Mordred the Betrayer

If one is careless with their seed, kingdoms may fall.

Jon

Mordred or Modred (/ˈmoʊdrɛd/; Welsh: Medraut, Medrod, etc.) is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur’s illegitimate son by his half-sister Morgan le Fay. In earlier literature, he was considered the legitimate son of Morgause, also known as Anna, with her husband King Lot of Orkney. His brothers or half-brothers are Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth. The name (from either Old Welsh Medraut, Cornish Modred, or Old Breton Modrot) is ultimately derived from Latin Moderātus.[1]

[edit] Mordred in Arthurian legendMordred appears very early in Arthurian literature. The first mention of him, as Medraut, occurs in the Annales Cambriae entry for the year 537:[2]

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.[3] Mordred was associated with Camlann even at that early date, but as Leslie Alcockpoints 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.[4] 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;[5] 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.[6] 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 Herefordshirespring where he had been slain by his own father in some unchronicled tragedy.[7][8] 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 seduces and marries Guinevere willingly, after which he seizes 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.

Morgause mistakes Arthur for her husband visiting her in the night. In another Arthur rapes his sister, overtaken by lust for her. In any case, the discovery of the incest is usually disastrous; after hearing a prophecy that a child born on May Day, as Mordred was, will destroy him and his kingdom, Arthur rounds up all the noble May Babies and sends them away on a rickety ship. The ship sinks, and the only child to survive is Mordred, who is rescued and eventually returned to his parents.