Guinevere is the Queen of Britain, wife of King Arthur, and lover of Sir Lancelot in the Arthurian Legends best known in their standardized form from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur (1469 CE). She first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136 CE) as Arthur's wife, who is abducted by his nephew Mordred and must be rescued by Arthur, but her character remained undeveloped until Chretien de Troyes (wrote c. 1159-1190 CE) made her central to the plot of his Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart (c. 1177 CE).
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Definition
Timeline
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1136Guinevere first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain.
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1136 - 1150Guinevere is featured in the Life of Gildas by Caradoc of Lancarvan.
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c. 1177Guinevere's character first developed by Chretien de Troyes in his Lancelot.
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1215 - 1235The Vulgate Cycle (Lancelot-Grail Cycle) written, develops Guinevere-Lancelot affair.
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1469Thomas Malory completes his Le Morte D'Arthur, the most highly developed version of Guinevere.
