| After this point, Grail literature divides into two
classes. The first concerns King Arthur’s knights
visiting the Grail castle or questing after the object;
the second concerns the Grail’s history in the time of
Joseph of Arimathea.
The nine most important works from the first group
are:
- The Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes.
- Four continuations of Chrétien’s poem, by authors of
differing vision and talent, designed to bring the story
to a close.
- The German Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, which
adapted at least the holiness of Robert’s Grail into the
framework of Chrétien’s story.
- The Didot Perceval, named after the manuscript’s former
owner, and purportedly a prosification of Robert de
Boron’s sequel to Joseph d’Arimathie.
- The Welsh romance Peredur, generally included in the
Mabinogion, likely at least indirectly founded on
Chrétien's poem but including very striking differences
from it, preserving as it does elements of pre-Christian
traditions such as the Celtic cult of the head.
- Perlesvaus, called the "least canonical" Grail romance
because of its very different character.
- The German Diu Crône (The Crown), in which Gawain,
rather than Perceval, achieves the Grail.
- The Lancelot section of the vast Vulgate Cycle, which
introduces the new Grail hero, Galahad.
- The Queste del Saint Graal, another part of the Vulgate
Cycle, concerning the adventures of Galahad and his
achievement of the Grail.
Of the second class there are:
- Robert de Boron’s Joseph d’Arimathie
- The Estoire del Saint Graal, the first part of the
Vulgate Cycle (but written after Lancelot and the Queste),
based on Robert’s tale but expanding it greatly with
many new details.
- Though all these works have their roots in Chrétien,
several contain pieces of tradition not found in
Chrétien which are possibly derived from earlier
sources.
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