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The Symbolism of the Perlesvaus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

J. Neale Carman
J. Neale Carman*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
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Extract

The Perlesvaus, even the most casual reader perceives, is intended to have serious religious significance. Certain of its symbolical adventures have been carefully studied as expressions of Christian doctrine, but no one has yet demonstrated the completeness of its religious symbolism.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , March 1946 , pp. 42 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1946

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References

1 See particularly Wm. Roach, “Eucharistic Tradition in the Perlesvaus,” Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, lix (1939), 10-56; Margaret Schlauch, “The Allegory of Church and Synagogue,” Speculum, xiv (1939), 448-464; Wm. A. Nitze, Perlesvaus (Chicago, 1932 and 1937), ii, 164.

2 Wm. A. Nitze and T. Atkinson Jenkins, Le Haul Livre du Graal, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1932 and 1937), i, lines 2157-60. Hereafter, references to the text of the Perlesvaus will be made only by numerals referring to the line numbers in Vol. I of this edition.

3 “Ista suscipe, sicut dignus es, ab illo quem expugnabas.” L. F. Constantin Tischendorf, Evangelia Apocrypha (Leipzig, 1876), pp. 427-428.

4 “Et ecce subito infernus contremuit, et portae mortis et serae comminutae et vectes derrei confracti sunt et ceciderunt in terram… . Dominus Jesus Christus … pedemque suum sanctum ei posuit in gutture… . Vocatoque cito Inferno ait illi praecipens: Tolle hunc pessimum et nequissimum… . Qui accepto eodem sub pedibus domini demersus est cum eo in profundum abyssi.” Tischendorf, p. 429.

5 The implication that the Conquest of the Grail is parallel to the Crucifixion is likewise bound up in the symbolism of the Red Cross Shield; see below. Also, when Arthur visits the Grail Castle after the Conquest, the Grail appears specifically identified with the Chalice of the Mass (7226). The symbolic representation of the Passion must precede the symbolic account of the origin of the eucharistic ritual.

6 In the Nitze-Jenkins edition “abatre” is supplied after “Viez Loi” from the P and Br MSS. It is unnecessary—“on account of the Old Law.”

7 J. P. Migne, Patrología Latina (Paris, 1879-1890), clxvii, 1146. References to the Patrology will hereafter be made in this wise: PL, 167, 1146.

8 The traditional importance of the fish in Christian symbolism doubtless helped to suggest to the author that the inevitable Fisher King of the Grail legend should stand for Christ. For the rôle of the fish in Christianity contemporary to the Perlesvaus, see Robert de Boron's Joseph (2509 ff.) and the iconography of the Last Supper as discussed by Mâle, L'Art religieux dutreizième siècle (Paris, 1902), p. 265.

9 Here is a portion of the Laudatio as reproduced by Orderic Vital: “Salve, crux, quae in corpore Christi dedicata es, et ex membris ejus tanquam margaritis ornata. O bona Crux! quae decorem et pulchritudinem de membris Domini suscepisti” (PL, 188, 146).

10 The scene at the Perilous Cemetery has probably been influenced by the Gospel of Nicodemus. Its narrator of the Descent into Hell, Karinus, relates that the darkness of hell was penetrated by a great light and the place trembled. The coming of the Lord was announced, and the devils prepared with howlings and contention. The spirits in limbo recognized each other and declared that prophesies were being fulfilled. After Christ delivered them, He set the cross in the midst of hell as a sign of victory and as a refuge for the saved who are attacked by the devils.

11 Art religieux, p. 212.

12 “Bos et asinus adoraverunt eum.” (Tischendorf, Ev. Apoc., p. 80.)

13 Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew: “Et dixit Joseph ad Mariam: Ego tibi Zelomi et Salomen obstetrices adduxi.” Tischendorf, Ev. Apoc., p. 77.

14 The identification has already been made by Wm. A. Nitze, Perlesvaus, ii, 131 in 1937, and by myself, Relationship of the Perlesvaus and the Queste del Saint Graal, University of Kansas Humanistic Studies, Vol. v, No. 4 (July, 1936), p. 42 note.

15 See Mâle, Art religieux, pp. 215 f.

16 Clamador is probably the representative of pagan culture, more particularly Virgil (with whose name the author was acquainted—5788). He is the only enemy of Perlesvaus to be portrayed as a model of knightly qualities, worthy of the most courteous treatment from Perlesvaus's friends. Like Virgil in medieval tradition, he has the gift of prophecy; he knows that Perlesvaus will take away from Arthur's court the Red Cross Shield (3043) i.e., that as a symbolic Christ he will go through a symbolic Passion. Clamador finally perishes in combat with Meliot, another figure of Christ whom he has unwittingly offended.

17 For the Black Hermit episode and vaguely in other cases, Grail scholars have long been aware of this identification. Its importance was set forth in my Perlesvaus and Queste, pp. 41 ff., and has met no opposition to my knowledge. Miss Schlauch agrees, Speculum, xiv (1939), 449.

18 For the symbolic meaning of the name Perlesvaus, see p. 55. The name, Meliot, too bears a suspicious resemblance to meilleur, Latin, melior.

19 3892 ff. For the numerous other versions of a Queen of the Maidens episode in Arthurian romance, see Perlesvaus, ii, 295-297 and Bruce, Historia Meriadoci and De Ortu Waluuanii, pp. lviii-lix.

20 661, 2173 ff.

21 Jacobus A Voragine, Legenda Aurea, ed. Th. Graesse (Dresden and Leipsig, 1846), p. 87. Mâle, Art religieux, p. 215 discusses the matter.

22 The knights present “molt se merveilloient por coi li rois n'avoit cele grant cort tenue a la Pentecoste” (584-585). The author apparently wishes to insist upon the fact that this is no symbolic Pentecost, even though it is the beginning of great symbolic spiritual activities.

23 The attendant damsels, with the contrast between their beauty and lowly functions, are said by the explaining priest to demonstrate the whims of Fortune (2196), but they can perhaps be more exactly identified as standing for Historical Record. The girl on the jade seems to represent Holy Writ, not the import of the Divine Word, but its outward form. She bears the witnesses of Christ with her, is fair as one having great qualities, but shabbily equipped as one not justly appreciated. Her enticingly beautiful companion on foot—“cele a pié les passoit de beauté” (615)—may well represent history in general. She drives gaily on to the Castle of the Black Hermit (i.e., damnation) the magnificent cart where the relics of all mankind are contained.

24 Vv. 20857-21013. For discussion and bibliography see Perlesvaus, ii, 93-95, and my Perlesvaus and Queste, pp. 66-70.

25 The division of the scene by the Jordan into a Baptism and a Divine Proclamation is recognized by the exegetists. See Walfried Strabo on Matt., 3:16, PL, 114, 83. Rupert of Deutz has separate chapters to deal with the two parts, PL, 167, 1546-47.

26 The confusions of the chronological order of the senefiances of the last three episodes discussed is analogous to time confusions elsewhere in the romance.

27 Cf. Matt., 3:7-10: Progenies viperarum, quis demonstravit vobis fugere a ventura ira? … lam enim securis ad radicem arborum posita est.

28 The -aa- in the middle of Camaalot, which is so carefully preserved by the numerous scribes of the various MSS of the Perlesvaus seems to indicate that the author wanted to suggest the land of Canaan. Perhaps we have here his reason for distinguishing so carefully this Camaalot from Arthur's capital (7280 ff.).

29 On these sources see Perlesvaus, ii, 144-151.

30 MP, xvi (1918-19), 118.

31 The Flagellation, like the winowing by the automata of the romance and the Levites of Exodus, was an “Asai.” The castle's name is thus reported by the Perlesvaus: “Josephez nos raconte que cil qui ces. xiii. bautisa ot non Denise, e li chausteax ot non li Chasteaux del Asai” (5966-67). Denise suggests St. Dionysius. At the time of the Crucifixion when darkness descended upon the earth at mid-day, Dionysius in Athens spoke thus: “Haec nox, quam novam miramur, totius mundi veram lucem adventuram significat. Tunc Athenienses illi Deo aram construxerunt et superpositus est titulus: ignoto Deo.” (Leg. Aur., p. 682). The unknown God became known to the Athenians only when St. Paul arrived. Thereafter Dionysius became an ardent missionary. Similarly the thirteen new converts at the Castle of the Assay remain shut up until “cil de totes les isles orent ferme creance” (5970); then they go forth “por conquerre l'amor au Sauveor dou monde” (5973).

32 The castle is otherwise called—by modern scholars—the Castle of the Brazen Tower, Horn, or Bull depending upon the manuscript of our romance accepted as authority. This episode has been much discussed; see Perlesvaus, ii, 314-316, for treatment and bibliography. The present evidence affects former discussions only in making somewhat more likely the genuineness of the reading Tor (m.), that is, Bull.

33 Perlesvaus may well represent at the same time Christ and Moses, for Moses is a figure of Christ. “Moyses typum Christi gestavit, qui populum Dei a jugo diabolicae servitutis eripuit, et ipsum diabolum in aeterna poena damnavit” (Isidore of Seville, Allegoriae, PL, 83, 109).

34 Other details of the judicial episodes of the Passion are utilized in the Adventure of the Gaste Cité. See below under the discussion of Lancelot.

35 It is possible to say that the death of the Fisher King represents the Crucifixion and the Conquest of the Grail stands for the Resurrection. This can be true only as regards the functions of the two events; we have seen that the incidents of the conquest parallel the Crucifixion and that the allusions scattered through the romance identify it as the Crucifixion. The second part of the Adventure of the Gaste Cité also has features parallel to the Resurrection; see below under the discussion of Lancelot.

36 Gawain and Meliot's distant view of Perlesvaus (9399 ff.) as he is drawn from land on a boat full of fighting adversaries suggests the sudden appearances and disappearances of Christ during the last forty days of His earthly sojourn. Certain other adventures of Perlesvaus during the last part of the romance are referred to elsewhere in this article, namely those in which figure the Coward Knight, Aristor, Jandree, and Celestre. In most of the others Perlesvaus appears as a protector of the wronged (Red Knight of the Lion, 8825 ff., Knight of the Serpent's Ditch, 9005 ff., Brudans, 10030 ff., Calobrus, 9690 ff., the Sick Knight, 9863 ff., 10045 ff.). Sometimes he is the more or less passive instrument of grace and conversion as in the case of the damsels of the Mad Castle (9123 ff.) and of Queen Jandree (9200 ff.).

37 See Perlesvaus, ii, 151 for discussion and bibliography, particularly Loomis, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance (New York, 1927), pp. 200 ff. The identity of the Knight of the Glass Barrel has been much discussed. Obviously he must be one of the three men traditionally found alive in the Earthly Paradise, Elijah, Enoch or John the Evangelist. The two mestres may represent or even be Elijah and Enoch (as well as angels later), and the knight within glass would then be John. John's disappearance as he lay still alive in a coffin fits the circumstances. See inter alia Isidore of Seville, De Ortu et Obitu Patrum, PL, 83, 152: [Joannes] facta oratione vivens tumulum introivit, deinde tanquam in lectulo in eo requievit. Unde accidit ut quidam eum vivere asserant, nec mortuum in sepulcro, sed dormientem jacere contendant.

38 See following note.

39 It is only in this case that chaiere is used in the manuscripts of the Perlesvaus. Elsewhere chaenne (chaanne) appears. In no case, however, does the context take a form that would exclude chaiere, and the passage quoted above requires chaiere for the sense. Certainly a throne fits into the general sense of the passage better than a chain, but even if, influenced by Celtic analogues, the author did mean chain, the senefiance of the phenomenon can hardly be other than that which I have suggested.

40 See particularly Mâle, Art religieux, p. 185.

41 The Liber de Infantia or Gospel of pseudo-Matthew is based in this section on the Protevangelium of James, usually quoted as the source in discussions of the Virgin's youth. The Protevangelium was unknown in western Europe until the sixteenth century whereas pseudo-Matthew was current as early as the tenth (James, The Apocryphal New Testament [Oxford 1924], p. 38). The differences, usually of little consequence, are for our purposes important.

42 Tunc Abiathar obtulit munera infinita pontificibus, ut acciperet earn filio suo tradendam uxorem. Prohibebat autem eos Maria dicens: Non potest fieri ut ego virum cognoscam aut me vir cognoscat… . Factum est autem cum. xiiii. annos aetatis haberet, et esset occasio quae Pharisaeos faceret dicere, iam consuetudinem adesse feminam in templo dei non posse morari … (here follows the story of the choice of Joseph by means of the virga). Tischendorf, Ev. Apoc., pp. 65-66.

43 Mâle, Art religieux, p. 350.

44 The author of the Perlesvaux may have been led to connect the symbolic St. John closely with the Grail because the Apostle was depicted in statuary as holding a chalice (Mâle, p. 351). The chalice, however, was not the Grail but the vessel from which St. John drank without harm the poison given him by Aristodemus. See inter alia Isidore of Seville, PL, 83, 151.

45 Mâle, Art religieux, p. 227: Saint Jean raconte dans son Évangile que le matin de la Résurrection il courut au tombeau en même temps que saint Pierre. Saint Jean arriva le premier, mais il ne voulut pas entrer, et il laissa passer saint Pierre avant lui. Que signifie l'acte de saint Jean, dit saint Grégoire le grand, sinon que la Synagogue, qui était la première, doit désormais s'effacer devant saint Pierre, c'est-à-dire, devant l'Église (voir saint Grégoire le grand Homel. xxii in Evang. Joann., xxii, 1-9 et la Glose Ordin. in Joann., xxii).

46 We have now considered all Perlesvaus's relatives on his mother's side except Lancelot. His paternal relatives play only minor parts. They are all cousins in need of being avenged.

47 The manuscripts hesitate here and elsewhere between angle and aigle in describing the shield. Either would be possible to the senefiance, but angle seems more likely.

48 The shield of Judas Maccabeus as well as the whole scene in which Gawain wrests it from its diabolical possessor is probably suggested by a passage in the first book of Maccabees on Judas's sword. Rabanus Maurus quotes and comments thus: ‘Et gladium Apolonii abstulit Judas, et erat pugnans in eo omnibus diebus’. Gladium Apollonii non alium intelligimus quam sermonem legis et prophetarum. (PL, 109, 1150).

49 John was the Forerunner in hell as on earth. The Gospel of Nicodemus makes John announce to the damned the approaching descent of Christ: “Ego sum Iohannes baptista … . Ego ab eo responsum accepi quia ipse descensurus esset ad inferos.” (Tischendorf, Ev. Apoc., p. 426).

50 For a discussion the various versions of this story see Perlesvaus, ii, 239.

51 For a complete treatment and bibliography of the story of the Coward Knight, see Perlesvaus, ii, 124 ff. Nitze does not analyze the allegory in detail.

52 G. finds the giant playing chess (2038); cf. Herod's feast.

53 Herodes a Joanne increpatus, eo quod viventis fratris uxorem acceperat, magis amans uxorem quam praecepta Dei, volebat Joannem occidere; sed timens populum ab eo baptizatum, argumentum invenit juramenti, ut cogitatum scelus perficeret… . Simulabat enim tristitiam in facie, cum laetitiam haberet in mente.—Venerable Bede, PL, 92, 70-71. See also Leg. Aur., p. 567.

54 2064-2071. In the time of Julian the Apostate, many miracles had been occurring at the grave of John. Julian had the grave opened and the bones were burned. See Leg. Aur., p. 569.

55 Leg. Aur., pp. 572-573. The Leg. Aur. says that it went to Poitiers; Mâle, Art religieux, p. 360 says that the front section of the head went to Amiens.

56 See 1749, 1945, 2087. Particularly, in order to get the sword back from Herod's relative, the King of La Gase, Gawain promises to do the bidding of a damsel. The damsel turns out to be she who tested Gawain's chastity at the Tent of the Evil Custom, and she requires Gawain to behave as a coward (6868 ff.). Herod was a coward “timens populum” (see quotation from Bede above) when he arranged to grant the boon.

57 For a second senefiance of the scene between Gawain and Meliot, see p. 72.

58 The device on the Party-Colored Knight's shield is probably intended to indicate the mixed character of the Jews at the time of Christ. Some, like Marin, remained obdurate and stubborn (3463-3500); some like Marin's son, Meliot, saw the light. Observe that it is fitting that the figure of the early Christians, Meliot, should be the son of two figures of the Old Law.

59 Venerable Bede's commentary on Matt. 14: 31—PL, 92, 73.

60 Leg. Aur., p. 371.

61 Orderic Vital, PL, 188, 131-133, Leg. Aur., 371 ff., Mâle, Art religieux, pp. 339 ff.

62 For the non-symbolic explanation of his behavior see note 56.

63 Orderic Vital makes the scene of the action the Campus Martius, but he too speaks of the “excelsam turrem.” Orderic also says that when Simon fell, “in quatuor partes fractus, quatuor silices adunavit” (PL, 188, 133). The “silices” suggest another origin of “de la Roche.”

64 Orderic Vital, PL, 188, 133 and Leg. Aur., p. 374.

65 Meliot is cured when Lancelot brings him Anurez sword and part of his shroud. The sword and shroud symbolically transfer imperial might into the early Christians, and cure them of the weakness induced by Nero's persecution.

66 For the present episode, Orderic Vital and the Legenda Aurea do not suffice as sources: the full text of the Vercelli Acts is needed. The Acts were current in the Middle Ages in a Latin version but as far as I have discovered, modern editors reproduce only the Greek versions or translations into modern languages. Accordingly I am making a summary with quotations from James, Apocryphal New Testament, pp. 332 ff. Signs that the full details were generally known appear in the paraphrases. The Legenda Aurea says: “In praedicatione sua semper laudans et praeferens castitatem quatuor concubinas Agrippae praefecti adeo convertit, quod ad praefectum redire ulterius recusarent, unde iratus praefectus adversus Petrum occasionem quaerebat” (p. 371). “[Petrus] a ministris Neronis capitur et praefecto Agrippae praesentatur factaque est ejus facies sicut sol, ut ait Linus. Cui dixit: tunc es ille, qui in plebibus et mulierculis, quas a toro virorum separas, gloriaris?” (p. 374).

67 The scapegoat for Gawain in this case, cf. the Fisher King and Qurgaran's son, is, it would seem, one of the hanging knights cut down by Meliot. The other presumably represents St. Paul. Meliot (10030) is later treacherously killed by Brudans, who in turn is destroyed by Perlesvaus. It is fitting that the figure of the early Christians should die a martyr's death avenged by the figure of Christ.

68 See particularly Rupert of Deutz's Commentary on the Four Evangelists, PL, 167, 1535-70. For example after quoting passage from Matt. x where disciples are given power, he says: “Ecce potestatem habens vere regiam, potestatem habens iure divinam” (col. 1557).

69 The author of the Perlesvaus is aware of the tradition. Even in the episode under discussion Kay's words have a comic touch, and when the Damsel of the Cart came to Arthur's court at the beginning of the romance, Kay's comic greed relieves the solemn scene (667-675).

69a For the significance of the quotation of Josephe, see 2157-60, quoted at the beginning of this article; also my Perlesvaus and Queste, p. 16.

70 Saul, it may be said, was active in the service of evil rather than guilty of sloth. Here is Walafried Strabo's comment on Acts 9: 7: “Impiger operare ut bos, et esto doctor Ecclesiae” (PL, 114, 448). The implication is that Saul had before been piger. For the comparison of Arthur's condition to that of St. Augustine of Africa, see note 72.

71 For an explanation of the hermit's name, Calixtes, see Perlesvaus, ii, 212.

72 Why is this chapel called the Chapel of “Saint Augustin”? Did the author mean Saint Augustine of Africa or Saint Augustine missionary to England? As far as the symbolism of Arthur is concerned, either saint may be meant. Arthur, after his Grail pilgrimage, was to become through the bell and chalice a symbolic missionary to England. He was also during his Chapel Ride in very much the condition of the greater Saint Augustine when, after youth as a Christian, he has fallen back into indifference and is brought once more to the faith by Saint Ambrose. The condition of Arthur's soul is indeed much more like that of Saint Augustine than of the persecuting Paul. However, the incidents of the Chapel Ride have no analogy to incidents in the life of Augustine, and, as shown below, they follow closely Saul's conversion.

73 Wm. Roach, ZrP, lix (1939), 10-56, has studied this ceremony in detail.

74 The terms in which Bede comments on Acts 9:25 suggest the machinery of the Perlesvaus. “Hoc effugii genus hodieque servatur in Ecclesia, quando quis antiqui hostis insidiis vel hujus saeculi laqueis circumfusis, spe fideique suae minime salvatur. Murus enim Damasci … adversitas saeculi est. Rex Areta (according to Walafried Strabo, PL, 114, 449, Areta, King of Damascus ordered the gates guarded) qui interpretatur descensio, diabolus intelligitur. Sporta quae juncis palmisque solet confici, fidei speique conjunctionem designat.—PL, 92, 964.

75 Lancelot champions the bereaved, 2618 ff., the old, 3440 ff., the poor, 2570 ff., 2845 ff., womankind, 3816 ff., 3440 ff. He champions law and order, 3612 ff., 4560 ff.

76 This conception of Grace, dependent upon free will, is in marked contrast to the conception of the Queste, which was thoroughly Augustinian and Cistercian. See E. Gilson, Les Idées et les lettres (Paris 1932) pp. 59 2.

77 Guenevere is, in the Perlesvaus, the sharer of Lancelot's sin, but we never see the two lovers together, and she is never shown uttering a word or having a thought about Lancelot. When Lancelot discusses his love with the hermit, he says that she has in her a wealth “de beauté … et valor et sens et cortoisie” (3670). This the hermit does not contradict, adds on his side that she is a “roïne benoete et sacree, si fu voee en son commencement a Deu” (3675). At her death Gawain declares her “la mieldre roïne et la plus saje” (7166). She is also the source of Lancelot's virtue (3661, 7160). None of these qualities is inappropriate in the lady who is the object of a courtly love; none of them is inappropriate either to Our Lady. Just as Arthur and, we shall see later, Lancelot represent the human sides of Christ, Guenevere represents the human sides of Mary, the Mother of Christ. She is at once the enthroned Mary and the Mater Dolorosa, as distinguished from Yglais, the Mary-like figure of the Church, and Dandrane, the Virgin. The most specific clue left by the author to her symbolic identity is in the place of her burial and the intimate connection between Lancelot's cult for her in her tomb and his worship of the Mother of Christ. She lies in a newly made chapel at Avalon beside her son's head, and to Lancelot “ce li fu granz conforz que ele avoit. i. image de Nostre Dame a son cief. Il s'agenoila au plus pres que il pot d'un sarchou, ausi con por l'image aorer… . ‘A! dame, fait il… . je ne me vouroie jamais partir de cest liu; e sauveroie m'ame‘” (7605 ff.). A witnessing clerk says: “Onques mais nus chevaliers si docement ne pria Deu ne sa mere” (7616).

78 The whole career of Lancelot after his final farewell to Guenevere before her death runs remarkably parallel to that of Paul after his conversion. He engages in far wars that spread the Christian faith. His persecution by Brien des Isles resembles Paul's persecution by the Jews before Festus and the succeeding imprisonment. Such parallels cannot be accepted, however, without confirmation by means of a key provided by the author. The only possible one (8296 ff.) seems not sufficiently concrete. Lancelot carries the sword and a part of the shroud of Anurez le Bastard (Nero) to Meliot (the early Christians) that the latter may be cured by them. Thus Paul transferred the imperial might of Nero to the Christians.

79 See Perlesvaus, ii, 281, for discussion and bibliography, particularly Kittredge and Loomis.

79a The “.xl. jors” seem to have no significance other than to suggest a number with a sacred background. Cf. the 33 men replacing the 24 of the Apocalypse.

80 Longinus's own name doubtless added its suggestion to that of the “lancea.” It was recognized as being related to the Greek word for spear, . See reproduction of the sixth century painting in the Catholic Encyclopedia under the word “Lance.”

81 Lancelot's spear plays no part in the episode of the Gaste Cité, probably because of the influence of the profane source of the episode, but it is to be observed that in his very next adventure, he wounds Perlesvaus (the usual figure of Christ) in the arm with his spear (2981). See above for Perlesvaus's only other wound—from Dragon Knight (kiss of Judas).

82 See inter alia Mâle, Art religieux, p. 260.

83 The Poor Damsels and their brother repeatedly suggest Mary Magdalene, Martha, and Lazarus, their poverty being explained by confusion between Lazarus of Bethany and Lazarus of the parable.

84 In Robert's Joseph (Roman de l'estoire dou graal), see passage ending,

Ainsi eurent la grace la (2601).

As for the Grail in the Queste del Saint Graal, “Ce est la grace del Saint Esperit” (p. 159, 1.2, ed. Pauphilet, Paris, 1923).

85 The purely allegorical side of the Lancelot of our romance seems to have inspired the author of the Queste to a critical imitation of the Perlesvaus, in which the symbolization of historical events plays no part.