Queen Ygerna alias Igraine
(Born c.AD 452)
(Welsh: Eigr; Latin: Ygerna; English: Igraine)

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Ygerna or Igraine (Eigr in Welsh) was the Duchess of Cornwall, ravishing wife of Gorlois and mother of King Arthur. After the death of Gorlois, she married Uther Pendragon, who, under false pretenses and aided by Merlin's trickery, had slept with her, impregnated her with Arthur and had been responsible for her husband's death. Chrétien de Troyes claimed that after Uther's death, Ygerna retired to a palace she had had built for herself known as the Chastel des Merveilles or 'Castle of Wonders'.

She was known to Welsh legend that pre-dated Geoffrey, as the daughter of Amlawdd Wledig (the Imperator), a member of a younger branch of the royal house of Dumnonia. He was probably a nobleman of Ergyng, though he has also been associated with the North of Britain or Brittany. His family are central to the Mabinogion attached story of 'Culhwch and Olwen'. As well as Arthur, various literary sources have attributed several children to Ygerna by her first marriage to Gorlois. They supposedly had daughters named Elaine, (Anna) Morgause and Morgan, though the latter may have been mistakenly attached to them. They had one son, Gormant, but Cador is also sometimes erroneously said to have been their child.

Folkloric records of Queen Ygerna date back to the 11th century. She is generally considered legendary.

 

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