Mordred

Before Geoffrey of Monmouth, the earliest mention of his name (as Medraut) was in the Annales Cambriae (10th century). A short passage says that Arthur and Medraut (Mordred) fell in the Battle of Camlann. The short statement was very ambiguous. Did Mordred fight against or on Arthur's side? Nor were there any indications of their relationship to one another. Geoffrey interpreted this passage, that Mordred fought on the opposite side.

According to early tradition (Geoffrey), Mordred was the son of King Lot and Anna or Morgawse. Mordred was the brother of Gawain and the nephew of Arthur.

Other early Welsh texts always showed that Mordred was Arthur's nephew. The Dream of Rhonabwy said that Medrawd (Mordred) was the nephew of Arthur, as well as Arthur's foster-son. The Didot Perceval also showed that Mordred was really Arthur's nephew.

Chretien de Troyes (fl. late 12th century) never mentioned Mordred in his five medieval romances, and in the Conte du Graal (Perceval), Chretien listed three brothers of Gawain, but Mordred was noticeably absent from that list. In the Vulgate Merlin (Prose Merlin), at first mentioned that Mordred was the son of Lot and Morgawse (chapter 4), but later in the same tale (chapter 10), it showed that Arthur was Mordred's real father. Arthur had not known that Morgawse was his sister, and when Lot was absent, Arthur made love to her.

According to the later versions (like the Merlin Continuation (Post-Vulgate) and Malory's Morte d'Arthur), Mordred was the son of Arthur and Morgawse, the half-sister of Arthur. Which means Mordred was only a half-brother of Gawain. Mordred was born on May Day, the first day of summer according to the Celtic calendar, often known to the Celtic people as as the feast of Beltane.

Shortly after Mordred was born, Lot and Morgawse sent their son to Arthur by ship. However a storm killed everyone aboard except Mordred in a cradle. Mordred was rescued from the sea by a fisherman. The fisherman gave the child to Duke Nabur the Unruly and the father of Sagremor. Nabur only found a note that said the infant was named Mordred. Nabur became Mordred's foster-father, while Sagremor was his foster-brother. (See Morgawse and the Questing Beast for the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate versions of Mordred being Arthur's son.)

Mordred was one of the knights of the Round Table, but he betrayed the king and the fellowship. He tried to overthrow Arthur as king of Logres (Britain) and waged a war against Arthur and his knights. In the battle of Camlann, Mordred killed Galegantine the Welshman, Yvain, and Sagremor the Foolish (according to the Vulgate Cycle). In the end, Mordred mortally wounded Arthur, but his dying uncle/father killed him.

Mordred had two sons according to the Mort Artu (Vulgate Cycle). They seized power after the death of Mordred and Arthur. The eldest son named Melehan killed King Lionel in the battle of Winchester, but was himself slain by Lionel's brother, Bors. The other son was unnamed and killed by Lancelot.