Galahad
Encyclopedia
Sir Galahad
Sir Galahad (icon; Middle Welsh: Gwalchavad, sometimes referred to as Galeas (ɡ) or Galath (ˈ), is a knight of King Arthur
's Round Table
and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail
in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Lancelot
and Elaine of Corbenic
, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, he is perhaps the knightly embodiment of Jesus
in the Arthurian legends. Sir Galahad first appears in the Lancelot–Grail cycle, and his story is taken up in later works such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle
and Sir Thomas Malory
's Le Morte d'Arthur
.
cycle: Elaine, the daughter of King Pelles
, the Grail King, uses magic to trick Sir Lancelot into thinking that she is Queen Guinevere, whom Lancelot loves. According to Malory, 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 achieve the Holy Grail
. King Pelles also knows that Lancelot will only lie with his one true love, Queen 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 King Pelles a magic ring that will make Elaine take on the appearance of Queen Guinevere.
Sir Lancelot and Elaine sleep together, but on discovering the deception, Lancelot at first tries to kill Elaine for her complicity, 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 King Arthur's court. The young Galahad is born and placed in the care of a great aunt, who is an abbess at a nunnery, to be raised there.
According to the thirteenth century Old French Prose Lancelot (part of the interconnected set of romances known as the Vulgate Cycle) "Galahad" was Lancelot's original name, but it was changed when he was a child. At his birth, therefore, Galahad is given his father's own original name. Merlin prophesies that Galahad will surpass his father in valour and be successful in his search for the Holy Grail. King Pelles, Galahad's maternal grandfather, is portrayed as a descendant of Bron, Joseph of Arimathea's brother-in-law, whose line was entrusted with the Grail by Joseph.
, an unused chair that has been kept vacant for the sole person who will accomplish the quest of the Holy Grail. For all others who have aspired to sit there, it has proved to be immediately fatal. Sir Galahad survives this test, witnessed by King Arthur who, upon realizing the greatness of this new knight, leads him out to the river where a 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 own sword, Excalibur
.) Galahad accomplishes this test with ease, and King Arthur swiftly proclaims him to be the greatest knight ever. Sir Galahad is promptly invited to become a Knight of the Round Table, and soon afterwards, King Arthur's court witnesses an ethereal vision of the Holy 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. Galahad for the most part travels alone, smiting his enemies, rescuing Sir Percival from twenty knights and saving maidens in distress, until he is finally reunited with Sir Bors and Sir Perceval. These three knights then come across Sir Perceval’s sister who leads them to the grail ship. They cross the sea in this ship and when they arrive on a distant shore, Perceval’s sister is forced to die to save another. Sir Bors departs from the company in order to take her body back to her own country for a proper burial.
After many adventures, Sir Galahad and Sir Perceval find themselves at the court of King Pelles and Eliazar, his son. These men are very holy and they bring Galahad into a room where he is finally allowed to see the Holy Grail. Galahad is asked to take the vessel to the holy city of Sarras.
, and thus experiences such glorious rapture that he makes his request to die. After bidding Percival and Bors farewell, Galahad is taken up to heaven by angels, witnessed by Sir Bors and Perceval. While it is not explicit that The Holy Grail is never to be seen again on earth, it is stated (in Le Morte D'Arthur) that there has since then been no knight capable of obtaining the Sangreal.
, or in Robert de Boron
's Perceval, or in any of the continuations of Chrétien's story of the mysterious castle of the Fisher King. Sir Galahad first appears in the the early-thirteenth century Old French
Vulgate Cycle
. Perhaps it was because King Arthur and the established knights of his kingdom were not deemed to be fit enough for such a holy endeavour, that Sir Galahad was introduced to redeem King Arthur and his knights, and to show that there was one knight alone who was worthy to achieve the quest for the Holy Grail. It is Sir Galahad who takes the initiative to begin the search for the Grail; the rest of the knights follow him. King Arthur is sorrowful that all the knights have embarked thusly, for he discerns that many will never be seen again, dying upon 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 endeavors must take second place to the pursuit of the holy. Galahad, in some ways, mirrors Arthur, drawing a sword from a stone in the way that King Arthur did. In this manner, Sir Galahad is declared to be the chosen one.
, 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, like Jesus Christ, and so 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:
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:
Sir Galahad pursues a single-minded and lonely course, sacrificing much in his determination to aspire to a higher ideal:
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, gives the reader his thoughts and feelings as he rides on his quest, rather than just the details of his battles, as in Malory.
The poem begins with Sir Lancelot attending a banquet given by King Pellas, the father of Elaine. The king decides that he wants Sir Lancelot to lie with his daughter. De Beverly says that “High God was urging him to this”; he claims that God is behind the union of Lancelot and Elaine because He knows that from it Galahad will be born. Galahad will be:
King Arthur and Sir Lancelot can never achieve this honor because their lives have not remained pure. Of the three knights who are untainted by sin – Sir Perceval, Sir Bors, and Sir Galahad – Galahad is the only one predestined to achieve this honor of attaining the Holy Grail.
Edmund Wilson's story "Galahad," published in 1927, presents a humorous story about the attempted seduction of a virginal High School student by a debutante.
In John Erskine
's novel Galahad: Enough of his life to Explain his Reputation, Galahad’s main tutor for his knightly training is not his father Lancelot or King Arthur, but in fact Queen Guinevere. Erskine follows Malory’s text through Galahad’s childhood. Just as in Le Morte d'Arthur, Galahad grows up in the court of his mother Elaine and travels to King Arthur’s court to be reunited with his father and to become a knight. When Galahad arrives at the court, Guinevere is upset with Lancelot because he does not want to be her lover anymore and she takes an interest in the young knight, persuading him to go above and beyond regular knightly duties. At first Galahad seems content with just being an ordinary Knight of the Round Table, going out on quests and saving maidens in distress. Guinivere is the main contributor to Galahad’s destiny in this work. She says “you’ll waste your life if you don’t accomplish something new, something entirely your own.” This is Galahad’s motivation to seek the Grail.
Matt Cohen satirizes Galahad’s virtuous character in his short story Too Bad Galahad. Cohen describes Galahad as the “perfect knight” who does no harm. In part, “Galahad’s virtue is a compensation for Lancelot’s indiscretion.” However Cohen, instead of glorifying Galahad's virtuous character, makes it into a weakness. He writes that Galahad tried to “swear and kill and wench with the rest of the knights but he could never really get into it.” Cohen's Galahad is not well liked by the other knights because he is so perfect and seems unapproachable. Cohen pokes fun at Galahad's “calling” by saying that his life would be wasted if he failed to remain pure and holy in order to be the bearer of the Holy Grail.
Thomas Berger’s Arthur Rex, portrays Galahad differently. In most works, Galahad is depicted as an emblem of perfection. Berger shows Galahad’s arrival to court in a more satirical light. Gawain
comments that he cannot tell whether he is male or female. Berger shows that even though Galahad is in fact the greatest knight in the world, he does not appear to be. Appearance versus reality is a common theme throughout this novel. In most versions of the story of Sir Galahad, Galahad's death comes about after his greatest achievement, that of the Holy Grail. In Arthur Rex, however, Galahad is killed in a battle where he mistakes his own father Lancelot for a Saxon. Galahad is too weak and sleeps through most of the battle and, when he does wake up, he kills his father as well as being killed himself. Just like the Grail, perfection is unattainable; only glimpses of the Grail and of perfection can be seen.
(1975) is a modern, irreligious and comical interpretation of Malory’s text. In this film, Galahad is introduced as Galahad the Pure. The filmmakers create a satire of Galahad’s chastity and imply he is not a virgin by choice. In Galahad’s adventure, he follows a Grail-shaped beacon to a castle. Inside, instead of the Holy Grail, he finds beautiful young maidens who use the beacon to lure men to their castle in order to offer them sexual favors. Just as Sir Galahad is about to be seduced by a hundred beautiful maidens, Sir Lancelot enters and rescues a very-reluctant-to-be-rescued Sir Galahad.
In Merlin
(1998), he is portrayed as Lancelot's only son, living at Joyous Guard. He is referred to by the Lady of the Lake as being pure-hearted. Merlin mistakes this description to being Lancelot. At the end, it is said that he was the one intended to guard Arthur's throne and that he has brought the Holy Grail to Britain and, with it, peace and prosperity.
uses the legend metaphorically in her song Sweet Sir Galahad
, which is about the courtship of her sister.
The band America mentions Galahad ("... or the tropic of Sir Galahad") in the chorus for the song Tin Man
.
Josh Ritter
has a song about Galahad's encounter with an angel charged with protecting the Holy Grail in a song on his album To the Yet Unknowing World
.
, De laude novae militiae. Significantly, in the narratives, Galahad is associated with a white shield with a vermilion cross, the very same emblem given to the Templars by Pope Eugene III
.
Galahad's conception is later glossed by Malory: "And so by enchantment [Elaine] won the love of Sir Lancelot, and certainly she loved him again passing well.” Galahad was conceived for the divine purpose of seeking the Holy Grail. But Galahad's conception happened through pure deceit; under a cloak of deception that was very similar, in fact, to that which led to the conception of Arthur and of Merlin himself. Despite this, Galahad is the knight who is chosen to find the Holy Grail. Galahad, in 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 Holy Grail revealed to him and to be taken into heaven.
Sir Galahad (icon; Middle Welsh: Gwalchavad, sometimes referred to as Galeas (ɡ) or Galath (ˈ), is a knight of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's Round Table
Round Table (Camelot)
The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...
and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Lancelot
Lancelot
Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
and Elaine of Corbenic
Elaine of Corbenic
Elaine of Corbenic , is a character in the Arthurian legend. She is the daughter of King Pelles and the mother of Sir Galahad by Sir Lancelot...
, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, he is perhaps the knightly embodiment of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
in the Arthurian legends. Sir Galahad first appears in the Lancelot–Grail cycle, and his story is taken up in later works such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle
Post-Vulgate Cycle
The Post-Vulgate Cycle is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature. It is essentially a rehandling of the earlier Vulgate Cycle , with much left out and much added, including characters and scenes from the Prose Tristan.The Post-Vulgate, written probably between 1230 and...
and Sir Thomas Malory
Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland as well as John Bale believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholars, beginning with G. L...
's Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur is a compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of Romance tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table...
.
Conception and birth
The circumstances surrounding the conception of the boy Galahad are explained by Sir Thomas Malory and derive from the Lancelot-GrailLancelot-Grail
The Lancelot–Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend written in French. It is a series of five prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere...
cycle: Elaine, the daughter of King Pelles
Fisher King
The Fisher King, or the Wounded King, figures in Arthurian legend as the latest in a line charged with keeping the Holy Grail. Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin, and incapable of moving on his own...
, the Grail King, uses magic to trick Sir Lancelot into thinking that she is Queen Guinevere, whom Lancelot loves. According to Malory, 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 achieve the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
. King Pelles also knows that Lancelot will only lie with his one true love, Queen 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 King Pelles a magic ring that will make Elaine take on the appearance of Queen Guinevere.
Sir Lancelot and Elaine sleep together, but on discovering the deception, Lancelot at first tries to kill Elaine for her complicity, 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 King Arthur's court. The young Galahad is born and placed in the care of a great aunt, who is an abbess at a nunnery, to be raised there.
According to the thirteenth century Old French Prose Lancelot (part of the interconnected set of romances known as the Vulgate Cycle) "Galahad" was Lancelot's original name, but it was changed when he was a child. At his birth, therefore, Galahad is given his father's own original name. Merlin prophesies that Galahad will surpass his father in valour and be successful in his search for the Holy Grail. King Pelles, Galahad's maternal grandfather, is portrayed as a descendant of Bron, Joseph of Arimathea's brother-in-law, whose line was entrusted with the Grail by Joseph.
Quest for the Holy Grail
Upon reaching adulthood, Galahad is reunited with his father Sir Lancelot, who knights him. Sir 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 PerilousSiege Perilous
In Arthurian legend, the Siege Perilous is a vacant seat at the Round Table reserved by Merlin for the knight who would one day be successful in the quest for the Holy Grail. This knight is either Perceval or Sir Galahad, depending on the version of the story...
, an unused chair that has been kept vacant for the sole person who will accomplish the quest of the Holy Grail. For all others who have aspired to sit there, it has proved to be immediately fatal. Sir Galahad survives this test, witnessed by King Arthur who, upon realizing the greatness of this new knight, leads him out to the river where a 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 own sword, Excalibur
Excalibur
Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...
.) Galahad accomplishes this test with ease, and King Arthur swiftly proclaims him to be the greatest knight ever. Sir Galahad is promptly invited to become a Knight of the Round Table, and soon afterwards, King Arthur's court witnesses an ethereal vision of the Holy 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. Galahad for the most part travels alone, smiting his enemies, rescuing Sir Percival from twenty knights and saving maidens in distress, until he is finally reunited with Sir Bors and Sir Perceval. These three knights then come across Sir Perceval’s sister who leads them to the grail ship. They cross the sea in this ship and when they arrive on a distant shore, Perceval’s sister is forced to die to save another. Sir Bors departs from the company in order to take her body back to her own country for a proper burial.
After many adventures, Sir Galahad and Sir Perceval find themselves at the court of King Pelles and Eliazar, his son. These men are very holy and they bring Galahad into a room where he is finally allowed to see the Holy Grail. Galahad is asked to take the vessel to the holy city of Sarras.
Assumption into heaven
After seeing the grail, Galahad makes request that he may die at the time of his choosing. So it is, while making his way back to Arthur’s court, Sir Galahad is visited by Joseph of ArimatheaJoseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. He is mentioned in all four Gospels.-Gospel references:...
, and thus experiences such glorious rapture that he makes his request to die. After bidding Percival and Bors farewell, Galahad is taken up to heaven by angels, witnessed by Sir Bors and Perceval. While it is not explicit that The Holy Grail is never to be seen again on earth, it is stated (in Le Morte D'Arthur) that there has since then been no knight capable of obtaining the Sangreal.
Medieval characterization
The story of Sir Galahad and his quest for the Holy Grail is a relatively late addition to the Arthurian legend. Sir Galahad does not feature in any romance by Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
, or in Robert de Boron
Robert de Boron
Robert de Boron was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries who is most notable as the author of the poems Joseph d'Arimathe and Merlin.-Work:...
's Perceval, or in any of the continuations of Chrétien's story of the mysterious castle of the Fisher King. Sir Galahad first appears in the the early-thirteenth century Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
Vulgate Cycle
Lancelot-Grail
The Lancelot–Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend written in French. It is a series of five prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere...
. Perhaps it was because King Arthur and the established knights of his kingdom were not deemed to be fit enough for such a holy endeavour, that Sir Galahad was introduced to redeem King Arthur and his knights, and to show that there was one knight alone who was worthy to achieve the quest for the Holy Grail. It is Sir Galahad who takes the initiative to begin the search for the Grail; the rest of the knights follow him. King Arthur is sorrowful that all the knights have embarked thusly, for he discerns that many will never be seen again, dying upon 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 endeavors must take second place to the pursuit of the holy. Galahad, in some ways, mirrors Arthur, drawing a sword from a stone in the way that King Arthur did. In this manner, Sir Galahad is declared to be the chosen one.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
In Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'ArthurLe Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur is a compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of Romance tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table...
, 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, like Jesus Christ, and so 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."
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.”.
Sir 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.'
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, gives the reader his thoughts and feelings as he rides on his quest, rather than just the details of his battles, as in Malory.
William Morris
Sir Galahad’s thoughts and aspirations have been explored as well by William Morris in his poem Sir Galahad, a Christmas Mystery, published in 1858. In this poem, written more than twenty years after Tennyson's Sir Galahad, Galahad is "fighting an internal battle between the ideal and the human", believing that he is like God and that he is able to be a "savior capable of imparting grace", following a dream in which he saves a dying knight with a kiss. Galahad isolates himself because he is a “self-centered figure.” Morris’ poem places this emotional conflict at center 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.” The poem 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?"
Thomas de Beverly
A poem by Thomas de Beverly published in 1925, the Birth of Sir Galahad, tells of the events leading up to the conception of Sir Galahad, his birth and a visit soon afterwards by Sir Bors, to see Elaine and the baby Galahad. Sir Bors sees a vision of the Holy Grail whilst in a chapel with the baby and his mother.The poem begins with Sir Lancelot attending a banquet given by King Pellas, the father of Elaine. The king decides that he wants Sir Lancelot to lie with his daughter. De Beverly says that “High God was urging him to this”; he claims that God is behind the union of Lancelot and Elaine because He knows that from it Galahad will be born. Galahad will be:
- "the best of Arthour's Knights,
- Who should achieve the quest of the Sangrael
- Which only they shall see whose lives are pure.
- No bravery is such a virtue as the Graele may gain.”
King Arthur and Sir Lancelot can never achieve this honor because their lives have not remained pure. Of the three knights who are untainted by sin – Sir Perceval, Sir Bors, and Sir Galahad – Galahad is the only one predestined to achieve this honor of attaining the Holy Grail.
Novels
In John Erskine
John Erskine (educator)
John Erskine was a U.S. educator and author, born in New York City and raised in Weehawken, New Jersey. He graduated from Columbia University ....
's novel Galahad: Enough of his life to Explain his Reputation, Galahad’s main tutor for his knightly training is not his father Lancelot or King Arthur, but in fact Queen Guinevere. Erskine follows Malory’s text through Galahad’s childhood. Just as in Le Morte d'Arthur, Galahad grows up in the court of his mother Elaine and travels to King Arthur’s court to be reunited with his father and to become a knight. When Galahad arrives at the court, Guinevere is upset with Lancelot because he does not want to be her lover anymore and she takes an interest in the young knight, persuading him to go above and beyond regular knightly duties. At first Galahad seems content with just being an ordinary Knight of the Round Table, going out on quests and saving maidens in distress. Guinivere is the main contributor to Galahad’s destiny in this work. She says “you’ll waste your life if you don’t accomplish something new, something entirely your own.” This is Galahad’s motivation to seek the Grail.
Matt Cohen satirizes Galahad’s virtuous character in his short story Too Bad Galahad. Cohen describes Galahad as the “perfect knight” who does no harm. In part, “Galahad’s virtue is a compensation for Lancelot’s indiscretion.” However Cohen, instead of glorifying Galahad's virtuous character, makes it into a weakness. He writes that Galahad tried to “swear and kill and wench with the rest of the knights but he could never really get into it.” Cohen's Galahad is not well liked by the other knights because he is so perfect and seems unapproachable. Cohen pokes fun at Galahad's “calling” by saying that his life would be wasted if he failed to remain pure and holy in order to be the bearer of the Holy Grail.
Thomas Berger’s Arthur Rex, portrays Galahad differently. In most works, Galahad is depicted as an emblem of perfection. Berger shows Galahad’s arrival to court in a more satirical light. Gawain
Gawain
Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
comments that he cannot tell whether he is male or female. Berger shows that even though Galahad is in fact the greatest knight in the world, he does not appear to be. Appearance versus reality is a common theme throughout this novel. In most versions of the story of Sir Galahad, Galahad's death comes about after his greatest achievement, that of the Holy Grail. In Arthur Rex, however, Galahad is killed in a battle where he mistakes his own father Lancelot for a Saxon. Galahad is too weak and sleeps through most of the battle and, when he does wake up, he kills his father as well as being killed himself. Just like the Grail, perfection is unattainable; only glimpses of the Grail and of perfection can be seen.
Movies
The movie Monty Python and the Holy GrailMonty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1974 British comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...
(1975) is a modern, irreligious and comical interpretation of Malory’s text. In this film, Galahad is introduced as Galahad the Pure. The filmmakers create a satire of Galahad’s chastity and imply he is not a virgin by choice. In Galahad’s adventure, he follows a Grail-shaped beacon to a castle. Inside, instead of the Holy Grail, he finds beautiful young maidens who use the beacon to lure men to their castle in order to offer them sexual favors. Just as Sir Galahad is about to be seduced by a hundred beautiful maidens, Sir Lancelot enters and rescues a very-reluctant-to-be-rescued Sir Galahad.
In Merlin
Merlin (film)
Merlin is a television miniseries which originally aired in 1998 that retells the legend of King Arthur from the perspective of the wizard Merlin...
(1998), he is portrayed as Lancelot's only son, living at Joyous Guard. He is referred to by the Lady of the Lake as being pure-hearted. Merlin mistakes this description to being Lancelot. At the end, it is said that he was the one intended to guard Arthur's throne and that he has brought the Holy Grail to Britain and, with it, peace and prosperity.
Music
Joan BaezJoan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
uses the legend metaphorically in her song Sweet Sir Galahad
Sweet Sir Galahad
"Sweet Sir Galahad" is a song written by Joan Baez that she performed at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. She first performed it on Season 3, Episode 23, of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour earlier that year and included it on her album One Day at a Time...
, which is about the courtship of her sister.
The band America mentions Galahad ("... or the tropic of Sir Galahad") in the chorus for the song Tin Man
Tin Man
Tin Man may refer to:* Tin Woodman, a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum* Ted McMinn, a footballer nicknamed The Tin Man* Tinman, a British electronic musician-Film and television:...
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Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and author who performs and records with The Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006 he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine.- Early life :Josh...
has a song about Galahad's encounter with an angel charged with protecting the Holy Grail in a song on his album To the Yet Unknowing World
To the Yet Unknowing World (EP)
To the Yet Unknowing World is a limited-edition EP album by Josh Ritter and The Royal City Band, released on February 8, 2011.The EP features b-sides, demos, and remixes from the So Runs the World Away recording sessions. To the Yet Unknowing World was first made available on Ritter's official...
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Cistercian inspiration
The original conception of Sir Galahad, whose adult exploits are first recounted in the fourth book of the thirteenth century Old French Arthurian epic the Vulgate Cycle, may derive from the Cistercian Order. According to many interpreters, the philosophical inspiration of the celibate, otherworldly character of the monastic knight Galahad came from this monastic order set up by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The Cistercian-Bernardine concept of Catholic warrior-asceticism that so distinguishes the character of Sir Galahad also informs St. Bernard's projection of ideal chivalry in his work on the Knights TemplarKnights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, De laude novae militiae. Significantly, in the narratives, Galahad is associated with a white shield with a vermilion cross, the very same emblem given to the Templars by Pope Eugene III
Pope Eugene III
Pope Blessed Eugene III , born Bernardo da Pisa, was Pope from 1145 to 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become Pope.-Early life:...
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God's knight
Sir Galahad’s success in the high religious endeavour that was the search for the Holy Grail was predicted before his birth, not only by King Pelles but by Merlin: Merlin had told 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's conception is later glossed by Malory: "And so by enchantment [Elaine] won the love of Sir Lancelot, and certainly she loved him again passing well.” Galahad was conceived for the divine purpose of seeking the Holy Grail. But Galahad's conception happened through pure deceit; under a cloak of deception that was very similar, in fact, to that which led to the conception of Arthur and of Merlin himself. Despite this, Galahad is the knight who is chosen to find the Holy Grail. Galahad, in 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 Holy Grail revealed to him and to be taken into heaven.
See also
- Sir Galahad (poem)Sir Galahad (poem)Sir Galahad is a poem written by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson and published in his 1842 collection of poetry. It is one of his many poems that deal with the legend of King Arthur, and the poem describes Galahad experiencing a vision of the Holy Grail...
- Holy GrailHoly GrailThe Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
- HMS Sir GalahadHMS Sir GalahadThree ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary have been named Sir Galahad, after the knight of Arthurian legend.*The first HMS Sir Galahad was a Round Table class trawler used as a minesweeper in World War II....
Three Royal Navy vessels named after him, including one lost in the Falklands WarFalklands WarThe Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
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