Le Conte del Graal et d'autres sources françaises de l'Historia Peredur

Abstract

The relationship of three medieval Welsh tales, Chwedl Geraint ab Erbin, Chwedl Iarlles y Fynnon, and Historia Peredur ab Efrawg, to three Arthurian romances by Chrétien de Troyes, namely Erec et Enide, Le Chevalier au Lion, et Le Conte del Graal, has long been the subject of controversy. In the Arthurian Encyclopaedia, published in 1986, the Welsh scholar Brynley Roberts observes that their relationship to Chrétien's romances has not yet been defined. I here take up the challenge by demonstrating the manner in which material from Le Conte del Graal has been incorporated in Historia Peredur. The dependence of the Welsh tale on the romance by Chrétien, and not vice-versa, is evident from at least the fact that it also makes use of other French sources, certainly the Bliocadran, The Second Continuation, and a romance in prose, the Lancelot.