The High History of the Holy Graal

Originally written in Old French,

sometime in the early half of

the 13th Century A.D.,

as a continuation of Chretien DeTroyes'

unfinished work "Perceval, or the Knight of the Grail".

Author unknown.

Translation by Sebastian Evans, 1898.

This electronic edition was edited, proofed, and prepared by

Douglas B. Killings*

* * * * *

INTRODUCTION

This book is translated from the first volume of "Perceval le

Gallois ou le conte du Graal"; edited by M. Ch. Potvin for `La

Societe des Bibliophiles Belges' in 1866, (1) from the MS.

numbered 11,145 in the library of the Dukes of Burgundy at

Brussels. This MS. I find thus described in M. F. J. Marchal's

catalogue of that priceless collection: `"Le Roman de Saint

Graal", beginning "Ores lestoires", in the French language; date,

first third of the sixteenth century; with ornamental capitals.'

(2) Written three centuries later than the original romance, and

full as it is of faults of the scribe, this manuscript is by far

the most complete known copy of the "Book of the Graal" in

existence, being defective only in Branch XXI. Titles 8 and 9,

the substance of which is fortunately preserved elsewhere. Large

fragments, however, amounting in all to nearly one-seventh of the

whole, of a copy in handwriting of the thirteenth century, are

preserved in six consecutive leaves and one detached leaf bound

up with a number of other works in a MS. numbered 113 in the City

Library at Berne. The volume is in folio on vellum closely

written in three columns to the page, and the seven leaves follow

the last poem contained in it, entitled "Duremart le Gallois".

The manuscript is well known, having been lent to M. de Sainte

Palaye for use in the Monuments of French History issued by the

Benedictines of the Congregation of St Maur. Selections from the

poems it contains are given in Sinner's "Extraits de Poesie du

XIII. Siecle", (3) and it is described, unfortunately without any

reference to these particular leaves, by the same learned

librarian in the "Catalogus Codicum MSS. Bibl. Bernensis", J.R.

Sinner. (4)

M. Potvin has carefully collated for his edition all that is

preserved of the Romance in this manuscript, comprising all the

beginning of the work as far as Branch III. Title 8, about the

middle, and from Branch XIX. Title 23, near the beginning, to

Branch XXX. Title 5, in the middle. Making allowance for

variations of spelling and sundry minor differences of reading,

by no means always in favour of the earlier scribe, the Berne

fragments are identical with the corresponding portions of the

Brussels manuscript, and it is therefore safe to assume that the

latter is on the whole an accurate transcript of the entire

original Romance.

The only note of time in the book itself is contained in the

declaration at the end. From this it appears that it was written

by order of the Seingnor of Cambrein for Messire Jehan the

Seingnor of Neele. M. Potvin, without giving any reason for so

doing, assumes that this Lord of Cambrein is none other than the

Bishop of Cambrai. If this assumption be correct, the person

referred to was probably either John of Berhune, who held the see

from 1200 till July 27, 1219, or his successor Godfrey of

Fontaines (Conde), who held it till 1237. To me, however, it

seems more likely that the personage intended was in reality the

'Seingnor' of Cambrin, the chef-lieu of a canton of the same

name, on a small hill overlooking the peat-marshes of Bethune,

albeit I can find no other record of any such landed proprietor's

existence.

Be this as it may, the Messire Jehan, Seingnor of Neele, can

hardly be other than the John de Nesle who was present at the

battle of Bouvines in 1214, and who in 1225 sold the lordship of

Bruges to Joan of Flanders. (5) These dates therefore may be

regarded as defining that of the original Romance within fairly

narrow limits.

This conclusion is confirmed by other evidence. An early Welsh

translation of the story was published with an English version

and a glossary by the Rev. Robert Williams in the first volume of

his "Selections from the Hengwrt MSS". (6) The first volume of

this work is entitled "Y Seint Greal, being the adventures of

King Arthur's knights of the Round Table, in the quest of the

Holy Grail, and on other occasions. Originally written about the

year 1200". The volume, following the manuscript now in the

library of W.W.E. Wynne, Esq., at Peniarth, is divided into two

parts. The first, fol. 1-109 of the manuscript, represents the

thirteenth to the seventeenth book of Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte

d'Arthur". Of the second, which represents the Romance here

translated, Mr Williams writes: "The second portion of the Welsh

Greal, folios 110-280, contains the adventures of Gwalchmei

Peredur and Lancelot, and of the knights of the Round Table; but

these are not found in the "Morte d'Arthur". The Peniarth MS. is

beautifully written on vellum, and in perfect preservation, and

its date is that of Henry VI., the early part of the fifteenth

century. The orthography and style of writing agrees literally

with that of the "Mabinogion of the Llyvr Coch Hergest", which is

of that date. This, of course, is a transcript of an earlier

copy; but there is no certainty when it was first translated into

Welsh, though Aneurin Owen in his "Catalogue of the Hengwrt MSS."

assigns it to the sixth year of Henry I. It is mentioned by

Davydd ab Gwilym, who died in 1368."

Whatever may be the date of the Welsh version, the translator had

no great mastery of French, and is often at fault as to the

meaning both of words and sentences, and when in a difficulty is

only too apt to cut the knot by omitting the passage bodily. The

book itself, moreover, is not entire. On page 275, all between

Branch IX. Title 16 and Branch XI. Title 2, twenty-two chapters

in all, is missing. Again, on page 355, Titles 10-16 in Branch

XXI. are left out, while the whole of the last Branch, containing

28 Titles, is crumpled up into one little chapter, from which it

would seem that the Welshman had read the French, but thought it

waste of pains to translate it. In all, not to speak of other

defects, there are fifty-six whole chapters in the present book,

of which there is not a word in the Welsh.

In one matter, however, Mr Williams' English translation has

stood me in good stead. In Branch XXI., as I have said, the

French manuscript makes default of two Titles, but almost the

whole of their substance is supplied by the Welsh version. By an

unlucky accident, before the hiatus in the French is fully filled

up, the Welsh version itself becomes defective, though the gap

thus left open can hardly extend beyond a very few words.

Without this supplement, incomplete as it is, it would have been

impossible to give the full drift of one of the Romancer's best

stories, which is equally unintelligible in both the French and

Welsh texts in their present state.

As the Welsh version gives a number of names both of persons and

places widely differing from those in the French, it may be

useful here to note the principal changes made. Perceval in the

Welsh is called Peredur, which is said to mean "steel suit". The

Welshman, however, adds that the name in French is "Peneffresvo

Galief", which, unless it be a misreading or miswriting for

Perceval le Galois, is to me wholly unintelligible. Perceval's

father, Alain li Gros, is in the Welsh Earl Evrawg, and his

sister Dindrane, Danbrann. King Arthur is Emperor Arthur, his

Queen Guenievre, Gwenhwyvar, and their son Lohot, Lohawt or

Llacheu. Messire Gawain is Gwalchmei; Chaus, son of Ywain li

Aoutres, Gawns, son of Owein Vrych; Messire Kay or Kex is Kei the

Long; Ahuret the Bastard, Anores; Ygerne, wife of Uther

Pendragon, Eigyr; Queen Jandree, Landyr; and King Fisherman for

the most part King Peleur. Of places, Cardoil is Caerlleon on

Usk, Pannenoisance, Penvoisins; Tintagel, Tindagoyl; and Avalon,

Avallach.

By a double stroke of ill-luck, the complete and wholly

independent Romance here translated has thus been printed by its

two former editors as if it were only a part of some other story.

M. Potvin describes it as the "First Part, the Romance in Prose,"

of his "Perceval le Gallois", and Mr Williams accepts it as the '

"Second Portion" of his "Y Seint Greal". This unhappy

collocation has led not a few of M. Potvin's readers to neglect

his First Part, under the impression that the story is retold in

the other volumes containing the Romance in verse; while not a

few of Mr Williams' readers have neglected his Second Portion

under the impression that there could be nothing of any special

importance in an adjunct referred to by the Editor in so

perfunctory a manner. In very truth, however, the Story of the

Holy Graal here told is not only the most coherent and poetic of

all the many versions of the Legend, but is also the first and

most authentic.

This seems to be proved beyond doubt by a passage in the History

of Fulke Fitz-Warine, originally written apparently between the

years 1256 and 1264. The passage occurs at the end of the

History, and is printed in verse of which I give a literal prose

translation:

"Merlin saith that in Britain the Great a Wolf shall come

from the White Launde. Twelve sharp teeth shall he have,

six below and six above. He shall have so fierce a look

that he shall chase the Leopard forth of the White Launde,

so much force shall he have and great virtue. We now know

that Merlin said this for Fulke the son of Waryn, for each

of you ought to understand of a surety how in the time of

the King Arthur that was called the White Launde which is

now named the White Town. For in this country was the

chapel of S. Austin that was fair, where Kahuz, the son of

Ywein, dreamed that he carried off the candlestick and that

he met a man who hurt him with a knife and wounded him in

the side. And he, on sleep, cried out so loud that King

Arthur hath heard him and awakened from sleep. And when

Kahuz was awake, he put his hand to his side. There hath he

found the knife that had smitten him through. SO TELLETH US

THE GRAAL, THE BOOK OF THE HOLY VESSEL. There the King

Arthur recovered his bounty and his valour when he had lost

all his chivalry and his virtue. From this country issued

forth the Wolf as saith Merlin the Wise, and the twelve

sharp teeth have we known by his shield. He bore a shield

indented as the heralds have devised. In the shield are

twelve teeth of gules and argent. By the Leopard may be

known and well understood King John, for he bore in his

shield the leopards of beaten gold." (7)

The story of Kahuz or Chaus here indicated by the historian is

told at length in the opening chapters of the present work and,

so far as is known, nowhere else. The inference is therefore

unavoidable that we have here "The Graal, the Book of the Holy

Vessel" to which the biographer of Fulke refers. The use,

moreover, of the definite article shows that the writer held this

book to be conclusive authority on the subject. By the time he

retold the story of Fulke, a whole library of Romances about

Perceval and the Holy Graal had been written, with some of which

it is hard to believe that any historian of the time was

unacquainted. He nevertheless distinguishes this particular

story as "The Graal", a way of speaking he would scarce have

adopted had he known of any other "Graals" of equal or nearly

equal authority.

Several years later, about 1280, the trouveur Sarrazin also cites

"The Graal" ("li Graaus") in the same manner, in superfluous

verification of the then-accepted truism that King Arthur was at

one time Lord of Great Britain. This appeal to "The Graal" as

the authority for a general belief shows that it was at that time

recognised as a well-spring of authentic knowledge; while the

fact that the trouveur was not confounding "The Graal" with the

later version of the story is further shown by his going on

presently to speak of "the Romance that Chrestien telleth so

fairly of Perceval the adventures of the Graal." (8)

Perhaps, however, the most striking testimony to the fact that

this work is none other than the original "Book of the Graal" is

to be found in the "Chronicle of Helinand", well known at the

time the Romance was written not only as a historian but as a

troubadour at one time in high favour at the court of Philip

Augustus, and in later years as one of the most ardent preachers

of the Albigensian Crusade. The passage, a part of which has

been often quoted, is inserted in the Chronicle under the year

720, and runs in English thus:

"At this time a certain marvellous vision was revealed by an

angel to a certain hermit in Britain concerning S. Joseph,

the decurion who deposed from the cross the Body of Our

Lord, as well as concerning the paten or dish in the which

Our Lord supped with His disciples, whereof the history was

written out by the said hermit and is called "Of the Graal"

(de Gradali). Now, a platter, broad and somewhat deep, is

called in French "gradalis" or "gradale", wherein costly

meats with their sauce are wont to be set before rich folk

by degrees ("gradatim") one morsel after another in divers

orders, and in the vulgar speech it is called "graalz", for

that it is grateful and acceptable to him that eateth

therein, as well for that which containeth the victual, for

that haply it is of silver or other precious material, as

for the contents thereof, to wit, the manifold courses of

costly meats. I have not been able to find this history

written in Latin, but it is in the possession of certain

noblemen written in French only, nor, as they say, can it

easily be found complete. This, however, I have not

hitherto been able to obtain from any person so as to read

it with attention. As soon as I can do so, I will translate

into Latin such passages as are more useful and more likely

to be true." (9)

A comparison of this passage with the Introduction to the present

work (10) leaves no doubt that Helinand here refers to this "Book

of the Graal", which cannot therefore be of a later date than

that at which he made this entry in his "Chronicle". At the same

time, the difficulty he experienced in obtaining even the loan of

the volume shows that the work had at that time been only lately

written, as in the course of a few years, copies of a book so

widely popular must have been comparatively common. The date,

therefore, at which Helinand's "Chronicle" was written determines

approximately that of the "Book of the Graal".

In its present state, the "Chronicle" comes to an end with a

notice of the capture of Constantinople by the French in 1204,

and it has been hastily assumed that Helinand's labours as a

chronicler must have closed in that year. As a matter of fact

they had not then even begun. At that time Helinand was still a

courtly troubadour, and had not yet entered on the monastic

career during which his "Chronicle" was compiled. He was

certainly living as late as 1229, and preached a sermon, which

assuredly shows no signs of mental decrepitude, in that year at a

synod in Toulouse. (11)

Fortunately a passage in the "Speculum Historiale" of Vincent of

Beauvais, himself a younger contemporary and probably a personal

acquaintance of Helinand, throws considerable light on the real

date of Helinand's "Chronicle". After recounting certain matters

connected with the early years of the thirteenth century, the

last date mentioned being 1209, Vincent proceeds: --

"In those times, in the diocese of Beauvais, was Helinand

monk of Froid-mont, a man religious and distinguished for

his eloquence, who also composed those verses on Death in

our vulgar tongue which are publicly read, so elegantly and

so usefully that the subject is laid open clearer than the

light. He also diligently digested into a certain huge

volume a Chronicle from the beginning of the world down to

his own time. But in truth this work was dissipated and

dispersed in such sort that it is nowhere to be found

entire. For it is reported that the said Helinand lent

certain sheets of the said work to one of his familiars, to

wit, Guarin, Lord Bishop of Senlis of good memory, and thus,

whether through forgetfulness or negligence or some other

cause, lost them altogether. From this work, however, as

far as I have been able to find it, I have inserted many

passages in this work of mine own also."

It will thus be seen that about 1209, Helinand became a monk at

Froid-mont, and it is exceedingly improbable that any portion of

his "Chronicle" was written before that date. On the other hand,

his `familiar' Guarin only became Bishop of Senlis in 1214, and

died in 1227, (12) so that it is certain Helinand wrote the last

part of his "Chronicle" not later than the last-mentioned year.

The limits of time, therefore, between which the "Chronicle" was

written are clearly circumscribed; and if it is impossible to

define the exact year in which this particular entry was made, it

is not, I fancy, beyond the legitimate bounds of critical

conjecture.

On the first page of the Romance, Helinand read that an Angel

had appeared to a certain hermit in Britain and revealed to him

the history of the Holy Graal. In transferring the record of

this event to his "Chronicle", he was compelled by the exigencies

of his system, which required the insertion of every event

recorded under some particular year, to assign a date to the

occurrence. A vague "five hundred years ago" would be likely to

suggest itself as an appropriate time at which the occurrence

might be supposed to have taken place; and if he were writing in

1220, the revelation to the hermit would thus naturally be

relegated to the year 720, the year under which the entry

actually appears. This, of course, is pure guesswork, but the

fact remains that the "Chronicle" was written in or about 1220,

and the "Book of the Graal" not long before it.

The name of the author is nowhere recorded. He may possibly be

referred to in the "Elucidation" prefixed to the rhymed version

of "Percival le Gallois" under the name of "Master Blihis", but

this vague and tantalising pseudonym affords no hint of his real

identity. (13) Whoever he may have been; I hope that I am not

misled by a translator's natural partiality for the author he

translates in assigning him a foremost rank among the masters of

medieval prose romance.

With these testimonies to its age and genuineness, I commend the

"Book of the Graal" to all who love to read of King Arthur and

his knights of the Table Round. They will find here printed in

English for the first time what I take to be in all good faith

the original story of Sir Perceval and the Holy Graal, whole and

incorrupt as it left the hands of its first author.

Sebastian Evans,

Coombe Lea, Bickley, Kent

ENDNOTES:

(1) 6 vols. 8vo. Mons, 1866-1871.

(2) Marchal "Cat.", 2 vols. Brussels, 1842. Vol i.p. 223.

(3) Lausanne, 1759.

(4) 3 vols. 8vo. Berne, 1770, etc. Vol. ii., Introduc. viii.

and p. 389 et seq.

(5) Rigord. "Chron." 196, p. 288. Wm. le Breton, "Phil." xi.

547. See also Birch-Hirschfeld, "Die Gralsage", p. 143.

(6) 2 vols. 8vo. London, Richards, 1876-1892.

(7) "L'histoire de Foulkes Fitz-Warin". Ed. F. Michel, Paris,

1840; p. 110. Ed. T. Wright (Warton Club), London, 1855; p.

179. Ed. J. Stevenson ("Roll, Pub. Chron." of R.

Coggeshall), London, 1875; p. 412. The MS. containing the

history (MS. Reg. 12. c. XII.) was first privately printed

for the late Sir T. Duffus Hardy from a transcript by A.

Berbrugger.

(8) "Le Roman de Ham", in the Appendix to F. Michel's "Histoire

des Ducs de Normandie". Soc. de l'Hist. de France, 1840,

pp. 225, 230.

(9) Helinandi Op. Ed. Migne. "Patrol." Vol. ccxii. col. 814.

The former part of the passage is quoted with due

acknowledgment by Vincent of Beauvais, "Spec. Hist." B.

xxiii. c. 147. Vincent, however, spells the French word

"grail", and, by turning Helinand's "nec" into "nune", makes

him say that the French work can now easily be found

complete. Vincent finished his "Speculum Historialz in 1244

B. xxi. c. 105.

(10) Vol. i. p. 1, etc.

(11) Sermon xxvi., printed in Minge, u.s. col. 692. It has been

doubted whether this sermon, preached in the church of S.

Jacques, was addressed to the Council held at Toulouse in

1219, or to the one held in 1229, but a perusal of the

sermon itself decides the question. It is wholly irrelevant

to the topics discussed at the former gathering, while it is

one continued commentary on the business transacted at the

latter. See also Dom Brial, "Hist. Litt. de la France",

xviii. 92.

(12) "De Mas Latrie. Tres. de Chron.", col. 1488.

(13) Cf. Potvin, "P. le G." ii. 1 and 7, with vol. i. p. 131 and

vol. ii. p. 112 of the present work (See also the

Proceedings of the "Hon. Soc. of Cymmrodorion", 1908-9. Ed.)

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

ORIGINAL TEXT --

Potvin, Ch. (Ed.): "Perceval le Gallois ou le conte du Graal",

Vol. I (Soc. Bibl. Belges., Mons., 1866).