Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail With Especial Reference to the Hypothesis of Its Celtic Origin — Story, Setting & Ideas

Description of the leading forms of the Romance: Conte del Graal--Joseph d'Arimathie--Didot-Perceval--Queste del Saint Graal--Grand Saint Graal--Parzival--Perceval le Gallois-- Mabinogi of Peredur--Sir Perceval--Diu Crône--Information respecting date and authorship of these works in the MSS. page 1

Summaries--Conte du Graal: Pseudo-Chrestien, Chrestien, Gautier de Doulens, Manessier, Gerbert--Wolfram--Heinrich von dem Türlin--Didot-Perceval--Mabinogi of Peredur--Thornton MS. Sir Perceval--Queste del Saint Graal--Grand Saint Graal-- Robert de Borron's poem, Joseph of Arimathea page 8

The legend formed of two portions: Early History of Grail, Quest--Two forms of each portion distinguished--Grouping of the various versions--Alternative hypotheses of development-- Their bearing upon the alleged Celtic origin of the Grail-- Closer examination of the various accounts of the Grail: The first use made of it and its first possessor; its solace of Joseph; its properties and the effect produced by it; its name; its arrival in England; the Grail-keeper and his relationship to the Promised Knight--Three different stages in the development of the Queste--The work and the qualification of the Promised Knight--Conclusions: Priority over Early History of Quest--Chronological arrangement of the versions page 65

SKETCH OF THE LITERATURE CONNECTED WITH THE GRAIL CYCLE.

Villemarqué--Halliwell--San Marte (A. Schulz)--Simrock-- Rochat--Furnivall's reprint of the Grand St. Graal and of Borron--J. F. Campbell--Furnivall's Queste--Paulin Paris-- Potvin's Conte du Graal--Bergmann--Skeat's Joseph of Arimathea--Hucher: Grail Celtic, date of Borron--Zarncke, Zur Geschichte der Gralsage; Grail belongs to Christian legend--Birch-Hirschfeld develops Zarncke's views: Grand St. Graal younger than Queste, both presuppose Chrestien and an earlier Queste, the Didot-Perceval, which forms integral part of Borron's trilogy; Mabinogi later than Chrestien; various members of the cycle dated--Martin combats Birch-Hirschfeld: Borron later than Chrestien, whose poem represents oldest stage of the romance, which has its roots in Celtic tradition--Hertz--Criticism of Birch-Hirschfeld page 97

Relationship of the Didot-Perceval to the Conte du Graal--The former not the source of the latter--Relationship of the Conte du Graal and the Mabinogi--Instances in which the Mabinogi has copied Chrestien--Examples of its independence-- The incident of the blood drops in the snow--Differences between the two works--The machinery of the Mabinogi and the traces of it in the Conte du Graal--The stag hunt--The Mabinogi and Manessier--The sources of the Conte du Graal and the relation of the various parts to a common original--Sir Perceval--Steinbach's theory--Objections to it--The counsels in the Conte du Graal--Wolfram and the Mabinogi--Absence of the Grail from the apparently oldest Celtic form page 127

The Lay of the Great Fool--Summary of the Prose Opening--The Aryan Expulsion and Return Formula--Comparison with the Mabinogi, Sir Perceval, and the Conte du Graal--Comparison with various Gaelic märchen, the Knight of the Red Shield, the Rider of Grianaig--Originality of the Highland tale-- Comparison with the Fionn legend--Summary of the Lay of the Great Fool--Comparison with the stag hunt incident in the Conte du Graal and the Mabinogi--The folk-tale of the twin brethren--The fight against the witch who brings the dead to life in Gerbert and the similar incident in the folk-tale of the Knight of the Red Shield--Comparison with the original form of the Mabinogi--Originality of Gerbert page 152

The various forms of the visit to the Grail Castle in the romances--Conte du Graal: Chrestien; Gautier-Manessier; Gautier-Gerbert--Didot-Perceval--Mabinogi--Conte du Graal; Gawain's visit to the Grail Castle--Heinrich von dem Türlin--Conte du Graal: Perceval's visit to the Castle of Maidens--Inconsistency of these varying accounts; their testimony to stories of different nature and origin being embodied in the romances--Two main types: feud quest and unspelling quest--Reasons for the confusion of the two types--Evidence of the confusion in older Celtic literature-- The Grail in Celtic literature: the gear of the Tuatha de Danann; the cauldron in the Ultonian cycle; the Mabinogi of Branwen; vessel of balsam and glaive of light in the contemporary folk-tale--The sword in Celtic literature: Tethra; Fionn; Manus--Parallels to the Bespelled Castle; the Brug of Oengus, the Brug of Lug, the Brug of Manannan Mac Lir, Bran's visit to the Island of Women, Cormac Mac Art, and the Fairy Branch; Diarmaid and the Daughter of King Under the Waves--Unspelling stories: The Three Soldiers; the waiting of Arthur; Arthur in Etna; the Kyffhäuser Legend, objections to Martin's views concerning it--Gawain's visit to the Magic Castle and Celtic parallels; The Son of Bad Counsel; Fionn in Giant Land; Fionn in the House of Cuana; Fionn and the Yellow Face--The Vanishing of the Bespelled Castle--Comparison with the Sleeping Beauty cycle--The "Haunted Castle" form and its influence on Heinrich's version--The Loathly Grail Messenger page 170