ted over her remains, around which was placed tombs of the noble ladies who shared her captivity. When Holinshed wrote his history the spot was still pointed out, and there was a tradition current that if any woman chanced to tread upon the sepulchre of the queen she would be henceforth barren, as Guenever herself had been.
GUENEVER II.
The date assigned to Arthur's second nuptials is 611, immediately after he had fought his twelfth great battle against the Saxons, that of Bannesdown Hill, which overlooks the vale in which Bath is situated. These nuptials were celebrated at Carlisle with great pomp, and were made the theme of many an ancient ballad, The fair bride was the daughter of Uther of Credawgal, and this is about all we learn of her, except that she died, and was interred at Glastonbury, and was so beloved by Arthur, that at his own death he requested to be lain by her side, which desire was fulfilled by his faithful subjects. It is said moreover, that no court in Christendom was more remarkable for female purity than his, where the men were brave, and the women free from reproach.
GUENEVER III,
Was a Pictish princess, and very unlike her predecessors in character, for no sooner, it is said, "did Arthur marry her, than a change took place in the manners of the court;" nor does the fame of Guenever herself escape; not only was she unfaithful to her lord, but even he, the hero of his time, who had been so tenderly attached to his two former queens, followed the bad example of his present wife. Many extraordinary stories are related by the Welsh bards and chroniclers, of doings at this corrupt court, but it is neither necessary nor desirable to repeat them here. Suffice it that Guenever is reported to have favoured the pretensions of Arthur's nephew Mordred to the throne; and when, in the contest which ensued between the king and Mordred, she learned that the latter was defeated and obliged to fly for his life, she was, as the chronicle has it, "sore dread and had great doubt, and wist not what was best all for to be done; for she wist well that her lord, King Arthur, would never of her have mercy, for the great shame she had him done; and took her away privily with four men, without more, and came to Caerleon, and there she dwelled all her life's time, and never was seen among folke her life living."
The repentant queen is said to have become a nun in the church of the Martyr at Caerleon, and to have lived to a very advanced age; some say fifty years after the death of Arthur.
GUERCHEVILLE, ANTOINETTE DE PONS, MARCHIONESS OF,
Is remarkable for her spirited answer to Henry the Fourth of France. "If," said she, "I am not noble enough to be your wife, I am too much so to be your mistress." When Henry married Mary de Medicis, he made this lady dame d'honneur to. that princess. "Since," said he, "you are really dame d'honneur, be so to the queen, my wife."
