Table Of Content'WICHECRAFT & VILAINE' :
MORGAN LE FAY IN MEDIEVAL ARTHURIAN
LITERATURE
Thesis submitted for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
at the University of Leicester
by
Zoë Enstone, BA, MA (Leicester)
School of English
University of Leicester
September 2011
ABSTRACT
'WICHECRAFT & VILAINE' :
MORGAN LE FAY IN MEDIEVAL ARTHURIAN LITERATURE
ZOË EVE ENSTONE
Morgan le Fay appears in medieval literature over a period of over three hundred years
and across an array of languages and genres. This study examines the development of
Morgan in relation to the English romances, tracing her emergence in the English
chronicle tradition, the French romance tradition, and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita
Merlini, combined with a detailed analysis of the four theories of origin posited by
previous generations of scholars. It initially examines the potential origins of Morgan
in the classical tradition, noting the analogous figures of Medea and Circe in particular;
the allegorical tradition of abstract personification, including such exegetical allegories
as Luxuria before discussing the possible influence of Irish and Welsh vernacular
literature, focusing on such figures as the Morrigan, Medb and Modron. Morgan’s
various manifestations in the French romance tradition are then examined, with
particular reference to the Lancelot-Graal or Vulgate Cycle, and those texts based upon
it, including the Prose Tristan and Post-Vulgate Cycle, which were in themselves highly
influential in the development of later texts. This leads to an analysis of the Middle
English romance tradition in the light of these French sources, focusing on a range of
texts, with particular reference to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Thomas
Malory’s Morte Darthur. A series of close readings challenges previous assertions that
Morgan’s character is subject to a consistent process of clerkly vilification that reaches
its apogee in the later middle ages. Rather, Morgan’s character is subject to the specific
context of each text and its sources. Indeed, one of the earliest, twelfth-century
references to Morgan demonstrates that many of the negative aspects associated with
her later incarnations are integral features of her nebulous character from the beginning.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the course of this PhD I have become indebted to a wide range of people.
My thanks above all go to Dr. Anne Marie D’Arcy, whose guidance and support over
the last few years have made this thesis possible. My thanks to the AHRC for their
funding, which enabled both my MA and PhD research, as well as my attendance at
conferences and training. I am also appreciative of comments received at conferences,
within the department and at my APG upgrade. Special thanks to Professor Alan
Fletcher’s introduction at Leeds and his insightful comments on Morgan’s origins, and
for Dr. Helen Conrad O’Brien’s help in delving into Morgan’s origins. Thanks also go
to Dr. Orietta Da Rold for her help and especially for her unflagging optimism, Dr.
Sarah Knight for her suggestions and enthusiasm, and Dr. Takako Kato for her advice
and expertise.
This thesis could not have been written without the support of my family and
friends, especially my parents who have offered me their time, advice and all manner of
practical and emotional support. I owe a debt to all my friends who gave of their time
and never flagged in their encouragement, especially Deborah, Eleanor, Claire, Katie
and Shazia. Special thanks are due to Dr. Natalie Jones for her friendship and her
proofreading.
My final thanks go to Mike whose encouragement and support has meant more to
me than I can say.
Contents
Abbreviations 1
Introduction 6
Chapter One: The Origins of Morgan 16
Chapter Two: Morgan in the French Tradition 75
Chapter Three: Morgan in the English Tradition 136
Chapter Four: Morgan in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 177
Chapter Five: Morgan in Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur 210
Conclusion 251
Appendices 257
Bibliography 259
ABBREVIATIONS
AJP American Journal of Philology
AHR American Historical Review
AR Archaeological Review
AM Annuale Medievale
BBIAS Bibliographical Bulletin of the International
Arthurian Society
BM The Burlington Magazine
CI Classics Ireland
CL Comparative Literature
CP Classical Philology
CQ Classical Quarterly
CR Chaucer Review
EETS Early English Text Society
es Extra Series
os Original Series
ELH Journal of English Literary History
ELN English Language Notes
EMS Essays in Medieval Studies
1
ES English Studies
FCS Fifteenth-Century Studies
FMLS Forum for Modern Language Studies
GLL German Life and Letters
HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
JAF Journal of American Folklore
JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology
JHI Journal of the History of Ideas
JIH Journal of Interdisciplinary History
JML Journal of Medieval Latin
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
JWCI Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
LCL Loeb Classical Library
MA Le Moyen Âge
MÆ Medium Ævum
MLN Modern Language Notes
MLQ Modern Language Quarterly
MLR Modern Language Review
MP Modern Philology
2
MSP Midwest Studies in Philosophy
NM Neuphilologische Mitteilungen
NMS Nottingham Medieval Studies
P&P Past and Present
PCP Pacific Coast Philology
PHCC Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquim
PL Patrologiae cursus completus. Series Latina, ed. J.
P. Migne, 221 vols in 222 (Paris, 1844-1902)
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association
of America
PQ Philological Quarterly
PRIA Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy
RC Revue Celtique
RES Review of English Studies
RN Romance Notes
RP Romance Philology
RR Romanic Review
RS Rolls Series: Rerum britannicarum Medii Aevi
scriptores
3
SELIM Journal of the Spanish Society for Medieval
English Language and Literature
SGS Scottish Gaelic Studies.
SHPBBS Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological
and Biomedical Sciences
SP Studies in Philology
SQ Southern Quarterly
TPAPA Transactions and Proceedings of the American
Philological Association
TSE Tulane Studies in English
Vg Vulgate
YES The Yearbook of English Studies
YFS Yale French Studies
ZCP Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie
Biblical quotations remain as they appear in context in cited Latin works. All other
Bible quotations in Latin are taken from Biblia sacra iuxta vulgata versionem, ed. R.
Weber et al., 3rd ed. (Stuttgart, 1983). All Bible quotations in English are taken from
the Douay-Challoner translation of the Vulgate. References are, however, cited
according to the Hebrew chapter and verse unless otherwise indicated. The LXX and
Vg numbers of the psalms are frequently one number lower than the Hebrew. Old Irish,
4
Middle Irish, Early Modern Irish, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, Old French, Old English
and Middle English quotations remain as they appear in context in cited works,
retaining the orthography of the source unless otherwise stated. Standardized
orthography has been adopted for proper nouns throughout the text.
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INTRODUCTION
During the medieval period Morgan le Fay appears across a wide range of languages
and genres in various roles and forms. She makes her earliest appearance in Geoffrey
of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini (c. 1150) in which she is portrayed as a mysterious figure,
the head of a group of sisters who inhabit an island. 1 She is later incorporated into
King Arthur’s family, portrayed not only as a kinswoman of unspecified relationship to
Arthur, but also as his sister.2 Critics have tended to assume that Morgan’s character is
consciously blackened as the Arthurian tradition develops, and that, over the course of
time, the authors of romances modify her original benign role as a supernatural healer to
that of an evil and malicious woman who displays all of the inherent frailties of woman
as defined by the medieval anti-feminist tradition. As Anne Berthelot notes, ‘her
reputation tends to degenerate from one romance to the next,’3 while Clark Colahan
points to a ‘great affective chasm’ between the ‘beautiful young fairy, all sweetness’ in
the ‘beginning of English Arthurian literature’, and ‘Arthur’s wily, old rival and secret
enemy’ in the ‘later medieval tradition’.4 Margaret Jennings has gone as far as to claim
1 Geoffrey of Monmouth, Life of Merlin: Vita Merlini, ed. and trans. Basil Clarke (Cardiff, 1973).
2 Gerald of Wales, Speculum ecclesiae, in Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, ed. J.S. Brewer, J.F. Dimock and
G.F. Warner, RS 21, 8 vols (London, 1861-91), IV, 1-354, at p. 46. Cf. also Chrétien de Troyes, Erec et
Enide, ed. Mario Roques (Paris, 2009), p. 128, ll. 4193-200; Arthurian Romances, trans. D.D.R. Owen
(London, 1987), pp. 1-92, at p. 56.
3 ‘From Niniane to Nimue: Demonizing the Lady of the Lake’, in On Arthurian Women: Essays in
Memory of Maureen Fries, ed. Bonnie Wheeler and Fiona Tolhurst (Dallas, TX, 2001), pp. 89-101, at p.
89.
4 ‘Morgain the Fay and the Lady of the Lake in a Broader Mythological Context’, SELIM 1 (1991), 83-
105, at p. 87.
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