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Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation


Norris J. Lacy
    It tells the story of the Arthurian world from the events of the Crucifixion, where the Grail originated, to the death of Lancelot after the destruction of the Round Table. It draws in many different strands, from the pseudo-historical stories about Arthur to the romances of chivalric adventure and the spiritual quest for the Grail. It consists of five works: the longest is Lancelot, a kind of chivalric history of the Round Table, which leads into the quest for the Grail and Arthur's death. The first two books were added later, and provide an account of events up to Arthur's birth. Not long after the cycle was completed, another writer retained the first two books of the Vulgate cycle but recast the last three books with a rather different emphasis; this version is known as the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and is one of the main sources used by Sir Thomas Malory. Available as a ten volume set or a single volumes.