Part 1 (1/2)
Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail
by Alfred Nutt
INTRODUCTION
The present work is, as its title states, a collection of ”Studies” It does not profess to give an exhaustive or orderly account of the Grail roend, andeven these
It ed that as this is the case the basis of the work is too broad for the superstructure, and that there was no need to give full suend, or to discuss at such length their relation one to another, when it was only intended to follow up one of the many problems which this rolish which did in any measure what the writer has here atteiven more space and more time to the elaboration of the special subject of these studies But the only work of the kind is in Gere_
Many interested in the Arthurian romances do not know German; and some who profess an interest in thes, acquainted with Birch-Hirschfeld's work It seemed worth while, therefore, to present the facts about the cycle with greater fulness than would have been necessary had those facts been generally accessible The writer felt, too, that whatever judght be passed upon his own speculations, his stateive his book soive all who felt an interest in the line of investigation he opened up the opportunity of pursuing it further, or thehis assertions and conjectures
The writer has taken his texts as he found them He has studied the subject matter of the romances, not the words in which they have been handed down Those who seek for philological disquisitions are, therefore, warned that they will find nothing to interest them; and those scholars who are well acquainted with the printed texts, but who are on the search for fresh MS evidence, must not look here for such On the other hand, as the printed texts are for the most of such rarity and price as to be practically inaccessible to anyone not within reach of a large library, the writer trusts that his abstract of them will be welcome to many He has striven to take note of all works of real value bearing upon the subject He endeavoured, though unsuccessfully, to obtain a copy of M
Gaston Paris' account of the Arthurian roh it has been for some months in print, is not yet published
The writer has done his best to separate the certain from the conjectural
Like M Renan, in a sis the reader to supply the ”perhaps” and the ”possibly's” that ht with difficulty, and there are special reasons why all results must for some tilanced at here and there in the course of these studies, but it ether in this place Firstly, whatever opinions be held as to which are the older forend, it is certain that in no one case do we possess a primary form All the versions that have come down to us presuppose, even where they do not actually testify to, a ree the oldest, the poems of Chrestien de Troyes and Robert de Borron, were never finished by the authors; sequels exist to both, of a later date and obviously affected by other forinal story is under these circureat uncertainty So much for the difficulty inherent in the nature of the evidence, a difficulty which it is to be feared will always beset the student of this literature, as no new texts are likely to be found
Secondly, this evidence, such as it is, is not accessible in a form of which the roup, the Conte du Graal, only exists in one text, and that from a late and poor MS It is certain that a critical edition, based upon a survey of the entire MS evidence, will throw great light upon all the questions here treated of The Mabinogi of Peredur has not yet been critically edited, nor have the MSS of the other romances yielded up all that can be learnt fro the connection of the North French romances and Celtic tradition, connection of some kind must be ad to be placed upon a firinning to be thrown open to the non-Celtic scholar Were there in existence a Celtic parallel to Griy, the views for which the writer contends would have been, in all likelihood, admitted ere now, and there would have been no necessity for this work at all
Whilst soends so fascinating, because so problematic, will probably always remain in force, others will vanish before the increase of knowledge When the diplomatic evidence is accessible in a trustworthy forht that can be shed upon they, the future student will have a comparatively easy task One of the writer's chief objects has been to excite an interest in these ro those who are able to examine the Celtic elements in theists can do much to explain the _Onoenerally may elucidate the subject re, and has kept little that is archaic The study of Irish promises far better results Of all the races of modern Europe the Irish have the most considerable and the most archaic mass of pre-Christian traditions By the side of their heroic traditional literature that of Cyh and Low), or Slav is recent, scanty, and unoriginal
A feords must be said in defence of the free use made of conjecture in the course of these studies This is well nigh unavoidable from the way in which the texts we have to deal with have come down to us What M Renan has said about the Hebrew historical scriptures is excellently exemplified in the Grail romances There was no fixed text, no definite or rounded sequence of incidents, of which scribes respected the integrity On the contrary, each successive transcriber was only anxious to add some fresh adventure to the interht of which contained the greatest number of lines The earlier MSS have, therefore, al orks which we know to have been composed in the twelfth century, but of which we have only thirteenth or fourteenth century transcripts Inconsistencies in the conduct of the story are the inevitable consequence in er had an eye for unity of effect, and attained this by the si the old account so as towith the text of an _individual_ author, whether ancient or ree uncritical to explain difficulties by such hypotheses as the loss of an earlier draft, or the foisting into the work of later and incongruous incidents and conceptions Not so in the case of the roitiely conjectural
The writerpresented his subject in aand more lucid form He would plead in excuse the circumstances under which his work has been carried on When the only hours of study are those which reht, of business and other duties have been ive an appearance of unity to a nuether into one harmonious whole The fact that the work has been written, and printed, at considerable intervals of time may, it is hoped, be accepted as soy
The writer has ments to make First and chief to Dr
Birch-Hirschfeld, but for whose labours, covering well nigh the whole field of the Grail cycle, he would not have been able to take in hand his work at all; then to Dr Furnivall, to whose enthusiasm and spirit the publication of some of the most important texts are due In these two cases the writer acknowledges his gratitude with the more readiness that he has felt compelled to come to an opposite conclusion froenesis and growth of the legend, and because he has had to differ from Dr Furnivall's estimate of the moral value of the Galahad romances To M Hucher, to Mons Ch
Potvin, the editor, single-handed, of the Conte du Graal, to M d'Arbois de Jubainville, to Professor Ernst Martin, to the veteran San-Marte, to Herr Otto Kupp, and to Herr Paul Steinbach, these studies owe much
Professor Rhys' Hibbert Lectures ca the latter portion of the book for the press; they were of great service to hiratified to find opinions at which he had arrived confirh authority The writer is also indebted to him, to Mr H L D
Ward, of the British Museuiven while the sheets were passing through the press Lastly, the writer desires to pay an especial tribute of gratitude and respect to that admirable scholar, J F Campbell Of all the masters in folk-lore, Jacob Grimm not excepted, none had a keener eye or surer, h the writer admits, nay, insists upon the conjectural character of his results, he believes he is on the right track, and that if the Grail romances be worked out frooal will be reached It should be said that soht of first mention, were stated by him in a paper he read before the Folk-Lore Society in 1880 (afterwards reprinted, Celtic Magazine, 1887, August-October); and in a paper he read before the Honourable Society of Cyht and a solace to the writer; had it been otherwise, he would still feel hiht that he had ht, to the criticisend of the Holy Grail
ERRATA
[The reader is kindly begged to e 22, line 12, _for_ Corbierc _read_ Corbiere
” 25, line 37, _insert_ Passion _before_ Week
” 30, 7 lines from bottom, _for_ Avallon _read_ Avalon
” 85, line 24, _for_ Percival _read_ Perceval
” 86, line 12, _for_ Percival _read_ Perceval
” 90, 5 lines from bottom, _for_ Pelleur _read_ Pelleans
” 102, line 22, _for_ seems _read_ seem
” 120, line 3, _for_ 1180 _read_ 1189