1 Brigette Cazelles, “Saints’ Lives,” in Denis Hollier et al. (eds.), A New History of French Literature, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1989, p. 13.
2 Kathryn M. Talarico, “Romancing the Grail: Fiction and Theology in the Queste del Saint Graal,” in Peter Meister (ed.), Arthurian Literature and Christianity: Notes from the Twentieth Century, New York, Garland, 1999, p. 48.
3 Karl D. Uitti, “Copula Sacra,” French Forum, vol. 14, 1989, p. 391.
4 Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love, transl. John Jay Parry, New York, Columbia University Press, 1960, p. 106-107.
5 Karl D. Uitti, op. cit., p. 394.
6 “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Biblical citations in Latin are taken from Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem, Stuttgart, Germany, Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1969. English translations are given from The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version, 3rd ed., New York, Oxford University Press, 2001.
7 Karl D. Uitti, op. cit., p. 395.
8 “Ab initio autem creaturae masculum et feminam fecit eos Deus. Propter hoc relinquet homo patrem suum et matrem et adherebit ad uxorem suam et erunt duo in carne una. Itaque iam non sunt duo sed una caro” (Mark 10:6-8). (“But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh” [Mark 10:6-8].) The author of the Queste refers to this conception explicitly. In an exchange between Bors and one of many hermits, the holy man describes the moral integrity of his parents, King Bors and Queen Evaine, saying: “The marriage tie made of these two one tree and one flesh. And you, their fruit, should be as good as the tree that bore you” (p. 178). (“Cil dui furent un sol arbre et une meisme char par conjonction de mariage. Et puis que vos en estes fruit vos devriez estre bons quant li arbre furent bon” [p. 165].) All quotations in English of the Queste del Saint Graal are given from The Quest of the Holy Grai, transl. Pauline M. Matarasso, New York, Penguin Books, 2005. All quotations in Old French are taken from La Queste del saint Graal. Roman du XIIIe Siècle, ed. Albert Pauphilet, Paris, Honoré Champion, “CFMA,” 1949.
9 The representation of the creation of Eve portrayed in a window of Chartres Cathedral (vitrail de la Parabole du Bon Samaritain [Bas côté Sud, 3e baie]) captures this idea well. As God pulls Eve from Adam’s side while he sleeps, one cannot but be stunned by the symmetry of the single Adam/Eve figure, the way in which, if imaginary lines were drawn where Eve’s legs should be, these would fall in exact accordance with the positioning of Adam’s. Man and woman are illustrated as being one, which is how they existed spiritually as a couple prior to the fall.
10 Le Mystère d’Adam: Ordo representacionis Ade, ed. Paul Aebischer, Geneva, Droz, 1963.
11 During the course of his detailed analysis of Le Mystère d’Adam in “Adam and Eve,” in Erich Auerbach, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, transl. Williard R. Trask, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1953, Erich Auerbach points out the special power Eve seems to have over Adam, not because of her seductive qualities, but because she is part of him. They are one, so if Eve sinned, Adam had to follow. In fact, by Eve’s sin, Adam had already been stained. As Auerbach says, “no one but she could succeed here (with the Devil’s help), for only she is connected with Adam in so special a relationship that her actions affect him spontaneously and deeply” (p. 150).
12 The spiritual affinities exhibited by participation in a human couple and in the soul’s quest for the Divine are captured by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) in his commentary, comprising eighty-six sermons, on the Canticum Canticorum. The Songs of Songs recounts, on the surface, the love between the sponsa and the sponsus with language that is markedly passionate as the bride searches for her beloved, but the metaphorical nature of the work begged interpretation for medieval minds like Bernard’s. He understood the love between the sponsa and sponsus to represent more than the terrestrial love between a man and a woman; it was also indicative of that between the Church and Christ and pointed to the bond between the individual soul and God. (See his sixty-first sermon in Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs III, transl. Kilian Walsh and Irene M. Edmonds, Kalamazoo, MI, Cistercian Publications, 1979.) (In her article “Mystical Union,” Parabola, vol. 29, 2004, Evelyn Underhill elaborates on some of the similarities between married couples and the soul and God which were fodder for allegorical application, namely the fact that, “[t]he elements of duty, constancy, irrevocableness, and loving obedience involved in the mediaeval conception of the marriage tie made it an apt image of a spiritual state in which humility, intimacy, and love were the dominant characteristics” [p. 70].) As Gregory the Great suggested, quoting the translation from Duncan Robertson’s “The Experience of Reading: Bernard of Clairvaux Sermons on the Song of Songs, I,” Religion and Literature, vol. 19, 1987, “This is why, in the book of the Song of Songs, the language of physical love is spoken: so that the soul may be rubbed and warmed out of her torpor by an expression familiar to her, and by words of lower love be aroused to a love which is higher” (p. 8). (cf. Gregory the Great, On the Song of Songs, Patrologia Latina 79, col. 471ff.) In this way, humankind is understood to be brought to recognition of God through a method which it can comprehend; thus, “[t]he imagery of love poetry poses no obstacle to understanding.” It instead “serve[s] as a means to transfer our understanding of love from the human plane to that of the divine. God is love; he does not disdain to speak to us in terms of love […]” (Duncan Robertson, op. cit., p. 8). It follows that the sponsa longs for her bridegroom with the same deep-set need with which a soul desires God, for the soul is thought to be of like substance to God and was created to exist in communion with God. This is no different with the sponsa, for in forming a couple, she is living in accordance with how she was originally fashioned. The sponsa and the sponsus, one together in spirit, represent the image of God and in this way are brought closer to Him. In his first sermon on the Canticum Canticorum, quoting from Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs I, transl. Kilian Walsh, Spencer, MA, Cistercian Publications, 1971, St. Bernard remarks that this song is so special because it is shared between two people and represents “a harmony not of voices but of wills.” In essence, he says, “It is preeminently a marriage song telling of chaste souls in loving embrace, of their wills in sweet concord, of the mutual exchange of the heart’s affections” (1:7). For Bernard, the ideal union – whether between the soul and God or two people – is one of pure and selfless love. The two journeys end the same.
13 To see this image of St. Alexis on his wedding night taken from Hildesheim MS (L), fol. 57r (© Hildesheim, St. Godehard), refer to page 57 of The Life of St. Alexis, The St. Albans Psalter Project, University of Aberdeen, King’s College, 2003. The text, translation, and illustration are available online at the following website: <http://www.abdn.ac.uk/stalbanspsalter/english/translation/trans057.shtml>.
14 For the importance of lineage in the Vie de saint Alexis, see Nancy V. Durling’s “Hagiography and Lineage: The Example of the Old French Vie de saint Alexis,” Romance Philology, vol. 40, 1987, p. 451-469.
15 Early versions of the vita, such as the Syriac, have Alexis leave before he meets his bride, escaping the arranged marriage entirely. However, Karl D. Uitti aptly observes, in Story, Myth, and Celebration in Old French Narrative Poetry, 1050-1200, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1973, that, “the mysteries involved in Alexis’ exchange of earthly for divine love are far more richly exploited in their human complexities by texts that, […], develop the bride’s role and define her relationship to him […]” (p. 24). (It should be noted that the chapter entitled “The ‘Life of Saint Alexis’” in Story, Myth, and Celebration in Old French Narrative Poetry, 1050-1200 is the same work published as “The Old French Vie de saint Alexis : Paradigm, Legend, Meaning,” Romance Philology, vol. 20, 1967, p. 263-295.) For specifics as to the significance of the Vie de saint Alexis in France, see Ulrich Mölk’s “La Chanson de saint Alexis et le culte du saint en France aux XIe et XIIe siècles,” Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, vol. 21, 1978, p. 339-355.
16 In “La Maison d’Alexis,” in Jean-Claude Aubailly et al. (ed.), Et c’est la fin pour quoy sommes ensemble: hommage à Jean Dufournet professeur à la Sorbonne Nouvelle : littérature, histoire, et langue du Moyen Âge, I, Paris, Honoré Champion, 1993, Jean-Pierre Bordier says of this that, “Alexis accepte le mariage, mais il renonce aux joies terrestres qu’il procure, il évite le pechiét auquel il expose” (p. 245).
17 Vie de saint Alexis. Poème du XIe Siècle, ed. Gaston Paris, Paris, Honoré Champion, 1911, p. 1-22, ll. 56-57. As verse numbers are more precise than page numbers, I give the former rather than the latter in this paper.
18 Karl D. Uitti, op. cit., p. 38. Alexis is concerned to follow God in his life, but implicitly, he worries over the soul of his wife as well: “Alexis’ love for his wife is real; if it were not genuine and profound, his history would make little sense” (ibid., p. 37). There can be no greater attestation to his pure love than that he forgoes a life with his bride in order to partake of a life in God and teach his wife to do the same. In Medieval Marriage: Literary Approaches, 1100-1300, Rochester, NY, D. S. Brewer, 1997, Neil Cartlidge corroborates this view when he says that, “[t]he legend of St. Alexis was so successful in the Middle Ages because his distinctive gesture of renunciation came to be read, not only as an exemplification of contempt for the world, but also as a brave sacrifice to a grand ideal” (p. 90).
19 Karl D. Uitti, op. cit., p. 40.
20 Ibid., p. 38.
21 We are forced in many ways to wrestle with the pain the leave-taking causes, and we may even agree with what his mother cries later: “Por teim vedeies desidrer a morir: / Çost grant merveille que pitiet ne t’en prist” (ll. 439-440)!
22 We observe this in the relationship of Abelard and Héloïse as well. See Karl D. Uitti, “The Lady and Her Place in Twelfth-Century France,” in Alain Toumayan (ed.), Literary Generations: A Festschrift in Honor of Edward D. Sullivan by His Friends, Colleagues, and Former Students, French Forum Monographs, 78, Lexington, KY, French Forum, 1992, p. 85.
23 Karl D. Uitti, Story, Myth, and Celebration in Old French Narrative Poetry, 1050-1200, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1973, p. 40.
24 In “La Vie de saint Alexis: Narrative Analysis and the Quest for the Sacred Subject,” PMLA, vol. 93, 1978, Evelyn B. Vitz underscores the fact that Alexis’s will becomes completely aligned with God’s; spiritual fulfillment is achieved because “Alexis wills to do God’s will” (p. 402). Interestingly, Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) is also often depicted by means of a similar iconography.
25 Karl D. Uitti, “The Lady and Her Place…”, loc. cit., p. 88.
26 Neil Cartlidge, op. cit., p. 92.
27 Indeed, one might say that it takes love back to its true origin (cf. 1 John 4:7-8).
28 In “Le Graal, le temps : les enjeux d’un motif,” in Bernard Ribémont (ed.), Le Temps, sa mesure et sa perception au Moyen Âge : Actes du Colloque Orléans 12-13 avril 1991, Orléans, Paradigme, 1992, Emmanuèle Baumgartner says of Galahad and the genre of the Queste that, “[e]n lui convergent ainsi, pour s’y achever, les lignées issues du temps biblique, du temps historico-chrétien et du temps fictionnel du Graal et, simultanément, toutes les ressources possibles du récit, hagiographique, historique, romanesque” (p. 15).
29 Étienne Gilson, for whom the Grail represents God’s grace, says of Galahad, in “La mystique de la grâce dans la Queste del Saint Graal,” Romania, vol. 51, 1925, that, “Galaad est l’incarnation parfaite de la grâce […].” Remarking on how all of the other knights on the quest try desperately to keep up with Galahad’s progress only to fail in different respects, Gilson notes, “Galaad nous semble, […], l’un de ces êtres d’exception en qui la plénitude de la grâce est telle qu’aller en leur compagnie, c’est être sur la voie du salut et de la perfection” (p. 332). Moreover, this special grace, this union with God’s will, is demonstrated through Galahad’s superb physical features. What is said of St. Bernard of Clairvaux in his vita applies just as well to Galahad : “La beauté de l’homme intérieur était en lui si parfaite, qu’elle éclatait pour ainsi dire au dehors et s’exprimait sous la forme de l’homme extérieur ; beauté toute spirituelle sans doute, mais réelle cependant pour qui savait en interpréter les signes” (p. 333). In L’Arbre et le Pain : essai sur la Queste del Saint Graal, Paris, Société d’édition d’enseignement supérieur, 1981, Emmanuèle Baumgartner, however, reminds us that the Queste must also be read with an eye to its literary and historical value and, especially, as a part of the Vulgate corpus. It is not only allegorical, and “la Quête n’est pas une œuvre isolée mais un texte conçu aussi en fonction du Lancelot et de l’ideal chevaleresque qui l’anime” (p. 144).
30 When Arthur reads the inscription on the stone harboring what will become Galahad’s sword, he automatically assumes the referent to be Lancelot. But to this, Lancelot replies, “Indeed, Sire, this sword is not meant for me, neither have I the courage nor the audacity to lay a hand on it, for I am in no way worthy or fit to wear it” (The Quest of the Holy Grail, p. 35). (“Certes, sire, ne ele n’est moie ne je n’avroie le corage de mettre i main, ne le hardement: car je ne suiz mie dignes ne soffisanz que je la doie prendre” [La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 5].) Lancelot’s suspicions are proven accurate as soon as Galahad holds the weapon, for a maiden rides up to the assembly gathered on the riverbank and proclaims to Lancelot, “Yesterday morning you were the best knight in the world; those who spoke of you as Lancelot, the paragon of chivalry, said but the truth, for so you were. But were anyone to call you that now, he would be a liar, for there is a better than you, as is clearly proved by this sword which you dared not set your hand to” (The Quest of the Holy Grail, p. 41-42). (“Vos estiez hier matin li mieldres chevaliers dou monde; et qui lors vos apelast Lancelot le meillor chevalier de toz, il deist voir: car alors l’estiez vos. Mes qui ore le diroit, len le devroit tenir a mençongier: car meillor i a de vos, et bien est provee chose par l’aventure de ceste espee a quoi vos n’osastes metre la main” [La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 12-13].)
31 Laurence N. de Looze, “A Story of Interpretations: The Queste del Saint Graal as Metaliterature,” in Dhira B. Mahoney (ed.), The Grail. A Casebook, New York, Garland, 2000, p. 237.505 p., 6 leaves of plates: ill., 1 port.; 24 cm.
32 La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 66.
33 And when Lancelot tries afterwards to peer into the chapel that houses the Grail, he is rebuked harshly: “Lancelot, harder than stone, more bitter than wood, more barren and bare than the fig tree […]. Get thee hence, for the stench of they presence fouls this place” (The Quest of the Holy Grail, p. 85). (“Lancelot, plus durs que pierre, plus amers que fuz, plus nuz et plus despris que figuiers […]. Va t’en de ci, car li leux est ja toz empulentez de ton repere” [La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 61].)
34 Eithne O’Sharkey, “The Character of Lancelot in the Queste,” in Kenneth Varty (ed.), An Arthurian Tapestry: Essays in Memory of Lewis Thorpe, Glasgow, United Kingdom, University of Glasgow Press, 1981, p. 329.
35 Ibid., p. 331.
36 Nancy Freeman-Regalado, “La chevalerie celestiel: Spiritual Transformations of Secular Romance in La Queste del Saint Graal,” in Kevin Brownlee and Marina Scordilis Brownlee (eds.), Romance: Generic Transformation from Chrétien De Troyes to Cervantes, Hanover, NH, University Press of New England, 1985, p. 95.
37 Jean Frappier, “Le Graal et la chevalerie,” Romania, vol. 75, 1954, p. 197.
38 Nancy Freeman-Regalado, op. cit., p. 104.
39 Richard Barber, “Chivalry, Cistercianism, and the Grail,” in Carol Dover (ed.), A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2003, p. 9. In Les Romans du Graal ou le signe imaginé, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2001, Mireille Séguy would say that Galahad is “un reflet du Christ,” the subtle implications of which are worth drawing attention to (p. 228). Additionally, in Études sur la Queste del Saint Graal attribuées à Gautier Map, Paris, Honoré Champion, 1980, Albert Pauphilet notes that the name Galahad (or Galaad), which was Lancelot’s baptismal name, is a mountain named in the Song of Songs about which a Cistercian commentator, the Abbot Gillebert, writes, “Ce mont est la tête de l’Église […]” (p. 137).
40 These page numbers refer to The Quest of the Holy Grail, transl. Pauline M. Matarasso, op. cit. See also Nancy Freeman-Regalado, op. cit., p. 101.
41 As soon as Galahad does this, we are told that “Et si tost come il i ot regardé, si comence a trembler molt durement, si tost come la mortel char commença a regarder les esperitex choses” (La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 277-278). Mireille Séguy lists the many possibilities of meaning and vision represented in the Grail. In the introduction, we are concisely told that on the one hand in may be “un Graal qui donne à voir les mystères de l’Incarnation, de la Passion et de la Trinité dans des scènes visuelles […]. D’autre part, l’apparition et la manifestation du Graal génèrent […] des senefiances grâce auxquelles le texte parvient non seulement à produire un sens caché, […], c’est-à-dire le sens métaphorique accessible aux textes profanes, mais aussi à investir le domaine de l’allégorie in factis, domaine pourtant strictement réservé à l’Écriture sainte” (op. cit., p. 13-14).
42 In this, one is reminded that the body and soul are, eschatologically speaking, connected.
43 In words filled with the passion of the Song of Songs, Galahad relates the story of his own death that he receives in a vision before the actual event takes place: “as I was looking on the hidden mysteries that are not disclosed to common view, but only to them that wait on Jesus Christ, in the moment that revealed to me those things that the heart of mortal man cannot conceive nor tongue relate, my heart was ravished with such joy and bliss, that had I died forthwith I know that no man ever breathed his last in such beatitude as then was mine. For so great a host of angels was before me and such a multitude of heavenly beings, that I was translated in that moment from the earthly plane to the celestial, to the joy of the glorious martyrs and the beloved of Our Lord” (The Quest of the Holy Grail, p. 279-280). (“en ce que je voioie les repostes choses qui ne sont pas descovertes a chascun, fors solement aus menistres Jhesucrist, en cel point que je vi ces aferes que cuers de terrien home ne porroit penser ne langue descrire, fu mes cuers en si grant soatume et en si grant joie que se je fusse maintenant trespassez de cest siecle, je sai bien que onques hom en si grant beneurté ne morut come je feisse lors. Car il avoit devant moi si grant compaignie d’angleres et si grant plenté de choses esperitex que je fusse lors translatez de la terrienne vie en la celestiel, en la joie des glorieus martirs et des amis Nostre Seignor” [La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 274].)
44 The Quest of the Holy Grail, p. 284. The two will be joined only later by Perceval. Concerning the final end of these spiritually impeccable figures of Arthurian romance, Micheline de Combarieu observes, in “Temps humain, temps romanesque, temps eschatologique dans la Pentecôte du Graal : étude sur La Queste del Saint Graal,” in Michel Zink and Danielle Bohler (eds.), L’Hostellerie de pensée : études sur l’art littéraire au Moyen Âge offertes à Daniel Poirion par ses anciens élèves, Paris, Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1995, that in the following segment of the Vulgate Cycle, La Mort le roi Artu, “En n’en disant rien, l’auteur les escamote trop facilement” (p. 128). She suggests that the reason may be a desired contrast in order to highlight the fact that, unlike the “New Jerusalem” of Sarras, “figure mythique d’un Orient quasi inaccessible” (Jacques Ribard, “Pentecôte et Graal dans le Conte du Graal et la Quête du saint Graal,” in Jacques Ribard, Symbolisme et christianisme dans la littérature médiévale, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2001, p. 228), which we have just left, the Arthurian world can never be this perfect because it is all-too-human, something which the calamity of La Mort le roi Artu demonstrates quite well: “Ce que dit le cycle du Lancelot-Graal, c’est l’impossibilité définitive de construire une cité terrestre harmonieuse […]” (Micheline de Combarieu, op. cit., p. 128).
45 The chapter on the legend of the Tree of Life elaborates the importance of both of these aspects of chastity: “Si sachiez que virginitez et pucelages ne sont mie une meisme chose, ançois a grant difference entre l’un et l’autre. Car pucelages ne se puet de trop aparagier a virginité, et si vos dirai por quoi. Pucelages est une vertuz que tuit cil et toutes celes ont qui n’ont eu atouchement de charnel compaignie. Mais virginitez est trop plus haute chose et plus vertuose: car nus ne la puet avoir, soit hom soit fame, por qu’il ait eu volenté de charnel assemblement” (La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 213).
46 La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 239.
47 La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 202.
48 The Quest of the Holy Grail, transl. Pauline M. Matarasso, op. cit., p. 217.
49 La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 227.
50 Idem.
51 Susan Aronstein, “Rewriting Perceval’s Sister: Eucharistic Vision and Typological Destiny in the Queste del San Graal,” Women’s Studies, vol. 21, 1992, p. 228 (endnote 21).
52 La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 228.
53 Idem. This line and the one above it (see previous footnote) are reminiscent of the Prose Lancelot in that Lancelot does not complete his knighting at Arthur’s court by receiving a sword from the king. Rather, Lancelot is only referred to as “chevalier” once Guinevere sends him a sword (about 100 pages later). I am especially indebted to Prof. Maureen Boulton for pointing this out to me (as well as for her help in revising this paper).
54 The Quest of the Holy Grail, transl. Pauline M. Matarasso, p. 299-300 (endnote 63).
55 After leaving the miraculous ship, the three companions along with Perceval’s sister continue on their journey. They are eventually interrupted in their travels by a group of armed knights who demand the blood of the virgin damsel in their company. Galahad’s immediate reaction to this is to bristle with anger and exclaim, “se Diex me consaut, a ceste damoisele avez vos failli; car tant come je aie santé et ele me croie, ne vos rendra ele ce que vos demandez” (La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 237). At this point, the fight commences and rages from morning until nightfall. Then a cessation of battle is agreed upon, and the Grail-seekers are invited to stay in the nearby castle. Here, we learn that the lady to whom the knights owe their allegiance is afflicted with leprosy. The remedy for the illness is alleged to be the blood of a virgin, even more so – and this is rather explicit – if she is a princess and the sister of Perceval (cf. Janina P. Traxler, “Dying to Get to Sarras: Perceval’s Sister and the Grail Quest,” in Dhira B. Mahoney [ed.], The Grail. A Casebook, op. cit., p. 272). Though Galahad is willing to die for Perceval’s sister, she wishes in the end to prevent further slaughter and to help the lady, agreeing to give her blood, knowing all the while, however, that this will probably kill her (The Quest of the Holy Grail, p. 247-251).
56 Frederick W. Locke, The Quest for the Holy Grail: A Literary Study of a Thirteenth-Century French Romance, Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 1960, p. 77.
57 Within The Redemption of Chivalry: A Study of the Queste del Saint Graal, Geneva, Droz, 1979, Pauline M. Matarasso explains that, “[a] s the Incarnation was contingent on the Virgin’s fiat, so Galahad can owe the fullness of his christological role to no figure but that of Mary.” Thus, Percevel’s sister leads Galahad on his way, endowing him with the articles necessary for his mission: “As Mary gave Christ to the world, so does Perceval’s sister give the new Redeemer to the world of chivalry,” and the use of her hair – a part of her body – “completes the filiation” (p. 71).
58 Ibid., p. 71-73.
59 See above, footnote on Bernard de Clairvaux.
60 Indeed, Cartlidge emphasizes the point that the Couple is “a mechanism fundamental to the universe as God originally created it,” seen in the making of Eve as the first marriage (Neil Cartlidge, op. cit., p. 40).
61 Janina P. Traxler, op. cit., p. 267. Locke clarifies further that Perceval’s sister must be more than “a reincarnation of the Virgin,” for if she were this alone, she would not be able to fulfill her typological role as the counterpart to both Eve and Guinevere (Frederick W. Locke, op. cit., p. 76-77). He sees the connection to lie in her exquisite hair (p. 72). What could be a vanity and a temptation – being such a beautiful woman in a courtly tradition – is instead directed by her will entirely elsewhere. In this way, Perceval’s sister is able to reflect all the women in the Queste on some level, the physically attractive and the spiritually excellent, and symbolically redeem them: “In other words, she is the last step in a Journey” (p. 77).
62 Neil Cartlidge, op. cit., p. 41.
63 Janina P. Traxler, op. cit., p. 269-271.
64 Ibid., p. 272.
65 Ibid., p. 272-273. Cf. Pauline M. Matarasso, op. cit., p. 72-73. In his discussion of the place of women in the Queste in “Figures de la femme dans la Quête du Saint Graal,” in Jacques Ribard, Du mythique au mystique : la littérature médiévale et ses symboles, Paris, Honoré Champion, 1995, Jacques Ribard says that, “la véritable mission de la femme – qui s’exprime, […], dans ce personnage extraordinaire qu’est la sœur de Perceval – est une mission rédemptrice […]” (p. 340). And of this particular episode, he suggests that, “la lépreuse – cette autre femme encore [i.e., the type of woman represented by Eve, Solomon’s wife, or, indeed, Guinevere], cette desloial pecheresse, […] symbolise la condition humaine dans ce qu’elle a de plus fragile et de plus désespéré.” He adds further that, “[d]ans une sorte d’échange mystérieux, le sang innocent de la vierge pucele va laver la pécheresse de sa meselerie, de sa souillure, spirituelle autant que corporelle” (p. 341).
66 Jacques Ribard, op. cit., p. 343. Traxler likewise mentions how this subplot demonstrates many aspects of medieval hagiography (Janina P. Traxler, op. cit., p. 271).
67 The virtue of poverty can be applied to both in that they have separated themselves from their privileged life at court and embarked upon a demanding quest; although, this facet of their spirituality is, admittedly, not nearly as stressed as in the Vie de saint Alexis.
68 Janina P. Traxler, op. cit., p. 273.
69 La Queste del Saint Graal, p. 206.