Thursday, May 2, 2013

Queen Anna Morgause



Image of Witches (61kb)
Ah, Queen Anna Morgause, the most evil witch
across in the Arthurian tales, and a rather
confusing historical record. Known as "The Witch
of Orkney" and the Queen of Lothian and the
Out Isles, and has her own book, "The Queen of
Air and Darkness", written by T.H. White. The sister
of witches Morgan le Fay (who factors into the
Arthurian tale earlier, by trying to tempt Arthur
and Kay with a castle of lard); Morgause is by far the
most inclined to use witchcraft in almost every
interpretation of the Arthurian legends. In T.H. White's
The Once and Future King, she is portrayed as being
cruel and heartless, ignoring her children to amuse
herself with an invisibility spell. She also beats them
and manipulates them by having her side with her
own Orkney faction.
Married to King Lot of Orkney, Morgause tries to garner
sympathy from her sons (GawaineGaherisGareth,
and the evilAgravaine) by telling them the story of the
"rape" of Queen Ygraine, her mother, by Uther Pendragon,
the High King of England-although sources differ as to whether
this was a rape or an act of mutual consent. She also tries to
seduce almost everyone who comes into her court, including
Sir PellinoreSir Palomides, and the old codger Sir Grummore 
Grummersum. Even while her sons are knights of the Round Table, they still resent Arthur and blame him
for their mother's unhappiness.
Physically, Queen Morgause is described as being tall and lithe,
with very long red hair, fair skin, and "green, slanting eyes."
InMary Stewart's The Last Enchantment, Queen Morgause
 influenced King Lot, not Arthur, to order the slaying of Mordred,
the product of her union with King Arthur, who did not know
at the time that Morgause was his very own half sister.
Of course, this is only legend. She is first mentioned by
Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his History of the Kings of
 Britain, as a full sister of King Arthur and the daughter
 of Uther Pendragon and Queen Ygerna. She reportedly
married King Lot of Orkney. She is reportedly born in A.D. 457.

No comments:

Post a Comment