Chrétien de Troyes   

Is the "meillor conte" a Latin chronicle from St. Michel de Cuixà?      

It hasn't been done before, yet we'll do it anyway and show that the French master knew exactly what he was doing: He created the word GRAAL to localize grail events because etymology is the perfect key to a source! If you didn't start with our introduction, please click here and return later.

 

I. GRAAL identifies the grail region

         The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville was a standard medieval work of reference and its influence is said to have been second only to the Bible (1). This would explain why Chrétien plays with etymology when he introduces GRAAL for the first time. In the 61 lines of the prologue, before the word play of 6 lines, he uses the contemporary cuens (six times) when he refers to "count" as a noble title, and after four repetitions of the older and ambiguous conte in lines 63-66, he returns to cuens in line 67 to assure his audience that the count of Flanders did indeed provide the book for the story. Here are the last eight lines of the controversial prologue:

61 Donc avra bien sauve sa peinne        62  Crestiens, qui antant et peinne        63  a rimoier le meillor conte,              64  par le comandement le conte,          65  qui soit contez an cort real.        66  Ce est li contes del graal,                67  don li cuens li baille le livre,          68  s'orroiz comant il s'an delivre.

Hence, he won’t have wasted his effort, Chrétien, who strives and toils to put in rhyme the better story (account), by command of the story (count or accounting) that will be told (or recounted) at the royal court. It is the story (count or account) of the grail, to which the count gave him the book, so listen all how he delivers himself of it.

   

(Paris, BnF. fr. 794 (ms. A), Hilka, available online: http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/lfa/activites/textes/perceval/cgrpres.htm)    

        The ambiguity of the above contes has troubled the leading experts for over a century, which is why the arbitrary conjectures and interpretations of Foerster, Hilka, Frappier, and Roach have (admittedly) never led anywhere. We take this as an invitation to experiment with a radically new approach: What if these scholars underestimated Chrétien's genius? What if the famous poet became even more sophisticated at the end of his career and did everything for a reason? This is indicated by the earlier comedy Cligès (ca. 1176), which Frappier considers "the most studied, the most intellectual, and in some ways the most amusing of Chrétien's romances" (2). The poet links directly to Cligès by making Perceval, a minor character in Erec and in Cligès, the leading hero of the Conte du Graal. Hence, the choice of an ambiguous jeu de mots to introduce GRAAL could have a specific function: To preserve a true story for posterity as a roman a clef. The choice of etymology would be a logical choice because it is the perfect symbol for an obscure source:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origins are as follows: “Grail (gr­­e.l). Also greal, graal, graile. [ad. OF. graal, grael, greel, greil = Pr. grasal, grazal (whence OCat. gresal-s): – med. L. gradalis a cup or platter, of uncertain origin; commonly referred to a popular L. type *cratalis, f.*cratus altered form of L. crater cup.] The (Holy) Grail, the Saint Grail or SANGRAIL..."

                The Matter of Britain:

            We learn that "grail" is derived from gradalis, a Latin word of uncertain origin. It is, in fact, so uncertain that it is not even listed in the Oxford Latin Dictionary, which gives us two choices: We follow the etymology to Pr., which is Provencal, and OCat, Old Catalan, which are both regions in the South – or we take the beaten path with the learned Helinandus to the North. He was a Flemish trouvère who became a Cistercian monk at Froidmont and a noted scholar who is widely quoted as an early informant on the Holy Grail. But it is rarely considered that he was also "one of the most ardent preachers of the Albigensian Crusade" (see Linda Malcor), which taints his motives if Chrétien had any "heretic" tendencies! In view of his Roman Catholicism, Helinandus may have been the first to understand Chrétien's riddle and decided to serve the Medieval Church with disinformation. He presents the vision of an hermit in Britain (717-719 CE) and alludes to Chrétien's unfinished poem, but sides with Robert to make the grail a Paschal "dish" to divert grail romance to England. His timing coincides with the Transubstantiation Treatese of Thomas Aquinas. This may have "inspired" some poets to replace Robert's vessel with the Cup of the Last Supper to maximize the (con)fusion with Chrétien's golden platter. And because it seemed heretic that is was carried by a virgin, “the ecclesiastics who composed the Didot Perceval, the Queste del Saint Graal, and the Estoire del Saint Graal carefully substituted for the beautiful maiden a youth or a priest.”(3) Eventually, other poets "under orders" reduced the holiness of the grail to folklore and magic and opened the door for Celtic cauldrons and pre-Christian legends. This confusion extends well into the 20th century and the resulting conjectures could fill a medium library.

           The groundwork for this diversion was laid by an earlier tale of 1191, when the monks of Glastonbury claimed the discovery of the tomb of King Arthur and Geneviere. According to a resident of that town, the noted historian Geoffrey Ashe, it was an invention to raise funds for rebuilding the monastery that had burned down in 1184. But in view of latter-day grail romance that so fully embraces Glastonbury, and that Chretien composed the Conte du Graal around 1182, one could suspect that it was part of an effort to eliminate Chrétien's legacy. Even the secular Arthurian Society seems to have fallen for it, unaware that the French poet used Arthur and his knights as recurring characters – like a soap opera – to tell stories that transcendent time and space. That's why Alexander, a son of the emperor of Constantinople, could come from Greece to join the knights of the "Round Table" in England and Germany, as told in the comedy Cligès! Nevertheless, most scholars seem to underestimate Chrétien's genius by believing that he fused the Southern symbolism of the grail with Arthurian romance from the North to make it more mysterious, and by making us believe he celebrated the marriage of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of his patroness. It looks like it never entered their mind that Arthur's realm may have been the fiction and the grail region a reality. That's the celebrated "Matter of Britain" in a nutshell and time to head South!

 

                The Matter of Catalonia:

 

            According to du Cange (4), the oldest documents that relate to gradalis are from Urgell in the Pyrenees of Catalonia, and dated 1010 and 1030 CE. The Catalan philologist Joan Coromines (University of Chicago) shows that "gradal" described common kitchen utensils like wide bowls and platters. We are offering the quote in Spanish, which is more widely understood, although the Catalan version is available in the notes (5):

GREAL “del cat. Greala ‘escudella’ (cat. arcaic gradal, f.)… La dada més antiga que es té del mot en qualsevol país es troba en una escriptura catalana, in més concretament urgellesa en latí en l’any 1010 (du C.) 'ad Sancta Fide coenobio gradales duas de argento'... d’Ermengarda, filla del comte Borrell de Barcelona, any 1030, tornem a trobar 'vexela de auro et de argento, id sunt enapos V, et gradals II, copes II et cuylares V...

             Coromines quotes du Cange to show that gradalis was shortened in 1010 CE to gradale, and in the document from 1030 to gradal, which is a typical for the Catalan and Occitanean languages, that use grala today. Hence, Chrétien's etymological jeu de mots leads straight to the testaments of Count Ermengol I of Urgell and his sister Ermengarda, whose father was the celebrated count Borrell of Barcelona. He was patron of the famous scholar and expert of Arabic sciences Gerbert, who became pope Sylvester II in 999CE. Catholic scholars credit him with introducing the Arabic numerals we use today, but dispute all later claims that he was an alchemist and magician, and that he had Gnostic or Manichean tendencies. 

 

            That Catalonia is properly identified as the "grail region", and certain historical personages as the major protagonists in grail romance, is not only supported by the testaments from Urgell, but it can be proven with independent visual evidence and by a Latin chronicle from Sant Miquel de Cuixa, a monastery at the Northern slopes of the Pyrenees. We shall see that the Conte du Graal is the story of a "count from the grail", and that only the count of Flanders could have known the truth about a story that was told at the royal court. This may come as a shock to many scholars, because the three pieces of evidence are conclusive:

 

          1. The etymological proof

            At this point, it is important to repeat that none of the past interpretations of Chrétien's prologue have brought any results. Scholarship is admittedly completely in the dark, even after developing "unstable conjectures" (Roach) from the general context. Neither was Philip's "meillor conte" ever found, nor any lesser tale that could have served as Chrétien's source! In fact, most scholars believe that the grail symbol was borrowed from the South to enhance the Arthurian tale of Perceval and make it more mysterious.

            But with our radically new approach, the etymology of Chrétien's keyword graal takes us straight to Catalonia, to Urgell in the Pyrenees, where we meet an illustrious family that used gradal a century before the poet was born. The region confirms the "heretic" theme of the prologue as well, as we proposed in our earlier findings:  In addition to the controversial Gerbert, it is where Bishop Felix of Urgell revived Adoptionism in the late 8th and early 9th century, which relates to the Arianism of the Visigoths and questions the divinity of Christ. It survived in Charlemagne's compromise of the "filioque" addition, which contributed to the separation (chism) of the Roman from the Eastern Church.     

             2. The visual proof

             In the early 1900's, nine Romanesque churches were discovered in the diocese of Urgell where the transformation from gradalis to graal is mirrored by the change from a blood relic to the grala. The most dramatic examples are shown in  the above details, where it is still an enclosed container at Sant Pere de Burgal at left. In a later version from 1123 CE at Sant Climent de Taüll it became a fiery bowl, which allowed scholars to connect it to grail romance. Chandler R. Post proposes in History of Spanish Painting (1930, p.1:95), the painting "has been tentatively explained as the Holy Grail because Montserrat in Catalonia is connected with this legend and because the vessel seems to be filled with the Sacred Blood emitting miraculous rays". Otto Demus writes in Romanesque Mural Painting (1970, p.479): "The Virgin... holds up a dish filled with the glowing blood of Christ, a reminder that Catalonia was one of the centers of the cult of the Grail." In The Virgin and the Grail (2005) the Canadian historian Goering insists that these churches are the only place in all of Christendom with such grail images – painted half a century before Chrétien coined the word!

 

            The frescoes became internationally known when Joan Vallhonrat, a friend of Picasso, copied several of them in 1908. According to the Canadian, a wood carving of the Virgin of Taüll from the period was acquired by Harvard's Fogg Art Museum in 1920, where it is displayed today – minus the grail that someone had chipped off. Vallhonrat encountered Italian workers that were removing frescoes from another church with the entire plaster wall for an American client. It is fortunate they didn't dismantle the entire church, because such "acquisitions" with Yankee dollars were quite common. A large portion of the cloister of Sant Miquel de Cuixa was shipped to New York and rebuilt at the Hudson river as main attraction of the museum "The Cloisters".

 

            The frescoes of Sant Climent de Taüll could be saved for two reasons: During a period of Iconoclasm, the paintings behind the altar, including the grail, had been covered by panels of wood, and all other paintings inside the church were whitewashed, which protected the grail virgin for centuries at its isolated location in the high Pyrenees. When rediscovered, some creative Catalans covered the frescoes with a transparent glue of horse-hide, peeled them off carefully and replaced them with copies. The originals are now exhibited at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. (See Urgell for a detailed account!)

            3. The written proof

            The earliest genealogy of the family that first used gradal is the Gesta comitum Barcinonensium, a Latin chronicle on parchment that opens with the vita of Count Borrell's father in the first chapter: Guifré el Pelós (Wilfred the Hairy) is celebrated by the locals as the first Count of Barcelona and founding father of Catalonia. His vita opens with a direct link from Barcelona to Flanders, where Guifré was taken as a child and raised after the death of his father. There are so many similarities with the story of Perceval that it qualifies as the "conte" that was told at the royal court. It also validates the count of Flanders as informant for the Conte du Graal, which the poet claims he "had pains to put into rhyme". Even this pun was overlooked by scholars, because we will show below a number of reasons why it would be painful for any poet to make a rhyme of it. 

            The Gesta was first published in 1688 by the French scholar Etienne Baluze in "Marca hispanica sive limes...". But the printer confused two dates: The above claim "scripta circa annum MCXC" is an error that would match nicely, although the cover page shows under accessere MCCXC (1290 CE), which is a hundred years too late to prove that this story was known at the royal court in the 1180's. But we have discovered the grail region and can't give up that easily! Our "quest" leads to Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, where many scholars face another obstacle: Catalan, a fairly obscure language that is related to Limousin and Provencal, the language of the troubadours. The first comprehensive study of the Gesta was published in 1925 in Barcelona as Cròniques Catalanes, and its authors reward us with the news that there are two versions in Latin. There is "definite edition" from St. Maria de Ripoll, the one Baluze published, which is one of four copies of a lost original. The French scholar used ms. B, which is also reprinted in the Cròniques and regarded by the Catalan scholars as the most authentic. There exists, however, one manuscript that was started at the monastery Sant Miquel de Cuixà, which predates all of the above. It is the "primitive redaction", which is at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and registered under Baluze as well. For some reasons, which we'll address below, the scholar decided to publish the final edition, including the typo with the misleading date – which may explain why it was overlooked as Chrétien's source for over 300 years. (You can click on it to enlarge it!)

           

II. Grail romance separates fact and fiction:    

            According to Foerster, Hilka, Frappier, Roach, et al., Chrétien composed his poem roughly between 1179 and 1190, and Frappier favors a date around 1182. Unaware of the importance for us, and that there could be a connection to grail romance, Barrau Dihigo and Massó Torrents (8)  establish that Guifré's vita in the "primitive redaction" was compiled around that time, which validates it as a potential source for Perceval:

Escrits despres de la mort de Ramon Berenguer IV (1162), I abans de la d'Ermengol VII, comte d'Urgell (1184), aquests caps I-VIII formen no pas precisament una historia, pero si una genealogia de les dinasties comtals de Catalunya...    Si en aquest fragment que es, en general, bastant posterior als fets querelata, hi ha alguna part d'originalitat, es el cap. V que s'ha d'anar a cercar, essent l'autor un contemporani de Ramon Berenguer IV..."

             The scholars show that chapters I-VIII were written between 1162 CE, death of Ramon Berenguer IV, and 1184, when Ermengol VII of Urgell was still alive. Here is a page of their report, but the dates are a bit confusing. Although the Gesta was written long after (bastante posterior) the events, they are of the opinion: "If there is any original part, it is chapter V, because its author was a contemporary of Ramon Berenguer IV". That Guifré's vita could have been discussed at the royal court at the time of Chrétien's writing is also supported by more recent scholarship: In 2008, Stefano Maria Cingolani (9) suggested that the early chapters were compiled later, between 1180 and 1184, but based on much older material. He supports our conjectures by concluding that the "anonymous forger" was well aware of the actual historical events and that his version of Guifré vita is not a legend but an intentional forgery. It should be said that none of these historians, from Baluze to Cingolani, mention Chrétien or make a connection to grail romance. Their findings about the Gesta are fully independent, which makes them a great asset for our researches.

 

            The Gesta tells such a dramatic story that it is very likely to have been discussed at the "royal court":  It presents the origins of the illustrious counts of Barcelona and Aragon and involves the king of France, Charles the Bald, and his daughter Judith who was robbed by Baldwin "Ironarm" of Flanders. Our comparison of the story of Guifré with Perceval's first adventures is herewith submitted "for the record" as solid proof that one of the alleged "lost sources" of grail romance is found. We shall see below that it is not Philip's book, which the poet merely put into rhyme, but a "lesser tale" (or forgery) that he was obliged to correct:

            In both tales, Guifré and Perceval are children when their father dies. (Click on Latin text to review chapters I and II). That Guifré is raised by the countess in Flanders and his poetic counterpart by his mother in a forest is a significant difference. Until we review the differences below, let's first compare the similarities:

Told as a serious story: When Guifré reaches puberty, an unexpected event  forces the countess to reveal his lineage to him.  He had intercourse with her adolescent daughter and made her pregnant. When he is told about his noble descent, he rides to Barcelona in the South to claim his rightful heritage.      Guifré arrives in Barcelona, a city at the shores of the sea, and the narration mentions that he is wearing strange, foreign clothes.

Told as a comedy: Perceval has an unexpected encounter, which forces his mother to reveal his lineage. He had met five knights, chasing virgins, and wants to become like them. When he learns that his father was a knight, he rides away and at the edge of the forest rapes the "girl in the tent".    Perceval arrives at Carduel, a castle at the shores of the sea, and Chrétien points out that he wears strange, foreign clothes.

        In the Gesta and in the poem, the heroes have their first adventures when they are still very young, which explains their foolishness and innocence. Here's a quote from the Gesta for your consideration: "Que facto, sordidis eum uestibus induit, et sub habitu peregrini cum quadam uetula ad matrem suam..."  Chrétien's version is similar, because Perceval's mother dresses him like a peasant: A shirt of rough burlap, the pants are attached to the socks, extra-heavy boots, an overall, and a silly circular cap of deer leather. Wolfram takes it even further and says that she dresses him on purpose like a fool.

Guifré meets his mother, who recognizes him by a hairy birthmark. She then introduces him to the nobles of the city who tell him that Catalonia is wrongfully claimed by the knight Salomon.    The nobles promise him that he can become ruler of Catalonia if he defeats Salomon.  Guifré confronts him on the streets of Barcelona and demands his rightful heritage.

Perceval arrives at King Arthur's court, where a mysterious woman is featured, and is told that the Red Knight at the gate has stolen a golden chalice and claims wrongfully Arthur's land.  A noble at the court is angered by his foolish demand to be made a knight and jokes that if he can defeat the Red Knight, he may take his armor and weapons. Perceval returns to the gate to claim "his property".

         According to Chrétien, Perceval's mother dies right after his departure. But there is a mysterious lady at Arthur's court, who hasn't spoken a word in six years, and suddenly starts laughing out loud and proclaims that Perceval will become "the greatest knight in the whole wide world". Otherwise, the similarities continue.

The knight Salomon fails to take the young man seriously and is killed by him in a surprise attack.  Guifré becomes ruler of Catalonia and restores the honor of the Flemish girl by marrying her.   The count of Flanders recommends him to the king of France, and Guifré becomes his trusted vassal.

The Red Knight fails to take the young man seriously and is killed by him in a surprise attack. Perceval restores the honor of the girl he had "raped" by defeating her knight.   The knight recommends him to King Arthur, and Perceval becomes his trusted vassal. He does not marry this girl – but Blanchefleur.

           

        If we take a closer look at this story we note that, vive la difference, the variations are also covered by Chrétien's brilliant symbolism. While the Gesta connects directly to Flanders, Chrétien's credits the count of Flanders as his source. The French king and the counts of Flanders are not named, only their titles. The first to identify them was the Spanish historian (and inquisitor!) Francisco Diago in 1603 (10) to support of the authenticity of the false story. But it is a historical fact that Guifré was born in the middle of the 9th century and that he began to rule Catalonia in 870, when Charles the Bald was king of France. Earlier, Baldwin of Flanders had married Judith, the daughter of Charles, which would explain why the French king sent the boy to Flanders.

        The identification of Charles the Bald raises an interesting point, although some Arthurian scholars might pull their hair out and look like him. They would have to concede that the historical prototypes of grail romance are finally identified, although King Arthur seems transplanted to the wrong century. But if they appreciate Chrétien’s comedy Cligès, and Geoffrey's History of Britain, they would know that anything is possible in medieval romance! That we meet King Arthur on the European continent is also supported by other findings. They include his identification as "Lucius Artorius Castus" (Littleton, Malcor) and as "Riothamus" (Ashe), where Arthur's exploits in France are featured. Nevertheless, it will come as quite a shock to these fine scholars that, according to the Gesta, the historical prototypes and their poetic counterparts in grail romance are:

Guifré el Pelós  (Wilfred the Hairy)...................      Salomon of Cerdana........................................      Gunedildis, daughter of Baldwin.......................      Baldwin "Ironarm" of Flanders.........................      King Charles the Bald .....................................

Perceval  The Red Knight The Girl in the Tent/Blanchefleur l'Orgeuilleux de la Lande King Arthur

                     

 

III. Why Chrétien had pains to rhyme a "better story":        

            A "Count from the Grail" is found at last and we could conclude that Perceval, le conte du graal means "Perceval, the Count from the Grail". That the grail is not mentioned in the Gesta has no relevance. Unaware of sources like the Gesta, the gradal documents of Urgell, and the grail paintings, scholars like Foerster, Hilka, Loomis, and Frappier agree that Chrétien fused several themes or sources. This makes perfect sense. because Perceval was already known from Erec and Cligès. Foerster (11), who attributes the Dümmlingsmotif (young fool) to Celtic folklore, speculates that Chrétien may have added the grail story from Philip's book and transposed both to Arthur's legendary court. We will end these arbitrary conjectures with a second Latin chronicle, where the missing grail elements support the frescos of Urgell. But for now, we have already come a long way with the identification of Perceval as a Catalan from the Pyrenees.

            Consequently, Chrétien's mellor conte should address the credibility of the Latin chronicle, if its claims were discussed at the royal court. On the surface, his "corrections" seem quite elegant and in a fine courtly style. In view of the adultery, it is understandable that both, Gesta and Chrétien, would protect the royal family, the "sang real". We see that Chrétien, the master of rhetorical double meanings, confirms the official version, and even protects the count – because the Flanders of the Gesta is reduced to a large forest region. Flanders was known in the 9th century as the famous Selva Carbonara of the French kings, where they got the wood to heat their castles and went hunting. Soon after Baldwin had married Judith, Charles the Bald made him chief forester of the region. Hence, it makes good sense that Chrétien would replace the king's daughter with Perceval's mother to protect the reputation of the court, including count Philip, and hide the adultery and pregnancy of the young girl behind a poetic veil – and make fun of it. Only after Perceval leaves his mother, he encounters – removed to the forest's edge – the girl in the colorful tent, which he mistakes for a church. In another misunderstanding of his mother's advice, he jumps her like a fool and "embraces her with his strong arms, as she defends herself, and he kisses her, whether she wants to or not, about twenty times". To symbolize the adultery, or rape, Chrétien has him drink her wine, eat her fine patées, and steal her emerald ring. When he leaves, the poor girl is left behind crying.

            Later, when he meets his future wife Blanchefleur, the poet links to the other girl by joking that her "land is so deserted that neither wine nor patées are available". Then, both scenes fuse: Blanchefleur is also crying as she stands before the bed of her hero, and then "they sleep side by side mouth by mouth, until morning, the beginning of a new day". What timeless descriptions of passion and tender love  – during the so-called Dark Ages! But why are the two girls fused by their tears? The poetic allegory of their fusion is taken to an even higher level later when Perceval falls into a trance in a forest in the winter: He is enchanted by a vision of Blanchefleur's face in three drops of warm blood that melt the snow, from a wild goose "that felt no pain" when she was attacked in flight by a hawk.

            According to Loomis (12), such symbolical fissions and fusions were quite common in medieval romance. Chrétien’s symbolism indicates that Guifré's wife is split into the "girl in the tent" and Blanchefleur, and that it was to protect the reputation at the royal court. But we shall see that he had an even more sophisticated concept: What if the Gesta told a false story and Guifré grew up in Catalonia? This would be consistent with Chrétien's claim that he needed to correct a "peiour conte" (worse story) with a "meillor conte" (better story), as implied in his ambiguous word play. This suggests that he participated in the cover-up by only confirming the official version on the surface, and that the differences of both versions should lead to Philip’s book and reveal the truth.

IV. Why the "lost sources" of grail romance eluded the scholars:  

             In the "Conte du Graal", young Perceval is raised by his mother and not by the counts of Flanders. He is raised in the same forest where his father and mother die, where he "rapes" the girl at the forest's edge, searches for his mother to meet Blanchefleur – and where he finds the grail castle. Of course, this could easily be taken for naive, poetic simplification and is certainly typical for the period. But Chrétien was its greatest master and insisted that he rhymed a better story from Philip's book. This makes perfect sense because only the Count of Flanders would have known the truth! In view of the sophisticated jeu de mots, which introduced graal as the etymological key to the source, Chrétien could have very well gone beyond the royal cover-up. This forces us to consider that everything happened in Catalonia because it is the "grail region" of medieval romance! .

            Again, there is some etymological evidence: In the Enciclopedia Universal (13) one of the explanations for Guifré’s nickname el Pelós is derived from Pilosus, an equivalent of the Latin "hirsutus", which means that he was count of a "prickly and wild" forest region, because "Catalonia was covered by an abundance of forests". This would debunk another claim in the Gesta, where his nickname is attributed to a hairy birth-mark. Here is a excerpt, where Wifredo, the Spanish version of his name is used:

Wifredo I el Velloso. Biog. Conde de Barcelona... Es creencia general, y al parecer la mas acertada, que Wifredo debia su apodo a su exuberancia capillar...  pero Balari discrepa de esta opinion y cree que el calificativo de 'comes pilosus' equivalia al de comes hirsutus comes silvestir, es decir, conde de las malezas y de las espesuras, en atencion a que en aquella epoca el condado de Barcelona era abundante en bosques."

           The funny opposition of Wilfred the Hairy and Charles the Bald did not escape one of Chrétien's continuators, which could be  another confirmation of our findings! He supports the cover-up and "peior conte" by claiming that Joseph (of Arimathea) hid the grail so well that "neither someone hairy nor bald knew the location aside from him". (14)  (That this could also relate to the "hairy" Elijah and the "bald head" Elisah will be a subject for the higher levels of our quest). By the way, because the link to Cuixà is replaced by Ripoll in the definite edition could be interpreted as a cover up to replace Prades with Fladres. (These samples are clarified with a higher contrast, which eliminates part of the "a" of fla at upper left to make it look like fli, but it is there!)  The similarity of the two words and compressed style shows that it would be easy to doctor the "primitive redaction", which a microscopic examination would expose.

          But more important, and as piece de resistance, our interpretation that the Gesta recorded a peiour conte or false story is already implied by its 12th century redactor. According to Barrau Dihigo and Masso Torrents (p.XXII): 

"Pero, de totes maneres, el que raporta essencialment son tradicions, i, cosa curiosa, tradicions de les quals sembla malfiar-se. Molt circumspecte, multiplica les formes tals com narratur, dicitur, dicuntur, ut fertur, ut aiunt..." (What he reported are essentially traditions, and, quite curiously, traditions he doesn't seem to trust. Very suspicious is that he repeats such terms as narratur, dicitur, dicuntur, ut fertur, ut aiunt.")

            We are either dealing with an honest monk or a most cautious forger, because he questions in chapter II with "ut fertur de Flandres" whether Guifré was really raised in Flanders, possibly because some of his source material may have listed Prades. Yet when these claims were repeated in the "redaccio definitiva" of the Gesta in the late 12th century, all doubts of the early redactor are removed. Click here for the definitive text, which confirms this brief sample:

Primitiva: II. Susceptum tamen [rex] puerum cuidam comiti, ut fertur, de Flandres... Definitiva: II... Susceptum tamen rex puerum cuidam comiti de Flandris...

            This raises an interesting point: We have seen that both versions are registered under Baluze at the Bibliothèque Nationale, yet why would the scholar only acknowledge the definitive edition, and not mention the "primitive"?  Did he add the typo to discourage further researches in the matter?  If our interpretation of Chrétien's jeu de mots is valid, the symbolism of the fancy Venetian scabbard of the Magic Sword would indicate that a cover-up was ordered by pope Alexander III after 1177, the Peace of Venice. This could mean that Baluze was persuaded by the Maurists of St. Germain, especially by Mabillon, to support the cover-up. With the additional support of the Bollandists Henschen and Papenbroek visited Paris in 1662 and contacted Baluze.

            As a consequence, scholars were unable to solve the grail mystery well into the 20th century. A contributing factor is that the "researches" of the Maurists and Bollandists are considered the most reliable source for Medieval history, and that the corrections of the Catalan historian Jeroni Pujades were not available. When the Jesuits began to collect manuscripts at monasteries in Germany, Italy and France for the Acta Sanctorum, which established the fame of the Bollandists, Pujades was already a generation ahead of them in Catalonia and compiled documents for his own historical work. But his manuscripts and collection were allegedly taken by Pierre de Marca, a French archbishop and friend of Mazarin, "by force of arms". After de Marca's death in 1662, the entire collection was inherited by his secretary: Etienne Baluze. Included were the two testaments from Urgell that are quoted by du Cange, and which enabled us to interpret Chrétien's jeu de mots, and a copy of ms. B of the Gesta, which was made by de Marca or Pujades. We should add that most of our other findings are only possible because the work of Pujades was rediscovered in Rouen (France), in the library of archbishop Colbert, and published in Barcelona between 1829 and 1832, two hundred years after the robbery.

            As usual, Pujades (15) contradicts the historians of his era and is the first to debunk the forged Gesta as accepted by Francisco Diago in 1603. He shows that Judith was the widow of the king of England (Ethelbald of Wessex, d. 12.20. 860) and robbed by Baldwin in 862. Because Guifré's appearance in 870 in Barcelona is documented, he calculates that eight years are too short for Judith to get pregnant and have a daughter with Baldwin that is old enough to get pregnant herself. Which is probably why Baluze withheld the "redactio primitiva" of the Gesta and slandered Pujades as ignorant. (See Pujades Affair)

            The revisions of this legend began in the 20th century, when Catalan scholars finally concluded from other sources, allegedly independent of Pujades, that "Guifré's vita in the Gesta is a tradition without value" (16), and that he was neither raised in Flanders nor his wife related to its counts. According to Soldevilla (17):

Guifré married Guinidilda, a lady of noble Catalan lineage, in all probability, and not the  daughter of the counts of Flanders as the legend claims."

            With the Gesta exposed as a forgery and "peiour conte" without value, we need to ask why this cover-up was invented in the first place? And if it was a cover-up, why was it was necessary to invent an adultery?  It's something a medieval monk would only write under orders, and only if some sort of sexual transgression was attached to Guifré's name. Another reason why Chrétien had such "pains" to make a rhyme of it! (See line 62 of prologue). But how could the French poet have known the truth some eight centuries before our historians? 

V. Why Chrétien credits Count Philip as his informant:

            It is an undisputable fact that there existed a book in the Roman Empire could contradict the claims of the Gesta at he time Chrétien worked on the on the Contes du Graal: Philip's family chronicle, of which several versions from the period have survived. Even if the poet had never been in Flanders, there is a perfect scenario for his access. According to Frappier (18):

…le comte de Flandre fit d'assez frequentes visites a la cour de Troyes: il avait l'espoir d'obtenir la main de Marie de Champagne, veuve d'Henry de Champagne mort le 17 mars 1181, sept jours apres son retour de Palestine...  Il fit une court pressante, mais vaine a la comtesse; au cour de l'annee 1182, elle refusa d'epouser le pretendant.

             

            During his "frequent visits" of Troyes and "pressing courtship" between 1181-1182, the persistent suitor would have tried to impress Marie de Champagne with his illustrious genealogy, with some evidence that he was a descendant of Charlemagne. Chrétien, whose presence at her court is established, needed to only take one look at the chronicle to realize that the story in the Gesta, as told at the royal court, was not true because a Count of Barcelona is not listed as Baldwin's son in law! Hence, it would be a dilemma for any poet, even the most brilliant – to create a masterpiece out of nothing! (Note the curious parallel of Kepler's de nive sexangula, which is also a "gift of nothing"!)

           This changes the traditional interpretation of the prologue as well: Our new interpretation of line 64 (Par le comandement le conte) shows that the count of Flanders did not commission the work and only provided the book, as stated clearly in line 67 ( Dont li quens li bailla le livre). Because of the peiour conte in the Gesta, Chrétien was obliged to set the record straight: He put the mellor conte into rhyme and added a satirical prologue on account of a lesser count – but hidden in an allegorical veil of flattery. In the sense of the flattery, the count did indeed provide the book for the mellor conte, even though he persecuted the Gnostic sects. But his contribution is reduced to a better calculation or accounting as stated by the ambiguous conte. The old master may have used the reversals of lines 63/64 himself to entertain his audience and to provoke a discussion.  

            For a better understanding of the count's pressing courtship and why it was rejected, we should also consider the religious conflicts between the liberal South and the orthodox North. Marie was the daughter of the celebrated queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Philip a most pious count who delivered heretics to the stake in Flanders. Here is Sandkühler's (20) subdued version:  

Die dem kirchlich-religiösen Leben zugewandte und stark in den politischen Intrigen stehende Art des Grafen Philipp mochte wohl der heiteren und sinnenfrohen Lebensart der Gräfin Marie nicht ganz entsprechen..." Rough translation: The count's dedication to church and religion and his strong participation in political intrigues seemed not quite compatible with the joyful and passionate lifestyle of countess Marie.

            According to William of Tyre (21), Philip's reputation suffered greatly from his ill-fated campaigns in Tripoli and Antioch (1177-78). He had plotted earlier with Frederick I, and then betrayed his friend Henry II by siding with Thomas Becket and Alexander III. That's a story Marie knew first hand, because her mother was Henry's wife, although incarcerated by him at the time. The count also betrayed his godson Philip Augustus, Marie's half-brother, by taking Paris, devastating Normandy, burning Noyon and besieging Nenlis. What a fitting satire, if Chrétien reversed destre/senestre from the gospels himself to entertain his patroness: As a play with the cunning count's amazing ambidexterity - where the left didn't know what the right hand was doing – and vice versa. This is probably why some manuscripts have these lines reversed as well.

            Frappier (22) is of the opinion that "the opposition of the largesse of chivalry and Christian charity, and the superiority of one over the other was not in the mind of an author so careful with 'conjointure' if it has nothing to do with the 'sen' of the poem". From our point of view, we could say that Chrétien opposed the sinister North with the enlightened South, a dualism that he continues with the parallel quests of Perceval and Gauvain, the grail castle and the castle of wonders. Chrétien's "heretic" position is also expressed in his quotes from the New Testament, particularly the one he attributes to St. Paul:

God is love, and who lives in love lives in God, and God in him. Our love is brought to perfection in this...

            Love (charité) and perfection (parfaits) are central ideals of the Cathar sects in the South, which were later so brutally annihilated during the Albigensian Crusades. Frappier refrains from touching upon these issues, perhaps because Chrétien did not complete the poem, but concedes that he may have dedicated the poem to the count without leaving the service of Marie de Champagne (23) as most scholars maintain. In view of our new interpretation of the contes and the flattery, we finally know for a fact that Chrétien did not move to Flanders – at least not voluntarily.

VI. Why there are still open questions:

             The first part of the grail mystery is resolved and leads to a better understanding of Chrétien's work. His etymological word play reveals more about the sen and matière of the poem than any of the traditional views. The sen appears to be our learning process, like Perceval's, which depends on making the right choices. Choices in the Gnostic or Manichean sense in favor of light over darkness, spirit over matter. Philip's elusive book is the key to the matière, because it corrects a false story that circulated at the royal court about Guifré el Pelós. With GRAAL confirmed as key to the source, a closer examination of Chrétien's Magic Sword is probably warranted. If the false story of the Gesta is symbolized by the Venetian scabbard and cover-up, there should be two other broken pieces out there that are still needed for our fusion. Thus. the higher meaning of sen and matière may require two additional Latin chronicles from Catalonia with information about Guifré as an adult and the missing details about the grail. This would mean that when the "the blade of truth" of the Magic Sword broke into pieces, the pieces are actually the Latin chronicles that Wolfram's "Kyot" searched and discovered in the grail region.

            With this new understanding of the prologue, it would make perfect sense if Chrétien quoted another St. Paul, especially because he insists that he read it himself. (See footnote**). We have seen that the reversals of the two Alexanders, of destre/senestre, and of lines 63/64 offer a new understanding of the poem. Chrétien handed us the formula with the etymology of graal and the different meanings of conte, perhaps with one exception.  According to Wolfram, he may have died before he could offer the other right conte (calculation/accounting) of Perceval's generation and off-spring.  Eight centuries have passed – and we can only hope with Chrétien that his work was not in vain! Let us also hope that he did not have to pay the ultimate penalty for insulting the Roman pontiff and his most devout Catholic count – and for saving the keys to the grail for posterity.

            This is why we owe much to the German poet Wolfram who protected Chrétien's legacy. His second opinion if fully in the spirit of the French master, and eliminates his many continuators as bad imitators or falsifiers of the truth "under orders". But Wolfram adds some original ideas that could reverse the entire scenario once again. Because Charles the Bald is such bad match for King Arthur, the vita of Guifré may have been borrowed to protect the real "Perceval". Wolfram's reduces him to "Jofreit fils Idoel", sitting between Gawan and Parzival, which is an interesting clue we will pursue on a higher level! It may relate to "Mir" and "Anschouwe". But why did Wolfram make the "girl in the tent" an older duchess? We will have to spend some serious time with Wolfram's "eilfte span", the hidden numbers, and his astronomical scenario. Let's hope the elusive "Master Kyot" has the answers!

            And finally, a word about the shocking fact that the Gesta propagates lies about Flanders and falsely accuses Guifré el Pelós of adultery – who is celebrated as the beloved founding father of Catalonia. This implies that rumors about a sexual transgression were attached to his name, and that some high authority invented a story to remove it to Flanders, as far away as possible. Does this mean that the medieval Church tried to cover up an alleged "rape" in Catalonia and created several fraudulent Latin chronicles? Because if it wasn't a rape, the faithful would take it for another miraculous virgin birth – and believe in a "second coming" of Christ, as implied by the grail frescoes at Urgell. It would be a tragic situation, with major consequences, if it were to expose that the Vatican missed such an important event! That's claimed in another Latin chronicle that we'll debunk with Chrétien and Wolfram, and under the guidance of the enlightened Catalan historian Jeroni Pujades. This part of our quest may be the most challenging, because it has to deal with the origins of the "Society of Jesus".

 

Some choices where to go from here:

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Appendix:

1  Ki petit semme petit quelt, 2  Et qui auques requeillir velt, 3  En tel liu sa semence espande 4  Que Diex a cent doubles li rande. 5  Car en terre qui riens ne valt, 6  Bone semence seche et faut. 7  CRESTÏENS semme et fait semence 8  D'un romans que ii encomence, 9  Et si le seme en si bon leu 10 Qu'il ne puet [estre] sanz grant preu, 11 Qu'il le fait por le plus preudome 12 Qui soit en 1'empire de Rome. 13 C'est li quens Phelipes de Flandres…

He who sows little harvests little, But he who wants to reap a lot, Plants his seeds in a fertile soil That God multiplies a hundred fold. Because if the soil is worthless, Good planting dries up and fails. Chrétien plants and casts the seeds Of a romance he is starting here, By sowing it into such fertile soil That it can't fail becoming bountiful, Because it is for the noblest (?) man Who is in the Roman Empire. It is the count Philip of Flanders...

 

NOTES and References:

 

* The Adoptionism of Felix of Urgell was a challenge of the Trinity and Christ's divinity, which related to the Arianism of the Visigoths and Islam. It is said to have contributed to the chism with the Eastern Church, because Charlemagne insisted on the "filioque" addition. Although the connection to Iconoclasm is disputed, we are currently researching claims that the display of crosses was prohibited at Sant Miquel de Cuixa in the 9th century, and that the recent "fission" of Felix and Claudio of Turin, his Catalan disciple, may be without merit. Iconoclasm is also documented at Sant Pere de Rodes, where the stones were laid in "opus espicatum", the pattern of fishbone. This practice was discontinued in the 9th century and reappeared after the Albigensian Crusades.

 

Scholars maintain that Wolfram refers to Chrétien only once when he mentions his name in the last "unit" (Springer) of 30 verses in Parzival. But now that we know about the hidden, etymological key to the grail, we recognize a reference in the first "unit" of the poem, right after the prologue. Wolfram says that "even if I stood three times before us", he could not better tell this story. This is a pun on the Trinity, and on Chrétien's contes and a key to his prologue, because Troyes (Troies in old French) is pronounced like the French number three. The first lines of Chrétien's prologue quote from the Gospel according to Mark, that when the Sewer (Jesus) plants seeds in a good soil, they produce "a crop multiplying thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times (Mk 4:8). This parable is unique, because it is mentioned by three apostles, Matthew, Luke and Mark, but only explained in Mark. It is the "word" that is being sown... and when sown on good soil, people hear the word, and accept it... (Mk 4:20) To make sure we get the point, and the etymological joke "Christian of the Three Apostles", the poet says in the last line of his prologue: Oeez coment il s’en delivre.  (Hear how he delivers it!)

 

Let's also consider that Wolfram credits his informant for finding the grail: Kyot, the wise master, began to search for them in Latin books, to find a people who are true enough to guard the grail. He read the chronicles of Britain and elsewhere, in France and Ireland. He found it at last in Anschaue, where he read the whole truth of Mazadan... This is precisely the concept we are following, and every piece of evidence is found in the Latin chronicles of three monasteries in Catalonia. Scholars translate Anschowe as Anjou (France), but if we consider that the German worked from Chrétien's poem, we know that he also understood the etymological jeu de mots. Hence, the German word means "anschauen", to look at something, and may include an invitation to look at "Mir" and the grail paintings of Urgell!

 

** The quote of St.Paul appears to be another key to the source, and actually to the grail itself. It is a link to the hermit in the poems, because according to Catalan sources, the apostle Paul preached in Spain and installed "St. Paul of Narbonne" as his disciple. This other "St. Paul" lived for a while in a cave with an altar in the Pyrenees, and according to a Benedictine chronicle, an ampolla with blood of Jesus was later lost there. This is the only Christian grail legend – and will be covered soon!

 

1. FRANK N. MAGILL, Great Events from History, Vol.2, Salem Press, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1973, p.1086  

2. JEAN FRAPPIER, Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, A Collaborative History, edited by Roger Sherman Loomis,   
    Oxford University Press, 1959, p.171  Note: This article is the most valuable introduction to Chrétien by a leading expert!

3. ROGER S. LOOMIS, ibid., pp. 277-78.

4. C. DU FRESNE DU CANGE, Glossarium, L.Favre, Niort 1885, Tom.IV, p.91

 

5. JOAN COROMINES, Diccionari Etimològic Complimentari de la Llegua Catalana, Vol. IV,                 

    Curial Edicions Catalanes, Barcelona, 1984, p.637:

GREAL “del cat. Greala ‘escudella’ (cat. arcaic gradal, f.)… La dada més antiga que es té del mot en qualsevol país es troba en una escriptura catalana, in més concretament urgellesa en latí en l’any 1010 (du C.) 'ad Sancta Fide coenobio gradales duas de argento'... d’Ermengarda, filla del comte Borrell de Barcelona, any 1030, tornem a trobar 'vexela de auro et de argento, id sunt enapos V, et gradals II...

6. GERONIMO (JERONI) PUJADES, Crónica Universal del Principado de Catalunia,
    Jose Torner, Barcelona, 1830, tome VI, p.246

7. FERRAN SOLDEVILLA, Historia de Catalunya, second edition,
    Editorial Alpha, Barcelona, 1963, p.61

8. L.BARRAU DIHIGO & J.MASSO TORRENTS, Gesta comitum
    Barcinonensium, Fundacio Concepcio Rabell i Cibils, Barcelona, 1925, p.XXII

9.  NATHANIEL L. TAYLOR, The Experience of Power in Medieval Europe 950-1350, Chapter 8, p.133, ASHGATE 2005. See: http://www.nltaylor.net/pdfs/a_House_of_Guifred.pdf

9a. STEFANO MARIA CINGOLANI, Gestes dels comtes de Barcelona I reis d’Aragó, Valencia, 2008, pp. 29,37,39

 Important note: If you google Cingolani, you'll find out that he is currently working on a book about the Gesta, and if you google the Gesta, you'll notice the featured link to Grailgate, which is also used by Wikipedia. Something a modern scholar like Cingolani would be aware of, including his students! We await with curiosity how he deals with our discovery that the Gesta is Chrétien's "peillor conte", and that we resolved the great enigmas of grail romance. Will he dismiss us in a footnote and take the credit – or have the heart to pay proper tribute to our site?

10. FRANCISCO DIAGO, Historia de los victorissimos Condes de Barcelona,
    Sebastian de Cormellas al Call, Barcelona, 1603, p.62

11. WENDELIN FOERSTER, Kristian von Troyes, Wörterbuch zu seinen sämtlichen Werken, Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1914, p.152-56

12. R.S. LOOMIS, Arthurian Tradition & Chrétien de Troyes, New York,
    Columbia Press, 1949, pp.50-54

13. Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada (Europeo-Americana), Espasa-
    Calpe S.A., Madrid, 1922, Vol.?, p.231, under "Wilfredo".

14. KONRAD SANDKÜHLER, vol.2, Gawain sucht den Gral, Verlag Freies
    Geistesleben, Stuttgart, Sonderausgabe 1977, pp.168-9

15. PUJADES, opus. cit. tome.VI, p.279

16. L.BARRAU DIHIGO & J.MASSO TORRENTS, op. cit., footnotes p.4

17. FERRAN SOLDEVILLA, op. cit., p.61

18. JEAN FRAPPIER, Chrétien de Troyes et le Mythe du Graal, Societé
    d'édition d'enseignement superieur, Paris V, 1972, p.50

19. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (Hastings), under "Paulicians". (Details to follow!)

20. SANDKÜHLER, op. cit., vol.1 Perceval, p.196

21. MARTIN DE RIQUER, Perceval - Li Contes del Graal?, Barcelona, p.50

22. JEAN FRAPPIER, op. cit. pp.48-9

23. Ibid.

 

 

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