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Eigr
A Cymric Arthurian Heroine: Virgin
Eigr (Igraine) is a Cymric hero known from the Mabinogi of Culhwch ac Olwen where it is indicated that she is Arthur's mother, a proposition that's supported by the Welsh Genealogies. Thus Eigr may form the basis of Igraine in the later romances. |
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Cym: Virgin
The probability that the earliest native Arthurian tradition identified Arthur's mother with a daughter of Amlawdd Wledig is supported both by the tale of Culhwch ac Olwen and by the relationship of Goreu mab Custennin to Arthur, being a cousin of Arthur on his mother's side. The genealogy on the left represents the distaff side of Arthur's family based on the Jesus Genealogy VII.
The naming of Arthur's mother as Eigr (virgin) may be an attempt on the part of the genealogy (both in the Jesus version and the Brut Dingestow) to provide a counterpart to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Igernia though the figure of Eigr was known to the Gogynfeirdd and they described her as one of the most beautiful women in Britain.
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