Corbenic (also Carbonek and Corbin) is the name of the castle of the Holy Grail in the Lancelot-Grail cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. It is the domain of the Fisher King and the birth-place of Sir Galahad. In Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers. ... The Lancelot-Grail, also known as the prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend. ... Sir Thomas Malory (c. ... The Last Sleep of Arthur by Edward Burne-Jones Le Morte dArthur (spelt Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions, from the French la mort dArthur, the death of Arthur) is Sir Thomas Malorys compilation of some French and English Arthurian... This article is about the Fisher King from Arthurian legend. ... Sir Galahad was one of the knights of King Arthurs Round Table in Arthurian legend. ...

Carbonek and Corbin are Malory's forms; Corbenic is the older French version.

Description

As befits the castle of the Grail, Corbenic is a place of marvels, including, at various times, a maiden trapped in a magically boiling cauldron, a dragon, and a room where arrows assail any who try to spend the night there. These wonders cause Sir Bors to name it the Castle Adventurous, "for here be many strange adventures" (Le Morte d'Arthur, book XI). Yet it can also appear quite ordinary: on an earlier occasion, according to the Lancelot-Grail, the same Sir Bors visited without noticing anything unusual. In Arthurian Legend, Sir Bors was a Knight of the Round Table. ...

(Perhaps conscious of this apparent contradiction, T.H. White in The Once and Future King treats Corbenic as two separate places: Corbin is the relatively mundane dwelling-place of King Pelles, while Carbonek is the mystical castle where the climax of the Grail Quest takes place.) Terence Hanbury White (May 29, 1906 - January 17, 1964) was a writer. ... The Once and Future King The Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel written by T.H. White. ... King Pelles is the name of the Maimed King in some versions of the Arthurian legend. ...

Corbenic has a town, and a bridge which Sir Bedivere of the Strait Marches swears to defend against all-comers for a year, for love of Pelles' daughter Elaine (Morte, books XI–XII). Elaine (a form of Helen) is a name shared by several different characters in Arthurian Legend. ...

It is on the coast, or at least is mystically moved there for the purposes of the Grail Quest: Lancelot arrives at Corbenic by sea at the climax of his personal quest. Corbenic's seaward gate is guarded by two lions, aided by either a dwarf (Morte, book XVII) or a flaming hand (Lancelot-Grail). In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot (Lancelot du Lac, or Lancelot of the Lake; also Launcelot) is one of the Knights of the Round Table. ...

It is unclear whether Corbenic is to be identified with the castle inadvertently levelled by Sir Balin when he delivers the Dolorous Stroke upon King Pellam (Morte, book II); if so, then Corbenic is in Listeneise (and is presumably rebuilt at some point). The Lancelot-Grail gives the name of its kingdom only as the 'Foreign Country'. Sir Balin le Savage, also known as the Knight with Two Swords, is a character in Arthurian legend. ... The Dolorous Stroke is a trope in Arthurian legend and some other stories of Celtic origin. ... King Pellam of Listeneise is the name that Malory gives to the Maimed King in his rendition of the tale of Sir Balin, at whose hands Pellam suffers the Dolorous Stroke. ... Listeneise or Listenoise is the name of the land of the Holy Grail in some Arthurian works, and the location of the Grail Castle. ...

Etymology

The name has several possible etymologies:

• Welsh Caerbannog ('Fort of the Peaks'); this form is used by Monty Python and the Holy Grail;
• French cor béni, 'blessed horn', referring to the Grail as a horn of plenty;
• French corps béni, 'blessed body', referring to the Grail as a Eucharistic vessel;
• French corbin, nowadays meaning 'chough' but formerly meaning 'raven' or 'crow'; a possible allusion to the Welsh hero Bran the Blessed, whose tale has some similarities to that of the Fisher King. The putative form corbin béni is an approximate translation of Bran's full name in Welsh, Bendigeidfran.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedy film released in 1975. ... The cornucopia (Latin Cornu Copiae), also known as the Horn of Plenty, is a symbol of food dating back to the 5th century BC. In Greek mythology, Amalthea raised Zeus on the milk of a goat. ... Binomial name Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (Linnaeus, 1758) The Red-billed Chough, or just Chough (pronounced ), Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax is a member of the crow family, Corvidae. ... Bran the Blessed, also known as Bran Vendigaid, Bendigeidfran or Branovices, is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. ...

Location

Corbenic has been speculatively identified with a number of places:

• Castell Dinas Bran in Wales;
• Peel on the Isle of Man.
• Ravenglass, Keswick, or Whitehaven, in the Lake District of north-west England.

Castell Dinas Bran viewed from below and to the west Dinas Bran translates into English as Crow City. ... Peel is a town in the Isle of Man. ... Location within the British Isles Ravenglass is a small coastal town in Cumbria, England. ... The Moot Hall in the centre of Keswick. ... Statistics Population: 25,500 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: NX974181 Administration District: Copeland Shire county: Cumbria Region: North West England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Cumbria Historic county: Cumberland Services Police force: Cumbria Constabulary Ambulance service: North West Post office and telephone Post town: WHITEHAVEN... The panorama across Eskdale from Ill Crag. ...

Other Grail castles

In Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail, the first work to mention the Grail, the Grail castle is described somewhat differently than in later litrature, and is given no name. In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, based on Chrétien, the Grail castle's name is Munsalvaesche, and its history and inhabitants are different than in other variations of the legend. Chrétien de Troyes wrote in Champagne, France, during the last half of the twelfth century. ... Perceval, the Story of the Grail (French:Perceval, le Conte du Graal) is the unfinished fifth romance of Chrétien de Troyes. ... Portrait of Wolfram from the Codex Manesse. ... Parzival is one of the two great epic poems in Middle High German. ...