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 The Vulgate Cycle is an anonymous work, thought to have been
composed by a group of Cistercian monks sometime around 1210 to 1240 AD.
It is also known as the Prose Lancelot because he figures
prominently as the greatest knight of them all.
The story relates the histories of the
Holy Grail
and King Arthur,
and shows how Sir
Lancelot figures in this.
The story starts by saying how
the Holy Grail was the Chalice into which
St Joseph of
Arimathea caught the Blood of Jesus Christ as he hanged
on the Cross on Calvary. The Chalice was then brought to Britain by
St
Joseph of Arimathea.
 The Vulgate Cycle takes up from
Chretien de
Troyes the story of Lancelot. Sir Lancelot is deceived by
the magic of a drink into thinking that Helaine, the Grail maiden, is
his true love Guinevere.
Lancelot impregnates her. She gives birth to
Galahad. After many trials of purity, Galahad experiences the
Holy
Grail.
This realisation of purity, frees Helaine's
father's kingdom from the curse that has turned
the land into the wasteland it has become.
Galahad's vision of the Grail is so amazingly
beautiful that he dies. But in fulfilment of his
Quest for the
vision, he sees the Grail and the Lance of Longinus assumed into Heaven
by a heavenly hand.
The Quest for the Grail is
completed. |
