The two early thirteenth-century romances Perlesvaus and the Queste del saint Graal are strongly influenced by particular theological doctrines. The primary influence on Perlesvaus is apocalyptic: not only does it reflect characteristically apocalyptic concepts of justice, moral obligation and redemption, but it also depends on the all-encompassing struggle between good and evil to unify its plot. More specifically, Perlesvaus shows special affinity for the particular apocalyptic views of Joachim of Fiore, whose theory of the three ages of history and whose exege-tical principle of concordia litterae-are important influences on it. The theology of the Queste, on the other hand, is mystical, emphasizing the inner life of the soul; yet the mystical Queste is more concerned with knighthood than is Perlesvaus. The ultimate fruit of spiritual enlightenment, moral struggle and growth in grace - all important themes in themselves - is a renewed knighthood drawing its inner strength from holiness and capable of giving the godly knight the kind of meaningful chivalrous adventure that his more worldly fellows cannot achieve. Underlying these distinct theologies is a common preoccupation with change and dissolution expressed principally through the material imagery of water, representing transition and the threat of destruction, and of fire, evoking the unchangeable absoluteness of the beyond. Further similarities in the less prominent material images of earth and sky and in the choice of colour images confirm that the parallel use of imagery of destructive water and of a fire that is more light than flame is not simple coincidence. Two very different theological responses have been elicited by a shared longing for the pure and absolute in the midst of profoundly menacing change. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

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[Short abstract]. The Middle Welsh prose romance, Y Seint Greal has long been recognised as a translation of two early thirteenth century French Grail romances, La Queste del Saint Graal and Perlesvaus, but so far no comprehensive study has been made of the relationship between them, nor of the Welsh text as a work of literature in its own right. This study first puts Y Seint Greal into its proper context, as a product of the close links between France and Wales in the later Middle Ages, and as part of a surge of translation of foreign material into Welsh that began in the mid thirteenth century. Manuscript and other evidence indicates that Y Seint Greal was commissioned by the uchelwr (nobleman) Hopcyn ap Thomas of Glamorgan, at the end of the fourteenth century, both translator and scribe probably working in Neath or Margam Cistercian Abbey. The translator presents the Queste and Perlesvaus as two parts of a whole, creating a number of problems of consistency within Y Seint Greal. Moreover, comparison of the Welsh text with its French sources shows that the translator was insensitive to some of their qualities, and that his tendency to abridge has sometimes undermined the structure and coherence of the romances. However, many of the translation's apparent weaknesses can be ascribed to the redactor's concern to adapt his French material for the new audience. Overtly foreign elements are removed and efforts made to harmonise events and characters of the French romances with those of native Welsh tradition. The translator was familiar with earlier Welsh prose narrative, which has influenced his style, and he has drawn on the earlier romance of Peredur. Y Seint Greal was not intended to be a faithful translation but a bridge between Welsh and continental Arthurian traditions.