Bedivere of Lancelot?

[lucre-noin.livejournal.com]

I have a question/doubt.
In a lot of modern novels I found Bedivere in the role of Arthur's best friend, Camelot's first knight and Guinevere's lover.
In some sites (and also some notes at the end of books) I found the theory about Lancelot being a modern name for Bedivere and so Bedivere being the original Lancelot.
Does this theory have historical/trustworthy bases?

Comments

[pandaemonaeum.livejournal.com]

Bedwyr/ Bedivere appears as Guinevere's lover in the very early stories. Lancelot is very much post Chretien de Troyes (sp?) in the 13th Century. Mallory uses Lancelot and Mallory made the stories popular. But the characters themselves are very similar :)

[lucre-noin.livejournal.com]

May I ask you what stories? Because I read a lot pre-Troyes stories and I found Mordred as her lover but no Bedivere D: (but I just read the one I found in English or Italian so I surely lost something).
Chretien de Troyes invented Lancelot, I think, or wrote about him for the first time.

[scarfman]

After reading Mary Stewart I thought Bedivere being Guenevere's lover was from the early traditions, knowing that Lancelot had only entered the legends around the eleventh or twelfth century. But on further study I don't believe Bedievere was Guenevere's lover in any pre-20th century stories. The earliest stories I know which portray Guenevere as even hopefully adulterous are the Lanval stories, and those slightly predate Lancelot. I think having Bedivere and Guenevere as lovers is a modern conceit for those who want to keep the triangle element of the later development of the legends yet don't want to use Lancelot because he's known to be a later invention.

[lucre-noin.livejournal.com]

thank you : D
I think you are right. But still... using Bedivere as Lancelot is just like using Lancelot D:
I like the books that write Bedivere as a real character and not a Lancleot-surrogate...

[(Anonymous)]

I think I remember reading that Guinevere has affairs with a lot of Arthur's knights, however, I don't think the author gave sources/ examples, so this is not exactly reliable. Mordred is her lover in those accounts, in which she is a willing accomplice to his betrayal of the king (like in Geoffrey).
It is only in 20th century literature, I believe, that Bedivere appears as Guinevere's lover; the first one to portray him this way was Rosemary Sutcliff, I am not mistaken.
People like to use him this way, for the reasons named above, I believe. Lancelot is often said to be Chretien's invention(although there is another medieval author who has written about Lancelot roughly at the same time, telling almost the same story, however, there it is Arthur who rescues Guinevere; and Lancelot is married/ in love with a woman referred to as Yblis), while Bedivere/ Bedwyr stems supposedly from an older Welsh tradition. Authors who like to put Arthur into a Dark Ages setting often seem to feel that Lancelot is out of place in such a context, while Bedwyr, like Kay and Gawain, appears to have some air of historicity about him, being associated with Arthur so early (although there are those, of course, who argue that it is in fact Arthur who invaded into THEIR legend ;P). Also the two figures have similar roles: Bedwyr is often referred to as Arthur's first and most trusted companion and like a brother; Lancelot as Arthur's first knight has taken on pretty much the same role over time.

So, yeah, it's pretty much like using Lancelot without using Lancelot. ^^;