Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- How Perceforest earned his name
- The Perilous Temple
- The Adventures of Claudius and Estonné
- The Wonders at Gadifer's Coronation
- King Gadifer's Wound
- Zephir the Trickster
- Troylus in love
- A New Order of Chivalry – the ‘Franc Palais’
- The God of the Sheer Mountain
- The Fish-Knights
- The Sleeping Beauty
- The Marvellous Child
- The Death of Caesar
- The Adventure of the Red Sword
The Wonders at Gadifer's Coronation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- How Perceforest earned his name
- The Perilous Temple
- The Adventures of Claudius and Estonné
- The Wonders at Gadifer's Coronation
- King Gadifer's Wound
- Zephir the Trickster
- Troylus in love
- A New Order of Chivalry – the ‘Franc Palais’
- The God of the Sheer Mountain
- The Fish-Knights
- The Sleeping Beauty
- The Marvellous Child
- The Death of Caesar
- The Adventure of the Red Sword
Summary
If the martial exploits of Claudius and Estonné are fanciful and wishful thinking, reflecting the period's fantasies like many a modern gunfight or car chase, so are some of the passages in Perceforest describing the glamour attendant upon kingship. Enchantment is again a notable feature as the author tells of the coronation of Perceforest's brother Gadifer as king of Scotland.
That morning King Gadifer and Queen Lydore left the temple of Mars and made their way in a magnificent procession to the place of coronation, where a great scaffold had been built so that the vast crowd who'd gathered there would be able to see clearly. And as they approached the scaffold they saw that a vine had grown above it, casting enough shadow all around to shade two thousand people, and so laden with grapes that there were as many bunches as leaves. The common folk wondered what this fruit could be, for there had never been a vine in the country before; and the nobility, who did recognise it, wondered even more how the vine could be so leafy and in fruit – not due before September – when it was the first day of April.
‘Truly,’ said Alexander, ‘the gods are performing miracles at our king's coronation: it's a sign of blessing and prosperity!’
In the shade of the vine all the princes and knights assembled, and Alexander led King Gadifer by the hand to his throne on the scaffold, while the queen was escorted to hers by Perceforest and Porrus.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Perceforest ReaderSelected Episodes from Perceforest: The Prehistory of Arthur's Britain, pp. 24 - 26Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012