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The Questing Beast
The Questing Beast, or the Beast Glatisant (Old French: ''beste glatisant'', Modern French: ''bête glatissante''), is a cross-animal monster appearing in many medieval texts of Arthurian legend and modern works inspired by them. In the French prose cycles, and consequently in the quasi-canon of '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', the hunt for the Beast is the subject of quests futilely undertaken by King Pellinore and his family and finally achieved by Sir Palamedes and his companions. Description and name The strange creature has the head and neck of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion, and the feet of a hart. Its name comes from the great noise that it emits from its belly, a barking like "thirty couple hounds questing". ''Glatisant'' is related to the French word ''glapissant'', 'yelping' or 'barking', especially of small dogs or foxes. The questing beast is a variant of the medieval mythological view on giraffes, whose generic name of '' Camelopardalis'' orig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur And The Questing Beast (full)
Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more widely believed, is that the name is derived from the Roman clan '' Artorius'' who lived in Roman Britain for centuries. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Italian it is Arturo. Etymology The earliest datable attestation of the name Arthur is in the early 9th century Welsh-Latin text ''Historia Brittonum'', where it refers to a circa 5th to 6th-century Briton general who fought against the invading Saxons, and who later gave rise to the famous King Arthur of medieval legend and literature. A possible earlier mention of the same man is to be found in the epic Welsh poem ''Y Gododdin'' by Aneirin, which some scholars assign to the late 6th century, though this is still a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' was published by the famed London printer William Caxton in 1485. Much of Malory's life history is obscure, but he identified himself as a "knight prisoner", apparently reflecting that he was either a criminal or a prisoner-of-war. Malory's identity has never been confirmed. However, since modern scholars began researching his identity the most widely accepted candidate has been Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire, who was imprisoned at various times for criminal acts and possibly also for political reasons during the Wars of the Roses. Identity Most of what is known about Malory stems from the accounts describing him in the prayers found in the Winchester Manuscript of ''Le Morte d'Arthur''. He is described as a "", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galahad
Sir Galahad (), sometimes referred to as Galeas () or Galath (), among other versions of his name, is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot du Lac and Lady Elaine of Corbenic and is renowned for his gallantry and purity as the most perfect of all knights. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, Sir Galahad first appears in the Lancelot–Grail cycle, and his story is taken up in later works, such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and Sir Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur''. Origins The story of Galahad and his quest for the Holy Grail is a relatively late addition to the Arthurian legend. Galahad does not feature in any romance by Chrétien de Troyes, or in Robert de Boron's Grail stories, or in any of the continuations of Chrétien's story of the mysterious castle of the Fisher King. He first appears in a 13th-century Old French Arthurian epic, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Percival
Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'', he is best known for being the original hero in the quest for the Grail, before being replaced in later English and French literature by Galahad. Etymology and origin The earliest reference to Perceval is in Chrétien de Troyes's first Arthurian romance '' Erec et Enide'', where, as "Percevaus li Galois" (Percevaus of Wales), he appears in a list of Arthur's knights; in another of Chrétien's romances, '' Cligés'', he is a "renowned vassal" who is defeated by the knight Cligés in a tournament. He then becomes the protagonist in Chrétien's final romance, ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail''. In the Welsh romance '' Peredur son of Efrawg'', the figure goes by the name Peredur. The name "Peredur" may derive from Welsh ''par'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often guarded in the custody of the Fisher King and located in the hidden Grail castle. By analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as a "holy grail" by those seeking such. A "grail" (Old French: ''graal'' or ''greal''), wondrous but not unequivocally holy, first appears in '' Perceval, the Story of the Grail'', an unfinished chivalric romance written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1190. Chrétien's story inspired many continuations, translators and interpreters in the later-12th and early-13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who perceived the Grail as a stone. The Christian, Celtic or possibly other or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iseult
Iseult (), alternatively Isolde () and other spellings, is the name of several characters in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult of Ireland, the wife of Mark of Cornwall and the lover of Tristan. Her mother, the queen of Ireland, is also named Iseult. The third is Iseult of the White Hands, the daughter of Hoel of Brittany and the sister of Kahedin. Name Her name is variably given as Iseult, Isolde, Yseult, Ysolt, Isode, Isoude, Iseut, Isaut (Old French), Iosóid (Irish), Esyllt (Welsh), Ysella (Cornish), Isolda (Portuguese, Spanish), Izolda (Serbian) and Isotta (Italian), among others. The oldest source, Béroul's 12th-century romance, spells her name as ''Yseut'' or ''Iseut''. The etymology is uncertain, with most sources linking it to the Old High German words ''īs'' (" ice") and ''hiltja'' ("battle"). Other writers derive it from a Brythonic *''Adsiltia'', "she who is gazed upon." Iseult of Ireland The Irish princess, Iseult of Ireland is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tristan
Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed Tristan's uncle, King Mark of Cornwall. Tristan and Iseult accidentally drink a love potion during the journey and fall in love, beginning an adulterous relationship that eventually leads to Tristan's banishment and death. The character's first recorded appearance is in retellings of British mythology from the 12th century by Thomas of Britain and Gottfried von Strassburg, and later in the Prose ''Tristan''. He is featured in Arthurian legends, including the seminal text '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', as a skilled knight and a friend of Lancelot. The historical roots of Tristan are unclear; his association with Cornwall may originate from the Tristan Stone, a 6th-century granite pillar in Cornwall inscribed with the name ''Drustanus'' (a var ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saracen
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Petraea and Arabia Deserta. The term's meaning evolved during its history of usage. During the Early Middle Ages, the term came to be associated with the tribes of Arabia. The oldest known source mentioning "Saracens" in relation to Islam dates back to the 7th century, in the Greek-language Christian tract ''Doctrina Jacobi''. Among other major events, the tract discusses the Muslim conquest of the Levant, which occurred after the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate following the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Roman-Catholic church and European Christian leaders used the term during the Middle Ages to refer to Muslims—usually Arabs, Turks, and Iranians. By the 12th century, "Saracen" had become synonymous with "Muslim" in Med ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prose Tristan
The Prose ''Tristan'' (''Tristan en prose)'' is an adaptation of the Tristan and Iseult story into a long prose romance, and the first to tie the subject entirely into the arc of the Arthurian legend. It was also the first major Arthurian prose cycle commenced after the widely popular Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate Cycle), which influenced especially the later portions of the Prose ''Tristan''. Authorship and dating According to the prologue, the first part of the book (i.e. everything before the Grail material) is attributed to the otherwise unknown Luce de Gat, and was probably begun between 1230 and 1235. The work was expanded and reworked sometime after 1240 to create the more popular version known as V2. In the epilogue of V2, its author names himself as "Helie de Boron", asserting that he is the nephew of the first author of the Arthurian Grail cycles, poet Robert de Boron. Helie de Boron claims, like the so-called authors of the ''Roman de la Rose'', to have picked up the story ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God, 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a ''fallen angel''), and 4) a symbol of human evil. Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil.Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 , pp. 41–75 The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature developing independently within each of the traditions. It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names— Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Iblis—and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and legendary figures, was introduced by the 12th-century British author Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is believed that Geoffrey combined earlier tales of Myrddin and Ambrosius, two legendary Briton prophets with no connection to Arthur, to form the composite figure called Merlinus Ambrosius ( cy, Myrddin Emrys, br, Merzhin Ambroaz). Geoffrey's rendering of the character became immediately popular, especially in Wales. Later writers in France and elsewhere expanded the account to produce a fuller image, creating one of the most important figures in the imagination and literature of the Middle Ages. Merlin's traditional biography casts him as an often-mad being born of a mortal woman, sired by an incubus, from whom he inherits his supernatural p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Pellinore
King Pellinore (alternatively ''Pellinor'', ''Pellynore'' and other variants) is the king of Listenoise (possibly the Lake District) or of "the Isles" (possibly Anglesey, or perhaps the medieval kingdom of the same name) in Arthurian legend. In the tradition from the Old French prose, he is associated with the Questing Beast and is the slayer of King Lot. His many children include the sons Aglovale, Lamorak, and Percival, and the daughter Dindrane. In medieval literature Pellinore is a major figure in the 13th-century Post-Vulgate prose cycle and the sections of Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' based on it. There, as son of King Pellam and brother of Kings Pelles (the Fisher King) and Alain, he is most famous for his endless hunt of the Questing Beast, which he is tracking when King Arthur first meets him. Though he claims his bloodline is destined perpetually to chase this bizarre monster, Sir Palamedes the Saracen takes up the quest, and, according to one version, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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