Le Morte d'Arthur discussion

Normally I wouldn't question the "original" text, especially not an Arthurian one, but after starting this book and looking up a few encyclopedia entries, I've got to ask.

I know that there's a hot debate over the women in Arthur's life. However, the text I have states quite plainly on page 23 of this edition:

"...and then, at the king's request, Igraine's sisters were also married: Margawse, who later bore Sir Gawain, to King Lot of Lowthean and Orkney; Elayne, to King Nentres of Garlot. Igraine's daughter, Morgan le Fay, was put to school in a nunnery; in after years she was to become a witch and to be married to King Uryens of Gore, and give birth to Sir Uwayne of the Fair Hands."


It's pretty clear that two first two are Igraine's sisters, while Morgan is her daughter. It seems sound, it seems logical, and when I read it, I didn't question it at all.

But once I began to research every thing I bring up seems to say that Elaine, Morgause/Anna, and Morgan were ALL Igraine's daughters (and therefore Arthur's half-sisters), not her sisters. In fact, there seems to be no mention at all about her sisters. Discrepancies between tales are fine, but it's even more frustrating when I find people referring to this same work claiming that Elaine, Morgause and Morgan are ALL Igraine's daughters by Gorlois.

If anyone knows what Malory actually wrote, please let me know!

My favorite Author stories are from Mary Stewarts Trilogy about Arthor and as I recall she doesn't give him any sisters. Maybe I need to read it again tho.

I know this is three years late but I just signed up and came across your comment. Were you reading the Keith Baines translation by any chance? I ask because I had started to read it myself so I recognized the quote you gave. The more I got into it the more I came to realize that he was simply a bad translator. His so-called "rendition" is really more of a rewrite of the source material.

For example, he also stated that Sir Brastias and Sir Jordanus helped inspire Uther's army to win the Battle of St. Albans, when in fact it was Brastias and Ulfius.
Probably not as significant as the issue you raised concerning Igraine's sisters/daughters, but it seems to be symptomatic of Baines' "rendition" as a whole.

So to answer your question, Morgause, Elaine and Morgan are indeed Igraine's daughters. Unfortunately, Baines simply gave bad information, and his revisions are quite frankly baffling. I had to learn from experience since his was the first translation of Malory I had read, so knowing what I know now there's no way I would recommend him to someone reading Malory for the first time.

To add professional weight, I even emailed Prof. Sian Echard about this issue. She's an Arthurian expert who teaches at the University of British Columbia and she told me she had never before come across the suggestion that they were Igraine's sisters. She also provided me with quotations from the original Malory manuscripts (Caxton and Winchester) which provided further verification. If you want I can paste her actual response in a private message.

I hope this helps.