From Ritual to Romance

Nature of the Grail problem. Unsatisfactory character of results achieved. Objections to Christian Legendary origin; to Folk-lore origin. Elements in both theories sound. Soluti...

Essential to determine the original nature of the task imposed upon the hero. Versions examined. The Gawain forms—_Bleheris, Diû Crône_. Perceval versions—_Gerbert, prose Percev...

Enquiry may commence with early Aryan tradition. The _Rig-Veda_. Extreme importance assigned to Indra’s feat of “Freeing the Waters.” This also specific achievement of Grail her...

General objects to be attained by these Nature Cults. Stimulation of Fertility, Animal and Vegetable. Principle of Life ultimately conceived of in anthropomorphic form. This pro...

Is it possible to establish chain of descent connecting early Aryan and Babylonian Ritual with Classic, Medieval and Modern forms of Nature worship? Survival of Adonis cult esta...

Summary of results of previous enquiry. _The Medieval Stage_. Grail romances probably contain record of secret ritual of a Fertility cult. The Symbols of the cult—Cup, Lance, Sw...

Relation of Sword Dance, Morris Dance, and Mumming Play. Their Ceremonial origin now admitted by scholars. Connected with seasonal Festivals and Fertility Ritual. Earliest Sword...

The _rôle_ of the Medicine Man, or Doctor in Fertility Ritual. Its importance and antiquity. The _Rig-Veda_ poem. Classical evidence, Mr F. Cornford. Traces of Medicine Man in t...

Summary of evidence presented. Need of a ‘test’ element. To be found in central figure. Mystery of his title. Analysis of variants. _Gawain_ version. _Perceval_ version. Borron...

The Grail regarded as an object of awe. Danger of speaking of Grail or revealing Its secrets. Passages in illustration. Why, if survival of Nature cults, popular, and openly per...

Relations between early Christianity, and pre-Christian cults. Early Heresies. Hippolytus, and _The Refutation of all Heresies_. Character of the work. _The Naassene Document_....

Problem of close connection of cults. Their apparent divergence. Nature of deities examined. Attis. Mithra. The Messianic Feast. Dieterich, _Eine Mithrasliturgie_. Difference be...

The adventure of the Perilous Chapel in Grail romances. _Gawain_ form. _Perceval_ versions. _Queste. Perlesvaus. Lancelot. Chevalier à Deux Espées_. Perilous Cemetery. Earliest...

_Provenance_ and authorship of Grail romantic tradition. Evidence points to Wales, probably Pembrokeshire. Earliest form contained in group of _Gawain_ poems assigned to Bleheri...

In view of the extensive literature to which the Grail legend has already given birth it may seem that the addition of another volume to the already existing _corpus_ calls for...

As a first step towards the successful prosecution of an investigation into the true nature and character of the mysterious object we know as the Grail it will be well to ask ou...

‘To begin at the beginning,’ was the old story-telling formula, and it was a very sound one, if ‘the beginning’ could only be definitely ascertained! As our nearest possible app...

In the previous chapter we considered certain aspects of the attitude assumed by our Aryan forefathers towards the great processes of Nature in their ordered sequence of Birth,...

While it is only of comparatively recent date that information as to the exact character of the worship directed to Tammuz has been available and the material we at present poss...

Readers of the foregoing pages may, not improbably, object that, while we have instanced certain curious and isolated parallels from early Aryan literature and tradition, and, w...

In the previous chapters we have discussed the Grail Legend from a general, rather than a specific, point of view; _i.e._, we have endeavoured to ascertain what was the real cha...

The subject we are now about to consider is one which of late years has attracted considerable attention, and much acute criticism has been expended on the question of its origi...

In previous chapters I have referred to the part played by the Doctor in a large number of the surviving ‘Fertility’ ceremonies, and to the fact, noted by other writers, that ev...

The gradual process of our investigation has led us to the conclusion that the elements forming the existing Grail legend—the setting of the story, the nature of the task which...

Students of the Grail literature cannot fail to have been impressed by a certain atmosphere of awe and mystery which surrounds that enigmatic Vessel. There is a secret connected...

We have now seen that the Ritual which, as we have postulated, lies, in a fragmentary and distorted condition, at the root of our existing Grail romances, possessed elements cap...

The fact that there was, at a very early date, among a certain sect of Christian Gnostics, a well-developed body of doctrine, based upon the essential harmony existing between t...

Students of the Grail romances will remember that in many of the versions the hero—sometimes it is a heroine—meets with a strange and terrifying adventure in a mysterious Chapel...

Having now completed our survey of the various elements which have entered into the composite fabric of the Grail Legend, the question naturally arises where, and when, did that...

evolution of the literature; at the same time, in the light of further research, I should feel inclined to add the Grail section of _Sone de Nansai_ as deriving from the same so...

[23] It is evidently such a version as that of _Sone de Nansai_, and _Parzival_, which underlies the curious statement of the _Merlin_ MS. B.N. f. Fr. 337, where the wife of the...

[1] Cf. _Rig-Veda Sanhita_, trans. H. H. Wilson, 6 vols. 1854-1888. Vol. I. p. 88, v. 12. 172, v. 8 206, v. 10 Vol. III. p. 157, vv. 2, 5, 7, 8.

[2] In this connection not only the epoch-making works of Mannhardt and Frazer, which are more specifically devoted to an examination of Folk-belief and practice should be studi...

[3] I cite from Mannhardt, as the two works overlap in the particular line of research we are following: the same instances are given in both, buyt the honour of priority belong...

[3] I discussed this point with Miss Lucy Broadwood, Secretary of the Folk-Song Society, who has made sketches of these Crosses, and she entirely agrees with me. In my _Quest of...

[8] _Vollendung des Arische Mysterium_, p. 13. The introductory section of this book, containing a study of early Aryan belief, and numerous references to modern survivals, is b...

[6] I would draw attention to the fact that while scholars are now coming to the conclusion that Classic Drama, whether Tragedy or Comedy, reposes for its origin upon this ancie...

[1] Cf. my _Sir Gawain and the Grail Castle_, pp. 3-30. The best text is that of MS. B.N., fonds Franç. 12576, ff. 87vo-91. The above remarks apply also to the _Elucidation_, wh...

[4] This is to my mind the error vitiating much of Dr Nitze’s later work, _e.g._, the studies entitled _The Fisher-King in the Grail Romances_ and _The Sister’s Son, and the Con...

[11] _Op. cit_. pp. 185, 186. I would draw especial attention to this passage in view of the present controversey as to the Origin of Drama. It looks as if the original writer o...

[15] Without entering into indiscreet details I may say that students of the Mysteries are well aware of the continued survival of this ritual under circumstances which correspo...

[14] Cf. _Legend of Sir Perceval_, Vol. II. p. 261. I suggested then that the actual initiation would probably consist in enlightenment into the meaning of Lance and Cup, in the...

[9] A critic of my _Quest_ volume remarks that “we have as little faith in Wauchier’s appeal to a Welshman Bleheris as source for his continuation of Chrétien’s ‘_Perceval_’ as...