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Article: Malory and 'Perlesvaus.' (Old French source for Chapel Perilous episode of 'Mort Darthur')
- Article from:
- Medium Aevum
- Article date:
- September 22, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Most of the episodes in Malory's 'Tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake', the third tale in his Morte Darthur, are based on the 'Agravain' section of the Old French Prose Lancelot,(1) but its Chapel Perilous episode derives from the corresponding episode in the Old French Perlesvaus. This has been known since 1932, when R. H. Wilson showed that the similarity was so close that Malory must have been working from a manuscript containing at least that part of Perlesvaus.(2) The standard Malory text, Eugene Vinaver's three-volume edition, gives a detailed account of the correspondences between the two episodes in its commentary, and concludes that Malory probably found the Perlesvaus ...