CHAPTER THREE
The Middle Ages Part One:
Gildas and Geoffrey of Monmouth
Women in the Middle Ages
Few characters in literature are as synonymous with their time period as King Arthur is with the Middle Ages. While that is not the time period in which scholars believe he would have lived—if indeed he is ever proven to be a real person, most place him in the late fifth or early sixth century—in many ways, it is appropriate because the Middle Ages was when Arthurian legend flowered and became the story most of us know.
But the attention of the bards was not evenly fixed on all characters. As Bonner writes,
While the image of Arthur in these works of the Middle Ages is detailed and magnificent, the image of his wife created in these same works could hardly be considered thoroughly devel
