Table Of ContentA Perceforest Reader
Perceforest is one of the largest and certainly the most extraordinary of
the late Arthurian romances, and is almost completely unknown ex-
cept to a handful of scholars. But it is a work of exceptional richness
and importance, and has been justly described as ‘an encyclopaedia
of 14th-century chivalry’ and ‘a mine of folkloric motifs’. Its contents
are drawn not only from earlier Arthurian material, but also from
romances about Alexander the Great, from Roman histories and from
medieval travel writing – not to mention oral tradition, including as
it does the first and unexpurgated version of the story of the Sleeping
Beauty. Out of this, the author creates a remarkable prehistory of King
Arthur’s Britain, describing how Alexander the Great gives the island
to Perceforest, who has to purge the island of magic-wielding knights
descended from Darnant the Enchanter, despite their supernatural
powers. Perceforest then founds the knightly order of the ‘Franc Pal-
ais’, an ideal of chivalric civilisation which prefigures the Round Table
of Arthur and indeed that of Edward III; but that civilisation is, as
the author shows, all too fragile. The action all takes place in a pagan
world of many gods, but the temple of the Sovereign God, discovered
by Perceforest, prefigures the Christian world and the coming of the
Grail and Arthur.
Nigel Bryant has recently adapted this immense romance into Eng-
lish; even in his version, which gives a complete account of the whole
work but links extensive sections of full translation with compressed
accounts of other passages, it runs to nearly half a million words.
A Perceforest Reader is an ideal introduction to the remarkable world
portrayed in this late flowering of the Arthurian imagination.
Nigel Bryant has worked as a theatre director and radio drama pro-
ducer for the BBC, and as head of drama at Marlborough College and
Lecturer in Drama at the University of Manchester. This is his fifth
major translation of medieval Arthurian romance.
Also translated by Nigel Bryant
The High Book of the Grail:
A Translation of the thirteenth-century romance of Perlesvaus
Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval: The Story of the Grail
Robert de Boron, Merlin and the Grail
The Legend of the Grail
Perceforest: The Prehistory of King Arthur’s Britain
The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel 1290-1360
A Perceforest Reader
Selected episodes from
Perceforest: The Prehistory of King Arthur’s Britain
TranslaTed by nigel bryanT
D. S. BREWER
© Nigel Bryant 2011
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
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without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Nigel Bryant to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2011
D. S. Brewer, Cambridge
ISBN 978 1 84384 290 3
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Contents
Introduction 1
How Perceforest earned his name 5
Newly crowned king of England by Alexander, Betis is warned
that the forests of the land are infested by an ‘evil clan’ headed
by Darnant the Enchanter. Their most damning crimes are the
offences they commit against women, and they are adept at using
magic as a weapon. Betis sets out to confront them.
The Perilous Temple 11
Perceforest is set in the pre-Christian past. The pagan Alexan-
der is a paragon of every chivalrous quality, and the ‘old gods’ he
worships are undoubtedly abroad and functioning in the world;
but there is a fascinating tension throughout the romance between
this old religion and the ‘New Law’ of Christianity which is to be
brought to Britain at the story’s end.
The Adventures of Claudius and Estonné 19
Perceforest has numerous sequences of which the director of
a modern ‘action movie’ would be proud. The adventures of two
knights as they search for the missing Perceforest offer memorable
examples.
The Wonders at Gadifer’s Coronation 24
If the martial exploits of Claudius and Estonné are wishful
thinking, reflecting the period’s fantasies like many a modern
gunfight or car chase, so are some of the passages describing the
glamour attendant upon kingship. Enchantment is again a notable
feature as the author tells of the coronation of Gadifer as king
of Scotland.
vi A PERCEFOREST READER
King Gadifer’s Wound 27
The author of Perceforest, emphasising the need for strong,
sound rule, tells us that ‘when the head is sick, all the limbs suf-
fer’. For a long period both Perceforest in England and Gadifer in
Scotland are unable to give leadership to their kingdoms: Percefor-
est, overcome by grief at the news of Alexander’s death, sinks into
a long depression, and this episode tells what happens to Gadifer
while hunting.
Zephir the Trickster 31
A key figure in Perceforest, and a most surprising one, is a
creature called Zephir. He’s a fallen angel, cast out of Paradise
with Lucifer, yet he looks after the interests of several admirable
knights and indeed of Britain as a whole. And he’s a Puck-like
trickster, delighting in playing cruel (if often hilarious) tricks on
people – and all his powers, he says, ‘come from God’.
Troylus in love 39
If ever a chivalric romance asserted the inspirational effects of love
upon a knight, it is Perceforest. All people, the author makes plain,
should be subjects of the lord Love, and if we’re not inspired by our
commitment to that mighty lord, how much, the author asks, are
we ever likely to achieve? This idea is explored wittily – but with
no lack of serious intent – in this passage.
A New Order of Chivalry – the ‘Franc Palais’ 43
There is a strong possibility that Perceforest inspired the
founding of the Order of the Garter by Edward III of England
and the Company of the Star by John II of France. King Percefor-
est’s ‘Order of the Franc Palais’ and the building that housed it
are described in this episode.
The God of the Sheer Mountain 52
The author’s attitude to magic is ambiguous. He has the Fairy
Queen, King Gadifer’s wife, use her skills in magic to manifestly
good ends; but what is to be avoided, he says, is for a ‘magi-
cian’ to become adept and imagine he’s therefore godlike. In this
episode young Gadifer, son of King Gadifer and the Fairy Queen,
CONTENTS vii
undertakes a mysterious mission; it leads him to encounter the
enchanter Aroés, who has set himself up as God of the Sheer
Mountain.
The Fish-Knights 63
The author of Perceforest sends his knights out to confront a
world of awesome marvels. The complexity of the created world,
and the author’s fascination with it, are nowhere expressed as
startlingly as in an adventure encountered by King Perceforest’s
son when he’s stranded on a distant island.
The Sleeping Beauty 67
Perceforest has been described as ‘a mine of folkloric motifs’,
and is famous for featuring this, the first written version of the
story that has come to be known as ‘the Sleeping Beauty’.
The Marvellous Child 84
One of the most striking characters in the later books of Perce-
forest is Passelion, destined to be an ancestor of no less a figure
than Merlin.
The Death of Caesar 93
The author of Perceforest draws material from many sources,
linking his prehistory of Arthurian Britain to numerous existing
traditions and histories. In this episode, he makes the murder of
Julius Caesar an act of revenge for his destruction of Britain.
The Adventure of the Red Sword 100
Britain, recovering from its destruction by the Romans, needs
a new king and queen. The destined ones are Gallafur and ‘the
Maiden of the Dragons’. They are descendants not only of Per-
ceforest and Gadifer but of Alexander, too, and their bloodline is
to continue to King Arthur himself. Arthur will thus have Greek
blood, inherited from Alexander the Great. But, although the
Maiden of the Dragons has captured Gallafur’s heart, he will
not be worthy of her unless he first achieves the Adventure of the
Red Sword.
