Article: Grail; Medieval writers invented quest for the holy vessel.(BOOKS)

Byline: Eric Wargo, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Late in the 12th century, the French writer Chretien de Troyes penned a prose romance about an immature would-be knight named Perceval, who encounters a wondrous, strange vessel serving an unknown personage in a mysterious castle. Adhering rigidly to his first les

sons in courtly manners - not to talk too much - the young hero doesn't inquire about the odd spectacle he has witnessed. He then goes on a series of adventures wherein he learns (among other things) that, to show proper compassion to his host, he should have asked.

This story, left unfinished when Chretien died in 1190, is the ...

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