Editing Gawain (section)

===Children and relationships===
[[File:In the morning one of these ladies came to Gawaine.png|thumb|left|"In the morning one of these ladies came to Gawaine." William Henry Margetson's illustration for ''Legends of King Arthur and His Knights'' (1914)]]

[[Hartmann von Aue]]'s ''[[Erec (poem)|Erec]]'' is the first to mention Gawain's offspring, listing one "Henec the Skillful, son of Gawain" (''Henec suctellois fil Gawin''), among the Knights of the Round Table. Thomas Malory credits Gawain with three sons through the Lady of Lys, a sister of Bran de Lys/Lis (or "Brandles" in the Middle English ''The Jeaste of Syr Gawayne''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/hahn-sir-gawain-jeaste-of-sir-gawain-introduction|title=The Jeaste of Sir Gawain: Introduction &#124; Robbins Library Digital Projects|website=d.lib.rochester.edu}}</ref>); they are named Florence, Lovell, and [[Gingalain]]. Both Lovell (Lioniel) and Gingalain (Guinglain) have previously appeared in the First Continuation to Chrétien's ''Perceval'' and in the ''Livre d'Artus''. Gingalain is the only of them to play a significant role in further works, as the eponymous protagonist of [[Renaud de Beaujeu]]'s Old French romance ''Le Bel Inconnu'' (''The Fair Unknown''),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v40auRW-8C4C&pg=PA85|title=The Knight Without the Sword: A Social Landscape of Malorian Chivalry|last=Kim|first=Hyonjin|date=2000|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|language=en|isbn=978-0859916035}}</ref> as well as of the Middle-English romance ''[[Libeaus Desconus]]'' and of its Middle High German version ''Wigalois'' (titled after Gingalain's name) by [[Wirnt von Grafenberg]]. Besides those children, the eponymous hero of ''Beaudous'' by [[Robert de Blois]] is the son of Gawain by the king of Wales's unnamed daughter, who is known only as the Lover (''Amie''). She might be the same as the also unnamed daughter of King Tradelmant of North Wales, a hitherto virgin who becomes pregnant by Gawain out of wedlock in the Prose ''Lancelot''.

[[File:Now you have released me from the spell completely.png|thumb|"Now you have released me from the spell completely." [[William Henry Margetson]]'s illustration for ''Hero-Myths and Legends of the British Race'' (1910)|alt=|upright]]

Since Gawain is known in multiple tales as the "Knight of Maidens" (French: ''Chevalier as Damoisels''), his name is thus attached to no woman in particular. As such, he is the champion of all women, and through this reputation, he has avoided the name-pairing seen in tales of Erec (with [[Enide]]), Tristan (with Iseult), and Lancelot (with Guinevere). Nevertheless, Gawain has had wives in the course of Arthurian literature,<ref>Weston, p. 45.</ref> albeit he is always introduced as yet unmarried at the beginning of any such story. In ''The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle'', he marries the cursed Ragnelle, and in giving her "sovereignty" in the relationship, lifts the spell laid upon her that had given her a hag-like appearance.<ref name="Lupack, p. 314">Lupack, p. 314</ref> In ''Parzival'', Gawain marries Orguelleuse, the widow of the Duke of Logres. (In ''Perlesvaus'', the mad Orguelleuse instead unsuccessfully plots to kill Gawain and then to entomb herself with him; she is called the Maiden of the Narrow Wood in ''Hunbaut''.) In ''Mériadeuc'', the Queen of the Isles swears she will marry only Gawain. In ''Diu Crône'', Gawain marries Amurfina, a niece of Arthur's stepfather (here named Gansguoter) who wins Gawain from her own younger sister Sgoidamur through the use of a magic bridle and a love potion.

[[Image:Arthur-Pyle Sir Gawaine finds the beautiful Lady.JPG|thumb|upright|left|"Sir Gawaine finds the beautiful Lady", Howard Pyle's illustration from ''[[The Story of King Arthur and His Knights]]'' (1903)]]

Gawain also often appears as intimately associated with a supernatural female figure from the [[Otherworld]] or the [[Fairyland]].<ref name="Weston, p. 52">Weston, p. 52.</ref> The hero of ''Le Bel Inconnu'' is the progeny of Gawain and a [[fairy]] called Blanc(h)emal, and Gawain is himself rescued by the fay Lorie in ''{{ill|The Marvels of Rigomer|fr|Les Merveilles de Rigomer}}'' (''Les Merveilles de Rigomer'').<ref name="Harper, p. 2">Harper, p. 2.</ref><ref>Weston, p. 46.</ref> The mother of Gawain's son in ''Wigalois'' is known as Florie, likely another version of Lorie from ''Rigomer''; she also appears as Floree, daughter of King Alain of [[Avalon|Escavalon]], in the ''Livre d'Artus''. The Italian romance ''La Pulzella Gaia'' has Gawain fight and defeat a giant serpent that turns out to be just a form of fairy princess, the daughter of Morgan le Fay (Fata Morgana) who then becomes his secret lover; their relationship, once revealed, makes both of them into enemies of Guinevere (who is jealous of Gawain after having been spurned), Arthur, and Morgan all at once.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3gaBAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA413|title=The Arthurian Name Dictionary|last=Bruce|first=Christopher W.|date=21 August 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1136755385|language=en}}</ref>

Other women of Gawain include Lady Bloisine who plots to murder Gawain in bed before genuinely falling in love with him in the Fourth Continuation of ''Perceval'', Ydain (Ydeine) who pledges to love him for life after he rescues her in ''La Vengeance Raguidel'' and the ''Roman van Lancelot'', and the haughty and cruel Arcade who loves Gawain but he gives her up to the young [[Pelleas]] after helping him win her over in the Prose ''Lancelot''. Arcade is renamed as Lady Ettarde in Malory's version with no happy end for her; his ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' also mentions Gawain having once been in the power of the lustful witch [[Hellawes (sorceress)|Hellawes]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/mortedarthursir00stragoog|title=Morte Darthur: Sir Thomas Malory's Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table|last=Malory|first=Sir Thomas|date=1868|publisher=Macmillan and Company|language=en}}</ref> In the Prose ''Lancelot'', Gawain also expressed his desire to himself become the most beautiful lady so he could be loved by the mysterious Black Knight (Lancelot appearing incognito).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2zd2JyROkAC&pg=PA52|title=Entre Hommes: French and Francophone Masculinities in Culture and Theory|isbn=9780874130249|last1=Reeser|first1=Todd W.|last2=Seifert|first2=Lewis Carl|year=2008|publisher=Associated University Presse }}</ref>