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From Ritual to Romance

J >> Jessie L. Weston >> From Ritual to Romance



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Jessie L. Weston


From Ritual to Romance


Preface


In the introductory Chapter the reader will find the aim and object
of these studies set forth at length. In view of the importance and
complexity of the problems involved it seemed better to incorporate
such a statement in the book itself, rather than relegate it to a
Preface which all might not trouble to read. Yet I feel that such a
general statement does not adequately express my full debt of obligation.


Among the many whose labour has been laid under contribution in the
following pages there are certain scholars whose published work, or
personal advice, has been specially illuminating, and to whom specific
acknowledgment is therefore due. Like many others I owe to Sir J. G.
Frazer the initial inspiration which set me, as I may truly say,
on the road to the Grail Castle. Without the guidance of The Golden
Bough I should probably, as the late M. Gaston Paris happily expressed
it, still be wandering in the forest of Broceliande!

During the Bayreuth Festival of 1911 I had frequent opportunities of
meeting, and discussion with, Professor von Schroeder. I owe to him
not only the introduction to his own work, which I found most helpful,
but references which have been of the greatest assistance; e.g. my
knowledge of Cumont's Les Religions Orientales, and Scheftelowitz's
valuable study on Fish Symbolism, both of which have furnished
important links in the chain of evidence, is due to Professor von
Schroeder.

The perusal of Miss J. E. Harrison's Themis opened my eyes to the
extended importance of these Vegetation rites. In view of the
evidence there adduced I asked myself whether beliefs which had found
expression not only in social institution, and popular custom, but,
as set forth in Sir G. Murray's study on Greek Dramatic Origins,
attached to the work, also in Drama and Literature, might not
reasonably--even inevitably--be expected to have left their mark on
Romance? The one seemed to me a necessary corollary of the other,
and I felt that I had gained, as the result of Miss Harrison's work,
a wider, and more assured basis for my own researches. I was no longer
engaged merely in enquiring into the sources of a fascinating legend,
but on the identification of another field of activity for forces
whose potency as agents of evolution we were only now beginning
rightly to appreciate.

Finally, a casual reference, in Anrich's work on the Mysteries, to the
Naassene Document, caused me to apply to Mr G. R. S. Mead, of whose
knowledge of the mysterious border-land between Christianity and
Paganism, and willingness to place that knowledge at the disposal of
others, I had, for some years past, had pleasant experience. Mr Mead
referred me to his own translation and analysis of the text in question,
and there, to my satisfaction, I found, not only the final link that
completed the chain of evolution from Pagan Mystery to Christian
Ceremonial, but also proof of that wider significance I was beginning
to apprehend. The problem involved was not one of Folk-lore, not
even one of Literature, but of Comparative Religion in its widest sense.

Thus, while I trust that my co-workers in the field of Arthurian
research will accept these studies as a permanent contribution to
the elucidation of the Grail problem, I would fain hope that those
scholars who labour in a wider field, and to whose works I owe so
much, may find in the results here set forth elements that may prove
of real value in the study of the evolution of religious belief.

J. L. W.

Paris,
October, 1919.






CONTENTS


CHAPTER I

Introductory

Nature of the Grail problem. Unsatisfactory character of results
achieved. Objections to Christian Legendary origin; to Folk-lore
origin. Elements in both theories sound. Solution to be sought in a
direction which will do justice to both. Sir J. G. Frazer's Golden
Bough indicates possible line of research. Sir W. Ridgeway's
criticism of Vegetation theory examined. Dramas and Dramatic Dances.
The Living and not the Dead King the factor of importance.
Impossibility of proving human origin for Vegetation Deities. Not
Death but Resurrection the essential centre of Ritual. Muharram too
late in date and lacks Resurrection feature. Relation between defunct
heroes and special localities. Sanctity possibly antecedent to
connection. Mana not necessarily a case of relics. Self-acting
weapons frequent in Medieval Romance. Sir J. G. Frazer's theory holds
good. Remarks on method and design of present Studies.


CHAPTER II

The Task of the Hero

Essential to determine the original nature of the task imposed upon the hero.
Versions examined. The Gawain forms--Bleheris, Diû Crône. Perceval
versions--Gerbert, prose Perceval, Chrétien de Troyes, Perlesvaus,
Manessier, Peredur, Parzival. Galahad--Queste. Result, primary task
healing of Fisher King and removal of curse of Waste Land. The two
inter-dependent. Illness of King entails misfortune on Land. Enquiry
into nature of King's disability. Sone de Nansai. For elucidation of
problem necessary to bear in mind close connection between Land and
Ruler. Importance of Waste Land motif for criticism.


CHAPTER III

The Freeing of the Waters

Enquiry may commence with early Aryan tradition. The Rig-Veda.
Extreme importance assigned to Indra's feat of "Freeing the
Waters." This also specific achievement of Grail heroes. Extracts
from Rig-Veda. Dramatic poems and monologues. Professor von
Schroeder's theory. Mysterium und Mimus. Rishyaçriñga drama.
Parallels with Perceval story. Result, the specific task of the Grail
hero not a literary invention but an inheritance of Aryan tradition.


CHAPTER IV

Tammuz and Adonis

General objects to be attained by these Nature Cults. Stimulation of
Fertility, Animal and Vegetable. Principle of Life ultimately
conceived of in anthropomorphic form. This process already advanced
in Rig-Veda. Greek Mythology preserves intermediate stage. The
Eniautos Daimon. Tammuz--earliest known representative of Dying God.
Character of the worship. Origin of the name. Lament for Tammuz.
His death affects not only Vegetable but Animal life. Lack of
artistic representation of Mysteries. Mr Langdon's suggestion.
Ritual possibly dramatic. Summary of evidence.
Adonis--Phoenician-Greek equivalent of Tammuz. Probably most
popular and best known form of Nature Cult. Mythological tale of
Adonis. Enquiry into nature of injury. Importance of recognizing
true nature of these cults and of the ritual observed. Varying dates
of celebration. Adonis probably originally Eniautos Daimon.
Principle of Life in general, hence lack of fixity in date. Details
of the ritual. Parallels with the Grail legend examined. Dead Knight
or Disabled King. Consequent misfortunes of Land. The Weeping
Women. The Hairless Maiden. Position of Castle. Summing up. Can
incidents of such remote antiquity be used as criticism for a Medieval
text?


CHAPTER V

Medieval and Modern Forms of Nature Ritual

Is it possible to establish chain of descent connecting early Aryan
and Babylonian Ritual with Classic, Medieval and Modern forms of
Nature worship? Survival of Adonis cult established. Evidence of
Mannhardt and Frazer. Existing Continental customs recognized as
survivals of ancient beliefs. Instances. 'Directly related' to
Attis-Adonis cult. Von Schroeder establishes parallel between
existing Fertility procession and Rig-Veda poem. Identification of
Life Principle with King. Prosperity of land dependent on king as
representative of god. Celts. Greeks. Modern instances, the Shilluk
Kings. Parallel between Shilluk King, Grail King and Vegetation
Deity. Sone de Nansai and the Lament for Tammuz. Identity of
situation. Plea for unprejudiced criticism. Impossibility of such
parallels being fortuitous; the result of deliberate intention, not an
accident of literary invention. If identity of central character be
admitted his relation to Waste Land becomes fundamental factor in
criticizing versions. Another African survival.


CHAPTER VI

The Symbols

Summary of results of previous enquiry. The Medieval Stage. Grail
romances probably contain record of secret ritual of a Fertility cult.
The Symbols of the cult--Cup, Lance, Sword, Stone, or Dish. Plea for
treating Symbols as a related group not as isolated units. Failure to
do so probably cause of unsatisfactory result of long research.
Essential to recognize Grail story as an original whole and to treat
it in its ensemble aspect. We must differentiate between origin and
accretion. Instances. The Legend of Longinus. Lance and Cup not
associated in Christian Art. Evidence. The Spear of Eastern
Liturgies only a Knife. The Bleeding Lance. Treasures of the Tuatha
de Danann. Correspond as a group with Grail Symbols. Difficulty of
equating Cauldron-Grail. Probably belong to a different line of
tradition. Instances given. Real significance of Lance and Cup.
Well known as Life Symbols. The Samurai. Four Symbols also preserved
as Suits of the Tarot. Origin of Tarot discussed. Probably reached
Europe from the East. Use of the Symbols in Magic. Probable
explanation of these various appearances to be found in fact that
associated group were at one time symbols of a Fertility cult.
Further evidence to be examined.


CHAPTER VII

The Sword Dance

Relation of Sword Dance, Morris Dance, and Mumming Play. Their
Ceremonial origin now admitted by scholars. Connected with seasonal
Festivals and Fertility Ritual. Earliest Sword Dancers, the Maruts.
Von Schroeder, Mysterium und Mimus. Discussion of their nature and
functions. The Kouretes. Character of their dance. Miss
J. E. Harrison, Themis. The Korybantes. Dance probably sacrificial
in origin. The Salii. Dramatic element in their dance. Mars, as
Fertility god. Mamurius Veturius. Anna Perenna. Character of dance
seasonal. Modern British survivals. The Sword Dance. Mostly
preserved in North. Variants. Mr E. K. Chambers, The Medieval
Stage. The Mumming Plays. Description. Characters. Recognized as
representing Death and Revival of Vegetation Deity. Dr Jevons, Masks
and the Origin of the Greek Drama. Morris Dances. No dramatic
element. Costume of character significant. Possible survival of
theriomorphic origin. Elaborate character of figures in each group.
Symbols employed. The Pentangle. The Chalice. Present form shows
dislocation. Probability that three groups were once a combined whole
and Symbols united. Evidence strengthens view advanced in last
Chapter. Symbols originally a group connected with lost form of
Fertility Ritual. Possible origin of Grail Knights to be found in
Sword Dancers.


CHAPTER VIII

The Medicine Man

The rôle of the Medicine Man, or Doctor in Fertility Ritual. Its
importance and antiquity. The Rig-Veda poem. Classical evidence, Mr
F. Cornford. Traces of Medicine Man in the Grail romances. Gawain as
Healer. Persistent tradition. Possible survival from pre-literary
form. Evidence of the Triads. Peredur as Healer. Evolution of
theme. Le Dist de l'Erberie.


CHAPTER IX

The Fisher King

Summary of evidence presented. Need of a 'test' element. To be found
in central figure. Mystery of his title. Analysis of variants.
Gawain version. Perceval version. Borron alone attempts explanation
of title. Parzival. Perlesvaus. Queste. Grand Saint Graal.
Comparison with surviving ritual variants. Original form King dead,
and restored to life. Old Age and Wounding themes. Legitimate
variants. Doubling of character a literary device. Title. Why
Fisher King? Examination of Fish Symbolism. Fish a Life symbol.
Examples. Indian--Manu, Vishnu, Buddha. Fish in Buddhism. Evidence
from China. Orpheus. Babylonian evidence. Tammuz Lord of the Net.
Jewish Symbolism. The Messianic Fish-meal. Adopted by Christianity.
Evidence of the catacombs. Source of Borron's Fish-meals. Mystery
tradition not Celtic Folk-tale. Comparison of version with Finn
story. With Messianic tradition. Epitaph of Bishop Aberkios. Voyage
of Saint Brandan. Connection of Fish with goddess Astarte. Cumont.
Connection of Fish and Dove. Fish as Fertility Symbol. Its use in
Marriage ceremonies. Summing up of evidence. Fisher King
inexplicable from Christian point of view. Folk-lore solution
unsatisfactory. As a Ritual survival completely in place. Centre of
action, and proof of soundness of theory.


CHAPTER X

The Secret of the Grail (1)

The Mysteries

The Grail regarded as an object of awe. Danger of speaking of Grail
or revealing Its secrets. Passages in illustration. Why, if survival
of Nature cults, popular, and openly performed? A two-fold element in
these cults, Exoteric, Esoteric. The Mysteries. Their influence on
Christianity to be sought in the Hellenized rather than the Hellenic
cults. Cumont. Rohde. Radical difference between Greek and Oriental
conceptions. Lack of evidence as regards Mysteries on the whole.
Best attested form that connected with Nature cults. Attis-Adonis.
Popularity of the Phrygian cult in Rome. Evidence as to Attis
Mysteries. Utilized by Neo-Platonists as vehicle for teaching. Close
connection with Mithraism. The Taurobolium. Details of Attis
Mysteries. Parallels with the Grail romances.


CHAPTER XI

The Secret of the Grail (2)

The Naassene Document

Relations between early Christianity, and pre-Christian cults. Early
Heresies. Hippolytus, and The Refutation of all Heresies. Character
of the work. The Naassene Document. Mr Mead's analysis of
text. A synthesis of Mysteries. Identification of Life Principle
with the Logos. Connection between Drama and Mysteries of Attis.
Importance of the Phrygian Mysteries. Naassene claim to be sole
Christians. Significance of evidence. Vegetation cults as vehicle
of high spiritual teaching. Exoteric and Esoteric parallels with the
Grail tradition. Process of evolution sketched. Bleheris.
Perlesvaus. Borron and the Mystery tradition. Christian Legendary,
and Folk-tale, secondary, not primary, features.


CHAPTER XII

Mithra and Attis

Problem of close connection of cults. Their apparent divergence.
Nature of deities examined. Attis. Mithra. The Messianic Feast.
Dieterich, Eine Mithrasliturgie. Difference between the two
initiations. Link between Phrygian, Mithraic, and Christian,
Mysteries to be found in their higher, esoteric, teaching. Women not
admitted to Mithraic initiation. Possible survival in Grail text.
Joint diffusion through the Roman Empire. Cumont's evidence. Traces
of cult in British Isles. Possible explanation of unorthodox
character of Grail legend. Evidence of survival of cult in fifth
century. The Elucidation a possible record of historic facts. Reason
for connecting Grail with Arthurian tradition.


CHAPTER XIII

The Perilous Chapel

The adventure of the Perilous Chapel in Grail romances. Gawain form.
Perceval versions. Queste. Perlesvaus. Lancelot. Chevalier à Deux
Espées. Perilous Cemetery. Earliest reference in Chattel
Orguellous. Âtre Perilleus. Prose Lancelot. Adventure part of
'Secret of the Grail.' The Chapel of Saint Austin. Histoire de Fulk
Fitz-Warin. Genuine record of an initiation. Probable locality
North Britain. Site of remains of Mithra-Attis cults. Traces of
Mystery tradition in Medieval romance. Owain Miles. Bousset,
Himmelfahrt der Seele. Parallels with romance. Appeal to Celtic
scholars. Otherworld journeys a possible survival of Mystery
tradition. The Templars, were they Naassenes?


CHAPTER XIV

The Author

Provenance and authorship of Grail romantic tradition. Evidence
points to Wales, probably Pembrokeshire. Earliest form contained in
group of Gawain poems assigned to Bleheris. Of Welsh origin. Master
Blihis, Blihos, Bliheris, Bréri, Bledhericus. Probably all references
to same person. Conditions of identity. Mr E. Owen, and Bledri ap
Cadivor. Evidence not complete but fulfils conditions of problem
Professor Singer and possible character of Bleheris' text. Mr Alfred
Nutt. Irish and Welsh parallels. Recapitulation of evolutionary
process. Summary and conclusion.



"Animus ad amplitudinem Mysteriorum pro modulo suo dilatetur,
non Mysteria ad angustias animi constringantur." (Bacon.)

"Many literary critics seem to think that an hypothesis about
obscure and remote questions of history can be refuted by a simple
demand for the production of more evidence than in fact exists.--But
the true test of an hypothesis, if it cannot be shewn to conflict with
known truths, is the number of facts that it correlaates, and explains."
(Cornford, Origins of Attic Comedy.)



CHAPTER I

Introductory

In view of the extensive literature to which the Grail legend has
already given birth it may seem that the addition of another volume
to the already existing corpus calls for some words of apology and
explanation. When the student of the subject contemplates the
countless essays and brochures, the volumes of studies and criticism,
which have been devoted to this fascinating subject, the conflicting
character of their aims, their hopelessly contradictory results, he,
or she, may well hesitate before adding another element to such a
veritable witches' cauldron of apparently profitless study. And
indeed, were I not convinced that the theory advocated in the
following pages contains in itself the element that will resolve these
conflicting ingredients into one harmonious compound I should hardly
feel justified in offering a further contribution to the subject.

But it is precisely because upwards of thirty years' steady and
persevering study of the Grail texts has brought me gradually and
inevitably to certain very definite conclusions, has placed me in
possession of evidence hitherto ignored, or unsuspected, that I
venture to offer the result in these studies, trusting that they may
be accepted as, what I believe them to be, a genuine Elucidation of
the Grail problem.

My fellow-workers in this field know all too well the essential
elements of that problem; I do not need here to go over already
well-trodden ground; it will be sufficient to point out certain
salient features of the position.

The main difficulty of our research lies in the fact that the Grail
legend consists of a congeries of widely differing elements--elements
which at first sight appear hopelessly incongruous, if not completely
contradictory, yet at the same time are present to an extent, and in a
form, which no honest critic can afford to ignore.

Thus it has been perfectly possible for one group of scholars, relying
upon the undeniably Christian-Legendary elements, preponderant in
certain versions, to maintain the thesis that the Grail legend is
ab initio a Christian, and ecclesiastical, legend, and to analyse
the literature on that basis alone.

Another group, with equal reason, have pointed to the strongly marked
Folk-lore features preserved in the tale, to its kinship with other
themes, mainly of Celtic provenance, and have argued that, while the
later versions of the cycle have been worked over by ecclesiastical
writers in the interests of edification, the story itself is
non-Christian, and Folk-lore in origin.

Both groups have a basis of truth for their arguments: the features
upon which they rely are, in each case, undeniably present, yet at the
same time each line of argument is faced with certain insuperable
difficulties, fatal to the claims advanced.

Thus, the theory of Christian origin breaks down when faced with the
awkward fact that there is no Christian legend concerning Joseph of
Arimathea and the Grail. Neither in Legendary, nor in Art, is there
any trace of the story; it has no existence outside the Grail
literature, it is the creation of romance, and no genuine tradition.

On this very ground it was severely criticized by the Dutch writer
Jacob van Maerlant, in 1260. In his Merlin he denounces the whole
Grail history as lies, asserting that the Church knows nothing of
it--which is true.

In the same way the advocate of a Folk-lore origin is met with the
objection that the section of the cycle for which such a source can be
definitely proved, i.e., the Perceval story, has originally nothing
whatever to do with the Grail; and that, while parallels can be found
for this or that feature of the legend, such parallels are isolated in
character and involve the breaking up of the tale into a composite of
mutually independent themes. A prototype, containing the main
features of the Grail story--the Waste Land, the Fisher King, the
Hidden Castle with its solemn Feast, and mysterious Feeding Vessel,
the Bleeding Lance and Cup--does not, so far as we know, exist. None
of the great collections of Folk-tales, due to the industry of a
Cosquin, a Hartland, or a Campbell, has preserved specimens of such a
type; it is not such a story as, e.g., The Three Days Tournament,
examples of which are found all over the world. Yet neither the
advocate of a Christian origin, nor the Folk-lorist, can afford to
ignore the arguments, and evidence of the opposing school, and while
the result of half a century of patient investigation has been to show
that the origin of the Grail story must be sought elsewhere than in
ecclesiastical legend, or popular tale, I hold that the result has
equally been to demonstrate that neither of these solutions should be
ignored, but that the ultimate source must be sought for in a
direction which shall do justice to what is sound in the claims of
both.

Some years ago, when fresh from the study of Sir J. G. Frazer's
epoch-making work, The Golden Bough, I was struck by the resemblance
existing between certain features of the Grail story, and
characteristic details of the Nature Cults described. The more
closely I analysed the tale, the more striking became the resemblance,
and I finally asked myself whether it were not possible that in this
mysterious legend--mysterious alike in its character, its sudden
appearance, the importance apparently assigned to it, followed by as
sudden and complete a disappearance--we might not have the confused
record of a ritual, once popular, later surviving under conditions of
strict secrecy? This would fully account for the atmosphere of awe
and reverence which even under distinctly non-Christian conditions
never fails to surround the Grail, It may act simply as a feeding
vessel, It is none the less toute sainte cose; and also for the
presence in the tale of distinctly popular, and Folk-lore, elements.
Such an interpretation would also explain features irreconcilable with
orthodox Christianity, which had caused some scholars to postulate a
heterodox origin for the legend, and thus explain its curiously
complete disappearance as a literary theme. In the first volume of my
Perceval studies, published in 1906, I hinted at this possible
solution of the problem, a solution worked out more fully in a paper
read before the Folk-lore Society in December of the same year, and
published in Volume XVIII. of the Journal of the Society. By the time
my second volume of studies was ready for publication in 1909, further
evidence had come into my hands; I was then certain that I was upon
the right path, and I felt justified in laying before the public the
outlines of a theory of evolution, alike of the legend, and of the
literature, to the main principles of which I adhere to-day.

But certain links were missing in the chain of evidence, and the work
was not complete. No inconsiderable part of the information at my
disposal depended upon personal testimony, the testimony of those who
knew of the continued existence of such a ritual, and had actually
been initiated into its mysteries--and for such evidence the student
of the letter has little respect. He worships the written word; for
the oral, living, tradition from which the word derives force and
vitality he has little use. Therefore the written word had to be
found. It has taken me some nine or ten years longer to complete the
evidence, but the chain is at last linked up, and we can now prove by
printed texts the parallels existing between each and every feature of
the Grail story and the recorded symbolism of the Mystery cults.
Further, we can show that between these Mystery cults and Christianity
there existed at one time a close and intimate union, such a union as
of itself involved the practical assimilation of the central rite, in
each case a 'Eucharistic' Feast, in which the worshippers partook of
the Food of Life from the sacred vessels.

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