Two arthurian women...
zig...@aol.com
Greetings, all.
I am searching for information regarding two women who supposedly
appear in Arthurian legends. They are Aniause and Annowre. I *think* the
latter is a sorceress (?) who tries to seduce Arthur (?). Anyway, I'd be
pleased if someone would set me straight.
How would you pronounce those names, anyway? Are they Welsh?
Ana
Andrea Luxenburg
Annowre looks like a variant of Annora, from the Latin Honora. It may
well have passed through Welsh; there are a number of Welsh names that
some authorities believe to be derived from Latin names, such as Aneurin
< Honori(a)nus, Cei < Gaius, Gwythyr < Victor, and even Arthur <
Artorius. In any case, Annowre is found in Malory as a sorceress who
attempts to seduce Arthur; in some other sources, the same story is told
of Vivien/Nimue.
Aniause might be a form of Annis (medieval pronunciation of Agnes) or a
feminine from Ananias. I don't recall coming across her anywhere,
though; what other information does your source give?
Andrea
zig...@aol.com
Thanks for the info on Annowre. So far I still haven't located
Aniause in any arthurian tale.
Both Annowre and Aniause came from a list of "arthurian names" a
friend of mine found on the net. I've since located the same list-- it's
Kate Monk's List of Names, and it also has "medieval" names, "celtic"
names, and lot of others. However, the documentation is basically not
there. Neither is there an email address where the author of these lists
can be contacted. Does anybody know who this Kate Monk is??
I would really like to see documentation for these names, or for the
one Andrea suggested-- Annora. I'm interested in the history of the names
themselves, as well as in finding the story Aniause appears in.
---Ana
Sigurd Towrie
In article <19961107220...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
zig...@aol.com writes
>Greetings, all.
> I am searching for information regarding two women who supposedly
>appear in Arthurian legends. They are Aniause and Annowre. I *think* the
>latter is a sorceress (?) who tries to seduce Arthur (?). Anyway, I'd be
>pleased if someone would set me straight.
> How would you pronounce those names, anyway? Are they Welsh?
I've come up a blank with Aniause (oh the shame... ;( ) but you're
absolutely correct that Annowre was a sorceress. Malory tells that she
loved Arthur and enticed him to her tower in the Forest Perilous. When
she could not get him to .."make love to her", she plotted his death.
Nimue learned of the situation and came into the forest seeking Lancelot
or Tristram to help the King. She found Tristram and brought him to
Annowre's tower in time to see two knights defeating Arthur and removing
his helmet.
Annowre took Arthur's sword and was about to behead him when Tristram
intervened, killing the two "traitor" knights. Nimue shouted to Arthur
that he was not to let Annowre escape, so the King pursued the sorceress
and cut of her head.
----
Sigurd Towrie |
Kirkwall, Orkney Isles | e-mail: s...@stowrie.demon.co.uk
SCOTLAND | Orkney Website: www.stowrie.demon.co.uk
Sigurd Towrie
In article <3282C1...@mail.albany.net>, Andrea Luxenburg
<E...@mail.albany.net> writes
> In any case, Annowre is found in Malory as a sorceress who
>attempts to seduce Arthur; in some other sources, the same story is told
>of Vivien/Nimue.
In Malory, Nimue clearly assists Arthur against Annowre.
I was unaware that Annowre theme occurred in the other sources. I'm
interested in the repetition of the theme-could you fill me in on the
other sources that have Nimue/Viviane taking the "part" of Annowre?
Andrea Luxenburg
No, I'm ashamed to say, I can't. I'm working on memory of 20 years ago
in a college library halfway across the country. It would have been one
of the less well-known (obviously) probably French, possibly Middle
English, 13th-14th cent. I'm thinking it was one in which the lady in
question was known as Nyneve, daughter of Dyonas; she lured Arthur into
the forest of Broceliande and tried to seduce him, and when he spurned
her she turned against him. OTOH, it might have been in referred to in
the book by the scholar who identifies Nimue with the Welsh goddess
Rhiannon. (One of the warning signs of compulsive reading, incidentally
- you know you read it somewhere, but can't remember where.) Perhaps
some better scholar than I can track it down...
Andrea Luxenburg
Sigurd Towrie
In article <ejUqdGA4...@stowrie.demon.co.uk>, Sigurd Towrie
<S...@stowrie.demon.co.uk> writes
>Malory tells that she
>loved Arthur and enticed him to her tower in the Forest Perilous. When
>she could not get him to .."make love to her", she plotted his death.
>
>Nimue learned of the situation and came into the forest seeking Lancelot
>or Tristram to help the King. She found Tristram and brought him to
>Annowre's tower in time to see two knights defeating Arthur and removing
>his helmet.
>
>Annowre took Arthur's sword and was about to behead him when Tristram
>intervened, killing the two "traitor" knights. Nimue shouted to Arthur
>that he was not to let Annowre escape, so the King pursued the sorceress
>and cut of her head.
If I could just nip into this thread to air a few questions that have
occurred to me since my initial posting;
In the Annowre tale I originally thought that Annowre was symbolic of
the land/sovereignty and Arthur, the King (obvious one that). When
Arthur refuses a union between the King and "the Land", Annowre demands
he be killed (sacrificed? - once again bringing up the question of the
Ritual sacrifice of Celtic Kings). Using the symbol of his Kingship,
Excalibur, she makes to kill him but is stopped by Tristan.
My query is this - where does Nimue fit into all this? She is watching
over Arthur and alerts Tristan to his danger. Is she the true symbol of
Sovereignty here and Annowre is perhaps sovereignty of another Kingdom.
Could this be why Nimue does not want Annowre to escape Arthur?
Or is it simply an cynical medieval fable/pun inserted by Malory to warn
his readers not to be seduced by the idyllic principles of Honour and
that if they were not careful their honour may well be their downfall.
(basing this on Andrea Luxenberg's thread in which she stated "Annowre
looks like a variant of Annora, from the Latin Honora")
Thoughts anyone?
Sigurd Towrie
In article <3286A1...@mail.albany.net>, Andrea Luxenburg
<E...@mail.albany.net> writes
>No, I'm ashamed to say, I can't. I'm working on memory of 20 years ago
>in a college library halfway across the country.
Not to worry :)
>It would have been one
>of the less well-known (obviously) probably French, possibly Middle
>English, 13th-14th cent. I'm thinking it was one in which the lady in
>question was known as Nyneve, daughter of Dyonas; she lured Arthur into
>the forest of Broceliande and tried to seduce him, and when he spurned
>her she turned against him. OTOH, it might have been in referred to in
>the book by the scholar who identifies Nimue with the Welsh goddess
>Rhiannon.
That's given me some more leads to follow up on anyway..thanks.
>(One of the warning signs of compulsive reading, incidentally
>- you know you read it somewhere, but can't remember where.) Perhaps
>some better scholar than I can track it down...
Heh heh - I know the feeling well. sitting in the middle of a pile of
books, papers and scribblings, convinced that it's in the book with the
red cover......I'm sure it is.....
Thanks for the information you provided anyway Andrea.