Galahad
Matter of Britain character
Sir Galahad by George Frederic Watts
First appearanceLancelot-Grail Cycle
In-universe information
TitleSir
OccupationKnight of the Round Table
Weapon
  • Sword with the Red Hilt (Balin's sword; sword from the floating stone)
  • Sword of the Strange Hangings (David's sword)
FamilyLancelot and Elaine of Corbenic (parents)
ReligionChristian
OriginCorbenic
NationalityBritish

Galahad (/ˈɡæləhæd/), sometimes referred to as Galeas (/ɡəˈliːəs/) or Galath (/ˈɡæləθ/), among other versions of his name (originally Galaad, Galaaz, or Galaaus[1]), is the prime achiever of the Holy Grail in the cyclical prose tradition of the Arthurian legend in which the teenage Galahad is the greatest knight of King Arthur's Round Table. A Christ-like figure, Galahad is an illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine of Corbenic after the latter raped the former through deception, belonging to the lineage of the Grail kings and descended from Biblical figures. Eventually, immediately after completing the Grail Quest, and while still young, he ascends to heaven.

Emerging quite late in the Arthurian legend, Galahad first appears in the 13th-century Lancelot–Grail prose cycle, replacing Perceval as the main Grail hero. There and in subsequent medieval Arthurian Grail literature, including Le Morte d'Arthur, he is the most perfect of all the Knights of the Round Table, renowned for his unmatched gallantry and absolute virtue and spiritual purity, including chastity as a virgin. He has continued to be a popular figure for authors and artists in the modern era, including as the subject of some satirical or parodic works.

Origins

The story of Galahad and his quest for the Holy Grail is a relatively late addition to the Arthurian legend. Galahad does not feature in any romance by Chrétien de Troyes, or in Robert de Boron's Grail stories, or in any of the continuations of Chrétien's story of the mysterious castle of the Fisher King. He first appears in a 13th-century Old French Arthurian epic, the interconnected set of romances of unknown authorship, known as the Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) Cycle. His name could have been derived from the Welsh name Gwalchaved, meaning "Falcon of Summer".[2]

The original conception of Galahad, whose adult adventures are first recounted in the fourth book of the Vulgate Cycle (Vulgate Queste), may have come from the mystical Cistercian Order. According to some interpretations, the philosophical inspiration of the celibate and otherworldly character of Galahad came from this monastic order set up by St. Bernard of Clairvaux.[4] The Cistercian-Bernardine concept of Catholic warrior asceticism that distinguishes the character of Galahad also informs St. Bernard's projection of perfect chivalry in his work on the Knights Templar, the Liber ad milites templi de laude novae militiae.[5][6] Galahad is furthermore associated with a white shield with a vermilion cross, similar to the emblem given to the Knights Templar by Pope Eugene III. Nevertheless, even those considering the Templar connections to Galahad (and the Grail Quest literature more generally) may see him as representing the authors' ideal of a secular knight, not a monastic one.[7] The Saint George's Cross symbol was soon picked by the French and English secular crusaders, and eventually became the flag of England by the 16th century (meanwhile having lost its Catholic roots to turn into an English Protestant symbol[8]).

Medieval literature

Conception and descent

The circumstances surrounding Galahad's conception derive from the earlier parts of Grail prose cycles. It takes place when King Arthur's greatest knight, Lancelot, mistakes Princess Elaine of Corbenic (originally known as Heliabel or Amite in the Vulgate Cycle) for his secret mistress, Queen Guinevere. Lady Elaine's father, King Pelles, has already received magical foreknowledge that Lancelot will give his daughter a child and that this little boy will grow to become the greatest knight in the world, the knight chosen by God to discover the Holy Grail. Pelles also knows that Lancelot will only lie with his one true love, Guinevere. Destiny will have to be helped along a little; therefore, a conclusion which prompts Pelles to seek out "one of the greatest enchantresses of the time," Dame Brusen, who gives Pelles a magic ring that makes Elaine take on the appearance of Guinevere and enables her to spend a night with Lancelot. On discovering the deception, Lancelot draws his sword on Elaine, but when he finds out that they have conceived a son together, he is immediately forgiving. However, he does not marry Elaine or even wish to be with her anymore and returns to Arthur's court, though they eventually reunite years later. In effect, Lancelot is an absent father to his son,[9] while Galahad placed in the care of his great aunt, who is an abbess at a nunnery, to be raised there.

According to the 13th-century Old French Prose Lancelot (part of the Vulgate Cycle), "Galahad" was Lancelot's baptismal name.[1] At his birth, therefore, Galahad is given his father's own original name. Merlin prophesies that Galahad will surpass his father in valor and be successful in his search for the Holy Grail. Pelles, Galahad's maternal grandfather, is portrayed as a descendant of Joseph of Arimathea's brother-in-law Bron, whose line had been entrusted with the Grail by Joseph. In his father's family branch, Galahad's patrimonial lineage is recounted as follows (Vulgate Queste version): Nascien [I] > Celidoine > Narpus > Nascien [II] > Elian the Fat [Helein le Gros] > Isiah [Ysaies] > Jonaan > Lancelot [I] > Ban > Lancelot [II], along with having a descendant of David and Solomon as Galahad's grandmother.[10][11] The latter was named as King Ban's wife Queen Elaine in the Vulgate Lancelot, where Galahad's ancestry on the paternal side had been limited to Galahad the elder > Lancelot the elder > Ban > Lancelot the younger, also descended from Joseph (just like in the case of Pelles and his daughter Amite on his maternal side).[10][12] The original Galahad (Galaad) is described as the first Christian king of Wales.[13]

Grail Quest and ascension

Upon reaching the medieval definition of adulthood at 15 years old, Galahad is finally united with his father Lancelot, who had never met him before that. Lancelot knights Galahad after having been bested by him in a duel, the first and only time that Lancelot ever lost in a fair fight to anyone. Galahad is then brought to King Arthur's court at Camelot during Pentecost, where he is accompanied by a very old knight who immediately leads him over to the Round Table and unveils his seat at the Siege Perilous, an unused chair that has been kept vacant for the sole person who will succeed in the quest of the Holy Grail. For all others who have aspired to sit there, it has proved to be immediately fatal. Galahad survives this test, witnessed by Arthur who, upon realising the greatness of this new knight, leads him out to the river where a magic sword lies in a stone with an inscription reading "Never shall man take me hence but only he by whose side I ought to hang; and he shall be the best knight of the world." (The embedding of a sword in a stone is also an element of the legends of Arthur's original sword, the sword in the stone. In Malory's version, this is the sword that had belonged to Balin.) Galahad accomplishes this test with ease, and Arthur swiftly proclaims him to be the greatest knight ever. Galahad is promptly invited to become a Knight of the Round Table, and soon afterwards, Arthur's court witnesses an ethereal vision of the Grail. The quest to seek out this holy object is begun at once.

All of the Knights of the Round Table set out to find the Grail.[14] It is Galahad who takes the initiative to begin the search for the Grail; the rest of the knights follow him. Arthur is sorrowful that all the knights have embarked thus, for he discerns that many will never be seen again, dying in their quest. Arthur fears that it is the beginning of the end of the Round Table. This might be seen as a theological statement that concludes that earthly endeavours must take second place to the pursuit of the holiness. Galahad, in some ways, mirrors Arthur, drawing a sword from a stone in the way that Arthur did. In this manner, Galahad is declared to be the chosen one.

Further uniquely among the Round Table, Galahad is capable of performing miracles such as banishing demons and healing the sick, notably being the only one capable of healing the Fisher King from his grave injury.[15] For the most part, he travels alone during the Grail Quest, smiting and often sparing his enemies (including near-fatally wounding Gawain in Malory's telling[16]), rescuing fellow knights including Perceval, and saving maidens in distress, until he is finally reunited with Bors and Perceval. The relationship between them seems to be based on the English saint Aelred of Rievaulx's Spiritual Friendship (written c. 1164–1167) that framed true friendship as a divine bond between them that connects them with God.[17] Together, the three blessed virgin knights come across Perceval's sister, who leads them to the mystical Ship of Solomon. They use it to cross the sea to an island where Galahad finds King David's sword, which replaces has hitherto-wielded (and cursed) sword of Balin.[18]

After many adventures, Galahad and his companions find themselves in the mystical castle of Corbenic at the court of King Pelles and his son Eliazarr. Galahad does not reunite with his mother, who had died meanwhile. His grandfather and uncle bring Galahad into a dark room where he is finally allowed to see the Holy Grail. Galahad is asked to take the vessel to the holy island Sarras (which had belonged to his ancestor, the pagan king baptised by Joseph as Nascien[10]). After seeing the Grail, Galahad makes the request that he may die at the time of his choosing. So it is that, while making his way back to Arthur's court, Galahad is visited by the spirit of Joseph's son Josephus, and thus experiences such a glorious rapture that he makes his request to die. Galahad bids Perceval and Bors farewell, after which angels appear to take him to Heaven.[19] His ascension is witnessed by Bors and Perceval. Depending on the telling, Galahad is either physically taken to paradise as he completely vanishes in a bright light or his mortal body is left behind and later buried. In the latter scenario, Galahad is usually laid to rest alongside the body of Perceval's sister and later joined in their grave by Perceval himself.

Galahad's success in the search for the Holy Grail was predicted before his birth, not only by Pelles but also by Merlin, who once had told Arthur's father Uther Pendragon that there was one who would fill the place at the "table of Joseph", but that he was not yet born. At first this knight was believed to be Perceval, however it is later discovered to be Galahad. Galahad was conceived for the divine purpose of seeking the Holy Grail,[20] but this happened under a cloak of deception, similarly to the conceptions of Arthur and Merlin. Despite this, Galahad is the knight is destined to find the Holy Grail, while the others are destined to fail.[21] Galahad, in both the Lancelot-Grail cycle and in Malory's retelling, is exalted above all the other knights: he is the one worthy enough to have the Grail revealed to him and to be taken into Heaven.

Modern culture

The figure of Galahad was frequently used in British propaganda during both world wars.[22] A 1916 poem recommended by Cecil Harcourt-Smith for war memorials calls the British WWI dead in the fields of Flanders 'Galahads'.[23] Two British warships have been named after Galahad: RFA Sir Galahad (1966) and RFA Sir Galahad (1986).

Victorian poetry

In Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Galahad's incredible prowess and fortune in the quest for the Holy Grail are traced back to his piety. According to the legend, only pure knights may achieve the Grail. While in a specific sense, this "purity" refers to chastity, Galahad appears to have lived a generally sinless life and as a result, he lives and thinks on a level entirely apart from the other knights around him. This quality is reflected in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Sir Galahad":

My good blade carves the casques of men, / My tough lance thrusteth sure, / My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure.[24]

Galahad is able to conquer all of his enemies because he is pure. In the next verse of this poem, Tennyson continues to glorify Galahad for remaining pure at heart, by putting these words into his mouth:

I never felt the kiss of love, / Nor maiden's hand in mine.[24]

Galahad pursues a single-minded and lonely course, sacrificing much in his determination to aspire to a higher ideal:

Then move the trees, the copses nod, / Wings flutter, voices hover clear / “O just and faithful knight of God! / Ride on! the prize is near.”[24]

Tennyson's poem follows Galahad's journey to find the Holy Grail but ends while he is still riding, still seeking, still dreaming; as if to say that the quest for the Holy Grail is an ongoing task. Unlike many other portrayals of the legend of Sir Galahad, Tennyson has Sir Galahad speak in the first person, giving the reader his thoughts and feelings as he rides on his quest, rather than just the details of his battles, as in Malory.

Tennyson's poem inspired various works of art. In music, these have included Rutland Boughton's musical drama Sir Galahad (1898), Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer's chorus setting Sir Galahad, for Chorus of Mixed Voices and Orchestra (1908), and Carl Busch's Sir Galahad (1921).[25]

Sir Galahad's thoughts and aspirations have been also explored by William Morris in his poems "The Chapel in Lyoness", published in 1856, and "Sir Galahad, a Christmas Mystery",[26] published in 1858. Unlike Malory and Tennyson's pure hero, Morris creates a Galahad who is emotionally complex, conflicted, and palpably human.

In "A Christmas Mystery", written more than twenty years after Tennyson's "Sir Galahad", Galahad is "fighting an internal battle between the ideal and the human", and tries to reconcile his longing for earthly delights, such as the romantic exploits of Sir Palomydes and his father Sir Lancelot, and the "more austere spiritual goal to which he has been called".[27] In the companion piece "The Chapel in Lyoness", a knight lies dying in winter "in a bizarre realization of Galahad's nightmare vision of his own fate". Galahad then "saves" the knight with a kiss before he finally expires. It is here that Galahad progresses from "a somewhat self-centered figure" to "a savior capable of imparting grace".[27] Morris' poems place this emotional conflict at centre stage, rather than concentrating upon Galahad's prowess for defeating external enemies, and the cold and the frost of a Christmas period serve to reinforce his "chilly isolation".[27] "A Christmas Mystery" opens on midwinter's night; Sir Galahad has been sitting for six hours in a chapel, staring at the floor. He muses to himself:

Night after night your horse treads down alone / The sere damp fern, night after night you sit / Holding the bridle like a man of stone, / Dismal, unfriended: what thing comes of it?[28]

General literature

Galahad has been the subject of many works of poetry, including George MacDonald's "The Sangreal: A Part of the Story Omitted in the Old Romances" (1863), Sallie Bridges' "The Quest of the Sancgreal" (1864), Tennyson's "The Holy Grail" (1870), Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' "The Christmas of Sir Galahad" (1871) and "The Terrible Test" (1878), Elinor Sweetman's "Pastoral of Galahad" (1899), Ernest Rhys' "City of Sarras" and "Timor Mortis" (1905), John Davidson's "A Ballad of Lancelot" (1905), Madison Cawein's "The Dream of Sir Galahad" (1907), Sara Teasdale's "Galahad in the Castle of the Maidens" (1911), Edwin Arlington Robinson's "Siege Perilous" (1916), Alfred Perceval Graves' "The Coming of Sir Galahad and a Vision of the Grail" (1917), Vachel Lindsay's "Galahad, Knight who Perished" (1923), Charles Williams' "The Song of the Riding of Galahad" (1930), Sidney Keyes' "The Grail" (1945), and Jack Spicer's "Galahad" (1964).[25]

He has been also the subject of numerous short stories, such as Emily Underdown's "Galahad" (1909), Basil Mathews' "The Knight of the Quest" (1910), John Erskine's "The Tale of Sir Galahad and the Quest of the Sangreal" (1940), Theodore Sturgeon's "Excalibur and the Atom" (1951), Vernon Howard's "Sir Galahad and the Maidens" (1960), Ken Kesey's "Tarnished Galahad" (1986), Moyra Caldecott's "The Two Swords of Galahad" (1990), Neil Gaiman's "Chivalry" (1992), and Phyllis Ann Karr's "Galahad's Lady" (1996).[25]

Film and television

Games

Galahad-themed video games have included Galahad and the Holy Grail (1982) and Galahad (1992). He or characters using his name also appear as playable or otherwise major characters in other video games, such as Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail (1990), Romancing SaGa (1992), Gaiapolis (1993), Beyond the Beyond (1996), Legion: The Legend of Excalibur (2002), Super Time Force Ultra (2015),[35] Neverland Card Battles (2008),[36] and King Arthur: Legends Rise (2024).

Music

Galahad is an English rock band formed in 1985.

See also

References

  1. Dover, Carol (2003). A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle. DS Brewer. ISBN 978-0-85991-783-4.
  2. Thomas William Rolleston, Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race, 1911.
  3. Arkenberg, Megan (2014). "'A Mayde, and Last of Youre Blood': Galahad's Asexuality and its Significance in "Le Morte Darthur"". Arthuriana. 24 (3): 3–22. doi:10.1353/art.2014.0039. JSTOR 44697492.
  4. Pauline Matarasso, The Redemption of Chivalry. Geneva, 1979.
  5. Lacy, Norris J. (2008). The Grail, the Quest and the World of Arthur. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-170-8.
  6. Doel, Fran; Doel, Geoff (2005). Worlds of Arthur: King Arthur in History, Legend and Culture. Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-3393-6.
  7. Ralls, Karen (17 April 2020). Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events, and Symbols of the Order of the Temple. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1-60163-962-2.
  8. Hodges, Kenneth (2011). "Making Arthur Protestant: Translating Malory's Grail Quest into Spenser's Book of Holiness". The Review of English Studies. 62 (254): 193–211. ISSN 0034-6551.
  9. Rushton, Cory (2004). "Absent Fathers, Unexpected Sons: Paternity in Malory's "Morte Darthur"". Studies in Philology. 101 (2): 136–152. ISSN 0039-3738.
  10. Boitani, Piero; Torti, Anna (1999). The Body and the Soul in Medieval Literature. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85991-545-8.
  11. Griffin, Miranda (2005). The Object and the Cause in the Vulgate Cycle. Legenda/Modern Humanities Research Association. ISBN 978-1-900755-67-2.
  12. "Por le soie amisté": Essays in Honor of Norris J. Lacy. BRILL. 1 November 2021. ISBN 978-90-04-48604-1.
  13. Kibler, William W. (22 July 2010). The Lancelot-Grail Cycle: Text and Transformations. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78640-0.
  14. Vinaver, Eugene, 1971. Malory: Works. Oxford University Press. The Tale of the Sankgreal, Briefly Drawn out of French, which is a Tale Chronicled for One of the Truest and one of the Holiest that is in this World. 1. "The Departure". pp. 515–524.
  15. Veach, Grace L. (2008). "What the Spirit Knows: Charles Williams and Kenneth Burke". Mythlore. 26 (3/4 (101/102)): 117–128. ISSN 0146-9339.
  16. Crofts, Thomas H. (2006). Malory's Contemporary Audience: The Social Reading of Romance in Late Medieval England. Vol. 66. Boydell & Brewer. doi:10.7722/j.ctt81k3f. ISBN 978-1-84384-085-5.
  17. Sévère, Richard (2015). "Galahad, Percival, and Bors: Grail Knights and the Quest for "Spiritual Friendship"". Arthuriana. 25 (3): 49–65. ISSN 1078-6279.
  18. Hodges, Kenneth (2002). "Swords and Sorceresses: The Chivalry of Malory's Nyneve". Arthuriana. 12 (2): 78–96. ISSN 1078-6279.
  19. Lacy, Norris J. (2010). Lancelot-Grail: The quest for the Holy Grail. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84384-237-8.
  20. Waite, Arthur. The Holy Grail: The Galahad Quest in the Arthurian Literature. New York: University Books, 1961.
  21. Lacy, Norris J. (2005). "Medieval McGuffins: The Arthurian Model". Arthuriana. 15 (4): 53–64. ISSN 1078-6279.
  22. A New Companion to Malory. Boydell & Brewer. 2019. doi:10.2307/j.ctv136bvg0. ISBN 9781843845232. JSTOR j.ctv136bvg0. S2CID 166203958.
  23. Howey, Ann F.; Reimer, Stephen Ray (2006). A Bibliography of Modern Arthuriana (1500-2000). Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-068-8.
  24. Tennyson, Alfred Lord: Wordsworth Poetry Library, 1994. The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Wordsworth Editions Limited. Sir Galahad, published 1834. pp. 181–182. Beginning of the first stanza. Camelot Project
  25. Howey, Ann F.; Reimer, Stephen Ray (2006). A Bibliography of Modern Arthuriana (1500-2000). Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-068-8.
  26. Sir Galahad, a Christmas Mystery. Camelot Project.
  27. Stevenson, Catherine Barnes; Hale, Virginia (2000). "Medieval Drama and Courtly Romance in William Morris' 'Sir Galahad, A Christmas Mystery'". Victorian Poetry. 38 (3): 383–91. doi:10.1353/vp.2000.0038. S2CID 161534115.
  28. Morris, William. 1858. Sir Galahad, A Christmas Mystery. Camelot Project Sixth stanza.
  29. "Charlotte Yonge's Heroes". Journal (Charlotte M. Yonge Fellowship) (3): 37–42. 1998. ISSN 1466-0938.
  30. Johnson, Julie M. (1981). "The Damsel and Her Knights: The Goddess and the Grail in Conrad's "Chance"". Conradiana. 13 (3): 221–228. ISSN 0010-6356.
  31. Thomas de Beverly. 1925. The Birth of Galahad. Camelot Project
  32. 1 Chronicles, Ch. 22, 8, – quoted in Alec G. Warner, Biblical Motives in Twentieth Century Literature in Barbara Kid (ed.) "New Essays on British and American Literature", New York, 1982.
  33. Brooks, Van Wyck; Alfred Kreymborg, Lewis Mumford, and Paul Rosenfeld (eds). The American Caravan. New York: Macaulay Company, 1927. Print. Edmund Wilson story "Galahad" included. Story reprinted in E. Wilson, Galahad / I Thought of Daisy, NY, Noonday, 1967.
  34. Lupack, Alan (2019). "From Kids as Galahad to Kid Galahad". Arthuriana. 29 (2): 102–14.
  35. Musiolik, Paweł (4 September 2015). "Recenzja: Super Time Force Ultra (PS4)". www.ppe.pl.
  36. Rubinshteyn, Dennis (17 November 2008). "Neverland Card Battles Review | RPGFan".

Bibliography

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