Lancelot-Grail: 1. The History of the Holy Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation (Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation)

by NorrisJ.Lacy (Editor), Carol J . Chase (Editor)

• New

  Paperback
  2010

  $39.39

  AlthoughThe History of the Holy Grail opens the Vulgate Cycle, it was added after the events described in Lancelot and The Quest of the Holy Grail were already an established part of the Arthurian story. It is, in Hollywood terms, a 'prequel', and relates the story of the Grail from its first appearance at the Crucifixion up to the point where it is placed by Alain, the Fisher King, in the castle of Corbenic, whose inhabitants then await the arrival of the chosen Grail knight. Many points in the narrative are designed to foreshadow or to explain the later adventures connected with the Grail, but it also draws on the stories in the apocryphal gospels and other legends of the crucifixion such as the story of Veronica, as well as unrelated material such as the story of Hippocrates. But it also provides many details about the Grail itself which are not found anywhere else. It is less chivalric in tone from the subsequent books of the Vulgate Cycle, and relatively few copies of the original survive. For a full description of the Vulgate Cycle see the blurb for the complete set.

• New

  Paperback
  2010

  $39.08

  The Death of Arthur brings the Vulgate Cycle to its tragic ending. It opens with the aftermath of the Grail quest, and the king's attempts to revive the much depleted Round Table. But at this point the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere intensifies, and comes into the open when Agravain succeeds in catching them in the act. Lancelot saves the queen from the stake, and flees with her to his castle of Joyous Gard, which is besieged by Arthur. The final pages recount Arthur's death at the hands of his illegitimate son Mordred, and the deaths of Lancelot and Guinevere. For a full description of the Vulgate Cycle see the blurb for the complete set.