Lancelot-Grail Cycle

The cycle as a whole did not have an original title. The Lancelot-Grail is a popular modern title invented by Ferdinand Lot.^[1] Another widely used modern title,Vulgate Cycle (from the Latin editio vulgata,^[2] "common version"), was popularized (but not invented^[3]) by H. Oskar Sommer.

It is also sometimes known as the Vulgate Version of Arthurian Romances, and as the Pseudo-Map Cycle, named so after Walter Map, the work's pseudo-author. Less common alternative titles include that of Philippe Walter's 21st-century edition Le Livre du Graal ("The Book of the Grail").

The first two branches of the Vulgate cycle, the Estoire del Saint Graal and Estoire de Merlin were adapted from the first two parts of the so-called Robert de Boron trilogy in prose (c. 1220), hence the general gist is preserved where the first part connects Christ's legend (Holy Grail) with King Arthur, followed by a second part about the birth of Merlin who eventually serves Arthur.^[4] But these first two parts were incorporated later into the other parts of the Vulgate,^[5] and "considerable amplifications" have been made from the Boron material.^[6]

The Vulgate narrator presumes to have obtained a number of pseudo-sources,^[7] and in the first branch, the narrator claims to have obtained a "Book of Christ", given to him in revelation, which included a "The book of the Holy Grail"^[10][11][12] In the second branch, it is pretended that Merlin himself dictated an account of what happened to St. Blaise, to his confessor Blaise [fr] who recorded it in a book.^[13] The Vulgate claims it has made an translatio of the pseudo-Christ independent of Boron, and also a parallel translatio from the pseudo-Blaise (though not referring here to Boron), but scholars reject the notion this is what really happened.^[14] There are more supposed original (fictitious) authors of the later parts of the cycle, the following list using one of their multiple spelling variants: Arodiens de Cologne (Arodian of Cologne), Tantalides de Vergeaus (Tantalides of Vercelli), Thumas de Toulete (Thomas of Toledo), and Sapiens de Baudas (Sapient of Baghdad).^[15] These characters are scribes of Arthur, who recorded the deeds of the Knights of the Round Table, including the grand Grail Quest, as per eyewitnesses of the events being told. It is uncertain whether the medieval readers actually believed in the truthfulness of the centuries-old "chronicle" characterization or if they recognized it as a contemporary work of creative fiction.^[16] Typically for medieval stories in pseudo-historical settings, it is also highly anachronistic.^[17]

Welsh writer Gautier (Walter) Map^[7] (c. 1140 – c. 1209) is attributed to be the editing author, as can be seen in the notes and illustrations in some manuscripts describing his discovery in an archive at Salisbury of the chronicle of Camelot, supposedly dating from the times of Arthur, and his translation of these documents from Latin to Old French as ordered by Henry II of England^[18] (the location was changed from Salisbury to the mystical Avalon in a later Welsh redaction^[19]). Map's connection has been discounted by modern scholarship, however, as he died too early to be the author and the work is distinctly continental.^[20][21][22]

The cycle's actual authorship is unknown, but most scholars today believe it was written by multiple authors. There might have been either a single master-mind planner, the so-called "architect" (as first called so by Jean Frappier, who compared the process to building a cathedral^[23]), who may have written the main section (Lancelot Proper), and then overseen the work of multiple other anonymous scribes.^[24][25] One theory identified the initiator as French queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who could have set up the project as early as 1194.^[26][27][28] Alternatively, each part may have been composed separately, arranged gradually, and rewritten for consistency and cohesiveness. Regarding the question of the author of the Lancelot, Ferdinand Lot suggested an anonymous clerical court clerk of aristocratic background.^[29]

Today it is believed by some (such as editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica^[30]) that a group of anonymous French Catholic monks wrote the cycle – or at least the Queste part (where, according to Fanni Bogdanow, the text's main purpose is to convince sinners to repent^[31]). The evidence of this would be its very Cistercian spirit of Christian mysticism (with Augustinian intrusions^[32]), including the Cistercian Saint Aelred of Rievaulx's idea of "spiritual friendship" seen in the interactions between the Grail knights (Galahad, Percival, and Bors).^[33] Others doubt this, however, and a compromise theory postulates a more secular writer who had spent some time in a Cistercian monastery.^[34] Richard Barber described the Cistercian theology of the Queste as unconventional and complex but subtle, noting its success in appealing to the courtly audience accustomed to more secular romances.^[35]

The Lancelot-Grail Cycle is dated roughly to between c. 1210–1230^[30] and c. 1210–1240.^[36] It may be divided into three^[30] main branches, although more usually into five.^[37] In the latter division, the romances Queste and Mort are regarded as separate from the Vulgate Lancelot.

The cycle's centerpiece is the trilogy Lancelot–Queste–Mort Artu, collectively also known as the Lancelot en prose, the Estoire de Lancelot (Story of Lancelot), or Le Livre de Lancelot du Lac (The Life of Lancelot of the Lake). It differs greatly in tone between its three internal parts, so divergent that they are regarded as likely, and by some as even doubtlessly,^[38] the work of different authors. The first, Lancelot, (c. 1215–1220) can be characterized as colorful: the second, Queste, (c. 1220–1225) as pious; and the third, Mort Artu, (c. 1225–1230) as sober.^[18][39]

It seems that the story of Lancelot had been initially a standalone prose romance in the original so-called "short version".^[40] Despite its placement in the middle of the cycle, it is believed as having been actually the first to be written, probably beginning c. 1210–1215 in the "non-cyclic" form, initially largely as an adaptation of the story by Chrétien de Troyes before its expansion c. 1215–1220.^[41] The preceding stories of Joseph and Merlin, adapted from Robert de Boron, joined the cycle late, probably before c. 1235, serving as "prequels" to the main story.^[42]

The cycle has a narrative structure close to that of a modern novel in which multiple overlapping events featuring different characters may simultaneously develop in parallel and intertwine with each other. This technique, known in French as entrelacement (interlace), is especially prominent in the Queste.

The Vulgate Estoire del Saint Graal (Story of the Holy Grail), being a reworking of the prose Boron Grail story, preserves the germ of Boron's inventions in his verse Joseph d'Arimathie [fr] (or its prose redaction), namely the identification of the Holy Grail as the vessel that caught the blood of Christ, which Joseph of Arimathea (the caretaker of Christ's body and tomb provender in the New Testament) came into possession of,^[47][50] and that Joseph (probably) took it to Britain.^[54] whereas in the Vulgate, Joseph's has a son named Josephus who brought the Grail to Britain from the Holy Land,^[56] thus with new characters and episodes added. Printed in 41 chapters in modern translation.^[57]

The Grail is the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper and to which Joseph then collected the blood of Jesus from the crucifixion. The Grail alleviates Joseph's suffering during his long captivity by Caiaphas. Freed by Vespasian,^[50] Joseph leaves Jerusalem with a group of companions, founding a Christian community around the Table of the Holy Grail (Round Table). The special reserved seat in the table which Moses deeming himself worthy enough sits on himself worthy only to burned^[61] — this is clearly the Siege Perilous, later used as a test for the one worthy of accepting the Grail Quest.^[62] Joseph's son Josephus and his brother-in-law Bron (Hebron) the Rich Fisher take it to the west with the mission of guarding the Grail. They Christianize much of Britain, including Camelot, and many of them become martyrs in the process. The guardianship of the Grail is granted to Bron's son Alain, the first Fisher King. Later parts, exclusive to the cycle, tell how the dynasty of the Grail kings continues to the time of Arthur. It includes the stories of the original Lancelot and the original Galahad (ancestors of the Arthurian figures by the same names).^[63][64][65]

The Vulgate Estoire de Merlin (Story of Merlin), or just the Vulgate Merlin, concerns Merlin's complicated conception and childhood and the early life of Arthur, which Merlin has influence over. It too is a reworking of the Prose Merlin of Boron (prose redaction of Robert de Boron's poem Merlin) It can be divided into:

The Vulgate Lancelot propre (Lancelot Proper), also known as Le Roman de Lancelot (The Novel of Lancelot) or just Lancelot du Lac, is the longest part, making up fully half of the entire cycle.^[42] The Vulgate Lancelot follows the adventures of the eponymous hero as well as many other Knights of the Round Table during the later years of King Arthur's reign up until the introduction of Galahad and the start of the Grail Quest. It primarily deals with a series of episodes of Lancelot's early life and with the courtly love between him and Queen Guinevere, as well as his deep friendship with Galehaut, interlaced with the adventures of Gawain and other knights such as Yvain, Hector, Lionel, and Bors.

It was inspired by and in part based on Chrétien's poem Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette (Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart).^[131] The actual [Conte de la] Charrette ("[Tale of the] Cart"), an incorporation of a prose rendition of Chrétien's poem, spans only a small part of the Vulgate text.^[132] Due to its length, modern scholars often divide the Lancelot into various sub-sections. These include the Enfances Lancelot ("Lancelot's youth") or Galehaut (sometimes Galeaut), further split between the Charrette and its follow-up the Suite de la Charette (Continuation of the Charrette); the Agravain (named after Gawain's brother Agravain, possibly a later addition to the work^[133]); and the Preparation for the Quest, linking the previous ones.^{[134][135][136][137]}

The Lancelot Proper is regarded as having been written first in the entire cycle.^[29] It was perhaps originally an independent romance that would begin with Lancelot's birth and finish with him discovering his true identity and receiving a kiss from Guinevere when he confesses his love for her.^[24][138] Elspeth Kennedy identified the possible non-cyclic Prose Lancelot in an early manuscript known as the BNF fr. 768. It is about three times shorter than the later editions and notably the Grail Quest (usually taking place later) is mentioned within the text as already having been completed by Perceval alone.^{[29][139][140]} This version ends with the death of Galehaut.^[141]

The Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal (Quest for the Holy Grail) is also known as Les Aventures ou La Queste del Saint Graal (The Adventures or The Quest for the Holy Grail), or just the Vulgate Queste, is a highly religious part of the Vulgate Cycle, inspired by Chrétien's unfinished Perceval, the Story of the Grail. It is also the most innovative, as it was largely not derived from any known earlier stories, including the creation of the character of Galahad as a major new Arthurian hero.

The story relates how the Grail Quest is undertaken by various knights including Perceval and Bors. It is ultimately achieved by Galahad—the perfect and holy hero champion of God, replacing Perceval as the true Grail Knight. Their interlacing adventures are purported to have been recounted for Arthur's scribes by Bors, the witness of these events following the deaths of Galahad and Perceval.^[142]

The Vulgate Mort le roi Artu (Death of King Arthur), also known as La Mort le Roy Artus or just the Vulgate Mort Artu / La Mort Artu, is a tragic account of further wars culminating in the king and his illegitimate son Mordred killing each other in a near-complete rewrite of the Arthurian chronicle tradition from the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth and his redactors. It is also connected with the so-called "Mort Artu" epilogue section of the Didot Perceval [fr], a text uncertainly attributed to Robert de Boron, and which itself was based on Wace's Roman de Brut.^[143]

In a new motif, the ruin of Arthur's kingdom is presented as the disastrous direct consequence of the sin of Lancelot's and Guinevere's adulterous affair.^[42] Lancelot eventually dies too, as do the other protagonists who did not die in the Queste, leaving only Bors as a survivor of the Round Table. The mortally wounded Arthur is put on a barge commanded by his sister, Morgan, and taken to an uncertain destiny.

As the stories of the cycle were immensely popular in medieval France and neighboring countries between the beginning of the 13th and the beginning of the 16th century, they survived in some two hundred manuscripts in various forms^[40][144] (not counting printed books since the late 15th century, starting with Jean le Bourgeois and Jean Dupré's edition of the Lancelot printed in Paris in 1488). The Lancelot-Graal Project website lists (and links to the scans of many of them) close to 150 manuscripts in French,^[145] some fragmentary, others, such as British Library Add MS 10292–10294, containing the entire cycle. Besides the British Library, scans of various manuscripts can be seen online through digital library websites of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica^[146] (including these from the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal) and the University of Oxford's Digital Bodleian; many illustrations can also be found at the IRHT's Initiale project.^[147] The earliest copies are of French origin and date from 1220 to 1230.

Numerous copies were produced in French throughout the remainder of the 13th, 14th and well into the 15th centuries in France, England and Italy, as well as translations into other European languages. Some of the manuscripts are richly illuminated: British Library Royal MS 14 E III, produced in Northern France in the early 14th century and once owned by King Charles V of France, contains over 100 miniatures with gilding throughout and decorated borders at the beginning of each section.^[148] Other manuscripts were made for less wealthy owners and contain very little or no decoration, for example British Library MS Royal 19 B VII, produced in England, also in the early 14th century, with initials in red and blue marking sections in the text and larger decorated initials at chapter-breaks.^[149] One notable manuscript is known as the Rochefoucauld Grail.

However, very few copies of the entire Lancelot-Grail Cycle survive. Perhaps because it was so vast, copies were made of parts of the legend which may have suited the tastes of certain patrons, with popular combinations containing only the tales of either Merlin or Lancelot.^[150][151] For instance, British Library Royal 14 E III contains the sections which deal with the Grail and religious themes, omitting the middle section, which relates Lancelot's chivalric exploits.