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The Lancelot-Grail, also known as the
Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate
Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a
major source of Arthurian legend
written in French. It is a series of five prose
volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the
romance of Lancelot and Guinevere. The major parts
are early 13th century, but scholarship has few definitive answers
as to the authorship. An attribution to Walter Map is discounted, since he died too
early to be the author. This cycle of works was one of the most
important sources of Thomas Malory's Le Morte
d'Arthur.
The Vulgate Cycle adds an intriguing dimension to the King
Arthur tradition, perpetuating Christian themes by expanding on
tales of the Holy Grail and recounting the quests of the Grail
knights. During this period, material takes on even more historical
and religious overtones with tales that include and deal both in
the death of Arthur and Merlin (drawing all the way back to Nennius’ Historia
Brittonum).
The Vulgate cycle combines elements of Old Testament with the
birth of Merlin, whose magical
origins are consistent with those told by Robert de
Boron, as the son of a devil and a human mother who repents her
sins and is baptized. Merlin is transformed into a prophet and
given the ability of seeing future events by God.
Sections
The work is divided into five sections. The last three were
actually the first to be written, starting in the 1210s. The first
two came later, around the 1230s.
- The Estoire del Saint Grail (The History of the Holy
Grail), about Joseph of Arimathea and his son Josephus bringing the Grail to Britain.
- The Estoire de Merlin (also called the Vulgate or
Prose Merlin), about Merlin and the early history of Arthur.
- To this section is added the Vulgate Suite du Merlin
(Vulgate Merlin Continuation), adding more of Arthur's early
adventures.
- The Lancelot propre (Lancelot Proper), the
longest section, making up half of the entire cycle. It concerns
the adventures of Lancelot
and the other Knights of the Round Table,
and the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere.
- The Queste del Saint Graal (Quest for the Holy
Grail), about the Grail Quest and its completion by Galahad.
- The Mort Artu (Death of Arthur), about the
king's death at the hands of Mordred and the collapse of the kingdom.
The work was soon followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle, a work based on
the Vulgate but differing from it in many respects.
References
Editions
Norris J.
Lacy
The first full English translations of the Vulgate and
Post-Vulgate Cycles were overseen by Norris J. Lacy. Volumes 1–4 contain the
Vulgate Cycle proper.
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (December 1, 1992). Lancelot-Grail:
The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in
Translation, Volume 1 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN
0-8240-7733-4.
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (August 1, 1993). Lancelot-Grail: The
Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation,
Volume 2 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0746-2.
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (March 1, 1995). Lancelot-Grail: The
Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation,
Volume 3 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0747-0.
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (April 1, 1995). Lancelot-Grail: The
Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation,
Volume 4 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0748-9.
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (May 1, 1996). Lancelot-Grail: The
Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation,
Volume 5 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0757-8.
Other
references
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (2000). The Lancelot-Grail
Reader. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-3419-2.
- Kennedy,
Elspeth (1986). Lancelot and the Grail: A Study of the
Prose Lancelot. Clarendon Press.
- Kennedy, Elspeth (1980). Lancelot Do Lac, the Non-Cyclic
Old French Prose Romance, Two Volumes. Oxford.
- Corrie, Marilyn. “Self-determination in the post-vulgate suite
du Merlin and Malory’s le Morte d’Arthur.” Medium Aevum. 73.2
(2004): 273–89.
- Goodman, Jennifer R. The Legend of Arthur in British and
American Literature. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.
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