E 326K // Literature of the Middle Ages in Translation: Mysteries of the Grail

PERCEVAL

Perceval has been mentioned in many different medieval and modern stories. He is considered the hero of Arthurian romance. Perceval is described to be one of the knights of the Grail quest. He first appeared around the year 1190 in Chretien de Troyes unfinished story Perceval. He was a young boy living in the forest who was raised by his mother. According to the University of Rochester, Perceval was described as a “foolish” and “naïve” person due to being unaware of the chivalric world that his mom kept him away from. He hadn’t seen a sword, a knight or a horse in his life before. He was very intrigued when he did discover them, which interested him to want to become a knight. His journey in becoming a knight led him to Fisher King and the Grail.
 
However, because this story was left incomplete, the world of literacy was greatly amazed by Chretien’s work. His work encouraged other poets to write a continuation of the story. As a result, over the next four decades, the story had four continuations by four different poets. The first continuation of Perceval included a long and a short version. There were 9,500 to 19,000 lines added with this continuation. There were 13,000 lines added by another poet on the second continuation. The third continuation was Gerbert’s continuation, which added a total of 17,000 lines. And finally the fourth continuation was Manessier’s continuation. There were 10,000 lines added which ended the story.  

 

This page references: