From Ritual to RomanceWeston, Jessie L. (Jessie Laidlay)
Religion
From Ritual to Romance
Weston, Jessie L. (Jessie Laidlay)
Grail -- Legends -- History and criticism; Romances -- History and criticism
Wauchier’s section breaks off abruptly in the middle of this episode;
when Manessier takes up the story he gives explanations of the Grail,
etc., at great length, explanations which do not at all agree with the
indications of his predecessor. When Perceval asks of the Chapel he is
told it was built by Queen Brangemore of Cornwall, who was later
murdered by her son Espinogres, and buried beneath the altar. Many
knights have since been slain there, none know by whom, save it be by
the Black Hand which appeared and put out the light. (As we saw above
it had not appeared.) The enchantment can only be put an end to if a
valiant knight will fight the Black Hand, and, taking a veil kept in
the Chapel, will dip it in holy water, and sprinkle the walls, after
which the enchantment will cease.
At a much later point Manessier tells how Perceval, riding through the
forest, is overtaken by a terrible storm. He takes refuge in a Chapel
which he recognizes as that of the Black Hand. The Hand appears,
Perceval fights against and wounds it; then appears a Head; finally the
Devil in full form who seizes Perceval as he is about to seek the veil
of which he has been told. Perceval makes the sign of the Cross, on
which the Devil vanishes, and the knight falls insensible before the
altar. On reviving he takes the veil, dips it in holy water, and
sprinkles the walls within and without. He sleeps there that night, and
the next morning, on waking, sees a belfry. He rings the bell, upon
which an old man, followed by two others, appears. He tells Perceval he
is a priest, and has buried 3000 knights slain by the Black Hand; every
day a knight has been slain, and every day a marble tomb stands ready
with the name of the victim upon it. Queen Brangemore founded the
cemetery, and was the first to be buried within it. (But according to
the version given earlier she was buried beneath the altar.) We have
here evidently a combination of two themes, Perilous Chapel and
Perilous Cemetery, originally independent of each other. In other MSS.
the Wauchier adventure agrees much more closely with the Manessier
sequel, the Hand appearing, and extinguishing the light. Sometimes the
Hand holds a bridle, a feature probably due to contamination with a
Celtic Folk-tale, in which a mysterious Hand (here that of a giant)
steals on their birth-night a Child, and a foal.[3] These _Perceval_
versions are manifestly confused and dislocated, and are probably drawn
from more than one source.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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