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| Walter Map taking down a story of the adventures of the Knights of the Round Table on the quest of the Holy Grail at the dictation of King Arthur, from the Manchester Arthurian Romance, c.1300 |
The elements of the Vulgate Cycle, comprising The History of the Holy Grail, The Story of Merlin, Lancelot, The Quest of the Holy Grail and The
Death of King Arthur, are cleverly interlaced in a number of ways. The last
two are linked, or better, locked together, by the introduction of a putative
author, Walter Map. Here are the passages which outline this linking; first
from the end of The Quest of the Holy
Grail,
When they had dined King Arthur
summoned his clerks who were keeping a record of all the adventures undergone
by the knights of his household. When Bors had related to them the adventures
of the Holy Grail as witnessed by himself, they were written down and the
record kept in the library at Salisbury,
whence Master Walter Map extracted them in order to make his book of the Holy
Grail for love of his lord King Henry, who had the story translated from Latin
into French. And with that the tale falls silent and has no more to say about
the Adventures of the Holy Grail.
Next, from the beginning of The Death of King Arthur:
After Master Walter Map had put
down in writing as much as he thought sufficient about the Adventures of the Holy Grail, his lord King Henry II felt that what
he had done would not be satisfactory unless he told about the rest of the
lives of those he had previously mentioned and the deaths of those whose
prowess he had related in his book. So he began this last part; and when he had
put it together he called it The Death of
King Arthur, because the end of it relates how King Arthur was wounded at
the battle of Salisbury and left Girflet who had long been his companion, and
how no one ever again saw him alive. So Master Walter begins this last part
accordingly.
And finally from the end of The Death of King Arthur:
At this point Master Walter Map
will end the Story of Lancelot,
because he has brought everything to a proper conclusion according to the way
it happened; and he finishes his book here so completely that no one can
afterwards add anything to the story that is not complete falsehood.
This seems very convincing evidence that the author of these
two last works and perhaps of the cycle as a whole was Master Walter Map.
Unfortunately “Map died before the works attributed to him were written”.
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| The body of Elaine, the Maid of Astolat, arrives at Camelot |
BLOG QUESTION: Why would the group of anonymous Cistercian
monks responsible for constructing the Vulgate Cycle want to see the work
attributed to Walter Map?
Again, this week's question is difficult for me to answer. My attempt is as follow:
ReplyDeleteSimilarly to how Geofrey of Monmouth claimed that his 'History' was based on an old document someone has given to him, the Cistercian monks sought authority and legitimacy for the Vulgate Cycle by attributing the work to Walter Map. Master Walter Map is claimed to have written the Vulgate Cycle based on the records kept in Salisbury. Therefore, Master Walter Map is a literary device to make the story sounds more historical and credible.
Walter Map was a jurist and a man of letters at the court of Henry the Second of England. He used official records (e.g., extracts) of all the adventures of the King Arthur kept in the library at Salisbury in order to write his first work of the Holy Grail. Importantly, he died in 1209, 5 or 10 years before the first tale was completed. Why the Vulgate Cycle was then attributed to Walter Map? As previously mentioned, he was a man of letters at the court of Henry the Second, moreover, he was an influential figure at that time and Henry the Second was well-known for his association with the King Arthur. Therefore, Cistercian monks considered that Walter Map was an ideal candidate to bring historical value to the Vulgate Cycle as Walter Map was the storyteller at the court of Henry the Second, the King who rubbed the shoulders of the King Arthur.
ReplyDeleteMaria S. (22504079).
IS YOUR ARTHUR STORY LEGIT?
ReplyDeleteTotes is, threw in Walter Map's name, makes ALL the difference.
Basically Walter was a cool dude, Henry's 'man of letters' - whatever that is, does he read/deliver/carry?
Anyway, he was a cool dude, they were cool stories, combine them and what do you have?
DYNAMITE.
The monks probably attributed the Vulgate cycle works to Master Walter Map because his authority and knowledge would have given legitimacy to the works which otherwise could have been discarded as fantasy.
ReplyDeleteLucy Wain
They just sought to legitimise their own work by effectivley leaching off of his reputation and riding on his coat tails. It is thus similar to 'the most ancient of all british texts' as both are simply things used to give credence to the text in question, although it is highly unlikley either was involved in the creation of these works that claim such things.
ReplyDelete