The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (63 page)

In the tale of
Culhwch and Olwen
, Arthur’s men are set many tasks by the giant Ysbaddaden. Amongst the treasures they must obtain is the basket of Gwyddno Garanhir, which could
supply meat even if “the whole world should come together.” Likewise the horn of Gwlgawd Gododdin will provide endless drink. They do not need to achieve all the quests in the end,
though they do acquire the cauldron of Dwrnach Wyddel, which also seems to be a cauldron of plenty, but they have to fight for it. Bedwyr snatches the cauldron whilst Llenlleawc (regarded by some
as the prototype of Lancelot) grabs Arthur’s sword Caledvwlch and smites off Dwrnach’s head.

The Welsh poem
Preideu Annwvyn
, which dates from around the late ninth century, involves a quest by Arthur and his men to recover the cauldron of the Lord of Annwvyn itself (
see
Chapter 12). Annwvyn represented the Otherworld. This cauldron is described as being rimmed with jewels, like the Grail. Being a cauldron of the Lord of the Otherworld, it too must have had
qualities of rebirth, but in this story it is specifically stated that it will not cook meat as food for cowards, suggesting that it recognizes the hearts of the brave, just as the Grail recognises
the pure in heart. Once again, the cauldron is not acquired easily. As in
Culhwch and Olwen
(this episode appears to have the same origin), Lleminawc/Llenlleawc wields a “sword of
lightning” to snatch the cauldron. It is housed in a Glass Fort, also called Caer-Vanäwy (amongst other names), which means “Fort of the Divine Place”, a suitable description
for the Grail Castle. In
The Quest of the Holy Grail
the Grail Castle is called Corbenic. The name is believed to be derived from the Old French
Cor Benit
, meaning “blessed
horn”, another reference to the horn of plenty.

These few examples show that long before Chrétien established the mystery of the Grail there had been a Celtic tradition of an object with properties similar to a horn of plenty and a
cauldron of rebirth. These stories also involve a seemingly
impossible quest which may only be achieved by the bravest of men. The location of the treasure also has some
mystical elements and seems to be situated in the land between our world and the next.

Besides the Grail itself one of the most striking images is that of the Waste Land. It does not appear in the earliest stories and takes different forms in the later ones. As I discussed in
Chapter 12, the imagery has much to do with the concept of the Holy Land being laid waste during the Crusades. But it may also mean something closer to home. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
records several periods of devastation leading up to and during the Civil War in England at the time of King Stephen. Here are two examples.

There is no doubt that such scenes were replicated across Europe, and memories of them would have been only too vivid among those reading the Grail stories. In the earliest the
Waste Land is not caused by any supernatural means. It is simply that the Grail King, being wounded, is unable to tend his land. The imagery in Robert de Boron’s
Perceval
, for
instance, chillingly echoes that
ASC
entry for 1137, when Perceval rides through a deserted land.

As the scale of the Grail stories grew, so too did the curse upon the land, until we have an image of the whole of England laid waste, devastated until such time as the Good Knight can restore
it. This same image stretches back throughout the history of England so consistently that it must have been indelibly ingrained upon the national consciousness. The harrying
of the north had seen much land laid to waste by William the Conqueror and his barons. Before him there had been three centuries of Viking incursions and before them the wars between the Saxons and
the Britons. This takes us back to the days of Arthur. We know from Gildas’s description (§24) that Britain was like a wasteland in the years before Ambrosius led the resurgence
(
see
Chapter 5).

This is why the Waste Land imagery is so appropriate to the Arthurian story and why it became associated with Arthur more closely than with any other Dark Age or medieval king. Arthur was the
restorer of the Waste Land and would achieve it again through the purest of his knights. This was an image the Anglo-Norman kings were keen to foster during the Crusades – that they, as heirs
to Arthur, were the saviours of Christendom.

In the Grail story that challenge is first put to Perceval. In the later Vulgate version it is Galahad who becomes the Grail Knight.

2. Perceval

Through all of the Grail stories Perceval is referred to as
le Gallois
, the Welshman. What’s more, he is shown as someone ignorant of the world about him, because
his mother had not wanted him to suffer the same fate as his father and brothers. It is Perceval’s ignorance – innocence, really – that causes him, through no fault of his own, to
fail to ask the right question at the Grail Castle. Perceval is thus symbolic of Everyman in the medieval mystery plays, who must be educated in the ways of the world and of the spirit in order to
achieve divine grace. The entirety of the Grail story is based around that very concept of grace, so dear to the heart of the Cistercian order. Perceval, therefore, is seen as the everyday man who
once had divine grace but who, through the sins of his forebears, has fallen into ignorance. As such, the Perceval of the story is based not on any one individual, but on everyone.

The name is itself significant. It comes from the old French
Perce Val
, meaning “pierced valley”. The story deals with a maimed Fisher King who, like
Christ on the Cross, bears wounds caused by having been pierced by a sword or lance. By the time of the Post-Vulgate version discussed below, that is exactly what does happen when Balin strikes the
Fisher King with the Holy Lance – the Dolorous Blow that lays all Christendom to waste. The “valley” relates to the Vales of Avalon, the land to which the Grail had been brought
by Joseph of Arimathea and his brethren. To restore the land, Perceval must “pierce the vale”, that is, enter the Grail Castle and solve the puzzle by asking the right question. That
“piercing” would then heal the land, just as Jesus’s final wounds allowed him to pass through death and on to resurrection.

When the Perceval story was adapted into Welsh, the translator chose to rename Perceval
Peredur
, meaning “hard spear”(from
peri
“spear” +
dur
“hard”), singularly appropriate for a lance or sword able to pierce. Whether that was the intention is not clear. Peredur was a well-known British hero from the time of Arthur whom we
have already encountered. He was the son of Eliffer of the Great Host, brother of Gwrgi, and the victor of the Battle of Arderydd in 573. Peredur had the epithet
Paladr Hir
, “long
spear”. Another Peredur is mentioned in
Y Gododdin
, where he is known as
Arfau Dur
, “of the steel weapons”. These probably refer to the same person. The Peredur of
history was clearly a warrior of great renown and in that respect does not and could not equate in any way with Perceval. But what about the Peredur of legend?

What tends to be overlooked is that Peredur’s name was transformed in Welsh legend to another much more famous name, Pryderi. Pryderi was the original hero of the
Mabinogion
and, as
we have seen, under his natal name of Gwri was the original of Gawain. The renaming of Gwri as Pryderi is not properly explained in
Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed
, the first story in the
Mabinogion
, and indeed seems rather forced. It is more likely that amongst the original storytellers was one who conflated two stories, that of Gwri/Gawain and that of Peredur/Pryderi, and
that other storytellers continued to narrate these adventures as relating to Gawain, and not Pryderi. This may account for why Gawain and Perceval are so closely associated in the Grail
stories.

If we summarize the
Mabinigion
story
Manawydan, Son of Llyr
, mentally substituting the name Perceval for Pryderi, we encounter much that we will see again as
we work through the Grail stories. At the start of the story Pryderi’s father has died and Pryderi has become Lord of Dyfed. Manawydan marries Pryderi’s widowed mother Rhiannon. Pryderi
is married to Cigfa (who, if the pedigree is correct, is the niece of Vortigern). Pryderi agrees to share his inheritance of Dyfed with Manawydan. One evening, after they have feasted, they travel
to Gorsedd Arberth (the Throne of Arberth). There is a peal of thunder, they are surrounded by a thick mist, and the place is filled with light. When they can see again they find that everything
has disappeared – “neither house, nor beast, nor smoke, nor fire, nor man, nor dwelling; but the houses of the Court empty, desolate, uninhabited.” It seems the whole of Dyfed has
become deserted save for wild beasts. The four of them survive for two years by hunting and fishing but grow tired and go to Logres to seek work. Though they earn a living they have to keep moving
on because of hostility from the local craftsmen. They return to Dyfed, which is still devoid of all but wild life, and continue to hunt.

One day, while out hunting with their dogs, they disturb a boar of pure shining white. They follow it to a lofty castle which looks new. The dogs follow the boar into the castle and all goes
quiet. Against Manawydan’s advice Pryderi goes into the castle to find his dogs. Inside the castle is empty except for a marble fountain. Beside the fountain is a golden bowl, suspended by
four chains that seem to vanish into thin air. Taken by the quality of the bowl, Pryderi touches it, and immediately finds himself unable to move or speak. Manawydan waits till nightfall, then
returns home. Rhiannon, annoyed at Manawydan’s lack of action, sets out to the castle and discovers Pryderi, transfixed. The moment she touches the bowl to free him she is also trapped.
Whereupon there is a clap of thunder, a mist falls, and the castle vanishes taking Pryderi and Rhiannon with it.

Manawydan and Cigfa try to survive on their own, and Manawydan sows several fields of corn. It grows, but when he inspects the first field he finds the corn devastated overnight. The following
day the next field is devastated. The third night he stays up to watch over the last field and discovers a vast flock of
mice swarming over it. He catches a mouse and
determines to hang it as he would any other thief. While constructing the gibbet he is approached by a clerk, the first man he has seen in seven years. When the clerk learns what Manawydan is doing
he offers to buy the mouse for a pound, but Manawydan will not sell. Then along comes a priest who offers Manawydan three pounds, but no luck. Finally, a bishop appears and offers Manawydan seven
pounds. Still Manawydan will not budge. He now learns that the bishop is really Llywd ap Cilcoed who had cast an enchantment over the land in revenge for past ills he believed Pwyll had caused.
Llywd wants the mouse because it is his pregnant wife, whom he had changed into a mouse along with all the other women of his court in order to devastate Manawydan’s crop. Manawydan agrees,
provided Llywd will lift the enchantment off the land and set Pryderi and Rhiannon free.

Several of these elements reappear in the Grail stories, including the Enchanted (Waste) Land, the mysterious (Grail) castle and the golden bowl (the Grail). We may also see a suggestion of the
Siege Perilous in the Throne at Arberth (Narberth). One can perhaps read too much into it; the desolation of Dyfed as a punishment for the sins of the fathers may equate to the general sins of
mankind for which the success of the Grail quest is the panacea.

Perhaps we can also see in Llywd the basis of the Fisher King. I suggest this not solely on the strength of this story (where I suspect that Llywd is also supposed to be the boar and thus the
lure to the Castle, like the Fisher King) but also because Llywd reappears briefly in the story of
Culhwch and Olwen.
After Arthur and his men have obtained the magic cauldron of Dwrnach and
returned to Dyfed, they arrive at the house of Llywd, which the text describes as “Mesur-y-Peir” (“the measure of the cauldron”). Any town by that name is now lost but
Charlotte Guest suggests it might have been associated with Pwllcrochan (“the Pool of the Cauldron”) near Pembroke, alas now almost entirely buried under an oil refinery. Llywd’s
own town is believed to be Ludchurch, near Narberth. The reference to “Mesur-y-Peir” begs the question as to whether Llywd thereafter became the guardian of the cauldron.

All of this is sufficient to show that there was plenty of material
in the Celtic tales to serve as a basis for the Grail story. There may have been some eastern variant of
these in the book Philip of Flanders gave to Chrétien. From then on the Grail story became the spiritual parallel of the Crusades. The following sets out all of the Grail romances in their
order of appearance.

3. The Grail Romances

CONTE DU GRAAL
(The Story of the Grail), Chrétien de Troyes (French,
c
ll82), 9,234 lines

The longest of Chrétien’s romances, and probably the most influential, it is also his most infuriating, as it was left unfinished and thus unexplained. It is from
this that the whole Grail Cycle of stories has grown.