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Malgven, or Malgwen(n), is a character introduced in the legend of the city of Ys at the end of the 19th century by Édouard Schuré, possibly based on a local legend from the Cap Sizun. She was made famous by Charles Guyot (Géo-Charles) at the beginning of the 20th century, in his literary adaptation of the legend of Ys. A valkyrie and queen of the "North", Malgven rules over the lands with her ageing husband, King Harold. She meets King Gradlon while on an outing and falls in love with him. She persuades him to kill her husband and to run away with her on her horse Morvarc'h, towards Gradlon's lands in Brittany. The journey last a year, during which time she gives birth to a daughter, Dahut. Malgven dies in childbirth.

Although she may not be an authentic feature in the legend of the city of Ys, Malgven provides her daughter Dahut with a magical origin story and contributes to the dramatic and romantic element of this legend. This character has been represented in a number of more recent productions, notably novels, a play and a comic book.

Etymology
The spelling "Malgven" may be the most common, but some recent texts use the spelling "Malgwen" or "Malgwenn". Françoise Le Roux and Christian-J. Guyonvarc'h do not explain the etymology, but state that they find the name "neither breton, nor scandinavian".

Description
Often named as the wife of King Gradlon, and therefore the mother of the princess Dahut, in the legend of the city of Ys, Malgven was popularised in this role by Géo-Charles at the beginning of the 20th century.

Origin
The original legend of Dahut does not mention his mother. Her genealogy is also not described. For Le Roux and Guyonvarc'h, she represents a celtic figure "with no age and no origin". Malgven is therefore a later addition to the legend of the city of Ys.

Matthieu Boyd identifies the oldest known mention of Malgven in the essay The Great Legends of France by Édouard Schuré, in 1892 (however, Schuré's text was pre-published in the academic journal Revue des deux Mondes the previous year ). Schuré vaguely makes reference to sources from oral tradition recorded near Cap Sizun, according to which the King Gradlon was looking for a princess of Hibernia (Ireland). This story bares some ressemblance to the legend of Tristan and Iseut, and could give Malgven a more authentic origin, as Schuré kept numerous correspondences with his colleagues in order to gather legends. Malgven was then mentioned by name in a play on 18th December, as the mother of Dahut. Her name also appeared in an English publication in 1906.

Boyd therefore disagrees with the conclusion that Maglven is a pure literary invention of Géo-Charles, although he remains cautious as to a possible origin in Breton mythology, as Schuré did not give precise sources. Le lai of Graelent-Meur, collected by La Villemarqué, mentions a relationship between the Kind Gradlon (however, the identification of this character as the king from the legend of Ys remains controversial, as does the authenticity of this text) and a woman from the Otherworld. Based on this lai, Jean Markale — whose theories are strongly criticised by Le Roux et Guyonvarc'h  — developed the hypothesis that after meeting the woman from the Otherworld, the "knight Gradlon" returned with Dahut, "a small girl with long hair". There are no sources confirming that this women from the Otherworld is related to Dahut, or that she is Malgven, but in Celtic tradition, these women bring good fortune to their husbands and are capable of having children with them, which could provide clues as to Malgven's origin.

Françoise Le Roux et Christian-J. Guyonvarc'h (2000) consider Malgven and the horse Morvarc'h to be literary inventions by Géo-Charles, for his version of the legend of Ys. It is this version involving Malgven and Morvarc'h which has been recognised as the "canon version" of the town of Ys since the mid 20th century, notably by Jean Markale.

Physical appearance and kingdom
Malgven is often described as the "queen of the North". The country over which she reigns could be Ireland, Norway, or Denmark. Malgven is thus considered a "dannite," or Danish, in some texts from the late 19th century, but Géo-Charles portrays her as a Norwegian valkyrie. Édouard Schuré gives the following description of her (1908): "formidable and beautiful was the queen of the North, with her golden diadem, her corset of steel chainmail, from which emerge arms as white as snow, and and the golden ringlets of her hair, which fall upon her deep blue armour, less blue and less shimmering than her eyes" He describes her as a red haired woman in other versions, like that of Florian Le Roy (1928) : "In the moonlight, her chainmail and her armour flowing with brightness, a woman with red hair spread out widely. She was as beautiful as a goddess of War. A water of enchantment shone in her eyes. It was Malgven, queen of the North" . Pascal Bancourt sees her as a "fairy of the North" with the appearance of a warrior woman, with curly hair. The most well-known version renders her as the wife of the ageing Nordic king Harold. Malgven falls in love with King Gradlon, and persuades him to kill her husband.

Literary evolution
The earliest known version, that of Édouard Schuré, depicts Malgven as a sorceress, "an Irish druid or a Scandinavian goddess who killed her first owner in order to follow the Armorican leader" Gradlon. But he has hardly become king of Cornouaille before she suddenly dies. Gradlon falls into sadness, wine and debauchery, unable to forget her. He sees his wife in his daughter Dahut, as he watches her grow up.

Malgven in Géo-Charles' novel
At the beginning of the 20th century, Géo-Charles published The Legend of the City of Ys According to the Ancient Texts with H. Piazza Editions, a work which saw remarkable success, with an eleventh edition appearing in 1926. It was regularly republished throughout the 20th century, notably in 1987, 1998 and 1999 (with Groupe Flammarion), and was also translated into English in 1979.

Malgven mainly appears in the first chapter, titled "The Mourning of Gradlon". Gradlon, king of Cornouaille, leaves to wage war on Norway at the head of a considerable fleet. After a long and exhausting voyage, he arrives at the border of the kingdom of the North. The Bretons engage him in battle for the first time, a carnage in which neither side wins out over the other. This is repeated the following day, with a similar battle and bloodshed, but this time Malgven participates in the fighting. The king of Cornouaille lays siege in vain to a fortress nestled deep in a fjord, but as winter approaches, they army refuses to stay and departs for Armorica, leaving the king alone. Every night, he tries to find a way to penetrate the fortress. One evening, a woman is waiting for him at the foot of the remparts. She tells him that it is impossible to capture the town and its treasure without her help. She offers to let him in, but he must kill the king, an old, avaricious and unfaithful man with a rusted sword. In the citadel, Gradlon kills the queen's husband, who has fallen asleep in a drunken stupor. Gradlon and Malgven flee with the treasure on Morvarc'h ("the sea hose"), an animal capable of running on water. The horse sets out across the sea and joins Gradlon's boat. The return journey lasts a year. Malgven and Gradlon's love results in a daughter, Dahut. The queen dies in childbirth. Gradlon is inconsolable after the death of his lover and transfers all his affection to his daughter, who ressembles Malgven and practices the Celtic religion .Malgven's role contributes to the dramatic aspect of this novel, with the episode of her death in childbirth. Thierry Jigourel believes that, through the addition of Morvarc'h and Malgven, Guyot gives "an astonishing novelistic strength" to his text. Françoise Le Roux and Christian-J. Guyonvarc'h lament the "unjustified notoriety of this book", that they term a "falsification of a Breton legend for commercial purposes".

Later evolutions
The various authors who speak about the city of Ys, often on the basis of Géo-Charles', introduce slight differences to his version. Georges-Gustave Toudouze quotes a summary of the legend in the journal L'Ouest-Éclair (which would later become Ouest-France) in 1933: "When Gradlon succeeded Conan Meriadec, he departed across the sea, roaming with a fleet, of which he lost three quarters. In the waters of the North, he met a queen, Malgven, who fell in love with him and who he married according to rituals of the Nordic country. She lived, she voyaged with him across the sea" . In 1937, in an article in Paris-Soir, Malgven is depicted as Gradlon's wife, "who he brought back from the North". Dahut is not his daughter, she is "the daughter of Malgven and the devil — the child of a sinister and adulterous affair" . In the legend told by Thierry Jigourel, Gradlon learns of the existence of the kingdom of the North, of its treasures and of Malgven by overhearing a conversation held between sailors in an inn in Quimper. The queen Malgven declares her love for him after a day of single combat between the two future lovers.

Related articles

 * Ys
 * Gradlon (husband)
 * Morvarc'h (horse)
 * Dahut (daughter)