The supreme expression of romantic chivalry was a body of tales about King Arthur and his Round Table of knights. The real Arthur, it is believed, was a primitive Welsh battle leader of the Sixth Century; but his exploits were embellished by legend until he and his court became the very symbols of medieval knighthood. The Arthurian cycle culminated in the quest for the Holy Grail, the chalice in which Joseph of Arimathea was said to have caught the blood of Christ on the Cross. Arthur's knights are seen at right making vows to search for the Grail. Kneeling at the altar is Sir Galahad, while Arthur, wearing his crown, looks on at left.
In many ways, the quest for the Grail summed up the paradoxes of chivalry and of the knight's historic role. King Arthur, the ideal feudal knight, remained faithful to his duties and stayed at home—yet he was powerless to prevent his kingdom from crumbling. Sir Launcelot was the ideal romantic knight in his love for Arthur's Queen Guinevere—yet because that love was tainted, he was granted only a vision of the Holy Grail. It was the ideal Christian knight, pure and pious Galahad, who actually attained the Grail—and he died without experiencing the illicit delights of courtly love. In fact as in legend, the three sets of knightly ideals were basically incompatible; no knight could ever render perfect service to a feudal lord, the Christian faith and a clandestine ladylove.
World History
