Lancelot-Grail Cycle

The cycle as a whole did not have an original title. The Lancelot-Grail is a popular modern title invented by Ferdinand Lot. Another widely used modern title,Vulgate Cycle (from the Latin editio vulgata, "common version"), was popularized (but not invented) by H. Oskar Sommer. It is also sometimes known as the Vulgate Version of Arthurian Romances, and as the Pseudo-Map Cycle, named so after Walter Map, the work's pseudo-author. Less common alternative titles include that of Philippe Walter's 21st-century edition Le Livre du Graal ("The Book of the Grail"). ==Composition and authorship==

The first two branches of the Vulgate cycle, the Estoire del Saint Graal and Estoire de Merlin were adapted from the first two parts of the so-called Robert de Boron trilogy in prose (c. 1220), hence the general gist is preserved where the first part connects Christ's legend (Holy Grail) with King Arthur, followed by a second part about the birth of Merlin who eventually serves Arthur. In the second branch, it is pretended that Merlin himself dictated an account of what happened his confessor who recorded it in a book. The Vulgate claims it has made an translatio of the pseudo-Christ independent of Boron, and also a parallel translatio from the pseudo-Blaise (though not referring here to Boron), but scholars reject the notion this is what really happened. There are more supposed original (fictitious) authors of the later parts of the cycle, the following list using one of their multiple spelling variants: Arodiens de Cologne (Arodian of Cologne), Tantalides de Vergeaus (Tantalides of Vercelli), Thumas de Toulete (Thomas of Toledo), and Sapiens de Baudas (Sapient of Baghdad). These characters are scribes of Arthur, who recorded the deeds of the Knights of the Round Table, including the grand Grail Quest, as per eyewitnesses of the events being told. It is uncertain whether the medieval readers actually believed in the truthfulness of the centuries-old "chronicle" characterization or if they recognized it as a contemporary work of creative fiction. Typically for medieval stories in pseudo-historical settings, it is also highly anachronistic. purportedly recounting the tales of Lancelot to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine in a 14th-century manuscript of the Lancelot-Grail (BnF Français 123) Welsh writer Gautier (Walter) Map () is attributed to be the editing author, as can be seen in the notes and illustrations in some manuscripts describing his discovery in an archive at Salisbury of the chronicle of Camelot, supposedly dating from the times of Arthur, and his translation of these documents from Latin to Old French as ordered by Henry II of England). Map's connection has been discounted by modern scholarship, however, as he died too early to be the author and the work is distinctly continental. The cycle's actual authorship is unknown, but most scholars today believe it was written by multiple authors. There might have been either a single master-mind planner, the so-called "architect" (as first called so by Jean Frappier, who compared the process to building a cathedral), who may have written the main section (Lancelot Proper), and then overseen the work of multiple other anonymous scribes. Alternatively, each part may have been composed separately, arranged gradually, and rewritten for consistency and cohesiveness. Regarding the question of the author of the Lancelot, Ferdinand Lot suggested an anonymous clerical court clerk of aristocratic background. It is believed by some (such as editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica). The evidence of this would be its very Cistercian spirit of Christian mysticism (with Augustinian intrusions), including the Cistercian Saint Aelred of Rievaulx's idea of "spiritual friendship" seen in the interactions between the Grail knights (Galahad, Percival, and Bors). Others doubt this, however, and a compromise theory postulates a more secular writer who had spent some time in a Cistercian monastery. Richard Barber described the Cistercian theology of the Queste as unconventional and complex but subtle, noting its success in appealing to the courtly audience accustomed to more secular romances. ==Overall structure==

The Lancelot-Grail Cycle is dated roughly to between It may be divided into three main branches, although more usually into five. In the latter division, the romances Queste and Mort are regarded as separate from the Vulgate Lancelot. The cycle's centerpiece is the trilogy Lancelot–Queste–Mort Artu, collectively also known as the Lancelot en prose, the Estoire de Lancelot (Story of Lancelot), or Le Livre de Lancelot du Lac (The Life of Lancelot of the Lake). It differs greatly in tone between its three internal parts, so divergent that they are regarded as likely, and by some as even doubtlessly, the work of different authors. The first, Lancelot, () can be characterized as colorful: the second, Queste, () as pious; and the third, Mort Artu, () as sober. It seems that the story of Lancelot had been initially a standalone prose romance in the original so-called "short version". Despite its placement in the middle of the cycle, it is believed as having been actually the first to be written, probably beginning in the "non-cyclic" form, initially largely as an adaptation of the story by Chrétien de Troyes before its expansion . The preceding stories of Joseph and Merlin, adapted from Robert de Boron, joined the cycle late, probably before , serving as "prequels" to the main story. The cycle has a narrative structure close to that of a modern novel in which multiple overlapping events featuring different characters may simultaneously develop in parallel and intertwine with each other. This technique, known in French as entrelacement (interlace), is especially prominent in the Queste. ==The History of the Holy Grail==

The Vulgate Estoire del Saint Graal (Story of the Holy Grail), being a reworking of the prose Boron Grail story, preserves the germ of Boron's inventions in his verse (or its prose redaction), namely the identification of the Holy Grail as the vessel that caught the blood of Christ, which Joseph of Arimathea (the caretaker of Christ's body and tomb provender in the New Testament) came into possession of, and that Joseph (probably) took it to Britain. In the Vulgate, Joseph's has a son named Josephus who brought the Grail to Britain from the Holy Land, thus new characters and episodes are added. Printed in 41 chapters in modern translation. The Grail is the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper and to which Joseph then collected the blood of Jesus from the crucifixion. The Grail alleviates Joseph's suffering during his long captivity by Caiaphas. Freed by Vespasian, Joseph leaves Jerusalem with a group of companions, founding a Christian community around the Table of the Holy Grail (Round Table). The special reserved seat in the table which Moses deeming himself worthy enough sits on himself worthy only to burned — this is clearly the Siege Perilous, later used as a test for the one worthy of accepting the Grail Quest. ==The History of Merlin==

's circa 1480 illumination of the story of Merlin's unholy birth The Vulgate Estoire de Merlin (Story of Merlin), or just the 'Vulgate Merlin''''', concerns Merlin's complicated conception and childhood and the early life of Arthur, which Merlin has influence over. It too is a reworking of the Prose Merlin of Boron, a prose redaction of Robert de Boron's poem Merlin. Vulgate Merlin propre The 'Vulgate Merlin propre (Merlin Proper), also known as Le Roman de Merlin''' (The Novel of Merlin''), directly adapted from Robert's Merlin. It makes about one fifth of the length of the entire Vulgate Merlin. It is by design supposed to form a bridge eventually into the Vulgate Lancelot, and to that end, quickly introduces (after "King Arthur had routed the six kings with Merlin's help") King Ban of Benoic, the father of Lancelot, and King Bors of Gaunes, father of Lionel, Lancelot's first cousin, who at King Arthur's beckoning forms alliance with him. However, the continuation, drawing from a variety of other sources, becomes mainly preoccupied with describing Arthur's early deeds warring against the rebel British kings, and King Rion. Next, King Arthur mounts an expedition into Gaul against Emperor Lucius; embedded with the campaign are the fights against the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel and the monster cat of Lausanne (cf. Cath Palug). dating from after 1230 (contemporary to the Post-Vulgate Cycle) and possibly even the late 13th century, is known as '''' (The Book of Arthur''), as named by Paulin Paris. and Helen Nicholson described it as a third different sequel to Robert's Merlin in addition to the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate versions. About half (or somewhat less) of this revised continuation is very much the same as the conventional Suite du Merlin (from fol. 1–115), but it diverges significantly around the episode where Guinevere discovers Morgan's involvement with Guionmar. Contrary to the title given to the work by Paris (and Sommer), the principal hero of the divergent text is Gawain. It incorporates elements of some Arthurian romances written after the Vulgate Cycle had been completed. Cambridge manuscript The manuscript Ms Vanneck Box 5a, publicised in March 2025 by Cambridge University Library after an extensive five-year scientific investigation, has been identified as part of the Suite Vulgate du Merlin, dated to have been written between 1275 and 1315. It tells tales of Arthur's nephew Gawain wielding Excalibur and winning a battle on behalf of Arthur, and Merlin disguised as a blind harpist bearing the king's standard in battle and turning it into a fire-breathing dragon. ==Prose Lancelot==

's illustrations for the 15th-century Italian version Historia di Lancillotto del Lago (Pal. 556, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze) The 'Vulgate Lancelot propre (Lancelot Proper), also known as Le Roman de Lancelot''' (The Novel of Lancelot) or just Lancelot du Lac, is the longest part, making up fully half of the entire cycle. The Vulgate Lancelot'' follows the adventures of the eponymous hero as well as many other Knights of the Round Table during the later years of King Arthur's reign up until the introduction of Galahad and the start of the Grail Quest. It primarily deals with a series of episodes of Lancelot's early life and with the courtly love between him and Queen Guinevere, as well as his deep friendship with Galehaut, interlaced with the adventures of Gawain and other knights such as Yvain, Hector, and Bors. It was inspired by and in part based on Chrétien's poem Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette (Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart). Due to its length, modern scholars often divide the Lancelot into various sub-sections. These include the Enfances Lancelot ("Lancelot's youth") or Galehaut (sometimes Galeaut), further split between the Charrette and its follow-up the Suite de la Charette (Continuation of the Charrette); the Agravain (named after Gawain's brother Agravain, possibly a later addition to the work); and the Preparation for the Quest, linking the previous ones. The Lancelot Proper is regarded as having been written first in the entire cycle. It was perhaps originally an independent romance that would begin with Lancelot's birth and finish with him discovering his true identity and receiving a kiss from Guinevere when he confesses his love for her. ==The Quest for the Holy Grail==

stabs Calogrenant (defending Lionel's brother Bors from him) after beheading a monk (BnF Richelieu Manuscrits Français 111) The 'Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal (Quest for the Holy Grail) is also known as Les Aventures ou La Queste del Saint Graal''' (The Adventures or The Quest for the Holy Grail), or just the 'Vulgate Queste''', is a highly religious part of the Vulgate Cycle, inspired by Chrétien's unfinished Perceval, the Story of the Grail. It is also the most innovative, as it was largely not derived from any known earlier stories, including the creation of the character of Galahad as a major new Arthurian hero. The story relates how the Grail Quest is undertaken by various knights including Perceval and Bors. It is ultimately achieved by Galahad—the perfect and holy hero champion of God, replacing Perceval as the true Grail Knight. Their interlacing adventures are purported to have been recounted for Arthur's scribes by Bors, the witness of these events following the deaths of Galahad and Perceval. ==The Death of King Arthur==

The 'Vulgate Mort le roi Artu (Death of King Arthur), also known as La Mort le Roy Artus or just the Vulgate Mort Artu / La Mort Artu''''', is a tragic account of further wars culminating in the king and his illegitimate son Mordred killing each other in a near-complete rewrite of the Arthurian chronicle tradition from the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth and his redactors. It is also connected with the so-called "Mort Artu" epilogue section of the , a text uncertainly attributed to Robert de Boron, and which itself was based on Wace's Roman de Brut. In a new motif, the ruin of Arthur's kingdom is presented as the disastrous direct consequence of the sin of Lancelot's and Guinevere's adulterous affair. Lancelot eventually dies too, as do the other protagonists who did not die in the Queste, leaving only Bors as a survivor of the Round Table. The mortally wounded Arthur is put on a barge commanded by his sister, Morgan, and taken to an uncertain destiny. ==Manuscripts==

saving his lion from a dragon in a 14th-century Italian illumination (BnF fr. 343 Queste del Saint Graal) As the stories of the cycle were immensely popular in medieval France and neighboring countries between the beginning of the 13th and the beginning of the 16th century, they survived in some two hundred manuscripts in various forms some fragmentary, others, such as British Library Add MS 10292–10294, containing the entire cycle. Besides the British Library, scans of various manuscripts can be seen online through digital library websites of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica (including these from the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal) and the University of Oxford's Digital Bodleian; many illustrations can also be found at the IRHT's Initiale project. The earliest copies are of French origin and date from 1220 to 1230. Numerous copies were produced in French throughout the remainder of the 13th, 14th and well into the 15th centuries in France, England and Italy, as well as translations into other European languages. Some of the manuscripts are richly illuminated: British Library Royal MS 14 E III, produced in Northern France in the early 14th century and once owned by King Charles V of France, contains over 100 miniatures with gilding throughout and decorated borders at the beginning of each section. Other manuscripts were made for less wealthy owners and contain very little or no decoration, for example British Library Royal MS 19 B VII, produced in England, also in the early 14th century, with initials in red and blue marking sections in the text and larger decorated initials at chapter-breaks. One notable manuscript is known as the Rochefoucauld Grail. However, very few copies of the entire Lancelot-Grail Cycle survive. Perhaps because it was so vast, copies were made of parts of the legend which may have suited the tastes of certain patrons, with popular combinations containing only the tales of either Merlin or Lancelot. For instance, British Library Royal MS 14 E III contains the sections which deal with the Grail and religious themes, omitting the middle section, which relates Lancelot's chivalric exploits. ==Legacy==

Post-Vulgate Cycle The Vulgate Cycle was soon afterwards subject to a major revision during the 1230s, in which much was left out, much changed, and much added. The resulting far-shorter Post-Vulgate Cycle, also known as the Roman du Graal, omits almost all of the Lancelot Proper (except these included in some incomplete surviving fragments, including the French La Folie Lancelot), and consequently most of Lancelot and Guinevere's content, instead focusing on the Grail Quest. It also borrows characters and episodes from the first version of the Prose Tristan (1220). The Post-Vulgate was much less successful than its predecessor and its original form today only exists in fragments. It was reconstructed mostly from foreign (i.e. non-French) translations, as well as the second version of the Prose Tristan (1240) that seems to have been in turn greatly influenced by the Post-Vulgate. In the 15th-century England, Henry Lovelich's poem Merlin and the anonymous Middle English prose Merlin were both based on the Vulgate Merlin and the Merlin Continuation, as was the verse romance Of Arthour and of Merlin which did it more loosely. Jacob van Maerlant's Dutch translation of the Merlin added some original content in his Merlijns Boek also known as Boek van Merline (1261). The cycle's elements and characters have been also incorporated into various other works in France, such as Palamedes (c. 1235–1240), and elsewhere, such as the Venetian (written in French) Les Prophecies de Mérlin also known as the Prophéties de Merlin (1276). In Italy, Paolino Pieri's La Storia di Merlino (1320s), as well as the Historia di Merlino also known as the Vita di Merlino con le Sue Profetie (1379), have been both derived from the Prose Merlin—albeit especially loosely in the case of Pieri's work, partially abridged from the Prophecies and inventing a new childhood for Merlin. ==Modern editions and translations==

Oskar Sommer H. Oskar Sommer published the entire original French text of the Vulgate Cycle in seven volumes in the years 1908–1916. Sommer's has been the only complete cycle published as of 2004. The base text used was the British Library Add MS 10292–10294. It is however not a critical edition, but a composite text, where variant readings from alternate manuscripts are unreliably demarcated using square brackets. • Sommer, H. Oskar. (ed.). The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances. • Volume 1 of 8 (1909): Lestoire del Saint Graal. • Volume 2 of 8 (1908): Lestoire de Merlin. • Volume 3 of 8 (1910): Le livre de Lancelot del Lac, Part I. • Volume 4 of 8 (1911): Le livre de Lancelot del Lac, Part II. • Volume 5 of 8 (1912): Le livre de Lancelot del Lac, Part III. • Volume 6 of 8 (1913): Les aventures ou la queste del Saint Graal, La mort le roi Artus. • Volume 7 of 8 (1913): Supplement: ''Le livre d'Artus'', with glossary. • Volume 8 of 8 (1916): Index of names and places to volumes I-VII. Norris J. Lacy The first full English translations of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles were overseen by Norris J. Lacy. • Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation. New York: Garland. • Five-volume set. • Volume 1 of 5 (1 December 1992). : The History of the Holy Grail and The Story of Merlin. • Volume 2 of 5 (1 August 1993). : Lancelot, Parts I, II and III. • Volume 3 of 5 (1 March 1995). : Lancelot, Parts IV, V, VI. • Volume 4 of 5 (1 April 1995). : The Quest for the Holy Grail, The Death of Arthur, and The Post-Vulgate, Part I: The Merlin Continuation. • Volume 5 of 5 (1 May 1996). : The Post-Vulgate, Parts I-III: The Merlin Continuation (end), The Quest for the Holy Grail, The Death of Arthur, Chapter Summaries and Index of Proper Names. • • Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. • Ten-volume set (March 2010). ) • Volume 1 of 10 (March 2010). : The History of the Holy Grail. • Volume 2 of 10 (March 2010). : The Story of Merlin. • Volume 3 of 10 (March 2010). : Lancelot, Parts I and II. • Volume 4 of 10 (March 2010). : Lancelot, Parts III and IV. • Volume 5 of 10 (October 2010). : Lancelot, Parts V and VI. • Volume 6 of 10 (March 2010). : The Quest for the Holy Grail. • Volume 7 of 10 (March 2010). : The Death of Arthur. • Volume 8 of 10 (March 2010). : The Post-Vulgate Cycle: The Merlin Continuation. • Volume 9 of 10 (October 2010). : The Post-Vulgate Cycle: The Quest for the Holy Grail and The Death of Arthur. • Volume 10 of 10 (March 2010). : Chapter Summaries for the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles and Index of Proper Names. • Lacy, Norris J. (ed.). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation. Routledge Revivals. Routledge. • Five-volume set (April 19, 2010). . • Volume 1 of 5 (April 19, 2010). . • Volume 2 of 5 (April 19, 2010). . • Volume 3 of 5 (April 19, 2010). • Volume 4 of 5 (April 19, 2010). . • Volume 5 of 5 (April 19, 2010). . Daniel Poirion A modern French translation of the Vulgate Cycle in three volumes: • Poirion, Daniel. (ed.) Le Livre du Graal, Paris: Gallimard. • Volume 1 of 3 (2001): : ''Joseph d'Arimathie, Merlin, Les Premiers Faits du roi Arthur''. • Volume 2 of 3 (2003): : Lancelot De La Marche de Gaule à La Première Partie de la quête de Lancelot. • Volume 3 of 3 (2009): : Lancelot: La Seconde Partie de la quête de Lancelot, La Quête du saint Graal, La Mort du roi Arthur. Other • Penguin Classics published a translation into English by Pauline Matarasso of the Queste as The Quest of the Holy Grail in 1969. It was followed in 1971 with a translation by James Cable of the Mort Artu as The Death of King Arthur. • Brepols published the original Old French text of the Mort Artu () in 2008 and the Queste () in 2012, both based on MS Yale 229 and edited by Elizabeth M. Willingham with annotations in English, under the series The Illustrated Prose Lancelot. • Judith Shoaf's modern English translation of the Vulgate Queste was published by Broadview Press as The Quest for the Holy Grail in 2018 (). It contains many footnotes explaining its connections with other works of Arthurian literature. ==Explanatory notes==