Morgan le Fay: The (not so) Evil Sorceress of Arthurian Literature

Morgan le Fay, mostly known as the evil sorceress of King Arthur’s court, has a complex history throughout medieval literature. The portrayal of her character changes from text to text, sometimes being shown as a good figure, and sometimes as an evil vengeful person. Her presence spans most of Arthurian literature, being present in the very early works written by Geoffrey of Monmouth, to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and all the way to Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur.

In this video, I explore different portrayals of Morgan throughout medieval literature, analyzing how she is shown in the many texts she appears in order to understand more about this mystical figure and to show that she is not quite so evil as she is remembered to be. Morgan le Fay is still present in popular culture today, either as Morgana in BBC’s Merlin, or as the main character in the Mists of Avalon, showing how powerful and compelling her character is.


Sources:
Primary:
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vita Merlini (https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/vm/vmeng.htm)

Chrétien de Troyes. Arthurian Romances (2004, Penguin Books)

Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, ed. by Stephen H. A. Sheperd (2004, Norton Critical Edition)

Norris J. Lacy et al., The Lancelot-Grail reader: selections from the medieval French Arthurian cycle (2000, Garland Publishing)

Secondary:
Zoë Enstone, 'Wichecraft & Vilaine’: Morgan Le Fay in Medieval Arthurian Literature (PhD Dissertation). (2011, University of Leicester)

Alan Lupack, The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend (2007, Oxford University Press, USA)

Carolyne Larrington, King Arthur's Enchantresses: Morgan and her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition. (2006, I.B. Taurus)
Marion Wynne-Davies, Women and Arthurian Literature: Seizing the Sword (1996, Palgrave Macmillan UK)

James Wade, Fairies in Medieval Romance (2011, Palgrave Macmillan)
Some of the images used in the video are from the wonderful British Library illuminated manuscript site, and you can find them all and explore them using the link below:

https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/searchSimple.asp
Additional 38117
Harley 4431
Royal 20 D IV
Cotton Nero MS A x
Egerton 615

Other Images:
BnF, Manuscripts, French 111 fol. 9
Music: Autumn Walk by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

0:00 Introduction
1:08 Origins of Morgan
3:04 Initial Portrayals of Morgan
5:56 The Vulgate and Post Vulgate Morgan
11:13 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
12:48 Le Morte Darthur
15:18 Final Thoughts

Видео Morgan le Fay: The (not so) Evil Sorceress of Arthurian Literature канала Medieval Annie