Historical and Literary Origins of the Grail Romances

our days. 3 HISTORICAL LITERARY ORIGIN OF THE GRAIL As we have said, the Grail Romances were all born in a very short time span of approximately fifty years (from around 1180 to 1230), taking up themes and traditions of previous origin, often borrowed from Celtic tradition, but revised and reconstructed with very different elements and meanings that are typically Christian. Despite the very short time span in which this literature developed, the production was very intense, varied and complex to reconstruct. We are interested in highlighting the particular characteristics of the four most important literary productions relating to the Grail because as we will see these different characteristics find analogies with different modern interpretative strands of the Grail phenomenon. Chrétien and the continuations This is the first writing we have relating to the Graal¹ and even though incomplete it already contains all the fundamental elements of the Perceval story that will be subsequently developed. In fact, the main themes of the story are present: • The FORMATION of Perceval: We have Perceval who is a new Knight lacking any training but incredibly gifted who goes to King Arthur's court; • The FIRST VISION and GRAIL PROCESSION: Perceval meets a Fisherman who indicates the castle where he lives and where he can lodge. Perceval finds the Castle inaccessible. The castle's lord (whom we previously knew as the Fisherman) is the Wounded King. In the castle there are also magical objects. A sword (of which only three similar ones were made) destined to break on a special occasion which is given to him, subsequently the Grail procession which manifests with a bleeding lance carried by a page, two candelabra carried by two pages with at least ten lights each, a golden grail studded with precious stones carried by a most beautiful damsel and which emits such a light as to overshadow the candelabra and a plate carried by another damsel who immediately follows her. The grail is carried into a room. Here however Perceval asks no question, falls asleep and when he awakens the castle is deserted and he has no choice but to leave (but in possession of the sword). • Beginning of the GRAIL QUEST: subsequently arrives a very ugly damsel (who will be discovered in other texts to be none other than the same Grail damsel who sometimes appears most beautiful and sometimes very ugly) who recognizes Perceval, insults him. She explains that the questions he did not ask and which are the cause of the Kingdom's desolation and the King's unhealed Wound are: "Why does the lance bleed?" and "Whom does the Grail serve?". At this point begins the QUEST that will lead Perceval to discover that the Grail serves the Wounded King's father - who is Perceval's uncle and the hermit's brother - who for 15 years has lived sustained exclusively by the host served by the Holy Grail, while the task of the bleeding lance becomes the purpose of Gawain's deeds who must recover the lance before it destroys the kingdom of Logres. More or less at this point the story is interrupted and will be continued by others subsequently. Let's say that this story is characterized by strong elements of Celtic tradition that are evidently taken by Chrétien de Troyes to be reworked in a very if not completely original way. We have in fact the magical Castle that appears and then remains deserted which is a typical Irish topos, we have the Wounded King who can find parallels in Celtic sagas, as well as the destructive Lance² that can only be placated if immersed in blood, the beautiful and horrible damsel as the sovereignty of Ireland is often indicated. The same chalice with the plate appears in a story Navigatio Sancti Brendani³ and in the Prophetic Ecstasy of the Phantom⁴. There are perhaps other more Celtic texts than this such as Peredur, but anyway Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval quite clearly roots itself in local legends and folklore. De Boron In Chrétien de Troyes' story the Grail is described as the central element of the story, as a "holy thing" that gives rise to a host that keeps the Wounded King's father alive, who is a holy man, but nothing else is known about this object. Nor is the identification indicated between this grail and the Grail that Jesus Christ used in the Last Supper. From a certain point of view, the Joseph of Arimathea is the most gnostic of the Grail books (Gnostic in the patristic sense intended by the first Church fathers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen). The text from a certain point of view most pregnant for this identification and Christianization of symbols is Robert de Boron's Joseph. • GOSPEL OF THE GRAIL: If Chrétien de Troyes' Tale of the Grail draws its narrative lifeblood from elements of Celtic character, Robert de Boron's text (part of a trilogy consisting of Joseph, Merlin and Perceval) draws its vital lifeblood from apocryphal gospels like the Gospel of Nicodemus, Healing of Tiberius and the Vengeance of the Savior, as well as from Eastern legends or traditions like the Georgian Legend of Lydda. In Robert de Boron's Joseph the History of the Grail prior to its manifestation at King Arthur's Court is described. In particular, it deals with the Grail as the vessel of Jesus' Last Supper which is recovered by Joseph of Arimathea who collects Jesus Crucified's blood in it. • SECRETS OF THE GRAIL: In Robert de Boron the Grail is not seen only as an object, but it has told Joseph of Arimathea sacred, consoling and precious words, rich in grace and mercy which are rightly called "the secrets of the Grail"