Romance, Courtly Love and

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Romance, Courtly Love and

• The Grail

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Romance and Courtly Love

• In the late Middle Ages, the rough realities of
  feudalism were refined by the code of chivalry.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• Chivalry a military code of behavior (from the
  French term for knight, chevalier).

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Romance and Courtly Love

• A knight was supposed to be fair to his
  opponents, loyal to his lord, and honorable in
  all things.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• A knight was also supposed to show Christian
  humility to his peers, kindness to those beneath
  him, and generosity to all.
• Not all knights lived up to the code/ many did
  not even try to.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• The romances were the literary expressions of
  chivalric ideals.
• These were long poems about knightly adventures
  that were recited by traveling poets.
• The stories later written down.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• The Arthurian romances were among the most
  popular of the medieval romances.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• The stories were of Arthur, legendary Celtic
  king, and his knights of the round table.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• The tales spread first throughout England and
  Wales and then migrated to the Continent.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• The knights who served as heroes of the medieval
  romance were strong, courageous, and loyal.
• They were also courtly lovers who were devoted to
  on special lady.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• This new element of courtly love served to
  distinguish the romances from the earlier epics.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• The knights glorious deeds were not performed in
  the service of king or country, but on behalf of
  a beautiful, fair and noble lady who was above
  him in status and usually marriedand therefore
  unattainable.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• Chretien de Troyes, who wrote in French in the
  late 12th century, was one of the most famous of
  the medieval romance poets.
• His stories, especially those of Perceval and
  Lancelot, influenced later versions of the
  Arthurian legend.

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Romance and Courtly Love

• Most of the Arthurian romances focus on knights
  of the round table and their loves/ adventures.

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Perceval

• His most influential work, The Story of the Grail
  or Perceval, focuses on a new kind of knight, a
  knight who is less interested in worldly glory
  than in such Christian values as penitence and
  charity.

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Perceval

• Percevals quest is for spiritual perfection, and
  he performs great deeds for the love of God.

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Perceval

• Perceval is the earliest known version of the
  legend of the Holy Grail, a cup or platter
  regarded as a holy object.

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Perceval

• The Grail is used to carry communion wafers,
  which are an important element in Christian
  ritual.

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Perceval

• In later Arthurian romances, the Grail is
  described as the cup from which Christ drank at
  the Last Supper, the same cup that is later used
  to collect drops of Christs blood at the
  Crucifixion.

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Perceval

• Many knights of Arthurs round table try and fail
  to find this holy object, which can only be
  obtained by a person who is absolutely pure.

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Perceval

• Chretien de Troyes died before completing
  Percival, so no one knows how he intended to
  resolve the story.

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Perceval Background

• Percival is the son of a great knight, but his
  mother has kept him from knowing anything about
  his knighthood.
• She does not want him to die young as her husband
  and two other sons have done.

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Perceval Background

• Percival meets five wandering knights and gets a
  taste of adventure.
• He instantly decides to desert his mother and
  become a knight himself.

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Perceval Background

• When Percival reaches King Arthurs court his
  worth is immediately recognized.
• He is given the armor and weapons of a knight.

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Perceval Background

• All is not positivehe is ridiculed at the court
  because his manners are so crude.
• An older knight takes Percival aside and advises
  him how to behave.

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Perceval Background

• Among other things, he advises Percival not to
  talk too much, since his speech may reveal his
  lack of education.

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Perceval Background

• Percival later defends a besieged castle and
  falls in love with its lady, Blancheflor.

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Perceval Background

• In the selection we are reading Percival,
  overcome with regret for abandoning his mother,
  has left Blancheflors castle to find his mother.