The
Lancelot-Grail Romance
Composed c. 1210-20, this is a five-part romance
in French prose, based on the Perceval
of Chrétien de Troyes (fl. last quarter 12th c.) and its Continuations, and on
Chrétien's verse romance of Lancelot,
also known as Le Chevalier de
la Charette (The Knight of
the Cart) which is about the adulterous relationship between
Lancelot and Queen Guinevere. It also draws in material from Welsh and
Latin sources about King Arthur and about Merlin the Enchanter, such as
the Mabinogion and Geoffrey
of Monmouth's Historia regum
britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain).
The Lancelot-Grail was
immensely popular: close to 200 copies survive, most of them
illustrated. The story was usually copied in several volum,es because
it is so long. Two of
the five branches, the first, entitled L'Estoire del saint Graal (The History of the Holy Grail), and
the fourth, entitled La Queste del
saint Graal (The Quest for hte Holy Grail), are about the
Grail. The Estoire relates
its early history, beginning with Joseph of Arimathea taking the cup
used by Christ at the Last Supper and collecting Christ's blood in it
at the Entombment, entrusting it to his son Josephé, first
Christian bishop according to the Estoire,
their journey to England with the Grail, and their numerous
conversions, ending with the transmission of the Grail to Alain
and his lineage. The second branch is the Melin, about Merlin the Enchanter
and his mentor Blaise, Merlin's prophecies, the election of Arthur as
King of Britain and his marriage to Guinevere. Third is the very
length Lancelot, beginning
with the birth of Lancelot, son of King Ban of Benoic, his father's
loss of lands and death, and
Lancelot's upbringing by the Lady of the Lake, his becoming a knight at
Arthur's court and his love affair with Queen Guinevere, which gives
him the strength to achieve great deeds in tournament and battle, and
to save Arthur's kingdom several times. Lancelot is deceived into
begetting a son with the daughter of the Grail King, Pelles. This
is Galaad, who in the
fourth branch of the story, La
Queste del saint Graal, will become the Grail winner, along with
Perceval and Boort; Lancelot fails in the Quest because he is
impure. At the end of Queste, the Grail returns to heaven,
Galaad and Perceval die, and Boort returns to Arthur's court to tell
the adventures of the Quest. The story ends with the events
leading up to the downfall of
Arthur's kingdom in the fifth branch, La
Mort Artu (The Death of King Arthur), the source for Malory's Mort d'Arthur.