Galeotto -- the Lancelot Prose -- the Prose Lancelot -- the "Lancelot propre" -- the longest section, making up half of the entire cycle. It concerns the affair between LANCILLOTTO and GINEBRA (via GALEOTTO) -- numerous copies were produced in ITALY. .

Speranza

The Lancelot–Grail, also known as "The Prose Lancelot", the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend.

It is a series of FIVE prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancillotto and Ginebra (via Galeotto)

The major parts are early 13th century, but scholarship has few definitive answers as to the authorship.

An attribution to "Walter Map" is discounted, since he died too early to be the author.

This cycle of works was one of the most important sources of Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur".

The Vulgate Cycle adds an intriguing dimension to the King Arthur tradition, perpetuating Christian themes by expanding on tales of the Holy Grail and recounting the quests of the Grail knights.

During this period, material takes on even more historical and religious overtones with tales that include and deal both in the death of Arthur and Merlin (drawing all the way back to Nennius’ Historia Brittonum).

The Vulgate Cycle combines elements of Old Testament with the birth of Merlin, whose magical origins are consistent with those told by Robert de Boron, as the son of a devil and a human mother who repents her sins and is baptized.

Merlin is transformed into a prophet and given the ability of seeing future events by God.





The work is divided into five sections.

The last three were actually the first to be written, starting in the 1210s.

The first two came later, around the 1230s.

The " Estoire del Saint Grail" (The History of the Holy Grail), about Joseph of Arimathea and his son Josephus bringing the Grail to Britain.

The "Estoire de Merlin" (also called the Vulgate or Prose Merlin), about Merlin and the early history of Arthur.

To this section is added the Vulgate "Suite du Merlin" (Vulgate Merlin Continuation), adding more of Arthur's early adventures.

The "Lancelot propre" (Lancelot Proper), the longest section, making up half of the entire cycle. It concerns the adventures of Lancelot and the other Knights of the Round Table, and the affair between Lancillotto and Ginebra (via GALEOTTO).

The "Queste del Saint Graal" (Quest for the Holy Grail), about the Grail Quest and its completion by Galahad.

The "Mort Artu" (Death of Arthur), about the king's death at the hands of Mordred and the collapse of the kingdom.

The work was soon followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle, a work based on the Vulgate but differing from it in many respects.


The Lancelot-Graal project lists close to 150 manuscripts, some fragmentary, others, such as British Library, Additional MS 10292-4 containing the entire cycle.

The earliest copies date from 1220–30, soon after the estimated date of composition of the work .

Numerous copies were produced throughout the remainder of the 13th, 14th and well into the 15th centuries in France, England and Italy, as well as translations into other European languages.

Some of the manuscripts are beautifully illuminated.

British Library, Royal MS 14 E III, produced in Northern France in the early 14th century contains over 100 miniatures with gilding throughout and decorated borders at the beginning of each section.

It was once owned by King Charles V of France.

Other manuscripts were made for less wealthy owners and contain very little or no decoration, for example British Library MS Royal 19 B VII, produced in England, also in the early 14th century, with initials in red and blue marking sections in the text and larger decorated initials at chapter-breaks.

Very few copies of the entire Lancelot-Grail Cycle survive.

Perhaps because it was so vast, copies were made of parts of the legend which may have suited the tastes of certain patrons.

For instance British Library Royal 14 E III contains the sections which deal with the Grail and religious themes, omitting the middle section, which relates Lancelot's chivalric exploits.

The Bibliothèque Nationale de France "Gallica" website lists 10 Lancelot-Grail manuscripts of this work and others containing Arthurian texts, with links to each manuscript.
Other manuscripts with images online are:
BNF MS Français 117
BNF MS Français 118
BNF MS Français 119
BNF MS Français 120
BNF MS Français 749
BNF MS Français 1430
BNF MS Arsenal 3347
BNF MS Arsenal 3479
BNF MS Arsenal 3480
BNF MS Arsenal 3481
BNF MS Arsenal 3482
[edit] Other libraries in France
Tours Bibliothèque Municipale MS 951
Le Mans Bibliothèque Municipale MS 354
Dijon Bibliothèque Municipale MS 527


Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica MS 1
Geneva: Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, MS 105 (105a, 105b, 105c, 105d)
Geneva: Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, MS 147

Two British Library manuscripts are fully digitised:
British Library Royal MS 14 E III
British Library Royal MS 20 D IV
For other manuscripts in the British Library collections, descriptions and images are available in the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts:
British Library MS Egerton 2515
British Library MS Harley 4419
British Library MS Lansdowne MS 757
British Library MS Royal 19 B. vii
British Library MS Royal 19 C. xii
British Library MS Royal 19 C. xiii
British Library MS Royal 20 A. ii
British Library MS Royal 20 B. viii
British Library MS Royal 20 C. vi
British Library MS Royal 20 D. iii
[edit] Oxford
Bodleian Library Digby 223
Bodleian Library Douce MS 178
Bodleian Library Douce MS 199
Bodleian Library Douce MS 215
Bodleian Library Rawlinson MS Q.b.6
[edit] USA
Berkeley, University of California Library MS 106
New Haven, Yale University MS Beineke 229
References
Editions
Norris J. Lacy

The first full English translations of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles were overseen by Norris J. Lacy. Volumes 1–4 contain the Vulgate Cycle proper.

Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (December 1, 1992). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 1 of 5. New York: Garland.

Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (August 1, 1993). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 2 of 5. New York: Garland.

Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (March 1, 1995). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 3 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0747-0.
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. ISBN 0-8153-0748-9.
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. ISBN 0-8153-0757-8.

Other references

Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (2000). The Lancelot–Grail Reader. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-3419-2.

Kennedy, Elspeth (1986). Lancelot and the Grail: A Study of the Prose Lancelot. Clarendon Press.

Kennedy, Elspeth (1980). Lancillotto del Lago, the Non-Cyclic Old French Prose Romance, Two Volumes. Oxford.

Corrie, Marilyn. “Self-determination in the post-vulgate suite du Merlin and Malory’s le Morte d’Arthur.” Medium Aevum. 73.2 (2004): 273–89.

Goodman, Jennifer R. The Legend of Arthur in British and American Literature. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.
[edit] External links
(French) The legend of king Arthur on the Bibliothèque Nationale de France website
(French) Bibliography on the Archives de Littérature Médiévale
(English) Lancelot–Graal Research Project
(English) British Library Virtual Exhibition of Arthurian Manuscripts

Categories:
1210s books
1220s books
1230s books
Arthurian literature in French
Holy Grail
Medieval French romances