Robert de Boron
(under construction)
After Chrétien and Wolfram, Robert is the third and last medieval poet, who is considered one of the originators of grail romance. Although his poetry and prose are quite simplistic and amateurish, he is of special interest for us because of his claim to have provided the first "history of the grail". The quote below refers to him as a "sorry poet", but we should hesitate before we pass such judgment! Enough manuscripts of Chretien and Wolfram have survived that their original version is well established. But Robert's poem has been so widely adapted and changed by others, often under "holy orders", that the only version of his "estoire" may very well be a corrupt copy of a copy because only one manuscript of a hundred years later has survived. Until one of the "lost" versions is found in some monastic library or in the vaults of the Vatican, we'll proceed with our usually irreverent challenges of the established consensus and start with the most "qualified" evaluation of the man. This brief summary of excerpts is from the New Arthurian Encyclopedia (1):
ROBERT DE BORON, a Burgundian poet who composed the first cycle of Grail romances. About this author we know only what he himself has revealed in his work, his name and the name of his noble patron... This Gautier had been identified as Gautier de Montbéliard, Lord of Montfaucon, who took the cross and set out on the Fourth Crusade in 1202, never to return to his homeland. He died in 1212. About eighteen kilometers from Montbéliard, there is the village of Boron, presumably Robert's place of origin...
Robert is the author of a trilogy written in French octosyllabic verse, the Joseph d'Arimathie (so-called by scholars, although it was edited under the title Le Roman de l'Estoire dou Graal), the Merlin, and in all probability a Perceval, generally known as the Didot-Perceval. Of the original cycle, only the Joseph and the initial 504 lines of the Merlin survive in their original verse form, but a prose adaptation of the three romances was made by an anonymous redactor shortly after their composition....
Robert is a sorry poet, often confusing in detail and on occasion even guilty of self-contradiction. But what he lacks in graceful expression and elegant poetic turn of phrase is made up by a magnificent vision of universal history centered on the Holy Grail.. He was the first to identify the vessel of the Last Supper with the mysterious graal of Chrétien's Perceval and describe how this vessel was used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect the blood of Christ. It was his bold vision that bridged the gap between sacred history and the world of Arthurian Britain (the Round Table was the "third table, " in keeping with Trinitarian symbolism) and gave the impulse to the thorough Christianization of the Grail myth.
It should be noted, above all, that he named his work Le Roman de l'Estoire dou Graal, which we take as a definite statement that he composed the first history of the grail, the Gospel truth -- from a Judeo-Christian perspective. He also brought the grail vessel and the blood relic to grail romance, and was the first poet to recycle the grail: A vessel from the Last Supper is reused by Joseph and Nicodemus to collect the blood of Jesus when they wash the corpse for burial. A first indication that the vessel is a simple bowl.
Scholars evaluate Robert's style as simplistic, almost like the Gospels, and consider him a fairly minor bard. They take issue with the confusions and contradictions -- again like the Gospels -- because they are unaware of our findings about Chrétien. We have seen that his alleged "mistakes" were keys to reverse the meaning of his prologue, and it could be sophisticated idea to mimic the gospels. The same can be said about Chrétien's anti-Semitic remarks. Robert picked this up as well, but it seems that our scholars are the ones confused and don't dare raise the issue.
Nevertheless, and that's probably why, his work launched the grail cycle that captured the Anglo-Saxon world! Some of it is due to the talents of latter-day poets who moved the scenario across the Channel by changing the French R to a British L -- and Avaron became Avalon! Others added San (Holy) and changed Chrétien's GRAAL to GREAL, thus opening the door for contemporary Brits to slide the letter G to the left, or westward, -- and like magic the holy San Greal became a bloody Sang Real! Which helped Dan Brown sell a lot of books, but it also brought "new blood" to the quest for which we should be grateful.
Quite obviously, no one has ever spent some serious time with Robert's riddles. After lots of confusion and contradiction, he manages to tell us very clearly that his riddles can only be solved by someone, who already knows the "Story of the Grail". This means that we must first decode the works of Chrétien and Wolfram, and only then can his "Estoire" be properly understood!
And finally, it must be said that Robert's original works may very well have been eliminated to cover-up the grail secrets. Hence, our scholars are going out on a limb if they use the 504 original lines for their verdict that Robert was a "sorry poet", and that he confused some details and contradicted himself. This may very well have been the contributions of the "anonymous redactor" who created the prose versions for us.
There is more to come, check riddles meanwhile, if you haven't done so yet!
NOTES:
1. The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, Edited by Norris J. Lacy, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York & London, 1996, pp. 385/6