Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail Part 28

[15] And buried it, adds B. H. in his Summary, whether on MS. authority or not I cannot say, but the Welsh translation has--"there was a period of 240 years" (an obvious mistake on the part of the translator) "after the pa.s.sion of J. C. when Jos. of A. came; he who buried J. C. and drew him down from the cross."

[16] Thus was Evelach called as a Christian, adds B. H. Here W. agrees with Furnivall.

[17] Here Birch-Hirschfeld's Summary agrees with W.

[18] B. H. agrees with W.

[19] According to B. H., the recluse tells him he has fought with his friends, whereupon, ashamed, he hurries off.

[20] B. H. here agrees with W.

[21] B. H. has _five_ candles.

[22] B. H.: "When will the Holy Vessel come to still the pain I feel?

Never suffered man as I."

[23] B. H. agrees with W.

[24] B. H. agrees with Furnivall.

[25] B. H., the _ninth_.

[26] B. H., the vision is that of a crowned old man, who with two knights wors.h.i.+ps the cross.

[27] B. H., Nasciens.

[28] B. H. has all this pa.s.sage, save that the references to the vision at the cross-ways seem omitted.

[29] B. H., the latter.

[30] B. H., in Chaldee.

[31] B. H., Labran slays Urban.

[32] The 1488 text has Urban.

[33] B. H., Thus was the King wounded, and he was Galahad's grandfather.

[34] It does not appear from B. H.'s Summary whether his text agrees with F. or W.

[35] B. H., seven knights.

[36] B. H., that was the Castle of Corbenic where the Holy Grail was kept.

[37] B. H., the Castle of the Maimed King.

[38] B. H., ten. Obviously a mistake on the part of his text, as the nine with the three Grail questers make up twelve, the number of Christ's disciples.

[39] B. H., three.

[40] B. H. agrees with F.

[41] One cannot see from B. H. whether his text agrees with F. or W.

[42] B. H. agrees with F.

[43] It will be advisable to give here the well-known pa.s.sage from the chronicle of Helinandus, which has been held by most investigators to be of first-rate importance in determining the date of the Grand St. Graal.

The chronicle ends in the year 1204, and must therefore have been finished in that or the following year, and as the pa.s.sage in question occurs in the earlier portion of the work it may be dated about two years earlier (Birch-Hirschfeld, p. 33). "Hoc tempore (717-719) in Britannia cuidam heremitae demonstrata fuit mirabilis quaedam visio per angelum de Joseph decurione n.o.bili, qui corpus domini deposuit de cruce et de catino illo vel paropside, in quo dominus caenavit c.u.m discipulis suis, de quo ab eodem heremita descripta est historia quae dicitur gradale. Gradalis autem vel gradale gallice dicitur scutella lata et aliquantulum profunda, in qua preciosae dapes divitibus solent apponi gradatim, unus morsellus post alium in diversis ordinibus. Dicitur et vulgari nomine greal, quia grata et acceptabilis est in ea comedenti, tum propter continens, quia forte argentea est vel de alia preciosa materia, tum propter contentum .i.

ordinem multiplicem dapium preciosarum. Hanc historiam latine scriptam invenire non potui sed tantum gallice scripta habetur a quibusdem proceribus, nec facile, ut aiunt, tota inveniri potest."

The Grand St. Graal is the only work of the cycle now existing to which Helinandus' words could refer; but it is a question whether he may not have had in view a work from which the Grand St. Graal took over its introduction. Helinandus mentions the punning origin of the word "greal"

(_infra_, p. 76), which is only hinted at in the Grand St. Graal, but fully developed elsewhere, _e.g._, in the Didot-Perceval and in Borron's poem.

Another point of great interest raised by this introduction will be found dealt with in Appendix B.

[44] The MS. followed by Furnivall has an ill.u.s.tration, in which Joseph is represented as sitting under the Cross and collecting the blood from the sides and feet in the basin.

[45] MS. reading.

[46] I have not thought it necessary to give a summary of the prose romance Perceval le Gallois. One will be found in Birch-Hirschfeld, pp.

123-134. The version, though offering many interesting features, is too late and unoriginal to be of use in the present investigation.

[47] _Cf._ p. 78 as to this pa.s.sage.

[48] It is forty-two years, according to D. Queste (p. 119), after the Pa.s.sion that Joseph comes to Sarras.

[49] It is plain that B I is abridged in the pa.s.sage dealt with, from the following fact: Joseph (v. 2,448, etc.) praying to Christ for help, reminds Him of His command, that when he (Joseph) wanted help he should come "devant ce veissel precieus Ou est votre sans glorieus." Now Christ's words to Joseph in the prison say nothing whatever about any such recommendation; but E, Grand St. Graal, does contain a scene between our Lord and Joseph, in which the latter is bidden, "Et quant tu vauras a moi parler si ouuerras l'arche en quel lieu que tu soies" (I, 38-39) from which the conclusion may be drawn that B I represents an abridged and garbled form of the prototype of E.

[50] In the Mabinogi of Branwen, the daughter of Llyr, the warriors cast into the cauldron of renovation come forth on the morrow fighting men as good as they were before, except that they are not able to speak (Mab., p.

381).

[51] The version summarised by Birch-Hirschfeld.

[52] Curiously enough this very text here prints Urban as the name of the Maimed King; Urban is the antagonist of Lambar, the father of the Maimed King in the original draft of the Queste, and his mention in this place in the 1488 text seems due to a misprint. In the episode there is a direct conflict of testimony between the first and second drafts, Lambar slaving Urlain in the former, Urlain Lambar in the latter.

[53] This account agrees with that of the second draft of the Queste, in which Urlain slays Lambar.

[54] Only _one_ beholder of the Quest is alluded to, although in the Queste, from which the Grand St. Graal drew its account, _three_ behold the wonders of the Grail.

[55] This, of course, belongs to the second of the two accounts we have found in the poem respecting the Promised Knight, the one which makes him the grandson and not the son merely of Brons.

[56] The object of the Quest according to Heinrich von dem Turlin will be found dealt with in Chapter VII.

[57] This is one of a remarkable series of points of contact between Gerbert and Wolfram von Eschenbach.

[58] It almost looks as if the author of C were following here a version in which the hero only has to go once to the Grail Castle; nothing is said about Perceval's first unsuccessful visit, and Merlin addresses Perceval as if he were telling him for the first time about matters concerning which he must be already fully instructed.

[59] It is remarkable, considering the scanty material at his disposal, how accurate Schulz' a.n.a.lysis is, and how correct much of his argumentation.