The Post-Vulgate Cycle is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature. It is essentially a rehandling of the earlier Vulgate Cycle, also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, with much left out and much added, including characters and scenes from the Prose Tristan. Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300 A.D. It was known at the time as the langue doïl to distinguish it from the langue... Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to the patterns of everyday [[speech. ... Literary cycles are groups of stories grouped around common figures, based on mythical figures or loosely on historic ones. ... King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Britain. ... The Lancelot-Grail, also known as the prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend. ... The Lancelot-Grail, also known as the prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend. ... The Prose Tristan is an adaptation of the Tristan and Iseult story into a long prose romance, and the first to tie the subject entirely into the arc of the Arthurian legend. ...

The Post-Vulgate, written probably between 1230 and 1240, is an attempt to create greater unity in the material, and to de-emphasise the secular love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere in favor of the Quest for the Holy Grail. It omits almost all of the Vulgate's Lancelot Proper section, making it much shorter than its source, and directly condemns everything but the spiritual life. It does not survive complete, but has been reconstructed from French, Castilian Spanish, and Portuguese fragments. Events Kingdom of Leon unites with the Kingdom of Castile. ... Events Batu Khan and the Golden Horde sack the Ruthenian city of Kyiv Births Pope Benedict XI Deaths April 11 - Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, also known as Llywelyn The Great Prince of Gwynedd Monarchs/Presidents Aragon - James I King of Aragon and count of Barcelona (reigned from 1213 to 1276) Castile... For other uses, see Lancelot (disambiguation). ... Queen Guinevere, by William Morris Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. ... In Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, cup or vessel that caught Jesus blood during his crucifixion. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

This cycle of works was one of the most important sources of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. 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, Middle French for la mort dArthur, the death of Arthur) is Sir Thomas Malorys compilation of some French and English Arthurian...

The work is divided into four sections. Many of these sections are largely similar to the previous Vulgate versions.

• The Estoire del Saint Grail, which did not differ significantly from the Vulgate version. It tells the story of Joseph of Arimathea and his son Josephus, who brings the Holy Grail to Britain.
• The Estoire de Merlin (also called the Vulgate or Prose Merlin), which also bears few changes from the Vulgate. It concerns Merlin and the early history of Arthur.
  • To this section is added the Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin, also known as the Huth-Merlin, the first departure from the source material. It adds many adventures of Arthur and the early Knights of the Round Table, and includes details about Arthur's incestuous begetting of Mordred and receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake that are not found in the Vulgate. The author added some relevant material from the Vulgate's Lancelot Proper section and the first version of the Prose Tristan to connect the events to the Queste section.
• The Queste del Saint Graal. The Post-Vulgate Queste is very different in tone and content from the Vulgate version, but still describes the knights' search for the Holy Grail, which can only be achieved by the worthy knights Galahad, Percival, and Bors. Elements from the Prose Tristan are present, including the character Palamedes and King Mark's invasions of Arthur's realm.
• The Mort Artu, concerning Arthur's death at the hands of his son Mordred and the collapse of his kingdom. It is closely based on the Vulgate Mort but was written with greater connectivity to the previous sections.

Joseph of Arimathea, according to the Gospels, was the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion. ... Josephus, also called Josephe or Josephes, is the son of Joseph of Arimathea and an early keeper of the Holy Grail in some tellings of the Arthurian legend. ... For historical artifacts associated with the cup of the Last Supper, see Holy Chalice. ... Merlin Ambrosius (Welsh: Myrddin Emrys (Merlin the Wise); also known as Myrddin Wyllt (Merlin the Wild), Merlin Caledonensis (Scottish Merlin), Merlinus, and Merlyn) is the personage best known as the mighty wizard featured in Arthurian legends, starting with Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniae. ... Knights of the Round Table were those men awarded the highest order of Chivalry at the Court of King Arthur in the literary cycle the Matter of Britain. ... Mordred or Modred (Welsh: Medraut) is a legendary figure of Britain, known in Arthurian legend as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. ... How Sir Bedivere Cast the Sword Excalibur into the Water. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... A portrait of Sir Galahad by George Frederick Watts. ... Percival or Perceval is one of King Arthurs legendary Knights of the Round Table. ... In Arthurian Legend, Sir Bors was a Knight of the Round Table. ... Palamedes, (also called Palamede, Palomides or some other variant) was a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. ... Mark of Cornwall (Latin Marcus Cunomorus, Cornish Margh, Welsh March or Cynfawr) was a king of Kernyw (Cornwall) in the early 6th century AD. He is most famous as the uncle of Tristan and husband of Iseult, who engage in a secret affair behind his back. ...

References

Scholarly editions

Norris J. Lacy

Volumes 4–5 contain Post-Vulgate Cycle.

• Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (December 1, 1992). Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 1 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-7733-4.
• Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (August 1, 1993). Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 2 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0746-2.
• Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (March 1, 1995). Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 3 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0747-0.
• Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (April 1, 1995). Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 4 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0748-9.
• Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (May 1, 1996). Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 5 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0757-8.

Secondary sources

• Bogdanow, Fanni. (1966). The Romance of the Grail: A Study of the Structure and Genesis of a Thirteenth-Century Arthurian Prose Romance. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• Bogdanow, Fanni. (1986). "La Chute du royaume d'Arthur. Evolution d'un thème." Romania 107 (1986): 504-19.
• Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (2000). The Lancelot-Grail Reader. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-3419-2