Akademik

(ca. 1300–1340)

   Sir Perceval of Galles is an early 14th-century MIDDLE ENGLISH ROMANCE composed in the northern dialect. The protagonist, young Perceval, is raised in the forest by his mother, and then later enters Arthurian society in search of knighthood. The plot surpasses the theme typical of a bildungsroman (a story of the protagonist’s maturing process) by focusing on familial connections. Not only does Perceval prove his knightly worth, wed the maiden he saves, and become lord of his own land, he returns to the forest to retrieve his mother. The poem includes 2,288 lines in TAIL-RHYME stanzas of 16 lines (rhyming aaabcccbdddbeeeb). The author also utilizes the literary device known as stanza-linking, wherein a key word in the last line of a stanza is repeated in the first line of the next stanza; occasionally, the entire line is repeated. The only extant version of the poem survives in the Thornton Manuscript (Lincoln Cathedral A.5.2. fol. 161r–76r).

   The poem opens praising the deeds of Perceval’s father, who married King ARTHUR’s sister, Acheflour (a sister whose name is unique to this poem). When Percyvell is killed by the “Rede Knyghte,” his grieving widow flees to raise her son in the forest, far from the knightly life. Perceval dwells there for more than 15 years until a chance encounter with GAWAIN, Yvain, and Kay. Perceval is so impressed by the knights that he determines to seek knighthood from Arthur. After a farewell scene with his mother in which she imparts a ring as a token of their relationship, Perceval departs but, before reaching the court, stops at a castle where he finds a sleeping maiden with whom he exchanges rings.

   Perceval’s introduction to court is comical, as are many of the scenes depicting his naiveté. He advances so near the king that his mare practically touches the king’s nose as Perceval demands to be knighted. The feast is interrupted by the Red Knight, who killed Perceval’s father and who not only drinks from Arthur’s cup, but takes possession of it. Upon learning that the court had been plagued by this intruder and thief for five years, Perceval pledges to retrieve the cup, and in the ensuing battle, Perceval defeats the Red Knight and dons his armor. Even at this early point in the poem, Perceval’s decisions rather unwittingly lead to his success (i.e. the defeat of the Red Knight also avenges his father’s death) so that these successes appear providential.

   In Perceval’s next quest, he travels to Maidenland to defeat an evil sultan and free the imprisoned Lady Lufamour. He defeats numerous knights surrounding the castle and eventually defeats the sultan, Golrotherame. In so doing, he becomes lord of Lady Lufamour’s lands, and they wed. These narratives are laced with uncommon glimpses into the interiority of the strategizing of the characters, which serves to underscore Perceval’s advancement into the society and gradual understanding after his isolated youth in the woods. The text acknowledges Perceval’s inexperience but cites his strength: “Thofe he couthe littill insighte, / The childe was of pith” (Braswell 1995, ll. 1639–1640).

   Perceval dwells with Lufamour in Maidenland for 12 months after their marriage, but returns to the forest to see his mother. This return marks the first circular turn back to events from the poem’s beginning as Perceval encounters the maiden who was asleep in the first castle where he found sustenance. The maiden is no longer asleep but bound as a captive of the Black Knight. Perceval learns that she was imprisoned for a “fault” and then she explains that while asleep, her ring was exchanged for another by an unknown person. Her lost ring provides safety for the wearer, and thus, the purported invulnerability of Perceval is exposed to be false in that he was protected by the ring. Perceval recognizes his responsibility for the maiden’s captivity and loosens and frees her. The restoration of the maiden’s freedom, though, coincides with the return of the Black Knight, who challenges Perceval. Perceval defeats the Black Knight, and in his first merciful act, at the supplication of the maiden, he frees the Black Knight as he promises to forgive her.

   However, when Perceval attempts to exchange rings again, he discovers that the ring from his mother is now in the hands of a giant. To reclaim the token of their relationship, Perceval must conquer the giant, who wields an iron club weighing more than 300 pounds. He not only defeats the giant, but strikes off his hand and foot and reclaims his ring.With his ring in his possession, he continues his search for his mother, whom he finds so crazed from her grief that she does not recognize him. Perceval brings his mother out of the wilderness, and once she has been revived, returns with her to his own kingdom. The poem’s last stanza is succinct in its explanation of the remainder of Perceval’s life, saying only that he went to the Holy Land and was killed there. As a character, Perceval is most thoroughly treated by CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES in PERCEVAL, or Conte del Graal. Chrétien’s Perceval differs so radically from the Perceval of this poem that scholars initially thought that the two were not connected, and that the English author had not read Chrétien. However, more recent scholars assert that the poem is an adaptation.

   In Sir Perceval of Galles, the author is cognizant of the characters and devices in the beginning of the poem and carefully returns not only to the mother left in the wilderness but to the maiden whose magic ring sustained Perceval, the circular pattern lending itself to a restorative theme that some scholars say replaces the grail motif (see HOLY GRAIL). The emphasis on family also adds an additional layer to the romance that invites further analysis and interpretation.

   Bibliography

   ■ Barron,W. R. J. English Medieval Romance. London: Longman Publishing, 1987.

   ■ Baswell, Mary Flowers. Sir Perceval of Galles and Ywain and Gawain. Kalamazoo, Mich.: Medieval Institute Publications, 1995.

   ■ Eckhardt, Caroline D. “Arthurian Comedy: The Simpleton-Hero in Sir Perceval of Galles,” Chaucer Review 8 (1974): 205–220.

   ■ Fowler, David C. “Le Conte du Graal and Sir Perceval of Galles,” Comparative Literature Studies 12 (1975): 5–20.

   Michelle Palmer