Welcome to day two of Legendary Love Week at White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. Today’s post is about the love between the Knight Yvain and his wife, the Faery Queen Laudine! I want to note that their story is present in both The Mabinogion and the French Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes, but I have chosen to refer to them by their French names.
Yvain and Laudine met after Yvain had gone on a Quest and ended up battling and killing Laudine’s husband. Now, I know that this is a strange way to begin a love story, and certainly, Laudine’s previous husband is a man she mourned the loss of, but their marriage has always read to me as one of convenience. You see, Laudine was a Lady of the Fountain and a Faery Queen ruling a Court, and she needed the protection of the bravest and strongest of Knights for herself and her people.
Her previous husband had been that protector, so his death put Laudine in a very scary and uncomfortable situation. This is also where her love story with Yvain comes in, as he was the Knight capable of ending her previous protector’s life, he was clearly the better Knight. So, her attraction to him was obvious, as far as his potential to protect her Faery Queendom, and Yvain was also very interested in Laudine for her beauty and magickal abilities. After all, Yvain would have been no stranger to magickal Faery Women, as his own mother was Morgan le Fay! I will note that it is not always outright stated directly in their story, but it is known that Yvain (or in the Welsh Owain) is the son of King Urians and Morgan le Fay, with older tales stating that it was Modron who was the wife of Urians and mother of Owain. In fact, it is this link that has led scholars to the assertion with great certainty that Morgan le Fay and Modron are one and the same!
Now, that I have explained some background in that little tangent, let’s get back to Yvain and Laudine’s tale. Yvain was quite beguiled by Laudine and they had a rather quick courtship, with him marrying her and becoming her new protector! This marriage went on quite happily for a good amount of time until one day, Yvain’s cousin and fellow Knight of the Round Table, Gawain came to find Yvain. Gawain asked Yvain to go with him on a Quest, which Laudine was very much so against. However, Yvain is able to appease Laudine and convince her to agree to his leaving to Quest with Gawain.
Laudine did make Yvain pledge to return to her within a set time frame, which he readily agreed to, as this would make both his beloved wife and his cousin happy! However, as should be expected, Yvain did not return by his appointed time, having gotten distracted by his revels with Gawain. This meant that when he did return to his wife, he was not welcome back, for he had not kept his compact!
This is the part of the tale that leads to Yvain having to win back the heart of his Faery Queen. Yvain was very distraught and regretful that he had broken his promise, and desperately wanted to get his wife back. Luckily, Laudine’s Faery Lady (her Handmaiden) Lunette was happy to aid Yvain. Lunette wanted to make both of them happy by getting them back together, so she arranged a circumstance for Yvain to win back Laudine’s love. Of course, he succeeded in winning Laundine’s affections for a second time, giving these lovers a happy ending indeed!
I hope you have enjoyed this short look at the story of Yvain and Laudine. If you want a bit more and are interested in joining my Avalonian Rose Faery Mysteries Patreon, I will link some of my Patreon exclusive blog posts discussing this tale. What is your favorite part of Yvain and Laudine’s story? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely illustration I found of the Yvain and Laudine story. I found the artwork at https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/French/DeTroyesYvainPartII.php.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies
- Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
- The Faery Gates of Avalon by Gareth Knight
- https://www.patreon.com/posts/laudine-winter-117787561?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
- https://www.patreon.com/posts/french-romances-115029766?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link