Well, Arthur has a son called Llacheu in Welsh literature, and Loholt, Lohort, Loez, Löue, and a variety of other things in French, German, etc. Lleu is a pretty good approximation that doesn't intimidate a modern reader and lets her play the Lleu Llaw Gaffes story from Welsh legend to good effect.
Sometimes Llacheu/Loholt is the son of Arthur and his mistress Lionors, and sometimes he's the son of Arthur and Guinevere and has a very close bond with his mom. (There's actually one medieval romance in which Guinevere dies of grief after her son is murdered, which changes the end of the story for Lancelot and Arthur quite a bit.) Basically, this character shows up a lot in medieval literature, though rarely as a main character.
I'm not sure Cooper was drawing directly on Llacheu, but I'm sure she was drawing on the general Welsh traditions that Arthur had sons (the other son in Welsh tradition is called Amr), which English versions tended to strongly suppress for obvious political reasons. (If Arthur had sons, he might still have heirs who could provide a convenient rallying point against English rule.) But most contemporary authors have tended to follow the English line, and often make a big deal out of Guinevere's "barrenness."
I'm almost through with my re-read and am looking forward to picking up the rest of the series. Though I understand that there's actually a short story (called "Fire") about Medraut and Lleu that takes place between The Winter Prince and A Coalition of Lions which was published in a couple anthologies; I haven't been able to get my hands on it yet.
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Sometimes Llacheu/Loholt is the son of Arthur and his mistress Lionors, and sometimes he's the son of Arthur and Guinevere and has a very close bond with his mom. (There's actually one medieval romance in which Guinevere dies of grief after her son is murdered, which changes the end of the story for Lancelot and Arthur quite a bit.) Basically, this character shows up a lot in medieval literature, though rarely as a main character.
I'm not sure Cooper was drawing directly on Llacheu, but I'm sure she was drawing on the general Welsh traditions that Arthur had sons (the other son in Welsh tradition is called Amr), which English versions tended to strongly suppress for obvious political reasons. (If Arthur had sons, he might still have heirs who could provide a convenient rallying point against English rule.) But most contemporary authors have tended to follow the English line, and often make a big deal out of Guinevere's "barrenness."
I'm almost through with my re-read and am looking forward to picking up the rest of the series. Though I understand that there's actually a short story (called "Fire") about Medraut and Lleu that takes place between The Winter Prince and A Coalition of Lions which was published in a couple anthologies; I haven't been able to get my hands on it yet.