14 - Lancelot at Corbenic

❖ What surrounds him where we last saw him?

➢ He is facing the Median River, surrounded by a vast forest, great rocks to the
other side.
❖ How does he depart that place?
➢ A boat appears before him.
❖ What does he learn on his journey?
➢ Bors and Galahad are together, Galahad currently wears the Sword of the Strange
Belt.
❖ Who instructs him?
➢ An old man sitting nearby a chapel.
❖ Whose prayers can help him?
➢ Galahad, “the true knight”
❖ How long does he remain on the ship?
➢ Over a month.
❖ Who joins Lancelot?
➢ Galahad!
❖ How does Lancelot demonstrate subservience to Galahad?
➢ He embraces and kisses Galahad, later kissing his sword’s pommel, scabbard, and
blade.
❖ How long are these two together, and what do they do?
➢ Half a year, going on successful adventures.
❖ What causes father and son to part again?
➢ A knight asks Galahad to ride off on a horse.
❖ Whose prayers will help Lancelot according to Galahad?
➢ Lancelot’s own prayers.
❖ How much longer is Lancelot at sea? –Is that a metaphor?
➢ He’s at sea for a month
❖ What mistake does Lancelot make when he leaves the ship?
➢ He readied himself to fight the two lions, not trusting God.
❖ What is offered to Lancelot?
➢ A glimpse of the Holy Grail.
❖ Why does he take more?
➢ He wishes to help the celebrant of the grail.
❖ –What is the price of his mistake?
➢ He is put into a 24 day coma
❖ –Why is he not recognized?
➢ It’s implied that God made it such.
❖ –Why is he unhappy to awake from his coma?
➢ He was in the middle of a spiritual vision.
 ❖ Why can Lancelot discard his hair shirt? – Does he?
➢ The quest for the Grail is now over for him. He does not discard it.
❖ Why is he finally recognizable?
➢ Lancelot has finished his penance, the notes reference the wearing of the scarlet
cloth
❖ What does Hector want and how does he seek it?
➢ Hector seeks the grail, and rides up on a warhorse.
❖ –Is he successful?
➢ No, he is turned away.
❖ Where does Lancelot finally go?
➢ He goes back to Logres.
❖ –What does he see along the way?
➢ The grave of King Baudemagus.
15 - The Holy Grail
❖ How does Galahad’s arrival help King Mordrain?
➢ It allows him to see, and gives him a peaceful death.
❖ What does Galahad’s arrival do to assorted random adventures?
➢ Cools the spring, quenches the fire in the tomb, freeing Simeon’s soul from
suffering.
❖ What is Simeon’s story?
➢ He committed a sin against Joseph of Arimathea, then atoned by spending 350
years in the burning tomb.
❖ How long does Galahad travel having these adventures?
➢ Five years.
❖ Where are the 3 good knights reunited?
➢ The house of the Maimed King.
❖ –By the way: why are there 3 of them?
➢ The Holy Trinity
❖ At Corbenic, what happens to the Broken Sword?
➢ Galahad repairs the Broken Sword
❖ What does the arrival of the 3 good knights presage?
➢ The ending of the adventure, or the completing of obtaining the Holy Grail.
❖ –Why are there suddenly 9 more knights (not counting King Pelles, his son and niece,
who don’t stay)?
➢ “To complete the apostolic count”
❖ Gaul, Ireland, Denmark?
➢ Three from each.
❖ How old is Josephus?
➢ The first Christian bishop.
❖ What does Josephus do?
➢ He gives the Eucharist.
❖ What do the knights eat?
➢ Each one receives the Holy Grail, or the Eucharist.
❖ What is asked of Galahad?
➢ To escort the Holy Grail, and to heal the Maimed King.
❖ Will Galahad return to Arthur or Lancelot?
➢ No.
❖ What great boon has been granted Galahad?
➢ Whatever hour he asks to die, it will be granted of him.
❖ And the rest?
➢ The 9 other knights depart.
❖ Where do the companions take the Grail?
➢ Sarras
❖ Why does Perceval’s sister rejoin them now?
➢ She told them that she would see them again in Serras to be buried.
❖ What do we deduce from Galahad’s curing the lame?
➢ He has the blessing of God with him
❖ What happens to the king of the city of Sarras?
➢ He dies after being forgiven for imprisoning the three knights for a year.
❖ Why and how does Galahad become an earthly king?
➢ The voice commands the three knights to make the youngest king.
❖ How is the Grail housed?
➢ Inside an ark of gold and precious stones.
❖ How does Galahad die?
➢ He gazes upon the grail, then asks for his request to be fulfilled.
❖ What does Perceval do when Galahad is dead?
➢ He buries Galahad, then proceeds to live out his life until he is buried next to his
sister and Galahad.
❖ Why does Bors not join him?
➢ Bors wishes to return to Arthur’s court.
❖ What role is given to Arthur at the end?
➢ Arthur provides clerks to write down the adventures of the Grail.