Post-Vulgate Cycle

The ''Post-Vulgate Cycle'', also known as the Post-Vulgate Arthuriad, the Post-Vulgate ''Roman du Graal'' (''Romance of the Grail'') or the Pseudo-Robert de Boron Cycle, is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature from the early 13th century. It is considered essentially a rewriting of the earlier ''Vulgate Cycle'' (also known as the ''Lancelot-Grail'' cycle), with much left out but also much added, including characters and scenes from the Prose ''Tristan''.

History

The Post-Vulgate Cycle, written anonymously probably between 1230 and 1235 (different estimates of the beginning date) to 1240, is an attempt to create greater unity in the material, and to de-emphasise the secular love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere in favor of the Quest for the Holy Grail. It omits almost all of the Vulgate Cycle's ''Lancelot Proper'' section, making it much shorter than its source, and directly condemns everything but the spiritual life. It did not survive complete, but has been reconstructed from Old French, Castilian, Old Spanish, and Galician-Portuguese fragments. Earlier theories postulated the so-called "pseudo-Boron" cycle, named so due to one manuscript's attribution of its original authorship to Robert de Boron, was either older than the Vulgate or derived from the same common and now lost source. The Post-Vulgate (or at least its ''Suite du Merlin'' section) was also one of the most important sources of Thomas Malory's '' Le Morte d'Arthur''.

Branches

The work is divided into four parts, named similar to their corresponding Vulgate versions.

* The Post-Vulgate ''Estoire del Saint Grail'', which did not differ significantly from the Vulgate version. It tells the story of Joseph of Arimathea and his son Josephus, who brings the Holy Grail to Britain.

*The Post-Vulgate ''Estoire de Merlin'', which also bears but few changes from the Vulgate. It concerns Merlin and the early history of Arthur.
**To this section is added the Post-Vulgate ''Suite du Merlin'', also known as the ''Suite'' Post-Vulgate and the Huth-''Merlin'', the first major departure from the source material. It adds many adventures of Arthur and the early Knights of the Round Table, and includes details about Arthur's incestuous begetting of Mordred and receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake that are not found in the Vulgate. The author added some relevant material from the Vulgate ''Lancelot Proper'' (otherwise missing from the Post-Vulgate Cycle) and the first version of the Prose ''Tristan'' to connect the events to the ''Queste'' section.

*The Post-Vulgate ''Queste del Saint Graal''. The Post-Vulgate ''Queste'' is very different in tone and content from the Vulgate version, but still describes the knights' search for the Holy Grail, which can only be achieved by the worthy knights Galahad, Percival, and Bors. Elements from the Prose ''Tristan'' are present, including the character Palamedes and King Mark's invasions of Arthur's realm.

*The Post-Vulgate ''Mort Artu'', concerning Arthur's death at the hands of his son Mordred and the collapse of his kingdom. It is based more closely on the Vulgate ''Mort'' but was abridged and rewritten with greater connectivity to the previous sections.

Modern editions

The first full English translation of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles were overseen by Norris J. Lacy. Volumes 4–5 contain Post-Vulgate Cycle.
*Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (April 1, 1995). ''Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation'', Volume 4 of 5. New York: Garland. .
*Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (May 1, 1996). ''Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation'', Volume 5 of 5. New York: Garland. .

References

Sources

*Bogdanow, Fanni. (1966). ''The Romance of the Grail: A Study of the Structure and Genesis of a Thirteenth-Century Arthurian Prose Romance.'' Manchester: Manchester University Press.
*Bogdanow, Fanni. (1986). "La Chute du royaume d'Arthur. Evolution d'un thème." ''Romania'' 107, pp. 504–19.
*Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (2000). ''The Lancelot-Grail Reader.'' New York: Garland. {{ISBN, 0-8153-3419-2.

1240s books
Arthurian literature in French
Holy Grail
Medieval French romances
Works based on Merlin