Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/670

Rh 646 ROMANCE his cell by Christ Himself. Vespasian, son of the emperor Titus, falls ill, hears of Christ, frees Joseph from his prison, becomes a Christian, and reduces the Jews to slavery. Joseph takes leave of Vespasian, goes forth with those who had joined him and his brother-in-law Bron. After a while the adherents suffer privation for having sinned secretly, and Joseph is directed by the voice of Jesus speaking from the vaisseul (graal) to establish a test of righteousness and sin by means of the holy blood, calling to re- membrance His own words about Judas, that " he who shall betray Me is eating and drinking with Me." The place of the rejected Judas should be filled, not at tlu, table of the Last Supper, but at another table which Joseph should make in token of it, a square one, and not until Bron's grandson (the third man of Joseph's lineage) should be fit to take it. The table was constructed, a repast prepared, one place left empty, and the Graal put upon the board, with some fish which had been caught by Bron for the occa- sion. Those who could find a place at the board felt a sense of satisfaction and were known to be righteous ; those who could find no place were recognized as the sinners whose secret licentiousness had caused the distress among them. Then the name of graal was given to the vaisseul, because of its gracious and delightful T influence. A hypocrite named Moyse who attempts to sit at the table without avowing his sins is swallowed up in the earth. Alan, the son of Bron, grows up to be head of the line, and is en- trusted with the knowledge of all things that Joseph could teach and a sight of the Grail. He leads his kinsmen to the far West, to the vale of Avaron or Avalon, whither the disciple Petrus or Perron precedes them with a letter given him by Joseph, after he has seen the latter transfer to Bron the custody of the vaisseul. The son of Alan is in due time to grow to manhood, to read Peter's letter, and again to see the Grail a boon which is as it were to renew the covenant of the Saviour with the family and followers of Joseph of Arimathea to expose and expel the false, and to bring celestial happiness upon all the true. The race is now settled in Britain, and Perceval, the son of Alan, is the third man who is to see the Grail, after having passed through a perilous quest. Up to this point the mystic and pious romance of the Grail was derived by Robert de Borron from sources other than those which furnished the Arthurian stories ; but the new realm of fiction was open (it was about 1160-70), and the Franco-British tales coming to his knowledge must have supplied him with the incidents of his third man's quest and even the very name of Perceval. It is diffi- cult to assign the exact proportion of give and take among the early romances ; but at this point there is a new departure in which several writers took various parts. rceval. IV. 2. Perceval. The original story of the knight Perceval, before he takes up the quest, is simply that of an inexperienced youth who knows nothing of arms and chivalry, but whose rustic retirement with his mother has not deteriorated the instincts of his noble birth. After some amusing incidents, in which his youthful 1 This simply indicates a defective knowledge of etymology in the 12th century. Robert de Borron supposed the word came from gratus or agreer, not knowing that it was a Gallicization of the low Latin cratella-a. cup. awkwardness is playfully depicted, he exhibits so much courage and skill as to become a doughty champion, the vanquisher of bullies and the protector of ladies ; and, when lie reaches the court of King Arthur, knighthood is offered him. Chrestien de Troyes related the tale in verse (before 1191), but he probably had it from the (prose or poetic) narrative woven (about 1170-75) by Walter Map into his work which we call Lancelot. The agreement, so far, of those writers and the text of the Mabinogi of Peredur on the same subject leads to a supposition that the latter represents a Cambrian story older than Walter Map ; but the introduction of the cup and the lance into it invalidates the theory that its existent Welsh form is the original. Robert de Borron continued his Graal, by relating the quest of the holy vessel still in the hands of Bron, le Roi Pecheour, but hidden from all save the predestined per- fect knight pursued by Bron's grandson Perceval, the only man who, by his origin, had a right to search for and find it so as to fill the vacant place at the table. Robert de Borron must have written his story more than once, and the result was that he also introduced his hero to Arthur's court, where Merlin had founded a round table. This round table, probably an independent element in the Breton legends, must have caught Robert de Borron's fancy as lending a further symbol of trinity (being the third table) to his own conception of the third descendant of Joseph of Arimathea. In his relation of the quest Perceval (whom he in no way identifies with the rustic Perceval or Peredur mentioned above) starts from Arthur's court, and after various adventures sees his grandfather, the Grail, the lance, and the broken sword without knowing with whom he is or making inquiry. In a second attempt he is more successful. Bron reveals himself, explains all the signs (the lance is that which pierced the Saviour's side), and communicates the precious truths which Joseph of Arimathea had ordered to be told only to the third of his lineage. Then the fisher-king dies ; all the enchantments of Britain pass away (we presume the reign of idolatry is meant) ; and Perceval is left as the custodian of the Grail. This version of the Perceval and the preceding Saint Graal, both by Robert de Borron, have only been printed of late years (the former as a supplement to the latter) from rare and little known MSS., and differ enormously from the old printed Grail and Perceval, and most of the MSS. which contain them. The introduction, however slightly, of Arthur, Merlin, and Gawain into Robert de Borron's Perceval simply shows that he had made acquaintance with Walter Map's Lancelot ; yet the large use made by Map of the Frenchman's Grail and Perceval implies that they wrote contem- poraneously, but that De Borron's second part preceded Map's second part. In the latter the young rustic is represented as the youngest son of King Pellinore, brought by an elder brother out of his retirement and presented for an inferior class of knighthood at Arthur's court. He then meets all the other companions of the Round Table, to whom, as well as to Arthur and Guinevere, he makes himself very dear. He becomes one of the knights who undertake the quest of the Grail, a task which is proposed for accomplishment by him who is the best knight in the world. According to the Lancelot fiction he fails because of having slightly PEDIGEEE OF THE ROUND-TABLE HEROES. ./Eneas. > i Ascanius. , I / Joseph of His brother- Silvius. 1 BRUTUS. y Romano-Briton or Loegrian sources. Rcman-Breton I Arimathea. or Leithan < sources. in-law, Bron le Roy Pecheour. i Constans, king I. Alan. of Britain. , 1 Leodegran, Scottish king. MERLIN, m. Viviane, King P the en- Lady of llinore. Evrawc, prince of 1 Moines. Pendragon. UTER Vortigern, chanter the Lake, North PENDRAGON. 1 usurper of Britain. bring up son of Ban Country. Wife of Loth, king Morgan, n of Orkney. the Pay Gawain, OWEN, c Gualganus, (not assoc i. Urien, king ART of Rheged (Cumberland), r I wain MOR ated with supposec IUR m. GUINEVERE (retires to a nunnery after )RED, Arthur's 1 nephew death). (king of Benoic or Perceval Brittany) ^ e Galcis. Peredur. FERCk. v Ajj* j LANCELOT (fails in PERCEVAL quest, and retires to (of the Lancelot ; a monastery after fails in quest, and retires to a monastery, Arthur's death.) where he dies). or GwaU-hmai quest ; end nn- of Arthur, but (fails in quest, known). really his son by dies from wounds v Y ' his half-sister, the 1 ^ GALAAD (achieves quest, and At*a Cambro-Breton sources. in a fight with Cambrian sources. wife of King Loth aiesj. Lancelot). (rebels ; killed at Camlan). Strathclydian or Albanian sources. Fair YSEPLT of Ireland m. Mark, king of Cornwall. forms an adulterous union with Tristan. Ysaie. Meliadus, or Tallwch m. sister of King Mark, king of Leonnais, Cornwall. TRISTRAM or TRISTAN i m. Tseult of Brittany, (dies in despair of seeing fair Yseult). Cornish-British sources. l In the second Arthurian compilation Tristan is annexed to the knights of the Round Table, and joins the quest, but the original story is quite independent.
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