Glauce: The Awesome Nurse of Britomart

Jason

September 26, 2022

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Glauce is the nurse of Britomart, and she is fantastic at her job. She originally appears in book 3 of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene.

Throughout much of book 3, she accompanies Britomart, dressed as a man and Britomart’s squire. Before that, she took care of Britomart, trying to discern how she could help Britomart from feeling ill with love. She also suggests visiting Merlin, and dressing as men in order to find Britomart’s love: Artegall.

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Glauce and Britomart’s Relationship

Glauce and Britomart’s relationship is one of the only female/female relationships that we see in The Faerie Queene. It gives us a solid glimpse into Britomart’s life as a woman before she takes on the role of a knight.

In this way, Glauce is the only character that bleeds over from Britomart’s past life into her current life. Though she is often forgotten in the narrative, she never leaves Britomart side.

See our complete list of Arthurian characters for more entries like this one.

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Author

Jason is a huge storytelling nerd devoted to cataloguing storytelling in all its forms. He loves mythology, history, and geek culture. When he's not writing books (see his work at MythHQ.com), his favorite hobbies include hiking, spending time with his wife and daughters, and traveling.