Misunderstanding, Misperception and Mistakes: The Logic of the Grail in Old French Arthurian Romance and Thomas Malory’s Tale of the Sankgreal

This article seeks to resituate critical discussions about logic in the Old French Grail romances and Thomas Malory’s Tale of the Sankgreal. Where previous scholarship has emphasised the mystical elements of the Old French Grail narratives to suggest alternate meanings for the Grail itself, this article reads the Grail miracles as structuring devices that reflect classical theories of dialectic and demonstrative argumentation. Through examining one example from Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval, the Didot-Perceval, The Vulgate Cycle Queste del Saint Graal, and Thomas Malory’s Tale of the Sankgreal, this article also highlights fundamental similarities between the logical systems underlying each Grail narrative that are not restricted by language or date of composition. Thus, the article depicts Malory not just as consciously drawing upon the Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal, but also as unconsciously inheriting elements from each of his Old French predecessors.

«Sobre los occidentales morfosintácticos y léxicos en las Profecías de Merlín en los Baladros castellanos»

Resumen: El artículo tiene como objetivo completar una línea de trabajo dedicada al rastreo y el análisis de los occidentalismos (esto es, rasgos dialectales occidentales) de una traducción castellana de las Prophetiae Merlini de Godofredo de Monmouth interpolada en los Merlines de la Post-Vulgata ibérica (Baladro 1498 y Demanda 1535). Puesto que la primera parte de esta investigación estuvo consagrada a los occidentalismos fonéticos, nos enfocaremos ahora en los morfosintácticos y léxicos; comentaremos un ejemplo del primer grupo y diez del segundo. Volveremos a prestar atención tanto a los occidentalismos evidentes, esto es, los que aún se manifiestan abiertamente en los testimonios, como a los conjeturales, los que pueden entreverse tras sus errores. Estamos convencidos de que esta clase de estudio puede efectuar aportes de interés para una mejor comprensión de la historia textual de los Merlines castellanos.Palabras clave: Godofredo de Monmouth, Prophetiae Merlini, Traducción castellana, Baladro del sabio Merlín, Occidentalismos morfosintácticos y léxicos.Abstract: The article aims to complete a research dedicated to trace and analyse the occidentalismos (i.e., Western Dialectal Forms) of a Castilian translation of the Prophetiae Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth interpolated in the Merlines of the Iberian Post-Vulgate cycle (Baladro 1498 and Demanda 1535). Since the first part of this investigation was devoted to the phonetic occidentalismos, we will now focus on the morphosyntactic and lexical ones; we will discuss one example of the first group and ten from the second one. We will again pay attention both to the evident occidentalismos, those that are still openly present in the witnesses, as well as to the conjectural ones, those that can be glimpsed through their errors. We are convinced that this kind of study can make contributions of interest to a better understanding of the textual history of the Castilian Merlines.Keywords: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Prophetiae Merlini, Castilian Transla- tion, Baladro del sabio Merlín, Morphosyntactic and Lexical Occidentalismos (i.e., Western Dialectal Forms).