This trilogy establishes a provenance for the Holy Grail and, through
the figure of Merlin, links Joseph of Arimathea with mythical British
history and with the knightly adventures of Perceval's Grail quest.
It is hard to overstate the importance of this trilogy of prose romances
in the development of the legend of the Holy Grail and in the evolution
of Arthurian literature as a whole. They give a crucial new impetus to
the story of the Grail by establishing a provenance for the sacred
vessel - and for the Round Table itself - in the Biblical past; and
through the controlling figure of Merlin they link the story of Joseph
of Arimathea with the mythical Britishhistory of Vortigern and
Utherpendragon, the birth of Arthur, and the sword in the stone, and
then with the knightly adventures of Perceval's Grail quest and the
betrayal and death of Arthur, creating the very first Arthurian cycle.
Ambitious, original and complete in its conception, this trilogy -
translated here for the first time - is a finely paced, vigorous piece
of storytelling that provides an outstanding example of the essentially
oral nature of early prose.
NIGEL BRYANT is head of drama at Marlborough College. He has also
provided editions in English of the anonymous thirteenth-century romance
Perlesvaus, published as The High Book of the Grail, and Chretien's
Perceval: The Story of the Grail.