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The Sangreal - 2

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The Sangreal in Arthurian Legend

Percival visits the Grail Castle twice. The first time, in his youth, he remembers that he has been taught not to ask unnecessary questions, and when he witnesses the Sangreal he asks nothing. As a result, he fails and the world remains a wasteland. But he later finds the Grail Castle again, having achieved enlightenment, and is able to ask 'The Question', bringing healing and becoming the Grail-Knight.

The Sangreal in 'Parzival' - Wolfram von Eschenbach

According to Wolfram von Eschenbach, a German poet, the Sangreal was a wonder-working stone with celestial origins, not a vessel. He took up the Perceval theme in 'Parzival' (c.1205 to 1215), a long poem contained in 16 books which introduced the concept of the Sangreal into German literature. A simpleton, Parzival, sets out on his adventures without even knowing his own name - the classic fairy-tale motif of 'the guileless fool' - but who nonetheless, through innocence and artlessness, attains a goal denied to wiser men. Parzival's development from dunce to wise and responsible keeper of the Sangreal is a subtle allegory of man's spiritual development.

Wolfram's tale is especially interesting because it's almost devoid of any mention of the clergy. His Parzival finds grace through knightly prowess in pursuit of an agnostic, experiential faith rather than through any direct inspiration from Christ, the Last Supper, and so on. His Sangreal - the stone that fell from heaven - would eventually become, over the centuries, the philosopher's stone.

Also of interest is that Wolfram claims one of his sources as a Provençal poet, Guiot (Kyot), whose own source for the existence of the Sangreal was supposedly an Arabic manuscript in Toledo.

Rather outside the mainstream of Arthurian legend, 'Parzival' still contains elements common to many of the medieval Grail romances: the ignorant youth arrives at the Grail Castle where he fails to ask the healing question; he grows from folly to wisdom through experience, then returns to the domain of the Sangreal where this time he asks the question and heals the wounded king, demonstrating the spiritual leadership that will enable the knights to go out, redeem, and bring healing to the world.

The Sangreal in the Vulgate Cycles

'Lancelot en Prose' is a trilogy: 'Lancelot Propre', 'La Queste del Saint Graal', and 'La Mort de Roi Artu', written by Cistercian monks between 1215 and 1230. In the Vulgate Cycle proper, the Lancelot trilogy was preceded by two other stories: 'L'Estoire del Saint Graal' and 'Merlin'.

'L'Estoire del Saint Graal' is about the descendants of Joseph of Arimathea, who take the Sangreal with them to Britain where they build the Grail-castle in which the long line of Fisher Kings will live, as the keepers of the Grail. 'La Queste del Saint Graal' written by the one time Archdeacon of Oxford, Walter de Mapp (c.1220), is - as its title suggests - the story which deals most specifically with the quest of the Sangreal. The other three stories deal with general Arthur-related themes and are thought to be important sources for Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur a few hundred years later.

The Sangreal in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur

The popularity of Arthurian legend stories waned in the fourteenth century, but during the second half of the fifteenth century, the English 'knight' Sir Thomas Malory wrote his masterpiece, Le Morte d'Arthur.

Malory wasn't an innovator like Chrétien and some of the earlier medieval writers - who were essentially his (French) sources - Le Morte d'Arthur is rather (amongst other things) an extensive recapitulation of previous medieval stories concerning King Arthur.

Le Morte d'Arthur was printed and prefaced by the 'father of British printing', William Caxton in 1485, as 21 books instead of Malory's original eight. The Sangreal is referred to in various places but it's in Book 17 that Sirs Galahad, Bors, and Percivale finally achieve it and heal the Maimed King at Castle Corbin.

Malory's story is unlike its French ancestors in that the narrative is less complex, less interwoven, contains less magic, and is thus more realistically detailed. Its sequential character gives the reader a sense of the cumulative significance of events, increasingly apparent in a rising tide of unavoidable disaster: the death of King Arthur and the end of the fellowship of the Round Table. As regards the Sangreal, this is important, because its status is never exalted beyond its place amongst other more Earthly events.

Here, the quest of the Sangreal - spelt "Sangrail" by Malory - has an air of a real expedition. In Book 13, all one hundred and fifty of the Round Table knights left on the quest. In short: Sir Percevale survived the quest with his viginity intact, in Book 14, but did not achieve it. Sir Launcelot failed the quest in Book 15, and Sir Bors achieved a victory over temptation in Book 16.

In Book 17 it becomes highly uncertain as to exactly who is the Maimed King, what sword goes where, exactly what the Sangreal is, and how anyone can tell when it is eventually achieved. Several cursory and puzzling references are made to events that that may or may not have been introduced earlier in the narrative. It's as if Malory was getting bored trying to make sense of his huge pile of assorted myth fragments and just threw everything in that was still left. Be that as it may, Galahad, Percivale, Bors, the Maimed King, and others finally found themselves gathered together at Castle Corbin, and at dinner, Joseph of Aramathie appeared, dressed as a bishop.

There followed a major scene, heavily based on the Christian mass, involving glowing babies turning into bread. Then Joseph left and Jesus came out of the holy vessel in person, and Galahad 'received his saviour'. After a mission briefing for his twelve new disciples, Jesus declared that the Sangreal would now leave Logris, never to return. He blessed them all and vanished, leaving behind some of his blood on the Spear of Longinus. Galahad did as he was told, and used the spear to heal the Maimed King, who then became a white monk.

Galahad, Percivale, and Bors then travelled by ship to the city of Sarras, where Joseph of Aramathie appeared again. Galahad was eventually made king, then died, finding 'the life of the soul', whereupon Percivale became a hermit, then soon died too. At the end of Book 17, at King Arthur's court, there was great joy at Bors' return from the quest, and he and Launcelot swore eternal friendship - "thus endeth the history of the Sangrail".

Read the first page about << the Sangreal.

In 1948 the Belgian artist and book illustrator Francoise Taylor produced a series of 18 wonderfully original and evocative engravings created specifically as illustrations for Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, including two pictures titled 'The Sangreal' and 'The Quest of the Sangreal'.