Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation Book

This volume (9) and the previous volume (8 The Post-Vulgate Cycle: The Merlin Continuation), both translated by Martha Asher, are part of the Norris Lacy edition in 10 volumes of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Lancelot-Grail Cycles (1 Holy Grail, 2 Merlin, 3-5 Lancelot, 6 Quest of the Holy Grail, 7 Death of Arthur, 8-9 Post-Vulgate, 10 chapter summaries and index).

These two volumes give a complete English-language translation of the reconstructed, incomplete (so-called) "Post-Vulgate" cycle (the cycle does not survive complete). The Post-Vulgate Cycle (written probably between 1230 and 1240) is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature. It is essentially a extensive reworking and condensation of the earlier, massive "Vulgate Cycle" (also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle), with much left out (it omits almost all of the Vulgate's Lancelot Proper section, although it alludes to plot elements from it) and much added (including characters and scenes from the Prose Tristan). It was the major source for Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

The first part of this volume begins with Galahad's arrival at court (bringing completion to the Round Table) and the start of the Quest for the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, running parallel to the Quest for the Holy Grail is the constant return of the pagan Sir Palamedes hunting the Questing Beast and defying any other knight he might cross. What follows is grim adventure, sin, and slaughter which confronts and corrupts almost all of the far flung knights errant (only Galahad, Perceval, and Bors maintain their purity). Suicides are rampant. Townsfolk are slaughtered. Women are raped. Indeed, this version is a relentless and murderous dismantling of any idealized Arthurian moment, very much at odds with the tone of the Vulgate version of the cycle. The portrayal of Gawain, in particular, undergoes a radical shift from his Vulgate version: he is portrayed as a coward, liar, and treacherous murderer. It's all great fantasy -- albeit, with an ever present Christian didacticism emphasizing faith as an essential part of chivalry (the perfect knight Galahad is very much a Christ figure) -- but it's also very dark stuff.

After the completion of the Quest for the Holy Grail, this volume concludes with a short version of the Death of Arthur episode of the cycle: Arthur is informed of Lancelot's adulterous relationship with the Queen, war is declared, Mordred makes his grab for power, and the whole Arthurian world comes crashing down in death and destruction. This is more or less a streamlined version of the Vulgate, but in the final chapter the author gives us something new: King Mark of Cornwall invades Logres and conducts a scorched earth campaign on any monument or vestige of Arthur's miraculous reign (destroying the Round Table, defiling Lancelot's tomb...): a final, brutal end to the kingdom of adventures. In the final scene, a penitent Sir Bors is slaughtered in a hermitage. This ending (that Malory did not emulate) left me wrecked.