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Lancelot-g rail
The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and
Post-Vulgate in Translation

Volume I

I
Introduction
The History of the Holy Grail
The Story of Merlin

II
Lancelot, part I
Lancelot, part II
Lancelot, part III

III
Lancelot, part IV
Lancelot, part V
Lancelot, part VI

IV
The Quest for the Holy Grail
The Death of Arthur
The Post-Vulgate, part I

V
The Post-Vulgate, part II
Chapter summaries
Index of names

Garland Reference Library of the Humanities

(Vol. 941)
 “Merlin and Nimue (Viviane) With Harps.”
London, British Library, MS. Add. 38117, fol. 185.
Lancelot-grail
THE OLD FRENCH ARTHURIAN
VULGATE AND POST-VULGATE IN
TRANSLATION

Norris J. Lacy, General Editor

Volume I

Introduction
by E. Jane Burns

The History of the Holy Grail

translated by Carol J. Chase

The Story of Merlin

translated by Rupert T. Pickens

Garland Publishing, Inc. ❖ New York and London ❖ 1993

 <&5

/■I

© 1993 Norris J. Lacy

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lancelot (Prose cycle). English

Lancelot-Grail: the Old French Arthurian Vulgate and post-Vulgate
in translation / Norris J. Lacy, general editor
p. cm. — (Garland reference library of the humanities; vol.
941)
Includes bibliographic references.
ISBN 0-8240-7733-4
Contents: v. 1. The History of the Holy Grail / Carol J. Chase,
translator. The Story of Merlin / Rupert T. Pickens, translator.
1. Lancelot (Legendary character)—Romances. 2. French prose
literature—To 1500—Translations into English. 3. Merlin—
Romances. I. Lacy, Norris J. II. Title. III. Series.
PQ1489.L2E5 1993
843’. 1—dc20 92-1674
CIP

Printed on acid-free, 250-year-life paper

Manufactured in the United States of America
 Contents
Preface by Norris J. Lacy ix
Introduction by E. Jane Burns xv

THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY GRAIL

1. Prologue 3
2. Joseph of Arimathea Lays Christ’s Body in a Sepulcher and Is Imprisoned. 9
3. Vespasian Is Healed; Joseph of Arimathea is Liberated. 11
4. Joseph and His Followers Depart; Joseph Preaches Before Evalach in Sarras. 14
5. Evalach’s Vision. 20
6. Joseph Prays for Evalach’s Conversion. 22
7. Josephus’s Investiture. 23
8. Josephus Preaches Before Evalach; Evalach Battles Tholomer. 29
9. Evalach and Tholomer Join in Battle Again. 34
10. The White Knight. 38
11. The Story of Sarrasinte’s Conversion. 42
12. Evalach’s and Seraphe’s Conversion. 46
13. Josephus Is Healed; the Grail Quest Is Announced. 49
14. King Mordrain’s Vision. 53
15. Nascien’s Imprisonment. 55
16. The Rock of the Perilous Port. 56
17. The Silver Ship and the Black Ship. 59
18. Nascien’s and Celidoine’s Liberation. 69
19. Flegetine Sets out to Seek Nascien. 72
20. Description of the Turning Isle. 74
21. The Tree of Life. 78
22. Nascien’s Lack of Faith. 85
23. Celidoine Converts King Label. 87
24. Celidoine’s Adventures at Sea. 95
25. Messengers Set out to Seek Nascien. 97
26. The Story of Hippocrates: His Powers, His Trouble with Women, and His
Downfall. 101
27. The Messengers Are Tested and Reunited with Nascien. 107
28. Nascien Departs for Britain; His Adventures on Land and Sea. 113
29. Flegetine Has the Towers ofjudgment Built. 118

v
vl Contents

30. Josephus and Some of His Followers Cross the Sea Without a Ship and Arrive in
England. H9
31. Nascien Arrives in Great Britain With the Rest of Josephus’s Followers. 121
32. Duke Ganor’s Conversion; The First Christian Victory over the Saracens in
England. 124
33. King Crudel Imprisons the Christians; Mordrain Defeats Crudel and Liberates
Them. 130
34. King Agrestes Becomes a False Christian; Moses Sits at the Grail Table; Bron’s
Son Alan Is Named Future Guardian of the Grail. 136
35. Joseph Converts Matagran; The Christians Cross a Deep River, Then Visit Moses;
Canaan and Simeon Sin. 140
36. Canaan’s Burial and Peter’s Illness. 147
37. Peter’s Healing and King Orcant’s Conversion. 149
38. Josephus’s Brother Galahad Is Made King of Hoselice; He Lightens Simeon’s
Torment. 165
39. Josephus Makes a Cross on the Shield Mordrain Used in Battle Against
Tholomer and Then Dies. 156
40. The Holy Vessel Is Passed on to Alan. 157
41. Nascien’s Death; Celidoine’s Lineage. 160

THE STORY OF MERLIN

1. Merlin’s Conception and Childhood Deeds. 167

2. Merlin Explains Why Vortigern’s Tower Will Not Stand. 177
3. Uther Pendragon and the Round Table; the Perilous Seat. 185
4. Uther’s Love for Ygraine; Arthur’s Conception and Birth. 199
5. The Youth of King Arthur; the Sword in the Stone. 212
6. The Brother Kings, Ban and Bors, Pay Homage to Arthur. 223
7. The Six Kings’ Renewed Forces; the Brother Kings, and Arthur’s Victory over the
Saxons. 227
8. Merlin as a Bird Catcher. 233
9. Rebels’ Defenses Against the Saxons. 235
10. King Lot’s Young Sons; Mordred’s Parentage. 237
11. Young Sagremor; Dispersal of the Routed Rebel Leaders. 238
12. Young Galescalain and King Lot’s Sons; Battle with the Saxons. 239
13. Gawainet and His Brothers Defeat the Saxons. 242
14. Arthur’s Support of King Leodagan Against the Saxons. 243
15. Guenevere Witness to the Battle Below Carhaix; the Two Gueneveres. 246
16. Rout of the Saxons at Carhaix. 248
17. The Victorious Arthur Falls in Love with Guenevere. 252
18. News of the Young Heroes; the Battle Before Arundel. 254
19. King Urien’s Sons and Nephew; King Neutres Against the Saxons. 256
20. Dodinel the Wildman. 260
21. The Plight of the Saxons; King Clarion Opposes the Saxons. 262
Contents vii

22. King Clarion of Northumberland and Duke Escant; Sagremor’s Arrival in

Britain. 264
23. Merlin and the Young Heroes Against the Saxons. 265
24. The Victory of King Clarion and Duke Escant; Bylas Attacks Urien’s Sons. 269
25. Merlin as Messenger Boy; King Yder and the Exploits of Arthur’s Nephews. 271
26. Ascendancy of the Young Heroes; Growth of the Heroic Circle. 274
27. Help from a Mysterious Knight. 277
28. Merlin Warns Leonce of Payerne, Then Meets Viviane and Teaches Her His
Magic. 280
29. Arthur Weds Guenevere; Battle Against Rion. 283
30. Victory of Leodagan and Arthur over Rion. 289
31. Arthur Fights the Saxons. 297
32. Bors Kills Amant; Gawain and his Brothers Knighted. 301
33. Arthur’s Forces Battle Claudas’s at Trebes. 309
34. Victory of Arthur’s Forces; Elaine’s Dream. 315
35. Merlin and the Emperor of Rome. 321
36. The Saxons Defeat the Rebellious Princes. 329
37. The Tournament at Carhaix; the False Guenevere. 332
38. Bertelay Condemned; Arthur to Hold Court. 340
39. Lot Surrenders to Arthur, and Gawain Becomes the Queen’s Knight; News of the
Grail. 342
40. Arthur to Propose a Truce with the Remaining Rebellious Princes. 353
41. Gawain and His Brothers Battle the Saxons. 355
42. The Children of Pelles; Galahad Predicted. 359
43. Agravain and Gaheriet Discuss Love; the Saxons Routed. 361
44. Agravain Quarrels with his Brothers; Gawain and Eliezer Rescue a Lady. 365
45. The Saxons Again Routed; The Rebellious Princes Agree to a Truce. 369
46. Merlin Visits Blaise; the Queen’s Knights Battle Knights of the Round Table. 374
47. Eliezer Knighted by Gawain; Further Battles Against the Saxons. 380
48. A Great Victory over the Saxons. 384
49. The Castle of the Fens. 389
50. Arthur’s Mid-August Court; King Rion’s Challenge. 392
51. The Battle Before Carhaix. 395
52. King Flualis’s Dream and Roman Claims Against Britain. 398
53. The Expedition to Gaul and the Giant of Mont-Saint-Michel. 403
54. Battles with the Romans; Arthur’s Victory. 406
55. The Devil Cat of the Lake of Lausanne; King Claudas’s Men Routed. 410
56. The Birth of Hector; Merlin’s Imprisonment. 413
57. Merlin’s Imprisonment. 415
58. Evadeam, the Dwarf Knight. 417
59. Gawain, Merlin, and the Dwarf Knight. 420
60. The Birth of Lancelot and the Loss of Benoic. 423
 '

kl M
 Preface
Norris J. Lacy

THE VULGATE AND POST-VULGATE places the Grail in Corbenic Castle and begins
Cycles the wait for the arrival of the chosen Grail
Knight. The Story of Merlin depicts the role of the
During the second half of the twelfth century, seer and magician in Arthur’s conception and
Chretien de Troyes developed and fixed the birth, in his designation as king following the
form of the Arthurian episodic romance. In the Sword in the Stone revelation, and in the estab¬
process he popularized King Arthur in French, lishment of the Round Table, a replica of the
as Geoffrey of Monmouth had done in Latin, Grail Table (itself modeled after the table of the
but he also contributed to the legend new char¬ Last Supper). Merlin also directs Arthur’s major
acters and themes unknown to Geoffrey. These victories over his rebellious barons.
include in particular the love story of Lancelot These two romances are followed chronolog¬
and Guenevere and the quest for the Grail. ically (but preceded in order of composition) by
Several texts, notably the works of Robert de the Lancelot Proper, La Queste del saint Graal (The
Boron, from the end of that century, trans¬ Quest for the Holy Grail), and La Mort Artu (The
formed the mysterious Grail into the “Holy Death of Arthur). The first of these, constituting
Grail,” the Chalice of the Last Supper and the fully half of the entire cycle, presents Lancelot’s
vessel in which Christ’s blood was collected after youth, his love for Guenevere, and a long series
the crucifixion. of exploits that he performs in her service. The
Then, between 1215 and about 1235, an second depicts the Grail Quest undertaken by a
anonymous author or group of authors com¬ number of knights (Gawain, Bors, Perceval, and
posed the Lancelot-Grail Cycle (also called the others) but finally accomplished by the chosen
Vulgate Cycle, the Prose Lancelot, or the Pseudo- hero, Galahad. Concluding the cycle, The Death
Map Cycle) of Arthurian romance. This cycle of of Arthur traces the tragic decline and dissolution
five imposing romances can only be termed of the Arthurian world, due in large part to the
monumental, owing in equal measure to its sin of Lancelot and Guenevere, and closes with
enormous length, its complexity and literary an account of the death of the king.
value, and its influence. The romances run to The Vulgate Cycle was soon followed by an
several thousand pages of text, and they offer anonymous Post-Vulgate, based on the earlier
many hundreds of characters and countless ad¬ cycle but characterized by the omission of the
ventures intricately interlaced with one another. Lancelot Proper and, consequently, of the emphar
Most important, they constitute the most ex¬ sis on Lancelot and Guenevere. The second cy¬
tended attempt to elaborate the full story of the cle thus focuses squarely on the Grail quest and
Arthurian era and to set that era in a framework related pious themes. It includes versions of the
of universal history. other four romances represented in the Vulgate
The two romances that stand first chronolog¬ and even borrows the text of the Merlin intact;
ically were actually composed after the other on the other hand, the Post-Vulgate Death of
three. The Estoire del saint Graal (translated in Arthur romance is a significantly abridged
this set as The History of the Holy Grail) opens the adaptation of its model. Without a Lancelot
cycle by tracing the early history of the Grail, Proper, the second cycle is far shorter than the
from Joseph of Arimathea to his son Josephe, first, but it remains daunting nonetheless in its
who becomes the first Christian bishop, and dimensions and in its complexity.
eventually to Alain, the first Fisher King, who

ix
X Preface

The Post-Vulgate Cycle is further compli¬ cerpts of the other romances are available in
cated for modern scholars and readers—and English. These volumes thus present the full cy¬
this is a complication almost beyond cles to modern readers for the first time. Malory
resolution—by the fact that some portions of the scholars, whose need provided the initial impe¬
Old French text have long since disappeared, tus for this translation, will now have access to
whereas others have survived only in fragments texts that are crucial to their work; they and
or in translations into Portuguese and Spanish. others will also discover fascinating romances,
Extraordinary scholarly efforts, especially by each one distinctive in focus and narrative
Fanni Bogdanow, have made it possible to re¬ method but intricately linked to the others by
constitute significant portions of the texts. themes that are continued, in interlaced form,
The importance of the Vulgate Cycle and, to from one romance to the next.
a only slightly lesser extent, of the Post-Vulgate is The full set will comprise five volumes, in
almost incalculable. Portions of them (most which the material is divided as follows:
often the Vulgate Lancelot-Quest-Death of Arthur)
I. a. Introduction, by E. Jane Burns.
were translated or adapted into a number of
b. The History of the Holy Grail, translated by
other languages. Authors rendered much of the
Carol J. Chase
Vulgate narrative into German and Dutch, while
c. The Story of Merlin, translated by Rupert
the Quest was translated into Irish and Welsh.
T. Pickens
Italian and Hispanic authors too translated it or
II. a. Lancelot, part I translated by Samuel N.
drew on it, although, as suggested, the Post-
Rosenberg
Vulgate proved more influential on the Iberian
b. Lancelot, part II translated by Carleton
Peninsula than did the Vulgate.
W. Carroll
But for English-speaking readers, the impor¬
c. Lancelot, part III translated by Samuel N.
tance of the Vulgate is indicated most clearly by
Rosenberg
its influence on Sir Thomas Malory, who took
III. a. Lancelot, part IV translated by Roberta L.
the cycle as the principal of his numerous
Krueger
sources: although each part of his work has mul¬
b. Lancelot, part V translated by William W.
tiple sources, his first, third, sixth, seventh, and
Kibler
eighth tales were drawn largely or principally
c. Lancelot, part VI translated by Carleton
from the Vulgate Cycle. He even gave his work,
W. Carroll
Le Morte Darthur, a title that indicates his indebt¬
IV. a. The Quest for the Holy Grail, translated by
edness not only to related English romances like
E. Jane Burns
the Alliterative Morte Arthure and the Stanzaic Le
b. The Death of Arthur, translated by Norris
Morte Arthur but to the final component of the
J. Lacy
Old French cycle.
c. The Post-Vulgate, beginning, translated
E. Jane Burns’s introduction offers a much
by Martha Asher
more detailed presentation of the cycles, con¬
V. a. The Post-Vulgate, continued, translated
centrating on content, authorship, techniques,
by Martha Asher
and meaning. (A separate introduction to the
b. Chapter summaries for both cycles
Post-Vulgate will be included in Vol. IV.)
c. Index of proper names in the Vulgate
and Post-Vulgate, compiled by
NOTES CONCERNING THE Samuel N. Rosenberg
TRANSLATIONS The fact that the nine translators are affili¬
ated with nine separate institutions has naturally
Owing in large part to the cycles’ length
complicated the process of discussing and resolv¬
(and to no small degree to the inadequate edi¬
ing editorial and translation problems. That
tions of some of the texts), until now only a
process was materially aided by a major grant
small fraction of the material has been trans¬
from the National Endowment for the
lated. The only romances to have been trans¬
Humanities, which, in addition to providing re¬
lated in their entirety are the two shortest: the
leased time and other assistance, enabled the
Quest and the Death of Arthur. A few scattered ex¬
entire team to meet for several days on two occa-
Preface xi

sions. Most of the translators were also able to the thirteenth century surely took them as a
gather for discussions during three different highly fictionalized account of a remote past that
meetings of the Medieval Institute of Western may or may not have existed. The translators’
Michigan University. A good deal of the work, problem in such a situation is thus to walk a thin
however, had to be done by mail, electronic line between a style and vocabulary that tend to
mail, phone, and fax. update the texts and cast them in a pseudo-real¬
The translator whose name is attached to istic mold and a style that, conversely, situates
each text retains final responsibility for that por¬ the romances clearly in a “fairy tale” world. We
tion of the work, of course. In addition, at least have therefore avoided modern colloquialisms,
one other member of the translation team has although we have not hesitated to use direct,
read each part for accuracy, and the general edi¬ matter-of-fact translations when they accurately
tor has read and edited the entire text to ensure render the flavor of the original.
reasonable consistency of approach from text to Other stylistic features of the romances re¬
text and, especially, within the Lancelot Proper, quire comment. First of all, the Old French texts
the only romance that is the work of a number tend to offer sequences of personal pronouns
of translators. with little regard for noun referents. An example
To make the Vulgate romances accessible to from the Merlin reads, in literal translation, “He
our audience, we have divided them into num¬ had come so close to him that he could not get
bered and titled sections or chapters. Summaries away from him, and he saw such a great number
of all romances, keyed to the chapter divisions, of men coming behind him that the whole field
are included in the final volume. Notes give in¬ was clothed with them, and he saw clearly that if
formation about textual and cultural matters he stood his ground against him, he would put
and offer a kev to internal cross-references. The
/
himself in great danger of being killed.”
first note in each section indicates which pages Although Old French style, unlike that of
of the translator’s principal source or sources English, permits such a construction, the refer¬
are included in that section. Locating a ents are occasionally obscure. Whenever the
particular passage in the Old French is made English translation is unclear, or even when such
even easier by the insertion of a bracketed page sentences are clear but nonetheless distracting,
number every time the translator begins a new we have substituted the appropriate nouns for
page of the original. one or more pronouns.
Each text, of course, has a distinct style and Thirteenth-century narrative style tends to be
thus presents its own problems for translators. highly redundant. Texts often double or triple
Writing of the last three romances of the Vulgate adjectives that present little or no distinction of
Cycle, Alfred L. Kellogg (in Chaucer, Langland, meaning: typical examples, drawn from the
Arthur, Rutgers University Press, 1972, p. 11), de¬ History of the Holy Grail, include “he was fright¬
scribes the Lancelot Proper as “immense and ened and afraid,” “nothing could make her joy¬
brightly colored,” underlines the “emphatic pi¬ ful, happy, or content,” and “he could not see or
ety” of the Quest, and characterizes the Death of perceive. . . .” We have retained a number of
Arthur as “compact, sober.” We have made every these expressions, for they convey the flavor of
effort to respect and translate stylistic differences the original, but since English tolerates them far
from romance to romance. less well than does Old French, we have elimi¬
We have also taken as our common purpose nated a good many examples.
the need to respect both the medieval originals Some of the Vulgate texts, and especially the
and the demands of contemporary English style. History of the Holy Grail, are redundant in another
We have thus made a reasonable attempt to sense as well: passages have a tendency to
avoid archaism, except where the Old French “double back” on themselves, emphasizing nar¬
passage itself is archaic. The qualification here, rative progression and consequence by struc¬
indicated by “reasonable,” reflects our convic¬ tures such as “He opened the book. After he had
tion that, without being intentionally archaic, opened the book . . . .” We have greatly reduced
the Old French romances were recognized by the number of such repetitions, since they
their readers as being fundamentally “unreal.” quickly become intrusive and tiresome in
That is, the audiences who read these texts in English. Again, however, as they are a pervasive
xii Preface

and characteristic feature of the History of the As indicated above, the translators have tried
Holy Grail, we have kept as many of them as to steer a middle course. Our primary concern
English style will support. was to present a reliable and readable text to
We have dealt freely with a number of Old modern readers, but we have also made an effort
French rhetorical devices, such as typical state¬ to retain a certain number of the stylistic fea¬
ments of the kind, “He was so strong that no one tures of the Old French romances, provided
could have been stronger.” We have reduced those features were reasonably compatible with
that, in most cases, to “he was the strongest man the characteristics of modern English usage.
in the world” or “no one could have been
stronger than he” or “he was as strong as could
be.” Such modifications we have taken as noth¬
THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY GRAIL AND
ing more than the normal procedures required THE STORY OF MERLIN
to move a composition from one language to
another. The History of the Holy Grail, far more than
On the other hand, there are some expres¬ most texts of the period, has a convoluted, dense
sions and structures that we have taken as essen¬ style that, at times, can only be described as
tial elements of the authors’ rhetorical texture turgid. In the Vulgate Cycle, only the Quest ap¬
and have consequently retained. One is the ex¬ proaches it in terms of stylistic density and re¬
pression, very common in Old French narrative, dundancy; moreover, if the Quest, as Kellogg
“then you could have seen/heard . . .”; for ex¬ suggested, demonstrates “emphatic piety,” the
ample, “when Lancelot rode into battle, you History of the Holy Grail is more emphatic and
could have seen knights struck down left and scarcely less pious, though considerably less
right.” Although the sense of the passage is ren¬ graceful and subtle. The author appears to be
dered equally well by “when Lancelot rode into far more concerned with substance and symbol¬
battle, knights fell left and right” or “Lancelot ism—everything possesses symbolic meaning,
rode into battle and struck down knights left and and everything is explicated in detail—than with
right,” neither translation retains the original’s concision and grace. At times, the text advances
sense of a relationship between a narrator and with acceptable ease, but often it frankly plods.
his audience. Although, by necessity, the translator has in
Some of the geographical locations cited in some cases presented a text that is clearer and
the text are real; thus, Norhomberlande or more accessible than the original, we have
Norhombellande indisputably refers to thought it important to retain enough of the
Northumberland; in this and similar cases, we characteristics of the Old French to give a clear
have used the familiar modern form of the notion of the style and, particularly, of the stylis¬
name. On the other hand, a number of such lo¬ tic distinctions between the History of the Holy
cations are obviously imaginary. In a few cases, Grail and the texts that follow it.
there is serious doubt about the reference: In one crucial way, the two texts translated in
Carduel is often taken as Carlisle, for example, this volume present common problems: neither
and Taneborc may be Edinburgh, but the identi¬ translator was able to work from a single, author¬
fications are by no means certain. In such in¬ itative critical edition. Rupert Pickens has based
stances, we have generally retained the Old his translation of the Merlin primarily on the
French form rather than risk misleading the Sommer text, emending where necessary from
reader. manuscript variants and from Micha’s edition
We have dealt with characters’ names by (which covers roughly the first eighty pages of
translating their descriptive element. For exam¬ the Sommer text). With the History of the Holy
ple, we might have kept the form “Wain le Grail in particular, the translator must deal with
Grand,” which sounds perfectly acceptable. But textual difficulties: the early Hucher edition has
in fact, “le Grand” means something specific, been the standard text, but it is entirely unreli¬
and we have preferred to present that meaning able; Sommer offers little improvement, while
to our readers; the character in question is thus the recent and generally superior Ponceau edi¬
“Wain the Tall.” tion is still unpublished. Thus, to a good extent,
Carol Chase has found it necessary to establish a
Preface xiii

text as she translates the work. She worked pri¬ Geneva; Editions Slatkine (Champion-Slatkine),
marily from Hucher but emended that text Geneva.
freely by referring to Sommer, to manuscript A large and complex project, such as this is,
variants given by Hucher, and to the Ponceau owes a great deal to many persons who provided
thesis. Because our translations are intended to advice, philological expertise, and material or
meet the needs of scholars as well as students editorial assistance. Because we have preferred
and more general readers, notes offer informa¬ to think of the Vulgate translation as a single col¬
tion not only about cultural and literary matters laborative undertaking rather than a group of
but, especially for the History of the Holy Grail, discrete volumes, we have chosen to list our
about textual questions and the process of text debts here, rather than divide them among vol¬
construction. umes; additional acknowledgments will be
added, as appropriate, in subsequent volumes.
We are happy to express our appreciation to the
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS following: Clifford Chase; James F. Jones, Jr.,
Southern Methodist University; Edward D.
The editor and translators wish to acknowledge
Kennedy, University of North Carolina, Chapel
the assistance of a number of institutions and
Hill; Elspeth Kennedy, St. Hilda’s College,
individuals.
Oxford (Emerita); Sherron Knopp, Williams
The translation of the Vulgate Cycle has
College; Jay Paul Mann, Knox College
been supported by a generous grant from the
(Emeritus); Michele Perret, Universite de Paris
National Endowment for the Humanities, an in¬
X-Nanterre; Anson C. Piper, Williams College
dependent federal agency. We are indeed grate¬
(Emeritus); Claude Roucard; Thomas Scott,
ful for the agency’s support.
Knox College; Mary Springer and Norman
We also owe a particular debt to the Indiana
Springer, St. Mary’s College; John Strassburger,
University Foundation, for generous financial
Knox College; Lois Hawley Wilson, Eagle Point,
and administrative support.
Oregon.
For offering released time and/or financial,
For their technical and other assistance, we
editorial, and clerical assistance to some of the
gratefully acknowledge the efforts of Faith
translators, we are pleased to acknowledge as
Burdick, Tracy Calvert, Louisa Dixon, Daniel
well the following institutions: Washington
Golembeski, Chad Langford, Anne P. Longley,
University in St. Louis; the Sterling and Francine
Constantinos Takles, and Jackie Uhlmann. The
Clark Art Institute; Hamilton College; Knox
general editor wishes to thank in particular
College; the University of Kentucky; the
Donna Nix, whose generous assistance and ex¬
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;
traordinary editorial skills contributed substan¬
Oregon State University; the University of Texas,
tially to the completion of this first volume.
Austin; the Camargo Foundation.
Finally, we are grateful to Gary Kuris, of
We are grateful also to publishers who ac¬
Garland Publishing, for the enthusiasm with
corded us rights to critical editions of the prin¬
which he received the initial suggestion for this
cipal texts from which we translated: Max
project and the support he has provided
Niemeyer Verlag, Tubingen; Librairie Droz S.A.,
throughout.
 ,

’ ' i

• I

'
 Introduction
E. Jane Bums

The Arthurian Vulgate Cycle lacks focus, ram¬ (1215-20), a protracted story of the chivalric
bles, gives you a headache, and puts you to exploits undertaken by the quintessential knight-
sleep. Such were the observations of the seven¬ lover whose adulterous liaison with Guenevere
teenth-century epic poet Chapelain, one of the will subsequently cost his success on the Grail
cycle’s earliest commentators.1 These remarks quest. This account prepares us for the Queste del
come from a reader who expects to find in the Saint Graal (“Quest for the Holy Grail,” 1220-25)
Arthurian prose romance of the thirteenth cen¬ in which Perceval and Bors undertake the Grail
tury a post-Cartesian logic wholly foreign to lit¬ adventure alongside the chosen hero Galahad,
erary works of the High Middle Ages. But if who is Lancelot’s spiritually pure son. But
Chapelain’s remarks can be dismissed as the Lancelot’s continued adultery with the queen
naive product of an era long past, echoes of unleashes an inexorable chain of tragic events—
them ring loudly in the assessments of more narrated in La Mort le Roi Artu (“The Death of
contemporary critics. Many literary historians in King Arthur,” 1225-30)—that culminate in a
our own century have mistakenly sought in final holocaust on Salisbury Plain, where King
Arthurian romance a recognizable ancestor text Arthur and his bastard son Mordred kill each
for the modern novel since the same French other. These three tales are preceded in terms of
word, roman, designates extended narratives of narrative chronology by two others that were
both periods. Disappointment at not finding in actually composed after the initial Lancelot-Grail
the Vulgate Cycle a viable precursor for nine¬ trilogy. The Estoire del Saint Graal (“The
teenth-century literary sensibilities is often regis¬ Story/History of the Holy Grail,” after 1230) tells
tered in comments decrying the cycle’s lack of of the transfer of the Grail vessel from the Holy
unity, claims that these prose romances consti¬ Land to Great Britain and subsequent miracles it
tute one of the most disjointed European literary performs there, and the Estoire de Merlin (‘The
works ever written,2 or that their highly Story/History of Merlin,” after 1230) chronicles
repetidve narrative structure creates a monotony the marvelous feats of the prophet-enchanter
bordering on the offensive.3 responsible for Arthur’s conception, his rise to
It is certainly true that the complex amalgam power, and his exceptional military victories.
of five Arthurian tales constituting the Vulgate The unwieldy mix of spiritual and chivalric
Cycle does not present the modern reader with modes that crisscross unevenly throughout this
an easily definable “text.” The corpus can be protracted prose narrative mark the Vulgate
sectioned, on one level, into independent tales Cycle as a product of the emergent social and
that begin chronologically with the Prose Lancelot political tensions in thirteenth-century France.
The rise of French vernacular literature in the
1Albert Pauphilet, Le Legs du Moyen Age (Melun: mid-twelfth-century that had popularized chival¬
Librairie d’Argences, 1950), 30. ric tales about King Arthur and the knights of
2J.D. Bruce, The Evolution of Arthurian Romance the Round Table underwent a significant shift
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1923), 410. around 1200 as the standard Arthurian adven¬
3Ferdinand Lot, Etude sur le “Lancelot en prose” (Paris, ture story was infused with Biblical allusion and
1918, rpt. Paris: Champion, 1954), 63-64. This statement is
the religious mystery of the Holy Grail. As verse
especially significant since it comes from one of the cycle’s
accounts of courtly love and prowess, once de¬
most ardent defenders. But after great effort to prove unity
for the entire cycle, even Lot concedes reluctandy that livered orally, were recast into prose narratives,
coherence does not prevail. See also p. 262. possibly destined to be read, appeal was made

xv
XVI Introduction

simultaneously to two authoritative written tradi¬ for themselves among the competing interests of
tions: historical chronicle and the Divine Book. the higher, landed aristocracy on the one hand
Latin prose previously had been the medium for and the Church on the other. But what the
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s pseudo-history of the Vulgate Cycle charts more than synthesis is the
British kings, which featured, among many ongoing struggle of an impossible task. Through
monarchs, the legendary King Arthur. its seemingly endless proliferation of chivalric
Vernacular prose had formerly been used for re¬ adventures, its repeated narrative expansions
ligious purposes—in sermons, psalters, transla¬ and extensions, its elaborate genealogies of
tions of Ladn religious texts, and indeed the ancestors, origins, and putative authors, this
Bible itself (first translated into Old French at wandering, disjointed narrative records a
the beginning of the thirteenth century). Prose struggle without resolution, a struggle—
thus carried for many medieval authors a truth¬ characteristic of many literary and philosophical
telling value absent from the rhetorical artifice texts of the thirteenth century in France—to
of purely literary verse accounts that by the thir¬ give a comprehensive account on an enormous
teenth century were sometimes condemned as scale, the very size of which might somehow tie
“vain pleasures.” Lady readers, in particular, competing and disparate elements together.
were exhorted after 1200 to abandon the decep¬ Known by many titles, the Arthurian Vulgate
tive tales of Arthurian knights in favor of texts Cycle derives its most common name from the
that would provide a more accurate and edifying first—and the only complete—edition of the
truth.4 cycle, undertaken by H. Oskar Sommer between
If the Christianization of Arthurian legend 1908 and 1912.5 French scholars speak typically
was encouraged by Church officials who, in the of the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, although this
spirit of Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologica later appellation does not include the Merlin and
in the century (1274), sought to harmonize the sometimes omits the Estoire.6 Attribution of the
sacred and secular worlds within totalizing Lancelot, the Queste, and the Mort Artu to Walter
systematic interpretations, that Christianization Map has fostered occasional reference to the
of a distant Arthurian past also served the politi¬ whole corpus as the Pseudo-Map Cycle. The
cal aspirations of the new Norman dynasty. King titles hold one key word in common; all refer to
Henry II of England who first sought to legiti¬ a “cycle” of tales, depicting thereby an expansive
mate his power by proclaiming the historical narrative structure that generates a textual
King Arthur as a revered ancestor, may also have corpus of uncertain dimensions. Unity does not
cultivated around 1191 claims issued by the rank high on this compositional agenda. As we
monks of Glastonbury that the tombs of Arthur move from the episodic verse romances of the
and Guenevere had been “discovered” in the twelfth century, which tend to focus on the
abbey church and that the Holy Grail had, exploits of an individual knight such as Lancelot
according to their reading of Robert de Boron’s or Perceval, to the voluminous prose cycles of
Joseph of Arimathea (ca. 1200), been transferred
from the Holy Land to Glastonbury. Initially, the 5H. Oskar Sommer, The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian
myth of a Christianized Arthur would have Romances, vols. 1-7 (Washington, D.C.: The Carnegie
provided the Norman kings with a heroic Institute, 1908-12). Using British Museum Additional
manuscripts 10292-10294, Sommer provides a text of
ancestor figure to rival that of Charlemagne on
L’Estoire del Saint Graal (vol. 1), L’Estoire de Merlin (including
the Continent. But by the time of the Vulgate
the Livre dArtus as its continuation, vol. 2), LEstoire de
Cycle’s composition, the Arthurian prose Lancelot du Lac (vols. 3—5), La Queste del Saint Graal (vol. 6),
romances offered a model of comportment to La Mort le Roi Artus (vol. 7). Sommer includes in notes
the feudal aristocratic class, one that attempted variant readings from other manuscripts, often without
to combine the irreconcilable interests of earthly citing their source. Corrections are also made in the text
based only on consultation of London manuscripts and
chivalry and military conquest with the spiritual
without consistent documentation. For these reasons,
quest for peace. That attempt may reflect the subsequent editions of all texts have been undertaken (see
struggle of the lesser nobles to carve out a place bibliography).
6Ferdinand Lot uses the term to refer to the Vulgate
4Daniel Poirion, Precis de la litterature frangaise du Moyen Lancelot, Queste del Saint Graal, Mort Artu, and Estoire del Saint
Age (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1978), 94. Graal.
Introduction XVII

the thirteenth century, which chronicle the proposed by scholars attempting to establish
deeds of whole generations of knights across unity in the Vulgate corpus.
numerous volumes of text, it becomes Varied efforts by Ferdinand Lot, Albert
increasingly difficult to discern where one tale Pauphilet, Jean Frappier, and most recently
ends and another begins.7 Just where the text of Alexandre Micha to demonstrate textual unity
the Vulgate Cycle is to be located, or what rely ultimately on the belief that a coherent con¬
constitutes any one textual unit that may or may ceptual plan preceded the composition of the
not be judged as unified remains in debate. Are prose romances—a plan thought to derive from
we dealing with one composite work or a set of the well-ordered mind of a hypothetical au¬
relatively autonomous and individualized tales? thor.10 * * Whether in positing the existence of a
And who or where is the author responsible for single masterly creator for the entire cycle, an
their composition? ideologically inspired writer for one volume, a
The cycle’s earliest commentators struggled governing architect whose initial project was
tirelessly with just such questions. Indeed, their later faithfully executed by a number of autho¬
frustration with the Vulgate’s rambling narrative rial hands, or a literary composer who fashioned
style was often exacerbated by an uneasiness in words the equivalent of a symphony in three
concerning the anonymous status of these and movements, these theories help to explain away
so many other Old French texts. Chapelain’s or effectively obscure the lapses in textual in¬
exasperated assessment of the Vulgate Cycle as a tegrity that so bothered Chapelain.
literary “dungheap” in which one might locate a When Ferdinand Lot states emphatically that
few textual diamonds, led to the inevitable the enormous bulk of the Vulgate Cycle only
conclusion that the work’s author must have appears to be incoherent but is actually as “well-
been a barbarian.8 Later critics, who more composed as a tragedy in five acts” (p. 74), we
accurately attributed the Vulgate’s lack of focus find an appropriately exaggerated answer to
to an unmonitored succession of authors and Chapelain’s overblown “dungheap.”11 And when
redactors,9 expressed an equally acute dismay at
the absence of a known author’s governing 10Lot, 7-8; Jean Frappier, Etude sur “la Mort le roi Artu”
hand. The pronounced predilection for single (Geneva: Droz, 1961): 144-146; Alexandre Micha, Essais sur
le cycle du Lancelot-Graal (Geneva: Droz, 1987), 297—313. See
authorship even structured counterarguments
also Rosemund Tuve, Allegorical Imagery: Some Medieval Books
and Their Posterity (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
7For a discussion of intertextuality in Old French 1966), 369-370; Eugene Vinaver, The Rise of Romance
romance that addresses the difficulty in defining the (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 80; Myrrha Lot-Borodine,
parameters of a medieval text, see Matilda T. Bruckner, Trois Essais sur “Le Roman du Lancelot du Lac” et de “La Queste
“Intertextuality,” The Legacy of Chretien de Troyes, ed. Norris J. del Saint Graal” (Paris: Champion, 1919), 3.
Lacy, Douglas Kelly, Keith Busby (Amsterdam: Rodopi,
11 More recently, claims to unity in the Prose Lancelot
1987), 2:224-265. Other essays in this volume help situate
have been advanced by Charles Mela, La Reine et le Graal
the Vulgate Cycle in relation to twelfth- and thirteenth-
(Paris: Seuil, 1984), for whom a network of thematic echoes
century romance. See especially Norris J. Lacy, “The
creates “un tout indissociable, con^u et redige par un
Typology of Arthurian Romance,” 33—56; Colette-Anne Van
meme auteur, dans un meme esprit” (“an indissociable
Coolput, “La Reaction de quelques romanciers
whole, conceived and composed by a single author, of a
posterieurs,” 91-114; Roberta L. Krueger, ‘The Author’s
single mind” 343), and Alexandre Micha, whose thorough
Voice: Narrators, Audiences and the Problem of
study of allusions to previous textual moments,
Interpretation,” 115-140; Emmanuele Baumgartner, “Les
announcements of events to come, repetition of thematic
Techniques narratives dans le roman en prose,” 167-190;
analogues, interlocking quests (85-127), leads him to agree
and in vol. 2 of the same study Jean-Charles Huchet, “Le
with Mela that the Prose Lancelot is “un, de conception et de
Nom et l’image. De Chretien de Troyes a Robert de facture” (“one, in conception and structure” 16). For more
Boron,” 1-16; Rupert T. Pickens, “Histoire et commentaire on the repetition of thematic analogues, see also E. Jane
chez Chretien de Troyes et Robert de Boron: Robert de
Burns, Arthurian Fictions: Rereading the Vulgate Cycle
Boron et le livre de Philippe de Flandre,” 17-40; Carol J. (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1985, chap.
Chase, “Double Bound: Secret Sharers in Cliges and the 3; Micha 227-250). Mela’s findings are elaborated by
Lancelot-Grail,” 169—186. Francois Suard, “Lancelot et le chevalier enferre,” and
8Pauphilet, Le Legs du Moyen Age, 30. Marie-Luce Chenerie, “L’aventure du chevalier enferre, ses
9Albert Pauphilet, “Etudes sur le Lancelot en Prose," suites et le theme des geants dans le Lancelot,” both in
Romania 45 (1918-19): 514-534; J.D. Bruce, p. 399, n. 55; Approches du Lancelot en prose, ed. Jean Dufournet (Paris:
A. Jeanroy, Histoire de la nation frangaise, 2:371. Champion, 1984).
xtmi Introduction

Lot asserts subsequently that each page, indeed The fact that Lot’s case for entrelacement and
almost every line, of the “Agravain” attests to a consistent chronology in the Prose Lancelot does
consummate art of careful narrative not hold for other texts of the Vulgate Cycle
“preparations” for events yet to come (pp. 71- weakens considerably his arguments for unity
74), he implies the existence of a purposeful and single authorship. But even the calendar of
creator, a competent craftsman who stands in interlaced events that so carefully maps the
clear opposition to Chapelain’s negligent terrain of the Prose Lancelot gives us only part of
“barbarian.” the picture. It neglects the more elusive and
The critical positions of the Vulgate’s de¬ certainly more problematic portions of the tales,
tractors and defenders are less radically opposed those that stubbornly resist the confines of the
than they might first appear. Whereas Chapelain literary-historical map.
rejects the cycle as formless, concluding that this The task of accounting for these more
literary voyage is not worth the trip, Lot and his anomalous but very prominent features of the
followers provide a map for effectively charting Vulgate Cycle has fallen to scholars in the past
the unwieldy romance terrain. Through the fifteen years. Redirecting the illusory search for
theories of entrelacement (or narrative interlace) absent authors, origins, and textual unity, they
and consistent chronology advanced in his Etude have begun interrogating instead the complex
sur “le Lancelot en prose, "for example, Lot makes relations between author and text as they appear
the disparate landscapes of the Vulgate Cycle on the pages of the lengthy prose cycle.14
navigable for the uninitiated or skeptical reader Accepting digression in narrative development,
(pp. 17-28, 29-64).12 He shows in essence how repetition of stock motifs, the plurality of autho¬
the seemingly random mingling of individual rial voices, self-contradiction, and ellipsis as
chivalric adventures actually follows a consistent givens of the prose romances, some recent stud¬
and logical plan. As the conte, the “story” or ies embrace head-on the issues of narrative re¬
narrative line, switches furtively from detailing casting and discontinuity as essential aspects of
the exploits of Lancelot to following the thirteenth-century prose composition. Examin¬
adventures of Bors or describing the deeds of ing linguistic fragmentation and interruption,
Gawain, the apparent narrative chaos is analyzing the thematization of textual genealogy
anchored in a clear chronology of dates and and paternity of literary characters, and invoking
times. We follow the principal characters day by processes of intertextuality and rewriting,
day and hour by hour along twisting paths that scholars have formulated new questions that set
actually conform to a surprisingly rigorous the prose romance squarely within the context
calendar of events. The precise correlation of of medieval manuscript transmission while
names and dates supplies a tangible record of underscoring simultaneously its theoretical
the author’s mindful participation in the tale. modernity. Scholars have recently rethought the
They serve as footprints leading us back to his persistent tendency to seek in the medieval
former and formative presence. Lot’s analysis French prose romance a relatively stable and
attenuates and legitimates the randomness of coherent text whose literary worth could—for
the adventure story by attributing it to a
hypothetical author deemed as conscientious as so doing, he invokes an argument similar to the one we
a Beaumarchais, Scribe, or Sardou (p. 28). In have brought to bear on the Vulgate texts: “When modem
the move from Chapelain’s outraged literary scholarship seeks to rehabilitate a literary
masterpiece it invariably resorts to the favourite classical
denunciation of no unity to Lot’s concerned if
criterion of perfection which is, of course, unity . . . ,” ‘The
exaggerated imposition of perfect unity, we can
Problem of ‘Unity,’” The Works of Sir Thomas Malory, ed.
chart a constant preoccupation with origins, an Eugene Vinaver, 2nd ed. (1967), l:xliv.
unspoken desire to validate the literary artifact 14A pioneering article by R. Howard Bloch appeared
by returning to its authorial source.13 in 1975: ‘The Text as Inquest: Form and Function in the
Pseudo-Map Cycle,” Mosaic 8, 4 (1975): 107-119. Book-
length studies by Alexandre Leupin, Le Graal et la litterature
12For a recent treatment of the phenomenon of
interlace, see Micha, Essais, 94-122. (Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme, 1982), and E. Jane Bums,
Arthurian Fictions: Rereading the Vulgate Cycle, are
13It is curious that Vinaver accepts Lot’s theory of unity
accompanied by a range of pertinent articles to be
for the Vulgate Cycle but finds it inapplicable to Malory. In
discussed below.
Introduction xix

the Romantic imagination at least—be vouch¬ Lancelot, we learn that Lancelot is in fact
safed by the signature of a verifiable historical Galahad’s father, having engendered the Grail
author.15 hero during a visit to King Pelles’s daughter at
Corbenic. The son far surpasses the more
courtly Lancelot in spiritual achievement.
THE UN-UNIFIED TEXT Galahad represents the ideal conjunction of re¬
ligious and chivalric modes, and of past and fu¬
Standing behind current attempts to reformu¬
ture epochs. Descending from King David on his
late the problematic notions of authorship and
father’s side and from Joseph of Arimathea and
textual coherence is an implicit recognition that
the Grail kings on his mother’s, he is the embod¬
the Old French prose romance, shrouded in the
iment of Biblical history destined to cure the ills
anonymity that so often accompanies literary
of the Arthurian world. His success at the task is
works of the High Middle Ages in France, forms
ultimately undermined by events in the Mort
part of a manuscript tradition that allowed texts
Artu that lead inevitably to the downfall of King
to be constantly recast and rewritten in many
Arthur, the end of his realm, and the twilight of
variants. Such works derive ultimately from the
Arthurian chivalry previously established by
cumulative efforts of successive authors, scribes,
Merlin’s creadon of the Round Table.
and reader/reciters.16 The result in the case of
This concerted interweaving of individual
the Vulgate Cycle is a corpus of five tales whose
narrative strains suggests that we should perhaps
interdependence is both obvious and difficult to
read all of the Vulgate tales together as a whole.
pinpoint.
But must we do so? And to what extent? Must we
Taking as their subject the entire history of
read the Mort Artu as deriving from and
the Grail from its origin in the Passion of Christ
inextricably tied to the Queste? Do we risk seri¬
to the successful accomplishment of the quest by
ously misreading the Queste if we isolate it from
the chosen hero, the prose texts adopt the
later developments of the Mort? Alternatively,
comprehensive scale of literary and theological
should we consider the Estoire or Merlin to be
summae of the thirteenth century: Jean de
discrete textual entities, and can we justify read¬
Meun’s Roman de la Rose, Vincent de Beauvais’s
ing the more lengthy Lancelot independently of
Speculum Naturale, and Thomas Aquinas’s Summa
its companion tales?
Theologica. Like these structural analogues, the
A look at the extant manuscript tradition
Vulgate’s summa arthuriana knots its component
shows that neither option we have been dis¬
parts together in a relatively seamless whole.
cussing—whether taking the composite of all
Potential boundaries separating the standard
five tales as a textual whole or isolating individ¬
courtly narratives of love and chivalry found in
ual tales as independent works—reflects me¬
the Lancelot, Mort Artu, and the Merlin from the
dieval practice. Surviving manuscript evidence
Grail legends of the Queste and Estoire are skill¬
indicates that individual volumes of the cycle
fully obscured by an elaborate matrix of cross-
appeared only occasionally alone; they were ac¬
references that tie the whole together. The
companied more commonly by some or all of
Lancelot announces at its beginning that
the companion tales, and in a surprising way.
Lancelot was given the baptismal name of
Grouping all five tales together was frequent but
Galahad, thus forging a crucial link between the
not the rule. Only nine out of some ninety-six
archetypal knight-lover and the chosen hero of
surviving manuscripts contain the entire cycle.
the Queste del Saint Graal In the last third of the
The corpus is most commonly sectioned into
three groupings that regularly split apart one of
15For a theoretical discussion of authorship that can be
what we would consider to be the cycle’s indi¬
applied fruitfully to medieval texts, see Michel Foucault,
“What Is an Author?” Textual Strategies, ed. Josue Harari
vidual “texts”: the Lancelot. In the manuscript
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1979). tradition as we now perceive it, the Estoire, the
16Gerald Bruns, “The Originality of Texts in a Merlin, and the continuation of the Vulgate
Manuscript Culture,” Comparative Literature 32 (1980): 113- Merlin (termed the Vulgate suite) most often fall
129; C.S. Lewis, “The Genesis of the Medieval Book,” Studies
in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, ed. Walter Hooper
(Cambridge: University Press, 1966), 18-40.
 XX Introduction

together as one unit.17 The first two parts of the Montreuil’s thirteenth-century texts. Two pro¬
lengthy Prose Lancelot form another segment. logues to the cycle, the Elucidation and the
And the last third of the Lancelot joins the Queste Bliocadran, were composed subsequently. The
and Mort Artu in a final grouping. Of the extant process of narrative elaboration attested by these
manuscripts containing all or part of the Vulgate continuations constitutes an accumulation of
romances, none offers the entire Prose Lancelot materials that remain nonetheless fragmentary.
intact.18 And the array of variation in textual From them we get a clear sense that the desire
presentation across the corpus is maximal. If the for a conclusion to the tale becomes an excuse
V Queste appears at times alone, at times with the
Lancelot and Mort Artu or alternately as part of a
for narrative amplification. No matter how many
lines are added to Chretien’s base text, they can
five-volume corpus as we have said, it also com¬ never produce a single finished or unified work.
bines in some instances with the Lancelot alone, And the problem is not simply that only a por¬
and in others with only the Mort. At least one tion of the original manuscript corpus survives.
manuscript joins the Estoire with the Queste and For even if we had access to all the manuscripts
Matt19 that once existed for the Perceval material, or
These groupings suggest that a variety of for any Old French text, we would not necessar¬
possible readings were built into the highly flex¬ ily be better able to define the precise parame¬
ible narrative structure of the long and rambling ters of that text. Rather, we would be reminded
Vulgate tales and that textual boundaries as we all the more of the extent to which there was
know them actually varied from one read¬ generally no definitive version of the medieval
ing/performance to the next. There is, then, no tale. This is the phenomenon of mouvance as
single definitive text of the Vulgate romances, Paul Zumthor has described it, a kind of textual
and this not by oversight. Editors of Old French variability that consistently undermines the au¬
texts are well aware that the literary artifact in thenticity of any Old French text.21
the High Middle Ages lies somewhere between
the plurality of manuscript versions available to
us on the one hand, and the lack of complete THE ELUSIVE AUTHOR
textual genealogy for any one tale on the other.
As verifiable textual fixity recedes before our
If we are plagued by the loss of documentation
modern eyes, so too does the medieval writer’s
through the years, by the absence of manuscript
potential authority. Indeed, recent work on
versions that could potentially tell us a good deal
Provencal lyric has shown that, for certain au¬
about the historical transmission of an individual
thors at least, the presumed existence of a single
text, we must also recognize that any text in the
holograph of a particular poem is doubtful. It
High Middle Ages was, in an important sense,
appears for example that Jaufre Rudel authored
fragmentary.20
several distinct versions of a given poem, and
This is perhaps best illustrated by the verse
that he did so not as an attempt to supplant an
continuations of Chretien de Troyes’s Perceval
early version by a more accomplished or defini¬
(1189-91). Within fifty years of the composition
tive successor, but simply as a means of expand¬
of Chretien’s unfinished Grail romance, there
ing, elaborating, and diversifying the text at
appear four continuations: the Gawain
hand.22 We have no reason to believe that this
Continuation and the Perceval Continuation both
process did not also inform the composition of
written before the end of the twelfth century,
Old French works, including texts in prose as
followed by Manessier and Gerbert de
well as in verse. In the case of the Vulgate Cycle,
1 *7 it is entirely possible that two interdependent
1'A discussion of the various Merlin texts is offered
below. phenomena served to blur the potential bound¬
18Alexandre Micha, ed. Lancelot: roman en prose du 13e
aries of a discrete text: the scribe could add sec¬
siecle, vol. 1 (Geneva: Droz, 1980), ix-xxiii. tions to the text he copied, becoming in a sense
10Albert Pauphilet, ed. La Queste del Saint Graal (Paris:
Champion, 1921), iii-xiv. ^Essai de poetique medievale (Paris: Seuil, 1972), 73.
20Paul Zumthor, “Le Texte fragment,” Languefrangaise 22Rupert Pickens, The Songs of Jaufre Rudel (Toronto:
40 (1978): 75-82. The Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1978), 23.
Introduction xxi

an author in his own right as he recast his model Credited with composing the Lancelot, Queste,
into an “original” version of the tale,23 and the and Mort, the historical Walter Map was a jurist
author could redo his own work without clearly and a man of letters at the court of King Henry
distinguishing the original from the rewrite.24 II of England. An influential court figure, Map
The Vulgate Cycle then provides us with a was also an author in his own right. Drawing on
text that is not a text in the modern sense of the his experience as a canon and precentor,
term, a text that is always fragmentary but always chancellor of Lincoln from 1186, and
a composite of more than one text, a text archdeacon of Oxford from 1197, Walter Map
located somewhere and uncertainly in the com¬ composed a satiric work about life at King
plex relation between many narrative versions Henry’s court called posthumously the Courtier’s
created by many authorial if not authoritative Trifles (De Nugis Curialium). The epilogue to the
hands. The literary map accurately representing Vulgate’s Queste casts Walter Map as an author in
this cycle of tales would contrast starkly with another capacity, making him responsible for
Lot’s set calendar. It would be a map that transcribing official court records of Arthurian
changed continually as we move through the adventure from Latin into French. ‘When they
narrative terrain it charts. Although it might in¬ had dined, King Arthur summoned his clerks
corporate on one level and for the text of the who were keeping a record of all the adventures
Prose Lancelot in particular the existence of a undergone by the knights of his household.
predictable calendar of events, a map detailing When Bors had related to them the adventures
the whole of the Vulgate Cycle would have to re¬ of the Holy Grail as witnessed by himself, they
flect a much looser and more flexible narrative were written down and the record kept in the li¬
structure. It would be a map with no fixed brary at Salisbury, whence Master Walter Map
perimeter, and no set or authorized format, a extracted them in order to make his book of the
map that could shift and reshape itself at succes¬ Holy Grail for the love of his lord King Henry,
sive moments and with successive readings. who had the story translated from Latin into
This is precisely the kind of map that the French.”25
Vulgate Cycle provides through its own overt But Walter Map’s purported role in
references to textuality and authorship. composing the Vulgate Cycle can be readily
Signaling us at every turn not to look for textual dismissed. He died in 1209, approximately five
unity or single authorship among these pages, to ten years before the composition of the first
the cycle offers numerous literary signposts to tale that bears his name.26 Scholars have specu¬
guide our path in other directions. The clearest lated that the anonymous authors of the Vulgate
example is found in the elusive figure of the Cycle chose to append Map’s name to their Ac¬
text’s putative author, a man whose actual role tive tales of knights and ladies in order to lend
in the composition of the Vulgate Cycle remains an air of historical veracity to the world of
as uncertain as the boundaries of the text he is Arthurian wonder. Map’s association with Henry
reputed to have penned. This author’s name is II’s court was well established. And Henry en¬
itself a map: Walter Map. But in stark contrast to joyed a legendary association with King Arthur.
Lot’s calendar, this map does not deliver reassur¬ What better way to assert the historicity of
ing proof of an author’s controlling presence. Arthurian adventure than to make it flow from
the pen of a master storyteller who had rubbed
23Roger Dragonetti, La Vie de la lettre au Moyen Age shoulders with the very king reputed to have
(Paris: Seuil, 1980), 48. launched the discovery of Arthur and
24Emmanuele Baumgartner notes that by the end of Guenevere’s graves at Glastonbury?
the fourteenth century there existed five or six clearly Yet even Map’s name as it appears in the
distinct versions of the Prose Tristan: Version I, a short
Vulgate texts presents a curious anomaly. Some
version that preceded the Vulgate Cycle; Version II, the
longest and most popular; Version III, a mix of versions I
and II plus an interpolation of a fragment from the Prose 25Queste, ed. Pauphilet, 279-280.
Lancelot, Version IV, which combines Versions I, II, III and 26For extended discussions of the Vulgate Cycle’s
additional interpolations; and other interpolated versions. dating, see F. Lot, Etude sur le Lancelot en prose, 126-140, and
Le Tristan en Prose: Essai d’interpretation d’un roman medieval “Sur la date du Lancelot en prose,” Romania 57 (1931):
(Geneva: Droz, 1975), 85-87. 137-46, and J. Frappier, Etude sur La Mort le roi Artu, 20.
xxii Introduction

think that “Walter Map” was a kind of joke, a THE ESTOIRE DEL SAINT GRAAL AND
nickname derived from the Welsh vab or mab or THE MERLIN
ap meaning “son of,” a tag used by the English to
denote their Welsh friends on the border.27 In The titular author of the Estoire and the Merlin,
this case, the signature “Walter Map” that ap¬ one Robert de Boron, provides similarly suspect
pears in the Vulgate Cycle would translate non¬ clues. Thought to have composed an early Grail
sensically as “Walter son of,” an unfinished epi¬ story in verse, Joseph d'Arimathie (ca. 1200),
thet, a name that gives the illusion of identifying Robert de Boron is also credited with subse¬
a historical author without doing so in fact. quent prose elaborations of this tale known as
Repeated allusion to this name that does not re¬ the Roman du Graal (“Romance of the Grail”)
ally name reminds us pointedly that individual and with their later development in the Vulgate
authorial contributions to the Vulgate Cycle are texts. The Vulgate’s Estoire cites Robert as a scrip-
as difficult to discern as the boundaries separat¬ tor who translated the tale we read from Latin
ing one narrative “text” of the cycle from an¬ into French, “et mesire Robers de Borom, qui
other. ceste estoire translata de latin en franfois.”28
Map’s potential authority is diluted further The closing lines of the Merlin cite Robert de
by repeated reference to the textualized voice of Boron as the teller of a tale derived from a book
li contes (“the story”) throughout the tales in the vernacular, the Livre dou Graal, “And I
attributed to him. The epilogue citing Walter Robert de Boron who retell this book according
Map as the author of the Queste also cites li contes, to the teaching of the Livre dou Graal [‘The Grail
a sort of inanimate narrative protagonist, as the Book”], it is fitting that I speak and recount the
official teller of the tale. The story ends not story just as the book tells it.”29
when Map stops speaking but when li contes has But Robert’s actual contribution to the
nothing more to say about the Grail adventures, composition of volumes of the Vulgate Cycle
we are told. Map’s authoritative written record that bear his name remains as nebulous as the
comes to us then only through a wholly fictive fictive genealogies advanced for these tales. If
voice that speaks from the pages of Arthurian the Merlin were merely a copy of a single Grail
romance. If the authority we might attribute to story (Li Limes dou Graal), as the text states, it
the signature of this author is attenuated by the would not contain the deeds of Merlin and
circumstances of his death and the uncertain Arthur’s knights that it does in fact record. But
status of his name, the potential force of his how do these narrative strains come together?
presence in the text is reduced all the more by Merlin explains that the book he dictates to his
the voice of li contes that accompanies and scribe Blaise—an account of the reign of Uther
encloses it. The invocation of Walter Map as and Pendragon—will be joined to the Grail story
author of the Vulgate Cycle undermines the very (‘Joseph’s book”) when Blaise meets with the
purpose of citing an author as guarantor of a Grail people. But this crucial event in the devel¬
text’s worth. By taking us back to a reputed ori¬ opment and transfer of the story we read never
gin that it then withholds and obscures, this map takes place. Merlin’s book predicts one set of
turns us away from the empirical search for an events—Blaise passing on his narrative to the
original historical author and allied efforts to “gens du Graal” (“Grail followers”)—but nar¬
establish a coherent literary work where one rates another—Merlin being seduced by Ninane
clearly does not exist. And it is not the only sig¬ and dying without ensuring that the book he
nal guiding us in that direction. wrote with Blaise’s help ever merged with a sep¬
arate Grail narrative. Alongside the genealogy
27Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium: Courtier’s Trifles, ed.
and trans. M.R. James, rev. C.N.L. Brooke and R.A.B.
28Eugene Hucher, ed., Le Saint Graal (Le Mans:
Mynors (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983).
Monnoyer, 1875), 3:194, 269. Whereas Sommer’s edition
provides a short version of the Estoire, Hucher’s text based
on Cange MS. BNP 748 and Le Mans 354 offers a more
elaborate narrative rendition.

29Alexandre Micha, ed., Merlin: roman du Xllle siecle

(Geneva: Droz, 1979), 290-291.
Introduction xxiii

that posits Robert de Boron as an au¬ inal text whose voice has been translated into
thor/ translator of a text deriving from a mixture French—and if so whom does this “I” represent?
of an authoritative Grail book and pseudo-histor¬ Or has the original “I” been appropriated by the
ical accounts of the Arthurian past, we find an¬ new author? The trio formed by Robert, “I,” and
other genealogy establishing the Active character the estoire is grounded in the same authorial am¬
Merlin as the only possible author for all the biguity that characterizes the group of voices
texts in question. If Merlin’s composite work that recount the other Vulgate narratives: Map,
remains distinct from the Livres dou Graal that li contes, and Arthur’s knights whose depositions
Robert retells, then Robert’s exact contribution are recorded by scribes and later retrieved by
to the Merlin as we know it remains in doubt.30 Walter Map to “make his book.”
We are left wondering how to reconcile the roles If the Vulgate’s textual genealogies
of two authors, Merlin and Robert de Boron, demonstrate an obsession with origins that par¬
and how to weld together two fragments of a tex¬ allels that shared by Chapelain and Lot, they re¬
tual genealogy that do not fit together logically. veal simultaneously how, in the case of these
The proposed genealogy for the Estoire is narratives, the preoccupation with origins leads
equally incomplete. This romance claims that its consistently to no verifiable authorial source. We
author, who figures as a character in the tale, are left rather with a plurality of authorial voices
transcribes a book that was previously written by and competing subtexts that cannot be aligned
Christ.31 As Christ hands the inscribed author a in logical sequence. Credit for narrative inven¬
book containing the story of the Holy Grail, he tion falls on a cohort of Active authors that
directs him specifically to copy its contents, range from the chivalric heroes who speak their
thereby guaranteeing the accuracy of the sacred adventures at King Arthur’s court to the Active
text that becomes the Grail story we read (2:38). dictator Merlin and his vernacular scriptor Blaise,
What then is the relation between Robert de to the bogus author/translator Walter Map, the
Boron, the inscribed author, and the original storyteller Robert de Boron, and the oracular
creator, Christ? When Robert de Boron is said to voice of Christ. Amid all these references to cre¬
have translated the estoire from Latin into French ators and their sources, both written and oral,
it appears that the estoire furnished the subject no mention is made, curiously, of the actual tex¬
matter or source material for Robert’s French tual antecedents for the Vulgate Cycle. Yet there
text. However, the term estoire is also used in this are many.
tale to refer to the current narration, Robert’s The Vulgate Estoire is preceded historically by
French translation as well as to the textualized a prose Joseph attributed to Robert de Boron
voice that recounts it (3:269). The estoire is here (alternatively called Le Grand Saint Graal), which
said to tell the tale of the Grail story much as li derives in turn from Robert’s verse Joseph (Le
contes does elsewhere in the cycle. This coupled Petit Saint Graal, Le Roman de L'Estoire du Graal).
with the fact the Robert’s text is called alter¬ To this oldest known ancestor text for the Estoire
nately the Estoire dou Saint Graal (3:269) and Li are appended 504 extant verses of a fragmentary
Contes dou Saint Graal (3:194) makes it impossible Merlin that remains unsigned. Different from
to establish a clear distinction between the Latin subsequent reworkings for which there is a
“source” and the subsequent French relatively rich extant manuscript tradition, these
“translation.” Furthermore, it is unclear whether seminal texts in verse appear in a single
Robert de Boron, the purported translator of manuscript edited by William Nitze as Le Roman
the Estoire, is to be identified with the au¬ de VEstoire dou Graal (Paris: Champion, 1927). As
thor/narrator who appears in the tale. Is the “I” Robert’s original tales were recast into prose
who addresses us merely the narrator of the orig- beginning around 1210, they emerged
sometimes in a trilogy, Le Roman du Graal, that
30Larry Crist, “Les Livres de Merlin,” Senefiance 7 recounts the history of the Grail vessel (Joseph
(1979): 197-210. d’Arimathie), its arrival in Great Britain along
31 On the function of the medieval scribe as an author with the discovery of the future king Arthur
of disjointure in the Estoire, see Douglas Kelly, “Invention (Merlin), the quest for the Holy Grail, and the
dans les romans en prose,” The Craft of Fiction, ed. Leigh
subsequent demise of Arthur’s world (Perceval,
Arrathoon (Rochester, Mich.: Solaris Press, 1984), 119-142.
known widely as the Didot Perceval).
XXIV Introduction

The assumption that Robert also penned a from the prose Tristan (and the Suite du
verse Perceval that served as a model for the later Merlin).34
prose trilogies has recently been challenged. Of The compositional system charted here is
the fifteen surviving texts of the prose Joseph and one of extensive rewriting. The Vulgate Cycle
fifty-five of the prose Merlin, only two expands the prose Perceval into two separate sto¬
manuscripts contain the prose Perceval These ries: the Queste del Saint Graal, which draws addi¬
manuscripts are the best known because they tional material from Chretien de Troyes’s Conte
have been edited: the Modena manuscript (E. du Graal and the Perceval Continuations, and the
39 from the Bibl. Estense in Modena) edited Mort Artu, which recasts source material from the
most recently in its entirety by Bernard chronicle tradition—Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
Cerquiglini and previously for the Joseph and Vita Merlini and Wace’s Roman de Brut—by
Perceval segments only by William Roach.32 But it adding the love story of Lancelot and Guenevere
is highly probable that the texts of the prose from Chretien de Troyes’s Chevalier de la charrete
Perceval, which do not bear Robert’s name, were (“The Knight of the Cart,” 1178-80). Unlike its
composed from a combination of Chretien de predecessors, the Vulgate Cycle devotes a full
Troyes’s Perceval, the Second Continuation, and half of its narrative to developing a lengthy ren¬
Robert’s Joseph and Merlin.33 dition of Chretien’s Lancelot story, perhaps us¬
The verse Merlin too spawned serial prose ing a predecessor of the Middle High German
rewrites. Having itself descended from Geoffrey Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven (ca. 1200) to
of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae and fill in details of the hero’s childhood. The prose
Vita Merlini, passing into the French tradition Joseph and Merlin are similarly recast into the
through Wace’s Roman de Brut and other Estoire del Saint Graal and the Estoire de Merlin re¬
vernacular translations of Geoffrey’s Historia, the spectively. Rewriting of this material continues
prose Merlin appears in fifty-five extant when authors of the Post-Vulgate Roman du
manuscripts, including Modena and Didot. It is Graal, the prose Tristan, and the Palamedes (late
recast again in the Vulgate Merlin and somewhat thirteenth century) pick up where the Vulgate
later in the Huth Merlin. The Modena Merlin authors left off.
represents the first stage of this elaborate Not unique to the Vulgate material, the
prosification and offers the shortest version, de¬ process of rewriting characterizes the majority of
void of a suite. The Vulgate Merlin expands Old French texts. Most vernacular authors in the
Robert’s narrative by detailing Arthur’s military High Middle Ages based their writing on some
campaigns against rebellious barons in what is preexisting materia in either Latin, French, or
known as the Vulgate suite; and the Huth Merlin another language. Their texts also contain fre¬
(sometimes referred to as the Suite du Merlin) quent comment on the very process of literary
supplies a series of elaborate romance episodes. borrowing, explaining how their work either
This rendition forms part of the post-Vulgate copies dutifully or diverges purposefully from its
Roman du Graal (ca. 1230-40), formerly known base text.35 Whereas the earliest French ro¬
as the pseudo-Robert de Boron Cycle, which is mancers build their narratives on Latin
composed of a remodeled Vulgate Estoire, Queste, sources—on Statius’s Thebaid, Virgil’s Aeneid, an
and Mort Artu, portions of the Vulgate Lancelot account of the Trojan War by pseudo-Dares and
(taken from the “Agravain” section), segments pseudo-Dictys, or various accounts of the life of
Alexander the Great—Marie de France turns to
32Bernard Cerquiglini, ed., Le Roman du Graal: Breton lais, explaining that she wants to recast
manuscrit de Modern par Robert de Boron (Paris: Union them in French. Both Marie and authors of the
Generale d’Edition, 1981); William Roach, ed., The Didot
French romances of antiquity see their literary
Perceval According to the Manuscripts of Modena and Paris
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941); ‘The
Text of the Modena Prose Joseph d’Arimathie,” Romance 34For a detailed study of the Roman du Graal, see Fanni
Philology 9 (1955-56): 313-342. Bogdanow, The Romance of the Grail (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1966).
33Rupert Pickens, “Mais de cou ne parole pas crestiens
de troies . . . : A Re-examination of the Didot Perceval,” 35Douglas Kelly, ‘Theory of Composition in Medieval
Romania 105 (1984): 492—510. Narrative Poetry and Geoffrey of Vinsauf s Poetria Nova,"
Medieval Studies 31 (1969): 117-148.
Introduction XXV

task as one of adapting a previous text, of trans¬ meet, under what circumstances Kay and
forming an existing narrative into something Meleagant fight together, and how Lancelot and
only partially new. Meleagant do battle on two occasions, thereby
This practice, which had the widest currency providing answers to questions that Chretien’s
in the Middle Ages, effectively blurred potential richly ambiguous text leaves open. In the prose
distinctions between original and copy, author Lancelot, scenes are often displaced from their
and impersonator. In the medieval system of original narrative sequence and expanded
rewriting, a reformulated text becomes to a through a process of doubling: the cart episode
degree the author’s own invention without ever repeats with Bors and other knights stepping
really losing its former character. The literary aboard after Lancelot’s fateful move and the
work resides in a continuum of transformations, cemetery scene features two tombstones necessi¬
each different from but as valid as its pre¬ tating two tests for the initiate knight.38
decessor. But even this thorough absorption of
Chretien’s text into the Vulgate’s narrative does
not create a clearly unified whole. The prose
THE PROSE LANCELOT redaction seems to have existed in at least two
major narrative versions. Although the Vulgate
A particularly apt illustration of the process is
Lancelot is generally called the Prose Lancelot,
provided by the Vulgate Lancelot The longest of
one must distinguish between the Vulgate ver¬
the five Vulgate romances, the Lancelot alone ac¬
sion of the tale and the noncyclic Prose Lancelot, a
counts for half of the cycle, occupying three
shorter version designed possibly to stand in¬
volumes of Sommer’s seven-volume edition. It is
dependently of the Queste and the Mort ArtuA9
built around a central core supplied by Chretien
Both cyclic and noncyclic Lancelots, recount the
de Troyes’s Chevalier de la charrete. But Chretien’s
hero’s childhood, education, and knightly ad¬
contribution to this narrative is thoroughly
ventures up to his installation as a knight of the
obscured; no clues indicate where his portion of
Round Table. The shorter version then offers a
the tale begins or ends. And rather than heading
brief account of the journey to Sorelois and
the narrative sequence, as is the case with
False Guenevere episodes with no narrative
Chretien’s Perceval in the verse continuations,
bridge to the Queste and Mort Artiu The longer,
the Charrete is embedded in the middle of a
cyclic version elaborates those same episodes to
narrative scenario that radiates out from it.36
prepare the reader for the Grail material that
The “Galehaut” portion of the prose text—
will follow in subsequent texts. The two prose
which includes the reworking of Chretien’s
Lancelots thus reflect two stages of narrative de¬
tale—appears in volume 3 of Sommer’s edition,
velopment within the prose rewrite itself: the
the “Suite de la Charrete” in volume 4, and the
first stage exalting earthly love and chivalry be¬
“Agravain” in volume 5.37
tween Lancelot and the queen, the second cast¬
In elaborating Chretien’s 7,126 lines of verse
ing those very practices as highly problematic
into roughly 2,500 pages of prose, the Vulgate
and dangerous.
Lancelot does not simply add new narrative
Certainly one of the major shifts as we move
material to its base text. Certain key scenes in
from courtly romance of the twelfth century to
the Charrete—the mounting of the cart and the
the cyclic Grail material of the thirteenth is the
tournament at Pomeglai for example—are
shift from a secular quest for the Arthurian lady
actually reduced in the prose version, while de¬
to the spiritual search for the venerated if
tails are provided to flesh out other scenes left
mysterious Grail object. As the Vulgate Lancelot
enigmatic and vague in Chretien’s text. The
enlarges the legendary biography of its hero by
prose romancer tells us how Kay and Lancelot

38 Bruckner, “Intertextuality,” 242-243.

36For a detailed discussion of narrative elaboration in
39Elspeth Kennedy, Lancelot and the Grail: A Study of the
the Prose Lancelot see Bruckner on “Intertextuality.”
“Prose Lancelof (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), and
37Alexandre Micha’s edition begins in medias res so that
Elspeth Kennedy, ed. Lancelot du Lac: The Non-Cyclic Old
to read the Lancelot story chronologically in this edition French Prose Romance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980); and
one must begin with volumes 7 and 8 and then proceed to Micha, Essais, 31-83.
volumes 1 through 6.
 XXVI Introduction

adding a long series of highly stylized adven¬ in bed and tomb, suggesting that the bond
tures, its central character becomes simultane¬ between Lancelot and Galehaut is in fact
ously more glorified and more marginalized. He stronger than the tie holding Lancelot to the
is displaced ultimately by Galahad, the chosen queen.43
quester whose chastity and purity allow him to The tension between male and female
overcome terrestrial limitations of the flesh protagonists that is suggested in so many of
along with the temptation of fleshly women.40 Chretien’s texts now comes into fuller relief, en¬
Chretien’s classic tale of courtly love, which abling us to perceive more clearly what is really
followed the erotic model of troubadour lyric, at stake in courtly love. In the Prose Lancelot,
has now assumed an antierotic and antifeminist Lancelot’s interest in the queen appears at times
pose.41 In positing the love of women as a to be more political than personal. If he is at¬
substantiaTTundrance to male chivalric success, tracted to Galehaut emotionally, and perhaps
I this text allows us to glimpse more readily than sexually, he favors Guenevere as a conduit to
ever before how courtly love, even in the earliest another powerful man, the king. When
Arthurian texts, introduced more problems than Chretien’s phrasing about mutual love and en¬
solutions to the charged interaction between joyment between Lancelot and the queen is re¬
male and female protagonists. In the Prose placed by a discourse of explicit seduction be¬
Lancelot, the troublesome scene from Chretien’s tween Lancelot and Galehaut, the classic config¬
text in which Guenevere rejects Lancelot’s love uration of courtly love takes on a new dimen¬
service in a disturbingly uncourtly gesture sion. As Galehaut transforms his original plot to
remains relatively unchanged. But the steal Guenevere from Arthur into a plan of cap¬
companion scene of reconciliation between the turing Lancelot’s love and attention, he invokes
lovers in which Chretien has Lancelot kneel the standard discourse of courtly love to express
down and venerate the queen before spending undying affection for another knight, not a lady:
the night in her bed is severely truncated in the “It would be worth having my great honor
Prose Lancelot. Amid an abbreviated narrative of turned to shame, if I could be as sure of him
the couple’s amorous embraces we find [Lancelot] as I would wish him to be of me.”44
Guenevere narrating to Lancelot the death of The apparently passionate and abiding union
his friend and companion at arms, Galehaut.42 that links Lancelot to Guenevere is here shown
The insinuation of Galehaut between the lovers to be fraught with substantial dissonance and
in this scene would be of little consequence if it disunion.
were not for the concerted emphasis earlier in If rewriting the tale of Lancelot and
the work on the intimate friendship between the Guenevere has made it longer, fuller, and more
two men. Lancelot, it has been pointed out, abundant in words, it has also explored the
wants to sleep with Galehaut, to lie next to him cracks between these amplified segments of nar¬
rative. That we have more of a story does not
40 As far as we know, Galahad had no prior existence mean that we have more synthesis, resolution, or
in Arthurian legend and was invented for the Vulgate controlled structure. In fact, the opposite is true.
Cycle.
The protracted process of recasting and elabo¬
41 For an analysis of how the femininity and female
rating fragments of preexisting literary texts that
sexuality that structure the beginning of the Prose Lancelot
generates the Vulgate Cycle as we know it creates
are displaced to allow for the development of the chivalric
hero, see Fran^oise Paradis, “La Triple Mise au monde d’un a narrative that spreads in many contradictory
heros, ou trois images d’une femininite maitrisee dans le directions across the manuscript page. To chart
debut du Lancelot en prose," Approches du Lancelot en prose, ed. this spread accurately, we would need a literary
Jean Dufoumet (Paris: Champion, 1984), 157-176. map devoid of clear directional bearings. Taking
42 “When Lancelot entered the bed, the queen felt the
blood dripping from him; it was from his hands that had
43Jean Frappier, “La Mort Galehot,” Histoire, mythes et
been tom by the sharp bars. But she thought it was sweat
symboles: Etudes de litterature franfalse (Geneva: Droz, 1976),
and neither of them noticed it. And then she told him
137-147; Christiane Marcello-Nizia, “Amour courtois,
about Galehaut’s death, of which he knew nothing. He
societe masculine et figures du pouvoir,” Annates, economies,
would have lamented it greatly but it was not the place for
societes, civilisations 36 (1981): 969-982.
that. Then they shared great joy with each other” (Micha
75-76). 44Lancelot du Lac, ed. Elspeth Kennedy, 1:333-334.
Introduction xxvn

us forward and backward simultaneously, these contes as the principal teller of the tale we read.
tales range over the narrative landscape with the When we hear constantly that “the tale tells
changing vision of a moving camera as opposed us . . . ,” “the tale speaks . . .,” or “the tale now
to the frozen frame of a cartographer’s sights. turns from one hero to recount the deeds of
From the former vantage point, images are another”—a rhetorical technique used widely in
distorted, accuracy is accompanied by exag¬ the Vulgate narratives themselves—the
geration, directional control gives way to flux. predominance of the narrator’s “I” is
The three-dimensional whole, while still com¬ significantly diluted and diffused.47 In both
posed of the sum of its parts, no longer possesses cases, the illusion of full-bodied and unmediated
the artificially imposed completeness of its two- speech—generated either between literary
dimensional representation, though it claims to characters or between author and audience—is
do just that.45 fractured by incessant reminders of the textual,
written medium that records that seemingly
plentiful voice.
THE WHOLE AND ITS PARTS The chronology of the Vulgate romances
reinforces this sensation of nonlinear time, re¬
It is this anomalous condition of fragmentation
turning us constantly to sources and origins of
posing as wholeness that some recent studies
characters and the narratives they inhabit only to
have attempted in different ways to capture.
reveal all too cogently that those origins are irre¬
Linguistic analyses have shown how the very
trievable and artificially constructed.48 As a text
prose style of the Vulgate romances creates a vi¬
written late in the development of the Vulgate
sion composed of many isolated and atomized
Cycle but positioned near the head of the liter¬
details, suggesting that the story we read is more
ary series, the Merlin offers a richly atemporal
realistic than its enigmatic twelfth-century pre¬
view toward past and future narrative events.
cursors. Yet the numerous indications of time
While exploiting factual antecedents already re¬
and place in the Prose Lancelot, for example,
lated in the Lancelot, it announces them as events
form part of a succession of fixed images that
to be recounted subsequently. The text stands in
resist any final comprehensive synthesis. The
the Vulgate corpus as a predecessor of the
Vulgate’s abundance of precise detail does not
Lancelot-Grail trilogy but a predecessor curi¬
contribute in the end to a fuller or more realistic
ously cognizant of its own future development.
picture of the whole.46 Similarly, repeated
The apparent linear sequence we follow from
reference to the speech act, which would seem
the Estoire to the Merlin, Lancelot, Queste, and Mort
to prioritize the communicative role of speech in
Artu is actually predicated on a narrative circu¬
the prose Joseph, actually calls attention to the
larity that allows later texts to influence their
ephemeral or questionable status of speech in
seeming precursors. The elaborate genealogical
the prose setting. The uninterrupted flow of
trees attesting to the sources and origins of indi¬
direct discourse between interlocutors that
vidual characters in the corpus are structured
characterizes the earlier verse composition of
similarly so as to turn in circles. In the Merlin,
Robert de Boron is replaced in the prose rewrite
Sagremor the Unruly offers an especially cogent
by a constant, rhythmic reference to the fact that
illustration of the instability of paternal rela¬
the speakers are speaking. Direct address is
tions. His incestuous origins label him alter¬
typically prefaced by remarks to the effect that
natively as the son, the grandson, or the nephew
“this person now speaks,” or “that one now
of the emperor of Constantinople. And the long
responds.” And the stream of narrative events in
list of names that evoke his genealogical roots
twelfth-century romance, often punctuated by
cannot be arranged into a logical or consistent
direct authorial intervention, is here replaced by
repeated allusion to the textualized voice of U
47Bernard Cerquiglini, La Parole medievale (Paris:
Minuit, 1981), 77, 112.
45On the distinctive way that certain prose narratives
48For a detailed study of the obsession with origins in
emphasize their material character, see Michele Perret, “De Old French literature, see R. Howard Bloch, Etymologies and
l’espace romanesque a la materialite du livre,” Poetique 50
Genealogies: A Literary Anthropology of the French Middle Ages
(April 1982): 17-37. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
46 Baumgartner, “Les Techniques narratives,” 186.
xxviii Introduction

family tree.49 Appearing so full in its detail, this when he has no authoritative source to validate
character’s genealogy is composed ultimately his remarks. But the Vulgate Cycle’s particular
only of fragments. The incompleteness of version of this pervasive medieval tendency to
Sagremor’s lineage, like that of Galahad and so cite invented sources can perhaps best be
many other protagonists in the Vulgate Cycle, understood in relation to the complex shift from
goes hand in hand with the discontinuous ro¬ verse to prose that shaped the evolution of
mance narrative. It has in fact been suggested Arthurian romance from the twelfth to the
that the very objective of the Huth Merlin is to thirteenth century.
reveal how paternity—whether that of the son
owing his existence to his father or that of the
literary text dependent on a textual origin—val¬
VERSE AND PROSE
idates the potential importance of origins while
Just why prose emerged around 1210 as a viable
also undercutting their absolute worth.50
medium in the writing of Arthurian romance is
For all its talk of origins and sources, when
not yet fully understood. But this crucial stage in
emphasizing the details of a character’s identity
the development of Old French narrative calls
or history, the source of a speaker’s voice, a
up questions of oral versus written delivery, fan¬
text’s words, or a character’s lineage, the Vulgate
tasy versus truth telling, fictive elaboration versus
Cycle demonstrates vividly how those sources are
historical documentation. These fundamental
necessarily superseded by elements in the
questions address the very role and function of
narrative that hark back to them: the text we
vernacular textuality in the High Middle Ages
read then becomes both an image or repre¬
and raise in yet another way the question of ori¬
sentation of its purported sources and a renun¬
gins. Prior to the thirteenth century, vernacular
ciation of them. One is led by these false ge¬
prose, like its Latin counterpart, had been re¬
nealogical clues to wonder why the Vulgate
served largely for recording legal and religious
Cycle insists so actively on spurious, fictive ori¬
truths. It appeared in juridical texts, charters, re¬
gins, obscuring all the while its actual debt to
ligious writings, translations of the Bible, and
tangible literary sources. Why do these tales
sermons. Prose was used in the thirteenth cen¬
evoke the names of Walter Map and his archival
tury to document historical events in the chroni¬
record, Robert de Boron and his livre, the oral
cles of Villehardouin, Robert de Clari, Henri de
deposition of Arthur’s knights, Merlin’s oral dic¬
Valenciennes, and, in the fourteenth century,
tation to Blaise, Christ’s instructive and creative
the Histoire de Saint Louis by Joinville. But obvi¬
word, while never mentioning Chretien de
ously fictive tales of Arthurian knights that were
Troyes or Geoffrey of Monmouth? Of course,
probably delivered orally to a listening public
the invocation of false authors and fake textual
had previously appeared only in verse. As prose
genealogies was common practice in medieval
became an acceptable means of telling stories of
text production generally. Geoffrey of
love and adventure in the early thirteenth cen¬
Monmouth himself claims, in the Historia Regum
tury, the polarity between orally delivered ver¬
Britanniae, to be translating a Breton text given
nacular tales and more erudite writings in Latin
to him by one Walter, archdeacon of Oxford.
began to collapse. The scope of the courtly nar¬
Layamon purports to have derived his Brut from
rative became simultaneously more historical
an unattested text by Augustine and Albin.
and more religious, as the Vulgate Cycle readily
Much later, Chaucer cites as his source for
attests. The newly cast prose romances began to
Troilus and Criseyde a Latin author Lollius instead
incorporate within their narrative structure fre¬
of crediting Boccaccio. And Malory typically
quent claims to authenticity and veracity de¬
refers to his “French book” at those moments
signed, it would seem, to obscure their fictive
origins.
49Claude Roussel, “L’ art de la suite: Sagremor et
l’intertexte," Annates, economies, societes, civilisations 41
The closing lines of the Mort Artu present
(1986) : 27-42. Walter Map as the author of an accurate and
50Kate Cooper, “Merlin Romancier: Paternity, truthful written document: “And now Walter
Prophecy and Poetics in the Huth Merlin,” Romanic Review Map has no more to say about the Story of
77 (1986): 1-24. Lancelot, because he has brought it to an end
Introduction XXIX

and told everything that happened; his book semble as closely as possible those feats of hero¬
ends here, and anything else that might be ism already undertaken, told aloud and written
added would be a lie.”51 down at Arthur’s court. The source of their oral
This assertion combined with the allusion to narrative could not be more literary. For Walter
Walter Map’s task as author/translator of the Map, the privileged intertext is found in the writ¬
Queste discussed above reflects a mode of ten record of chivalric deeds housed in the
composition that mimics the writing of chroni¬ archive at Salisbury, an invented record deriving
cle. Purporting to offer a truthful, authoritative ostensibly from those same oral accounts that
record of past events, the system outlined in the draw in turn on the Arthurian adventure story.
Queste and Mart Artu moves from an eyewitness Blaise composes his text from the dictation of a
oral account of what are posited as actual fictive character Merlin, and Robert de Boron
events—the adventures of Arthur’s knights—to a draws on a “Livres dou Graal” that cannot be
recording of those events in writing, and a sub¬ traced to any verifiable source. The Estoire's au¬
sequent retrieval and translation of the archival thor rewrites a story that has been written previ¬
document. The Estoire evokes a different avenue ously by Christ; we read a secularized, chivalric
to establishing a truthful narrative: by capturing version of a tale transformed. In all cases, the
words from the mouth of the divine Creator, set¬ supposed copy of an original source proves to be
ting them down in writing and producing exact an original text itself, a wholly literary text whose
copies that preserve their valued essence. The claims to greater authority both mask and reveal
veracity of the final text, here obviously a prod¬ its implicit project. What we hear in the Vulgate
uct of a nonsacred and vernacular tradition of Cycle’s claims to possessing the authority of
storytelling, is guaranteed by repeated allusion chronicle or the truth of Scripture is not an evo¬
to the tale being true, as true as Scripture, as ac¬ cation of actual sources, but a subtle appropria¬
curate as the apostles’ tales (2:388, 428, 439). tion into the literary sphere of the legitimacy
If these textual genealogies attest to an that those sources traditionally provide. While
overwhelming desire to legitimate the fanciful stating so emphatically that their narratives
Arthurian stories of knights and ladies by an¬ derive from historical and scriptural sources, the
choring them in the apparent accuracy of histor¬ Vulgate romances say at the same time: these are
ical chronicle or the acclaimed Truth of wholly literary texts, as accurate as history, as
Scripture, they reveal at the same time how ver¬ true as Scripture, as legitimate as any truth¬
nacular romance is incapable of both tasks. God telling narrative. But the truth told here is obvi¬
and King Arthur are equally removed from the ously of a different sort. It is a truth not of events
realia of thirteenth-century existence. It is as dif¬ or revelations, but a truth anchored solidly in
ficult to represent the transcendental signified the pleasurable, rhetorical use of words.52
in tales of adventure as to revive the historical Herein lies the answer to critical objections
past in Arthurian prose. What the Vulgate tales raised by Chapelain and Lot. For the insistent
offer as an alternative is the fictional creation of repetition of too many words that put Chapelain
both God and Arthur ex nihilo, a kind of repre¬ to sleep and offended the aesthetic sensibilities
sentation that does not depend on the meaning¬ of Ferdinand Lot lies at the very heart of the
ful Truth of Scripture or the truth of historical Vulgate’s project to validate the literary text over
document, but on fictional intertexts that are and above its more erudite predecessors.
more present and “real” than God or Arthur Repetition serves in many ways as the hallmark
could ever be. It is these intertexts that structure of the Vulgate romances: repetition of authorial
the cycle’s elaborate textual genealogies. voices, of stock motifs and thematic material, or
For Arthur’s knights, the antecedent story of whole segments of narrative lifted from the
that guides the creation of their tales lies in Queste and relocated in the Estoire. And that
those episodes previously recounted at King repetition draws attention to the specifically
Arthur’s court. They seek pointedly for adven¬ literary character of the Vulgate romances, un¬
tures that are “worth telling,” adventures that re¬ dermining their professed pretentions to more
lofty theological or historical expression.
51 La Mort le roi Artu, ed. Jean Frappier (Geneva: Droz,
1964), 263. 52Bums, Arthurian Fictions, chap. 1.
 -) A
XXX Introduction

In the Neoplatonic Christian tradition of the venture as it occurs. Does this mean that the
Middle Ages, repetition is conceived of primarily vernacular adventure story has successfully
in a vertical dimension; repetition of an event is escaped the limitations of earthly speech and
a further concretization of the abstract Idea or narrative fabrication, acceding to the status of a
Christian Ideal that precedes it.53 In transposing religious tract, as Albert Pauphilet thought?56 Or
repetition to a horizontal plane, the Vulgate should we more accurately read this narrative as
romances recast the process of theological a romance text whose Arthurian paternity has
representation into a literary system of inter- traditionally been denied by an overly
textual rewriting and narrative reprise. In Christianized interpretation?57 When we look
Augustinian terms, this would constitute an overt closely at exactly what is altered by the hermits’
and extreme case of textual idolatry, since pref¬ presence in the Queste, we can see how this most
erence is given clearly to the letter not the spirit, religious of the Vulgate narratives joins its com¬
to the proliferation of words at the expense of panion tales in cultivating the horizontal repeti¬
the Word of God.54 The Vulgate Cycle cultivates, tion of rewriting rather than offering a vertical
above all else, the seductive verbal trap that the representation of transcendent meaning.
Church Fathers warned against. Augustine’s Although the hermits are asked typically to pro¬
denunciation of literature as fables, falsehoods, vide the verite or truth of a preceding adventure
and lies that delight men instead of leading or to relate the senejiance or meaning of chivalric
them beyond the text to the Word, may have exploits, they most often simply recast the initial
been taken to heart by believers like St. Peter event in another narrative register, evoking a
Damian, who during the eleventh century took parallel tale from the Biblical or chivalric past.
Christ as his “literature.”55 But the medieval lay Rather than providing interpretive glosses in ab¬
audience was apparently harder to convince. stract language, the hermits’ pronouncements
Thirteenth-century clerical pronouncements tend to disperse the core of the adventure story
deplore the falsehoods and lies written about into a series of intertexts, which, like the plural
Perceval and the Holy Grail, lamenting those authorial voices in the Estoire and the Merlin, re¬
who have abandoned religious truth in sult in an anomalous combination of prolifera¬
preference for stories about Lancelot and the tion and repetition.58
secularized holy relic. If the Grail material is the Meaning in the Queste is not first hidden and
most religious component of the Vulgate corpus, then revealed, but rather it is systematically
it appeared as most irreligious to medieval displaced from one textual segment to the
Church authorities. next.59 In recasting tales from Scripture into the
vernacular and placing them squarely within the
world of Arthurian adventure, the hermits’ re¬
LA QUESTE DEL SAINT GRAAL marks subtly collapse the crucial distinction be¬
tween sacred and secular narrative, legitimizing
Of all the Vulgate romances, the Queste del Saint
the vernacular enterprise under the guise of al-
Graal goes the farthest in attempting to mask the
literariness of vernacular romance by imposing
56A. Pauphilet, Etudes sur la “Queste del Saint GraaT;
upon it a grid of religious interpretation. Within
Etienne Gilson, “La Mystique de la grace dans la Queste del
its narrative of chivalric exploits, the Queste, Saint Graal,” Romania 51 (1925): 321-347; Pauline
thoughtJb^ some to reflect the dogma and prac¬ Matarasso, The Redemption of Chivalry (Geneva: Droz, 1979).
tice of the Cistercian order, embeds a host of 57The latter case is argued persuasively by Emmanuele
resident hermits who explain each knightly ad- Baumgartner, L’Arbre ei le Pain: Essai sur “la Queste del Saint
Graar (Paris: SEDES, 1981), and Nancy Freeman Regalado,
“La Chevalerie celestielle: Spiritual Transformations of
53Peter Haidu, “Repetition: Modem Reflections on
Secular Romance in La Queste del Saint Graal,” Romance:
Medieval Aesthetics,” Modem Language Notes 92 (1977):
Generic Transformation from Chretien de Troyes to Cervantes, ed.
875-887.
Kevin Brownlee and Marina Scordilis Brownlee (Hanover,
54On Christian Doctrine, trans. D. W. Robertson
N.H.: University Press of New England, 1985), 91-113.
(Indianapolis: The Bobbs Merrill Co., 1958), Book One 4:4,
58Leupin, Le Graal et la Utterature, chap. 3.
Book Two 23:36, 25:39, Book Three 5:9, Book Four 4:31.
59Jean-Charles Huchet, "Les Deserts du roman
55Epistle 8, Patrologiae: Cursus Completus, Series Latina,
medieval: le personnage de Termite dans les romans des
ed. J.P. Migne, 144, 476.
12e et 13e siecles,” Litterature 60 (1985): 89-108.
Introduction xxxi

legory. If the hermit here poses as the official land. The finality of the words inscribed on
and final voice of Arthurian romance, the influ¬ Arthur’s tombstone are thus undermined by the
ence his Active presence exerts on the composi¬ enduring possibility that the legendary king may
tion of the vernacular tale is no more religious indeed return.61
than Walter Map’s participation in that same en¬ This miraculous gesture implies that the
terprise is historical. story is not yet over and that the romance tradi¬
tion has not yet died. The very moment of liter¬
ary closure is here cast in a mode of open-end¬
la mort artu edness that puts the status of inscription in
doubt. We see elsewhere in the Mort Artu how
The most chronicle-like of the Vulgate narratives
Arthur’s court writes its history on the tomb¬
is perhaps the Mart Artu, which exhibits less of
stones of knights that lie in cemeteries, the in¬
the repetition so common in the other Vulgate
scriptions appearing to stand as a durable testa¬
tales.60 But the Mort Artu effects a narrative
ment to events that took place. But it is revealed
sleight of hand analogous to that of the Queste,
in certain cases that these funerary inscripdons
allowing in the end for the most fundamental
are not wholly accurate.62 And as their status is
narrative repetidon of all. Evoking the finality of
called into question, so too the status of that
historical events and the chronicles that record
other inscription—the writing down of
them as a model of narradve composition, this
Arthurian adventure from the knights’ oral de¬
last volume of the Vulgate Cycle announces at
position—loses even more of its potential au¬
the same time how, despite these pretensions, its
thoritative force. When read against the tenuous
own narrative remains essentially ahistorical.
finality of Arthur’s tombstone, the Mort Artu's
Offering a chilling and brutal finale to the seem¬
claim to truthful finality sounds a hollow note. If
ingly interminable tales of adventure that pre¬
the text’s bold contention that Walter Map here
cede it, the Mort Artu lays out an inexorable
provides a complete and accurate record of ev¬
chain of cause and consequence in which the
erything that actually happened to King Arthur’s
continued love affair between Lancelot and
knights lends an air of historical veracity to the
Guenevere rekindles a clan vendetta between
Vulgate tales, it exposes at the same time the fal¬
Arthur’s family and Lancelot’s that eventually
libility of Arthurian claims to historical accuracy.
draws the king away from his kingdom and
Recent studies of the Vulgate Cycle have
makes his bastard son Mordred’s treason possi¬
made two things especially clear. They explain, if
ble. A final battle on Salisbury Plain, where King
without meaning to do so, the compulsion of so
Arthur and Mordred kill each other, brings the
many earlier scholars to discern systems of co¬
cycle to a definitive close. As the Arthurian fam¬
herence in the Vulgate corpus. They demon¬
ily line dies out, romance adventures come to an
strate, in an unexpected way, how early argu¬
abrupt end. With the seeming precision of his¬
ments for narrative unity or authorial control
torical documentation, this tale records the end
were not conditioned by the critical predilec¬
of an era. Or so it seems.
tions of their practitioners alone. Current work
When King Arthur dies, his grave is marked
has amply revealed how the Vulgate corpus is¬
by a tombstone proclaiming his might and fame:
sues a host of false clues to the unsuspecting
“Here Lies King Arthur Who by His Valor
reader. Mention of named authors, allusion to
Conquered Twelve Kingdoms” (La Mort Artu,
authoritative textual paternity, a concerted em¬
251). Prior to assuming this final resting place,
phasis on the genealogy of characters, claims to
however, Arthur is seen striding gallantly aboard
possess the historical veracity of an eyewitness
a fairy ship, his horse and armor in tow, as if to
account, alignment with authoritative Biblical
continue his chivalric deeds forever in another
predecessors, and invocation of meaningful

60For a detailed analysis of the compositional processes

61Leupin, Le Graalet la litterature, chap. 6.
at work in this text, see Jean Rychner, L’articulation des
62Helen Solterer, ‘“Conter le terme de cest brief:
phrases narratives dans “La Mort le roi Artu” (Geneva: Droz,
l’inscription dans La Mort le roi Artu,” Actes du 14e congres
1970). On the “linear perspective “ of the Mort Artu, see
international arthurien (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de
Norris J. Lacy, “Spatial Form in the Mort Artu,” Symposium
Rennes, 1984), 558-568.
31,4 (1977): 341,343.
XXXll Introduction

prophecy all lend an air of accuracy and believ- and textual unity has so often marginalized or
ability to these otherwise obviously ficdve tales. effaced.
But these leads, often embraced unques-
tioningly by scholars who find in them comfort¬
able echoes of their own critical predilections,
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
do not reflect the whole narrative picture.
For further explanation of texts and authors
Indications of authorship and authoritative ori¬
cited in this essay, see The New Arthurian
gins are countered at every turn in the complex
Encyclopedia, ed. Norris J. Lacy et al. (New York:
and richly varied prose texts by narrative strate¬
Garland Publishing, 1991). More detailed bibli¬
gies that undermine and question the very pos¬
ography can be found in the Bulletin bibli-
sibility that narrative coherence and authorial
ographique de la Societe Internationale Arthurienne.
mastery might prevail in a literary text. On the
strictly material level, elaborate narrative repeti¬
tion, interruption, and fragmentation Editions
undermine the wholeness of purported textual
genealogies, or characters’ established paternity. Bogdanow, Fanni, ed. La Folie Lancelot: A Hitherto
These ruptures lead to larger but related Unidentified Portion of the Suite du Merlin Contained
questions that the Vulgate narratives invite us to in MSS B.N. fir. 112 and 12599. Beihefte zur
pursue. What does it mean when obviously Ac¬ Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie. Tubingen:
tive tales call their fabrication true? When they Max Niemeyer, 1965.
create false signatures, sources, and origins for Frappier, Jean, ed. La Mort le roi Artu: roman du XHIe
themselves? Or claim to possess the historical stecle. Geneva: Droz, 1964.
truth of chronicle or the sacred truth of Hucher, Eugene, ed. Le Saint Graal. Vols. 1-3. Le
Scripture? How does the function of authorship Mans: E. Monnoyer, 1875.
change along with the passage from verse to Kennedy, Elspeth. Lancelot do Lac: The Non-Cyclic Old
prose at the turn of the thirteenth century? French Prose Romance, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon
What happens when secular romance poses as Press, 1980.
allegory (as it does in the Queste)? Or as chroni¬
Magne, Augusto, ed. A Demanda do Santo Graal 3 vols.
cle, as in the Mort Artu? And what becomes of Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional, 1944.
courtly love that provided the mainstay of
Micha, Alexandre, ed. Lancelot: roman en prose du XHIe
twelfth-century romance? These are some areas
siecle. Vols. 1-8. Geneva: Droz, 1978-82.
of inquiry that the Vulgate Cycle explores, not in
a predictable way that could be charted on a -. Merlin: roman du XHIe siecle. Geneva: Droz,
1979.
definitive map but by wandering across the un¬
even and evocative terrain of Arthurian ro¬ Paris, Gaston, and Jacob Ulrich. Merlin: roman en prose
mance. du XHIe siecle. Paris: Societe des Anciens Textes
In their narrative wandering, the thirteenth- Franfais, 1886.
century prose tales of love and adventure remind Pauphilet, Albert, ed. La Queste del Saint Graal Paris:
us that when analyzing them we need not look Champion, 1921.
for a reassuring map to guide our literary Ponceau, Jean-Paul, ed. L’Estoire del Saint Graal
voyage. And that in taking this trip we need not Doctoral thesis (Paris IV-Sorbonne), 1989, vol. I.
choose necessarily between unity and disunity, Sommer, H. Oskar, ed. Die Abenteuer Gawains, Ywains
coherence and incoherence, between the inge¬ und le Morholts mil den drei Jungfrauen, . . . nach der
nious author’s masterpiece and the barbarian’s allein bekannten HS Nr. 112 der Pariser National
literary dungheap. These excessively polarized Bibliothek herausgegeben. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur
options are perforce limiting and exclusionary Romanische Philologie, 47. Halle: Max Niemeyer,
in their own way. Possessing all the apparent 1913.
fullness of a Mercator map, they necessarily dis¬ -, ed. The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian
tort the world they represent. But that very dis¬ Romances. Vols. 1—7. Washington, D.C.: The
tortion can lead us to ask more productive ques¬ Carnegie Institute, 1908-16.
tions, in particular questions about those sectors
of the literary terrain that the quest for authority
Introduction xxx m

English Translations Bums, E. Jane. Arthurian Fictions: Rereading the Vulgate

Cycle. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University
Cable, James, trans. The Death of King Arthur. Press, 1985.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971. Frappier, Jean. Etude sur La Mort le roi Artu. Geneva:
Carman, J. Neale, trans. From Camelot to Joyous Guard: Droz, 1961.
The Old French “La Mart le roi Artu. ”Ed. with intro, Kennedy, Elspeth. Lancelot and the Grail: A Study of the
by Norris J. Lacy. Lawrence: University Press of Prose Lancelot. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.
Kansas, 1974.
2 vols. Ed. Norris J.
The Legacy of Chretien de Troyes,
Corley, Corin. Lancelot of the Lake, with an intro¬ Lacy, Douglas Kelly, Keith Busby. Amsterdam:
duction by Elspeth Kennedy. Oxford: Oxford Rodopi, 1987, 1988.
University Press, 1989.
Leupin, Alexandre. Le Graal et la litterature. Lausanne:
Matarasso, Pauline, trans. The Quest of the Holy Grail L’Age d'Homme, 1982.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.
Lot, Ferdinand, Etude sur le Lancelot en prose. Paris,
Paton, Lucy Allen, trans. Sir Lancelot of the Lake: A 1918; rpL Paris: Champion, 1954.
French Prose Romance of the Thirteenth Century. New
Micha, Alexandre. Essais sur le cycle du Lancelot-Graal
York: Harcourt, Brace, 1929.
Geneva: Droz, 1987.
-. Etude sur le Merlin de Robert de Boron. Geneva:
Critical Works Droz, 1980.
Pauphilet, Albert. Etude sur la Queste del Saint Graal
Approches du Lancelot en prose. Ed. Jean Dufournet. Paris: Champion, 1921.
Paris: Champion, 1984.
Szkilnik, Michelle. LArchipel du Graal. Etude de lEstoire
del Saint Graal Geneva: Droz, 1991.
'

'
The History of the Holy Grail

translated by Carol J. Chase

 The History of the Holy Grail

1. Prologue.1 Seven hundred seventeen years after the Passion of

Jesus Christ it happened that I, the most sinful of all
The one who, by order of the Great Master, is setting2 in sinners, was lying in a small hut, at the [6] hour called the
writing the high and noble story of the Grail first sends vigil of the night. The place where I was lying, as God
greetings to all those men and women [II: 2]3 who believe knows (who knows all thoughts), was far away and remote.
in the glorious Holy Trinity, that is, the Father and the Son And I can say this much: it was in a wilder place than there
and the Holy Spirit—the Father, who creates [3] and gives is in all of fair Britain.8 Nevertheless, it was very delightful
life to all things; the Son, who [4] delivers all those who and pleasant, for when Our Lord wants to work His way in
believe in Him from perpetual pain and brings them to the one of His Christians, He has soon prepared him so that all
high joy without end; the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and the things the world despises please him, and all those the
purifies good things. world prizes annoy him. That night, I was lying down as you
The name of the writer of this story is not divulged at have heard—it was the night between Maundy Thursday
the beginning. However, the words that will be said herein and Good Friday—and may it please Our Lord, I had done
will permit you to know a great deal about his name,4 his the matins9 service called Tenebrae.10 And then there came
life, and his ancestry. But he does not wish to reveal his over me a great desire to sleep, so I began to doze in my
name at the beginning, for three reasons. First, if he gave bed where I lay.
his name and said that through him God had revealed such Hardly had I begun to doze when I heard a voice that
a noble and lofty story as that of the Grail, the foundation called me three times by name and said, “Wake up and
of all stories, the treacherous and envious might interpret it listen: three things are the same as one, and one is the same
as boastfulness. The second reason is that someone who as three;11 [7] one can do as much as the three, and they
knows him might hear his name, and thus might prize the are naturally none other than one.” At these words I awoke
story less, because it had been written down by such a and looked around me and saw such brightness that
humble person—for he holds himself to be the most nothing so great could issue from any earthly light. After
humble and despised person ever created. The third reason that I saw a man standing in front of me, so handsome and
charming that his beauty could not be described by any
is that if there were anything improper in the story,
through either the omissions or the [5] naivete of writers mortal man’s tongue. And when I saw him, I was so awed
that I did not know what on earth to say or do.
who later transmit it from one place to another, all the
He looked at me and said, “Did you understand
blame would be placed on him. For there are now in our
times more mouths that recount evil than good,5 and a anything at all of the words I spoke to you?”
man6 is blamed more for doing a single bad deed than he is Trembling, I answered him, “My Lord, I am not at all
certain.”
praised for one hundred good ones. For these three
He spoke again. “I have brought knowledge about the
reasons he does not wish his name to be completely
Trinity.” He said this12 because I had been in doubt about
revealed, even though no matter how much he may wish to
how the Trinity could have three persons and yet only one
cover it up and hide it, it will be better known7 than he
deity and only one power. Nor had my faith ever allowed of
would like. However, he will clearly reveal how the high
doubts on any other point but this. Then He said to me,
history of the Holy Grail was confided to him and when,
“Do you know who I am yet?”
and who gave it to him.

8The adjective “fair” was chosen to approximate “bloie,” an

1 Corresponds to Hucher II: 1-39; Sommer I: 1-12; Ponceau
adjective used here and elsewhere to qualify Britain.
§1-15. Because Ponceau’s edition is presently unpublished,
paragraph numbers are cited instead of page numbers. 9Times of day in the Middle Ages were based on the
canonical hours laid out in the rule of St. Benedict. Since these
2Verb corrected to singular, as in Ponceau.
hours were regulated by the sun, the exact time varied according
3Henceforth, all page numbers refer to Hucher, volume II, to locality and season, but the following approximations can be
until the point in Chapter 24 where volume III begins, where the given: prime, or first hour, was at sunrise; tierce fell at mid¬
same system will be used for that volume. morning (about 9:00 A.M.); sext, at midday; nones, at mid¬
4“His name” supplied from Hucher variants and Ponceau. afternoon (about 3:00 P.M.); vespers, at sunset; complin was at
Here and in following notes, “Hucher variants” are those reported about 9:00 P.M.; matins, at midnight; and lauds, at about 3:00 A.M.
at the bottom of the relevant page of Hucher’s edition. lf>The office of matins and lauds sung on the last three days
5Apparent lacuna in text; "than good” supplied from Hucher of Holy Week.
variants and Ponceau. 11 “Are the same . . . three” supplied from Hucher variants
6"A man” supplied from Ponceau. and Ponceau.
7“Known” supplied from Ponceau. 12“About the Trinity.... this” supplied from Ponceau.

3
4 The History of the Holy Grail

And I replied, “My Lord, my eyes are mortal and thus no mortal man, no matter how distressed, if he can see* 1'
do not have the power to look direcdy at the Light of all inside sincerely, as he should, whose heart will not be
Lights, nor does my mouth have the strength to say what delivered at that moment of all anguish and filled with all
would confound all sinning tongues.” the joys a mortal heart can have, so pleasant and delightful
He leaned down toward me and blew upon my face, are the words within; this is the joy of the body. And on the
and then it seemed to me [8] that my eyes were one other hand, his soul will be gradually illuminated by
hundred times clearer than ever before, and I felt in my spiritual love, so that if he desires earthly things, it will be to
mouth a great marvel of tongues. And He said to me, “Do put them to work [11] for his Creator; nor will anyone who
you know who I am yet?” has held and seen this little book one time die a sudden
When I opened my mouth to answer, I saw a fiery death, no matter what sin he has committed in this life.
brand leap from my body, just like burning flames. I was so This is the joy of the soul.”18
terribly afraid when I saw it that I could not say a word. And When He had said this, a voice cried out like a
when He saw my fright, He said, “Be not afraid, for the trumpet; then came such a loud noise from on high that it
fountain of all certainty is here before you, and be assured seemed to me that all the firmament had fallen and that
that I have come here to teach you the truth about the earth had plunged into an abyss; and if the light had
everything you question, for I hold the true teachings been very bright before, it was one hundred times brighter
concerning13 all doubts. I am He through whom all good then, for I was so overcome by it that I thought I had lost
knowledge is learned, for I am the Great Master through my sight. And so I fell to the ground as if in a faint. After
whom all earthly masters know all the good they have quite some time, I regained my senses and opened my eyes,
learned; yet masters are they not, for none can be master but I saw nothing living around me, nor did I know what to
except Him who has all knowledge. I am the Master to think about what I had seen; rather I would have
whom Nicodemus said, ‘Master, we know drat you came considered it all to be a dream, had I not found the little
from God.’14 I am He about whom the Scripture said, ‘All book in my hand, just as the Great Master had given it to
knowledge comes from God Our Lord and is with Him and me.
always has been since before the beginning of time.’15 [9] I arose at once, very happy and joyful, and, holding
Because I am the perfect Teacher, He who is the fountain [12] all the while the little book with both hands, I fell into
of all knowledge, I have come to you, for I want to teach prayers, until God brought the day, which I had been
you about all the things that puzzle you; thus I will make longing for. When it was light enough for me to make out
you certain and wise about something about which no the letters, I began to read. At the beginning I found a tide
mortal man was ever certain, and through16 you, it will be that said: “This is the beginning of your lineage." When I
plain and clear to all those who ever hear it told.” saw this, I was very happy, for there was nothing on earth I
At these words He took me by the right hand and put desired so much as hearing about my lineage. After I had
in it a small book no longer or wider than the palm of a looked at it so long that the hour of prime had passed, it
man’s hand. As I held the book, He said to me, “Do you seemed to me that I had read nothing, since so much
want to know what I have given you?” I replied that I would remained to be read. For I saw there so many words that I
very much like to know, and He said, ‘This is the book in was completely baffled how they could be amassed in such a
which you will find greater marvels than any mortal heart litde book, since it seemed to be no larger than the palm of
could conceive. Nor will you ever have any doubts that will a man’s hand. I marveled so much that I myself would have
not be set straight by this book. Inside are My secrets, which doubted even as I looked at it, if it had not been given to
I Myself put there with My own hand, that no man might me by the One who can put a great many words in a small
see if he be not purged beforehand by confession and by place, and who can fill a large place with very litde. Thus I
three days of fasting with bread and water; and after that he looked at the book until about the hour of fierce, fill I had
must speak in such a way that he speaks the language vof the learned a great part of my lineage. [13]
heart and not that of the mouth. For these secrets cannot There I saw the names and lives of so many valorous
be named by any mortal tongue, lest [10] all the four men that I hardly dare say or acknowledge that I am
elements be disturbed: it will rain blood, and there will be descended from them. For when I saw their good lives and
other marvels; the air will be troubled, the earth will shake the great travails that they had suffered on earth for their
visibly, and water will change its color. All this will happen Creator, I could not imagine how I could better my life in
by the power of the words that are written in this book. order that it be worthy of being remembered19 with theirs.
“And there is more: any man who looks often inside Nor did it seem that I was a man compared with them, but
this litde book, as one should, will win the two greatest joys a mere imitation of a man and a disgrace. I dwelled on
that exist: joy of the soul and joy of the body. For there is these thoughts for a long time, but returned finally to the
book and read to the end of my lineage. Then I found a
1^ tide that said: “The book of the Holy Grail begins here.”
Tor I hold . .. concerning” supplied from Hucher variants
and Ponceau.
14SeeJohn III, 2. 17
''“See,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
15See the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus, I, 1. Reference given by “enter”).
I Q
Ponceau. This is the joy of the soul” supplied from Hucher variants
16<Through,” as in Hucher variants and Sommer (Hucher has and Ponceau.
“pour,” “for your sake’?). 19“Remembered,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau
(Hucher has “maintained”).
The History of the Holy Grail 5

When I had read until past noon and it was probably the Thus it ceased. I began to think intently about the
hour of nones, I found another that said: “This is the marvel I had heard for so long. And then came a voice from
beginning of the fears.” [14] I began to read what came on high that said to me, “Stop thinking, get up, and go
after this, seeing things that were terribly fearsome and return to God what you owe Him, for it is certainly time.” At
frightful, and God knows I saw them with great fear, nor these words I got up, looked around me, and saw that it was
would I ever have dared to continue if He by whose already past the hour of nones. Seeing this, I marveled at
commandment all living things are moved had not directed how quickly the day had gone by, for I thought it was still
me to do so. After having seen a number of marvelous matins, so much had the reading of the litde book pleased
things, I found the fourth title, which said: “This is the me. Upon arising, I put it in such a place that it was always
beginning of the marvels.” And then I began to think very before my eyes. After that I sang my hours, the way they are
hard. to be said on that day. And when I had said them, [18] I
As I was thinking, a ray like burning fire descended began the sweet and pious service of the death of Jesus
from the sky and came before my eyes, as loud as thunder. Christ, for on this day did He truly die. Because of this, His
It seemed very much like a flash of lightning, except that body is not symbolically sacrificed on this day, for when the
the light lasted longer and was brighter and more truth comes forward, its figuration must be set aside. On all
fearsome. And it descended before me so suddenly that my the other days, the Sacrament is celebrated as a sign that
eyes flashed in my head, and it seemed to me that my brain He was sacrificed for us, but on the day that He was truly
was stunned, so that I fell to the ground in a dead faint. But crucified—this day, Good Friday—it is not, for there is no
the daze did not last very long; as it pleased Our Lord, it sign, since the day has come when He was truly crucified.
passed, and then I lifted my head, opened my eyes, and saw When, with God’s help, I had finished the service up to
that all the [15] firmament was turning dark20 and that the the point where the priest performs the three parts of the
sun was losing all its brightness, so that it was as dark as a Sacrament, and I was about to receive my Savior,22 an angel
deep winter night. And when this darkness had lasted long came before me, took me by both hands, and said, “These
enough for someone to go one hundred steps, it pleased three parts are forbidden to you, until I have shown you
God to end it clearly why you have used only one substance and assured
Then it began to grow bright, litde by litde, so that the you about all these things.” At these words, I was raised on
sun returned in its former brightness. And now in the place high, not in body but in spirit, and I was carried to one of
where I was, there descended a scent so sweet and pleasing the most delightful places that man has ever seen, to my
that if all the spices in the world were compared with it, I knowledge, for no matter how much joy any heart could
do not think they would render the thousandth part of its think of, or any tongue could speak of, or any ear could
sweetness or pleasing perfume. Then I heard around me hear of, [19] one hundred thousand times as much would
such a sweet song of praise that all the instruments and all be found there. And if I said that this was in the third
the melodies one could hear on earth would be nothing heaven, where Saint Paul was carried by the Holy Spirit,
compared with it, for there were so many voices that I do perhaps I would be telling the truth; but it would soon be
not think anything [16] mortal could ever count the considered boastfulness and lies. Yet I will say this much:
number. And it seemed to be so near that if these were there I was shown what Saint Paul says no tongue of mortal
visible things, I could have touched them with my hand; but man should reveal. After I had looked at the marvels for a
no matter how much I looked, I could not see even one of long time, which were more numerous than any mouth
all those who were singing. I was able to hear that their could say, the angel called me and said, “Have you ever
song praised Our Lord and that it always ended with: “May seen such great marvels?”23 I replied that I never thought
honor, glory, power, and force forever be with the anything so great could exist, and the angel told me he
destroyers of death and the restorers21 of eternal life.” I would show me a greater thing yet.
understood this refrain of praise, but I could not Then he took me and led me to another level, which
understand the rest of the song. But above all, it was sweet was a hundred times clearer than glass and so preciously
and pleasing to hear. After they had thus sung, there rang colored that no man could describe with certainty the
out on high a great marvel of I know not what instruments color, so artful and astonishing it was. There he showed me
resembling small bells, and when they ceased ringing the the power of the Trinity, for [20] I saw the division of the
voices started again. Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit so that I could
They sang this way seven times, and when it came to distinguish one person from another; and I saw clearly how
the eighth time they broke off their song so suddenly that it these three persons belong to one substance and one deity
appeared that they [17] had fallen into an abyss. Then it and one power. Nevertheless, if I said that I saw the three
seemed to me that the wings of all the birds in the air flew persons divided one from the other, may neither the
past me. Once the song had stopped, so did the wonderful envious nor the traitorous reproach me, they who serve
fragrance I had smelled for a long time, which had pleased only to accuse and blame others. Nor may they say to me
me so much that I would never have sought to be otherwise that I have spoken against the authority of Saint John the
than I was, as long as it pleased Our Lord. great Evangelist, for he said that no man ever saw the

20‘Turning dark,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau 22This seems to contradict the preceding paragraph.
(Hucher has “vercissoit,” “turning green”?). 23“Which were more numerous . . . marvels” supplied from
21“Restorers,” as in Hucher variants, Sommer, and Ponceau Hucher variants and Ponceau.
(Hucher has “destroyers”).
6 The History of the Holy Grail

Father or can see Him,24 and I agree with him. All those how to contain myself, and I fully believed that I would
who have heard this do not know that when he spoke, he never be happy again. So I began to think how it could have
meant mortal men, for as long as the soul is in the body, been taken from this place, for I had found27 it closed the
man is mortal.^5 And it is only the flesh that dies, but once way I had left it, and I had taken the key. [24]
man has shed his body, then he is spiritual, and once he is While I was thinking about this, I heard a voice say to
spiritual, [21] he can certainly see spiritual things. me, ‘Why are you so astonished, and what do you fear? Do
Therefore, you can admit that Saint John meant that no not marvel if the book has been removed without the chest
mortal man can see the majesty of the Father. having been opened. In such a way did Jesus Christ leave
While I was intent on these great marvels and curious the sepulcher without moving the stone. But be comforted,
to see them, something rang out just like a crack of and go eat, for before you see the book, you must undergo
thunder, and it seemed to me that all the firmament shook. great difficulties.” When I heard this, I considered myself
At once so many celestial beings came that the number was well rewarded.
countless. As I looked, all of them fell backwards around Then I went to eat; after that, I returned to the chapel
the Majesty, as if they had all fallen in a faint. When I saw and prayed to Our Lord, in His sweet pity, to guide me
this, I was terribly afraid, and the angel took me and led me toward what I desired so much. At once a voice came again
back whence he had taken me. But before he put my spirit that said to me, “The Great Master sends you this message:
in my body, he asked, “Have you seen great marvels?” I said after you have celebrated Mass in the morning, you will
they were so great that if anyone were permitted to recount have breakfast, and then you will depart on a task, going
them to people on earth, no man, no matter how saindy or where I tell you. When you have left here, you will enter a
close to God, would be believed. Above all, no mortal heart path leading to the main road; this will take you to the
could have the courage or the strength to maintain it, nor Stone of the Capture. There you will take a path28 to the
tongue to tell it. And he said to me, “Are you certain yet right leading to the Crossing of the Seven Roads, in [25]
about the things you questioned so much?” I answered that the plain of Post Valley. When you come to the Fountain of
there was no man on earth so disbelieving that, if he wished Tears, where the great killing happened long ago, you will
to listen to me with good will, I could not make him find an animal such as you have never seen. Take care that
understand the points of the Trinity, because I had seen you follow it where it leads you. And when you have lost it,
and learned them. you will enter the land of Norwegia.29 There you will finish
Then he said to me, “Now [22] I will put you whence I your quest, and then you will learn for what task the Great
took you, and then you will receive your Savior more Master sends you there, because before then you will not
certainly than you did before, for you should not receive a know.” Thereupon, the voice stopped speaking.
guest you do not know. And if you have seen great marvels, The next morning I arose very early, and after singing
you will find some in this little book that you will not hold Mass, I breakfasted. When I went outside, I made the sign
to be any less marvelous; but you will not look at it again of the cross on myself and my lodging. Then I traveled
before you have celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ along the way just as the voice had described it; after
your Savior.” Thereupon, he put my spirit back in my body, passing the stone, I continued until I came to a valley called
and I felt just like someone who has slept and who awakens; the Valley of the Dead. I know this valley well, for long ago I
and I thought I would see the angel, but he had gone. I had seen a duel there between the two best knights in the
looked and saw my Savior—the Eucharist—before me as it world. After leaving the valley, I went a good half league, till
was when the angel carried me away; I took it, received it, I came upon the crossroads. I looked before me and saw a
and took communion with good will and great devotion. cross above the edge of a fountain; below this cross lay the
When the service was over, I took the litde book and animal the voice had spoken to me about. As soon as it saw
placed it in a small chest where the box containing the host me, it got up, began to look at me, and I at it. But the
was kept. After that I locked the chest tighdy with a key, as I longer I looked at it, the less I knew what kind of animal it
wanted26 to protect it, and I knew no better place to put it, was. I would have you know that it was variegated in every
for it was a very beautiful and pure spot. When I left the way: it had the head and neck of a sheep, and these were as
chapel, I saw that it was already so late [23] that it was white as new snow; and it had the feet, legs, and thighs of a
getting dark; I entered my litde house and ate such food as dog, and all this was as black as coal; and it had the breast
Our Lord had given me. Thus I spent this day and the next, and body [26] and rump of a fox and the tail of a lion.
until the day of the Resurrecdon of the Savior came. And Thus it resembled various animals.
when it pleased Him that I perform the service of the day, After I had looked at it for a long time, and it at me, I
which is as holy as Our Savior, who sancdfied the day, I raised my hand and signaled that it should go before me;
entered with certainty and ran immediately to the book to and it went straight to the crossroads. There it set out
see the holy words, for they were so sweet and pleasant to direcdy on the first road it saw on the right; and I followed
hear that they made me forget all the hunger of the body. as quickly as I could, but I moved slowly, for age and
But when I opened the chest where I had put the book, I
did not find it. This made me so upset that I did not know
27“Found” supplied from Hucher variants and Ponceau.
28“A path leading .. . path” supplied from Hucher variants
24SeeJohn 1,18. and Ponceau.
25“For as long... mortal” supplied from Hucher variants and 29Norwegia was the territory in Scodand occupied by the
Ponceau. Vikings; that is, the western part of the country north of the Clyde
26Negadve omitted here, following Ponceau. and the islands.
The History of the Holy Grail 7

feebleness kept me back. When we had gone along until He also set out a cask full of barley beer and a litde lidded
the hour of vespers, the animal left the road and entered a goblet. I ate very willingly, for I was very hungry because the
very thick hazel-wood and advanced, with me following, journey had tired me out. After having eaten and drunk, I
until it began to get dark. And then we left the wood and gathered up the remains and told the young man that he
entered a very deep valley, filled by a very tall, thick forest. should thank his lady and that God would reward her.
Once I was at the bottom of the valley, I saw before me a Thereupon the young man left, and the animal and I
lodge. In front of the door was a very old man of religion, set out again. We went along all day, never leaving the wood
dressed in religious robes. And when I saw him, I was very until it began to get on toward vespers, when we arrived at
happy and thanked Our Lord for giving me company. As the crossroads where a wooden cross stood. There the
soon as he saw me, he took off his hood and fell at my feet. animal stopped, and I began to listen. I heard horses
He requested my blessing, and I beseeched him to arise, for coming at a great pace, then I saw a knight approaching on
I was a sinful man and thus could not give it. a palfrey, accompanied by two32 others. As soon as he saw
Why go on any longer? Despite my plea, he would not me in my religious robes, he jumped down from his horse,
get up until I had blessed him, which [27] troubled me, for as did the others,33 and said [30] that I was very welcome.
God knows I was not worthy of doing it. When he stood up, After I had returned the knight’s greetings, he took me by
he led me by the hand into his dwelling. After we had sung the hand and said he would take me to his house, where he
all our hours, we ate such food as God had given the holy offered hospitality; I wished that God would reward him.
man.30 Once we had supped, the good man asked me He immediately called his squire, and ordered him to lead
about my way of life. I answered the best I could, in such a away their horses and prepare the dwelling as beautifully as
way that, as God knows, he believed there was more good in possible. The squire departed, while the other one, who was
me than there was, for good men usually do not know how a knight and the son of a lord,34 remained with us.35 Thus
to believe anything but good of the people they see. all three of us rode along. I have never seen anyone more
He received me joyfully and companionably that night. greatly honored than I was by him and his fine retinue. But
Never in my life have I seen a man who seemed so worthy one thing went wrong for me: he recognized me because of
while showing it as little as possible. In the morning the a mark I had, and said he had seen me in the past and
good man asked me to celebrate Mass; afterwards, I took named the place. Nevertheless, no matter how much he
my leave, and he said he would accompany me. When we questioned me, I never admitted anything, and when he
were [28] outside the gate, I saw the animal that was saw that it displeased me to be asked, he let things be. But
guiding me. I had not seen it since the night before, when I that night he honored me and made me welcome in every
met the good man. Thus the good man accompanied me to possible way.
the road, and then we parted. He urged me to remember In the morning, I departed, bidding them all farewell.
him in my prayers and in my good deeds and prayed that And when I came out the door, I found the animal waiting.
God grant he remain in this religion31 until the end. We After the lord had accompanied me a bit, I asked him [31]
bestowed this favor on one another. Then we embraced to return home. He then bade me Godspeed and I, him.
and commended each other to God. We traveled through the forest, the beast and I, until it was
The animal and I wandered all morning long in the nearly the hour of tierce. Then we found a road leading out
forest, without ever encountering man or woman until it of the forest; we continued along on that road until I saw a
was certainly noon, and then we entered a very beautiful very beautiful church and a splendid lodging in a large
heath. In the middle of this heath there was a pine tree plain on a lake called the Queen’s Lake. At the church, I
called the Pine of Adventures; under it was a spring, the discovered a convent of nuns, very good ladies, who were
most beautiful any man might ever see, so I believe. It was singing the hour of tierce very well and very nobly. When
unlike any other spring I had ever heard of, for the gravel they found out that I was a priest, they asked me to
was red like blood and hot like fire, while the water was as celebrate Mass, which I did. After the service, the ladies
cold as ice; and three times a day it turned as green as an gave me breakfast; then they pressed me to stay until the
emerald and as bitter as the sea, the bitterness lasting as next day. Saying that this was not possible, I took my leave
long as the green. and departed.
When the animal came to the pine, it lay down under Thus I went along with the animal until we re-entered
it and made as if to rest. As I started to sit down, I saw a the forest. Once we had done so, we wandered the entire
young man on a horse coming across the heath at a trot, day without ever encountering any earthly being. When it
[29] straight toward me. When he arrived at the spring, he began to get on toward vespers, I looked beyond the road;
dismounted and pulled a napkin from inside his shirt, knelt on a stone I saw a folded letter. After taking it and
before me, and said, “My lord, my lady greets you, she who unfolding it, I found this written at the beginning: “The
was rescued by the Knight of the Golden Circle on the day Great Master sends you this message: tonight you will finish
that the person you know saw the great marvel; and she
sends you such food as she has to eat.” Then he opened the 32‘Two,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “many”).
napkin and pulled out eggs and a very white cake, still hot. 33“The others,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “one of the
others”).
30“After we had sung ... holy man” supplied from Hucher 34“The other one,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau
variants and Ponceau. (Hucher has “the others”); “who was a knight. . . lord” supplied
from Hucher variants and Ponceau.
31“Religion,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
“region”). 35“Us,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “me”).
8 The History of the Holy Grail

your quest.” I looked to see what the animal was doing, but be afraid, that I had come to help him. He said he would
I did not see it, for it had left. When I saw [32] this, I eat such food as he was accustomed to. I asked him what
looked at the letter and saw that it told me everything I had that was, and he swore that he had been a hermit for thirty-
to do. Then I continued along the road; after going a long four years and a half, and that nine years and three months
way, I found a well-beaten path that led to the right, amidst and a half had passed since he had eaten anything but grass
the most beautiful forest I think I had ever seen. I turned and fruit and roots; nor would he ever eat any other food as
this way, and after I had traveled a long way by this path, long as he lived, unless God sent it to him. [35]
the forest began to thin out. Thereupon I left him lying39 as weak as someone who
I looked and saw on a knoll, on a rock, a very beautiful had eaten no food since the enemy first began to work on
little chapel, a good half league away. As I began to him. I said my hours and then put on my robes and sang
approach, I heard a cry from there. It was so horrible that Mass. After it was sung, and I had returned to the good
one could not ask for anything more hideous or man, I found him sound asleep. Since I had neither eaten
frightening. But I never became afraid, for the letter had nor slept but little all night long, I sat down next to him on
prepared me well. When I came up to the chapel, I found a stool and began to doze. Then a vision came to me in
the door open; at the threshold a man lay in a faint, just as which I was at the foot of a knoll above a spring; an old
if he were dead. Upon seeing him, I ran toward him with man passed carrying in the pouch of his tunic apples and
great faith in God, who had taught me what to do. His eyes pears in abundance and poured them into my lap.
were turned in his head; thus I knew he had the devil in his At that moment I arose, went up the knoll, and found
body. I made the sign of the cross over his face. He sat up, just what I had seen in the vision. After putting the fruit in
[33] then began to speak marvels. I adjured the devil to my lap, the worthy man said to me, “Each day you will find
leave, in Jesus Christ’s name. He replied that36 it was your food here, set out by the Great Master.” When I
through Jesus Christ that he had entered, and only through returned, I found the brother awake. I gave him some of
Him would he leave, and I said He had sent me to throw the fruit, which he ate very willingly, like someone who had
him out. He responded that he did not yet see the opening fasted so long that he could not stand up for anything in
through which he could leave. I knew very well he was the world. I remained in his company until he was
telling the truth, so I entered the chapel. On the altar I completely [36] cured. Each day, we found our food set out
found the little book I was seeking. at the spring, the way the Holy Spirit gave it to us. And on
I knelt, took the book, and when I came out, I never the ninth day, which was the Thursday after Easter week,40 I
heard anything cry out as the enemy did, saying, “Do not departed. When I took leave of the good man, he began to
come closer, for you can see very well that I must come cry, saying he was very afraid now that I was leaving. Then
forth, nor is there anything on earth except this that could he recounted how it happened that the devil had worked
force me out.” But when he wished to issue forth by the on him and governed him in this way. It was because of a
mouth, he could not because of the sign of the cross I had sin that mortal flesh cannot resist committing; since
made. And he began to speak again, crying out, “If you donning the religious habit, he had sinned only this one
want me to come out, open up the way.”37 I asked him how, time. After he had confessed, he beseeched me to pray to
and he said that he would not come out as long as the book Our Lord, in His pity, to keep him from committing a sin
was so close. I replied that he would not leave through the that might cause His anger. And I said I would willingly
mouth; rather he would have to go through the bottom. pray to Jesus Christ.
When he heard that, he began to cry out so loudly that it Thereupon we embraced each other and took leave,
seemed to me he must be heard throughout the land. weeping and in great distress. If one can truly judge a man,
Immediately there arrived such a large company of devils I do not believe there could be more goodness in any man
that I did not believe there were so many in all the world. than I saw in him. Now consider how God is a cruel judge
When they saw [34] the words of the little book' I was and a generous [37] rewarder. For if someone who has
holding open, you never saw a whirlwind move away so always served Him ends his life with a misdeed, all his
quickly or hideously as they did. I approached the senseless service will be forfeited, and he will be judged for this
man and put the little book before his mouth, and right misdeed. And if someone who has always done wrong
away the devil came out from below and departed, making toward Him ends his life in His service, all the misdeeds will
such a great storm that it seemed to me he uprooted the be wiped out, and his services will be rewarded a hundred
entire wood where he passed. times. Thus he who served his Lord most of his life lost His
The man remained as if dead, and I took him in my love because of a misdeed done while serving Him, while he
arms and carried him, with God’s help, before the altar. who had always fled the Lord gained His love because of
There I watched over him38 all night long, until daybreak. one good work. It is certainly good to serve Him and bad to
When it was light, I went to him and asked if he would like anger Him.
to eat. He asked who I was, and I replied that he should not At that moment I took my leave. When the good man
escorted me to the gate, we saw the animal that had led me,
36‘To leave. . .. that” supplied from Hucher variants and and he asked me what this could be. I told him I had no
Ponceau.
4Q
37“Way,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has “Lying,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
“mouth”). “living").
38‘There all day and” omitted, as in Hucher variants and 40“After Easter week” supplied from Hucher variants and
Ponceau. Ponceau.
The History of the Holy Grail 9

other guide, and that it was sent by God. He said it was who sought the stubble remaining in the field after
good to serve such a Lord, who knew so well how to guide harvest,”5 that is to say, by His death He had redeemed [47]
people in His work. [38] During my entire journey I never only the thief, who was nothing compared to the other
met anyone else who could see the animal. I took leave of people, as the stubble is nothing compared to the other
the worthy man and returned the way I had come, arriving grain.
on Saturday evening at my dwelling. I did not leave the Nevertheless, there were already many who had begun
litde book behind but brought it with me, for I yearned too to believe, but they did not dare do it openly because they
much for the company of the holy words therein. After were afraid of the Jews.6 Of all the secret believers,7 the
placing it in the spot where I had first put it, I celebrated holy writing of the Grail speaks of a noble knight who lived
vespers and complin. Afterwards, I ate what pleased Our at that time, whose name was Joseph of Arimathea.
Lord, and then I went to bed, for I was extremely tired. Arimathea was a city in the land of Ramathaim, beyond the
That night a vision came to me: the Great Master came river Jordan, and the text says it belonged to Elcan,8 [48]
before me dressed in the same clothes as the first time and Samuel’s father. In this city Joseph was born, but he had
said, “On the first workday of the week that begins come to Jerusalem seven full years before Jesus Christ was
tomorrow, you are to begin copying the book I gave you crucified. He was very pious, gentle, and devout and had
elsewhere, in order to finish it before Ascension, for it will converted to Jesus Christ’s faith, but he did not dare show
no longer be seen on earth once the time comes that marks it, for the Jews would have killed him. Joseph possessed all
My ascent to heaven. You will find all the things you need to the good qualities that mortal man can, for he loved and
write in the cupboard behind your altar. Do not be afraid of feared God and was pious and gracious toward his fellow
the fact that you have never done such work, for no work men. He honored and revered those above him and was
can be badly done that is undertaken for Me.” [39] Then peaceable and amicable toward his relatives. He neither
He left. wronged nor harmed those beneath him and was full of
In the morning, after arising, I went to the cupboard to compassion for those who suffer. Such were his good
see if my vision was true, and found all the things a writer qualities. The first psalm of the Psalter speaks of him when
needs. Once Sunday had passed, and I had sung Mass on it says, “Happy is the man who does not agree with or follow
Monday, I took the little book and the parchment and the advice of the wicked and who does not wish to follow
began to write straightaway. It was the second Monday after the road sinners take.”9
Easter, and the writing began with the story of the This man Joseph was in Jerusalem with his wife and a
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as you will hear, and I will begin son named Josephus, not the one10 the [49] Scripture
in this way. relies upon so often as a witness, but another one who was
no less lettered. This Josephus brought his father’s lineage
across the sea to fair Britain, which is now called England,
crossing without oars or a tiller, and with no other sail than
2. Joseph of Arimathea Lays Christ’s Body in
the length of material in his under-tunic, as the story attests
a Sepulcher and Is Imprisoned.1
farther along.11
When the day came that Jesus was put on the cross,
On the day that the Savior of the world suffered death—
Joseph, who had placed all his love in Him, was very
which confounded our death and restored* 2 eternal life to
sorrowful. And he thought he would willingly glorify and
us—[46] there were still very few people who believed in
honor all the things that had belonged to Him, for the
Him: only the glorious Virgin, His sweet mother, and His text12 says that “no adversity can divide loyal love.”13 When
disciples, who at this time were called His brothers. And
Joseph saw on the cross the One whom he believed to be
though there were others who believed in Him, they were
the Son of God and the Savior of the world, he was neither
few, so that when the Scripture says He prayed,3 “Dear
Father, if it can be, let Me not undergo this Passion,”4 He
5Ponceau suggests that this may refer to the words of a
was distressed not so much about the body’s anguish as
prophet, as in Micah VI, 1 (note to §16,14).
about the fact that He saw His death had not yet redeemed
6“Because they were afraid of the Jews” supplied from
anyone, and that He had not won anyone over by His death
Ponceau.
other than the thief who asked for mercy on the cross.
7“Secret believers,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau
Because of this, the Scripture says, “I am just like the one (Hucher has “infidels”).
8“Elcan,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has “el
Corresponds to Hucher II: 45-77; Sommer I: 12-15; tans,” “in the time of’).
Ponceau §16-19. (Hucher II: 39-45 contains an addition from the 9See Psalm I, 1
prose Joseph d’Arimathie describing the Redemption, which appears
19“Not the one” supplied from Hucher variants and Ponceau.
in only three manuscripts.) Robert de Boron’s version in verse, Le
Roman de VEstoire dou Graal, ed. by William A. Nitze (Paris, 11See Chapter 30.
Champion, 1927), also begins with these events. Here another secdon from the prose Joseph is inserted in
2“Death and restored” supplied from Hucher variants and Hucher’s text; the secdon relates the events of the Crucifixion in a
much longer version than that found in most manuscripts. We
Ponceau.
therefore follow Ponceau’s version until the end of the
3"When” and “He prayed” supplied from Hucher variants and interpolation (§17-18, 34), which is found in Hucher II: 49-68.
Ponceau.
12Literally, the “letters.”
4See Matthew XXVI, 39 and 42; Mark XIV, 36; and Luke
13Perhaps a reference to Proverbs XVII, 17 (see Ponceau,
XXII, 42.
note to §17, 8).
10 The History of the Holy Grail

frightened nor led to lose his faith because of seeing Him place where so noble a thing lay as the body of the Son of
die, but waited for His holy Resurrection, believing in it God.
with certainty. And because he could not see Him alive, he But when the Jews saw that Joseph had taken down
thought he would do what he could to obtain some of the from the cross the One whom they had sentenced to death
things He had touched while He was alive. and damned, and that he had buried Him so nobly, they
So he went to the house where Jesus had held the Last were very angry and said that it was right that Joseph pay for
Supper, where He ate the Paschal lamb with His disciples. what he had done against God and their faith. So they
Upon arriving, Joseph asked to see the place where He had decided to seize him at night as soon as he had fallen
eaten. He was shown a room set up for dining, on the top asleep and take him to a place where he would never be
floor of the house. There Joseph found the dish14 from heard of again. All of them agreed upon this plan.
which the Son of God and two others had eaten, before He That night, once people were asleep, they set out, and
gave the twelve disciples His flesh and blood to take in one of them knocked on the door. When it was opened,
communion. Very pleased, Joseph took the dish to his they all entered at once and seized Joseph, who was sound
house and put it in an honored and beautiful place. asleep, and led him15 a good seven leagues away from
When Joseph learned that the Savior of the world was Jerusalem to [69] a stronghold belonging to the bishop
dead and that those who had found Him dead intended to Caiaphas. This house was in a big marsh, and it had a
break His thighs just as they did to other thieves, he did not hollow pillar16 which seemed to be solid.^ Inside this pillar
want to wait until the cruel and traitorous men who did not was the most hideous and filthy prison ever seen. Nor
believe in Him took Him down from the cross with their would any man ever have realized it was there, had he not
vile and filthy hands. So he went to Pilate, whose liege been told about it beforehand, so subdy crafted was it. After
knight he was, for he had been in his service for seven they had led Joseph out of Jerusalem, he was turned over to
whole years. When he came before Pilate, he beseeched two of them who had sworn that no one would ever hear
him, as a reward for all the services he had done, to grant news of him from them. They took him to the prison and
him a gift that would cost him very litde. And Pilate, who forbade the jailer to give him anything to eat other than a
liked him and his service very much, agreed, for he owed piece of bread and a cup of water. They immediately
him much greater riches than he had requested. Joseph returned to Jerusalem, arriving before daybreak, where they
asked for Jesus’s body, and Pilate gave it to him, not heard a great tumult and lamentation for Joseph, who was
knowing what he was giving him, for he thought he was gone.
giving the body of a poor fisherman, while he was actually When Pilate found out about it, he was very sorrowful.
giving him the Giver of all great gifts and the Resurrection He did not know what to do, for he strongly suspected that
of all flesh created in human form. This was the richest gift the Jews had done this at the prompting [70] of the Master
any mortal man ever gave. But because Pilate was not aware of their faith. Thus he did not know what to do. And when
of what he was giving, it should be called a humiliation the Sunday came when Jesus was risen, and the guards had
rather than a gift, for if he had believed in the great glory told the Jews how they had lost Him, they said they would
and power of the One whose body he was giving, he would make Joseph pay dearly18 for their loss. Thus Caiaphas sent
not have taken all the riches and power in the world in a message to the jailer,19 to give him nothing to eat and to
exchange. Once it was granted to him, Joseph, who knew let him die of hunger. But the Lord, for whom the Jews
very well the great glory of the gift, was very joyful, and he sought his death, did not intend to abandon him in his
considered himself to be well rewarded, much more so affliction; rather He rewarded him one hundred times over
than Pilate considered himself to have rewarded him. for his service. For once His body had left the sepulcher,
Upon reaching the cross where He still hung, Joseph He came to Joseph in prison, bringing the holy dish Joseph
began to weep very tenderly because of the great pain He had hidden in his house, with the blood in it that he had
had suffered. After he had taken Him down, sighing and gathered, to provide him comfort and company.20 Seeing
weeping bitterly, he laid Him in a sepulcher he had had cut this made Joseph very joyful, and then he truly knew this
out of the rock, where he himself was to be put at his death. was God. Thus he did not regret [71] his service but was so
Then he went to his house to seek the bowl. Returning to joyful that he did not care that he was in prison, since he
the body, he used it to gather as much of the blood that had the comfort, life, and company of his Lord.
dripped out as he could. Then he brought the dish back to Thus the Savior of the world appeared to Joseph
his house. Since then, through this dish God has performed before anyone else and comforted him gready. And He said
many miracles in the Promised Land and many other lands. He was certain that Joseph would not die in prison but
After putting the bowl in the purest place he knew of, would leave safe and sound; nor would he suffer pain or
Joseph took the richest cloth and returned to the
sepulcher, where he wrapped the body of his Lord as richly
15The interpolation ends here; we return to Hucher II: 68.
and honorably as he could. Once he had done this, he laid
16Corrected to singular following context and Ponceau.
it in the sepulcher and put a very big and heavy rock at the 17
“Solid,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
entrance, because he did not want anyone to enter the “marchies,” which seems to be a lapsus).
18“Dearly” supplied from Ponceau.
14The dish was in feet a bowl (“escuele’j; both words will be 19“Caiaphas sent a message to the jailer,” as in Ponceau
used henceforth. Medieval people usually ate from a bowl, which
(Hucher has “they sent a message to Caiaphas, the jailer”).
two people shared. on
‘To provide him comfort and company” supplied from
Hucher variants and Ponceau.
The History of the Holy Grail 11

chagrin, for he would always be in His company. And when

3. Vespasian Is Healed; Joseph of Arimathea
he left, all who saw him would consider it a miracle. After
that he and his descendants would carry His name to
Is Liberated.1
foreign places. But it was not yet the time for him to leave;
rather, Joseph would remain there until everyone believed The first year Titus was emperor, it happened that his son

him to be dead. And after his departure His name would be Vespasian became so ill with leprosy that no one could go

glorified and praised, and many people would believe in near him. This distressed Titus so much that he could not

Him.21 be comforted. And so he caused it to be known throughout

Thus Joseph remained in prison so long that he was all the lands that the one who could cure his son of leprosy

completely forgotten, and no one spoke of him anymore. would have whatever gift he might request. Though the

His wife, who was still a young woman, remained behind, emperor had made this known everywhere, he found no

distraught, with her son Josephus, who was not yet a year one who could cure his son until it happened that a knight

and a half old on the day his father was imprisoned. The who came to Rome from Capernaum heard about it. When

lady was often urged to remarry, but she said she would he came before the emperor, he said he would willingly
speak to his son for his benefit. The emperor had him
never have a carnal relationship with a man before [72] she
knew for certain the truth about her lord, whom she loved taken to a window of a room where Vespasian was all alone.

more than any other living thing. When the child came of It was through this window that they spoke to him, for

age to marry, his relatives exhorted him to do so, but he was otherwise they could not bear the stench coming from him.

so in love with Jesus Christ because of his mother’s After Vespasian had put his head out the window, the
knight looked at him and saw that he was sicker than
guidance that he said he would never marry any other but
anyone could imagine.
Holy Church, for he believed in God and had been
baptized by the hand of Saint James the Minor, who was Vespasian asked at once if he knew of anything that

bishop of Jerusalem for a long time after Jesus Christ’s could help him. And the knight answered, “My lord,
certainly, I came to see you because I once had leprosy in
death.
my childhood.”
Joseph remained in prison, as you have heard, until
“Oh, dear sir,” said Vespasian, “how were you cured of
forty-two years had passed. And then Vespasian, the
it?”
emperor of Rome, freed him, and you will hear how this
“Indeed,” said he, “by a Prophet who was in Judea,
came about Joseph was in prison for forty-two years without
whom the Jews wrongly killed.”
ever leaving, nor was he ever given anything other to eat
“How did he cure you of it?” asked Vespasian.
than bread and water, and very little of that, about every
‘Truly,” he replied, “all He did was touch me, and at
three days.
once I was completely cured.”
On the day that Jesus Christ was crucified, [73]
“What!” said he. “Was he so powerful that he cured
Tiberius Caesar was emperor of Rome, and he remained in
leprosy?”
power for ten more years. Afterwards reigned his nephew
“Indeed, my lord,” said the knight, “He did even more,
Gaius, who lived [74] only one year. And then Claudius
for He raised the dead.”
ruled the Roman empire for fourteen years; then Nero [75]
And he asked why he had been killed.
who held the empire fourteen22 years. Following Nero
“Certainly, my lord,” said the knight, “because He
came Titus and his son,23 Vespasian, who was ill. In the [76]
preached the truth and reproached the Jews for their
third year of Titus’s reign,24 Joseph was freed from prison.
wickedness. And I believe that if you had something He had
This is indeed forty-two years, counting from the [77]
touched, you would be immediately cured.”
Crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus Christ up to Joseph’s
When the young man heard this, he was oveijoyed. He
liberation, and you will hear how he was freed. [78]
sent for his father and had this told to him, for he could
barely speak. And Titus said he would send a messenger to
21"Would believe in Him,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau
see if something could be found that He had touched.
(Hucher has “would inquire in that place”).
“My lord,” said Vespasian, “ask this knight to go, since
22“Fourteen,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher
he is from the land, and give him whatever riches he needs
has “four,” which fails to add up).
to take this message, for my heart tells me I will be cured.
23“Son,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
And if I can be healed, I promise the Prophet to take
“father").
vengeance for the shameful thing the Jews did to Him.”
24‘Vespasian inherited the empire and held it thirteen years”
omitted, as in Hucher variants and Ponceau. Titus implored the knight until he said he would take
his message. And he gave him splendid equipment and his
seal, so that all those the letter reached would do what he
commanded.

Corresponds to Hucher II: 78-123; Sommer I: 15-20;

Ponceau §20-26. The text in Hucher II: 78-111 contains the last of
three additions from the prose Joseph, it recounts the healing of
Vespasian in a longer and slightly different version than most
manuscripts. We therefore follow the shorter redaction, which
Ponceau presents (Ponceau §20-22, 23).
12 The History of the Holy Grail

Then the knight went to Judea. In Jerusalem he found When Joseph’s wife heard this news, she and her son
a Roman whose name was Felix, and who was at that time in came before him. She asked for justice for her lord, whom
charge of Judea and Syria, for the Romans placed guards they had taken from her, and whom she had had no sign of
over the lands they had conquered. The knight gave him 3ince. He asked her why they had done this.
the emperor’s seal. After reading the letter, the Roman told The lady said, “Because he removed Jesus from the
him to speak his pleasure, and it would be done. And the cross and put Him in his sepulcher.”
knight told him to have it announced throughout the land Upon hearing this, he swore that he would bum them
that anyone who had anything Jesus had touched should all if they did not tell him where Joseph was. They replied
bring it forward, and that anyone who hid anything would that he could burn them, for they could not return him,
not escape death for it, if it were discovered. nor did they know what had become of him. And they were
What he commanded was announced, in Jerusalem telling the truth, for they did not know what had really
first of all. But no one came forward except a very old happened. Of the two who had put him in prison, only one
woman whose name was Veronica.2 She came to Felix, was alive, for the other one had been beheaded within a
bringing a piece of cloth she had venerated since Jesus’s week after imprisoning Joseph. And the jailer had fallen
crucifixion. And she said to him, “My lord, on the day that from the windows of the tower to the ground the day after
the Holy Prophet was led away to be crucified, I passed they stopped giving Joseph food. Therefore, only one
before Him carrying a piece of cloth to sell. He called me person was still alive; this was Caiaphas, who was the bishop
and beseeched me to lend Him this cloth to wipe His face, of the Jews the year that Jesus Christ died.* 4
which was dripping with sweat. After He had done so, I When they saw that all of them were to die, they said
folded the cloth and took it home. And when I unfolded it, he could do as he wished with them, for it was true that
I found Jesus’s face as clear as if it had been painted on a they had seized Joseph, but they had handed him over to
wall. Since then I have kept it, and no matter how sick I two of their number because they did not want everyone to
have been, once I looked at it, I was completely healed.” know where he was imprisoned. Caiaphas was one of these
She opened the cloth, which seemed to be newly woven, two;5 if he knew nothing, no one could ever give Vespasian
and the figure appeared as clearly as if it had been any news. So Vespasian asked to see Caiaphas; once he had
imprinted on it. come before him, he had him well guarded while all the
The knight brought this cloth to Rome. The night others were burned. After they were [112] burned, he told
before his arrival, Vespasian dreamed that a man came Caiaphas he would punish him more severely than any man
from the heavens and scratched him all over with his nails. had ever been if he did not return Joseph. Caiaphas
After that, he looked in a mirror to see if he recognized answered that he could punish him in whatever way he
himself. And everyone on earth ran after him, saying, pleased, for even if all the men in the world had sworn to
“Come see the dead man who lives again!” return Joseph alive, they6 could not, unless God Himself
In the morning after arising, his father came to him, were to do so. But he would show him where Joseph had
for he loved him more than anything. When Vespasian saw been imprisoned, for he did not know whether he was still
him, he said, “My lord, be happy, for I know truly that I will alive. Vespasian said that he asked for nothing better. And
be healed.” And then he told him his dream. Caiaphas said that he would do so, provided that he not be
At these words, the knight arrived. When Vespasian, slain or burned. Vespasian assured him of this, promising
who was still at the window, saw him, he felt all his limbs that he would not have him killed by fire or sword.
lighten. Upon seeing him in the distance, he began to Then Caiaphas took him to the tower where the pillar
shout, “You are welcome, for you bring my health!” The was and said, “My lord, he was put in this pillar right after
knight immediately unfolded the cloth without saying a Jesus was crucified, and I was not yet thirty-three7 years old,
word. As soon as Vespasian saw the imprint of the face, he who now am aged, as you can see.”
was more handsome and healthy than he had ever been Vespasian said to him, “Do not be afraid; the One for
before. And when his father and the other people saw him, whom he was imprisoned there is powerful enough to keep
the rejoicing was so great that anyone who had not seen it him safe and sound, and even more, for He healed me,
would not believe it. who had never served Him, from the most vile disease that
And then Vespasian took the imprinted face and put it ever was. ”
away as honorably as he could, saying that he would not be Vespasian then ordered Caiaphas to enter the jail, and
satisfied until he had avenged the shame of the Lord who if he did not find Joseph alive, to bring out the bones.
had restored his health. He prepared his baggage at once Caiaphas said he would not go in, even if he were
and set out to go to Judea, taking the knight with him. And threatened with dismemberment. And Vespasian replied
he made him lord of all his household. Upon arriving in that he was right, for such a vile and perfidious a sinner
Jerusalem, he sent for Veronica.s And she named all those [113] as he should not enter a place where such a worthy
who were still living by whose power and advice Jesus had man as Joseph was; nor did reason advise it, for he had
been put to death. Vespasian had them all seized and had a
great fire made, saying that he would bum them all.
4The interpolated material ends here; we follow Hucher from
here on (Hucher II: 111).
9
4 “Veronica,” as in Sommer and the longer version in Hucher 5,Two,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “three”).
(Ponceau has “Mary the Venetian”).
Corrected to plural, as in Ponceau.
*7
^Corrected to “Veronica” for logic (Ponceau has “Mary the
‘Thirty-three,” as in Hucher variants, Sommer, and Ponceau
Venetian”).
(Hucher has “thirty-two”).
The History of the Holy Grail 13

taken the Savior of the world down from the cross. Then he said he would not believe it unless she gave him some true
said that he himself would go in. Thus he had himself private sign.
lowered into the cell by those he trusted the most. Once he Vespasian asked, “Joseph, how long do you think you
reached the bottom, he saw such a great light around him remained in this prison?”
that even if one hundred candles were lit, it would not be Joseph replied, “My lord, I think I remained here from
so great He remained on one side, silent and astonished at Friday until today, and I believe it is Sunday today. Friday, I
the brilliant light. After he had been there for some time, took the true Prophet down from the cross, and for that I
he called Joseph. was put in prison.”
And Joseph answered, “Good Lord God, who is calling After he had said this, everyone who was around began
me?” to laugh, for they thought he had come out dazed. But
“I am Vespasian,” he said, “the son of die emperor of Caiaphas marveled most at the fact that he had [116] lived
Rome, who have come to deliver you from prison.” so long without eating or drinking.
Joseph wondered who this Vespasian could be, who And Vespasian said to Joseph, “By my faith, they lead
was the son of the emperor, for he thought he had me to understand that forty-two years have passed since the
remained in prison only from Friday until the Sunday when Prophet was put on the cross, and that you have been in
Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared before him. Therefore he prison forty-two years. When you were imprisoned, Tiberius
did not realize that so much time had passed, nor did he Caesar was emperor of Rome; since then there have been
think the emperor would have changed in such a short three emperors, and my father is the fourth."
time, for the light Jesus Christ brought him when He When Joseph heard this, he was amazed. Vespasian
appeared had never failed; so he thought nightfall had brought Caiaphas before him and asked him whether he
never come. Then he asked Vespasian what he wanted to recognized him. He did not, so he asked who he was. And
do with him, and Vespasian answered that he had come to he said he was10 Caiaphas and that he and another man
deliver him and to avenge his Lord for the great shame had imprisoned him. To prove it, he told him that when he
[114] that had been done to Him. And when Joseph heard and the other man had led him to the foot of the tower,
this, he was oveijoyed. Then Vespasian had himself pulled they dropped him on the ground so hard that he had a
up first of all, to recount the wondrous marvels of the great wound on the eyebrow. Joseph acknowledged this and
joy in the cell below.8 showed them his injury.
Meanwhile, a voice came to Joseph saying, ‘Tear not, When they came to Jerusalem, his relatives and all his
but be assured, for earthly vengeance has come. This man friends came to meet him, as well as many other people, all
will avenge you physically against your enemies; spiritual together. But he recognized very few, either among his
vengeance will be more grievous. After you have seen what family or among the others. And Vespasian had his men
vengeance has been taken, I will show you what great seize all those who Joseph said had helped or supported the
difficulties you must undergo to carry My name into strange crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and had them burned right away
lands.” without taking ransom. After he had burned everyone who
And Joseph replied, “My lord, Your servant9 is ready to was alive that Joseph was able to recognize, then Caiaphas’s
undergo everything that Your mouth wishes to command. trial was held. Vespasian called Joseph and the members of
But, Lord, what will I do with Your holy dish, for I would his household and asked what he should do about
very much like it to be hidden so that no one might ever Caiaphas, without breaking his promise [117] neither to
see it.” slay nor to bum him. There were those who judged that he
The voice responded, ‘Tear not about the dish, for should be put in the prison where Joseph had been, so that
when you arrive in your house, you will find it. Now go with he would die of hunger there. Others said that he could
certainty, for I am watching over you.” [115] very well cause his death without breaking his promise, for
With that the voice was silent, and Vespasian, who was he was not obliged to protect him except against being
already above ground, had Joseph pulled up. When burned or slain. If he had him drowned, he would be killed
Caiaphas saw him, it seemed to him that he had not aged at neither by sword or fire.
all. Rather, he said he had never seen him so handsome as Joseph said, “My lord, you have the power and the
he was now. And when Joseph saw Caiaphas, he did not authority to do this, but for God’s sake do not act in this
recognize him, so aged and frail was he. Nor did he way, for perhaps he will yet change his ways and believe in
recognize his own son, when he came to kiss him, but asked the One who kept me safe and sound for so long and
who he was. Those who were around him told him this was delivered me from his hands and those of my other
his son, and he did not believe it. After that, his wife ran to enemies. Perchance Our Lord will be served so well that He
embrace and kiss him. He began to look at her, and it would not want him to die at this time.”
seemed to him that her face resembled that of his wife, but Vespasian replied, “Since this is what you wish, I will
he could not believe it was she, so changed was she. take your advice, and I will not bring about his death; but I
And she said, “My lord, don’t you recognize me? I am must take vengeance in some way for the death of the Lord,
Elyab, your wife, and this is Josephus, your son.” And he whom he wrongly caused to die. And if it pleases the Lord
that he live, he will live; but when I came to this land, I
promised the Lord that I would not return before having
8“Which was so black and dark and full of vermine” omitted
here, following Hucher variants, Ponceau, Sommer. avenged Him as well as I could for the wrong and shame

9The Old French is “sergans,” which could also be translated

as “soldier." 10“He said he was” supplied from Ponceau.
14 The History of the Holy Grail

done to Him in this city. I must avenge Him, for He healed baptized. But I do not want anyone in your company to
me of the worst leprosy a man’s body ever suffered, to my bring money, for you and those with you who serve Me
knowledge. [118] Those who hold to Him, I will save, to the loyally will have all [121] the riches their hearts could
best of my ability; and those who go against Him, I will conceive and desire. When you want to leave, send for your
destroy, to the best of my ability. relatives and friends and your wife’s relatives, and proclaim
“When I came to this city and had the first Jews My faith to them. Then you will see which ones want to
burned, through Veronica’s11 advice, I learned about the believe you and follow you. When you leave Jerusalem, you
complaint lodged against the Jews who had imprisoned will go along the road that goes to the Euphrates.15 And I
you, and Caiaphas told me he would show me the place will teach you at that time what you should do and how you
where you had been imprisoned, on condition that I should go preach in the world and proclaim My name.”
promise that he would be neither burned12 nor slain. And The next day Joseph arose early in the morning and
I, who wished to see you more than anyone else, agreed to was baptized by Saint Philip. When Vespasian heard about
it, for I hoped that the Lord, for whom you had been it, he sent for him and asked what this meant. Joseph
imprisoned, had not rewarded you so ill that He would answered that it symbolized Jesus Christ’s salvation, without
have let you die in the filth of this prison. Because I agreed, which no man could be saved. Upon hearing this,
I must keep my promise, so I will not cause him to die. But Vespasian said he would convert to this faith, so he had
because I must avenge the noble Lord somehow, I will tell himself baptized. And he had Joseph be his main sponsor;
you what I will do. I will have him put out to sea in a boat, but he had all those in his household swear not to tell his
and after I have had him taken far from land in another father about this, for he did not want [122] his father to
ship, he will be left to drift, as God pleases. If God wants learn of it until he himself could ask him if he would like to
him to live, he will live, and if it pleases Him that he die, he receive this faith. Nevertheless, he had his entire
will not escape it. Thus I will be able [119] to keep my household baptized with him, and it was not discovered
promise. And if it pleases Our Lord that he die by means of that he had been baptized until he and his father came to
this torment that I will put him through, He will be lay Jerusalem waste in the great devastation that took place
avenged; if it pleases Him that he escape, it will not be before Christianity was established in the land of Agrippa,
because of me, but through His grace." Herod’s son.
Thus the discussion ended. Vespasian had Caiaphas It was dien that the great devastation took place. But
put in a rowboat, taken out to sea by sailors, and set adrift. the city was not as completely destroyed by Titus and
Thus Vespasian avenged Jesus Christ physically against His Vespasian as it was another time, when no two stones stayed
enemies, but it was not he alone, but also13 Jesus Christ who together. The story does not say any more except that16
avenged Himself, through Vespasian. And this was to make Titus and his son Vespasian besieged Jerusalem during the
an example of the Jews’ perfidy, for those whom He had year following Joseph’s liberation from prison. And it
called dogs14—the pagans—showed Him more love than happened that Vespasian, who was very valiant, was
those whom He called His sons—the Jews. It was the Jews attacking fiercely, when a clerk who had been baptized with
who crucified Him, and the pagans who avenged Him. him recognized him and began to shout, “Vespasian,
After that, Vespasian was obliged to return to Rome. perfidious Saracen and traitor who has abjured his faith,
The night before he departed, as Joseph lay in his bed, a why are you warring against the One who cured you of
vision came to him: Jesus Christ appeared before him and leprosy and in whose name you were baptized?” At these
said, “Joseph, the time has [120] come when you shall go words, Vespasian ceased his attack; his father became so
preach in My name. You must leave earthly riches for Me. angry [123] that he rebuked him for what the Christian had
You will never return to this land; rather, your seed will be said to him and drove him away for a long time, but this is
spread throughout such faraway lands that you could not not recounted in the Chronicle of the Emperors. This will
believe or imagine it, for I must fill the foreign lands with no longer be spoken of here, for now the story will return
your seed—not that which you have engendered here, but to the point where Vespasian leaves Joseph in Jerusalem,
that which you will engender. For carnal fruit will never where he was baptized.
issue from your son Josephus, because he has promised Me
everlasting chastity. Now take care to have yourself baptized
tomorrow. And you will now leave Jerusalem, never to
4. Joseph and His Followers Depart; Joseph
return. You will leave without gold, silver, or money, and
without shoes. Nor will you take anything of value except Preaches Before Evalach in Sarras.1
My bowl—this much you will take with you. And you will
receive into your household and company all those men At this point the story says nothing more about Vespasian
and women who want to follow you and want to be and begins telling about Joseph, who sent for all his
relatives and friends. He began to teach them the faith just
11Corrected to “Veronica” for logic (Hucher has “Mary the
Egyptian”). 15“Euphrates,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher
12“Bumed,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has has “France”).
“hanged”). 16The city was not as completely destroyed. . .. except that”
13“Physically . . . also” supplied from Hucher variants and supplied from Hucher variants and Ponceau.
Ponceau. Corresponds to Hucher II: 123-155; Sommer I: 20-27;
14“Dogs” supplied from Hucher variants and Ponceau. Ponceau §27-35.
The History of the Holy Grail 15

as Our Lord had commanded, and he preached to them and I care not about death. Because I want you to confer
about Jesus Christ until he converted a good seventy-five,2 My mercy on the sons of the evil fathers, I have chosen you
some of whom had already been baptized but whose faith to carry My name and My faith throughout foreign lands.
had grown cold. And those who had not been baptized And you will be the leader of a greater multitude than you
immediately received baptism. Then Joseph and his think. Through you they will have My love and My help.
followers left the city; and it was already past the hour of And if they wish to consider Me as Father and Lord, they
nones. Once he was beyond the city, Joseph took the road will profit and advance. Now go to your people, and have
leading to the Euphrates,3 just as Our Lord had them take lodging in this wood, and they will have all the
commanded. And when he arrived in Bethany, it began to food and everything they want, each in his lodging. Before
grow dark. you leave this wood, you shall make an ark for My bowl, and
Then his people said to him, “Dear lord, where shall you shall say your prayers in order to have the love of your
we spend the night? If we pass this city, we won’t find a Lord God. And when you wish to speak to Me, open the
place to lodge today.” ark, wherever you may be, so that only you and your son
And Joseph replied, “My lords, brothers and sisters, Josephus see the bowl. Now go and prepare your people
don’t be afraid; God the all-powerful, for whose love we and do as I have commanded.”
have all left our land, [124] will help us so that neither Thereupon Joseph left and came to his people. He had
lodging nor food will be lacking. But take care not to them [128] prepare lodgings in the wood with branches
despair of His great mercy, for if you serve Him loyally, as a and leaves. After that, they went to pray. And when they
good Christian should, there is nothing your heart could returned from prayers, each one found in his hut what he
conceive of in the morning that it would not receive before desired to eat. They ate and drank as much as they pleased,
nightfall. Nor did He ever show so much love to our and they were more comfortable that night, at their meal
ancestors in the desert as He will show us, if we serve Him and sleeping on the grass, than they had ever been before.
as the father should be served by his children. But if we In the morning Joseph had the ark made, just as Our Lord
serve Him like stepsons, as our fathers did in the desert, He had commanded; inside it he put the Savior’s dish. After all
will not act toward us as a father but as a stepfather, for He the people had prayed before the ark, they left the wood
will not help us but will fail us when our need is greatest." and set out on their way, traveling until they arrived at a city
Thereupon Joseph left off speaking, and they traveled called Sarras, between Babylon9 and Salamander.
until they arrived at a wood called the Wood of the From this city came the first Saracens. Those who say
Ambush, half a league from Bethany.4 It was called by that that the Saracens are named after Abraham’s first wife are
name because in this wood [125] Herod the Tetrarch5 was not to be believed, for this was falsely invented, nor does it
ambushed when the Jews delivered him over to Areta, the seem reasonable. It is not unknown that Sarah was a Jew,
king of Damascus, because Herod had abandoned Areta’s and her son Isaac was a Jew, as were all those who were
daughter when he took his brother Philip’s daughter as Isaac’s issue. Because the greatest part is considered to
wife.6 [126] represent the whole, and since Jews descended from Sarah,
When they reached this wood, Our Lord called Joseph: it does not seem reasonable that the Saracens took their
‘Joseph, I am your God, your Savior, your Defender. I am name from her. But they were called Saracens after this city
He who delivered your ancestors from the hand of Pharaoh named Sarras, because this was the first city where they
with signs and portents. I had them cross the Red Sea on became certain of what they worshiped. And in this city was
dry ground and led them to the desert where their hearts founded and established the [129] sect that the Saracens
had everything they desired. There they angered Me in maintained until the coming of Mohammed, who was sent
various ways, at the Water of the Quarrel and by the calf to save them, though he damned himself first, and them
they made to worship.7 Nevertheless, I helped them and afterwards, by his gluttony. Before the founding of the sect,
defended them against everyone, so that I put their the people of Sarras had no faith, but worshiped everything
enemies under their feet.8 Despite all this, they neither that pleased them, so that what they worshiped one day was
remembered nor acknowledged [127] that I had done not worshiped the next. But then they established the
good things for them, nor did they serve Me. Rather, in the worship of the sun and the moon and the other planets.
end they rewarded Me cruelly by damning Me on the On the eleventh day after leaving Jerusalem, Joseph
wooden cross. But even if the fathers served Me ill, I will came to this city with his followers. Upon their arrival at the
not hate the sons, for I want them to repent of their sins, city’s entrance, Our Lord called him and said, ‘Joseph, you
shall go into the city and preach My name, and baptize all
those who receive the faith, in the name of the Father, the
2“Seventy-five,” as in Ponceau and text further on (Hucher
has “sixty-five”). Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

3“Euphrates,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has Trance”). Joseph then replied, “Lord, how will I know how to
preach so well, I who have never undertaken such a thing?”
4“Bethany,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
“Britain”). And Our Lord said to him, ‘Tear not about this, for

5,Tetrarch,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has you have only to open your mouth, and I will put into it a
“des traitres,” which would give “Herod was ambushed by the great abundance of words. Nor will you ever find any man,
traitors”). no matter how valiant or learned, who can resist the words I
6See Hucher II: 125-6, note, for the historical facts.
7See Exodus XVII and XXXII. 9Babylon is the name by which Cairo was generally known
8See Psalms CX, 1 and Matthew XXII, 44. during the Middle Ages.
16 The History of the Holy Grail

will deliver from your mouth. And I will make you like My seek peace10 with the Egyptians, if he could, for they
apostles, through [130] the miracles and prodigies that I themselves dared not undertake war.
will perform through your hands. But take care that your This frightened the king so much that he did not know
faith does not become cold, for as long as you are a true what to say. Then Joseph came before him; seeing him so
believer, anything you dare to ask for will be granted in sad, pale, and pensive, he said, “Evalach, do not be so
your need. Now go and think about doing my work, so that afraid, for if you believe my advice, you will have joy and
you may be paid as a loyal servant. And whatever menace victory over your enemies, and glory that will never end.”
you may receive, be not afraid, for I will watch over you and When Evalach heard this, he looked at him haughtily
defend you, wherever you may go.” and said, “Who are you who can give me victory over my
Joseph left at once and entered the city with his enemies and eternal joy?”* 11
followers. When the inhabitants of the city saw so many To these words Joseph responded, “By my faith, King
people together—for they numbered at least seventy-five— [133] Evalach, I did not promise that I would give you
and saw that they were barefoot, they began to wonder who victory or eternal joy. But I tell you that if you believe me,
these people were. Joseph and his disciples did not stop you will have victory and joy without end, through the gift
until they came before the Temple of the Sun, the most and the grace of the One who is powerful over all things.”
beautiful temple in the city. The Saracens honored and Evalach answered, “I will gladly listen to your advice.
revered it more than all the others, because it was a temple But if you give advice that cannot be believed, the harm will
to the sun, the noblest of all the planets. At the entrance to be turned against you.”
this temple there was a very high, beautiful chamber that Joseph replied, “King, this will be advice that will bring
had been built and established for the peers of the city to honor to the body and profit to the soul, for you will be
hold their courts of justice and business assemblies. This honored throughout your life, and your soul will be saved
room was called the Seat of Judgment. after your death.”
Joseph and the seventy-five I told you about who were “Indeed,” said the king, “this advice is not to be
in his group entered this room. They were followed by a refused. Now you can tell me what it is, for if it is as you
large number of the Saracens, [131] who marveled at their have said, there is no man in my house I would prefer to
strangeness, having never seen such unusual people. Upon listen to. Rather, all the advice you want to give me will be
entering the room, Joseph found a large number of heard.”
Saracens, including the lord of the city himself, who was “King,” said Joseph, “listen then to what I advise. First,
called Evalach the Unknown. He was called the Unknown you must destroy and break the idols you worship, for you
because no man knew in what country he was born, nor say they are your gods, and you ask them for counsel and
where he came from; nor had they ever had news from help, but they have no power to help you or to injure
anyone who had seen or heard of him in the land. But he others. Indeed, you can be sure that they deceived and
was so valiant that through his feats of chivalry he had tricked all your ancestors, for all those who believe these
conquered all the land up to the border of Egypt. And he images can help are lost forever if they are still fooled by
was still very valiant and courageous, but he was so old that them on the day of their death. No man should believe that
he could not endure the effort of bearing arms. Thus he a piece of wood or stone worked by man’s hand could
was no longer as feared or dreaded as he had been in his protect him against death or harm; [134] but he should
youth. Rather, the Egyptians were warring against him and worship the One who suffered the anguish of death on the
had already won a good part of his land that bordered on cross by His own will in order to save and deliver the world
theirs. No more than three days earlier, they had defeated from the eternal pain of hell.”
him in battle, routing him from the battlefield. Because of “What!” said the king. “Are you telling me that He who
this, he had sent for all the wise men in his domain, for he suffered the anguish of death, just as you yourself have
wanted to ask their advice about how he might avenge the borne witness, is powerful enough to save me after death,
shame the Egyptians had done to him. and grant worldly honor? It doesn’t seem to me that He is a
At this point, Joseph arrived and heard them true God if He is subject to the anguish of death and even
discussing the king’s defeat and misfortune. After hearing led to die; this can’t be right or true. I cannot see how He,
the truth of the matter, he rejoiced, for he [132] thought who cannot protect Himself, can protect me from death,
that the time had come for his words to be heard and put for he who cannot help himself can hardly save another.”
to work, because of the great need King Evalach had of Our Then Joseph replied, “King, the Savior of the world
Lord’s help. So he began to thank Our Lord, his Creator, suffered death so readily that when the Jews’ false witnesses
for bringing him there at such a favorable moment. The accused Him before Pilate, and Pilate himself asked if what
king had spoken to all his noblemen, and was unable to they said were true, He did not say a word.”
find help. Rather, they had all failed him, saying they would To this the king replied, “Now tell me, good friend, do
never again combat the Egyptians, for the latter were far you really mean that He is God because He suffered death
more numerous, and thus only misfortune could befall in this way?”
them. And this was clear, they said, for things had already
gone so badly that they did not think it was possible to
10“Peace,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “c’el plaist,” “an
recoup. As you can hear, they all failed him, urging him to agreement’?).
11 “When Evalach heard this . . . joy” supplied from Hucher
variants and Ponceau.
The History of the Holy Grail 17

And Joseph answered, “Not at all. That is not why I say throughout the land of Egypt whose idols did not fall to the
He is God, nor did He win His divine nature in that way. ground, and all were broken.
Rather, He was God before all ages and will always be God, “Such were the signs the true God gave in His
and His reign will never end.” childhood. After He was brought back from Egypt and grew
And the king said to him, “How can you prove that the up, [139] reaching the age of thirty, He was baptized. And
[135] world was saved by His death?” then He began to perform miracles openly: He gave sight
“This I will surely tell you,” said Joseph, for he knew it to the blind; He healed the sick of all infirmities; He made
well. “And you can be sure that I won’t tell you anything I the paralyzed stand up and walk in health; He made the
don’t know about.12 Now listen, and you will hear how it deaf hear clearly; He brought the dead back to life. Such
happened. miracles were performed openly by the true God, before
“In the time of Augustus Caesar, the good emperor the eyes of all the people. After He had done all this in
[136] of Rome, who ruled the empire forty-two years, it many places, many times over, the Jews became envious and
happened that twenty-seven years after13 his coronation persuaded one of the disciples to take thirty deniers and
God sent His angel to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a sell Him. And they seized Him and crucified Him on the
maiden whose name was Mary. And when the angel came wooden cross. Once His soul left His precious body, it
before her, he said, ‘May God save you, Mary.’ Then he said descended to Hell and delivered those who had served Him
that she was full of grace and added, ‘May God be with you. on earth, since the beginning14 of the world.
You are blessed above all other women, and the fruit of ‘The third day after He had been put in a sepulcher,
your womb is blessed.’ When the maiden heard these where I myself put Him after taking Him down from the
words, she was afraid and began to think about how this cross, He was resurrected and left the sepulcher in body
salvation could be. And the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not and in spirit; and the guards who had been set to keep
be afraid, for the Lord of Heaven has looked at you and watch were unable to keep Him from leaving. The
given you His grace; and be assured that you will give birth sepulcher remained closed just as the Jews had left it when
to a son who will be called Jesus. This [137] child will be they had it guarded, [140] for they had put a large stone on
very powerful, for He will be the Son of God.’ And the it, which was found in place. After He was resurrected, He
maiden asked, ‘Dear lord, how can this happen, for I have appeared several times to His friends, who were very
never known any man carnally?’ The angel replied, ‘Mary, sorrowful and fearful because of His death. And He
the Holy Spirit will descend in you, and the power of God performed several miracles before them that convinced
on high will be incarnated in your body.’ And the maiden them that He was the true God. Having been on earth
said, ‘May God Our Lord do His will with me as His following His Resurrection, on the fortieth15 day He
handmaiden, for I am ready to do His pleasure and His ascended to Heaven in the sight of His disciples. And the
will.’ As soon as she had said this, the Holy Spirit descended eleventh day after His ascension, He was sent by the Holy
within her, and she conceived. When she had carried the Spirit to be seated on His Father’s right, next to Him,
fruit to its proper term, she gave birth to a boy whose name where He will remain forever."
was Jesus, just as the angel had told her. This child was of To this Evalach responded, “What! You thus maintain
such great glory and power that three kings from the East that this God whom you hold to be so powerful that you call
came to worship Him on the third day after His birth, each Him Lord of all things had a father and a mother?”16
one bringing the richest treasure he could find in all his ‘Truly,” said Joseph, “I say it and bear witness that it is
land. And all they had to lead them was a star that appeared true He had both parents.”
as soon as He was born, and that had never been seen “Since He had both father and mother,” said Evalach,
before. “He was not bom without the union of man and woman,
“When Herod, who was King of Judea, learned that for a child cannot be born of a woman if he is not
such a child had been bom, who would be King and Lord engendered in her through [141] relations with a man.
of the Jews, he was afraid that He would disinherit him. So And if a child were conceived otherwise than through
he had all the children in the land [138] of Bethlehem carnal relations, it would be against nature and custom.”
under two and a half years old killed, so that one hundred “King,” said Joseph, “I will show you clearly and teach
forty-four thousand were killed. In this way Herod thought you how He was conceived without carnal relations and
he would avenge himself against the child. But the Lord on how He was bom to the maiden without harming her
high, who is all-powerful, was well aware of Herod’s evil maidenhead.”
thoughts, and He kept Himself out of the hands of His “This proof,” said the king, “will I hear willingly.”
cruel enemies, who were unable to seize Him. Rather, the “It happened,” said Joseph of Arimathea, “that the
Virgin maiden, His mother, took Him to Egypt, where He Savior of the world saw the ills that were multiplying on
remained until after Herod’s death, through the counsel of earth. And He saw that the bad and the good had the same
an angel. And when He was brought to Egypt, He gave
proof of His arrival in the land, for there was not a temple 14“Beginning,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “ordering”).
15“Fordeth,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
12“As I know the way of and faith in Jesus Christ’s high and “fifteenth”).
holy work and that of the glorious Virgin maiden His mother, for I 16“And a mother” supplied from Hucher variants and
would be wrong if I undertook something I could not finish” Ponceau.
omitted, as in Hucher and Ponceau variants.
^‘Twenty-seven years after” supplied from Ponceau and
Sommer.
18 The History of the Holy Grail

reward,17 for those who had always done good went to hell bom. Nor was the Son ever made or created,20 but He was
in the same way as those who had committed every evil. engendered, as you have heard and I have told you, by
And the sweet Lord thought that it was not right that the spiritual means. And then He was bom to the Virgin, but
bad be equal to the good, nor that worthy men pay for the this birth was not as a god but as a human. By this you can
folly of the bad. Thus He said that He would redeem man and should understand that the birth through His mother
from the pain of hell. So He sent His Son to earth to was carnal, but the birth through His Father was spiritual.
experience everything that belongs to human nature, Through His mother He was mortal, for the part that was
except sin. And though He was clothed in carnal and taken from the mother died. But through the Father He
mortal flesh, He remained [142] God, just as He had always was eternal, for the part He had from His Father never
been, but He took on what He had never had: mortality. suffered death; this is the divinity that will never fail Him
Because the Father saw that He could not redeem everyone but will endure without end.
except18 through a man who seemed like other men, He “Now you have heard how the Son was engendered
sent His Son, who was pure and free of sin, with which all and born to the Father spiritually, and how He was bom
others were defiled and sullied, for it was not reasonable or carnally to the mother. Next, you will hear how the
right that a sinner redeem the other sinners; once they maidenhead of the glorious Virgin maiden who was His
were defiled, how could they protect or deliver another? mother remained as intact afterwards as before, without
But because the Son of God was pure and clean of all sin being harmed or broken. But first I will tell you about a
and all baseness, He had the power to redeem man’s person who comes from those two and who was the same as
everlasting death by the death of19 His glorious body.” and equal to the two other people. This is the Holy Spirit.21
“My word,” said Evalach, “I think you are drunk, [145]
because you admit one thing and then deny it afterwards. “The Holy Spirit was never made or created or
For you still affirm that your God had a father, and yet you engendered by the Father or the Son or any other, but
say that He was not engendered through carnal relations. came from both of them. The Holy Spirit is a comfort, a
This cannot happen, and it does not seem either right or counselor, and a purifier of the heart and of the mind. The
true.” Holy Spirit made the prophets speak what they said about
“King," said Joseph, “you have agreed to listen to me God. They did not know what they were saying, any more
prove how He could be born of a woman’s body without than an insane man can control all the words that fly out of
uniting with a man, and without [143] harming the his mouth; and the Holy Spirit worked all these things in
maidenhead of His mother, who remained a maiden both them. He who is a true believer believes in and worships the
before and afterwards; and how He could have a father Holy Spirit, just as he does the Father and the Son.
without having been engendered carnally.” “The Father is a perfect God in and of Himself and has
‘1 must listen to all this without fail,” declared the king, perfect, complete, and eternal divinity, without end and
“and I will gladly listen to it if you can explain it, but you do without beginning. The Son is also a perfect and eternal
not seem to be learned enough to be able to prove God and is the same as the Father in all things through His
something of such great importance, for it is against nature divinity, but through His humanity He is lower than the
and custom, and it has never been heard of before.” Father. For the Father is eternal, through and through, but
“King,” said Joseph, “listen now, and I will show you dirough His humanity the Son is mortal. The Holy Spirit is
how He was bom of the maiden without carnal relations a perfect God complete in itself, and through its divinity it
with a man. I will show you this, but first you will hear how is equal to the Father and the Son. Thus the Father is God,
He had a father and whose son He was without carnal and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
procreation. It is true that there is only one God, who made Nevertheless, they [146] are not three Gods, for though
everything out of nothing. He was always God and will they are three things as persons, they are still not three
always be God, for He never had a beginning, nor can He Gods, but one. Though the Father and the Son and the
ever have an end. Those who are true believers and believe Holy Spirit are three persons, nevertheless they are only
with all their hearts call Him the Father. But even if they one thing in nature and divinity and power. The Father is
call Him Father, they are not true believers if they do not as powerful as22 the Son and the Holy Spirit; and the Son is
believe it in their heart just as the mouth says it; because no as great in divinity as the Father and the Holy Spirit; and
matter how the mouth may speak, it is in the heart that the Holy Spirit is of equal greatness to the Father and the
good and bad faith arise. This God is called Father because Son.28 Thus these three persons come from one God, and
the One I am telling you about is [144] His Son, for He they go back to one God. The one can do as the three, and
engendered Him before the beginning of all time. He did the three are naturally none other than one. True believers
not engender Him carnally, but spiritually. The Father was call the three persons the Trinity, and God alone the Unity.
never made or created or engendered, nor was He ever
90
“Nor . . . created” supplied from Hucher variants and
17
'“Had the same reward,” as in Ponceau and Sommer Ponceau.
(Hucher has “were shamed”). 21This is the Holy Spirit,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau
18“Except” supplied to clarify the sense. (Hucher has “But now listen, and I will tell you”).
19“By the death of” supplied from Hucher variants and 22“Powerful as” supplied from Hucher variants and Ponceau.
Ponceau.
“And the Holy Spirit is of equal greatness... Son” supplied
from Hucher variants and Ponceau.
The History of the Holy Grail 19

In one they worship the three persons as one God alone was not conceived by union between a man and a woman,27
and the one God as three persons. but by the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, who descended
“These three were kept in mind at the beginning of through the maiden’s ear into the glorious vessel of her
the world, when the Father created all things, saying, ‘Let blessed womb. In this vessel that the Holy Spirit came to
us make man in Our semblance and image.’ The Father purify, the Son of God was lodged, and thus He was bom in
said these words to His dear Son, for He knew very well, as so holy a way that the maidenhead of the glorious mother
the One who has all things before His eyes, that the Son was never harmed, either at entry or departure. Just as the
would undergo the anguish [147] of death in order to sunbeam shines through clear water so that it is seen down
redeem man from the great sorrows into which he would to the bottom, without either dividing or parting the nap of
fall by his misdeed. Because of this, the Father called on the the water, which remains as clear as it was before, likewise
person of the Son to become the noble thing that man the Son of God entered the maiden’s womb without
should be—man, whom He wished to create only in order breaking or damaging her maidenhead.28
to replace the tenth legion of angels, who had been exiled In His conception there were three things that had
from Heaven because of their pride. never been heard of before in any conception by man and
“When man broke His Creator’s commandment by woman.29 [150] The first is that He was conceived without
eating the fruit on the advice and counsel of the woman, sin. The second is that He was conceived without carnal
whom the devil deceived, he was immediately exiled from relations. The third is that His mother, who was a maiden,
paradise. And his Lord, who had made him in His never lost her maidenhead, either at conception or at birth.
semblance, rebuked him with cruel words for the great Rather, He who chose her to be His mother left it as
happiness that he had possessed and had now lost through healthy and as whole as He had found it. At His birth was
his misdeed. He announced the great harm he would broken the malediction put on the first woman, when it was
suffer, saying to him, ‘Because you obeyed your wife, whom said, ‘You will give birth to your children in pain,’ for when
I gave to you, more than Me, who made you, you and your He was bom, there was never any pain or anguish. The Son
descendants will always suffer pain, for henceforth you will of God was conceived and bom in this marvelous way.
eat your bread in travail and in sweat.24 And you,’ he said to “However, when He was bom, He had not yet
the woman, ‘will give birth to your children in sorrow and redeemed man, as He had come to do; rather, He lived on
in pain.’25 Since then He has kept this promise to every earth for thirty-three years in the form of man among other
man and woman, as well as to all those [148] who men. After thirty years,30 He was the first to receive our
descended from the man, for no one will ever enter this salvation, that is, baptism, for He had Himself baptized by a
world, no matter how powerful, who will be free from man He considered to be the closest to God of all those
travail and pain from the very hour of his entry, until the bom of deflowered woman; this was Saint John the Baptist.
hour he leaves. And woman will always give birth with more The third year after His baptism He underwent the anguish
pain than her heart could imagine or her tongue express. of death, for He wished to experience everything belonging
“The sin of the first man was paid for so severely by his to human nature, with the sole exception of sin. After [151]
descendants that no matter how much good anyone did in undergoing the great anguish of death, for the love of man,
his life, his soul went to hell as soon as it left the body, until He Himself descended to hell and delivered all those men
the Son of God no longer wished to allow this great sorrow. and women who had done His works during their lives.
Considering that man had paid enough for his offense and Such great love did God show man, for He did not wish to
that henceforth it was high time to call him back in pity and redeem him from the sorrows he suffered by anyone’s
mercy, He descended to earth in order to free man from death but His own. Now you have heard how He had a
the terrible fate he suffered because of his misdeed. When father without being engendered carnally, and how He was
He descended to earth, He did not want to seek man in hell born of the maiden without damaging or mining her
immediately or take him out by force without explanation. maidenhead."
Rather, for his sake, He entered a prison that was very small Then Evalach spoke and said to him, “You tell me
and narrow26 to lodge a man as noble and important as He things that neither you nor anyone else can prove. Nor do
who was Lord of all things; this was the womb of the Virgin they seem in any way reasonable, for you say that He was
maiden. not engendered in the woman who gave birth to Him and
“After He had been in this prison for nine months, that she was a maiden and that her maidenhead was never
[149] He left at the right time to be born, just as human harmed. Next you say that the Father and the Son and the
nature required. Nevertheless He was neither conceived Holy Spirit are only one God, and yet each of the three is
nor born as human nature required. Human nature God by Himself.”
requires, without fail, that man be conceived and bom. By
being conceived and bom, He fulfilled human nature. But 27“In this way .. . woman” supplied from Hucher variants and
human nature requires more. It requires that man be bom Ponceau.
in pain and sorrow and that he be conceived by man and 28“And without relations between a man and a woman”
woman. In this way He did not fulfill human nature, for He omitted here following Hucher variants and Ponceau.
^“In His conception . . . woman” supplied from Hucher
variants and Ponceau.
24“And in pain, because of the commandment you
trespassed” omitted, as in Hucher variants and Ponceau. 30“In the form of man. . . . years” supplied from Hucher
variants and Ponceau.
25See Genesis III, 16-17.
26“Narrow,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “estoit,” “was”).
20 The History of the Holy Grail

“King,” said Joseph, ‘You have remembered it well, just who could die one hundred times over, with the
as I told it to you, and I still maintain it.” understanding that his death would be at the pleasure and
“Indeed,” said the king, ‘You maintain what you want, will of the glorious Lord, so that He considered His
but you tell me nothing that, it would seem, can be true." goodness well rewarded, would be fortunate.”
Thereupon, the king sent for all the learned men in When the king heard the young man speak so well, he
the city. Once they had come, Joseph began to speak to asked Joseph who he was and what his name was. And
them, setting forth all the forceful articles of faith from Joseph told him, “My lord, he is my son, and his [155]
Scripture, so [152] that everyone was astounded. Finally name is Josephus.” The king then asked if he knew how to
they said they would not respond to him further until31 the read and write.35 Joseph replied that no clerk of his age
next day. knew more than he did and that he spoke eloquently, as he
Thus the meeting ended. The king called Joseph and had heard. Then the king called one of his officers and
asked his name. And he said he was called Joseph of ordered him to have Joseph and his group lodged at the
Arimathea. The king looked at his bare feet; seeing that most comfortable hostel in town and to see to it that
they were very handsome, it struck him that this was a man neither he nor his followers lacked anything.
who had lived in great comfort. He thought to himself that Thus they separated that day, and Joseph and his
he was of noble birth; so at once he took great pity on him. group were taken to36 a splendid inn. That night they had
Then he addressed him, saying, “Joseph, from tonight on I very good food in great plenty, and very good beds, which
will give you lodgings and everything you ask for to make they had gready desired, for they had not slept in beds
you comfortable. And tomorrow you will speak to me. I since leaving their homes.
have very willingly listened to you tonight, and I will listen
to you more willingly tomorrow, for I will have more time
than I have had today."
5. Evalach’s Vision.1
“My lord,” said Joseph, “I am not alone in this city. I
have seventy-five men and women with me, and you can be
Here I will leave off speaking to you of Joseph and his
sure that there is not one who, for the love of Jesus Christ,
companions, and we will tell you about King Evalach, who
has not left worldly riches behind. Thus, as you can see,
lay in his room, pensive and troubled by two thoughts. The
they follow me [153] without gold or silver, in poverty.
first was the defense of his land against the Egyptians, who
Nevertheless, though they travel in poverty, they will not die
had ravaged it terribly and who had defeated and routed
of hunger, for the richness of the glorious Lord in whom
him. He was so worried about this that he did not know
they believe satisfies them so that they have their fill of any
what to do. He was very much afraid of losing his land and
worldly food their hearts desire.”32
all his worldly honor, because his nobles had all failed him.
Therefore, the king said that he wanted to see them.
The other thing that troubled him was what Joseph had
Joseph called to them where they had stopped and
told him—that he [156] would cause him to overcome all
gathered outside and had them come before the king.
his enemies and win great and everlasting joy, if he trusted
When they king saw them all barefoot and so poorly
his advice. But nothing, no matter how much he thought
dressed, he took great pity on them, in the terms of his
about it, could make him understand how the Father and
faith. He addressed them, asking why they endured such
the Son and the Holy Spirit were three persons and yet only
great suffering as to go barefoot and be so poorly and so
basely dressed. one. Nor could he believe that the Virgin had conceived
and given birth without harming her maidenhead. He
Then Joseph’s son, who was called Josephus,
could not understand either of these two things. While he
responded, saying, “King, we endure this suffering for love
was thinking about these two things2 —first one and then
of the glorious Son of God, who suffered such great
the other—a vision came to him.
anguish for us that His body and its members were pierced
basely and shamefully, and who was spat upon and In die middle of his house he saw the trunk of a tall
mistreated and crucified between two thieves. He suffered tree, but he could not perceive what kind of tree it was, nor
all this for us, of His own free will and [154] volition. What of what nature. From it grew three very large, high, straight
limbs, all three of the same size, height, and type, the only
service could we give Him in return?33 If we underwent
crucifixion as He did, we would not have repaid Him difference being that the middle one was covered with an
enough, because He initiated goodness. Surely it is right ugly, dark bark, while that of the other two was as clear as
crystal.
that the One who initiates goodness, passing it from the
highest to the lowest, that is, from God to man, be Under the first limb, on the right, there were people of
rewarded doubly. Thus, we would have to die twice for all sorts. Two left this group, went up to the ugliest and
Him, if we wished to reward His goodness.3,1 Certainly, he blackest pit anyone could imagine, and jumped in. [157]

oc
oi n

“Until” supplied from Hucher variants, Ponceau, and ‘The king then asked . . . write” supplied from Hucher
variants and Ponceau.
Sommer. or
40

*The text is confused here. A literal translation would give OD‘The most comfortable hostel. ... taken to” supplied from
Hucher variants and Ponceau.
“they will not die of hunger, but are so satisfied by the
richness....” Corresponds to Hucher II: 155-162; Sommer I: 27-29;
33 “In return” supplied from Hucher variants and Ponceau. Ponceau §36-40.

34 "Doubly. ... goodness” supplied from Hucher variants and 2“How the Father. ... two things” supplied from Hucher
Ponceau. variants and Ponceau.
The History of the Holy Grail 21

Once these two were in it, all the others had to follow, Looking up, the king saw that each of the trees6 had
despite themselves; they all went and jumped in and letters written on it, some in gold and others in azure. The
disappeared, one after another. After more than half of letters on the first tree said, THIS ONE CREATES. Those on the
them had jumped in, some of those who remained ran to second one said, THIS ONE SAVES, and those on the third
the tree3 4 5 with the ugly bark and began to cut it all around. tree said, THIS ONE PURIFIES. When the king looked, he saw
Once they had done this, they did not stop, but cut into its that all three trees came from a single stem, so artfully that
four branches with augers. After they had dius mutilated it no one could distinguish the beginning, no matter how
with the wounds cut all around and the holes made with thoroughly he examined it. And the stem was so tall that no
the augers, a stream of blood came forth so great that man could see the top, no matter how good his eyesight or
everyone who was there could bathe in it, until the tree how hard he tried. And the interlacing of the three trees
broke apart. Once it had fallen, nothing was left of it except was so artful that just when the king thought [160] he had
the outer bark, which remained in a pile. But the wood distinguished each of the three from the others, it seemed
inside, which was more beautiful, noble, and clear than I to him diat he saw only one kind of leaves and wood and
could tell or imagine, fell with such force that it flung itself fruit and that the three trees he had taken to be three
inside the pit where the people had jumped. As the king separate things were in fact only one thing. Thus he denied
watched, he saw the tree flung back out of the pit, pulling what he had decided earlier and was so frightened and
with it many of the people from the pit, who were holding puzzled that he did not know what to hold as truth: that it
onto the branches all around. was all one tree or that the entire tree was actually three.
After this, the tree returned to its place and put back While he was thinking about this thing that he was
on the bark it had had before. But it [158] became thoroughly unable to understand, he looked toward a wall
completely transformed, turning so clear and resplendent in one of his rooms, where a marble door was set into the
diat no man who had looked at it before could believe it wall so artfully diat it was barely possible to perceive there
was the same bark. Next, the king saw that some of the was a door or an entrance,7 no matter how attendvely one
people who had not jumped into the pit were taking the looked. He did not think that anyone in his household
blood that had flowed onto the ground and were washing knew about it other than himself. As he looked at the door,
their bodies. Once they had done so, their appearance and he saw a small child, who was very handsome and blond,
their faces completely changed. Meanwhile, others were entering, without opening® the door, which remained
taking the branches and leaves of the tree and breaking up closed, just as it was before he entered. After a short time
some and burning some. This marvel captured the king’s he went back out quickly, just as he had entered, without
attention for a long time. It was so wonderful diat he was opening the door. Nor was there any evidence [161] that
awestruck and believed he was truly asleep and that he had either entered or departed.
everything he saw was a dream. Finally he turned over again The king was more astonished by this marvel than he
and again, and realized that in reality he was awake and not had been by all the others, for he believed that neither God
dreaming. Then he was even more overwhelmed than he nor anyone else could enter through such a strong door or
had been before and wondered even more what this marvel such strong walls without it being apparent in some way.
could be. Then the king began to think very intently. The
After pondering it for a long time, he woke up one of chamberlain who was with him was so frightened that he
his chamberlains who was sleeping before him and whom did not dare utter a word, but lay overwhelmed on the
he trusted, thinking that he would show this to him alone floor, as if he were dead. The king went to him, lifted him
and that no one else would ever learn about it if he could up with his right hand, and asked him if he had seen all
help it. Once he had awakened him very quiedy, so that the these marvels and what he thought of them.
others who were lying nearby might not hear, he took him The man looked at the king as best he could, and
aside and led him to the trees.4 When he saw them, he was when he was able to speak, he said, “Have mercy, my lord!
[159] so overwhelmed that he could not speak for a long Don’t speak to me about anything, but take me someplace
time. where I won’t see any other marvels like these, for I could
Seeing the man’s fear, King Evalach took him by the not go on living if I saw them.”
hand and began to comfort hirn, telling him that he should Thereupon the king took him and led him into a room
not be afraid, for no evil could come to him from this. to go to bed. And all the while he kept thinking about the
Then he moved toward the trunk, took two candles that marvel he had seen—the child who had entered and left
were burning before his bed and carried them to the three the room through the wall. As he went along thinking
trees to examine them. At that moment he realized5 that about this and marveling in his heart about how this could
there were three of them and that the middle one widi the have happened, he heard a voice say to him, “Evalach, what
ugly bark grew out of the first tree, while the third one are you marveling at? Just as the child entered the room
issued from both of the other two. before your eyes, and just as he left without opening or
breaking down the door, thus did the Savior of the world
enter the womb of the Virgin Mary without damaging her
3The text purposely shifts from singular to plural the word
used to designate the tree(s). maidenhead, and thus did He leave.”
4‘Trees,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
“room”). 6,Trees,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “branches”).
5Corrected to singular, as in Sommer and Ponceau. 7“Entrance,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “window”).
®“Or closing” omitted, as in Ponceau.
22 The History of the Holy Grail

Upon hearing the voice speak, the chamberlain sound from the prison where I remained for forty-two years
became so frightened that he could not stand up. [162] He without ever tasting any earthly food; glorious Lord, full of
fell to the floor in a faint, thinking that the entire palace pity, who saved King David, Your servant, from Goliath the
had certainly fallen on him, so great a noise did the voice giant, who had done so much harm to Your people; Lord
make when it spoke. The king himself was so frightened God everlasting, without beginning and without end, who
that it is impossible to describe. Nor was there anyone in all protected Daniel Your prophet in the pit where he was put
the palace—whether man, knight, or servant—who did not among the lions; who pardoned glorious Mary Magdalene
wake up,9 so much noise and din was there throughout the for her sins in the house of Simon the leper; who kept
palace. And when they had asked the king, whom they Susannah, Joachim’s wife,2 safe against the false witness that
found up and around, what this could be, the king the two elders3 bore against her; Lord, glorious spiritual
answered that it had been a thunderbolt. He said this Father, who delivered the sons of Israel from Pharaoh’s
because he did not want any of them to know about his slavery [165] and led them across the Red Sea on dry land
vision other than the man to whom he had showed it. With and into the desert, where You did more for them than
that the king went back to bed, as did all the others. But he they deserved, for You filled them with everything their
did not close his eyes; he was eager for the day to come, for hearts desired, while they did not keep from committing
he wished to speak to Joseph about the vision that had every act of perfidy before You,4 but angered You several
appeared to him. times, and nevertheless, You delivered them from all their
tribulations and put their enemies under their feet; Lord,
full of mercy, just as we believe truly that You did these
things and that there is no other God than you alone, verily
6. Joseph Prays for Evalach’s Conversion.1
send counsel quickly to King Evalach, who is a sinner so lost
that he cannot be brought back to the way of truth if You in
Now let us leave the king, and we will tell about Joseph, who
Your great power do not send him the desire and the will,
was lying in his bed very pensive and anxious about how he
by filling him with Your Holy Spirit, who counsels and
might convert King Evalach to Jesus Christ’s faith. He
comforts the lost.
thought that if the king was not now on the verge of
“Lord, who told me, I who am Your servant, when I left
believing, he never would be, for he desperately needed
my native land by Your command, that You would refuse
Jesus Christ’s help and wise men’s advice, because he was
nothing that I asked of You in good faith, as long as I
about to [163] lose the best part or all of his land, most of
wished to do Your will loyally, now hear therefore the
his noblemen having failed him in his great need. Joseph
prayer that Your servant requests of You here, and answer it
was thinking so intently about this that he could not sleep;
according to Your mercy and Your great power. Do it not
all he did was think. After lying there a long time, neither
for me, good Lord God, but to glorify and raise Your name
sleeping or resting, he jumped out of bed. He dropped to
and to show the people that You alone are the very Holy
the ground on his bare knees; sighing deeply from the
[166] God who has power and authority over all creatures.
heart and weeping, he began a prayer, as you will hear.
Glorious Lord God, now it is right that You return to Holy
“Good Lord God, all-powerful Father, source of
Church what You promised her, for You must glorify her
comfort and abundant mercy, who, through the mouth of
and make her grow throughout the world. It is now the
Moses, Your holy minister, spoke this phrase to the people
time and die place for her to be glorified and increased;
of Israel: ‘Israel, if you wish to do what I ask of you, you will
and may Your holy name be exalted in this beautiful lost
neither establish a new God nor worship a foreign God, for
city diat sorely needs counsel and help.”
I am your God, whom you must worship, who delivered you
Thus Joseph was in tears and prayers during much of
from the authority of Pharaoh, who held you in slavery’;
the night, on his knees, completely nude. After finishing his
good Lord God, just as it is true that there is no other God
prayer, he heard a voice say, ‘Joseph, get up, for your words
than You, and that one should worship no other, [164]
have been heard and received by your Creator. You may be
truly demonstrate Your great power and Your great mercy
sure that King Evalach will soon receive My faith, for
here to this sinner king and to the others of this city, who
tonight he has seen some of My proofs—marvelous ones—
have gone astray from the truth so that they do not know
and he will send for you in the morning so that you can
their Creator, but worship images of stone and wood that
explain what he saw and heard during the night. In the
cannot help them. They have put their faith in them,
morning, as soon as dawn appears, you and your followers
believing that they will defend them from evil, while in fact
are each to come to pray to Me, and you will see a new rule
they lead them to everlasting death in hell, which will be
that I have not yet given to you, for I will consecrate your
eternal if they do not return to the right way and die right
son Josephus and make him a high minister—a priest. I will
faith and come back to Your mercy.
give him My flesh and My blood to watch over, and thus I
“Good Lord, glorious King of all things, who, in order
will give as much [167] to him as to you when you took Me
to save the world that was perishing, deigned to undergo
the anguish of death on the cross where I saw You nailed;
Lord, who by Your great power, delivered me safe and 2“Joachim’s wife,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau
(Hucher has “andJoachim”).
Q

“Elders,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has

9“Did not wake up,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau “young men”).
(Hucher has “was not astonished”).
4“For You filled them . . . You” supplied from Hucher variants
Corresponds to Hucher II: 162-168; Sommer I: 29-30; and Ponceau.
Ponceau §41—43.
The History of the Holy Grail 23

down from the cross and carried Me to the sepulcher in Hebrew letters written on the door in charcoal that said this
your arms, after removing Me from the humiliadon where palace was spiritual. It was the custom to use this name; it
they had put Me. This authority will I give to your son never changed, and as long as the palace stands it will be
Josephus. And all those who receive such orders from now called spiritual. But before Joseph stayed there the people
on will receive them from him throughout all the lands of the city had never known or heard why it was called this,
where I lead you and your seed.” and then they learned how and for what reason.
Thereupon the voice left off speaking and became Immediately after the ground had trembled beneath
silent, and Joseph remained very happy and joyful about the Christians who were praying in the palace, just as you
what he had heard. After a while he went back to bed with have heard, the Holy Spirit descended before each one of
his wife Elyab. However, they did not lie together in the way them, in the semblance of8 a flash of fire. They looked at
of lustful people, but as people full of religion, for they had one another, marveling, and saw the flash of fire enter one
never lain together since leaving their country by Jesus other’s mouth. None of them said a word; rather, [170]
Christ’s order. Such frailty, from which the entire human they thought they were all bewitched because of the fire
lineage was conceived, never inflamed them, so that they they saw entering their bodies. Thus they remained awhile
were never led to suffer the misery of the body and have a without saying a word, so afraid were they, until something
carnal reladonship together as nature requires. This way came4 through there just like a soft and gentle breeze,
was not theirs; rather, they were both so alight with the giving off such a wonderful fragrance that it seemed to
supreme love of the Savior that no desire could come from them they were amidst all the good spices in the world.
this quarter. Nor did they have this desire when they After the arrival of this good wind, they heard a voice
engendered* 4 5 Galahad, their last child, by the command¬ speak aloud to them, just as you will be able to hear, saying,
ment [168] of Our Lord God, who ordered them to “Listen to Me, My new sons, I am God, your Lord5 and your
prepare with their seed a new fruit with which He would fill heavenly Father, who have fought for you and won you
the land where He wished to lead them. against all the world through My flesh, which I suffered to
By this commandment Galahad was engendered. be broken in order to redeem you, and through My blood,
When this came about, they did not unite through lustful which I was willing to shed. Because I have shown you such
desire, but to accomplish the commandment of Our Lord, great love as to redeem you with My flesh and blood, which
who had ordered Joseph to sow his seed. From Galahad no earthly father would ever have done for his son, you owe
issued the holy lineage, many of whom were holy and Me, it would seem, greater love than any earthly son has
religious men during their lives, and who glorified the ever given his father. Now listen therefore to what God your
name of our Lord Jesus Christ as best they could and Lord and Father will say to you.
honored the land of fair Britain, which is now called6 “Listen to this, Christians, you who are the new people
England, and the other countries around, with their of the True Crucified One. I have loved you so much and
precious bodies that repose there, just as this chronicle will held you so dear that I have put in you My Holy Spirit,
recount in the words that come after this.7 Now we will which for love of you I sent to earth, from on high where it
speak of Joseph; therefore, we will leave his descendants was in the glory of My dear Father, who will never die. I
until the time and place comes when one should tell about [171] have granted you higher honor and nobility than
them. your ancestors in the desert, where for forty years I gave
them everything their hearts desired. But I have satisfied
you more than them, for I have given you My Holy Spirit,
which I never gave them. Take care therefore not to fall
7. Josephus’s Investiture.1
into their wickedness, for I did only good to them and they
did only evil. Though they honored Me with their mouths,
The story says that in the morning, as soon as Joseph saw
they never loved Me with their hearts. And in the end they
dawn appear, he and his people arose and came to worship
made this clear, for when I came to summon them to My
before the ark. When they were all kneeling2 before it, they
great feast and to the great joy of the wedding I wanted to
heard a loud noise from above; at the same time they felt
celebrate between Holy Church and Me, they did not deign
the earth tremble forcefully beneath them. The place
to come, nor did they ever wish to acknowledge Me, who
where they were lodged and were worshiping was a [169]
had done only good to them. Because I came among them
palace, called the Spiritual Palace. Daniel the prophet had
humbly, they said that I was not their God. And they had
given it this name, when he returned from battle with King
such great contempt for the fact that I dared to tell them I
Nebuchadnezzar, who had captured him along with other
was their God that they seized Me then like a thief in hiding
Jews and taken him to Babylon. As he returned, Daniel
and broke My flesh and pierced My limbs and My body. In
went through this city; when he came to the palace, he saw
return for the great honors I had done them they rewarded
Me with spite and disdain, and for the sweet drinks I had
6“That no desire. . . . engendered” supplied from Hucher given them in the desert they gave Me on the cross the
variants and Ponceau. vilest and most agonizing drink they could find. [172] After
6 “Britain and” omitted, as in Ponceau.
7See Chapter 38. ^“Spirit” omitted, as in Hucher variants and Ponceau.
Corresponds to Hucher II: 168—197; Sommer I: 30—42;
4“Something came,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau
Ponceau §44-57. (Hucher has “they saw”).
2“A11 kneeling," as in Ponceau (Hucher has “venut,” “had
5“God, your Lord” supplied from Ponceau.
come”).
24 The History of the Holy Grail

all this, they gave Me death, though I had given them point where the angel grasped it. The fourth angel held
earthly life and promised them eternal life. Thus I found right before the face of the red man a sponge that was also
them, to whom I had always been a gentle Father, to be thoroughly tinted with blood. [175] And the fifth angel
through and through cruel and terrible stepsons. held in his hand a kind of whip, which was all bloody and
‘Take care not to resemble that cruel lineage, for it is seemed to be made of twisted wands tied together.
your duty to change your ways from those of your former Each one of these angels held a scroll with writing that
life.6 If you act toward Me as My loyal sons, I will act toward said, These are the arms by which the judge who is here
you7 as your loyal and gracious Father, and I will do more VANQUISHED AND OVERCAME DEATH. And the man around
for you than I did for My prophets who served Me in the whom the angels were standing had white letters in Hebrew
past with good hearts and minds. If they had My Holy Spirit written in the middle of his forehead that said, IN THIS
with them, you too will have it. And you will have yet SEMBLANCE I WILL COME TO JUDGE ALL THINGS ON THE CRUEL
another thing, for you will have My body in your company AND TERRIBLE DAY. This is what the writing said. And it
every day, just as I was bodily on earth8 with My aposdes seemed that red bloody dew flowed from his feet and hands
who loved Me greatly. Now hold firmly to your faith, for I all the way down to the ground.
will watch over you and guide you wherever you may go, It seemed to Josephus that the ark was four times wider
[173] with the difference that I was seen on earth, but now dian it had been before,11 for the man he saw was inside as
you will no longer see Me in such a semblance. well as the five angels. He was so astonished at the marvel
“Now come forward, Josephus, My servant, for you are he saw that he did not know what to say, so he bent his
worthy of being a minister, and of having such a high thing head toward the ground and began to think very intendy.
in your keeping as the flesh and blood of your Savior. I As he pondered with bowed head, the voice called him. He
have tested you and found you to be purer and cleaner of9 looked up and saw the man crucified on the cross that the
all natural sins than any mortal flesh could conceive. angel held; the nails he had seen held by the other angel
Because I know you and what you are better than you do were on the man’s feet [176] and hands, while the sponge
yourself—for I know you to be untouched by greed, free of was pressed against His chin, and he seemed to be a man
pride, and pure of all wickedness, without any share in lust who was surely in the anguish of death.
and Filled with chastity—because of this I wish you to After that Josephus saw that the lance he had seen in
receive from My hand the greatest dignity any mortal man the hand of the third angel was embedded in the side of
can have. None other will receive it from My hand; rather, the crucified man; down the handle dripped a stream
henceforth those who have it will receive it from you.” composed neither completely of blood nor of water, and
Thereupon Josephus stepped forward, trembling and yet it seemed to be of blood. Under the feet of the crucified
fearful. He began to shake and weep very hard and thank man he saw the bowl that his father Joseph12 had placed in
his Creator, who called him to receive such a great honor, the ark; it seemed to him that the blood from the feet of
which in his opinion no mortal man could be worthy of or the crucified man was dripping into this bowl, and that it
deserve through anything he had ever done, unless God was already nearly full. It appeared to Josephus that it was
alone granted it through His grace. When he came [174] about to run over and that the blood would spill. Then it
up to the ark, Our Lord said to him, “Open the door, and seemed to him that the man was about to fall to the
be not afraid of what you will see.” ground; that the two arms had already slipped from the
In dread and fear Josephus opened the door of the nails, so that the body was falling, with the head down.
ark. Upon doing so, he saw a man dressed in a robe a Seeing this, he tried to run forward to lift Him up. But
hundred times redder and more hideous than fiery when he was about to step inside the ark, he saw the five
lightning, and whose feet, hands, and face were exacdy the angels with their swords at the entrance of the door. Three
same. Around this man were five angels all dressed in the of them held the points of the swords out against his
same kind of robe and with the same appearance. Each of coming, while the other two lifted theirs on high and made
them had six wings that seemed to be made of burning fire, as if to strike him. Despite this, he still tried to go past, so
and each held in his left hand a bloody sword. The first much did he desire to raise up Him who he believed was his
held in his right hand a large bloody cross, but it was God and his Savior. But when he tried to put the other foot
impossible to tell of what wood it was made. And the inside, he could not, but was obliged [177] to stop, for he
second held in10 his right hand three bloody nails, from was held so strongly from behind by his arms that he could
which red blood still seemed to be dripping. The third not go forward. He looked and saw that two angels were
angel held in his right hand a lance whose iron tip and holding him, each with one hand, while with the other
wooden shaft were likewise covered with blood up to the hand one held an ampulla, and the other,13 a censer and a
box.
e

The text is unclear here; a literal reading would be: “it is When his father Joseph saw him look back, he was
your duty to change the ways of those whose lives you change.” astonished that he had been so long at the door of the ark
“As My loyal sons. . . you” supplied from Hucher variants without saying or doing more and wondered what he could
and Ponceau.
O
“Just as . . . earth” supplied from Hucher variants and 1 ^‘Had been before,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “seemed”).
Ponceau.
12“Joseph,” as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has
9“Of,” as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has “than”). Josephus”).
10“Held in his left hand a bloody sword... . And die second 1%
“One held an ampulla, and the other," as in Ponceau
held in” supplied from Hucher variants.
(Hucher has “each held an ampulla, and in the other [hand] .. .”).
The History of the Holy Grail 25

have been looking at so long. And then Joseph rose from them came three others carrying three burning candles,
where he was in prayer and went toward his son. which were of all the colors that mortal tongue could name.
When Josephus saw him nearby, he put out his hand After that Joseph looked and saw Jesus Christ come forth in
and began to cry, “Ah, good father Joseph, do not touch the same form as He had appeared to him in the jail where
me, lest you take me away from the great glory where I am, he had been imprisoned, when He left the sepulcher in
for I am so illumined with spiritual revelations that I am no body and in spirit on the day of the Resurrection.
longer on earth." In this semblance Joseph saw Him come forth, except
Hearing these words, Joseph was so full of anguish and that now He had put on the vestments that a priest must
so eager to see this marvel that he paid no attention to any wear when he intends to celebrate the Sacrament of Our
warning, but fell on his knees before the door of the ark Lord. And the first angel, who was carrying the aspergillum,
and looked. Inside the ark he saw a small altar covered with dipped into the water and [180] went along sprinkling it on
white cloths; on top of all of them was a splendid red cloth, the Christians who were there. None of them saw the one
which was as beautiful as satin. On13a this red cloth, at one who was sprinkling the water, except Joseph and his son
end of the altar, Joseph saw three nails dripping with blood Josephus. These two saw him clearly.
and a bloody lance-tip.14 At the other end was the dish he Then Joseph took his son by the hand and said to him,
had brought; and in the middle of the altar, there was a “Dear son, do you know yet who this man is who leads such
splendid gold vessel, in the form of a chalice with a gold a beautiful retinue with him and who walks in such honor?”
cover on top. He could not see the cover very well, nor what And Josephus replied, “Dear father, I know truly that
was on it,15 for it was covered with a white cloth so that only this is the One about whom David said in a verse in the
[178] the front was visible. Beyond the altar he saw a very Psalter, that God ordered His angels to watch over Him
beautiful hand holding a completely red cross, but he did wherever He might go; no man could be served and
not see the person to whom the hand belonged. And honored by angels as He is.”19
before the altar he saw two hands holding two candles, but At that moment the entire group passed before them.
he did not see the body to which the hands belonged. It went all around the interior of the palace, and
While he was looking inside, he listened and heard the everywhere it went, the angel sprinkled water from the
door of a room fly open. He turned his eyes toward the aspergillum. When it came to the ark, all of them knelt
room and saw two angels come forth, one of whom held a before Jesus Christ, and then before the ark.20 After going
stoup full of water, and the other an aspergillum in his around the entire interior of the house, the group returned
right hand. After these two came two others carrying in to the ark.
their hands two large gold vessels just like basins. Around Then Our Lord called Josephus. And Josephus
their necks they had two beautiful16 stoles like none any responded, “Lord, here is Your servant ready to do Your
mortal man had ever possessed. Once the two had come will."
out of the room, three others came after them, carrying And Our Lord said to him, “Do you know what the
three gold censers shining with rich precious stones so that water that you have seen sprinkled here symbolizes? It is the
they seemed to be on fire. And with the other hand each purification of the places the evil spirit has frequented, for
one held a box full of incense and myrrh and many other this house has always been the devil’s lodging. It must
precious spices, which gave off such a sweet scent that the therefore [181] be purified and cleansed before My service
house seemed to be filled with the sweetest fragrance any can be performed here. And yet it was cleansed and
man had ever smelled. purified as soon as the Holy Spirit, which I sent to you,
Next, he saw another one come forth with writing on descended. But I have sprinkled it with this water because I
his [179] forehead, saying, I AM CALLED THE POWER OF THE want you to do likewise in all the places where My name is
SUPREME LORD. This one carried over his hands a cloth as to be called and My service performed.”
green as emeralds. And under this cloth was the holy dish. And Josephus said to Him, “Lord, how can the water
To the right of this angel there was another one carrying17 purify if it is not purified beforehand?”
a book of Gospels. Such a rich and beautiful book would “You will bless the water of purification and the water
never have been seen by the eyes of any earthly man, if this of baptism in the same way,” said Our Lord, “by making
one did not exist. And on the left there was an angel over it the sign of the great redemption, that is, the sign of
carrying a sword whose pommel was gold and whose hilt the true cross, and you will say that this shall be in the name
was18 silver, while the entire blade was as red as a flame of of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And for him
burning fire. Once these three had come forth, behind who believes in the power of this benediction, no evil spirit
will ever reside in a place where this water is sprinkled,
because all the devil fears is hearing the conjuration of the
13a“On,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “under”).
Holy Trinity and seeing the sign of the cross. That is how
14“Lance-tip,” as in Ponceau and Sommer (Hucher has “iron
his power was destroyed, and that is why I am teaching it to
lance”).
you and telling you to act in this way.
15“On it,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “under it”).
“Henceforth,” said Our Lord to Josephus, “I want you
16“Beautiful,” as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has
to receive the honor I promised you, which is the
“good”).
17“One carrying” supplied from Hucher variants and
Ponceau. 19See Psalm LXXXXI, 11.
18“Whose hilt was” supplied from Hucher variants, Ponceau, 20“Before the ark,” as in Ponceau and Sommer (Hucher has
and Sommer. “the other”).
26 The History of the Holy Grail

sacrament of My flesh and blood. And all My people will see saw it clearly. The unction with which he was anointed was
it openly, for I want them to bear witness before kings and taken from the ampulla25 the angel was carrying—the angel
[182] counts that they have seen the holy unction21 I have who had taken him and held him by the shoulders when he
placed on you in order to establish you as sovereign pastor, tried to enter the ark, as you heard about earlier. And with
after Me, to watch over My new sheep, that is, the sovereign this same unction were anointed all the kings from the time
bishop to keep My New Law, Christianity. Just as Moses, My Christianity came to England until the time of Pendragon,
new servant, was22 minister and leader of the sons of Israel, who was King Arthur’s father. Nor do those who recount
through the power I gave him, in the same way you will be the adventures [185] know very well why he was called
the guardian of this people, for they will learn from your Pendragon, for it is well known that he was given the name
mouth how they should serve Me, and how to maintain the Uther in baptism, but the chronicle of this book will tell
New Law and keep to My faith.” farther on very clearly why he was called this, and how this
Then Our Lord took Josephus by the right hand and unction was lost when he was about to be crowned.26
pulled him close to Him, so that all the Christians there saw Once Josephus was anointed and consecrated, just as
clearly His appearance and the angels who were around you have heard, Our Lord put the crosier in his hand and
Him. Then a white-haired man came before the ark, the miter on his head. And on his finger He put a ring no
wearing on his shoulders the richest vestments any earthly mortal man could imitate, nor could he describe the power
man had ever worn. After him came forth another who was of the stone. Once He had prepared all these things, as you
marvelously handsome and young, carrying a crosier in one have heard, He called him and said, “Josephus, I have
hand and in the other a pure white miter. The crosier was consecrated and anointed you as a bishop, in such dignity
also white, while the handle was red. After these two had as you and My other people who are here have seen. Now I
come forth, they dressed [183] Josephus in all these will tell you what these vestments you have put on mean, for
vestments: first the sandals, and then the other things a no one should wear them if he does not do what the
bishop should have. Once he was dressed, they sat him on a meaning requires. This shoe you have put on means that
throne that was ready there through the will of Our Lord, you must take no step in vain; you should keep your feet
who wanted to make him comfortable23 in every way. from taking the way of wrongdoing, but should go praying,
This throne was so noble that no man who saw it could preaching, and helping the helpless—this is the way you
say for sure of what it could be made. All those who made must make your feet work, for I want you to keep to the
splendid things, many of whom later came to see it, said Scripture, which says, ‘Blessed is the man who does not
that in all the world there were no rich stones like those in follow the advice of the wicked and who does not [186]
the throne. And those who see it now say the same thing, take his feet where the traitorous and the sinful go and who
for it has never left the city, but has been kept as a relic does not sit on the throne of destruction, but puts his will
since Josephus left. Nor has any man ever sat in it since and strength into accomplishing the commandments of the
then without dying upon standing up, or without being law of Our Lord, keeping all his thoughts on this night and
wounded before standing up. And later a wonderful day.’27 Your feet should walk in this way, for they should
miracle occurred, when the city was taken by a Saracen king not take any step in vain.
who was making war on the land. After finding the throne “Next I will tell you about the other vestments. The
and seeing it to be so splendid, he said that he prized it one you have put on over your tunic symbolizes chastity, for
more than the entire city and that he would take it to this is a virtue through which the soul, when it leaves the
Egypt, the land where he was king. There [184] he would body, departs white and clean and pure, thus harmonizing
sit on it every day that he wore his crown. But when he tried with all the good things of the soul, that is, with all the
to carry it away, he was not able to, for neither he nor any qualities it contains. Thus, you must first have chastity
man could move it from the place where it was. And he said inside you, in order to make of it the foundation on which
that he would sit on it anyway, even if he could not carry it to establish all the other virtues. The other vestment on top
away. As soon as he was seated, Our Lord took such great of it, which is just as white, symbolizes virginity. Just as
vengeance that both of his eyes flew out of his head. Thus virginity cannot be in any place unless chastity be in its
Our Lord showed that this was not a throne or chair for any company, likewise no priest should put this one on top
mortal man except for the one for whom He had prepared before putting on the one underneath. This other
it. And He performed many other miracles there that the vestment, which covers the head, symbolizes humility,
story does not speak about here, but will when the time and which is contrary to pride, for pride always goes proudly,
place come, farther along.24 with its head raised, but humility goes gendy and sofdy,
When Josephus was seated on the throne, all the angels with head bent. The priest should go this way, in great
came before him. And Our Lord anointed and consecrated humility, with head bent28—not like the Pharisee in the
him in the way a bishop should be, so that all the people temple when he said in prayer, ‘Good Lord God, I thank
you for not making me as treacherous as my neighbors,’ but
21“And the service” omitted, as in Ponceau and Sommer.
22“Was” supplied from Ponceau. 25“Ampulla,” as in Ponceau and Sommer (Hucher has
23“Make him comfortable,” as in Hucher variants and “lamp”).
Ponceau (Hucher has “esfalchier,” perhaps a lapsus for 2&The origin of Uther Pendragon’s name is explained in the
“essalchier,” “to honor”?). Merlin, see Chapter 3.

24Despite this announcement, the throne is mentioned only 27See Psalm 1,1-2.
once more, briefly (see Chapter 13).
28‘The priest. .. with head bent” supplied from Ponceau.
The History of the Holy Grail 27

like [187] the Publican who did not even dare look up, so the sinner and urge him to confess and lead him by words
afraid was he that God might become angry because he was so that he causes him to confess his sins, to God’s honor
so full of sin; and he was far away from the altar, beating his and the devil’s shame. Once he has anointed him with his
chest with his fist, saying, ‘God, Lord, have mercy on this words, so that he has led him to mercy, then he must prick
sinner.’29 He who would accomplish the works of humility him with the bottom of the staff, that is to say that when the
should take care to act in this way. priest has softened the sinner enough to make him
“Now I will tell you what this next thing, which is acknowledge his Creator and deny the devil, then he must
green, symbolizes. Neither this one nor the one on top prick him, for he must impose the burden of great
should be put on by a priest unless he is a bishop. The penitence. It is pointed and sharp in order to make him
green object symbolizes patience, which will never be expiate in sorrow what was done in joy. Thus the top serves
vanquished but is always verdant and has the same power at to call to mercy, and the bottom to take vengeance.
all times. It always wins victory and honor if anyone besets “Now I will tell you what the ring on your finger
it, for no one can vanquish his enemy as well as through symbolizes. It symbolizes marriage, for when the bishop is
patience. consecrated, he is joined to Holy Church in marriage, and
“This other vestment on top of the one that is so white henceforth he must keep it in health and in sickness as his
symbolizes justice, for all those who wish to protect Holy loyal spouse. [190] And once he has accepted marriage, he
Church faithfully uphold justice. Justice is a virtue of such must not abandon it, either in prosperity or in adversity,
nobility that through it all things are maintained as they that is to say, either in good times or in bad times. If Holy
should be. Nor will it ever change. And to each one will be Church suffers tribulations or misfortunes, he must share in
rendered what he has deserved; justice favors no one out of them, for the Gospel says, ‘Blessed are they who bear
love, nor does it disfavor anyone out of hate. Whoever troubles and difficulties in order to uphold justice.’36 He
wishes to uphold justice must behave this way. who wishes to be a loyal spouse to Holy Church must act in
“This band hanging on your left arm signifies this way. And he who acts otherwise is not a loyal spouse but
abstinence, for the body should be tied to abstinence30 just adulterous, for he belies his marriage, which he should
as [188] the arm is tied with this band. One of the great watch over faithfully.
virtues is to be abstinent in the midst of great abundance. “Next you should know what this horned hat on your
This virtue is thus one of the limbs of justice. And if you head signifies. It symbolizes confession; that is why it is
want to know why this band is on the left arm rather than completely white, for confession is the whitest thing that
on the right, I will tell you. It is because the right arm exists, since it is the purest. No man is ever so filthy or so
should serve only to dispense, and the left to hold back.31 poisoned with sin that true confession will not make him
“Now I have told you about the armband. Next I will completely white and pure. And do you know why it has two
tell you about the one around the neck. The one around horns? Because there are two parts in a confession. The first
the neck signifies obedience, for just as the ox bears the is repentance, and the second is satisfaction. Repentance is
plowman’s yoke, you must bear Our Lord God’s yoke, and when a man comes to the priest and confesses his sin,
you must obey His commands just as the ox obeys the completely abandoning it, so that he no longer returns to
plowman.32 This last vestment on top of all the others it. This man comes to repentance, but he is not truly [191]
symbolizes charity, for it is completely red. He who is confessed until he makes satisfaction. Satisfaction is when a
charitable is warm and red, just like a burning coal, and is sinner recognizes his sin, does the penance the priest
desirous and concerned to hold dear what he must, that is, charges him with, and undergoes the suffering sincerely
to love God his Lord with all his heart and all his mind, and and with good will. This means that no one can be
next, to love his neighbor as himself.33 Charity places the confessed if he does not have the head and the two limbs of
same value on all things and loves all things equally. [189] confession: the head is to confess his sin; one of the limbs is
It considers nothing foreign and likes the neighbor’s things to keep from sinning, while the other is to complete the
as its own. He who wishes to hold to charity lives in this way. penance imposed. Nor can any man be truly confessed if he
‘This crosier you are holding in your hand symbolizes fails in any one of these three things. Because confession is
two34 tilings, vengeance and mercy: vengeance, because it is the highest thing that exists—the one that repairs37 in one
pointed at the bottom; mercy, because it is curved on top. stroke all the injuries and losses—it is symbolized by this
For the top part—that is, the bishop35—must first of all call hat, which crowns all the vestments.
“Now you are anointed and consecrated, and I have
given you the order and rank of bishop to teach My people
29See Luke XVIII, 9-14.
and honor My New Law. I want you to watch over their
30“For the body . . . abstinence” supplied from Hucher
souls. I will ask you about any I lose through your failings
variants and Ponceau.
and lay the blame on you, on the great and terrible day
31“And the left to hold back” supplied from Hucher variants
and Ponceau. when I take vengeance and do justice for every misdeed,

32“You must bear . . . plowman” supplied from Hucher when everything hidden in the [192] heart is revealed. And
variants and Ponceau. if I find you to be a loyal servant of this small new people,
33“As himself,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher whose souls I entrust to you, I will give you a domain a
has “a estroit conseil,” “secretly”?).
34‘Two,” as in Hucher variants, Ponceau, and Sommer 36See Matthew V, 10.
(Hucher has “three”).
37“Repairs,” as in Hucher variants, Ponceau, and Sommer
35‘That is, the bishop” supplied from Ponceau and Sommer. (Hucher has “receives”).
28 The History of the Holy Grail

hundred times better, just as the Gospel promises those When he stood up again, all he saw before him on the
who leave their property38 for My love.39 Because I paten was a piece in the semblance of bread. He took it,
commend these souls to you and make you their shepherd, raised it on high, and after giving thanks to his Creator,
I want you to be their spiritual guard. And I am confiding opened his mouth to put it inside. He looked and saw that
to Joseph40 the care of the body, for I want him to provide it was still an entire body. When he started to pull it back,45
and dispense those things the body needs. Now come he could not, for he felt that it was being put inside his
forward, and you will celebrate the sacrament of My flesh mouth before he could close it. After he had eaten it, it
and My blood, so that all My people will see it clearly.” seemed to him that all the sweet and delectable things
Thereupon Our Lord led Josephus up to the ark so one’s tongue could name had entered his body. Next he
that all the people saw him enter it. And they all saw it grow received part of the holy consecrated drink that was in the
and become larger so that all were comfortably inside. And chalice. Once he had done this, he saw an angel take the
they saw the angels come and go before the door. There paten and the chalice and put them both on the holy dish,
Josephus celebrated the first sacrament ever done for this one on top of the other. On the paten he saw several pieces
people, but it was completed very quickly, for he said only that looked like bread. After the angel had taken the dish,
these words, which Jesus Christ said to his disciples at the another one came and raised the paten on high along with
Last Supper: “Take41 this and eat it; this is My flesh, which what was on top of it, and carried it with both hands outside
for you and many other people will be delivered over to of the ark. And the third angel took the chalice and carried
agony and torment.” Likewise, he said about the wine, it away in the same way after him, while the one carrying
‘Take this and drink it all, for this is the blood of My New the holy dish was last of all. [195]
Law, My very own, [193] which will be shed for you, in When all three of them had left the ark, so that all the
remission of your sins.”42 These words were said by people saw them, a voice spoke and said, “My small people,
Josephus over the bread he found prepared on43 the paten newly reborn in spiritual birth, I send you your salvation,
covering the chalice; and the bread immediately became that is, My body that suffered physical birth and death for
flesh, and the wine, blood. Then Josephus saw clearly that you 46 Now take care therefore that you have true faith to
he was holding between his two hands a body just like that receive and eat such a lofty thing, for if you believe
of a child, and it seemed to him that the blood he saw in perfecdy that this is your Savior, you will receive it to the
the chalice had fallen from the child’s body 44 Seeing this everlasting salvation of the soul. And if you do not believe it
frightened him so much that he did not know what to do. completely, you will receive it to the everlasting damnation
So he remained silent and began to sigh and weep in great of the soul and the body. He who eats of My body and
anguish because of his great fear. drinks of My blood and is not worthy of it, will eat and
Then Our Lord said to him, “You must break apart drink his destruction. Nor can anyone be worthy of it if he
what you are holding so that there are three pieces.” is not a true believer. Now take care therefore that you
Josephus replied, “Oh, Lord, have mercy on your believe it.”
servant, for my heart could not bear to break apart such a Then the angel who was carrying the paten came
beautiful figure.” before Joseph, who knelt and received with joined hands
And Our Lord said to him, “If you do not obey My his Savior in visible form, as did each of the others, for it
commandment, you will have no part in My heritage.” seemed to each one that when the piece in the semblance
Then Josephus took the body and, putting the head to of bread was put in his mouth, he saw a completely formed
one side, broke it off from the trunk as easily as if the flesh child enter his mouth. After they had all received the
of the child were cooked like meat when it has been sacrament,47 the three48 angels went back inside the ark
forgotten on [194] the fire; next, fearfully, he broke the and put the vessels they were carrying on the altar.
rest into two parts. As he began to separate the parts, all the Then Our Lord called Josephus and said, “Josephus,
angels before the altar fell to their knees on the ground. [196] you shall serve Me in this way every day from now on,
They remained there until Our Lord spoke and said to you and all those whom you invest with the order of priest
Josephus, “What are you waiting for? Take what is before and bishop. And if you ordain a priest, you will put your
you and eat it, for this is your salvation.” When Josephus hand on his head and make the sign of the cross in the
heard Him, he knelt and beat his chest and cried for mercy, name of the Trinity. But to consecrate a bishop, you must
weeping about all his sins. do everything I did to you, for a bishop should be above a
priest. And all those who are invested with this honor will
38‘Those . . . property” supplied from Hucher variants, have the same power to condemn and absolve as My
Sommer, and Ponceau. apostles had on earth. Henceforth you shall establish a
39See Matthew XIX, 29, and Mark XX, 30. bishop in each city where My name is received through
40'Joseph," as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has
“Josephus”).
45“When he started to pull it back” supplied from Ponceau
41“Take,” as in Ponceau and Sommer (Hucher has “come”). and Sommer.
42See Matthew XXVI, 26; Mark XIV, 22; Luke XXII, 19; First 46“I send you ... for you” supplied from Hucher variants and
Corinthians XI, 23. Ponceau.
AT
43“On,” as in Hucher variants, Ponceau, and Sommer “Sacrament,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher
(Hucher has “under”). has "faith”).
44“And it seemed . . . body” supplied from Hucher variants, 48‘Three,” as in Hucher variants, Ponceau, and Sommer
Ponceau, and Sommer. (Hucher has “two”).
The History of the Holy Grail 29

your word, and he shall be anointed with this holy unction, therefore be three deities. No one could reasonably dispute
as shall all the kings who come to My faith through you. this, for any man who did could not reasonably prove or
Now the time is approaching when King Evalach will turn establish as truth that one of the three persons was a
from the wrong road of the idols to faith in the glorious complete deity in itself, once either of the others was
Trinity, for the knights are nearby who are coming to seek mentioned. If it were said that the Holy Spirit was a perfect,
Joseph to explain to him a great marvel that I showed him complete God, and that the three were only one deity, it
last night in a vision. Take off your vestments, and you and would be clear that one was worth as much as the three.
Joseph shall go together, and you shall make him certain of Thus it is true that the two are nothing when the third is
all the things he will ask you. Be not afraid if you see all the [199] honored; because the two persons lose their power
good clerks of their faith come against you, for you shall through the third, everyone can clearly see and recognize
vanquish all of them, so that they will not be able to contest that none of the three is a perfect and complete deity.”
your words. And I will give you such good grace in the eyes After the man had spoken so harshly3 against the
of King Evalach49 that you will tell him part of what is to Trinity, Joseph was very fearful about defending and
come, through the power of My Spirit. And all those who proving it. He did not know how to answer right away to
have received or who will receive My Spirit will have the show that what the other had said was wrong, for it did not
power to chase forth the bad spirits wherever they appear.” please Our Lord.
Thereupon Josephus went to take off his vestments, At once Josephus stood up and, speaking loudly
leaving them all [197] in the ark on the altar. Then he enough for everyone to hear him clearly, said to the king,
called one of his first cousins who was in the group, whose “King, listen to what I will tell you. This is sent to you by the
name was Lucan. Josephus assigned him to guard the ark, God of Israel, the Creator of all things. He says to you,
day and night. In our time this custom is still maintained in ‘Because you have brought your false advocates against My
the high churches, for the one who guards all the treasure faith, I have decided to take such great vengeance on you
of the church is called the treasurer. At that time it had that before the third day has passed, you shall fall into such
never been done, but then Josephus invested Lucan, just as great misfortune that you will not believe any living
you have heard; nor was Lucan chosen because he was his creature could keep you from losing all earthly honor first
cousin, but because he knew him to be more religious than and then your life.’ God will punish you this way because
any of the others. you do not want to accept the faith in His glorious name;
rather you have scorned and spurned the demonstration
He made last night of His secrets and miracles, which He
revealed to you in a vision. Because of this, the God of the
8. Josephus Preaches Before Evalach;
Christians sends you this message through the mouth of
Evalach Battles Tholomer.1 His4 servant who is speaking to you: He will give [200] your
mortal enemy glory and honor and victory over you for
At that point the king’s messenger came and told Joseph three days and three nights. Your power will be unable to
that the king was sending for him. Joseph and his son went sustain against him, nor will you dare await the man who
before him; upon leaving the palace, they crossed has always been unable to confront you in force until now,
themselves and commanded the others to pray that God, when he will defeat you through the betrayal of your
who is the guide of those who have lost their way, might counselors, who have gone over to him because of his great
lead King Evalach to the way of truth. When they came gifts.
before the king, he ordered them to be seated. And he told “Thus the God of the Christians will show you that no
Joseph^ to prove to him what he had said about the Father creature can survive who is not prepared to follow His
and the Son and the Holy Spirit—how they could be three commandment, nor will you ever recover the great honor
persons and only one God; and how the maiden had given you are beginning to lose, unless you recover it through His
birth without damaging her maidenhead; and how the Son help. If you consider me to be a liar about this thing, you
could be conceived without carnal relations between a man will soon hear news by which you will know that Our Lord
and a woman. [198] has shown me something about your adventures. You can
When the king had said this, Joseph stood up and said be sure that Tholomer5 the Fugitive, who is king of
the same words he had said earlier, and in this very way Babylonia, has prepared his entire army and is moving
proved it. After he had spoken, a clerk stood up, who was against you very rapidly. The God of the Christians also
held to be the wisest and the most instructed in their faith. says, ‘I will deliver the Unknown King into the hands of the
He spoke against Joseph, saying he said nothing, “for if the terrible Egyptians, because he fled from Me and did not
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were only one God, recognize Me. He who has always fled will pursue the one
none of the three was a complete, perfect God, or else the who has always pursued him and will lead him to the fear of
persons of the Son and of the Holy Spirit had no part in death, for I want to make him recognize that I alone am the
God. And if they were both completely divine, there would King of Kings and the Fortress of all peoples.’” [201]

49“In the eyes of King Evalach” supplied from Ponceau. 3“Against the deity and” omitted here, as in Ponceau and
Corresponds to Hucher II: 197-222; Sommer I: 42—51; Sommer.
Ponceau §58-72. 4“His,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “your”).
^“Joseph,” as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has 5‘Tholomer” may be a variadon of “Ptolemy.”
Josephus”).
30 The History of the Holy Grail

Then Josephus turned to the man who had spoken so “What!” said Evalach, “Is it true then that Tholomer
harshly against the Trinity and said, “Listen, you who have the Fugitive will lead me up to the fear of death and have
been against and spoken against the Trinity and the holy power over me for three days and three nights?"
belief in the Christian God; now hear what He tells you “Certainly,” said Josephus, “it is true, and there is no
through His6 servant who is speaking to you. ‘You,’ He says, living man who can change this.”
‘who are My creature, and who should obey My The king asked him how he could know this.
commandments everywhere, have condemned My faith and “Then you have not heard,” said Josephus, “how the
dishonored My name. Because I want you to know7 that you Spirit of the Christian God is so powerful that it causes the
have spoken against the One who has power over you and mute to speak and the blind to see clearly? That is, all those
all things, I will make you feel My earthly justice strike, so who have had no instruction will know all the power of the
that you will suffer from it. And the others will take warning Scripture through the grace of the Holy Spirit.” [204]
from what happens to you, for you have always had earthly “By my faith," said the king, “if it comes about as you
knowledge, but you have never wished to know the have related, I would rather be dead than alive, but I
spiritual, nor could you ever see it. And if you ever wished cannot believe any of it. Nevertheless, if I saw one of your
to speak of it, you would not be able to speak the truth. predictions come true, I would believe you better.”
Because you have been mute and blind in spiritual “King,” said Josephus, “when you see this happen to
knowledge, to which you should address all your words and you, you will believe me.”
clear sight, I will show you that earthly knowledge is “Can I avoid it?” asked the king.
powerless against the spiritual. In the sight of everyone “Yes, certainly," said Josephus, “but in only one way.”
here, I will take away from you [202] earthly speech and “And what is that?” said the king.
sight, for My Spirit is of such power that it will cause good “I will tell you,” said Josephus. “If you receive Jesus
speakers to become mute and the clear-sighted to go blind; Christ’s faith, and if you believe in it perfectly from the time
and it will cause the mute to speak well and the blind to see you receive it, you will have help and deliverance. But you
dearly.’” can be sure that whatever the mouth may say, if the heart is
As soon as Josephus had said this, his interlocutor lost not in it, you will not be delivered, for God is not someone
the power of speech. When he wished to speak, he felt in who can be tricked or deceived by appearances. Rather, He
his mouth a hand holding his tongue, but he could not see is of such deep wisdom that He knows everyone’s thoughts
it. He stood up in order to make a better attempt to speak, and sees everything hidden in the heart.”
but as soon as he had risen, he could see nothing. Feeling Then the king asked his name, and he said he was
this, he began to bellow so loudly that he could be heard called Josephus. And the king said, “Josephus, tell me
clearly as far away as one could shoot an arrow. And it whether the man who lost his speech and sight will ever
seemed to everyone who heard him that it was a bull. When recover them.”
the others saw this marvel, they were very wrathful. They all “King,” said Josephus,11 “have him taken before the
rushed upon Josephus and would have tom him to pieces8 gods in whom you believe, and you will hear what they reply
as best they could, but King Evalach jumped to his feet and, about the healing and the battle.”
taking a naked sword, swore by the power of Jove9 that he The king had him taken to the temple, and he himself
would have all those who put their hands on him massacred went as well, with Josephus and his father. The pagan
and put to death. [203] For they would have betrayed him priests made an offering at the altar of Apollo, whom they
if they had murdered Josephus under his safe-conduct, had called [205] the god of wisdom, and asked the image above
he not protected him against them. the altar how the man could be cured of his infirmity, or
Thus a tumult was raised throughout the entire hall. whether he would ever be cured. But no matter what they
The king called Josephus and asked him who he was. asked the idol, they could never get a word out of it. The
Josephus came forward and told him he was the son of king came forward and asked it what would be the outcome
Joseph. The king said to him that he spoke well and of the war, but he could not get an answer, any more than
truthfully about many things. Then he asked how he had the others. And the devil, who was in the statue of Mars,
taken away the power of speech and sight from the man whom they called the god of war, began to cry out, ‘Toolish
who had spoken against him. And Josephus replied that it people, what are you trying to do? There is a Christian
was not he who had taken away his power of speech, but the among you, who has so bound Apollo through the
Christian God, against whom he had spoken. It was He who commandment of Jesus Christ his God that he has no
had taken away his power of speech and his sight, “for this power to respond, nor will any god, wherever he may be,
is the God whose word can never be changed by anyone. As dare or be able to give a response once he has exorcised
He commands,10 so it must be.” him.”
As soon as the devil had said this, he began to cry out

“His,” as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has “your”). so loudly that it seemed to everyone in the temple12 that he

“Want you to know,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau was in a burning fire. And he said to Josephus, “Bishop of
(Hucher has “I see”). Jesus Christ, leave off what you are saying, for you are
8“And would have tom him to pieces” supplied from Hucher causing me to burn, and I will flee from here and go where
variants, Sommer, and Ponceau.
9‘Jove,” as in Hucher variants (Hucher has ‘Juise,” “the Last ^‘Josephus,” as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has
Judgment”). Joseph”).
10“Commands" supplied from Hucher variants and Ponceau. 12“In the temple” supplied from Ponceau and Sommer.
The History of the Holy Grail 31

you command." Thus the devil who was in Mars’s image city will remain in all the land that can withstand him, for
cried out, because of the exorcism Josephus had that is the strongest fortress you have. And he has made a
performed, for the latter so constrained and punished him vow before all his people and his nobles that he will never
that he left the image, in the sight of everyone in the [206] return to his land undl he has worn a crown in the city of
temple. He knocked the statue to the ground and broke Sarras.”
it13 into small pieces. Once he had done that, he took a When the king heard this message, he was very
very large golden eagle from the altar to the Sun and hit frightened, and even more so because Josephus had told
the image of Apollo with it in the face so forcefully that he him his enemy would have the upper hand for three days
broke the nose and the right arm. Then he went past all the and three nights and that he would reach the point of
idols of the temple, striking each one with the eagle until fearing death. But he had been so valiant that he dared not
he had broken a limb. appear to be afraid; thus he swore that if he could find him
The people were very frightened by this, for they saw at the siege, he would rather die in batde than be forced to
the marvels the eagle was doing, but they could not see who flee in a base manner. The king immediately had all his
was holding it, and this was the thing that scared them the forces summoned and sent a message to all his vassals that,
most. Then the king called Josephus and asked him what as they cherished his honor and their lives, they were to be
this could be that was breaking the images in this way. on the sixth day [209] completely armed at Tarrabel, a
Josephus replied that he should14 go ask at Mars’s altar. castle nine leagues from Sarras and six leagues from
The king went there and wished to sacrifice, but Josephus Evalachin, where Tholomer lay at siege. And he made
would not let him. Rather, he told him that if he made such known by his seal that anyone who had the power to defend
a sacrifice, he would die a sudden death. When the king himself and who did not, would never hold land from him
asked for a response at the altar, the devil said he dared not if he were a knight; and if he were a peasant, he would have
speak to him because of Josephus. The king asked him if he him dragged by horses before all his nobles.
had such great power over the gods, and the devil said that The next day when the king wished to set forth,
none of them [207] could speak in front of him if he did Josephus came to him and said, “King, you are leaving, and
not give them leave. The king beseeched Josephus to give you know not how, for you are not sure whether you will
him leave to speak, which Josephus did. ever return or whether you will die there. Now I will tell you
The devil said to the king, “King, do you want to know what to do. This is what the God of the Christians tells you:
why he has such great power? He has two angels with him you are to remember who you are and how you came to
who guide him and protect him everywhere he goes; one of such great dignity as you have had until today. And you
them holds a naked sword, and the other a cross. These two believe that no one knows who you are, or of what lineage.
held me so tightly, by his command, that they made me But I know it well, by the grace and power of the great Lord
break these images, just as you see. Nor will any of them from whom no secret can be kept.
ever be able to give an answer wherever this man may be, “You were bom, as the Holy Spirit showed me, in a very
because of the power that has been given to him by Jesus old city of France called Meaux. [210] You were the son of
Christ, his God.” a poor man, who mended old shoes, just as you yourself
Next the king asked him if the man who had lost his truly know. After Augustus Caesar had ruled the Roman
eyesight and speech would ever regain his health. And the empire for twenty-seven years, word spread that a man
devil replied, “King, if he recovers, it will not be through would be bom who would conquer the whole world. And it
our power, for we have none. He must be healed by the was true, for Jesus Christ, the God of gods and the King of
One whose commandment brought him the trouble. If not, kings, was bom in that year. When Augustus Caesar heard
he will never be cured.” the word, as the wise clerks had spread it, though they did
Then the king asked again what would happen to him not know who this would be, he feared that the lands under
if he fought the Egyptians, and the devil told him he had the domination of Rome would rise up and overthrow the
no power to tell it as long as God’s man was there. Josephus empire. Because of the certainty of this news, he sent word
quickly stepped forward and said to him, “I adjure you by through all the lands under Roman domination15 that
the power of the Holy Trinity to tell the truth about it.” And every man and woman should pay a denier16 in recognition
the devil replied that he knew nothing about what was to that they were subject to Rome. And since France had
happen. prouder people than the other lands, [211] he said that
At these words, a messenger arrived in great haste. He from that land they had to send as tribute one hundred
knelt before the king and said, [208] “King Evalach, I bring knights; one hundred maidens, all daughters of knights;
you very bad, disagreeable, and dangerous news. Tholomer and one hundred male children, five years old or younger.
the Fugitive has entered your land with all of his troops and “When the order arrived in France, each city chose
has already taken your rich city, Onage, by force, and all according to its status. And this selection was done by lot.
the land around up to the casde of Evalachin, which he has Thus it happened that the city of Meaux sent two maidens
besieged with thirty thousand cavalrymen and seventy who were the daughters of Count Sevain. Sevain was count
thousand foot soldiers. If he can conquer it, no casde or of Meaux and of the surrounding lands. Once the lot fell to

13“Statue” and “it” corrected to singular, as in Hucher 15“Because . .. domination” supplied from Hucher variants
variants and Ponceau. and Ponceau.
14Corrected to singular, as in Hucher variants, Sommer, and 16The denier was a small coin current in France in the
Ponceau. Middle Ages.
32 The History of the Holy Grail

them, it was absolutely necessary that it be honored. And After the king had listened to him very graciously, he
the lot fell to you, who were nearly five years old. These two said, “Master, now tell me what the vision was and what it
maidens took you with them and held you dear. And when means.”
you were in Rome, you were looked upon with wonder by “No,” said Josephus, “you will not find out about it
many and all, for they thought you were of nobler lineage until you have broken the images you worship and have
than all the other children, so very handsome were you.17 come to the faith in the High Lord by whose
“When you reached the age of twenty, the two maidens commandment every living thing is established.”
had died, for the one lived only two months after the “I must say,” said the king, “I dread this batde. You and
other’s death, and then you were retained by Tiberius your father are promising to give me advice that, if I trust it,
Caesar, who was emperor of Rome after Augustus Caesar. will give me victory [214] over my enemies and the great
He put you into the service of Count Felix, whom he made joy21 that will never end.”
count of Syria. Felix went to protect Syria, taking you with “Indeed,” said Josephus, “I will give you this advice, if
him. And he held you dear and loved you until one day you wish to trust it and put it to work. But if you do not
there was a quarrel between you and one of his sons, [212] intend to receive it as a true believer and a loyal worker,
whom you killed. Thus you fled to Tholomer Ceraster,18 take care not to promise, for you would be destroyed, in
who was at that time king of Babylonia. And this Tholomer body and in soul, by the One who will be the judge of all.”
was at war against Holofemes, who at that time was king of “By my faith,” said the king, “I swear to you that if you
this realm that you hold. When you came to him, you said advise me so that I see I will gain victory, I will no longer
that you were a knight; and he loved you well and increased hold to my present faith but will immediately receive
your wealth. You found such great favor with him that he yours.”
put his trust completely in you in regard to his war, because “King,” said Josephus, “listen then to what you shall do.
of the great prowess he saw in you. And you did well, for Have your shield brought to me.” And he did so. Once it
you conquered all the land, and you turned his enemy over was brought, Josephus asked for a piece of rich red silk.
to him as a prisoner. You killed him, and Tholomer gave The king had this brought; Josephus22 then took the cloth,
you all the land, and you became his liegeman. cut it, and made a cross that was a good foot long and a
“Now you can see whether I know anything about you. half-foot wide. He pulled it over the straps of the shield and
Because you know very well that you rose from such poverty attached it securely with small nails. After [215] that, he
to such high rank and from such a lowly condition to such said, “King Evalach, do you see this sign?”
great honor, the God of the Christians sends you this “Yes,” said the king.
message through me: may you remember yourself, may you “Surely," said Josephus, “for anyone who fully believes
always have in mind that you came from nothing to in this sign, there is no earthly peril from which he will not
something. Because of this, even if you see that you have escape, as long as he calls on it sincerely. And do you know
such a large number of lands and people in your power, what you shall do? You shall cover it with white canvas, and
you should not take great pride in it, for it is not inalienably when you are in great need, when you fear death, uncover
yours; you are only the guardian of it all. One of these days it and23 call upon Him for whom we hold it dear and honor
you must leave it, for you are only a man, and perhaps you it sincerely. Every time you uncover the sign of God, you
will soon die as the poorest man in your kingdom. Because shall say, ‘God, who with this visible sign killed death, lead
of this, you should be humble and compassionate and me safely and honorably to receive Your faith.’ You may be
acknowledge your Creator, without whose commandment sure that if you call on Him sincerely you will not die, but
you [213] cannot live. And you should not consider will receive victory and honor. And I will tell you how to
yourself a king,19 for you will not hold your kingdom know whether this sign has protected you from death and
forever, but will abandon it sooner than you think. He who imprisonment and if it has given you victory.
will always reign without end should be called King,' for His “It is a proven inevitable fact that your enemy
reign will never end at any time, but He will be King forever Tholomer the Fugitive will have power over you for three
and ever. This is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Virgin Mary. days and three nights, for He who sends you this message
He sends you this message through me because He20 wants through me has never lied and never will lie. Now take care
you to know that He knows all the thoughts and secrets of not to look at the sign until you fear so much for your life
the heart: He will put you in the hands of your mortal [216] that you think you will never escape. If you uncover it
enemy, and you will acknowledge Him and know that one at that time, you will escape. Then you can be sure that it is
should believe in and worship no other God but Him. And because of the sign. Remember too that if your faith is firm,
He will torment you in this way because you have refused you will conquer anything you desire through the sign, for
His faith and scorned the vision He showed you.” it is the salvation of believers and the ruin of the devil and
all unbelievers.”
17 Then the king said to Josephus, “Pray to your God that
Corrected to singular following Hucher variants, Ponceau,
and Sommer. He remember me, for if He does what you have promised, I
18This may be Ptolemy Soter, a ruler of Egypt and founder of
the Ptolemaic dynasty.
21“J°y,” as *n Hucher variants, Sommer, and Ponceau
19“And you should not... king” supplied from Hucher (Hucher has “glory”).
variants and Ponceau. oo

^‘The king .. .Josephus” supplied from Ponceau.

20“Sees you and” omitted here, as in Hucher variants and QQ
“And do you know . .. and” supplied from Hucher variants
Ponceau.
and Ponceau.
The History of the Holy Grail 33

swear to you loyally that I will receive your faith from your fortified, so that it did not fear attack by any man alive.
hand as soon as I return." Then he called one of his Because he had never seen such a defendable piece of land,
officers, the one he trusted the most among his bailiffs, and King Evalach had had it constructed. And he had given it
ordered that the Christians be honored and have anything the name Evalachin because he wanted all those who would
Josephus ordered. use its name to remember his name and what he had done.
Then the king left with a large company of knights and When the king was one league away from the castle, he
men-at-arms. They traveled until they reached Tarrabel, entered a beautiful forest he possessed there and ordered
where the king waited until his army arrived on the his men to arm themselves. While they were doing this,
seventh24 day. There were more men than had ever been along came a spy who had been sent to the enemy camp in
seen together before, and yet none of his leading the morning. He recounted that the enemy was seated at
noblemen came, for they had failed him, as the book dinner; and it was very close to the hour of nones. As soon
recounted earlier.25 as die king’s men were armed, they moved out. Leaving the
On the eighth day the king set out from Tarrabel very forest, they entered a deep valley. And after they had
early in the morning with his entire army. They rode at a climbed the next knoll, they had a clear view of the enemy
rapid pace straight to Evalachin, where Tholomer lay at and the casde. Upon seeing them, the enemy began to cry
siege. This castle [217] called Evalachin had been built by out, “We are betrayed! Betrayed!” and those who were not
Evalach, and it sat on the most easily defended piece of armed ran to arm themselves. But there were few who were
land any man had ever seen, for it could not be taken by not fitted out in their armor, for they thought Evalach
any kind of force other than starvation. It had a gate that would not allow for long the siege around the casde. Thus
no attacking army could control and thereby prevent those they kept their arms near them, for they thought there
on the inside from entering or leaving, for it was26 above might be a surprise attack.
the level of dry ground, and underneath it flowed a rapid Evalach’s men rushed upon them, giving the horses
and torrential river as wide as a bow could shoot an arrow. their head and going as fast as the horses could carry
This gate could not be destroyed by those outside unless them—so fast that never before had anyone come more
they blockaded the city with ships first. But the city could precipitously. And the enemy received them as fiercely as
not be blockaded because no fleet hostile to the city’s they could, those on foot killing a great number of their
inhabitants could hold out at close distance for long. horses as they arrived [220] with such haste. Evalach’s men
The castle was situated in such a way that the charged them fiercely, killing a great number of those on
foundation was entirely of stone as high as one could throw foot, many of whom were unarmed. Great losses of men
a rock, with only one gate. At this gate there was enough and horses occurred there, so that there were certainly
flat ground so that two carts could enter at once. The flat fifteen thousand dead on both sides. King Evalach lost so
part was no more than thirty feet long. Thus no man or many of his men there that he could not continue the
[218] siege could hold out there, for it was too near the battle, but turning his back, fled toward a castle of his
gate, and there was too litde room. And the castle above called La Choine, which was less than two leagues away.
was neither weak nor open, but was completely surrounded When Tholomer saw him flee, he was delighted, and he
by a splendid wall, made entirely of green, beige, and white pursued him hody. But night, which fell rapidly, separated
marble. The tower was four times as high as the walls, and them.28 Tholomer lost many of his knights in the pursuit,
the rock it sat on was the best placed and most unassailable for those who were fleeing knew the gorges and defiles of
ever seen. the region very well, so they fled where they knew it was
On top of this outcrop sat the marble tower, so high safe, while the others pursued in wild disorder.
that from it one could see the walls of Baghdad gleaming So Tholomer gave up because29 it was night and
and the river Nile flowing in Egypt. Of such strength and returned to the shelters where he had left his equipment
beauty was the castle. And no matter how hot it got in the when the pursuit began. Meanwhile, those inside Evalachin
summertime, the castle’s inhabitants had sweet and cold had come out and fought with the men guarding the
water from a beautiful and delightful spring that emerged equipment and had defeated them and seized it all. When
at the foot of the tower. From this spring the27 stream Tholomer returned to his posidon before the casde, he
flowed through a beautiful flat area between the walls of found his tent tom to shreds and the pavilions ripped and
the castle and the tower. It flowed into this area through a knocked down. [221] This grieved him so much that he
copper pipe connected to a marble basin, from which the nearly went out of his mind. Then he swore he would never
casde’s residents took the water they needed. This area into leave the casde, unless half of his men stayed behind, until
which the water flowed through the pipe was the drinking he had starved die inhabitants out. Thus he remained that
place for the castle’s horses, and it was completely paved night.
with marble and was enclosed by a wall about fifteen feet After a while a spy came to him and said, “My lord,
high. Thus was the castle richly appointed and [219] things have never gone so well for any man, if you do not
lose your advantage by sinning. ”
“How is that?” said Tholomer.
24“Seventh,” as in Ponceau, Sommer, and context (Hucher
has “fifteenth”).
25See Chapter 4. 28“Which fell rapidly. . . them,” as in Hucher variants and
Ponceau (Hucher has ‘Tholomer charged them”).
26“Was” supplied from Ponceau.
29“Because,”as in Ponceau (Hucher has “par,” “at [night]”).
27“Beautiful and delightful spring. . . . spring the” supplied
from Ponceau.
34 The History of the Holy Grail

“My word,” said the spy, “King Evalach has withdrawn He took it right away and read it, for he knew how to
into La Choine with as many men as he could gather from read; and he saw that the queen, his wife, greeted him and
the battle, and you can capture him there with a very small asked him, by the faith he owed her, to leave La Choine
force. Then you will have concluded your war successfully.” immediately, for Tholomer was going to besiege it. This
“How do you know this for sure?” said Tholomer. letter astounded him; he called the messenger and said,
“I know it,” said the spy, “because I saw him enter the “Say there, how did my lady know I was at La Choine?”
casde. And if you had pursued him that far, you would have “My lord,” said the youth, “she had news of it last
captured him, for he remained at the gate as long as it takes night."
to travel a good league, before those inside would let him “Do you know,” asked Evalach, “who told her the
enter.” news?”
“As you hold your life dear,” said Tholomer, “take care “By my faith,” he said, “I don’t know for certain, but I
to tell me the truth.” saw her speaking privately with a man who is called the
“My lord,” said he, “if it is not as I have told you, hang master of the Chrisdans. After they had talked for a while, I
n
me. saw2 her crying very softly. Then she called me and ordered
At once Tholomer called his knights and revealed me to carry her letter as fast as this horse could go.”
everything30 the messenger had told him. And he said he Then the king called his knights and recounted the
wanted to go besiege the casde with half of his men, leaving marvel of Josephus, who had told the queen about the rout
the other half at Evalachin so that the equipment he had as soon as it had happened, as well as how he had fled to La
lost could not be turned against him. [222] Choine, and that Tholomer was coming to besiege it. As he
All the knights approved this, and he called his was saying this, along came a man-at-arms riding after the
seneschal, whose name was Nabur, and ordered him to company,3 carrying a bow in [224] his hand, and riding as
remain before the castle with half of his knights and men- fast as the horse could go. When he reached the king, he
at-arms, on horseback and on foot. The seneschal did what said to him, “My lord, your castellan of La Choine greets
Tholomer ordered and retained half of all his men. And you and asks that you think about what action to take in
Tholomer set out with the other half well before daybreak, order to avenge yourself, for Tholomer has come to besiege
because he wanted to reach La Choine Casde at dawn. Now La Choine, believing he will capture you inside. He has
we will leave off speaking of Tholomer and tell you about brought only half of his men; the others have remained
King Evalach. before Evalachin.”
When the king heard this, he called his knights and
said to them, “Lord knights, have you heard how the
Christian told the truth in everything, so that I have not yet
9. Evalach and Tholomer Join in Battle
found him in a single lie? Now you can hear that Tholomer
Again.1 is lying at siege just as Josephus told my lady the queen.”
Thereupon the king turned and headed straight for
Now the story says that after Evalach had entered La Sarras. After the company had traveled about two short
Choine to protect himself, he called one of his men-at-arms leagues, those at the tail end of the army looked and saw a
and ordered him to leave the casde and find out whether large company of men on horseback and on foot, all of
Tholomer was nearby or whether he had returned to whom were armed, coming out of the thick forest. There
Evalachin. The man followed the enemy long enough to could well have been four thousand men or more. They
see them dismount and returned to tell Evalach. He also pointed them out to the king, who immediately ordered all
told him about the great booty the men of Evalachin had his men to arm themselves. As they were doing so, one of
won from those guarding Tholomer’s equipment. When the men from the other side rode out. He came toward the
Evalach heard this news, he was very pleased and swore that army riding at a rapid pace, with his helmet on his head, his
even if he were to be cut to pieces in batde, he would fight shield hanging from his neck, and grasping his spear in the
Tholomer; as soon as he reassembled his men, he would go middle. When the king saw him [225] coming, being
to lay siege more fiercely than anyone before. already armed (as he dared not ride without his arms), he
He left the castle at once, taking with him four went himself to meet him. And when they met, the other
thousand seven hundred knights and men-at-arms and man came forward, removed his helmet, and told the king
nineteen hundred foot soldiers. [223] Before daybreak they that he was welcome. The king looked and saw that it was
had gone five leagues from the castle. When day came, as his brother-in-law, one of the men in the world who he
the company followed its way, along came a messenger on a thought hated him the most.
big draft horse, riding as quickly as the horse could carry The man said, “My lord, I heard that you were defeated
him. Upon seeing the king, he greeted him, saying, “My and that Tholomer had besieged you at La Choine. The
lord, my lady the queen greets you and sends you this queen, my sister, sent a message to me during the night, at
letter.” midnight, telling me that if I ever loved her, and if I did not
wish to see her delivered over to shame, that I should come
^“Everything,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “aiant,” which to help you with all my forces. I was coming to help you
seems to be a lapsus).
Corresponds to Hucher II: 222-244; Sommer I: 51-58; o
“I saw” supplied from Ponceau and Sommer.
Ponceau §73-87.
“Company,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
“queen”).
The History of the Holy Grail 35

with all the forces I could gather in such haste, but it seems believe there were one-fourth as many men in the city as
to me that things are much better than she told me.” they saw come out. Nevertheless, they received them well,
The king thanked him warmly and said, “My dear for they were more confident, having defeated the king and
brother-in-law, since you have thus undertaken the matter, pursued him twice.
you must help me to the end. One cannot know his friend In this first melee Tholomer’s men lost a great deal,
very well until the need arises, for the distress of great for they had ridden all night without resting and thus were
necessity reveals great friendship and makes it known. exhausted. And Evalach’s men had rested and slept all
Because my need is so great and so distressing, like that of night, so they were stronger and more alert. [229] Evalach’s
someone who is losing his land and who has been twice men fought well, but he himself fought so well that no
routed from the batdefield, I pray and beseech you to help other man of his age could undertake what he did. And
me defend your sister’s land and avenge my shame. And I Seraphe, his brother-in-law, also fought so fiercely that for
promise you, as king, that I will [226] honorably his feats he earned such a great reputation and such great
compensate the hatred I had for you by setting things right, honor that it was talked about ever after, all the days of his
on my knees, within a week after I return to Sarras, life and many a day after his death.
provided I return in honor; and this will be in your house, Nevertheless, Tholomer’s men withstood a good deal,
in the sight of your nobles.” till, overcome and no longer able to resist, they turned and
“My lord,” the other said, “many thanks. I’ll tell you fled. And King Evalach and his men pursued them hotly
what we will do. We will all go to your city, Orcaut, for it is until they came to the defile of a very high cliff, the most
the richest city in your land. There we will wait for your perilous pass in the land. This rock was as high as one could
men, whom we will convoke, and we will hear news of King throw a stone by hand, and it stretched on the right side up
Tholomer more quickly than we would at Sarras.” to a river called Cordaniste that flowed through Orcaut.
The king followed this advice. Thus they headed And on the left side, it went all the way to the clearing4 of
direcdy for Orcaut, taking all their men. When they arrived, Babel. In all of this outcrop there was only one pass, and it
it was already past the hour of nones. The king sent his was so narrow that there was no way in the world that ten
messengers throughout the region to announce that men could enter at once. Up to this pass came Evalach’s
anyone who wished to hold land or honor from him should and Tholomer’s men. Such a great massacre occurred
help him in this need. As a result, before the hour of prime there, and so much blood was shed, that the color still
the next day there were seventeen thousand men, some on appears in the rock and will show until the end of the
foot and some on horseback, at Orcaut, in addition to world.
[227] those that he and Seraphe, his brother-in-law, had At this pass Tholomer’s men defended themselves as
brought. As soon as it turned dark, the king left the city and well as they could; some of them kept up the fight [230]
rode with his men straight toward La Choine. His knights while the others traversed the pass until most of them had
told him that it would be foolish to attack Tholomer with so gone through. But there were many dead and killed on
few men as he had; that he should wait for his men for both sides. Since then the rock has been called the Rock of
three or four days more; “then, when you have all your Blood because of the blood that was shed there.
forces, you will be able to combat him more easily.” When they had all been pursued beyond the pass and
Because of his noblemen’s advice and counsel, the had fled about a half league, with Evalach’s men close
king returned to the city. When daybreak came, his men behind, they looked and saw their lord, Tholomer, who was
began to cry out, “Betrayed, betrayed! To arms!” The king coming at the back of the army, for he had not yet come to
leapt up, and the knights climbed up on the walls of the the siege. Rather, he had sent his men ahead, for he did
tower. They saw Tholomer’s entire army coming not think King Evalach had as many people at Orcaut as he
precipitously across the fields, already attacking the city on had. When he saw from a distance those who were fleeing,
all sides. When the king saw this, he was very angry, not so he ordered those in his retinue who were not armed to take
much because of the siege as because of his men, for he up their arms. He himself came first of all to meet the
knew that no matter how many came to him, they would be fleeing men, asking what had happened to them. They
captured by those outside. Then the king ordered all his replied that they had found King Evalach at Orcaut with all
men to arm themselves quickly; once they were armed, he his forces and that he had killed so many of them at a
ordered them to go forth more fiercely than any men ever difficult pass that they could not be counted.
did from a castle [228] or a city. And when they were ready, “What!” said Tholomer. “Did he then come out from
they did so. the city?”
Next he sent word to the city watchman, ordering him “Indeed,” said they, “you’ll be able to see him soon, for
that if he held his life dear, the city should be closed as he is coming after us5 as fast as the horses can go, bringing
soon as they were all outside, so that no man might then set a great and handsome troop of knights.”
foot therein unless he himself ordered it. When Tholomer heard this, he ordered his men [231]
With that they went forth, led by Seraphe, the king’s to stop and to lower his banner. Then he said to all his
brother-in-law, who had the first battalion. Once they met knights that, as they held their lives and their honor dear,
in battle, no rein was held in; rather, the king and all the
others charged together, holding their shields before their 4“Clearing,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
chests and their lances stiff under their arms. When “bed”).
Tholomer’s men saw them advance so boldly, they were 5“Us,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
frightened that so many had spurred forth, for they did not >u”).
36 The History of the Holy Grail

as well as his, not one of them should rush forward until he had lost a good number of his men at the pass in the
they saw him move out first. He himself was a very good rock, which the story spoke about, just as you have heard.
knight, and he had a great deal of experience in war as the Then Evalach called his knights and said to them,
young bachelor that he was, for he was not yet more than “Lord knights, you see very well how important it is for you
twenty-seven years old. to be brave today, as they have two or three men for each
When Evalach saw the men stop, he reasoned, as one one of us. But there is something that should give us
who had seen many similar situations, that the place where comfort and courage: we are in our own territory, and they
they had stopped was not lacking in armed strength. Then have attacked us wrongfully,14 as you all know. You may be
he called his knights and told them to go forward sure, truly, that if you are valorous and strong today, you
carefully,6 for he realized that Tholomer was not far away. will win honor and victory in the battle, and the [234]
They closed ranks7 and immediately moved forward at a Egyptians will never again confront you15 in batde or on a
walk until they were less than two bowshots away from their field. Do you know what you will do? I pray and beseech
enemy. Then Evalach divided his men into four battalions, you to endure a great deal in the beginning. If you16 can
giving the first to Seraphe, his brother-in-law, who fought resist two or three attacks, you can be sure that as soon as
very well in the battle, as you will hear farther on. The you charge them, you’ll see them fight quite differently
second battalion was put in the hands of his seneschal, who from the way they do at the beginning. If we can defeat
was very bold and valiant.8 A nephew of his named them, let us now consider what great honor we will have,
Archimedes had the third battalion, while he himself, who for we can see that they have twice as many men as we have.
was very capable of leading it, had the fourth. [232] After I don’t know what else to say, but we should all know very
he had thus divided them, he called one of his knights, a well what honor is and what shame is. Therefore, let us be
valiant and loyal man called Jecoine of the Clearing. sure that fear of death or imprisonment will not cause us to
Evalach ordered him to return to guard the pass in the rock do anything that would dishonor us forever or be a source
so that Tholomer’s men could not traverse it if they arrived of reproach to our children after our death.”
there safely. And he ordered all those who had remained in After saying this, he looked and saw two battalions
the city to go with him, leaving no more than one hundred coming from the other side, all ready to join battle. When
to defend the town, should an ambush occur by chance. Seraphe, his brother-in-law, who had the first battalion, saw
Jecoine left at once and did as his lord had commanded. them move out, he rode out to meet them just as if he
When Tholomer saw that Evalach had set up his expected to find them unarmed. Once the two had come
battalions, he did the same. Dividing his men into eight within a bowshot of each other, they rushed headlong
battalions, he said9 that the first two would join battle together as fast as the horses could carry them. And when
against Seraphe’s battalion and the next two would go [235] King Evalach, who had remained behind,17 saw
against the seneschal’s battalion.10 And he ordered that the Seraphe, whom he had often treated unjustly and hated
next two should join battle with that of Evalach’s nephew, without cause, attack his enemies so boldly, risking death or
whose name was Archimedes, for it was he who led the captivity for his sake,18 he felt such great pity that he began
third battalion. He himself would meet Evalach in battle to sigh from the depths of his heart and shed soft tears.
with the seventh battalion.* 11 The eighth would form the Seeing him advance on the strong warhorse, his
rearguard, which would attack when the battle had been helmeted head bent forward, the thick shaft of his lance
going on for a long time, and would rush against the enemy under his arm, and his shield pressed to his arm, quick and
so fiercely that they would leave defeated.12 [233] So he ready to fight well, he said, “Ah! Alas! Woe! He who has
decided that all his battalions would join in battle, two by kept such a friend from me has killed and betrayed me!”
two, for he had half again as many men as did Evalach. And dien he said, “My dear friend, Seraphe, I cannot die
Thus the battalions were organized on both sides. In until you have been well rewarded, for you are doing more
each of Evalach’s battalions there were ten thousand three for me than you should, for, truly, I have not deserved it. It
hundred men, some on foot and some on horseback. And is certainly true that a noble heart never flags. Now, go in
in each of Tholomer’s, there were five thousand13 or more; the keeping and protection of Him whose sign I carry, for if
He is a true God, as [236] has been affirmed, may He keep

“Carefully,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has you safe from shame and danger tonight, and may He send
“with confidence”). you the greatest honor you could have.”
'“Closed ranks,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher Now consider how gracious and compassionate is Our
has “stopped”). Lord, who deigns to listen to sinners so closely that He
Q
In the battle, as you will hear. . . . valiant” supplied from grants their prayers and requests when they are asked
Hucher variants and Ponceau. sincerely. As soon as Evalach had prayed to Our Lord as you
9Corrected to singular, as in Hucher variants and Ponceau. have heard, his prayer was immediately granted, for
10“Against Seraphe’s . . . against” supplied from Hucher
variants and Ponceau.
14“Wrongfully,” as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has
11 “With the seventh battalion” supplied from Ponceau. “with all their strength”).
12Literally, “under cover.” 15“You,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “us”).
1^The numbers seem to contradict the statement that 16“You,” as in Ponceau and Sommer (Hucher has “we”).
Tholomer had half again as many men as Evalach. One of 17
“Behind,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
Hucher’s variants reads “twenty thousand or more,” while two of
“with them”).
Ponceau’s variants read “ten thousand.” Numbers are one of the
most unstable elements in the manuscript tradition. 18“For his sake,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “his enemies”).
The History of the Holy Grail 37

Seraphe never fell into the hands of his enemies, nor did for a while. The enemy came on precipitously, as fast as
he receive any mortal wound. Rather, he won so much their horses could go, and they were so eager to fight that
earthly honor that all those who saw the battle said that if they were unable, and did not deign, to keep in order.
he alone had not been there, Evalach would certainly have Seraphe’s men did not move, but received them silently,
lost his life and his land forever that day, without recourse. letting them break their lances on them and slash their
But now let us return to the straight road of the story, shields and helmets. And they remained motionless under
which says that when Seraphe was joined in batde with the their blows while the enemy became tired. But with the two
two battalions, so great was the clash of lances on both sides battalions that had been defeated and the two that had
that anyone who heard it without seeing19 it would have attacked afterwards, their opponents were too numerous.
thought a great amount of wood was falling. Once the So Seraphe’s men suffered a great many blows, and the
lances were broken, and the knives and fauchards20 and the enemy23 began to push them back. When Seraphe saw that
big sharp steel battle-axes were drawn, there was such a his men were beginning to lose ground and were departing
great batde there, and the melee was so deadly on account so basely, he cried out and, firmly planted in his stirrups,
of the swords, batde-axes, and other metal arms with charged, grasping his batde-ax, and began to cut and slice
which21 helmets, shields, and hauberks were struck that it shields, helmets, and hauberks so fiercely that no armor the
seemed [237] to be a great marvel of blacksmiths. So many batde-ax struck well could withstand it.
limbs were cut off there that no tongue on earth could tell When Evalach’s seneschal, who had the second24
the truth of it unless the One who knows everything battalion, saw him recover so thoroughly that it seemed he
revealed it through His Spirit Now you will hear how this had arrived completely fresh and [240] new, he was
batde ended. astounded, for he was only waidng to see him dre before
Seraphe’s men fought very well at the beginning, but coming to his aid. In his great surprise he said, “Good
no feat of arms could be compared to his prowess, Lord! This man will never tire, even if everyone were to
performed with his hands, for he held a marvelously strong attack him. If I waited until he fell from the fatigue of
and sharp batde-ax in both hands. And he was tall and big fighting, I would never strike a blow! May I be damned if I
and strong-limbed, with broad shoulders. His arms were wait any longer! ”
large and muscular, while his hands were thin and square. Thereupon the seneschal and his companions rushed
He could spread his legs wide, so he sat very well on forward, straight to the two other battalions that had been
horseback. Everywhere he turned with his batde-ax, having formed to join25 batde with Evalach’s nephew. When the
thrown his shield into the press and with the reins over his men saw them coming, they charged them with great ardor,
arms, those he reached were struck so fiercely that they just as the two battalions had done to Seraphe’s men. The
could not recover. That day he struck many a blow, none of seneschal called his knights and told them to keep close
which [238] failed to cut an arm, hand, head, or body, ranks, “for if we can break through them,” said he, “I will
either a man’s or a horse’s; he did nothing but marvels. Not never stop undl I have gone to strike Tholomer among his
much had ever been said about his prowess, so that all men, even if there were [241] yet again as many men as
those who were watching him marveled. He himself there are.” His men stayed together as he had ordered, and
marveled no less than the others, but more, for it did not the enemy came on precipitously, assailing them fiercely,
seem to him that such marvelous prowess could come from for they outnumbered his forces. But no matter how hard
such a body as his. And he did not think it came from the they attacked, the enemy could not push them back the
One who gave it to him because of Evalach’s prayer, but length of the shaft of a lance. Rather, the seneschal broke
from the strength of his gods, not realizing they could not through and plunged among them all and, with no more
help him. He and his men fought well, pushing back the than three hundred knights, went to join battle with
two battalions to where Tholomer was, who was so grieved Tholomer’s battalion, where there could well have been
at seeing his men withdraw that he nearly went out of his five thousand men, on foot and on horseback. Upon
mind.22 King Evalach, who was very happy, pointed out to reaching them, he and his companions rushed among
his knights the wonders Seraphe was performing, saying he them and were as lost as if they had fallen26 into the sea.
was the one knight in all the world whose prowess he most The seneschal went into the middle of the entire battalion
wanted to have. and struck Tholomer so fiercely that he and his horse fell to
When Tholomer saw his men making way for Seraphe the ground all in a heap. And when the seneschal thought
and losing more and more ground, he was full of sorrow he could hold him by force, along came a knight who
and shame and sent in two more battalions. Seeing the struck him from behind with a lance between the
enemy’s impetuous charge, Seraphe ordered his knights to shoulders, just as he was leaning over Tholomer to strike
remain in close ranks and [239] undergo the devastation him with his sword. The blow was so strong that he fell on
top of Tholomer, flat on the ground. The seneschal’s men

19“Heard it without seeing” supplied from Hucher variants

and Ponceau. 23‘The enemy” supplied from Ponceau.
20A sort of shafted weapon. Originally, it was nothing more 24“Second,” as in Ponceau and context (Hucher has “third”).
than a scythe with a handle coming straight out of a shaft, used by
25“Had been formed to join” supplied from Ponceau and
peasants called to fight for their lords.
Sommer.
21“Hips and” omitted, as in Ponceau.
26“Had fallen,” as in Hucher variants, Ponceau, and Sommer
22“But from the strength of his gods. . .. out of his mind” (Hucher has “were”).
supplied from Hucher variants, Ponceau, and Sommer.
38 The History of the Holy Grail

gathered around them, in an effort to hold or kill directed to, regardless of what he might see.29 But let us
Tholomer, while his own men rushed forward to free him. leave him now; we will no longer speak of him but will tell
When King Evalach saw the melee in three places— about Seraphe’s men, who are still on the battlefield.
between Seraphe’s men and Tholomer’s first four
battalions; between [242] the seneschal’s men and the two
other battalions; and the seneschal against Tholomer’s
10. The White Knight.1
battalion—he was very anxious and ordered his nephew to
go to the aid of the seneschal’s men, while he went to
Here the story says that Seraphe’s men, who were engaged
rescue the seneschal.
in combat with the four battalions, as you have heard,
At these words, both battalions charged the enemy. As
conducted themselves marvelously and defended
soon as Archimedes attacked the two battalions that were
themselves vigorously. No men ever held out more bravely
fighting the seneschal’s men, those on the other side could
against such a fierce attack. [245] Those on horseback and
no longer resist, but turned and fled straight to Tholomer.
those on foot fought very well, but despite their feats and
King Evalach, who had joined combat with Tholomer,
prowess,2 they could not have resisted had it not been for
looked and saw his seneschal being led quickly away by men
Seraphe’s deeds. For he performed marvelous feats;
with great pointed iron maces. And he had three arrow
everything he did was worthy of being remembered. He
wounds in his body that foot soldiers had given him. When
found no knight so bold who, seeing3 Seraphe turn in his
the king saw him being led away so odiously, his
direction, would not willingly make way if he could.
companions cut to pieces and killed, he was so upset that
Battle-ax in hand, he cleared the ranks where he was
he nearly went out of his mind. He charged as fast as the
able to advance; he cut strong shields, sliced thick
horse could carry him, with all the knights [243] after him,
hauberks, cleaved helmets4 and visors; he slashed feet, legs,
and caught up with them at the slope of a knoll. There he
and arms; chests,5 heads, ribs, and thighs; he bathed his
found that they had already thrown the seneschal to the
battle-ax up to the shaft in the blood of men and horses. He
ground and were unlacing his helmet, while Tholomer was
alone sustained all his men and thwarted all the opposing
holding a naked sword to cut off his head, for this was the
forces, whose fear was focused on him. Not once did his
knight he hated most in the world. When Tholomer saw
strength diminish. All day he maintained such strength and
Evalach approaching so rapidly, he thought he could not
vigor that he himself was amazed, and he thought he would
hold the seneschal for long, for he would be rescued, so he
never tire of bearing arms. Where he saw the greatest press
pulled out a fauchard and struck him in the body from
and the largest mass of the battle, he rushed quickly and
below. Then he jumped on a horse27 and charged Evalach,
[246] willingly, desiring nothing else. And if he saw his
lance in hand. Evalach did likewise, and they met so
companions pull back and lose ground, he took charge of
furiously that the lances they held flew into pieces.
them all alone and recovered as vigorously as if his limbs
The melee broke out all around, and when the lances
possessed all their strength and power. Had it not been for
broke, the swords were drawn. A great and fierce battle
his deeds, his men could not possibly have resisted their
occurred there, and many men and horses were felled.
marvelous foe, but would all have left, defeated and routed.
King Evalach attempted to push the enemy back to where
Thus, his feats lasted all day long until past the hour of
the seneschal lay, but they put up such a strong defense
nones.
that it was impossible to break through or take any ground
And then a messenger came to Tholomer where he
from them until the two battalions that Archimedes had
was fighting and said, “My lord, upon my word, there is a
met in battle were defeated, as you have heard, and came
knight down there who is doing wonders, for all day he has
fleeing toward Tholomer’s battalion, which was fighting
withstood the melee and fray against four of our battalions.
hard. Archimedes and his men gave hot pursuit until they
If it were not for him, his men would have been defeated a
ran into Tholomer’s battalion28 and Evalach’s, who were
while ago, since for each one of their knights, we have two
[244] engaged in fighting pell-mell. When Tholomer saw
or more. He alone is holding out against them, so that all
them come fleeing, followed by those pursuing, he called
your men are fleeing before him.”
out his battlecry and charged Evalach’s men fiercely. And
When Tholomer heard this news, he wondered who
when those who were fleeing heard it, they turned their
the knight could be. “Now,” he said to the messenger, “go
horses back against their enemy, while those on foot shot
forward to Manatur, my brother, who is leading that
numerous poisoned arrows, killing a great number of
Evalach’s men.
The melee was great, and the fray was fierce, and many 29“See,” as in Hucher variants, Ponceau, and Sommer
(Hucher has “come”).
men were lost on both sides. But this time Evalach’s men
took great losses. When Tholomer saw that he was winning, Corresponds to Hucher II: 244-264; Sommer I: 58-66;
Ponceau §88-99.
he sent a messenger to the leader of the eighth battalion,
2“Prowess,” as in Hucher variants and Ponceau (Hucher has
ordering him, if he valued his life, not to attack until he was
“pourete,” “ordeal”?).
3“Seeing,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “voloit,” which would
27“On a horse” supplied from Sommer and Ponceau. give “wanting”).
28“Which was fighting hard. . . . battalion” supplied from 4The order of “helmets” and “hauberks” is reversed, as in
Ponceau and Sommer. Ponceau.
5“Chests,” as in Ponceau (Hucher repeats “feet”).
The History of the Holy Grail 39
battalion, and tell him I order him to attack them so holding the shield. The blow descended on the side, slicing
fiercely that no man will remain in the field.” the ribs and side all the way down to the waist, [250] and he
The messenger did what Tholomer ordered, and fell to the ground, dead.
Manatur was elated, for he was eager to fight. He and his When the others saw this blow, they were so frightened
men immediately charged [247] precipitously, assaulting that even the boldest retreated. Seraphe grabbed the dead
Seraphe’s men so fiercely that they made them fall back the knight’s horse and jumped into the saddle as lightly as if he
distance of a crossbow shot. This was a great and dangerous were unarmed and freshly arrived, then turned the horse
misfortune, for Seraphe had no more than twenty thousand toward them. Exposing his body to danger, he charged all
men, while the others numbered more than thirty alone, taking them on to the right and to the left so rapidly
thousand, for there were at least fifteen thousand men in that no one saw him stay in any one place; rather, it seemed
the last battalion. Unable to resist any longer, for no he was everywhere.
exploits could help, they were obliged to turn their backs. At that point the others who had carried out the
When Seraphe saw that defeat was imminent, he was so pursuit up to the pass returned, having captured and killed
upset that he nearly went mad. He began to brood and as many as they wished. When they saw the men who had
then to weep, saying, “Alas! What sorrow when I leave safe tarried there, they thought the knight had a number of
and sound yet vanquished! Nothing kills me except death’s Evalach’s men, and they rushed forward so fiercely that
long delay.” With these words, he grasped his batde-ax they pushed the melee back more than a stone’s throw by
again and cried out his battlecry to rally his men; but they the force of their arrival. Thus Seraphe was thrown to the
were so intent on fleeing that no admonition on his part ground, and his horse killed beneath him. Before he could
could make them turn back. Defeated, they all fled straight get up, more than two [251] hundred horses trampled his
toward the rock that Jecoine of the Clearing was guarding. body; he lay in a faint longer than it would take to go a half
When Seraphe saw them leaving thus, without rallying, league. They believed him to be dead, which made the
he and eleven of his knights turned their horses and good knights who had seen him perform so many marvels
charged where they saw the greatest press. It happened that very sad, for they would have preferred to take him alive if
he came upon Manatur, who was leading the large possible.
battalion, and he struck him with the battle-ax with both Thus Seraphe lay in a faint for a long time. When he
hands so fiercely that he cleaved him down to the regained his senses, he jumped up and grabbed the batde-
shoulders. The body fell to [248] the ground, and he went ax behind him where it had fallen. Meeting a knight, he
on so fiercely that anyone he met on his way was killed or struck him with the battle-ax he was holding with both
struck down wounded. hands, slicing through his left thigh and the saddlebow
Manatur lay dead on the ground, and his knights, who down to the saddle bands.7 The latter fell, and Seraphe
saw him fall, began to lament so loudly that their shouts grabbed the horse by the reins, put his foot in the stirrup,
and cries were clearly heard in the midst of the battle, and immediately jumped on it. Then he charged them,
carrying to the field where Evalach was fighting; it was a trampled and beaten as he was. When the knights who had
wonder to hear them. But Seraphe, who did not recognize felt sorry for him8 saw him mounted, they began to point
him, did not know whom he had killed. When he saw so him out to each other, for they had believed [252] he
much grieving over the body, he turned back and rushed would never get up from where he lay. He addressed
upon the men so fiercely that they all took fright. With the himself toward the main force and the thickest ranks he
few men he had, he drove them back. When they saw that could see, his batde-ax in hand. As he did so, he was struck
their opponents numbered only twelve, they were greatly so hard by an arrow in the left shoulder that half of the
ashamed that they had fled because of them, and they point appeared on the other side. Feeling that he was
angrily returned. wounded, he attacked as quickly as he had in the
Seraphe took heavy losses in this engagement, for they beginning, and the enemy began to shoot so many javelins
killed his horse and seven of his knights. Now Seraphe was and arrows that he and his horse were wounded in several
on foot on the field with four knights, and the enemy, who places.
numbered at least two thousand, charged.6 Here Seraphe Seeing that he could not withstand their shots, but
performed [249] marvelous exploits: he killed and felled feeling that he was not yet wounded to death, he plunged
horses, he slashed shields and helmets, he kept up the outside the press on his horse, which was strong and light-
melee so long that liis four companions were killed and cut footed, and headed straight for the melee where Evalach
down before his eyes. He had felled so many men and was, for he was more concerned about him than any other
horses, making a deep pile around him, that no one could living creature. When his opponents saw him leave, they
touch him except by throwing things. Seeing his spurred after him. He did not stop until he pushed
companions dead, he put his feet together, jumped over headlong into the press where he recognized Evalach’s
the fallen around him, and charged with his battle-ax banner. He saw Evalach’s men, who were very frightened
against a knight who had thrown a good many fauchards, and were being defeated because they did not see their
axes, and knives at him. When the latter saw him coming, lord. Crying out the royal battlecry again, he rallied and
he tried to dodge; as he did so, Seraphe hit him so hard on regrouped the men and charged Tholomer’s men. [253]
the left shoulder that the arm flew to the ground, still
7 Metal bands that linked the pommel to the cande.
6“Now Seraphe ... charged” supplied from Hucher variants 8“Who had felt sorry for him,” as in Hucher variants and
and Ponceau. Ponceau (Hucher has “who had seen him”).
40 The History of the Holy Grail

He began to perform such wondrous feats of arms that all Once he was nearby, he grabbed Tholomer’s reins® and
those on his side took heart and courage. Because of this, headed below the city. As they approached the battle,
their rout was less serious, so that they were more Tholomer heard the blows [256] clearly, closer than he
numerous on the field than Tholomer’s men. thought. And Seraphe was fighting so fiercely that all his
But they had lost Evalach and had no sign or news of assailants marveled even more than before, for it seemed to
him. Tholomer held him in a melee a good bow’s shot away them that he kept getting stronger.10 Then he cried out
from his people. Seraphe, who heard the noise, spurred Evalach’s batdecry so loudly that Evalach heard it.
that way and found him on the ground, his sword in hand, Tholomer said then, “Now, let’s think about returning
for his horse had been killed. Seeing Evalach defending soon, for I think they have seen us and have begun the
himself with no more than eleven knights against more pursuit.” They all spurred on together, the White Knight
than five hundred, Seraphe cried out to them and pushed leading by the reins Tholomer, who thought he still saw the
headlong among them, with the entire battalion that was forest before him.
following him on one side and another. They went along until they came to the pass in the
Seraphe rescued Evalach forcefully, snatching him and rock. No one saw the White Knight except King Evalach.
mounting him on a horse. When his pursuers arrived and When they reached the passage, it was opened for them as
saw Evalach mounted, they were grief-stricken. Enraged at soon as the men guarding it saw Evalach. They went
his pursuers’ arrival, Seraphe left Evalach and, taking the through without any of the men who were guarding the
battle-ax in both hands, he attacked them, slicing and pass seeing the White Knight. Once through, the White
killing everyone he encountered on his way. But when he Knight left Tholomer and, dashing into11 the middle of the
thought he would return to Evalach, the enemy had field, began to cry out, “Strike! Strike!” When Tholomer
surrounded him so that more than a thousand men and his men heard this, they were very frightened. The
separated them, and Seraphe was unable to learn anything White Knight charged straight for Tholomer, his lance
about him. Realizing [254] he could not find Evalach, under his arm, and hit him so hard on the shield that he
Seraphe swore that he preferred to die in the battle rather fell flat on the ground. Upon seeing this, Evalach drew his
than lose him in that way. So he plunged into the press with sword and charged. When the men [257] guarding the pass
all the men he had, thinking to break through by force, but saw their lord charge the others, they rushed upon them,
this was impossible, for there were too many troops and too with lances lowered, bringing all but twelve to the ground
great a mass of men. There the fray was so great and die on the first assault. When the enemy saw themselves thus
melee so cruel that it was a wonder to see. taken by surprise, they did not know what to do;
As Seraphe was trying to break through the press and nevertheless, they defended themselves as well as they
the others were intent on stopping him, elsewhere Evalach could, but it was useless, for it pleased Our Lord that they
was wounded by three lances in his body, and Tholomer be taken prisoner.
had taken the reins of his horse and was leading him King Evalach had stopped over Tholomer where the
rapidly away, accompanied by one hundred knights. Widi White Knight had struck him down, and his men had
him they were taking away fifteen of his knights, still already wounded him badly; upon seeing Evalach, he gave
mounted, who were so exhausted that they could no longer him his sword, and Evalach took it and then made him
defend themselves. Thus they were leading Evalach away, swear to be his prisoner. After Tholomer had sworn this,
and they had already beaten him so much that blood was Evalach called Jecoine of the Clearing, who was guarding
flowing from his mouth and nose. And he had already lost the rock, and ordered him to take him into the city and
so much blood from his wounds that he saw no hope for his have him guarded honorably as a king. And then Jecoine
life. They had already gone a good half league away from took him and led him into the city along with ninety-nine
the batde, in order to disarm him and his followers, for other men. Evalach remained on the field until all the
they were still completely armed. Seeing himself far from enemy were captured.12 As they took prisoners, they sent
the batde, [255] he thought that all hope was now lost and them into the city one after the other. Once Evalach had
that he was dead if they could take him to the wood. Then captured them all, he returned to the battle, straight to
he tore off the cloth covering the sign of the cross on his where Seraphe was, taking with him all but one hundred of
shield, looked, and saw the image of a man who was those who had been guarding the pass. When he was
crucified inside the sign, and it seemed that bright blood beyond it, he13 looked ahead and saw the White Knight
dripped from the hands and feet. When he saw this, his carrying in his hand a banner with his insignia. Thereupon,
heart softened, and he began to weep very tenderly, saying Evalach spurred after him until he came to the batde where
between his teeth, “Ah, good Lord God, the sign of whose
death I carry, bring me back safe and sound to receive Your
®“Reins” supplied from Hucher variants, Ponceau, and
faith, to show the others, through me, that You are the true Sommer.
God, powerful in all things.” 10“Stronger,” as in Hucher variants, Ponceau, and Sommer
As soon as he had said these words, he looked before (Hucher has “worse”).
him and saw a fully-armed knight come out of the forest, ^“Dashing into,” as in Ponceau (Hucher has “les laisse,” “left
with his helmet on his head and a white shield with a red them,” which may be a misreading).
cross hanging from his neck, riding a horse as white as a 12“Evalach remained . . . captured” supplied from Sommer
flower. This knight came at a very fast pace toward them. and Ponceau.
I 9 t f

“He” and “he” corrected to singular following Hucher

variants and Ponceau.
The History of the Holy Grail 41

Seraphe was performing the most marvelous feats [258] they had seen Tholomer leading Evalach away as a prisoner
ever done by a knight. and now they19 saw him riding [260] his horse. Nabur,
The White Knight plunged into the press and found Tholomer’s seneschal, took a horn and blew it to rally his
Seraphe, who was being held by seven knights—two were men and regroup them. Seeing them closing ranks, Evalach
holding him by the reins and two by the helmet, his head cried out his battlecry very clearly and drew his men aside.
completely bent forward, while three14 were striking his Once they had reassembled, he divided them into two
chest and arms with large iron maces, so that they had battalions. He issued orders to Seraphe to charge with the
broken the flesh through the hauberk. Seeing this, the second battalion from behind, in order to surround the
White Knight rushed upon them and struck the first so enemy,20 as soon as he himself was engaged with the first
hard that his lance went through his body along with the battalion.
banner. Next he quickly took his sword in hand and struck With that he spurred the horse and charged.
another, making his head fly into the field. Then he Everywhere he went, the White Knight went before him, his
charged the two holding the reins, striking the first so hard banner in his hand and his sword drawn and at the ready.
that his hand flew into the field. The other one let go and Evalach cried out, “Surely, you will all be captured! No one
turned in flight. When the two who were holding Seraphe will escape, for you have lost Tholomer!" When they heard
by the helmet saw the wonders the White Knight was doing, him speak in this way, they did not know what to do: it
they let go of their prisoner, and one of them drew a knife, seemed to be true because Evalach was riding Tholomer’s
thinking to strike him in the face through the opening in horse, but they were not so much afraid that Tholomer had
the helmet. But Seraphe was so dazed15 from the blood he been taken prisoner as that he was dead. Evalach’s men
had lost and the blows his assailants had given him that he attacked them fiercely. And they, in their dismay, reacted
could not stand up; he had already fainted, and as soon as with fear. Once Seraphe saw them engaged in fierce
he was released, he fell to the ground, over the crupper of combat, he attacked with the other battalion, surrounding
the horse. them from behind, challenging and striking them
Thus the one who wished to strike him failed,16 and energetically. [261]
both of them then plunged into the press. When Evalach, A savage battle ensued, and Tholomer’s people
who was [259] spurring after, saw the press and Seraphe’s suffered greatly, for they were without their lord and in a
fall, he thought he was dead and cried out, “Alas! All is foreign land where they did not know the roads or passes,
lost!” and then he fainted. The White Knight ran to him should they have to flee. And even if they wanted to flee,
and held him up so that he would not fall to the ground. they could not, for their enemies had surrounded them. It
Recovering from the faint, he saw Seraphe, who had is clear indeed that when the head fails, the limbs fail, for
already regained his feet, but was still so dazed that he did never had people who had begun as well as they come to
not know where he was. Rather, he truly believed that his such a bad or ugly end. They had at least four times as
enemies had captured him and made him their prisoner. many men as their opponents but were unable to defend
When Evalach saw him standing, he rushed into the press themselves except as men who cannot flee.
and struck a knight under the throat, bringing him to the Here Seraphe performed wonders, and King Evalach
ground. He immediately took the horse in hand and led it fought so fiercely that no man of his age ever did better.
directly to his brother-in-law, Seraphe, saying, “My friend, And the White Knight did what no one could believe a
take this present; never was a gift so dearly paid for.” single man could do: he struck shields down from their
When Seraphe saw this, he was so happy that he forgot necks,21 he felled knights and horses, he sent heads flying
all his pains. He jumped onto the horse at once and said, with the helmets still on, he slashed chests and legs and
“Certainly, if I had a battle-ax, any man I met could not arms. Why should I go on describing to you all the feats of
resist me.” arms and chivalry that he performed? Evalach and his men
Then he saw the White Knight bringing him one, fought so well that they placed the enemy between
saying, “Here, Seraphe, this is sent to you by the True themselves and die rock; [262] once they had done so, they
Crucified One.” rushed upon them fiercely. And the latter turned in flight
Taking it, he felt that it was lighter than the one he straight toward die pass, thinking that if they could reach it,
had carried all day. Thus, he knew it was not his. Evalach would never traverse it, but that they could thus
Thereupon he plunged into the press, followed by all take the city by force, since one hundred men could hold
the others. Evalach was riding the horse that Tholomer had the rock against everyone, for the story says that only ten
been on when the White Knight17 felled him. When men could enter abreast. Believing that Evalach had not
Tholomer’s men18 saw him, they were frightened because placed a guard there, they went to the rock with
confidence. It was already getdng very dark, which pleased
them, for they were exhausted and they thought they would
14‘Three,” as in Sommer (Hucher has “two”).
find repose and rest there.
15‘Trom the helmet and” omitted, as in Ponceau.
16“Failed,” as in Sommer and Ponceau (Hucher has “sailli,”
‘jumped up,” which is probably a misreading). 19“Had seen Tholomer . . . and now they” supplied from
Ponceau and Sommer.
17"When the White Knight felled him,” as in Hucher variants,
Ponceau, and Sommer (Hucher has “when he [Evalach?] felled 20‘To charge . .. the enemy” supplied from Ponceau.
the knight”). 21“Necks,” as in Ponceau and Sommer (Hucher has
18‘Tholomer’s men,” as in Ponceau and Sommer (Hucher “bodies”).
has ‘Tholomer and his men”).
42 The History of the Holy Grail

But it did not go as they thought, for as they came Josephus, because he had told Evalach that he would be in
along rapidly, the one hundred men who were guarding Tholomer’s power for three days and three nights; that he
the pass cried out to them so loudly that it seemed to them would not be able to hold out against him during th