Perceval, the Story of the Grail () is an unfinished Arthurian verse romance written by Chrétien de Troyes in Old French during the late 12th century. Starting as the eponymous tale of the young Perceval, the story breaks off and follows an adventure of Gawain of similar length, that also remains incomplete. Later authors added 54,000 more lines to the original 9,000 in the series of continuations of Perceval, known collectively as the Four ContinuationsGrigsby, John L. (1991). "Continuations of Perceval". In Norris J. Lacy, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 99–100. New York: Garland. . or the Perceval Continuations, as well as further related texts.
Perceval is the earliest recorded account of what was to become the Quest for the Holy Grail.O'Gorman, Richard (1991). "Grail". In Norris J. Lacy, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 212–213. New York: Garland. . However, it describes it only as a golden grail (a serving dish) in the central scene, does not call it "holy" and treats a lance, appearing at the same time, as equally significant.
Background Perceval is dedicated to Chrétien's patron Philip I, Count of Flanders.Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Chrétien de Troyes". In Norris J. Lacy, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 88–91. New York: Garland. . Chrétien claimed to be working from a source given to him by Philip. His poem was written in Old French during the 1180s or 1190s and likely left unfinished because of the death of either Philip in 1191, while crusading at Acre, or the death of the author himself. Some scholars argue that during the time Chrétien was writing Perceval, there was a political crisis taking place between the monarchy and the aristocracy, which included his patron, which may have influenced Chrétien's work.Pickens, Rupert T. "Le Conte du Graal." The Romances of Chrétien de Troyes: A Symposium Ed. Douglas Kelly. Kentucky: French Forum, 1985 (232-286). There are some 9,000 lines in total, whereas the other romances by Chrétien seldom exceed 7,000 lines.
There are possible parallels in Perceval with the Irish mythological race of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The race has three central talismans, a spear, a cauldron, and a sword, that correlate with the spear, grail, and sword present in Perceval. Chrétien's Perceval also includes many similarities to the Irish saga The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn. The main character, Fionn mac Cumhaill, is raised in isolation and undergoes many adventures akin to those of Perceval, suggesting that the narrative may have been a source of inspiration for Chrétien.
Synopsis
The poem opens with Perceval of Wales (Perceval le Gallois), whose mother has raised him apart from civilization in the Welsh woods. While out riding one day, he encounters a group of knights and realizes he wants to be one. Despite his mother's objections, the boy heads to King Arthur's court, where a young girl predicts greatness for him. Kay taunts him and slaps the girl, but Perceval amazes everyone by killing a knight who had been troubling King Arthur and taking his vermilion armor. He then sets out for adventure. He trains under the experienced Gornemant, then falls in love with and rescues Gornemant's niece Blancheflor. Perceval captures her assailants and sends them to King Arthur's court to proclaim Perceval's vow of revenge on Sir Kay.
Perceval remembers that his mother fainted when he went off to become a knight, and goes to visit her. During his journey, he comes across the Fisher King fishing in a boat on a river, who invites him to stay at his castle. While there, Perceval witnesses a strange procession in which young men and women carry magnificent objects from one chamber to another. First comes a young man carrying a bleeding lance, then two boys carrying candelabra. Then a beautiful young girl emerges bearing an elaborately decorated graal. Finally another maiden carried a silver platter. They passed before him at each course of the meal. Perceval, who had been trained by his guardian Gornemant not to talk too much, remains silent through all of this. He wakes up the next morning alone and resumes his journey home. He encounters a girl in mourning, who admonishes him for not asking about the grail, as that would have healed the wounded king. He also learns that his mother has died.
Perceval captures another knight and sends him to King Arthur's court with the same message as before. King Arthur sets out to find Perceval and, upon finding him, attempts to convince him to join the court. Perceval unknowingly challenges Sir Kay to a fight, in which he breaks Sir Kay's arm and exacts his revenge. Perceval agrees to join the court, but soon after a loathly lady enters and admonishes Perceval once again for failing to ask the Fisher King whom the grail served. No more is heard of Perceval except in a short later passage, in which a hermit explains that the grail contains a single host that miraculously sustains the Fisher King's wounded father.
The loathly lady announces other quests that the Knights of the Round Table proceed to take up and the remainder of the poem deals with Arthur's nephew and best knight Gawain, who has been challenged to a duel by Guiromelant, a knight who claims Gawain had slain his lord. Gawain offers a contrast and complement to Perceval's naiveté as a courtly knight having to function in un-courtly settings. An important episode is Gawain's liberation of a castle whose inhabitants include his long-lost mother, his grandmother Ygerne, and his sister Clarissant, whose existence was unknown to him. This tale also breaks off unfinished, interrupted when a messenger arrives at Arthur's court to request his presence at Gawain's upcoming fight against Guiromelant.
Perceval Continuations
Over the following half century, multiple different authors attempted to continue the story begun by Chrétien.Grigsby, John L. (1991). "Continuations of Perceval". In Norris J. Lacy, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 99–100. New York: Garland. .English translations of the Continuations can be found in Bryant, Perceval, the Story of the Grail, 1996.
First Continuation The First Continuation (French: Première Continuation), also known as the Gawain Continuation (French: Continuation Gauvain), was a poem written around 1200, adding 9,500 to 19,600 lines (depending on the manuscripts, with three known distinct versions) to Chrétien's romance. It was once attributed to Wauchier de Denain ("Gauchier de Donaing"), and as such it is sometimes called the Pseudo-Wauchier Continuation.
The work exists in three versions: short, long, and mixed. The short version was the earliest and the most loosely linked to Chrétien's work, while the mixed version is considered to be the latest, drawing on both earlier versions. Roger Sherman Loomis believed that the short version, which was added to an existing Perceval manuscript ten or twenty years later, represents a version of the story that was originally independent of Chrétien's.Loomis, Roger Sherman (1963, 21991). The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol, ch. VI. Princeton. .
The First Continuation picks up the narrative of Gawain's adventures where Chrétien left off and focused on the adventures of Gawain and several other knights of the Arthurian universe. All versions include six "branches" (major episodes), more or less connected, which may have been inspired by independent tales pre-existing the composition of this continuation: "Guiromelant" which ends the episode begun in Chrétien's book as Gawain, his mother and grandmother are reunited with Arthur, and Gawain's sister Clarissant marries Guiromelant; "Brun de Branlant" which tells of a war of King Arthur against a rebellious vassal; "Caradoc" which tells the story of Caradoc Briefbras, an illegitimate son of the enchanter Eliavrés and King Caradoc's wife (and Arthur's niece) Ysaive; "Castle Orgueilleux" which tells of a tournament between the people of this castle and those of King Arthur; "Gawain at the castle of the Grail"; and "Guerrehet", the first known story of Gareth. As this continuation does not return to the adventures of Perceval and as Gawain does not pass the test of the Castle of the Grail, it does not propose an actual end for the text of Chrétien.
In the long version, Gawain opposes the marriage and rides off in anger, reaching the Grail Castle. After further adventures he rejoins Arthur (and the long version rejoins the short) and helps him besiege a rebel's castle. The long version inserts several additional episodes in the thread of the text, especially in the first branch and the third. Some of these episodes revisit the events of The Story of the Grail. Some medievalists have seen in this a desire by the editor of this version to correct the shortcomings of the short version, which leaves out Gawain fulfilling his promise to rescue the damsel of Montesclaire, winning the Sword with the Strange Straps (which once belonged to Judas Maccabeus), and bringing back the Bleeding Lance to the sons of the King of Escavalon.
The First Continuation is notable for its cavalier approach to the narrative agenda set by Chrétien. In particular it includes a seemingly independent romance, which in the long version spans over 6,000 lines: the Livre de Caradoc, starring Arthur's knight Caradoc, which explains how the hero got his nickname "Briefbras", or "Short Arm".Arthur, Ross Gilbert (translator) (1996). Caradoc. In Three Arthurian Romances: Poems from Medieval France: Caradoc, the Knight With the Sword, the Perilous Graveyard. New York: Everyman's Library. . All versions of the First Continuation describe Gawain's visit to a Grail castle unlike Chrétien's, a scene that introduces the motif of a broken sword that can only be mended by the hero destined to heal the Fisher King and his lands. Gawain is not this hero and he fails. The final episode recounts the misadventures of Gawain's brother Guerrehet who is humiliated by a dwarf knight before avenging himself and a mysteriously murdered stranger. In the closing scene, he returns to court asleep on a swan boat.
Second Continuation Shortly after the First Continuation was completed, no later than 1210, another author added 13,000 lines to the total. This Second Continuation, also known as just the Perceval Continuation, has been sometimes attributed to Wauchier de Denain as well. Making extensive use of motifs and themes drawn from Chrétien and the First Continuation, its story has Perceval returning to the Grail Castle and repairing his sword, but a hairline fissure that remains in the blade symbolizes his still-flawed psyche.
Third Continuation Around 1225, the Third Continuation, also known as Manessier's Continuation, added verse lines and an ending. The author Manessier wrapped up many of the loose ends from the previous authors, and includes several episodes from other works, including the "Joie de la Cour" adventure from Chrétien's Erec and EnideOwen, Arthurian Romances. and Calogrenant's death as told in the Queste del Saint Graal section of the Lancelot-Grail cycle.The scene in question appears in Lacy, Lancelot-Grail, Volume 4, p. 61. The tale ends with the Fisher King's death and Perceval's ascension to his throne. After seven peaceful years, Perceval goes off to live as a hermit in the woods, where he dies shortly after. Manessier proposes that he took the Grail, the Lance, and the silver plate with him to Heaven.
Fourth Continuation