Perlesvaus

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Perlesvaus , even Li Hauz Livres du Graal ( The High Book of the Grail called), is an independent continuation of the unfinished Gralromans ( Perceval, the Story of the Grail ) of Chrétien de Troyes and thus belongs to the realm of Arthurian legend . It is considered to be the first old French prose novel . The origin is assumed between 1200 and 1240; however, more recent research tends to be more late dating. The dating depends not least on the question of how one assesses the relationship between Perlesvaus and Robert de Boron's Joseph Grail cycle and Lancelot's prose .

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The Perlesvaus is filled with a gloomy, sometimes bloodthirsty atmosphere. The knighthood of the Arthurian Empire is in decline, with Perlesvaus (Perceval) being largely to blame because - in Chrétien's story - he failed to answer the question at the Grail Castle. Despite intensive efforts, Perlesvaus does not succeed in redeeming the fishing king (who bears the name Pelles here): he dies before Perlesvaus reaches the Grail Castle. He finds this locked and has to forcibly take it. He kills the 27 knights who defend the nine bridges to the palace. The Grail only appears once in the castle and then disappears onto a mythical island. After a stay at Artus Court, Perlesvaus embarks on the journey to the hereafter to the Grail Island, where he is received by 33 knights in white robes with a red cross on their chests. They announce that one day a ship with a red cross on white sails will come to pick him up. Perlesvaus returns to the Grail Castle and, together with his mother, transfers the corpses of Joseph of Arimathäa and Nicodemus there and also bury Perlesvaus' sister. Finally he embarks on the predicted voyage from which he will not return. At this time the Arthurian Empire was also approaching its downfall.

According to Perlesvaus, Lancelot is the son of Alain , the youngest of Glais' twelve sons . He originally vowed eternal chastity before marrying Yglais (Ygloas). One of his brothers, Josue, was the keeper of the Grail before Pelles. The Romanist William A. Nitze tries to equate Glais with glass, after Wilhelm von Malmesbury, founder of Glastonbury , who also has twelve brothers, and interpreted the entire story as a glorification of this abbey and the Arthurian tomb allegedly found in it. Perlesvaus has five brothers, among them Bertholez li chaus (perhaps identical to Bertolais), and a sister, Dindran (Danbrann, presumably identical to Veronika, the mother of the Fisher King ).

In addition to Perlesvaus, the story also lets Gauvain and Lancelot reach the Grail Castle. Gauvain succeeds in winning the sword with which John the Baptist was beheaded and deposited it in the Grail Castle. But although a hermit gave him precise instructions, Gauvain fell so ecstatic at the sight of the Grail that he could no longer speak. Lancelot, however, can not see the Grail because of his adultery with Queen Guinevere . Religious symbolism is evident in the heroes' outfits . Gauvain wins a red shield with a golden eagle, which was once carried by Judas Maccabeus , Perlesvaus even carries the blood and a shred of Christ's shroud in his shield hump . Here a spiritual closeness to the knightly orders is palpable, who viewed themselves as "New Maccabees " and "Soldiers of Christ" and thus as overcomers of secular knighthood . The red cross on a white background, which the knights of the hidden Grail Island wield, refers to the habit of the Templars . But it would be a mistake to read the Perlesvaus as a key novel in view of the speculative secrets of this order (e.g. Baphomet ).

literature

  • Gerhard Gietmann: A Grail Book. Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 1889 [full German translation].
  • Nigel Bryant: The high book of the Grail: a translation of the thirteenth century romance of Perlesvaus . Boydell & Brewer, Rochester, New York: 2007, ISBN 978-1-84384-121-0 .
  • William Albert Nitze: Perceval and the Holy Grail. An essay on the romance of Chrétien de Troyes. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley 1949.
  • Roger Sherman Loomis: The Grail. From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol. Princeton Univ. Pr., Princeton 1963, 1991 reprint, pp. 97-134.
  • Le Haut Livre du Graal (Perlesvaus). Texts établi, présenté et traduit by Armand Strubel. Librairie Générale Française, Paris 2007, (Lettres Gothiques), ISBN 978-2-253-08224-8 .

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