CHAPTER FOUR
The Middle Ages Part Two:
Wace and Layamon
Eleanor as Inspiration
With the foundation of Arthurian legend established, we move into a period where authors rewrite each other, adding to and taking away from the story as they please. The pair first to be involved in this type of literary love-hate relationship were Norman poet Wace and an English priest named Layamon. Together, these two authors would go on to cement Guinevere’s reputation as we know it today. Peggy Donald Gibson writes in her dissertation about Guinevere as a medieval character, “[Guinevere’s] reputation is established because that is the way Wace and Layamon interpret Geoffrey’s bare bones story.”107
Eleanor of Aquitaine was thought to be the model for Guinevere for both men, regardless of how they portr
