The Virgin and the Grail : origins of a legend / Joseph Goering.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goering, Joseph Ward, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint--Legends--History and criticism.

Mary.

Grail--Legends--History and criticism.

Grail.

Arthurian romances--History and criticism.

Arthurian romances.

Grail in art.

Physical Description:

xii, 188 p. : ill. (some col.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Some fifty years before Chrétien de Troyes wrote what is probably the first and certainly the most influential story of the Holy Grail, images of the Virgin Mary with a simple but radiant bowl (called a "grail" in local dialect) appeared in churches in the Spanish Pyrenees. In this fascinating book, Joseph Goering explores the links between these sacred images and the origins of one of the West's most enduring legends. While tracing the early history of the grail, Goering looks back to the Pyrenean religious paintings and argues that they were the original inspiration of the grail legend. He explains how storytellers in northern France could have learned of these paintings and how the enigmatic "grail" in the hands of the Virgin came to form the centerpiece of a story about a knight in King Arthur's court. Part of the allure of the grail, Goering argues, was that neither Chrétien nor his audience knew exactly what it represented or why it was so important. And out of the attempts to answer those questions the literature of the Holy Grail was born.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. Chrétien de Troyes Perceval or the Conte du Graal

Chapter 2. Wolfram von Eschenbach Parzival

Chapter 3. Robert de Boron Joseph d'Arimathie (La grant estoire dou graal)

Chapter 4. Hélinand of Froidmont

Chapter 5. The Bishop of Roda/Barbastre and the Churches of Taüll

Chapter 6. The Master of St. Clement

Chapter 7. The Virgin and the Grail in the Pyrenees

Chapter 8. Perceval and the Grail

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [159]-181) and index.

ISBN:

9786611728908

9781281728906

128172890X

9780300138207

0300138202

OCLC:

1023987077