Medieval Test: Grail Narratives Flashcards
hat are the two European “vernacular” language traditions?
Romantic and Germanic
What is the word for “right belief” (especially) according to a religious authority?
Orthodoxy
What are the two primary literary genres in the Middle Ages?
troubadour lyrics and trouvere narratives
Name two things about the grail narratives that were heterodox.
fertility myths and adultery
Perceval was the son of…
a widowed woman
What question is Perceval supposed to ask of the grail?
Whom do you serve?
When Perceval wakes up the morning after his grail vision, the kingdom is…
a wasteland
Perceval realizes that the fisherman/Fisher King is…
his uncle
When was Chretien de Troyes’ grail narrative written?
1180
Which is/are true of Chretien de Troyes’ grail narrative?
He did not write it until the end of his life.
The version we have is unfinished.
It is suspected that another version was lost in a fire.
What about Perceval makes a lady at King Arthur’s court laugh?
Perceval claims the armor of the Red Knight.
Who predicts that Perceval will triumph at Arthur’s court?
the court jester
Rescuing the lady Blachfleur makes Perceval think of…
his mother
In a castle of the Fisher King, Perceval sees a squire carrying a…
a sword, a lance, and a grail
The hermit instructs Perceval that his worst sin was…
causing his mother sorrow
What general ritualistic practice are the Grail messages thought to derive from?
fertility rite
What is the one primitive European source of grail mythology that has been identified?
Celtic
Name the three elements from Welsh mythology that are identified as sources for the meaning of the Grail.
caldron of rebirth
magic platter
beheading ritual
Which famous Arthurian legend has a beheading ritual?
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”
The primitive source for this mythology has been traced back further to what and to where?
Egypt
Which of the following is correct about the most famous/important grail narrative in English?
Thomas Mallory “Le Morte D’Arthur” 1485
In this English version what is the cause of the kingdom becoming a wasteland?
adultery
The theme of this English version is…
nostalgia
