Vulgate cycle

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Christ gives the author a book. Miniature from the Estoire del saint Graal in the manuscript Bibliothèque Municipale Rennes , MS 255, around 1220

Vulgate cycle is the modern title of five courtly novels that were written in Old French in the 12th and 13th centuries . It is called the Lancelot-Grail cycle , pseudo-map-cycle after the Welsh writer Walter Map , who is said to have translated some verses from Latin, or after its main part Prose Lancelot , Prose-Lancelot-Grail cycle or simply Vulgate .

The Vulgate cycle is one of the main sources of the Arthurian legend , on it is based the main part of the later texts from the so-called Post-Vulgate cycle as well as the powerful compilation of the Arthurian subject in Le Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory from the 15th century. The main part of the stories are the adventures of the knight Lancelot and the search for the Holy Grail .

structure

In its expanded form, the cycle consists of six parts of different lengths, which were written without a title and for which the following names have established themselves in research:

  • Joseph d'Arimathie or L'Estoire del Saint Graal , "Story of the Holy Grail"
  • Le Roman de Merlin en prose
  • Les Premiers Faits du roi Arthur (The first acts of King Arthur), and La Suite du Roman de Merlin or La Suite Vulgate Merlin du en prose called
  • Le Lancelot propre (The actual lancelot) or "Prosa-Lancelot", (originated around 1215 to 1225)
  • La Queste del Saint Graal , "The Search for the Holy Grail" (created around 1220 to 1225)
  • La Mort le Roi Artu "King Arthur's Death" (created around 1225 to 1235)

Origin, content and tradition

The Vulgate cycle is one of the best surviving old French literature , along with the rose novel . Over a hundred manuscripts have been preserved, including three complete ones. The Bonn manuscript was written in Amiens and dated August 28, 1286, the other two complete Paris manuscripts are undated. In the cycle, the Arthurian legends known from Geoffrey von Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae are reproduced, rewritten and supplemented with numerous details and side stories.

According to Elspeth Kennedy , two stages in the creation of the cycle can be identified, the first of which is already visible in the oldest known manuscript and in terms of content comprises the central and longest part of the Lancelot del Lac cycle . In the older group of manuscripts it is told how Lancelot is raised by an as yet nameless “ Mistress of the Lake ”, who received magical powers from Merlin . This is followed by the adventures of Lancelot from his knighthood with King Arthur, his love affair with Guinevere , the salvation of the kingdom, his acceptance among the knights of the Round Table and how he leaves the Round Table with his friend Galehaut . After Guineveres lost his identity and was restored by Lancelot, he returned to Artus Court. In this first layer of origin there are many similarities with the novels Chrétien de Troyes ' and Robert de Boron's Estoire dou Graal as well as with older Grail stories in which Parceval appears.

The second stage of development is characterized by the inscription of the Guinevere and Galehaut episodes, the integration of the story from Chrétien's Le Chevalier de la charrette and the introduction of the Lancelot's son Galahad . In addition, the rewritten narrative is preceded by a history and followed by a continuation. The first part of the prehistory is the Estoire del Saint Graal , in which the early history of the Grail around Joseph of Arimathea , known from Robert de Boron , is rewritten. The second part is Merlin , in which de Boron's verse novel Histoire de Merlin is rendered in prose form. In most of the manuscripts Merlin is followed by the so-called Suite du Merlin , in which the further life of Merlin is described and which serves as a transition to the original beginning of the story, the Lancelot del Lac (Lancelot of the Lake). The Grail Quest in Queste del Saint Graal , which does not appear in the earliest manuscripts of the cycle but was soon added, is successfully completed in most manuscripts by Lancelot. In the sequence Merlin - Mistress of the Lake - Lancelot, the fact that Merlin is unbaptized was perceived as a contradiction to the overall Christian statement of the second processing stage of the cycle. In order to resolve this contradiction, a third group of manuscripts was created in which parts of the text were left out and which is therefore referred to as the “Short Version” of the Vulgate cycle. The quest for the Grail is followed by the story of King Arthur's death in Mort le Roi Artu .

expenditure

A complete edition of the Vulgate and the Post-Vulgate cycle with English translation was obtained from the American Romanist Norris J. Lacy . Volumes one to four contain the Vulgate cycle, volume five only contains texts from the post-Vulgate cycle. An edition with a French translation was presented by the French medievalist Philippe Walter as part of the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade book series . The German medievalist Hans-Hugo Steinhoff published a New High German translation of the entire text in the book series German Classics in 5 volumes.

  • Norris J. Lacy (Ed.): Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation.
  • Philippe Walter (Ed.): Le Livre du Graal.
    • Volume 1: Joseph d'Arimathie - Merlin - Les Premiers Faits du roi Arthur . Paris, Gallimard 2001, ISBN 978-2-07011-342-2
    • Volume 2. Lancelot - La Marche de Gaule - Galehaut - La Première Partie de la quête de Lancelot . Paris, Gallimard 2003, ISBN 978-2-07011-343-9
    • Volume 3. Lancelot - La Seconde Partie de la quête de Lancelot - La Quête du saint Graal - La Mort du roi Arthur . Paris, Gallimard 2009, ISBN 978-2-07011-344-6
  • Hans-Hugo Steinhoff (Ed.): Prosalancelot I – V. in 5 volumes (complete) - complete work edition . Frankfurt a. M. 1995-2004, 5526 pages, ISBN 978-3-618-66133-7

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Structure according to the Bonn manuscript, see Ulrich Mölk (PDF; 543 kB)
  2. ↑ Le Roman de Merlin en prose - ARLIMA, an online bibliography.
  3. ↑ Les premiers faits du roi Arthur - ARLIMA
  4. ^ La Suite du Roman de Merlin - ARLIMA, an online bibliography.
  5. ↑ For the title see Lancelot en prose - ARLIMA, an online bibliography.
  6. ↑ List of manuscripts
  7. ↑ Bonn, UB S 526
  8. ↑ Paris, BNF fr. 110 and fr. 344
  9. ↑ Paris, BNF fr. 768
  10. ^ Elspeth Kennedy: What is the Lancelot-Grail? In: The Lancelot-Graal Project.