to elevate its sacramental functions. Hardly a chalice destined for service at an “ordinary”
Mass, it figures, in the Vulgate Cycle and subsequently, as Chalice par excellence, the
central material object in a vision of Christ’s own service at the altar as Victim and as
Priest. Moreover, the goal of the Grail quest can no longer be a dream of heroic liberation
but is a pious search for personal worth and purity. Perceval is replaced as the ideal Grail
quester by the flawless Galahad; after Galahad witnesses the extraordinary ceremony, the
Grail is removed to Heaven, its appropriate abode.
Perlesvaus, another early 13th-century prose romance, incorporates material from
Robert de Boron and from Chrétien and the first two Continuators with matter from a
wide range of other sources to produce an idiosyncratic and heightened account of the
Grail as Mass chalice, the object of the Perceval figure’s quest, in which the Crucifixion
drama is replayed.
The Grail as a source of plenty is one characteristic that brings its literary
manifestations into contact with mythic and folkloric themes and motifs. Among the most
evocative and provocative of many possible examples are the cornu copia, magic sources
of abundance, the vegetative cycle, cycles of destruction and restoration, impotence and
fecundity, feminine sexuality. Such resonances enrich the medieval texts poetically, but
they do not, in most cases, emerge as a major focus of interest. Nevertheless, they help
explain the widespread appeal of the Grail and its continued renewal in literature
throughout the Middle Ages and down to the present day.
Rupert T.Pickens
[See also: CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES; GERBERT DE
MONTREUIL; PERCEVAL CONTINUATIONS; PERLESVAUS; PROSE
ROMANCE; ROBERT DE BORON]
Frappier, Jean. “Le Graal et ses feux divergeants.” Romance Philology 24(1970–71):373–400.
Imbs, Paul. “L’élément religieux dans le Conte del Graal de Chrétien de Troyes.” In Les romans du
Graal dans la littérature des XIIe et XIIIe siècles. Paris: CNRS, 1956, pp. 31–53.
Marx, Jean. La légende arthurienne et le Graal. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1952.
——. Nouvelles recherches sur la littérature arthurienne. Paris: Klincksieck, 1965.
Owen, D.D.R. “From Grail to Holy Grail.” Romania 89(1968): 31–53.
Pickens, Rupert T. “Le conte del Graal (Perceval).” In The Romances of Chrétien de Troyes:A
Symposium, ed. Douglas Kelly. Lexington: French Forum, 1985, pp. 232–86.
Roques, Mario. “Le nom du Graal.” In Les romans du Graal dans la littérature des XIIe et XIIIe
siècles. Paris: CNRS, 1956, pp. 5–13.
GRAMMAR
. See LIBERAL ARTS
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 784