Firelord is a historical fantasy novel by Parke Godwin, published in 1980. It is a retelling of the King Arthur legend.
The novel begins with a mortally wounded Arthur dictating his memoir to a friar at a monastery after the Battle of Camlann. In flashback we are led through his formative years, his first meeting with Merlin, his rise to fame in the service of the British high king Ambrosius Aurelianus, his military campaigns against the Saxons, and his eventual downfall.
Despite some fantasy elements, Godwin aims to tell the story of King Arthur from a historically accurate perspective, based on his own research, including archeological trips to various parts of England. He uses historically appropriate names for the characters, such as Artos and Artorius for Arthur, Gwenhwyfar for Guinevere, and (the conjectural) Ancellius for Lancelot.
Morgan le Fay, called Morgana, is a sympathetic character in Firelord. However, Guinevere is the principal female character -- an "iron-willed warrior," a survivor and revenger "without mercy." [1]