''Perlesvaus'', also called ''Li Hauz Livres du Graal'' (''The High Book of the Grail''), is an
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th
Arthurian
According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Ro ...
romance from the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of romance (heroic literature)">romance from the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail">Chrétien de Troyes">romance (heroic literature)">romance from the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'', but contains striking differences from other versions as well as other Arthurian romances more generally.
Synopsis
''Perlesvaus'' presents itself as a translation of a Latin source found in Avalon as narrated by the mysterious Josephus (possibly the same as the scribe monk Josephus from the ''Vulgate Cycle, Estoire de Merlin''). It follows a highly complex narrative chronicling the progress of various
Knights of the Round Table
The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...
in their quest for the
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...
.
The work begins by explaining that its main character,
Perceval
Perceval (, also written Percival, Parzival, Parsifal), alternatively called Peredur (), is a figure in the legend of King Arthur, often appearing as one of the Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Tro ...
, did not fulfill his destiny of achieving the Grail because he failed to ask the Fisher King the question that would heal him, events related in Chrétien's work. The author soon digresses into the adventures of knights like
Lancelot
Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively written as Launcelot and other variants, is a popular character in the Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition. He is typically depicted as King Arthu ...
and
Gawain
Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...
, many of which have no analogue in other Arthurian literature. It is also notably both darker in tone and significantly more brutal and violent than a usual Arthurian romance.
Often events and depictions of characters are thoroughly at odds with other versions of the story. For instance, while later literature depicts Loholt as a good knight and illegitimate son of
King Arthur
According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
, in ''Perlesvaus'' he is apparently the legitimate son of Arthur and
Guinevere
Guinevere ( ; ; , ), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in literature in the early 12th cen ...
, and he is slain treacherously by Arthur's seneschal Kay, who is elsewhere portrayed as a boor and a braggart but always as Arthur's loyal servant (and often, foster brother). Kay is jealous when Loholt kills a giant, so he murders him to take the credit. This backfires when Loholt's head is sent to Arthur's court in a box that can only be opened by his murderer. Kay is banished, and joins with Arthur's enemies, Brian of the Isles and Meliant. Guinevere expires upon seeing her son dead, which alters Arthur and Lancelot's actions substantially from what is found in later works.
History and authorship
''Perlesvaus'' was written either at the beginning of the 13th century or between 1230-1240, according to different scholars. It survives in three manuscripts, two fragments, and two 16th-century printings. It was adapted into
Middle Welsh
Middle Welsh (, ) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ().
Literature and history
Middle Welsh is ...
as part of ''Y Seint Greal'', and one episode was rewritten in verse and included in the '' Romance of Fouke Fitz Warin''.
The story's supposedly original author, Josephus, seems to refer to the Jewish-Roman historian Titus Flavius Josephus. The actual author is not proven but Hank Harrison was the first, in 1992, to suggest the author was Bishop Henri de Blois, the brother of King Stephen and the Abbot of
Glastonbury
Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...
. The strangeness of the text and some personal comments led
Roger Sherman Loomis
Roger Sherman Loomis (1887–1966) was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval and Arthurian literature. Loomis is perhaps best known for showing the roots of Arthurian legend, in particular the Holy Grail, in native C ...
to call the author "deranged"; similarly the editor of a French Arthurian anthology including extracts from the work notes an obsession with decapitation. Loomis also notes an
antisemitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
air absent from most Arthurian literature of the period, as there are several scenes in which the author symbolically contrasts the people of the "Old Law" with the followers of
Christ
Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...
, usually predicting violent damnation for the unsaved.
The book's theme is that of the
Church Militant
In some strains of Christian theology, the Christian Church may be divided into:
*the Church Militant (), also called the Church Pilgrim, which consists of Christians on Earth who struggle as soldiers of Christ against sin, the devil, and "the ...
Catholicism, highly influenced by the Crusades, and in fact one of the manuscripts was commissioned by Jean de Nesle, one of the leaders of the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
. Barbara Newman thus attributed the issues that concerned Loomis to the author's possible
post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...
, perhaps from battles in the
Holy Land
The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
.
Not all scholarship has judged the Perlesvaus so negatively. Dr Sebastian Evans, a nineteenth century translator of the text, wrote that: "In very truth, however, the story of the Holy Graal here told is ... the most coherent and poetic of all the many versions of the legend..." He argued that the anonymous author should be assigned 'a foremost rank among the masters of mediaeval prose romance.'
Influence
Though its plot is frequently at variance with the standard Arthurian outline, ''Perlesvaus'' did have an effect on subsequent literature. Arthur's traditional enemies Claudas and Brian of the Isles appear for the first time in its pages, as does the Questing Beast (though in a radically different guise than it would take). The story of Kay murdering Loholt is mentioned in the
Lancelot-Grail
The ''Lancelot-Grail Cycle'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian legend, Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance originally writte ...
(Vulgate) cycle as the one evil deed Kay ever committed, but the details and retribution are left out. A small part of ''Perlesvaus'' was also adapted by
Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'A ...
in the episode of the evil sorceress Hellawes in ''
Le Morte d'Arthur
' (originally written as '; Anglo-Norman French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the ...
''. Malory's source seems to be one of the Vulgate manuscripts where the content from ''Perlesvaus'' serves as a prologue to the Vulgate ''Queste''.
References
Bibliography
*Bryant, Nigel (2007). ''The High Book of the Grail: A translation of the thirteenth century romance of Perlesvaus''. Rochester, New York: Boydell & Brewer. .
* Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Garland. .
*Lacy, Norris J.; Ashe, Geoffrey; and Mancoff, Debra N. (1997). ''The Arthurian Handbook''. New York: Garland. .
*Loomis, Roger Sherman (1991). ''The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol''. Princeton.