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Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
Norse Classical Celtic Arthurian
Literature Stories Names
Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
Norse Classical Celtic Arthurian
Literature Stories Names
  1. Arthurian Legends
    Camelot Age of Chivalry Songs of Deeds Facts & Figures Genealogy Bibliography
  2. Camelot
    King Arthur Merlin Round Table Arthurian Women Minor Characters
  3. Arthurian Women
    Guinevere (Guenevere) Igraine Anna Morgawse Morgan le Fay Blasine (Elaine) Lady of the Lake Gwendoloena (Gwendoleu) Isolde the Fair Brangwain Isolde of the White Hands Elaine of Corbenic Perceval's Sister Elaine the Fair Lady of the Fountain Lunete Enide (Enid)
  4. Anna

Anna

According to Geoffrey and his successors (Wace and Layamon), Anna was the daughter of Uther Pendragon and Igraine. Which meant that Anna was the full sister of Arthur. Anna was probably one and the same person as Morgawse, the half-sister of Arthur, in the later legend (see Morgawse).

But her parentage and her relationship with Arthur was not so clear in Geoffrey of Monmouth's account of Historia regum Britanniae. There was even confusion on who Anna was married to.

At first, Anna was the daughter of Uther and Igraine, and therefore the full sister of Arthur [VIII 20]. And in the next paragraph [VIII 21], Uther gave Anna to Lot (Loth) of Lodonesia in marriage. But earlier on, when Arthur was ruling the kingdom, Hoel, king of Brittany, was said to be the son of Anna (Arthur's sister) and Budicius, king of Brittany [IX 2]. So here, we have a contradiction as to who Anna's husband was.

Later still, when Geoffrey said that she was Lot's wife, and the mother of Gawain and Mordred; Anna was no longer the sister of Arthur and daughter of Uther. No, she was now the sister of Aurelius Ambrosius, which made her as Arthur's aunt [IX 9].

It's a possibly that there were two Annas, one who was Arthur's sister while the other was Arthur's aunt. Another possibility, in the case of there being two sisters of Arthur, both are named Anna - one married to Loth and the other to Budicius of Brittany. Both are possibilities, but it is highly unlikely. I would just say that Geoffrey of Monmouth made a blunder when he drew up Arthur's genealogy. There was no such confusion found in the accounts of Wace and Layamon; Anna was clearly Uther's daughter and Arthur's sister.

Although her name appeared several other times in other works (eg The Rise of Gawain), her name was replaced with Morgawse or various other spellings. In many of these later legends, Morgawse was only Arthur's sister; see Morgawse for more detail.

In the Welsh legend, the sister of Arthur and mother of Gwalchmei (Gawain) was named Gwyar. Though none of the tales of the Mabinogion say who Medrawd's (Mordred's) mother was, we can assume his mother was also Gwyar. It is believed that Gwyar was thought to be a goddess or the Sovereignty of Britain.

And according to Wolfram von Eschenbach, a German poet who wrote Parzival (c. 1200), the sister of Arthur was named Sangive. Her children were named Gawan (Gawain), Beacurs, Kundrie, Surdamur and Itonje.

Related Information

Name

Anna.
Gwyar (Welsh).
Sangive (German).

Morgawse, Morgause?

Related Articles

Uther Pendragon, Igraine, Arthur, Morgan le Fay, Aurelius Ambrosius, Lot, Gawain, Mordred.

Genealogy: House of King Arthur.

Jimmy Joe Timeless Myths

By Jimmy Joe

Arthurian Women:

  • • Guinevere (Guenevere)
  • • Igraine
  • • Anna
  • • Morgawse
  • • Morgan le Fay
  • • Blasine (Elaine)
  • • Lady of the Lake
  • • Gwendoloena (Gwendoleu)
  • • Isolde the Fair
  • • Brangwain
  • • Isolde of the White Hands
  • • Elaine of Corbenic
  • • Perceval's Sister
  • • Elaine the Fair
  • • Lady of the Fountain
  • • Lunete
  • • Enide (Enid)
Morgawse

Morgawse

Morgawse was the eldest daughter of Igraine and Gorlois (Hoel), duke of Cornwall. This made her the half-sister of Arthur. She was the sister of Elaine and Morgan le Fay . She was probably one and the same person as Anna , daughter of Uther and Ig...

April 2nd, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Igraine

Igraine

Igraine was the wife of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall (or Hoel of Tintagel), and later Uther Pendragon , the king of Britain. In a lot of cases, Igraine's parents were not given. According to John of Glastonbury, Igraine was the descendant of Helaius, ...

April 2nd, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
King Lot

King Lot

King of Orkney. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Lot was the brother of Urien , king of Moray, and Auguselus (Angel), king of Albany (Scotland). Lot was king of Lothian. Lot married Anna , daughter of Uther and Igraine, and sister of Arthur. He ...

April 2nd, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Morgan le Fay

Morgan le Fay

Morgan le Fay was the popular sorceress or fairy witch in the Arthurian legends. Morgan le Fay was the daughter of King Gorlois (Hoel) of Cornwall and Igraine . Most of the time, Morgan was identified as the half-sister of Arthur . Chretien de Tro...

April 2nd, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Guinevere (Guenevere)

Guinevere (Guenevere)

According to earlier legend, Arthur met Guinevere or Guenevere (she was called Guanhumara (Guenhuuara) by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the Historia regnum Britanniae ) in the court of Duke Cador of Cornwall. Guinevere was the ward of Cador. Guinevere c...

April 2nd, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Mordred

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. Di...

April 2nd, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Gorlois (or Hoel)

Gorlois (or Hoel)

Gorlois, or Hoel as he sometimes known, was the Duke of Tintagel in Cornwall. He sometimes had the title of Duke of Cornwall, instead of Tintagel. Tintagel was the Duke's strongest castle. Some people called the husband of Igraine Gorlois, like Ge...

April 2nd, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
House of King Arthur

House of King Arthur

The genealogy of King Arthur and his family changed from one generation to another, during the medieval period. The main difference between one source and another is the number of sisters and half-sisters, or the number of nephews Arthur had. The ...

February 27th, 2001 • Jimmy Joe
Cador

Cador

Cador was the duke of Cornwall. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Cador was the son of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall and Igraine . In Welsh legend, he was called Cadwr, the Earl of Cornwall. Though he was actually the half-brother of Arthur, Geoffrey ...

February 4th, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Arthurian Women

Arthurian Women

The Knights of the Round Table would have very little adventures if the women had no part in Arthurian literature; they would be incomplete without women. Here we have articles concerning the Arthurian women. Guinevere Igraine Sisters of Arthur La...

April 2nd, 2000 • Jimmy Joe

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