Post-Vulgate Cycle

The Post-Vulgate Cycle, also known as the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal and formerly as the Post-Vulgate Arthuriad or Pseudo-Robert de Boron Cycle, is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature from the early 13th century. It is considered essentially a rewriting of the earlier and more popular Vulgate Cycle, with much left out but also much added, including characters and scenes from the Prose Tristan. The cycle did not survive in its entire original form, but has been reconstructed from fragments in several medieval languages.

History

The Post-Vulgate Cycle, written anonymously probably from between c.1230 to c.1250.

Structure and contents

The work is divided into four parts, named similar to their corresponding Vulgate Cycle versions. It is an attempt to create greater unity in the material, and to de-emphasise the secular love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere in favor of the religious and spiritual Quest for the Holy Grail. As such, it omits great most of the Vulgate Cycle's Lancelot Proper section, making it shorter and much less Lancelot-centered than its source.
Instead, it borrows from the first version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, including Tristan himself as a prominent character. It further distinguishes from the Vulgate by its more pessimistic tone, its darker portrayal of several major characters such as Merlin, Morgan, and Gawain, and its bleak ending.
Neither the Post-Vulgate Estoire del Saint Graal nor the Post-Vulgate Estoire de Merlin differed significantly from the Vulgate version.

Post-Vulgate ''Merlin Continuation''

But in the well-known Huth manuscript, the two works above were followed by the Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin, the first major departure from the source material. A continuation to this was identified by H. Oskar Sommer who published it under a German title "Die Abenteuer Gawains Ywains und Le Morholts mit den drei Jungfrauen". A further continuation La Folie Lancelot was published by Fanni Bogdanow.
In the English translation of the Post Vulgate, the first 72 chapters are covered by the Merlin Continuation, of which chapters 1–42 are from the Huth ms., and chapters 43–59 taken from Sommer's publication, chapters 60–72 from Bogdanow's publication.
The fragment found by Bogdanow combines material from the Vulgate Lancelot Proper and the first version of the Prose Tristan to connect the events to the Queste section. Some gaps are also filled in other surviving fragments.

Episodes peculiar to ''Merlin Continuation''

The Suite du Merlin adds many adventures of Arthur and the early Knights of the Round Table, and includes details about Arthur's incestuous begetting of Mordred not found in the Vulgate.
Also in the Suite du Merlin there is the episode of the Dolorous Stroke, imparted on the Fisher King by Sir Balin, given as the cause of the Waste Land. This of course elaborates on the "Grail Quest" as such given in Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail, where Perceval fails to mend the injured king on account of him failing to ask "The Question". The task of the Grail Quest will be to mend the injury of the Dolorous Stroke, and this task will be the theme of the Post-Vulgate Queste.
The episode of Arthur receiving the sword Escalibor from the Lady of the Lake also derives from the Post-Vulgate Merlin.

Post-Vulgate ''Quest for the Holy Grail''

The Post-Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal describes the knights' search for the Holy Grail, which can only be achieved by the worthy knights Galahad, Perceval, and Bors. The Post-Vulgate Queste is very different in tone and content from the Vulgate version. Elements from the Prose Tristan are present, such as the character Palamedes and King Mark's invasions of Arthur's realm.
Its most complete version is the Galician-Portuguese A Demanda do Santo Graal. This part of the cycle has been repeatedly printed in Spain as La Demanda del Santo Grial.

Post-Vulgate ''Death of Arthur''

The Post-Vulgate Mort Artu, concerning Arthur's death at the hands of his son Mordred and the collapse and total destruction of his kingdom. It is based more closely on the Vulgate Mort but was rewritten with greater connectivity to the previous sections. Like the Queste, the P-V Mort is longer than the Vulgate version.

Modern editions

The first full English translation of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles were overseen by N.J. Lacy.

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