Travis Simpkins: Knights of the Round Table

Showing posts with label Knights of the Round Table. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

The Quest of the Holy Grail. King Arthur. Camelot. Arthurian Legend. Knights of the Round Table

Written in approximately 1225 A.D., "The Quest of the Holy Grail" shouldn't be read too lightly. There is a lot to discover beneath the surface.

Composed by an unknown author in early thirteenth-century France, The Quest of the Holy Grail is a fusion of Arthurian legend and Christian symbolism, reinterpreting ancient Celtic myth as a profound spiritual fable. It recounts the quest of the knights of Camelot - the simple Perceval, the thoughtful Bors, the rash Gawain, the weak Lancelot and the saintly Galahad - as they journey through danger and temptation to reach the elusive Holy Grail. But only one of them is judged worthy to see the mysteries within the sacred vessel, and look upon the ineffable. Enfused with tragic grandeur and an aura of mysticism, The Quest is an absorbing and radiant allegory of man's perilous search for divine grace, and had a profound influence on later Arthurian romances and versions of the Grail legend.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Monday, November 8, 2021

The Grail. From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol. Roger Sherman Loomis

I'm enjoying "The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol" by Roger Sherman Loomis...

The medieval legend of the Grail, a tale about the search for supreme mystical experience, has never ceased to intrigue writers and scholars by its wildly variegated forms: the settings have ranged from Britain to the Punjab to the Temple of Zeus at Dodona; the Grail itself has been described as the chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper, a stone with miraculous youth-preserving virtues, a vessel containing a man's head swimming in blood; the Grail has been kept in a castle by a beautiful damsel, seen floating through the air in Arthur's palace, and used as a talisman in the East to distinguish the chaste from the unchaste. In his classic exploration of the obscurities and contradictions in the major versions of this legend, Roger Sherman Loomis shows how the Grail, once a Celtic vessel of plenty, evolved into the Christian Grail with miraculous powers. Loomis bases his argument on historical examples involving the major motifs and characters in the legends, beginning with the Arthurian legend recounted in the 1180 French poem by Chrtien de Troyes. The principal texts fall into two classes: those that relate the adventures of the knights in King Arthur's time and those that account for the Grail's removal from the Holy Land to Britain. Written with verve and wit, Loomis's book builds suspense as he proceeds from one puzzle to the next in revealing the meaning behind the Grail and its legends.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

"Parzival" by Wolfram von Eschenbach. A Medieval Knight's Quest for The Holy Grail.

Parzival

by Wolfram von Eschenbach

Penguin Classics

Brief Review by Travis Simpkins

"'Upon my word, you are Parzival!' said she of the red lips, 'Your name means 'Pierce-through-the-heart.'" With these words, the great hero of Wolfram von Eschenbach's early 13th Century romance makes his first appearance by name.

Full of chivalry, jousting, kings, queens, Templar Knights and the quest for the all-powerful "Gral", the text of Parzival is still enlivened and entertaining 800 years after it was composed. One of the early romances to feature King Arthur and the Holy Grail, the story is one of conquest, reverence and spiritual redemption. However, the key story elements pertaining to the "Gral" are what maintain the text's relevance and importance for Grail scholars.

The Holy Grail is one of the world's great mysteries, a source of eternal captivation, and the symbolic object is an ever-present undercurrent in the narrative. As stated in translator A.T. Hatto's foreword: "The Grail of medieval romance has the function of indicating a goal worth striving for or preserving, and in content at least a modicum of sanctity."

Descriptions of the Holy Grail, tended by virginal maidens, are luminous: "The Gral was the very fruit of bliss, a cornucopia of the sweets of this world and such that is scarcely fell short of what they tell us of the Heavenly Kingdom." Though desired by all, the Grail cannot be taken by force, for "no man can win the Gral other than one who is acknowledged in Heaven as destined for it." It is interesting to note that Wolfram's "Gral" in Parzival is never described as a chalice… but is a stone of bountiful power that is not destined for the worthy hero until he asks the compassionate question of it's long-suffering King: "What ails you?"

Being one of the great Classics of the medieval period Arthurian Romances, a storyline synopsis of Parzival would serve little purpose here… but for those interested in the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail, the epic poem is both a rich source and required reading.