Mordred - Mordred in Arthurian Legend

Mordred in Arthurian Legend

Mordred appears very early in Arthurian literature. The first mention of him, as Medraut, occurs in the Annales Cambriae entry for the year 537:

Gueith Camlann in qua Arthur et Medraut corruerunt.

"The strife of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut fell."

The Annales themselves were completed between 960 and 970, though their authors drew on older material. Mordred was associated with Camlann even at that early date, but as Leslie Alcock points out, this brief entry gives no information as to whether he killed or was killed by Arthur, or even if he was fighting against him; the reader assumes this in the light of later tradition. But even if he was not the notorious villain he would later become, his appearances in the Welsh Triads and genealogies show he was at least a well known personage.

The earliest full account of Mordred is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, where he, for the first time in literature, plays the role of traitor to Arthur. Geoffrey introduced the figure of Mordred (whom he calls Modredus) to the world beyond Wales, detailing that Arthur left Mordred in charge of his throne as he crossed the English Channel to wage war on Emperor Lucius of Rome. During Arthur's absence Mordred crowns himself king and marries Guinevere, forcing Arthur to return to Britain. The Battle of Camlann is fought, and Mordred dies while Arthur is taken to Avalon. Arthur's successor, Constantine III of Britain, has to deal with the remainder of Mordred's army, led by his two sons.

A number of Welsh sources also refer to Medraut, usually in relation to Camlann. One triad, based on Geoffrey's Historia, provides an account of his betrayal of Arthur; in another, he is described as the author of one of the "Three Unrestrained Ravagings of the Isle of Britain" – he came to Arthur's court at Kelliwic in Cornwall, devoured all of the food and drink, and even dragged Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) from her throne and beat her. Medraut is never considered Arthur's son in Welsh texts, only his nephew, though The Dream of Rhonabwy mentions that the king had been his foster father. However, Mordred's later characterization as the king's villainous son has a precedent in the figure of Amr, a son of Arthur's known from only two references. The more important of these, found in an appendix to the Historia Britonum, describes his marvelous grave beside the Herefordshire spring where he had been slain by his own father in some unchronicled tragedy. What connection exists between the stories of Amr and Mordred, if there is one, has never been satisfactorily explained.

In Geoffrey and certain other sources such as the Alliterative Morte Arthure, Mordred marries Guinevere, seemingly consensually, after he steals the throne. However, in later writings like the Lancelot-Grail Cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Guinevere is not treated as a traitor and she flees Mordred's proposal and hides in the Tower of London. Adultery is still tied to her role in these later romances, however, but Mordred has been replaced with Lancelot.

Geoffrey and the Lancelot-Grail Cycle have Mordred being succeeded by his two sons. In Geoffrey, Arthur's successor Constantine tracks them down and kills them in their sanctuaries; in the Lancelot-Grail, the elder son, Melehan, is killed by Bors, while Lancelot slays his brother.