{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.2", "endpoint": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/index.json" }, "work": { "slug": "parzival", "name": "Parzival", "stream": "western-european", "epoch_reflected": "greco-latin", "epoch_written": "greco-latin", "form": "Middle High German verse epic", "tradition": "Christian-esoteric", "author": "Wolfram von Eschenbach", "year_approx": 1210, "note": "Wolfram von Eschenbach's c. 1210 Middle High German verse epic — the most theologically dense of the Grail romances, with the Grail as a stone (*lapsit exillis*) tended by a hereditary lineage. Basis of Wagner's *Parsifal*. Jessie L. Weston's 1894 prose translation.", "books_slug": "weston--parzival-knightly-epic", "books_slugs": null, "has_project_translation": false, "steiner_loci": [] }, "parents": [ { "slug": "grail-romances", "name": "Holy Grail Romances", "url": "/sources/grail-romances/" } ], "translation": { "title": null, "author": null, "source": null }, "chapters": [ { "num": 1, "slug": "00-weston-s-introduction-vol-i-front-matter", "title": "Weston's Introduction (Vol. I front matter)", "words": 2616, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/00-weston-s-introduction-vol-i-front-matter/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/00-weston-s-introduction-vol-i-front-matter.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "Jessie Weston's Introduction", "blurb": "Jessie Laidlay Weston's 1894 introduction to her two-volume English translation of Wolfram von Eschenbach's *Parzival*. The first complete English version of the Middle High German epic; Weston's positioning of Wolfram's poem within the Grail-romance corpus and her textual-philological notes." }, { "num": 2, "slug": "01-book-i-gamuret", "title": "Book I: Gamuret", "words": 13016, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/01-book-i-gamuret/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/01-book-i-gamuret.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "I. Gamuret — Parzival's father in the East", "blurb": "The pre-history. Gamuret of Anjou — Parzival's father — serving as a knight in the East under the Baruch of Baldac (Baghdad). His first marriage to Belakane the Moorish queen, the begetting of Feirefis (the parti-coloured half-brother who appears in Book XV). Wolfram's distinctive opening genealogy, longer than Chrétien's." }, { "num": 3, "slug": "02-book-ii-herzeloyde", "title": "Book II: Herzeloyde", "words": 12117, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/02-book-ii-herzeloyde/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/02-book-ii-herzeloyde.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "II. Herzeloyde — Gamuret's second marriage; Parzival's birth", "blurb": "Gamuret returns to Christendom, wins the queen Herzeloyde of Waleis in tournament, marries her. He goes again to the East and is killed; Herzeloyde retreats to the Soltane forest with the infant Parzival, raising him in ignorance of knighthood to keep him from his father's fate." }, { "num": 4, "slug": "03-book-iii-parzival", "title": "Book III: Parzival", "words": 15745, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/03-book-iii-parzival/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/03-book-iii-parzival.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "III. Parzival — the boy leaves the forest; Gurnemanz", "blurb": "Parzival sees four knights riding through Soltane, mistakes them for gods, decides to become a knight. Herzeloyde dies of grief at his departure; he reaches Arthur's court in his fool's garb; kills the Red Knight; rides on to Gurnemanz of Graharz who teaches him courtly manners — including, crucially, not to ask many questions." }, { "num": 5, "slug": "04-book-iv-condwiramur", "title": "Book IV: Condwiramur", "words": 9774, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/04-book-iv-condwiramur/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/04-book-iv-condwiramur.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "IV. Condwiramur — Parzival's marriage", "blurb": "Parzival reaches the besieged city of Pelrapeire; falls in love with its queen Condwiramur; defeats the besieging Kingrun and Klamide; marries Condwiramur. The book of Parzival's marriage — the bond that will be tested by his Grail-quest absence." }, { "num": 6, "slug": "05-book-v-anfortas", "title": "Book V: Anfortas", "words": 12247, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/05-book-v-anfortas/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/05-book-v-anfortas.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "V. Anfortas — the first visit to Munsalvaesche; the question unasked", "blurb": "Parzival reaches the Grail castle Munsalvaesche by chance. He sees the wounded king Anfortas, the bleeding lance, the maidens of the Grail procession, the Grail itself — and remembers Gurnemanz's instruction not to question. He fails to ask the compassionate question; in the morning the castle is gone." }, { "num": 7, "slug": "06-book-vi-cunneware", "title": "Book VI: Cunneware", "words": 14370, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/06-book-vi-cunneware/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/06-book-vi-cunneware.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "VI. Cunneware — Cundrie's curse", "blurb": "Parzival rejoins Arthur's court and is welcomed as Knight of the Round Table. Then Cundrie *la sorcière* — the loathly-damsel messenger of the Grail — arrives and publicly curses him for having failed to ask the question at Munsalvaesche. Parzival leaves Arthur's court in shame and renounces God." }, { "num": 8, "slug": "07-book-vii-obie", "title": "Book VII: Obie", "words": 13240, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/07-book-vii-obie/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/07-book-vii-obie.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "VII. Obie — Gawain's adventures begin", "blurb": "The narrative pivot to Gawain, the second hero. Gawain at the court of Bearosche where the warring sisters Obie and Obilot are reconciled through his service. Wolfram's interlace structure begins to assert itself: chapters alternate between Parzival's slow wandering and Gawain's brilliant successive adventures." }, { "num": 9, "slug": "08-book-viii-antikonie", "title": "Book VIII: Antikonie", "words": 8245, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/08-book-viii-antikonie/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/08-book-viii-antikonie.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "VIII. Antikonie — Gawain accused of King Kingrisin's murder", "blurb": "Gawain accused of the murder of King Kingrisin of Ascalun. Falls in love with the king's sister Antikonie; defends himself in her chamber against the citizens of Ascalun; the duel deferred until they meet at Schanfanzun. The chivalric trial-by-combat theme as alternative to legal judgment." }, { "num": 10, "slug": "09-book-ix-trevrezent", "title": "Book IX: Trevrezent", "words": 39017, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/09-book-ix-trevrezent/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/09-book-ix-trevrezent.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "IX. Trevrezent — Parzival's instruction by the hermit", "blurb": "The single most important book of the entire poem. Parzival, after years of wandering in despair, meets the hermit Trevrezent on Good Friday. Trevrezent — Anfortas's brother — instructs him in the doctrine of the Grail: the nature of the Grail-family, the source of Anfortas's wound, the meaning of the question unasked, the way back to God." }, { "num": 11, "slug": "10-book-x-orgeluse", "title": "Book X: Orgeluse", "words": 11641, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/10-book-x-orgeluse/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/10-book-x-orgeluse.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "X. Orgeluse — Gawain enters the marvelous adventure", "blurb": "Gawain meets the proud and bitter Orgeluse, who tests every knight by humiliations. She has him fetch her horse from a thicket where a perilous Iblis watches; she rides at his side mocking him. The chapter of the *gradus difficilis* — the slow conquest of pride by patient service." }, { "num": 12, "slug": "11-book-xi-schastel-marveil", "title": "Book XI: Schastel Marveil", "words": 6891, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/11-book-xi-schastel-marveil/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/11-book-xi-schastel-marveil.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "XI. Schastel Marveil — Gawain and the Wonder-Bed", "blurb": "Gawain enters Schastel Marveil (the Castle of Wonders) and ventures upon the *Lit Marveil* — the Wonder-Bed that moves of itself, attempting to throw whoever lies on it. He survives the bed, slays the lion guardian, and frees the four queens (including Arthur's mother Arnive and Gawain's own mother) held captive there." }, { "num": 13, "slug": "12-book-xii-gramoflanz", "title": "Book XII: Gramoflanz", "words": 9817, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/12-book-xii-gramoflanz/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/12-book-xii-gramoflanz.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "XII. Gramoflanz — Gawain and Orgeluse reconciled", "blurb": "Gawain wins the challenge for Orgeluse's love by securing for her a wreath from the orchard of her old enemy Gramoflanz. He undertakes to fight Gramoflanz in single combat on Orgeluse's behalf; Orgeluse and Gawain are at last reconciled in love." }, { "num": 14, "slug": "13-book-xiii-arnive", "title": "Book XIII: Arnive", "words": 11751, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/13-book-xiii-arnive/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/13-book-xiii-arnive.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "XIII. Arnive — the Knights of Schastel Marveil", "blurb": "Gawain hosted at Schastel Marveil by his grandmother Arnive. The household of liberated knights and ladies of the castle; the preparation for the duel with Gramoflanz; the gathering of Arthur's court to witness the encounter." }, { "num": 15, "slug": "14-book-xiv-gawain", "title": "Book XIV: Gawain", "words": 12680, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/14-book-xiv-gawain/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/14-book-xiv-gawain.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "XIV. Gawain's duel; the unrecognized brother", "blurb": "The day of the duel. Parzival, unrecognized, accidentally takes Gawain's place at the appointed hour and they fight — the brother-encounter motif. Recognition halts the combat. Gawain then fights Gramoflanz; Arthur intervenes; the day ends in reconciliation rather than fatality." }, { "num": 16, "slug": "15-book-xv-feirefis", "title": "Book XV: Feirefis", "words": 11968, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/15-book-xv-feirefis/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/15-book-xv-feirefis.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "XV. Feirefis — the parti-coloured brother", "blurb": "Parzival meets a knight more powerful than any he has fought — a knight whose skin is parti-coloured black and white. They fight to exhaustion; recognition: this is Feirefis, Parzival's half-brother, son of Gamuret by the Moorish queen Belakane. Reconciliation; Feirefis travels with Parzival to Arthur's court." }, { "num": 17, "slug": "16-book-xvi-the-holy-grail", "title": "Book XVI: The Holy Grail", "words": 30968, "url": "/sources/grail-romances/parzival/16-book-xvi-the-holy-grail/", "api": "/api/sources/grail-romances/parzival/16-book-xvi-the-holy-grail.json", "project_translation": false, "subtitle": "XVI. The Holy Grail — Parzival as Grail king", "blurb": "The consummation. Cundrie returns — this time bringing the message that Parzival has been chosen as the new Grail king. Parzival rides to Munsalvaesche, asks Anfortas the compassionate question (*Uncle, what is it that grieves you?*), heals him, takes the kingship. Feirefis, baptised, marries the Grail bearer Repanse de Schoye. The poem closes." } ] }