The Quest of the Holy Grail

This 1220's redaction is very much an extended sermon, the various questing knights, having their spiritual stages being established quite clearly. I don't think this was anyone's favourite part of the canon. I'm sure this is an accurate translation, and I thank Pauline Matarasso for her efforts. I read it for completion, twice, looking for some fun in it.

From the Introduction by translator P.M. Matarasso: "The QUESTE DEL SAINT GRAAL despite its Arthurian setting is not a romance, it is a spiritual fable. This may seem surprising in view of the fact it forms part of a vast compilation know as the PROSE LANCELOT, which might justifiably be called the romance to end romances. It is less surprising however when one considers that it is the product of a period when things were rarely quite what they seemed, when the outward appearance was merely a garment in which to dress some inward truth, when the material world was but a veil through which the immutable could be sporadically glimpsed and perpetually reinterpreted. "(9)

As King Arthur's knights gather at the Round Table: "When they were show more all seated and the noise was hushed, there came a clap of thunder so loud and terrible that they thought the palace must fall. Suddenly the hall was lit by a sunbeam which shed a radiance through the palace seven times brighter than had been before. In this moment they were all illumined as it might be by the grace of the Holy Ghost .... When they had sat a long while thus, unable to speak and gazing at one another like dumb animals, the Holy Grail appeared ... and yet no mortal hand was seen to bear it." (43-44)

Lancelot is admonished by a hermit on the sin of squandering one's gifts: "'Sir, you owe God a great return for creating you so fair and valiant .... He has lent you understanding and memory, and you must so use them for good, that His love being kept perfect in you, the devil may derive no profit from the great gifts God has given you.'" (87)

Another holy man tells Gawain: "'Do not imagine moreover that the adventures now afoot consist in the murder of men or the slaying of knights; they are of a spiritual order, higher in every way and much more worth.'" (174) show less

LA BÚSQUEDA DEL SANTO GRIAL

ASOCIADO con la corte del Rey
Arturo y de la Reina Ginebra, el
complejo mundo de la caballería
andante encuentra su más acabada
expresión en la recopilación de
textos en prosa conocida con el
nombre de Ciclo de la Vulgata,
formada por cinco partes y
concluida probablemente en torno
a 1230. LA BUSQUEDA
DEL SANTO GRIAL,
llevado a Inglaterra por los
descendientes de José de Arimatea
y conservado en el castillo de
Corbenic, es una novela de
simbologia mística. «A pesar del
influjo cisterciense y de la
simbología cristiana -observa
CARLOS ALVAR, prologuistay
traductor de la presente edición
no se debe pensar que el autor
pretendia llevar a cabo una obra
propagandística; simplemente
procuró ver la tradición desde otro
punto de show more vista y lo consiguió de
forma magistral.» Para llevar a
cabo esta empresa, parten de
Camaloc ciento cincuenta
caballeros de la Mesa Redonda
dispuestos a arrostrar todo tipo de
peligrosas aventuras.

A partir de ese momento, el relato
se convierte en una selva de acciones
entrecruzadas, protagonizadas por
los principales personajes de la
narración; prodigios, milagros,
justas, torneos, visiones, sueños y
extraños encuentros de valor
alegórico con hermosas doncellas o
valientes caballeros se suceden sin
interrupción ni descanso.

De los héroes que salen en busca de la
aventura, sólo tres llegarán a
coronarla: Boores, que representa
la ascética; Perceval, favorecido
por la gracia de Dios, y Galaz,
modelo de caballero en quien el
ascetismo y la castidad se funden
con la ayuda divina. De ellos sólo
Galaz-hijo de Lanzarote y nieto
del Rey Pescador conocerá los
secretos del Santo Grial. En esta
colección: «La muerte del Rey
Arturo» (AT 61) y «Lanzarote del
Lago» (AT 195, 196, 213, 214, 221,
223 y 226). show less

LA BÚSQUEDA DEL SANTO GRIAL

Obra perteneciente al ciclo de leyendas artúricas
conocido como la Vulgata, en LA BUSQUEDA DEL
SANTO GRIAL ciento cincuenta caballeros de la Mesa
Redonda parten de Camelot dispuestos a arrostrar todo
tipo de peligros con tal de recuperar el cáliz llevado a
Inglaterra por los descendientes de José de Arimatea y
conservado en el castillo de Corbenic.

De ellos, sin embargo, sólo tres -Boores, Perceval y Galaz
conseguirán coronar la aventura, y de éstos sólo uno,
Galaz, modelo de caballero en quien el ascetismo y la
castidad se funden con la ayuda divina, llegará a conocer
los secretos del Santo Crial.