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    "name": "High History of the Holy Graal"
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    "num": 1,
    "slug": "01-the-high-history-of-the-holy-graal-introduction",
    "title": "The High History of the Holy Graal: Introduction",
    "of": 36,
    "words": 3272,
    "text": "## The High History of the Holy Graal: Introduction\n\n\nThis book is translated from the first volume of \"Perceval le\nGallois ou le conte du Graal\"; edited by M. Ch. Potvin for `La\nSociete des Bibliophiles Belges' in 1866, (1) from the MS.\nnumbered 11,145 in the library of the Dukes of Burgundy at\nBrussels. This MS. I find thus described in M. F. J. Marchal's\ncatalogue of that priceless collection: `\"Le Roman de Saint\nGraal\", beginning \"Ores lestoires\", in the French language; date,\nfirst third of the sixteenth century; with ornamental capitals.'\n(2) Written three centuries later than the original romance, and\nfull as it is of faults of the scribe, this manuscript is by far\nthe most complete known copy of the \"Book of the Graal\" in\nexistence, being defective only in Branch XXI. Titles 8 and 9,\nthe substance of which is fortunately preserved elsewhere. Large\nfragments, however, amounting in all to nearly one-seventh of the\nwhole, of a copy in handwriting of the thirteenth century, are\npreserved in six consecutive leaves and one detached leaf bound\nup with a number of other works in a MS. numbered 113 in the City\nLibrary at Berne. The volume is in folio on vellum closely\nwritten in three columns to the page, and the seven leaves follow\nthe last poem contained in it, entitled \"Duremart le Gallois\".\nThe manuscript is well known, having been lent to M. de Sainte\nPalaye for use in the Monuments of French History issued by the\nBenedictines of the Congregation of St Maur. Selections from the\npoems it contains are given in Sinner's \"Extraits de Poesie du\nXIII. Siecle\", (3) and it is described, unfortunately without any\nreference to these particular leaves, by the same learned\nlibrarian in the \"Catalogus Codicum MSS. Bibl. Bernensis\", J.R.\nSinner. (4)\n\nM. Potvin has carefully collated for his edition all that is\npreserved of the Romance in this manuscript, comprising all the\nbeginning of the work as far as Branch III. Title 8, about the\nmiddle, and from Branch XIX. Title 23, near the beginning, to\nBranch XXX. Title 5, in the middle. Making allowance for\nvariations of spelling and sundry minor differences of reading,\nby no means always in favour of the earlier scribe, the Berne\nfragments are identical with the corresponding portions of the\nBrussels manuscript, and it is therefore safe to assume that the\nlatter is on the whole an accurate transcript of the entire\noriginal Romance.\n\nThe only note of time in the book itself is contained in the\ndeclaration at the end. From this it appears that it was written\nby order of the Seingnor of Cambrein for Messire Jehan the\nSeingnor of Neele. M. Potvin, without giving any reason for so\ndoing, assumes that this Lord of Cambrein is none other than the\nBishop of Cambrai. If this assumption be correct, the person\nreferred to was probably either John of Berhune, who held the see\nfrom 1200 till July 27, 1219, or his successor Godfrey of\nFontaines (Conde), who held it till 1237. To me, however, it\nseems more likely that the personage intended was in reality the\n'Seingnor' of Cambrin, the chef-lieu of a canton of the same\nname, on a small hill overlooking the peat-marshes of Bethune,\nalbeit I can find no other record of any such landed proprietor's\nexistence.\n\nBe this as it may, the Messire Jehan, Seingnor of Neele, can\nhardly be other than the John de Nesle who was present at the\nbattle of Bouvines in 1214, and who in 1225 sold the lordship of\nBruges to Joan of Flanders. (5) These dates therefore may be\nregarded as defining that of the original Romance within fairly\nnarrow limits.\n\nThis conclusion is confirmed by other evidence. An early Welsh\ntranslation of the story was published with an English version\nand a glossary by the Rev. Robert Williams in the first volume of\nhis \"Selections from the Hengwrt MSS\". (6) The first volume of\nthis work is entitled \"Y Seint Greal, being the adventures of\nKing Arthur's knights of the Round Table, in the quest of the\nHoly Grail, and on other occasions. Originally written about the\nyear 1200\". The volume, following the manuscript now in the\nlibrary of W.W.E. Wynne, Esq., at Peniarth, is divided into two\nparts. The first, fol. 1-109 of the manuscript, represents the\nthirteenth to the seventeenth book of Sir Thomas Malory's \"Morte\nd'Arthur\". Of the second, which represents the Romance here\ntranslated, Mr Williams writes: \"The second portion of the Welsh\nGreal, folios 110-280, contains the adventures of Gwalchmei\nPeredur and Lancelot, and of the knights of the Round Table; but\nthese are not found in the \"Morte d'Arthur\". The Peniarth MS. is\nbeautifully written on vellum, and in perfect preservation, and\nits date is that of Henry VI., the early part of the fifteenth\ncentury. The orthography and style of writing agrees literally\nwith that of the \"Mabinogion of the Llyvr Coch Hergest\", which is\nof that date. This, of course, is a transcript of an earlier\ncopy; but there is no certainty when it was first translated into\nWelsh, though Aneurin Owen in his \"Catalogue of the Hengwrt MSS.\"\nassigns it to the sixth year of Henry I. It is mentioned by\nDavydd ab Gwilym, who died in 1368.\"\n\nWhatever may be the date of the Welsh version, the translator had\nno great mastery of French, and is often at fault as to the\nmeaning both of words and sentences, and when in a difficulty is\nonly too apt to cut the knot by omitting the passage bodily. The\nbook itself, moreover, is not entire. On page 275, all between\nBranch IX. Title 16 and Branch XI. Title 2, twenty-two chapters\nin all, is missing. Again, on page 355, Titles 10-16 in Branch\nXXI. are left out, while the whole of the last Branch, containing\n28 Titles, is crumpled up into one little chapter, from which it\nwould seem that the Welshman had read the French, but thought it\nwaste of pains to translate it. In all, not to speak of other\ndefects, there are fifty-six whole chapters in the present book,\nof which there is not a word in the Welsh.\n\nIn one matter, however, Mr Williams' English translation has\nstood me in good stead. In Branch XXI., as I have said, the\nFrench manuscript makes default of two Titles, but almost the\nwhole of their substance is supplied by the Welsh version. By an\nunlucky accident, before the hiatus in the French is fully filled\nup, the Welsh version itself becomes defective, though the gap\nthus left open can hardly extend beyond a very few words.\nWithout this supplement, incomplete as it is, it would have been\nimpossible to give the full drift of one of the Romancer's best\nstories, which is equally unintelligible in both the French and\nWelsh texts in their present state.\n\nAs the Welsh version gives a number of names both of persons and\nplaces widely differing from those in the French, it may be\nuseful here to note the principal changes made. Perceval in the\nWelsh is called Peredur, which is said to mean \"steel suit\". The\nWelshman, however, adds that the name in French is \"Peneffresvo\nGalief\", which, unless it be a misreading or miswriting for\nPerceval le Galois, is to me wholly unintelligible. Perceval's\nfather, Alain li Gros, is in the Welsh Earl Evrawg, and his\nsister Dindrane, Danbrann. King Arthur is Emperor Arthur, his\nQueen Guenievre, Gwenhwyvar, and their son Lohot, Lohawt or\nLlacheu. Messire Gawain is Gwalchmei; Chaus, son of Ywain li\nAoutres, Gawns, son of Owein Vrych; Messire Kay or Kex is Kei the\nLong; Ahuret the Bastard, Anores; Ygerne, wife of Uther\nPendragon, Eigyr; Queen Jandree, Landyr; and King Fisherman for\nthe most part King Peleur. Of places, Cardoil is Caerlleon on\nUsk, Pannenoisance, Penvoisins; Tintagel, Tindagoyl; and Avalon,\nAvallach.\n\nBy a double stroke of ill-luck, the complete and wholly\nindependent Romance here translated has thus been printed by its\ntwo former editors as if it were only a part of some other story.\nM. Potvin describes it as the \"First Part, the Romance in Prose,\"\nof his \"Perceval le Gallois\", and Mr Williams accepts it as the '\n\"Second Portion\" of his \"Y Seint Greal\". This unhappy\ncollocation has led not a few of M. Potvin's readers to neglect\nhis First Part, under the impression that the story is retold in\nthe other volumes containing the Romance in verse; while not a\nfew of Mr Williams' readers have neglected his Second Portion\nunder the impression that there could be nothing of any special\nimportance in an adjunct referred to by the Editor in so\nperfunctory a manner. In very truth, however, the Story of the\nHoly Graal here told is not only the most coherent and poetic of\nall the many versions of the Legend, but is also the first and\nmost authentic.\n\nThis seems to be proved beyond doubt by a passage in the History\nof Fulke Fitz-Warine, originally written apparently between the\nyears 1256 and 1264. The passage occurs at the end of the\nHistory, and is printed in verse of which I give a literal prose\ntranslation:\n\n\"Merlin saith that in Britain the Great a Wolf shall come\nfrom the White Launde. Twelve sharp teeth shall he have,\nsix below and six above. He shall have so fierce a look\nthat he shall chase the Leopard forth of the White Launde,\nso much force shall he have and great virtue. We now know\nthat Merlin said this for Fulke the son of Waryn, for each\nof you ought to understand of a surety how in the time of\nthe King Arthur that was called the White Launde which is\nnow named the White Town. For in this country was the\nchapel of S. Austin that was fair, where Kahuz, the son of\nYwein, dreamed that he carried off the candlestick and that\nhe met a man who hurt him with a knife and wounded him in\nthe side. And he, on sleep, cried out so loud that King\nArthur hath heard him and awakened from sleep. And when\nKahuz was awake, he put his hand to his side. There hath he\nfound the knife that had smitten him through. SO TELLETH US\nTHE GRAAL, THE BOOK OF THE HOLY VESSEL. There the King\nArthur recovered his bounty and his valour when he had lost\nall his chivalry and his virtue. From this country issued\nforth the Wolf as saith Merlin the Wise, and the twelve\nsharp teeth have we known by his shield. He bore a shield\nindented as the heralds have devised. In the shield are\ntwelve teeth of gules and argent. By the Leopard may be\nknown and well understood King John, for he bore in his\nshield the leopards of beaten gold.\" (7)\n\nThe story of Kahuz or Chaus here indicated by the historian is\ntold at length in the opening chapters of the present work and,\nso far as is known, nowhere else. The inference is therefore\nunavoidable that we have here \"The Graal, the Book of the Holy\nVessel\" to which the biographer of Fulke refers. The use,\nmoreover, of the definite article shows that the writer held this\nbook to be conclusive authority on the subject. By the time he\nretold the story of Fulke, a whole library of Romances about\nPerceval and the Holy Graal had been written, with some of which\nit is hard to believe that any historian of the time was\nunacquainted. He nevertheless distinguishes this particular\nstory as \"The Graal\", a way of speaking he would scarce have\nadopted had he known of any other \"Graals\" of equal or nearly\nequal authority.\n\nSeveral years later, about 1280, the trouveur Sarrazin also cites\n\"The Graal\" (\"li Graaus\") in the same manner, in superfluous\nverification of the then-accepted truism that King Arthur was at\none time Lord of Great Britain. This appeal to \"The Graal\" as\nthe authority for a general belief shows that it was at that time\nrecognised as a well-spring of authentic knowledge; while the\nfact that the trouveur was not confounding \"The Graal\" with the\nlater version of the story is further shown by his going on\npresently to speak of \"the Romance that Chrestien telleth so\nfairly of Perceval the adventures of the Graal.\" (8)\n\nPerhaps, however, the most striking testimony to the fact that\nthis work is none other than the original \"Book of the Graal\" is\nto be found in the \"Chronicle of Helinand\", well known at the\ntime the Romance was written not only as a historian but as a\ntroubadour at one time in high favour at the court of Philip\nAugustus, and in later years as one of the most ardent preachers\nof the Albigensian Crusade. The passage, a part of which has\nbeen often quoted, is inserted in the Chronicle under the year\n720, and runs in English thus:\n\n\"At this time a certain marvellous vision was revealed by an\nangel to a certain hermit in Britain concerning S. Joseph,\nthe decurion who deposed from the cross the Body of Our\nLord, as well as concerning the paten or dish in the which\nOur Lord supped with His disciples, whereof the history was\nwritten out by the said hermit and is called \"Of the Graal\"\n(de Gradali). Now, a platter, broad and somewhat deep, is\ncalled in French \"gradalis\" or \"gradale\", wherein costly\nmeats with their sauce are wont to be set before rich folk\nby degrees (\"gradatim\") one morsel after another in divers\norders, and in the vulgar speech it is called \"graalz\", for\nthat it is grateful and acceptable to him that eateth\ntherein, as well for that which containeth the victual, for\nthat haply it is of silver or other precious material, as\nfor the contents thereof, to wit, the manifold courses of\ncostly meats. I have not been able to find this history\nwritten in Latin, but it is in the possession of certain\nnoblemen written in French only, nor, as they say, can it\neasily be found complete. This, however, I have not\nhitherto been able to obtain from any person so as to read\nit with attention. As soon as I can do so, I will translate\ninto Latin such passages as are more useful and more likely\nto be true.\" (9)\n\nA comparison of this passage with the Introduction to the present\nwork (10) leaves no doubt that Helinand here refers to this \"Book\nof the Graal\", which cannot therefore be of a later date than\nthat at which he made this entry in his \"Chronicle\". At the same\ntime, the difficulty he experienced in obtaining even the loan of\nthe volume shows that the work had at that time been only lately\nwritten, as in the course of a few years, copies of a book so\nwidely popular must have been comparatively common. The date,\ntherefore, at which Helinand's \"Chronicle\" was written determines\napproximately that of the \"Book of the Graal\".\n\nIn its present state, the \"Chronicle\" comes to an end with a\nnotice of the capture of Constantinople by the French in 1204,\nand it has been hastily assumed that Helinand's labours as a\nchronicler must have closed in that year. As a matter of fact\nthey had not then even begun. At that time Helinand was still a\ncourtly troubadour, and had not yet entered on the monastic\ncareer during which his \"Chronicle\" was compiled. He was\ncertainly living as late as 1229, and preached a sermon, which\nassuredly shows no signs of mental decrepitude, in that year at a\nsynod in Toulouse. (11)\n\nFortunately a passage in the \"Speculum Historiale\" of Vincent of\nBeauvais, himself a younger contemporary and probably a personal\nacquaintance of Helinand, throws considerable light on the real\ndate of Helinand's \"Chronicle\". After recounting certain matters\nconnected with the early years of the thirteenth century, the\nlast date mentioned being 1209, Vincent proceeds: --\n\n\"In those times, in the diocese of Beauvais, was Helinand\nmonk of Froid-mont, a man religious and distinguished for\nhis eloquence, who also composed those verses on Death in\nour vulgar tongue which are publicly read, so elegantly and\nso usefully that the subject is laid open clearer than the\nlight. He also diligently digested into a certain huge\nvolume a Chronicle from the beginning of the world down to\nhis own time. But in truth this work was dissipated and\ndispersed in such sort that it is nowhere to be found\nentire. For it is reported that the said Helinand lent\ncertain sheets of the said work to one of his familiars, to\nwit, Guarin, Lord Bishop of Senlis of good memory, and thus,\nwhether through forgetfulness or negligence or some other\ncause, lost them altogether. From this work, however, as\nfar as I have been able to find it, I have inserted many\npassages in this work of mine own also.\"\n\nIt will thus be seen that about 1209, Helinand became a monk at\nFroid-mont, and it is exceedingly improbable that any portion of\nhis \"Chronicle\" was written before that date. On the other hand,\nhis `familiar' Guarin only became Bishop of Senlis in 1214, and\ndied in 1227, (12) so that it is certain Helinand wrote the last\npart of his \"Chronicle\" not later than the last-mentioned year.\nThe limits of time, therefore, between which the \"Chronicle\" was\nwritten are clearly circumscribed; and if it is impossible to\ndefine the exact year in which this particular entry was made, it\nis not, I fancy, beyond the legitimate bounds of critical\nconjecture.\n\nOn the first page of the Romance, Helinand read that an Angel\nhad appeared to a certain hermit in Britain and revealed to him\nthe history of the Holy Graal. In transferring the record of\nthis event to his \"Chronicle\", he was compelled by the exigencies\nof his system, which required the insertion of every event\nrecorded under some particular year, to assign a date to the\noccurrence. A vague \"five hundred years ago\" would be likely to\nsuggest itself as an appropriate time at which the occurrence\nmight be supposed to have taken place; and if he were writing in\n1220, the revelation to the hermit would thus naturally be\nrelegated to the year 720, the year under which the entry\nactually appears. This, of course, is pure guesswork, but the\nfact remains that the \"Chronicle\" was written in or about 1220,\nand the \"Book of the Graal\" not long before it.\n\nThe name of the author is nowhere recorded. He may possibly be\nreferred to in the \"Elucidation\" prefixed to the rhymed version\nof \"Percival le Gallois\" under the name of \"Master Blihis\", but\nthis vague and tantalising pseudonym affords no hint of his real\nidentity. (13) Whoever he may have been; I hope that I am not\nmisled by a translator's natural partiality for the author he\ntranslates in assigning him a foremost rank among the masters of\nmedieval prose romance.\n\nWith these testimonies to its age and genuineness, I commend the\n\"Book of the Graal\" to all who love to read of King Arthur and\nhis knights of the Table Round. They will find here printed in\nEnglish for the first time what I take to be in all good faith\nthe original story of Sir Perceval and the Holy Graal, whole and\nincorrupt as it left the hands of its first author.\n\n-- Sebastian Evans,\nCoombe Lea, Bickley, Kent",
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