In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Perceforest: The Prehistory of King Arthur’s Britain by Nigel Bryant
  • Karen Casebier
Nigel Bryant, trans., Perceforest: The Prehistory of King Arthur’s Britain. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2011. pp. xxiii, 791. ISBN: 978–1–84384–262–0. $99

Nigel Bryant’s latest contribution to Medieval Studies renders the anonymous fourteenth-century French prose romance Perceforest into a modern English version that promises to make this rich and fascinating text more accessible to both students and scholars. In this lengthy post-Vulgate prequel to Arthurian Britain, the medieval author loosely posits his characters as the rightful inheritors of their Alexandrian and Trojan predecessors. His portrayal of the civilization and Christianization of Britain is replete with breath-taking adventures of chivalry, courts, love, and the merveilleux. In addition to the author’s creation of a link between Alexander and Arthur, Perceforest’s [End Page 112] greatest contribution to medieval literature is its originality, precisely because its author presents new Arthurian material rather than recycling well-known adventures.

In Book One, the author of Perceforest, influenced by Geoffrey of Monmouth and other Latin chroniclers, recounts the arrival in Britain of Alexander and his generals who proceed to civilize the island by virtue of courtly culture, government, and Christianity. Here, Perceforest (King of England) earns his name by defeating Darnant the Enchanter and ousting most of the latter’s clan from the woods. Book Two continues the civilizing influences of Perceforest on the island, but the narrative concentrates on the second generation of knights and on the chivalric order, L’Ordre du Franc-Palais (Franc-Palais is the name of Perceforest’s castle), founded by King Perceforest, now ill. Lydore, introduced as the wife of Gadifer (King of Scotland), is a prophetic fairy queen whose role will become critical in later books. Book Three concerns itself primarily with the series of tournaments that the hermit Pergamon has organized to marry off his twelve granddaughters, as well as with the adventures occurring in between tournaments and weddings. Book Three also includes the story of an enchanted princess, Zellandine, the first known written account of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. In Book Four, Queen Lydore’s dire prophecies are fulfilled, and the Romans invade Britain, destroying the courtly civilization that had flourished since the arrival of Perceforest, and killing the majority of the adult male population in the battle at Franc-Palais. Book Four is notable as well for its account of the genealogy of Merlin. Book Five recounts the adventures of Ourseau, the Bear-Knight, and the reconstruction of both the Franc-Palais and courtly civilization. Book Five also introduces many features of the Grail Cycle, providing the genealogy of Lot of Orkney, and the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea. Finally, Book Six treats the Christianization of Britain (already well underway) and the adventures of the knight Gallafur, a descendant of Perceforest who marries the noblewoman Alexandre, a descendant of Alexander, thereby ensuring that their own descendant, Arthur, will unite both bloodlines.

As this cursory summary suggests, Perceforest is encyclopedic in nature and massive in scope. In addition to the complexities of the work’s considerable length, its occasional intertextuality, and its dizzying intratextuality, critical studies of it have long been hindered by lack of convenient access to the text, which exists complete in only one fifteenth-century manuscript and two sixteenth-century printed editions. Gilles Roussineau’s critical edition (Geneva: Droz, 1987–2012) has moved a step closer to completion with the publication of the Cinquième Partie earlier this year. The full text of Book Six of Perceforest remains unedited, accessible only via the 1528 printed editions held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris and the British Library. In bridging the gap between Roussineau’s critical edition and the manuscript and printed editions of Perceforest, Bryant performs an important service, providing the first comprehensive and universally available account of an important but little known work. That said, Bryant’s Perceforest is less a translation than a significantly abridged adaptation, and many episodes are condensed to short passages or reduced to single lines. He justifies his narrative approach in the Introduction, highlighting the accessibility and coherence of his work. Episodes...

pdf

Share