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Pan-Brittonic Hagiography and the Arthurian Grail Cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Valerie M. Lagorio*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri-St. Louis

Extract

St. Joseph of Arimathea, acclaimed by the monastery of Glastonbury as the apostolic evangelist of Britain, gained this accolade through the Arthurian Grail romances, and most particularly, the Estoire del Saint Graal. Heretofore, the majority of those favoring the Christian origin of the Grail legend have plumbed the Bible, the apocrypha, and the Christian exegetical tradition in search of source elements of the Grail's history. Their research has been concentrated on the mystery of the Grail itself, or the pre-Britain adventures of Joseph and his followers. Some others have investigated various aspects of Celtic Christianity, particularly the assimilation of Celtic legends and narrative materials regarding Bran, son of Llŷr, into Christian tradition, as the genesis of Joseph's activities in Britain. This euhemerization of pagan folklore was a natural consequence of the pattern of Christianization established during the apostolic era, which attempted to build the new religion on the foundations of the old, retaining and adapting heathen practices which were consonant with Christianity. A few, notably Roger Loomis, studied the impact of these euhemerized legends on the Grail history, pursuing the mutations of the myths through oral transmission, in accordance with the process outlined by the noted Bollandist, Père Hippolyte Delehaye. Still others correlated the religious elements of the entire Joseph/Grail saga with the history and characteristics of the Celtic Church in Wales, with strong overtones of heterodoxy.

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Articles
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Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

1 Sommer, H. O., ed., The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances 1 Estoire del Saint Graal (Washington 1909). All references to events in the Estoire are taken from this text.Google Scholar

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16 Pan-Brittonic saints had Celtic, Latin, and, quite often, Breton names, in addition to hypocoristic variations, such as Maedoc for Aedan (Aidan), as modified by the honorific prefix ‘mo-’ and the endearing suffix ‘-oc.’ Throughout this study, the saints are identified by their most widely used appellations.Google Scholar

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30 Duine, , op. cit. vii.Google Scholar

31 de Boron, Robert, Le Roman de L'Estoire dou Graal, ed. Nitze, W. A. Les Classiques Français du Moyen Âge 57 (Paris 1927).Google Scholar

32 The scholarly consensus on this late composition is maintained by Frappier, Jean, ‘The Vulgate Cycle,’ ALMA 313; and by Loomis, R. S., The Development of Arthurian Romance (London 1963) 120.Google Scholar

33 Delehaye, , op. cit. 100–4, explicates this facet of hagiographic composition, citing the life of St. Vincent Madelgarus as an example. In Pan-Brittonic hagiography, it is seen in the life of Padarn, which combines the lives of three saints, owing to their homonymic relationship : Padarn, founder of Llanbadarn; Paternus, Bishop of Vannes; and Paternus, Bishop of Avranches. Homonymic fusion and confusion also accounts for the lives of Rumon of Cornwall and Roman of Brittany, the Vita Pirani drawn almost entirely from the life of Ciaran of Saighir, and the various Saints Constantine. Cf. Doble, , op. cit. 2. 15–24.Google Scholar

34 While the Forest of Broceliande is the traditional setting of Arthurian adventures, it has a topographical significance in Pan-Brittonic religious history. Conard Maen (Mewan) was the first of the ecclesiastical colonists to establish a monastery in this central Armorican forest, rather than on the seashore. His monastery, founded on land given by a Breton chieftain, later became St. Méen Abbey, the chief agency in the christianization of that part of Armorica (Baring-Gould, , op. cit. 16, 240).Google Scholar

36 Jones, , op. cit. 53.Google Scholar

36 Chadwick, , op. cit. 160 n. 1.Google Scholar

37 The primary sources for the saints' lives and legends cited in this study are: Baring-Gould, , op. cit. 116 (London 1897–1914); Vies des Saints et des Bienheureux eds. Les. RR. PP. Baudot et Chaussin, O.S.B. (Paris 1935–1959) 1–13; Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina edd. Bollandiani, Socii 1, 2, Supplementum (Bruxelles 1898–1899; 1900–1901; 1911); Bibliotheca Sanctorum 1–11 (Rome 1961–1968); Rev. Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints , ed. Thurston, Herbert S. J. (New York 1926–1938) 1–12; Doble, Gilbert H., op. cit. ; Duine, F., Memento des Sources Hagiographiques de L'Histoire de Bretagne (Rennes 1918); Horstmann, Carl, ed., Nova Legenda Angliae 1–2 (Oxford 1901); le Grand, Albert, Les vies des saints de la Bretagne Armorique (Quimper and Paris 1901); Rees, W.J., ed., op. cit. ; Stanton, Richard, A Menology of England and Wales (London 1887); Wade-Evans, A.W., ed., Vitae Sanctorum Brittaniae; and extracts from the Acta Sanctorum as follows: Cadfarch: Oct. X, 763–4; Cadoc: Jan. II, 603–6; Maen, Conard (Mewan): June IV, 101–4; Cybi: Nov. III, 824–9; David, : March I, 38–47; Germanus, : July VII, 201–304; Gildas, : Jan. II, 952–67; Gudwal, : June I, 729–48; Illtyd, : Nov. III, 219–36; Joseph of Arimathea: Mar. II. 502–6: Kentigern, : Jan. I, 815–41; Magloire, : Oct. V, 792–3; Aurelian, Paul (Pol-de-Leon): Mar. II, 1107–19; Patrick, : Mar. II. 517–33; Petroc: June I, 399–402; Samson: July VI, 1573–91; Socrates and Stephen: Sep. V, 477–8; Teilo: Feb. II, 309–10.Google Scholar

38 Baring-Gould, , op. cit. 16, 138–45 and Deanesly, , Sidelights on the Anglo-Saxon Church 30–1.Google Scholar

39 Bromwich, Rachel, ‘The Welsh Triads,’ ALMA 46, states that, although the triads have come down only in manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, they reflect genuine early traditions.Google Scholar

40 Chadwick, , op. cit. 158. Also Waite, Arthur Edward, The Holy Grail 349 ff., refers to the Hereditary Relic Keepers of the Celtic Church, and states that the preservation of consecreated objects, such as a Holy Cup, under such guardianship seems to have been common among Celtic families, and constituted an office of dignity and honor.Google Scholar

41 Annales Cambriae, ed. Williams, John, Rolls Series 20 (1860) x. The pedigree of Owain, contained in Harleian MS 3859, written in the late-tenth or early eleventh century, traces his family back to the following progenitors: ‘Map Eugein, map Aballac, map Amalech, qui fuit Beli Magni filius, et Anna mater ejus, quae dicitur esse consobrina Mariae Virginis matris Domini nostri Jesu Christi.’ Google Scholar

42 Although Arthur's genealogy, as shown in Gould, Baring, op. cit. 16, 133, places him in the Family of Geraint, Prince of Devon, he would, as David's uncle, be affiliated with the Family of Cunedda. Writing toward the end of the fourteenth century, John of Glastonbury, Johannes Glastoniensis Chronica , ed. Hearne, Thomas 1 (Oxford 1726) 56, amplifies this earlier tradition with an alternate genealogy, drawn from the Estoire, attesting to Arthur's descent from Joseph of Arimathea, through his mother Ygerne. Kendrick, T. D., British Antiquity (London 1950) 17 mentions an even more fanciful version, tracing Ygerne's ancestry back to a marriage between Joseph of Arimathea and a daughter of Longinus, the spearman at the Crucifixion, who was reputed to be the natural son of Julius Caesar. This latter family tree can only serve to illustrate the wide range of fantasy surrounding both Arthur and his sainted ancestor.Google Scholar

43 Rees, , op. cit. 598608.Google Scholar

44 Grant Loomis, G., White Magic 44, suggests that the frequency of this latter punition probably has its roots in the age's practice of burying criminals alive, a suggestion which is substantiated in part by the fate of Chanaan, for his crime of multiple fratricide.Google Scholar

45 Indicating how deeply ingrained this raison d'être was in Celtic monasticism, a mid-fourteenth-century mystical treatise of Welsh origin entitled Holy Living stresses the need for anwylserch (affection), or man's love for God, and deprecates ynfydserch (infatuation), or man's love for the perishable things of this world. See Parry, , op. cit. 96.Google Scholar

46 Carannog, of the Family of Cunedda, journeyed to Ireland, where, with miracles, he converted many districts against the wishes of companies of magicians and was honored by kings. This opposition from druids and magicians is more prevalent in the Irish vitae, such as the life of St. Patrick.Google Scholar

47 Fuller, Thomas, The Church History of Britain (London 1837) 1.71. Cf. Duckett, , op. cit. 23–9 for a sympathetic analysis of the life and motivations of the Celtic wandering saints.Google Scholar

48 Regarding the widespread wanderings of the Pan-Brittonic saints, medieval hagiographers considered a mission or visit in Ireland as a necessary commonplace, owing to Ireland's fame as a cultural and religious center. This would also explain the imputing of Irish origin to many Cornish and Breton saints who ‘came across the water,’ when actually they came from Wales. However, references in the vitae to journeys to other Celtic countries, such as Scotland, Cornwall, or Armorica, may actually be based on ancient tradition (Doble, , op. cit. 3. 63, and 4. 57).Google Scholar

49 Gougaud, , op. cit. 100.Google Scholar

50 This singular reference to White Monks anticipates their omnipresence in the Queste, which points to the Cistercian influence on that work (see n. 28). There is also an historical correlation, as from 1140 onward the declining Celtic monastic centers were supplanted by the Cistercians, resulting in such famous monasteries as Whitland and its daughter houses Cwmhir, Strata Florida and Strata Marcella, all of which were predominantly Welsh in character, interests, and nationalistic spirit. For a full account of this development, see O'Sullivan, J. F., Cistercian Settlements in Wales and Monmouthshire, Fordham University Studies, History Series No. 2 (New York 1947), with special attention to 1–19.Google Scholar

51 See Chadwick, , op. cit. 161–2 for an assessment of David's ‘Rule,’ as contained in Chapters 21–30 of the Life, with its emphasis on holy poverty, manual labor, especially agriculture, and simplicity of life. As Miss Chadwick points out, this austerity is not as prevalent at such monasteries as Llantwit Major, which was more intellectual than ascetic in its orientation.Google Scholar

52 The reference to ‘Bretaigne’ in this passage is ambiguous, but could refer to Brittany (Armorica), the French passage reading: ‘Car a celui tans estoit la grant bretaigne vers les parties descoce & de bretaigne moult pourement pueplie de gent….’ The specific detail about the wild, unpopulated terrain is borne out by the topography and population distribution in Great Britain in the Age of Saints. According to Jackson, , op. cit. 96–7, the Lowland Zone from York down was Romanized, populated, and fertile, except for the heavily forested West Midlands and Welsh Marches. The Highland Zone, on the other hand, was relatively thinly populated, and lacking in large towns and settlements.Google Scholar

53 Gougaud, , op. cit. 87–8, cites a brief period during the early sixth century when conhospitae abuses in Brittany occasioned strong episcopal reprimands, but avers that the above-quoted motto of St. Coemgenus prevailed in Celtic monasticism.Google Scholar

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55 Blood-flecked stones still surround Winifred's Well in Flintshire, noted for its healing powers, while the well in which the treacherously wounded Brynach washed off the blood was identified as the Red Well.Google Scholar

56 Doble, , op. cit. 3.117 points to Tuedar's prominence in the sixteenth-century Cornish miracle play Beunans Merisek, not only as a corollary of his legendary fame as a Cornish tyrant, but also as a possible hit against Henry VII, who was unpopular in Cornwall because of the heavy taxation levied following Perkin Warbeck's rebellion.Google Scholar

57 This epithet rests either on the fame of the Breton warrior-saint who became a missionary monk, or Cadfan, King of Gwynedd, who fought against Ethelfrith, King of Northumbria.Google Scholar

58 Butler-Thurston, , op. cit. 12.152–4.Google Scholar

59 St. Kea was confused with the Arthurian Kay, so that his legendary life includes an attempt to effect peace at the Battle of Camlaan between Arthur and Modred. Failing in his attempt, he then enjoins Guinevere to repent her sinful life, and enter a convent. As G. H. Doble has pointed out (op. cit. 3.104), any connection between the saintly missionary bishop and Arthur's faithful steward is only homonymic.Google Scholar

60 Delehaye, Hippolyte, Légendes grecques des saints militaires (Paris 1909) 1119.Google Scholar

61 Joseph's identifying himself as a doctor and healer (mire) is also anticipated by Christ's words at Josephes' episcopal consecration, ordaining that Joseph will have the care of the bodies of His flock, while Josephes will watch over their souls (39–40).Google Scholar

62 Loomis, G. G., White Magic, 20.Google Scholar

63 St. Germanus of Auxerre is not, strictly speaking, a Pan-Brittonic saint, but merits inclusion in the group. A former Roman dux with jurisdiction over Armorica, he not only rid the British Church of the Pelagian heresy and fostered Celtic monasticism, but supported the Briton cause against the Saxons and also the tyrannical Vortigern. He later helped to effect a peace between the rebelling Armoricans and Rome. Chadwick, , op. cit. 110–15 investigates his wide cult in France and Britain.Google Scholar

64 Amphibalus is a shadowy martyr, whose identity probably rests with a personification of the amphibalus or cloak worn by Alban. Nevertheless, he enjoyed great popularity in Britain, and his shrine was the site for Constantine's slaying of one of Modred's two sons, following Arthur's death at Camlaan.Google Scholar

65 See n. 14 supra. Google Scholar

66 Fuller, , op. cit. 70.Google Scholar

67 Matt. 27. 57–60; Mark, 15. 42–46; Luke, 23. 50–53; John, 19. 38–42, describing Joseph as a wealthy Israelite from Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrim, a noble decurion, and a secret disciple of Jesus, and crediting him with requesting Christ's body from Pilate, burying it in his own tomb in which no one had been laid, and sealing the sepulchre.Google Scholar

68 Acts 1. 15–26, relates that Joseph called Barsabbas and Matthias, as members of Christ's immediate following during His earthly ministry, were candidates for the apostolic vacancy left by Judas' suicide. They drew lots and Matthias won. Homonymic confusion could account for Joseph of Arimathea's inclusion in this Christian elite. The Gospel of Nicodemus (James, Montague R., ed., The Apocryphal New Testament [Oxford 1924] 94115), written no earlier than the fourth century, is considered the Ursprung of the legendary account of Joseph, as it closely affiliates him with the resurrected Savior. An amplified version of the Gospel of Nicodemus is found in the Story of Joseph of Arimathea, contained in a twelfth-century manuscript (ibid. 161–5).Google Scholar

69 In the sermon In Die Parasceves, attributed to St. Ambrose, (Acta Sanctorum, March I 503), Joseph is called the alter Joseph ab Arimathea, who guarded Christ's body after the Crucifixion, just as Joseph of Nazareth had protected Christ during His lifetime on earth. For the extensive treatment of Joseph of Arimathea in exegetical tradition, see Honorius Augustodunensis' Gemma animae (PL 72. 543–738); also refer to n. 2 of this study.Google Scholar

70 In the Transitus Mariae, a thirteenth-century Italian composition (James, , op. cit. 216–8), Joseph is depicted as one of the group of disciples present at the death and assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the colophon stating that he was charged with the responsibility of watching over the Savior's mother both before the Ascension and after it.Google Scholar

71 Among the numerous continuations of the Gospel of Nicodemus account of Joseph are the Cura Sanitatis Tiberii (ibid. 158–9) and the Vindicta Salvatoris (ibid. 159–61), both stressing Joseph's bearing heroic witness to the Christian belief. For the best known version of the Vindicta, see Cap. 67 of St. James the Less, related in de Voragine, Jacobus, The Golden Legend, trans. Ryan, Granger and Ripperberger, Helmut (New York 1941) 38 ff. The Georgian legend of Lydda, found in an eighth-century manuscript, credits Joseph, as a fellow missioner with Philip, with an apostolic mission to Lydda, in Wesselofsky, op. cit. 325–32. Cf. Imbs, Paul, ‘Enygeus,’ BBSIA 6 (1954) 69–71.Google Scholar

72 Joseph's collection and guardianship of the Precious Blood, a portion of which was transmitted to England in 1247, is recounted by Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, ed. Luard, Henry Richards, Rolls Series 57 (London 1882) 138–44. Joseph is also prominently featured in the legends surrounding the Precious Blood relics at Bruges and Féscamp (Waite, , The Hidden Church of the Holy Grail, 33 and 35). For a further development of the Féscamp legend, see Weston, Jessie, op. cit. 55–62. Similarly, the Legend of the Holy Blood of Hayles, written to support the Abbey of Hayle's claim to the Precious Blood, draws heavily on the apocryphal accounts of Joseph, although Joseph is only referred to as a pious Jew. Horstmann, Carl, Altenglische Legenden (Heilbronn 1881) 276, notes: ‘Dieser Jude ist Joseph v. Arimathea, dessen Namen der Dichter verschweigt.’

73 Several scholars aver that, owing to the popularity of this work in England, Joseph became a familiar legendary figure, and was accordingly selected to be the Apostle of Britain by the French writers. See Wülcker, Richard, Das Evangelium Nicodemi in der abendländischen Literatur (Paderborn 1872) 69 ff; Kapp, Rudolf, Heilige und Heiligenlegenden in England (Halle/Saale 1932) 265–6; Weston, Jessie, op. cit. 59.Google Scholar

74 The authoritative study on the Glastonbury legends is Armitage Robinson, J., Two Glastonbury Legends: King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea (Cambridge 1926). Consult also Treharne, R. J., The Glastonbury Legends (London 1967).Google Scholar

75 For the official version of the abbey legend, see John of Glastonbury, op. cit. 48 ff.Google Scholar

76 Horstmann, , Nova Legenda Angliae 1.3245.Google Scholar

77 Bromwich, Rachel, op. cit. 51 n. 3 states that the Triad Tri Santeidd Linys or Tair Gwelygord Saint, ‘Three Saintly Stocks’ occurs in several fifteenth- and sixteenth-century manuscripts. While all versions contain the families of Brychan and Cunedda, the third family, Caw of Prydain, has been replaced in MS Peniarth 50 by the family of Joseph of Arimathea.Google Scholar