| abstract
| - Dioneta is the name given to a sister of Gwyar (= Morcades) and to a sister of Gwalchmei (= Gawain) in the 14th cenury fragmentary Welsh text known as The Birth of Arthur, from Llanstephan MS 201, edited and translated by J. H. Davis in Y Cymmrodor Vol. 24 (1900), pp. 249–264. The Welsh passage in which the name appears runs: Dwy verchet [a oeddynt i Wrleis] o Eygyr nit amgen [Gwyar a Dioneta. Gwyar] a oedd yn weddw [yn llys i that a Hywel y mab] y gyt ahi gwedy [rnarw Ymerllydaw i gwr] priot. Ac Uthyr [a beris i Leu vab Kynvarch] i phriodi a phlant [a gowsant nit amgen no] deu vab Gwa[lchmei a Medrawt a thair mer]chet Gracia G[raeria Dioneta. y verch arall] in twyssawc a [beris Uthyr yn ynys Avallach] a honno a vu gyw[reinaf dyn yn seith gel]vyddyt vyddyt yn vu oes a[hi. The English translation runs: Gwrleis had two daughters by Eigyr, Gwyar and Dioneta. Gwyar was a widow, and after the death of her husband Ymer Llydaw (she dwelt) at her father’s court with her son, Hywel. Now Uther caused Lleu, the son of Cynfarch, to marry her, and they had children, two sons, Gwalchmei and Medrawd, and three daughters, Gracia, Graeria, and Dioneta. The Duke’s other daughter, Uther caused (to be sent) to the Isle of Avallach, and of all in her age she was most skilled in the seven arts. The work, which contains the story of the sword in the stone, is obviously at least partially based on the French History of Merlin, attributed to Robert de Boron. The corresponding material in this romance, in Alexandra Micha’s critical edition is: ... et de ceste fille que il donna le roi Loth eissi Mordrez et mes sires Gauvains et Gareés et Gaheriez, et li rois Neutres de Garlot rot l’autre fille qui estoit bastarde qui avoit non Morgains ; et par le conseil de touz les amiz ensemble la fist li rois aprendre letres en une maison de religion et celle aprist tant et si bien qu’elle aprist des arz et si sot merveille d’un art que l’en apele astronomie et molt en ouvra toz jours et sot molt de fisique, et par celle mastrie de clergie qu’ele avoit fu apelee Morgaine la faee. The English translation with the proper names normalized is: ... and from that daughter whom he [Uther] gave to King Loth issued Mordred and Sir Gawain and Guerrehet and Gaheriet, and King Neutre of Garlot took the other daughter, who was illegitimate, who had the name Morgain; and by the advice of all the friends assembled the king had her taught her letters in a house of religion and she learned so much and so well that she became learned in the arts and knew wonders of an art which they call astronomy and knew much about physic, and because of this mastery of clerical learning that she had attained she was called Morgain the Fay. Dioneta is here a substitute for Morgain in the French text. The text first introduces her properly as a sister of Gwalchmei/Gawain’s mother in an added, explanatory statement. But when it brings her in again, it wrongly makes her into a sister of Gwalchmei. Dioneta should be the name of “the Duke’s other daughter”, as Morgain is in the French, not the name of a third sister of Gwalchmei. The name Dioneta is only known from this single text, and one can only guess why some Welsh author felt it to be a suitable replacement for Morgain in Welsh. Perhaps it is a badly corrupted version of Tywanwedd, the mother of Caradoc/Caradawg in Welsh tradition. Her French counterpart Ysave is at least the paramour of a sorcerer. In the French Story of Merlin, Morgain is sent to a house of religion, whereas her Welsh counterpart Dioneta is sent to the Isle of Avallach. The Welsh author may have known the Welsh translation of the Perlesvaus in which Avalon in the French text is, as usual, translated as Avallach. But in this text Isle of Avallach is the name of a place which contains a chapel which holds the tomb where Guenevere is buried and where Arthur is destined to be buried. In short, the author has here accepted the medieval claim by Glastonbury Abbey that the region in which it lay was the true Avalon. So it would make sense that if Morgain was connected to Avalon as she is in many texts, and if Avalon is the region in which the religious house of Glastonbury existed, that this Morgain duplicate should be educated not just at any religious house, but at the Old Church at Glastonbury.
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