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Lancelot-Grail

{{Short description|13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}

{{Copyedit|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox medieval text

| name = Lancelot–Grail

| alternative title(s) = Vulgate Cycle

| image = File:Siedlęcin Wieża Książęca Gotyckie malowidła ścienne (17).JPG

| caption = Scenes from the Lancelot Proper depicted in a Polish 14th-century fresco at Siedlęcin Tower

| also known as =

| author(s) = Unknown (in part directly based on Robert de Boron and Chrétien de Troyes)

| ascribed to = Self-attributed to Gautier Map

| compiled by =

| illustrated by =

| patron =

| dedicated to =

| audience =

| language = Old French

| date = {{circa}} 1210–1235

| date of issue =

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| manuscript(s) =

| first printed edition =

| verse form =

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| genre = Chivalric romance, pseudo-chronicle

| subject = Matter of Britain

| setting =

| sources =

| below =

}}

The Lancelot-Grail Cycle, also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance originally written in Old French. The work of unknown authorship, presenting itself as a chronicle of actual events, retells the legend of King Arthur by focusing on the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, the religious quest for the Holy Grail, and the life of Merlin. The highly influential cycle expands on Robert de Boron's "Little Grail Cycle" and the works of Chrétien de Troyes, previously unrelated to each other. It does that by supplementing them with additional details and side stories, as well as lengthy continuations, while tying the entire narrative together into a coherent single tale.

There is no unity of place within the narrative, but most of the episodes take place in Arthur's kingdom of Logres. One of the main characters is Arthur himself, around whom gravitates a host of other heroes, many of whom are Knights of the Round Table. The chief of them is the famed Lancelot, whose chivalric tale is centered around his illicit romance with Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere. However, the cycle also tells of adventures of a more spiritual type. Most prominently, they involve the Holy Grail, the vessel that contained the blood of Christ, which is searched for by many members of the Round Table until Lancelot's son Galahad ultimately emerges as the winner of this sacred journey. Other major plotlines include the accounts of the life of Merlin and of the rise and fall of Arthur.

After its completion around 1230–1235, the Lancelot–Grail was soon followed by its major reworking known as the Post-Vulgate Cycle. Together, the two prose cycles with their abundance of characters and stories represent a major source of the legend of Arthur as they constituted the most widespread form of Arthurian literature of the late medieval period, during which they were both translated into multiple European languages and rewritten into alternative variants, including having been partially turned into verse. They also inspired various later works of Arthurian romance, eventually contributing the most to the compilation Le Morte d'Arthur that formed the basis for a modern canon of Arthuriana that is still prevalent today.

Title

The cycle as a whole did not have an original title. The Lancelot-Grail is a popular modern title invented by Ferdinand Lot.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgjs3WVBKJkC&pg=PR15 |title=The History of the Holy Grail |date=2010 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-1-84384-224-8 |language=en}} Another widely used modern title, Vulgate Cycle (from the Latin editio vulgata,{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e9QUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA175 | title=An Arthurian Triangle: A Study of the Origin, Development, and Characterization of Arthur, Guinevere, and Modred | isbn=9004072721 | last1=Korrel | first1=Peter | date=January 1984 | publisher=Brill Archive }} "common version"), was popularised (but not invented{{Cite book |last=Norris |first=Ralph |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAk7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=A New Companion to Malory |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-84384-523-2 |editor-last=Leitch |editor-first=Megan G. |page=36 |language=en |chapter=Malory and His Sources |editor-last2=Rushton |editor-first2=Cory James}}) by H. Oskar Sommer.

It is also sometimes known as the Vulgate Version of Arthurian Romances, and as 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").

Composition and authorship

File:Français 123, fol. 129, Gautier Map, Aliénor d'Aquitaine, Henri II Plantagenêt.jpg purportedly recounting the tales of Lancelot to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine in a 14th-century manuscript of the Lancelot-Grail (BnF Français 123)]]

The Vulgate Cycle emphasizes Christian themes in the legend of King Arthur, in particular in the story of the Holy Grail. As in Robert de Boron's poem Merlin ({{Circa|1195–1210}}), the cycle states that its first parts have been derived from the Livre du Graal ("The Book of the Grail") that is described as a text dictated by Merlin himself to his confessor {{ill|Blaise (Arthurian legend)|fr|Blaise (légende arthurienne)|lt=Blaise}} in the early years of Arthur's reign. Next, following the demise of Merlin, 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).{{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/763643|doi = 10.1353/mdi.2020.0003|title = The Matter of Pseudo-History: Textuality, Aurality, and Visuality in the Arthurian Vulgate Cycle|year = 2020|last1 = Coleman|first1 = Joyce|journal = Mediaevalia|volume = 41|pages = 71–101|s2cid = 226438977|url-access = subscription}} These characters are described as the scribes in service of Arthur who recorded the deeds of the Knights of the Round Table, including the grand Grail Quest, as relayed to them by the eyewitnesses of the events beings told in the story. It is uncertain whether the medieval readers actually believed in the truthfulness of the centuries-old "chronicle" characterisation or if they recognised it as a contemporary work of creative fiction.{{sfn|Brandsma|2010|p=}}

Welsh writer Gautier (Walter) Map ({{Circa|1140|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{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HEpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA153|title=Walter Map and the Matter of Britain|last=Smith|first=Joshua Byron|date=2017|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812294163|language=en}} (the location was changed from Salisbury to the mystical Avalon in a later Welsh redaction{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UI93dKBwWdMC&pg=PA165|title = Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Tradition|isbn = 9780859915724|last1 = Carley|first1 = James P.|last2 = Carley|first2 = James Patrick|year = 2001| publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}). 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.{{sfn|Brandsma|2010|p=200}}{{sfn|Lacy|2010|p=21–22}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGQcsXGYII4C&pg=PA146|title=The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol|last=Loomis|first=Roger Sherman|date=1991|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691020754|language=en}}

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 cathedralBrandsma, Frank. "LANCELOT PART 3." Arthurian Literature XIX: Comedy in Arthurian Literature, vol. 19, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge, Suffolk; Rochester, NY, 2003, pp. 117–134. JSTOR. Accessed 1 Aug. 2020.), who may have written the main section (Lancelot Proper), and then overseen the work of multiple other anonymous scribes.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-L4OYUlMTsC&pg=PA37|title=The Fortunes of King Arthur|last=Lacy|first=Norris J.|date=2005|publisher=DS Brewer|isbn=9781843840619|language=en}}{{sfn|Lie|1987|p=13-14}} One theory identified the initiator as French queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who could have set up the project as early as 1194.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anBEAL4pxOYC&pg=PA205|title=The Redemption of Chivalry: A Study of the Queste Del Saint Graal|last=Matarasso|first=Pauline Maud|date=1979|publisher=Librairie Droz|isbn=9782600035699|language=en}}{{sfn|Lie|1987}}{{cite book |last1=Carman |first1=J. Neale |title=A Study of the Pseudo-Map Cycle of Arthurian Romance |date=1973 |publisher=The University Press of Kansas |sbn=7006-0100-7}} 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.{{sfn|Dover|2003|p=87}}

Today it is believed by some (such as editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica) that a group of anonymous French Catholic monks wrote the cycle{{dash}}or at least the Queste part (where, according to Fanni Bogdanow, the text's main purpose is to convince sinners to repent{{Cite journal|title=Sir Thomas Malory and "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" Reconsidered|author=Norris, Ralph|year=2009|journal=Arthuriana|volume=19|issue=2|pages=82–102|doi = 10.1353/art.0.0051|jstor = 27870964|s2cid = 162024940}}). The evidence of this would be its very Cistercian spirit of Christian mysticism (with Augustinian intrusions{{Cite journal|title=Augustinian Intrusions in the "Queste del Saint Graal": Converting 'Pagan Gold' to Christian Currency|author=Frese, Dolores Warwick|year=2008|journal=Arthuriana|volume=18|issue=1|pages=3–21|doi = 10.1353/art.2008.0001|jstor = 27870892|doi-access=free}}), including the Cistercian Saint Aelred of Rievaulx's idea of "spiritual friendship" seen in the interactions between the Grail knights (Galahad, Percival, and Bors).{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24643529 | jstor=24643529 | last1=Sévère | first1=Richard | title=Galahad, Percival, and Bors: Grail Knights and the Quest for "Spiritual Friendship" | journal=Arthuriana | date=2015 | volume=25 | issue=3 | pages=49–65 | doi=10.1353/art.2015.0037 | url-access=subscription }} Others doubt this, however, and a compromise theory postulates a more secular writer who had spent some time in a Cistercian monastery.Karen Pratt, [https://reading.ac.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?lID=115714&sID=416690 The Cistercians and the Queste del Saint Graal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831213402/http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/GCMS/RMS-1995-04_K._Pratt,_The_Cistercians_and_the_Queste_del_Saint_Graal.pdf |date=31 August 2020 }}. King's College, London. 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.{{Cite book |jstor = 10.7722/j.ctt9qdj80.7|chapter = Chivalry, Cistercianism and the Grail|last1 = Barber|first1 = Richard|title = A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle|year = 2003|pages = 3–12|publisher = Boydell & Brewer|isbn = 9780859917834}}

Structure, history and synopsis

=Overview=

The Lancelot-Grail Cycle is dated roughly to between {{Circa|1210–1230}} and {{Circa|1210–1240}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0216.xml|title=Lancelot-Grail Cycle - Medieval Studies - Oxford Bibliographies - obo|website=www.oxfordbibliographies.com|language=en|access-date=2019-06-09}} It may be divided into three{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vulgate-cycle|title=Vulgate cycle {{!}} medieval literature|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2018-12-10}} main branches, although more usually into five,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D8nAQgAACAAJ|title=The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend |last=Lupack|first=Alan|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-19-280287-3 |language=en}} with the romances Queste and Mort regarded as separate from the Vulgate Lancelot (the latter possibly initially standalone in the original so-called "short version").{{Cite web|url=https://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/LG-web/TheStory-Outline.htm|title=The Story: Outline of the Lancelot-Grail Romance|website=www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu|access-date=2019-06-09}} The story of Lancelot is believed as having been actually the first to be written, probably beginning {{Circa|1210–1215}} in the "non-cyclic" form before its expansion {{Circa|1215–1220}}.{{sfn|Sunderland|2010|p=6}} The stories of Joseph and Merlin joined the cycle late, probably before {{Circa|1235}}, serving as "prequels" to the main story.{{sfn|Lacy|2010|p=6}}

The cycle's centerpiece is the Lancelot en prose, also known the Estoire de Lancelot (Story of Lancelot) or Le Livre de Lancelot du Lac (The Life of Lancelot of the Lake). The separate parts of the trilogy Lancelot–Queste–Mort Artu differ greatly in tone, so divergent that they are regarded as likely (or even as doubtlessly by some{{Cite book |last=Cable |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jr4a3Je-k_0C |title=The Death of King Arthur |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-14-044255-7 |language=en}}) the work of different authors. The first, Lancelot, ({{Circa|1215–1220}}) can be characterized as colorful: the second, Queste, ({{Circa|1220–1225}}) as pious; and the third, Mort Artu, ({{Circa|1225–1230}}) as sober.{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Joshua Byron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HEpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA153 |title=Walter Map and the Matter of Britain |date=2017 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9780812294163 |language=en}}{{sfn|Lacy|2010|p=8}}

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 through the technique known as interlace (French: entrelacement). Narrative interlacing is most prominent in the Queste, a literary technique used by modern authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien.

=''The History of the Holy Grail''=

File:RENNES, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 255, Estoire del saint Graal.jpg

The Vulgate Estoire del Saint Graal (Story of the Holy Grail) is a prologue story that bridges the gap between the New Testament and Arthurian legend. It is the religious tale of early Christian Joseph of Arimathea and how his son Josephus brought the Holy Grail to Britain from the Holy Land. Set several centuries prior to the main story, it is derived from Robert de Boron's poem {{ill|Joseph d'Arimathie (poem)|lt=Joseph d'Arimathie|fr|Joseph d'Arimathie (roman)}} with new characters and episodes added.

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, Joseph leaves Jerusalem with a group of companions, founding a Christian community around the Grail (round) table. 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).{{Cite web|url=https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/litterature/moyen-age-1/ed6c3713-b2d5-4b94-8cac-a35fbd9471b1-mythe-arthurien/livre-feuilleter/09fc0c09-6ed8-4f88-96ed-abf012f195c0-histoire-saint-graal|title=Histoire du Saint Graal|website=BnF Essentiels}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVquBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT38|title=The Holy Grail: History and Legend|first=Juliette M.|last=Wood|date=15 September 2012|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-0-7083-2626-8 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YAUkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP76|title=Holy Grail and Holy Thorn: Glastonbury in the English Imagination|first=Richard|last=Hayman|date=17 May 2017|publisher=Fonthill Media|via=Google Books}}

=''The History of Merlin''=

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 is a redaction of the Prose Merlin, itself a conversion of Robert de Boron's poem by the same title. It can be divided into:

  • The Vulgate Merlin propre (Merlin Proper), also known as Le Roman de Merlin (The Novel of Merlin), directly adapted from Robert's Merlin.{{cite web | url=https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/e6c91b38-e9d2-4ba8-81a1-37692ddb5ab5-chevaliers-la-table-graal | title=Les chevaliers à la table du Graal }}
  • The Vulgate Suite du Merlin (Continuation of Merlin) / Suite Vulgate du Merlin / Vulgate-Suite, also known as Les Premiers Faits [du roi Arthur]{{sfn|Sunderland|2010|p=63}} (The First Acts of King Arthur) or the Vulgate Merlin Continuation. Drawing from a variety of other sources, it adds more of Arthur's and Gawain's early deeds in which they are being aided by Merlin, in particular in their early wars of internal struggles for power and against foreign enemies (Saxons and Romans), ending in Arthur's marriage with Guinevere and the restoration of peace, as well as the disappearance of Merlin caused by the Lady of the Lake. It is roughly four times longer than the first part.
  • A distinctively alternative revision of the Suite du Merlin, found in a single massive yet fragmentary manuscript ([https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b90600214/f1.item BNF fr. 337]) dating from after 1230 (contemporary to the Post-Vulgate Cycle) and possibly even the late 13th century,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyRt_1b3fo0C&pg=PA443|title=The Evolution of Arthurian Romance from the Beginnings Down to the Year 1300|last=Bruce|first=James Douglas|publisher=Slatkine Reprints|year=1974|language=en}} is known as Le Livre d'Artus (The Book of Arthur), as named by Paulin Paris.{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/structureofleliv00sommrich/page/n7/mode/2up | title=The structure of le livre d'Artus, and its function in the evolution of the Arthurian prose-romances | date=1914 }} It was published by Sommer as a supplement to his edition of the Vulgate Cycle, but Carol Dover classified it as actually belonging to the Post-Vulgate Cycle.{{sfn|Dover|2003|p=16}} Conversely, Fanni Bogdanow and Richard Trachsler considered it a text continued from the Vulgate Merlin that would be followed by a hypothetical similarly revised variant of the Vulgate Lancelot,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ywEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA357|title=The Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval French and Occitan Literature|date=15 October 2020|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=9781786837431 |via=Google Books}} and Helen Nicholson wrote about it as a third different sequel to Robert's Merlin in addition to the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate versions.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWjoq_M4EVEC&pg=PA22|title=Love, War, and the Grail|first=Helen|last=Nicholson|date=22 April 2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9004120149 |via=Google Books}} Contrary to the title given to the work by Paris (and Sommer), its principal hero is Gawain.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf6zAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA280|title=The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: New edition|first1=Norris J.|last1=Lacy|first2=Geoffrey|last2=Ashe|first3=Sandra Ness|last3=Ihle|first4=Marianne E.|last4=Kalinke|first5=Raymond H.|last5=Thompson|date=5 September 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136606335 |via=Google Books}} It incorporates elements of some Arthurian romances written after the Vulgate Cycle had been completed.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QUB0EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA351|title=Codex and Context: Reading Old French Verse Narrative in Manuscript, Volume II|first=Keith|last=Busby|date=8 June 2022|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004485983 |via=Google Books}}
  • The manuscript Ms Vanneck Box 5a, publicised in March 2025 by Cambridge University Library after an extensive 5-year scientific investigation, has been identified as part of the Suite Vulgate du Merlin, dated to have been written between 1275 and 1315.{{cite news |last=Yuhas |first=Alan |title=Medieval Tales of Merlin and Arthur, Hidden for Centuries, Return to Light |work=The New York Times |date=28 March 2025 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/world/europe/merlin-manuscript-cambridge.html |access-date=28 March 2025}}{{cite web |last=Keating |first=Jessica |title=Modern magic unlocks Merlin's medieval secrets |website=University of Cambridge |date=24 March 2025 |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/merlin-manuscript-discovered-cambridge |access-date=28 March 2025}} It tells tales of Arthur's nephew Sir Gawain wielding Excalibur and winning a battle on behalf of King Arthur, and Merlin disguised as a blind harpist bearing the king's standard in battle and turning it into a fire-breathing dragon.

=Prose ''Lancelot''=

File:Bonifacio Bembo. Historia di Lancillotto del Lago (Pal. 556) Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze.jpg's illustrations for the 15th-century Italian version Historia di Lancillotto del Lago (Pal. 556, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze)]]

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.{{sfn|Lacy|2010|p=6}} 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 appearance 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 is inspired by and in part based on Chrétien's poem Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette (Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart).{{Cite web|url=https://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/LG-web/What-is-LG.html|title=What is the Lancelot-Grail?|website=www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu|access-date=2019-06-09}} 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.{{Cite book |last1=Weigand |first1=Hermann J. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469658629_weigand.4 |title=Three Chapters on Courtly Love in Arthurian France and Germany |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1956 |isbn=9781469658629 |volume=17 |doi=10.5149/9781469658629_weigand |jstor=10.5149/9781469658629_weigand}} 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{{Cite book |last=Guerin |first=M. Victoria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WXzagvAprIC&pg=PA21 |title=The Fall of Kings and Princes: Structure and Destruction in Arthurian Tragedy |date=1995 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-2290-2 |location=Stanford, California |page=21 |language=en}}); and the Preparation for the Quest, linking the previous ones.{{sfn|Lie|1987|p=14}}{{sfn|Brandsma|2010|p=11}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eDdZMging60C&pg=PA246|title=The Legacy of Chrétien de Troyes: Chrétien et ses contemporains|last1=Lacy|first1=Norris J.|last2=Kelly|first2=Douglas|last3=Busby|first3=Keith|date=1987|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=9789062037384|language=en}}Chase & Norris, p. 26-27.

The Lancelot Proper is regarded as having been written first in the entire cycle.{{sfn|Dover|2003|p=87}} It was perhaps originally an independent romance that would begin with Lancelot's birth and finish with a happy ending for him, discovering his true identity and receiving a kiss from Guinevere when he confesses his love for her.{{sfn|Brandsma|2010|p=15}} Elspeth Kennedy identified the possible non-cyclic Prose Lancelot in an early manuscript known as the [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52505520s/f1.image 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.{{sfn|Dover|2003|p=87}}{{sfn|Sunderland|2010|p=98}}{{sfn|Brandsma|2010|p=4}}

=''The Quest for the Holy Grail''=

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. It is also the most innovative, as it was 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 Lancelot's son Galahad—the perfect and holy hero champion of God, overshadowing his father and replacing Perceval as the true Grail Knight. Their interlacing adventures are purported to be narrated by Bors, the witness of these events following the deaths of Galahad and Perceval.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FY3P_DUGTyAC&pg=PA50|title=Arthurian Literature XXV|last1=Archibald|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Johnson|first2=David F.|date=2008|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=9781843841715|language=en}}

=''The Death of King Arthur''=

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 {{ill|Didot Perceval|fr|Perceval en prose|lt=Didot Perceval}}, a text uncertainly attributed to Robert de Boron, and which itself was based on Wace's Roman de Brut.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ywEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA294|title=The Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval French and Occitan Literature|date=15 October 2020|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=9781786837431 |via=Google Books}}

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.{{sfn|Lacy|2010|p=6}} 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.

Manuscripts

File:Ywain and his lion fighting a dragon.jpg helping his lion fight a dragon in a 14th-century Italian illumination (BNF fr. 343 Queste del Saint Graal)]]

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{{sfn|Dover|2003|p=219}} (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,{{Cite web|url=https://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/LG-web/Arthur-LG-ChronGeog.html|title=Lancelot-Grail Manuscripts- Chronology and Geographical Distribution|website=www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu|access-date=2019-06-09}} 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{{Cite web|url=http://expositions.bnf.fr/arthur/gallica/index.htm|title=BnF - La légende du roi Arthur: Manuscrits numérisées|website=expositions.bnf.fr|access-date=2019-06-12|language=fr}} (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.{{Cite web|url=http://initiale.irht.cnrs.fr/|title=Initiale|website=initiale.irht.cnrs.fr|access-date=2019-06-12}} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_14_E_III|title=Digitised Manuscripts|website=www.bl.uk}} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=5728&CollID=16&NStart=190207|title=Details of an item from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts|first=C.|last=Wight|website=www.bl.uk}} 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.{{sfn|Sunderland|2010|p=99}}{{sfn|Lacy|2010|p=14}} 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.

Legacy

=Post-Vulgate Cycle=

{{Main|Post-Vulgate Cycle}}

The Vulgate Cycle was soon afterwards subject to a major revision during the 1230s, in which much was left out, much changed, and much added. The resulting far-shorter Post-Vulgate Cycle, also known as the Roman du Graal, omits almost all of the Lancelot Proper (except these included in some incomplete surviving fragments, including the French La Folie Lancelot{{Cite book |last=Sharrer |first=Harvey L. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oV967qQ0qiEC&pg=PA179 |title=The Lancelot-Grail Cycle: Text and Transformations |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-292-78640-0 |editor-last=Kibler |editor-first=William W. |page=179 |language=en |chapter=The Acclimatization of the Lancelot-Grail Cycle in Spain and Portugal}}), and consequently most of Lancelot and Guinevere's content, instead focusing on the Grail Quest.{{sfn|Lacy|2010|p=6}} It also borrows characters and episodes from the first version of the Prose Tristan (1220).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0LPVKYsJCgC&pg=PA117|title=Arthurian Literature XXIII|first1=Keith|last1=Busby|first2=Roger|last2=Dalrymple|date=23 October 2006|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=978-1-84384-097-8 |via=Google Books}}

The Post-Vulgate was much less successful than its predecessor and its original form today only exists in fragments. It was reconstructed mostly from foreign (i.e. non-French) translations, as well as the second version of the Prose Tristan (1240) that seems to have been in turn greatly influenced by the Post-Vulgate.

=Other reworkings and influence=

The Prose Tristan itself had been influenced by the Vulgate Cycle already in its first version,{{sfn|Dover|2003|p=34}} and is believed to have been also later partially incorporated in the second version through the Post-Vulgate.{{sfn|Sunderland|2010|p=6}} Along with the Prose Tristan, both the Post-Vulgate and the Vulgate original were among the most important sources for Thomas Malory's seminal English compilation of Arthurian legend, Le Morte d'Arthur (1470),{{sfn|Lacy|2010|p=6}} which has become a template for many modern works.

The 14th-century English poem Stanzaic Morte Arthur is a compressed verse translation of the Vulgate Mort Artu. In the 15th-century Scotland, the first part of the Vulgate Lancelot was turned into verse in Lancelot of the Laik, a romance love poem with political messages.{{Cite web|url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/lupack-lancelot-of-the-laik-and-sir-tristrem-lancelot-of-the-laik-introduction|title=Lancelot of the Laik: Introduction | Robbins Library Digital Projects|website=d.lib.rochester.edu}} In the 15th-century England, Henry Lovelich's poem Merlin and the anonymous Middle English prose Merlin were both based on the Vulgate Merlin and the Merlin Continuation, as was the verse romance Of Arthour and of Merlin which did it more losely.

Outside Britain, the Vulgate Merlin was retold in Germany by Albrecht von Scharfenberg in his lost Der Theure Mörlin, preserved over 100 years later in the "Mörlin" part of Ulrich Fuetrer's Buch von Abenteuer (1471).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CpWNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|title=Merlin: A Casebook|first=Peter H.|last=Goodrich|date=26 June 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-58340-8 |via=Google Books}} Jacob van Maerlant's Dutch translation of the Merlin added some original content in his Merlijns Boek also known as Boek van Merline (1261). The English Arthur and Merlin was in turn translated to Dutch as Merlijn Volksboek also known as Historie von Merlijn (1540). The Dutch Lancelot Compilation (1320) added an original romance to a translation of the Prose Lancelot.

Around 1225, some episodes from the Vulgate Cycle have been adapted into the Third and Fourth Continuations of Chrétien's unfinished Perceval, the Story of the Grail.{{Cite journal|title=Verse and Prose in the Continuations of Chrétien de Troyes' "Conte du Graal"|author=Gaggero, Massimiliano|year=2013|journal=Arthuriana|volume=23|issue=3|pages=3–25|doi = 10.1353/art.2013.0027|jstor = 43855455|s2cid = 161312740}} The cycle's elements and characters have been also incorporated into various other works in France, such as Palamedes (c. 1235-1240), and elsewhere, such as the Venetian (written in French) Les Prophecies de Mérlin also known as the Prophéties de Merlin (1276). In Italy, Paolino Pieri's La Storia di Merlino (1320s), as well as the Historia di Merlino also known as the Vita di Merlino con le Sue Profetie (1379), have been both derived from the Prose Merlin—albeit especially loosely in the case of Pieri's work, partially abridged from the Prophecies and inventing a new childhood for Merlin. Other legacy can be found in the many so-called "pseudo-Arthurian" works in Spain and Portugal.Michael Harney's "Spanish Lancelot-Grail Heritage" in A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle.

Modern editions and translations

=Oskar Sommer=

H. Oskar Sommer published the entire original French text of the Vulgate Cycle in seven volumes in the years 1908–1916. Sommer's has been the only complete cycle published as of 2004.{{Citation|last=Burns |first=E. Jane |title=Vulgate Cycle |editor-last=Kibler |editor-first=William W. |encyclopedia=Medieval France: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Garland |year=1995 |pages=1829–1831 |isbn=9780824044442 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQoKeohhNkMC&pg=PA1829}} The base text used was the British Library Add MS 10292–10294. It is however not a critical edition, but a composite text, where variant readings from alternate manuscripts are unreliably demarcated using square brackets.

  • Sommer, H. Oskar. (ed.). The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances
  • Volume 1 of 8 (1909): Lestoire del Saint Graal.
  • Volume 2 of 8 (1908): Lestoire de Merlin.
  • Volume 3 of 8 (1910): Le livre de Lancelot del Lac, Part I.
  • Volume 4 of 8 (1911): Le livre de Lancelot del Lac, Part II.
  • Volume 5 of 8 (1912): Le livre de Lancelot del Lac, Part III.
  • Volume 6 of 8 (1913): Les aventures ou la queste del Saint Graal, La mort le roi Artus.
  • Volume 7 of 8 (1913): Supplement: Le livre d'Artus, with glossary
  • Volume 8 of 8 (1916): Index of names and places to volumes I-VII

=Norris J. Lacy=

The first full English translations of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles were overseen by Norris J. Lacy.

  • Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation. New York: Garland.
  • Five-volume set. {{ISBN|0-8240-0700-X}}.
  • Volume 1 of 5 (1 December 1992). {{ISBN|0-8240-7733-4}}: The History of the Holy Grail and The Story of Merlin.
  • Volume 2 of 5 (1 August 1993). {{ISBN|0-8153-0746-2}}: Lancelot, Parts I, II and III
  • Volume 3 of 5 (1 March 1995). {{ISBN|0-8153-0747-0}}: Lancelot, Parts IV, V, VI.
  • Volume 4 of 5 (1 April 1995). {{ISBN|0-8153-0748-9}}: The Quest for the Holy Grail, The Death of Arthur, and The Post-Vulgate, Part I: The Merlin Continuation
  • Volume 5 of 5 (1 May 1996). {{ISBN|0-8153-0757-8}}: The Post-Vulgate, Parts I-III: The Merlin Continuation (end), The Quest for the Holy Grail, The Death of Arthur, Chapter Summaries and Index of Proper Names
  • Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). The Lancelot-Grail Reader: Selections from the Medieval French Arthurian Cycle (2000). New York: Garland. {{ISBN|0-8153-3419-2}}
  • Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer.
  • Ten-volume set (March 2010). {{ISBN|9780859917704}}.
  • Volume 1 of 10 (March 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842248}}: The History of the Holy Grail.
  • Volume 2 of 10 (March 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842347}}: The Story of Merlin.
  • Volume 3 of 10 (March 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842262}}: Lancelot, Parts I and II.
  • Volume 4 of 10 (March 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842354}}: Lancelot, Parts III and IV.
  • Volume 5 of 10 (October 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842361}}: Lancelot, Parts V and VI.
  • Volume 6 of 10 (March 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842378}}: The Quest for the Holy Grail.
  • Volume 7 of 10 (March 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842309}}: The Death of Arthur.
  • Volume 8 of 10 (March 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842385}}: The Post-Vulgate Cycle: The Merlin Continuation.
  • Volume 9 of 10 (October 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842330}}: The Post-Vulgate Cycle: The Quest for the Holy Grail and The Death of Arthur.
  • Volume 10 of 10 (March 2010). {{ISBN|9781843842521}}: Chapter Summaries for the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles and Index of Proper Names.
  • Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation. Routledge Revivals. Routledge.
  • Five-volume set (April 19, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-415-87727-5}}.
  • Volume 1 of 5 (April 19, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-415-87722-0}}.
  • Volume 2 of 5 (April 19, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-415-87723-7}}.
  • Volume 3 of 5 (April 19, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-415-87724-4}}
  • Volume 4 of 5 (April 19, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-415-87725-1}}.
  • Volume 5 of 5 (April 19, 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-415-87726-8}}.

=Daniel Poirion=

A modern French translation of the Vulgate Cycle in three volumes:

  • Poirion, Daniel. (ed.) Le Livre du Graal, Paris: Gallimard{{Cite book|title=Le Livre du Graal|last=Poirion|first=Daniel|publisher=Gallimard|year=2001|isbn=978-2-07-011342-2|location=Paris}}
  • Volume 1 of 3 (2001): {{ISBN|978-2-07-011342-2}}: Joseph d'Arimathie, Merlin, Les Premiers Faits du roi Arthur.
  • Volume 2 of 3 (2003): {{ISBN|978-2-07-011344-6}}: Lancelot De La Marche de Gaule à La Première Partie de la quête de Lancelot.
  • Volume 3 of 3 (2009): {{ISBN|978-2-07-011343-9}}: Lancelot: La Seconde Partie de la quête de Lancelot, La Quête du saint Graal, La Mort du roi Arthur.

=Other=

  • Penguin Classics published a translation into English by Pauline Matarasso of the Queste as The Quest of the Holy Grail in 1969.{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/266084/the-quest-of-the-holy-grail-by-anonymous/9780140442205|title=The Quest of the Holy Grail by Anonymous {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-09}} It was followed in 1971 with a translation by James Cable of the Mort Artu as The Death of King Arthur.{{Cite book|translator-last=Cable|translator-first=James|date=30 January 1975|orig-date=1971|title=The Death of King Arthur|publisher=Penguin Random House UK|isbn=978-0-141-90778-9}}
  • Brepols published the original Old French text of the Mort Artu ({{ISBN|978-2-503-51676-9}}) in 2008 and the Queste ({{ISBN|978-2-503-51678-3}}) in 2012, both based on MS Yale 229 and edited by Elizabeth M. Willingham with annotations in English, under the series The Illustrated Prose Lancelot.
  • Judith Shoaf's modern English translation of the Vulgate Queste was published by Broadview Press as The Quest for the Holy Grail in 2018 ({{ISBN|978-1-55481-376-6}}). It contains many footnotes explaining its connections with other works of Arthurian literature.{{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/745577|title=The Quest of the Holy Grail ed. by Judith Shoaf (review)|first=Ann|last=McCullough|date=12 August 2019|journal=Arthuriana|volume=29|issue=4|pages=85–86|via=Project MUSE|doi=10.1353/art.2019.0048|s2cid=212815856|url-access=subscription}}

References

=Citations=

{{reflist}}

=Bibliography=

  • {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y32bSj3pvS4C|title=The Interlace Structure of the Third Part of the Prose Lancelot|last=Brandsma|first=Frank|date=2010|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9781843842576|language=en}}
  • {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgjs3WVBKJkC|title=The History of the Holy Grail|translator-last=Chase|translator-first=Carol J.|editor-last=Lacy|editor-first=Norris J.|year=2010|publisher=D.S. Brewer|location=Cambridge|series=Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation|volume=1|isbn=9781843842248|language=en}}
  • {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KkBSujrlYRAC|title=A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle|last=Dover|first=Carol|publisher=DS Brewer|year=2003|isbn=9780859917834}}
  • {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-PgPONQa7QC|title=The Middle Dutch Prose Lancelot: A Study of the Rotterdam Fragments and Their Place in the French, German, and Dutch Lancelot en Prose Tradition|last=Lie|first=Orlanda S. H.|date=1987|publisher=Uitgeverij Verloren|isbn=9780444856470|language=en}}
  • {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33nkTNaKufgC|title=Old French Narrative Cycles: Heroism Between Ethics and Morality|last=Sunderland|first=Luke|date=2010|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9781843842200|language=en}}

External links

  • [https://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/lancelot-project.html The Lancelot-Grail Project by the University of Pittsburgh]
  • [http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourArtProse.asp British Library Virtual Exhibition of Arthurian Manuscripts: The Prose Lancelot-Grail]
  • [https://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/vulgate/ An Explanation Of The Vulgate Cycle - Timeless Myths]
  • {{in lang|fr}} [http://expositions.bnf.fr/arthur/ The legend of King Arthur on the Bibliothèque Nationale de France website] ("flip-book" exhibitions: [http://classes.bnf.fr/livre/livres/rennes/index.htm Lancelot-Graal], [http://classes.bnf.fr/livre/livres/estoire/index.htm Histoire de Saint Graal], [http://classes.bnf.fr/livre/livres/merlin/index.htm Histoire de Merlin], [http://classes.bnf.fr/livre/livres/lancelot/index.htm Le Roman de Lancelot], by [http://classes.bnf.fr/livre/livres/queste/index.htm La Quête du Graal], [http://classes.bnf.fr/livre/livres/mortartu/index.htm La mort du roi Arthur])
  • {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.arlima.net/ad/cycle_du_lancelot-graal.html Bibliography on the Archives de Littérature Médiévale]

Category:1210s books

Category:1220s books

Category:1230s books

Category:Arthurian literature in French

Category:French historical novels

Category:Holy Grail

Category:Medieval French romances

Category:Pseudohistory

Category:Works based on Merlin

Category:Works by Walter Map

Category:Works of uncertain authorship