CHAPTER III.

The legend formed of two portions: Early History of Grail, Quest--Two forms of each portion distinguished--Grouping of the various versions--Alternative hypotheses of development--Their bearing upon the alleged Celtic origin of the Grail--Closer examination of the various accounts of the Grail: The first use made of it and its first possessor; its solace of Joseph; its properties and the effect produced by it; its name; its arrival in England; the Grail-keeper and his relationship to the Promised Knight--Three different stages in the development of the Queste--The work and the qualification of the Promised Knight--Conclusions: Priority over Early History of Quest--Chronological arrangement of the versions.

The information afforded by the summaries enables us to take a general view of the legend as a whole, and to attempt a more accurate chronological classification of its varying forms. It will have been seen that the legend is formed of two distinct portions: the one dealing with the origin and wanderings (Early History) of the Grail, the other with its Quest. The two portions are found combined in the Joseph and Didot-Perceval and in the Grand St. Graal and Queste considered each as one organic whole. Versions A, Chrestien and his continuators; C, Didot-Perceval taken by itself; D, Queste; F, Wolfram, and G, Perceval le Gallois, treat only of the Quest. Versions B, Metrical Joseph, and E, Grand St. Graal, only of the Early History. But in nearly all the versions, no matter of which portion, references are to be found to the other, and when the versions are carefully examined, it is found that of each portion there exist two entirely different forms. Taking the Early History first, versions A, B, C, D, E, and G, in so far as they deal with it at all, relate much as follows: the Grail is the vessel which our Lord used at the Last Supper, which, given by Pilate to Joseph, served the latter to receive the blood flowing from the body of the dead Christ, sustained him miraculously during his captivity, was, after his release, used by him to test the faith of his followers, and was brought to England by Joseph (A, D, E), by Brons (B, C), and was finally confided by Joseph to his brother-in-law, Brons, to be kept until the coming of the latter's grandson (versions B and C), or was left in charge of Alain, son of Brons, from whom it passed to his brother Josue, in whose line it remained until the Good Knight should come (version E). But F, Wolfram makes the Grail a vessel of "lapsit exillit" (_i.e._, lapis herilis, or lapsus ex coelis, or lapis electrix), which, after the fall of the rebel angels, was given in charge to Titurel and his dynasty, and by them preserved in the Grail Castle, Montsalvatch, guarded by a sacred order of Knighthood whom it chooses itself. So far, therefore, as the Early History is concerned all the versions, save one, are in the main of the same class, the differences between them being, apparently, ones of development and not of origin.

Turning now to the Quest, two classes are likewise to be distinguished: in the first the hero is Perceval, in the second there are three heroes, Galahad, Perceval, and Bors, chief of whom is Galahad. To the first class belong versions A, Chrestien, etc., C, Didot-Perceval; F, Wolfram; and G, Perceval le Gallois; whilst D, Queste, alone of the versions which recount the Quest only, belongs to the other class. It is followed, however, by E, Grand St. Graal, in so far as the latter has any reference to the Quest. In the other Early History version, namely B, Metrical Joseph, the name of the hero who is to achieve the Quest is not mentioned, but the indications concerning him agree more closely with the march of the story in C, Didot-Perceval, than with those of D, Queste; it must therefore be ranged in the first class. The main incident in the versions of this class is the hero's visit to the castle of a sick king, his beholding there the Grail in company with other relics, his neglect on the first visit to ask the meaning of what he sees, his punishment, second visit to the Grail Castle, and attainment of his end, whether healing of the Sick King or winning of the Grail kingship. The two versions, H, Peredur, and I, Sir Perceval, which belong to the Grail cycle, though they do not mention the Grail, and although I, Sir Perceval, does not contain the above-mentioned incident, must likewise be placed in this class, as must also the Gawain episodes of Diu Crone. In the second class this main incident is missing, though several of its less important features are present in altogether different connection. The story in D, Queste, is largely made up of adventures tallying often detail for detail with those in the Early History version, E, Grand St. Graal, with which it shares similarity in the Quest form.

Whilst each portion of the legend exists in two forms, the great majority of versions in both cases belong to one form. Looking for the moment upon D and E as one whole, there is in both cases only one minority-version, viz., for the Early History, F, Wolfram, for the Quest D-E, Queste, Grand St. Graal. And each of these is only in a minority as far as one portion of the legend is concerned, D-E, agreeing with the majority in the Early History, and F in the Quest. Taking the average of all the versions there results what may be called the _Joseph of Arimathea form_ as the type of the Early History; the _Perceval form_ as the type of the Quest. As a rule, it may be confidently assumed that the larger number of versions represent an older form, an assumption strengthened so far as the Early History is concerned by the fact that the minority version, F, Wolfram, can historically be proved to be one of the latest in date of all the versions, and, so far as the Quest is concerned, by the following considerations:--The minority version, D-E, has three heroes, of whom Perceval is second in importance only to the chief hero, Galahad, indeed he occupies as large a space in the narrative. This position can be due only to his being the original achiever of the Quest. It is obviously inadmissible that seven or eight versions should have conspired to pick out one only, and that one the second, of the three heroes of the Queste, and should have made him the sole hero, whilst it is easy to understand that the author of D, Queste, dissatisfied for certain reasons with the older forms of the story, yet not daring to alter it so far as to entirely burke the original hero, should have taken the course he did.

Two alternative hypotheses now naturally suggest themselves. The two parts of the legend may really form one organic whole, although more frequently found asunder than combined, or the one part may be an explanatory and supplementary after-thought. If the first hypothesis be accepted, it is natural to look upon the Metrical Joseph and the Didot-Perceval as the first and last parts of a trilogy, which, as presenting the legend in its fullest and most orderly shape, has a claim to being the oldest form of the story, and the main, if not the only, source of all other versions. If, on the other hand, the second hypothesis be exact, if one part of the legend be later than the other, and has been artificially welded into one with it, that version in which this fusion is most perfect, instead of being the earliest is, with greater likelihood, one of the latest forms. How do these alternative hypotheses affect the special object of these studies--the investigation of the alleged Celtic element in the Grail romances? In this way. If the Early History be an integral part of the romance, the probabilities in favour of a purely Christian legendary origin for the Grail itself are immensely increased, and the utmost the Celtic partisan could hope to show was that a Christian legend had somehow or other been strongly influenced by Celtic popular traditions. But if the reverse be true the probabilities are at once in favour of the Christian legendary element being the intruding one, and the chief aim of the Celtic partisan will be to disengage the present versions of the Quest from the traces left upon them by the Early History, and to accumulate as many parallels as possible between the residuum and admittedly genuine Celtic tradition. It by no means follows, however, that the acceptance of the second hypothesis involves the acceptance of the Celtic origin of the Grail. The romance as we have it--Quest, Early History--may be the fusion of two elements, one of which, the Christian legendary, may claim _all_ that is connected with the mystic vessel. Were it otherwise our task would be greatly simplified. For the mere fact that what may be called the non-Grail members of the cycle, _i.e._, H, Peredur, and I, Sir Perceval, know nothing of the Early History, gives no uncertain hint as to which portion of the romance is the original, and which the accretion. Two points have then to be investigated--the relationship one to the other of Early History and Quest; and, if the Quest is found to be the older portion, whether the Grail really belongs to it, or whether its presence in the various forms of the story as we now have them may not be due to the Early History. An examination of the various passages in which the Grail is mentioned will furnish material towards settling the first point. Such an examination may profitably omit all reference to Wolfram, to the prose Perceval le Gallois, from which little is apparently to be gained respecting the oldest forms of the legend, and to Heinrich von dem Türlin's version of the Gawain episodes. It must also neglect for the nonce the two non-Grail members of the cycle (the Mabinogi and Sir Perceval) as their testimony is either of little or of the highest value according as the Quest is or is not found to be the oldest portion of the romance. With these exceptions all the versions furnish elements of comparison, though little is to be got, as far as the point under discussion is concerned, from what is apparently the latest section of the Conte du Graal, Gerbert's poem.

The consideration of the second point will necessitate comparison of the various Quest forms among themselves, and the examination of numerous Celtic stories which present analogies with them.

_The Grail: the first use made of it and its first Possessor._

We learn nothing from Chrestien respecting the early history of the Grail, nor is Gautier more communicative if the Mons MS. version be followed. The intercalation, A IIA, however, and Manessier give full details. According to the former:

... c'est icel Graal por voir Que nostre Sires tant ama Que de son saint sanc l'anora Au jor que il fu en croix mis. (16-19)

According to the latter:

C'est li vassiaus, ce saciés-vous, Ù ens li sains sans présious Nostre Segnor fu recéus Quant de la lance fu férus. (35,017-20)

We learn from the former that "Josep le fist fère" (v. 22), and that he used it to collect the blood that flowed from each foot of our Lord as He hung on the Cross (verses 30-39), whilst the latter leaves it uncertain who the first possessor was, and who held the Grail to receive our Lord's blood. The information given in versions B, is as might be expected, much fuller. B I, Metr. Jos., which calls it "un veissel mout gent," tells how Christ used it, He "feisoit son sacrement" in it; how it was found by a Jew, who delivered it up to Pilate, by whom it was given to Joseph, and by him used to receive the blood which bursts forth again from Christ's wounds when the body has been taken down from the Cross.--C, Didot-Perceval: Brons, after relating how Longis pierced the Lord's body as it hung on the Cross, says of the Grail, "en cest vessel gist le sanc que Joseph recueilli qui decoroit par terre" (p. 483).--E, Grand St. Graal: Joseph himself finds the vessel out of which Christ had eaten, takes it home, and when he has received the body from Pilate, fetches the vessel and collects in it all the blood flowing from the wound he can (I, pp. 23, 24). Curiously enough, the very MS. which gives this version has an illustration of Joseph sitting under the Cross and collecting the blood as it drops from the wounds in side and feet. Three different accounts of how the Grail came into Joseph's possession and to what use he put it thus exist:--

(1) The Grail is the vessel in which Christ's blood was received as He hung upon the Cross (Pseudo-Gautier, Manessier, Didot-Perceval, and an illustration in a MS. of the Grand St. Graal); Joseph had had it made (Pseudo-Gautier).

(2) The Grail is the vessel which had been used by Christ at the Last Supper. It is used as a receptacle for the blood of Christ after His body has been taken down from the Cross (Metr. Jos.).

(3) Same as No. 2, with minor alterations, such as that it was Joseph who found the holy vessel himself (Grand St. Graal).

_The Grail: its Solace of Joseph._

Chrestien and Gautier are again silent, but from A IIA, Pseudo-Gautier, we learn that Joseph was wont to pray before the Grail, that he was, in consequence, imprisoned in a high tower by the Jews, delivered thence by the Lord, whereupon the Jews resolve to exile him with Nicodemus, and that sister of his who had a likeness of Christ (verses 60-110). Manessier, in the Mons MS. version, passes this over, but A IIIA, has the following important passage:--

En une charte orrible et lède Fu mis Joseph sanz nul arreste;

* * * *

XL ans ilecques estut C'onques ne menja ne ne but; Mais Damediex li envoioit Le Saint Graal que il véoit II foiées ou III le jor; (V. pp. 153-4.)

In the B versions this episode is one of capital importance. B I., Joseph is put into prison, because the Jews suspect him of having stolen away Christ's body. To him in the dungeon, "qui estoit horrible et obscure" (v. 703), appears Christ, who hands him the Grail, whereat he is surprised, as he had hidden it in a house where none knew of it (v. 860), and addresses him as follows:--

En ten povoir l'enseigne aras De ma mort et la garderas Et cil l'averunt à garder A cui tu la voudras donner. (847-50)

These will be three--

Joseph, bien ce saras garder, Que tu ne le doiz commander Qu'a trois persones qui l'arunt. Ou non dou Père le penrunt Et dou Fil et dou Saint-Esprit (871-75)

The offices Joseph rendered to Christ's body were symbolical of the Sacrament: the sepulchre is the altar; the sheet in which the body was wrapped the corporal; the vessel in which the blood was received shall be called chalice; and by the patina upon which it rests is signified the tombstone (v. 901-912). Finally Christ promises Joseph that:--

Tout cil qui ten veissel verrunt, En ma compeignie serunt; De cuer arunt emplissement Et joie pardurablement. (917-20)

The prose versions repeat this account in the main, but with some important additions, thus: B II, Cangé MS., adds after Christ's last words, "Lors li aprant Jhésu Christ tex paroles que jà nus conter ne retraire ne porroit," etc. (I, 227); when Christ hands the vessel to Joseph, "Tu tiens lou sanc as trois personnes en une déité, qui degota des plaies de la char au fil," etc. (I, 225-26); after the description of the Grail, "lou Graal c'est à dire sor lou caalice."... In C, Didot-Perceval, the Holy Ghost, speaking to Brons, commands him to reveal to Perceval, "icelles paroles segroies qu'il (_i.e._, Christ) aprist à Joseph en la prison," which, adds the narrator, "je ne vous puis dire ne ne doi" (I, 483). E, Grand St. Graal: The Jews, angry at Joseph's having taken Christ's body down from the Cross, throw him into "la plu hideuse chartre qui onques fust veue" and when they hear of the Lord's resurrection propose to starve him; but Christ comes to him, brings him for comfort "la sainte esceuele que ostoie en sa maison a tot le sanc qu'il Auoit requelli," and comforted him much, and assured him that he should not die in prison but come out safe and sound, and his name be glorified. And Joseph "fu en la prison ... tant qu'il demoura xlii ans" (pp. 25-26).[48] Here again are three distinct accounts:--

(1) That of Pseudo-Gautier, which merely mentions Joseph's devotions to the Grail, and does not connect that devotion with any solace during his captivity.

(2) That of the B versions, in which Christ Himself brings the holy vessel to the captive, and connects it with certain promises and recommendations which He makes to him; the vessel shall remain with his seed, but it is to be in charge of three persons, a symbol of the Trinity. The services rendered by Joseph to Christ's body are connected with the Mass. The late (prose) drafts of this version insist still more upon the sacramental nature of the Grail.

(3) The Grand St. Graal and Pseudo-Manessier introduce a fresh element--the Grail is the material means by which Joseph is sustained (forty years according to the one, forty-two years according to the other version) without food or drink.

The great importance of the incident in the B versions is most remarkable when contrasted with the comparative indifference displayed by the other versions, and notably by the Grand St. Graal, which, at the first blush, looks so like a mere amplification of B, still more remarkable the agreement between the prose versions of B, with C, Didot-Perceval, respecting Christ's words to Joseph against B I, Metr. Jos. It is difficult to decide which of the two versions is the older; B I, after Christ's words, has the following important passage:--

Ge n'ose conter ne retreire, Ne je ne le pourroie feire, Neis, se je feire le voloie, Se je le grant livre n'avoie Où les estoires sunt escrites, Par les granz clers feites et dites: Lá sunt li grant secré escrit Qu'en numme le Graal et dit.

which may either have been the reason why the prose versions, followed by the Didot-Perceval, speak as they do about the secret words, or may be the versifier's excuse for giving those secret words themselves, _i.e._, the explanation of the mysteries of the Grail in its relation to the Sacrament, in which case the verse would be later than the prose forms.[49] Finally, it would seem that Pseudo-Manessier, A IIIA, and the Grand St. Graal drew their information one from the other or from a common source.

_Properties and Effect of the Grail._

In Chrestien these seem to be of a purely physical nature; the Grail is borne uncovered through the hall at every meal (4,470-79), it feeds the Fisher King's father--

D'une seule oiste li sains hom Quant en ce Greal li aporte Sa vie sostient et conforte Tant sainte cose est li Graaus. (7,796-99)

the most direct testimony in Chrestien to its sacred nature. In Gautier, likewise, the physical properties are insisted upon in the following passages:--

Lors vit parmi la sale aler La rice Gréail ki servoit Et mist le pain a grant esploit. (20,114-16)

Moult mangièrent à grant loisir; Adonques véissiés servir Le Gréail moult honestement. (20,142-43)

but in verses 28,078-81 a remarkable spiritual effect is attributed to it--

Car li diables ne deçoit Nul homme ki le jor le voie, Ne ne le met en male voie Por faire pécié creminal.

In A IIA, Pseudo-Gautier, the physical side alone is insisted upon--

Et de quanqu'il lor ert mestiers Les fornissoit à tel plenté Com s'il n'eust néant cousté; (12-14)

Et li Graaux par tot aloit Et pain et vin par tot portoit Et autres mès a grant planté. (171-74)

Manessier makes no special reference to the properties of the Grail.

In the B versions it is the spiritual power of the Grail which is dwelt upon. Christ's words to Joseph have already been quoted (_supra_, p. 71), and the use which the latter puts the Grail to, and which is specially indicated to Joseph by the Holy Ghost, is in accordance with them. The Grail is to serve him as a touchstone to distinguish the sinners of his company--

Car il n'a à nul pecheour Ne compaignie ne amour; (2,629-30)

whereas to those who have not defiled themselves with sin it brings

La douceur, l'accomplissement De leur cueurs tout entièrement; (2,565-67)

so that according to them--

... Cuers ne pourroit, A pourpenser ne soufiroit Le grant delit que nous avuns Ne la grant joie en quoi nous suns. (2,609-12)

This testing power of the Grail is especially brought into play when the vessel is placed on the table in connection with the fish which Brons caught, and which won him the name of the Rich Fisher.

C, Didot-Perceval, has only one reference, "ne il ne covient mie en sa compagnie pechier" (I, 483), agreeing with B and with Gautier's lines 28,079-80.

In D, Queste, we revert to the physical gifts of the Grail. "And as soon as it entered the door of the hall the whole court was filled with perfumes ... and it proceeded to every place in the hall. And as it came before the tables it filled them with every kind of meat that a man would wish to have." When it comes in, "Every one looked at each other, and there was not one that could say a single word;" when it goes out, "Every one recovered his speech" (D II, pp. 442-43). There is no allusion to a gathering at which the Grail is used to test the state of grace of its devotees. E, Grand St. Graal, shows a curious mixture of the two ideas; the Grail feeds its worshippers, but only those who are "de sainte vie," to them it bring "toutes le boines viandes ke cuers d'omme pourroit penser," but "li pecheour n'auoient ke mangier." This version shows itself here, as in so many other passages, one of the latest in date, embodying and reconciling as it does the conceptions of the older versions--conceptions which it is difficult to derive, either from a common source or from one another. If it were not for the solitary phrase of Gautier's, lines 28,079, etc. (a passage which affords the strongest proof against the homogeneity of that part of the Conte du Graal which goes under Gautier's name), there would be an unbroken chain of testimony as to the food-giving power of the Grail on the part of the earlier A versions, supported by the Queste in opposition to the spiritual gifts insisted on by the B and E, Grand St. Graal, forms. It is in any case difficult to believe that if the writer of the Queste, with his strong tendency to mystic allegory, had had before him the highly spiritual presentment of the Grail-power found in B, he would have neglected it in favour of the materialistic description he uses. In one point this version differs from all others, the dumbness with which the Grail strikes those to whom it appears.[50]

_Name of Grail._

Whilst the majority of versions afford no explanation of the name of the Grail, B and C attach a curious punning meaning to it, thus B I, Metr. Jos.:

Par droit Graal l'apelera; Car nus le Graal ne verra, Ce croi-je, qu'il ne li agrée; (2,659-61)

and C, Didot-Perceval, "Et por ce l'anpelon-nos Graal, qu'il agrée as prodes homes" (p. 483). E, Grand St. Graal, seems to follow these versions in Nasciens' words, "Car tout mi pense sont accompli, puis ke ie voi chou qui en toutes choses me plaist et m'agrée" (I, 212). Is such a punning explanation more consonant with the earliness or the lateness of the versions in which it is found? If the meaning of "Gréal" as cup or vessel was a perfectly well-established one, it is difficult to see why in the first treatment of the subject it should have been necessary to explain the word at all.

_Arrival of the Grail in England._

Neither A I, Chrestien, nor A II, Gautier, give any indication how the Grail came to England; not until we come to A IIA, Pseudo-Gautier, do we learn anything on the subject. It is there related (v. 139-48) how Joseph and his companions take ship and sail till they come to the land promised Joseph by God--the White Isle, namely, a part of England; and how (v. 161-66) Joseph, finding that "sa vitaille li falloit," prays God to lend him that Grail in which he had collected the holy blood. The prayer is granted and the Grail appears and feeds the company. A III, Manessier, simply says that Joseph, after leaving Sarras, carried the Grail about with him, then in a singularly enigmatic passage (the Fisher King is speaking):--

Et, quant il furent départis, Il s'en ala en son païs, Et tout partout ù il aloit La loi Jhésucrist essauçoit. Puis vint en cest païs manoir, Od lui le saint Gréal, por voir. Josep qui en Dieu se fia Icest païs édéfia. (35,123-30)

The B versions account is much more elaborate, and demands the most careful analysis. In B I, Metr. Jos., the first mention of the West is found in Christ's words to Joseph concerning his nephew, Alain, who is to keep the Grail, to take charge of his brothers and sisters, and

Puis s'en ira vers occident Es plus loiteins lius que pourra; (3,100-01)

further that Petrus is likewise to go "ès vaus d'Avaron" (3,123), it being added that--

Ces terres trestout vraiement Se treient devers occident. (3,125-26)

Effectively we learn (v. 3,262, etc.) that Alain leads his brothers into strange lands. But the Grail remains behind, and in v. 3,353, etc., an angel declares it necessary that all the people should go to the West, that Brons should have the vessel, that he should go straight to the West, and that Petrus, after seeing the Grail safe in Brons' keeping, is to go likewise. Joseph follows the angel's command, and three days after he has committed the Grail to Brons' hands.

Ainsi Joseph se demoura. Li boens Pescherres s'en ala (Dont furent puis meintes paroles Contées, ki ne sunt pas foles) En la terre lau il fu nez, Et Joseph si est demourez. (3,455-60)

A puzzling passage, as it is difficult to be sure whether line 3,459 refers to the Fisher or to Joseph, a point of obvious importance, as in the latter case it would indicate that Joseph in this version does not go West. On turning to the prose versions, some remarkable variations are found in the corresponding passages; thus B II, Cangé MS. (I, 265) after relating how Brons finds wives for his children, adds, "Mais ancor estoit la crestientez moult tenue et moult novele en ce païs que l'an apeloit la bloe Bretaigne que Joseph avoit novellement convertie à la créance de Jhésu-Christ," words which would seem to indicate that the writer imagined Joseph and his company _already_ in England. The corresponding passage to