frisky after inviting the two to his castle and that she was uncomfortable with it. Gorlois was furious (as any loving man would be) and the two fled Uther’s castle, returning home where Gorlois prepared for the inevitable backlash. To protect Igraine, he sent her to Tintagel presumably with their three daughters. (Some myths also give Gorlois and Igraine a son called Cador who is a very interesting, but minor player in legend)
Tintagel, were Arthur was conceived, is a natural strategic masterpiece. It’s a peninsula sitting atop soaring cliffs and connected to the mainland by a very small path that would have made it easy to defend and almost impossible to effectively siege.
The stories get around this by the handy trump card that is Merlin. Merlin disguised Uther as Gorlois and Uther was able to enter Tintagel and sleep with Igraine (which is a really dirty thing to do to both Igraine and Gorlois, I get mad every time I think about it). Unbeknownst to anybody, Gorlois had died in battle mere hours before Uther-Gorlois arrived in Tintagel. While freaking Igraine out, Uther and Merlin were overjoyed. With no-one to stop him, Uther married Igraine post-haste, and sent her daughters away to be married to political allies almost as soon as he said “I do”
Igraine’s story is steeped with further heartache. First, Uther confesses that the child she conceived the night Gorlois’ death is his. It doesn’t say how Igraine felt about this, other than being relived that she wasn’t impregnated by some demon or spirit in the guise of her husband, but any sane person would have been hurt by this information. Then, when her child is born, Uther fulfills his end of the bargain to Merlin and gives him the baby immediately. Igraine is told that her son was stillborn and doesn’t learn until much later in life that he survived. Some stories assign her an additional child by Uther, a daughter named Anna. However, Anna is essentially Morgause with a different father, so to avoid confusion, I personally leave Anna as Morgause.
Igraine’s character veers on several different directions after Uther’s death. Sometimes she goes to see Arthur shortly after his marriage to Guinevere and the two are reunited. Other times she is living in the Grail Castle or is discovered by Gawain in the Castle of the Maidens.
The reason that I love Gorlois and Igraine’s relationship is a TEENY TINY detail that usually get skipped over.
Igraine is the one who came up with the idea to escape Uther’s stronghold by night and how to leave without being seen…and GORLOIS LISTENS TO HER. In a world were women’s word was so often treated as garbage, Gorlois defers to his wife’s judgement. He trusts her immediately when she says that Uther is making a pass at her. He lets her take the reigns when stealth is required, and does everything in his power to back her up and protect their family. In many versions of the legends, the reason that Morgana is so keyed up about killing Arthur is to enact revenge for her father’s death. Why on EARTH would Morgana still want revenge so long after Gorlois’ death if he wasn’t an absolutely fantastic person?
Gorlois and Igraine are every bit as tragic as Tristan and Isolde, and I think it’s time someone talked about it. Make a mini-series or something!
Maybe my rant will inspire some of my creative readers? Please feel free to contact me if you find anything interesting about these two.
Madness and Arthuriana 