Parzival is one of the two great epic poems in Middle High German. Composed by Wolfram von Eschenbach in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, it relates the adventures of Parzival, or Percival, one of the Knights of the Round Table.
The text
Parzival is divided into sixteen books, each composed of several thirty-line stanzas of rhyming couplets. The stanza lengths fit perfectly onto a manuscript page. For the subject matter, Wolfram von Eschenbach relied on the never-completed Grail romance, Perceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes. Although Eschenbach claimed that a certain Kyot the Provençal supplied an additional source, this claim is not taken seriously by scholars.
The story
Book I opens with the death of King Gandin, Parzival's grandfather. His oldest son, Galoes, receives the kingdom but offers his brother Gahmuret the land of Anjou in fief. However, Gahmuret departs from his brother and mother, determined to serve under the "Baruch of Baghdad" and gain renown. At the end of worldwide adventures — which are only briefly summarized in the text — he travels to the African kingdom of Zazamanc, whose capital city of Patelamunt is under siege from two different armies. A host of European troops, led by Hiuteger of Scotland, Gaschier of Normandy, Killirjacac of Champagne, and Gahmuret's cousin Kaylet, besiege the eight eastern gates, while the Moorish army of King Razalic of Azagouc attacks the eight western gates.
Gahmuret offers his services to the city, and his offer is accepted by Queen Belacane. He conquers Gaschier, Hieuteger, and Razalic, and avoids a joust with Kaylet because of their kinship. As Killirjacac was already captured by the army of Patelamunt, victory is won. Gahmuret marries Queen Belacane and becomes king of Zazamanc and Azagouc. Growing bored with peace, Gahmuret steals away on a ship, abandoning his wife, who is twelve weeks pregnant. Belacane later gives birth to a son, Feirefiz, whose skin is black with white spots.
Gahmuret returns to the West, where he meets and marries Queen Herzeloyde. Ever restless, however, he soon returns to fight for the Baruch in the Far East, where he is later killed by a treacherous acquaintance.
Grief-stricken at her husband's death, the pregnant Herzeloyde retires to a secluded forest dwelling and vows to protect her new child, Parzival, from the ways of knighthood at all costs. Brought up solely by his mother, Parzival is raised entirely ignorant of chivalry and the ways of men, not even knowing his own name or lineage. His seclusion is shattered one day, however, by the appearance of four knights passing through the wood who tell him of King Arthur's great court at Camelot. Enamored of the knights' noble bearing and their tales of the glories of knighthood, he decides to go join Arthur's court. His mother is heartbroken at the news of his decision but allows him to depart, giving him a few words of advice beforehand on how to behave in civilization and dressing him in rough fool's garments in the hopes that the knights will refuse to take him in. Soon after his departure, she dies, utterly bereft.
The first part of the journey takes place completely in the world of King Arthur and Parzival gets entangled in first guilt. Because he does not know the meaning of the pledge of love (Minnepfand), he snatches a ring and a brooch away from Jeschute, the wife of duke Orilus. Orilus thinks his wife has committed adultery and treats her brutally, vowing to kill any knight he meets until he finds Parzival. Parzival meets his cousin Sigune, whose lover has just been slain by Orilus, and she reveals to him his true name. Before the gates of Nantes, Ither, the red knight, has pitched his tents. Parzival goes into the town to King Arthur, and reports meeting Ither and requests to fight him so as to obtain his beautiful red armor. The colourful and strange appearance of Parzival awakens the interest of the court. During the fight he kills Ither with a javelin and puts on his armor. Without returning to the court of Arthur he rides away; still wearing his rustic clothes underneath the armour. Now he meets Gurnemanz from whom he learns every right and duty of a knight, but above all self-control and moderation, Gurnemanz gives him the advice to avoid curiosity: "ir ensult niht vil gefragen".
Parzival meets and falls in love with the maiden Condwiramurs when he lends his aid to her town, which is under siege. They marry, but he leaves soon afterward to seek news of his mother and arrives at the castle of the Grail. He does not ask his host, the Fisher King Anfortas, about his mysterious wound, however, or about the magical object before him, remembering Gurnemanz's advice to be not too curious. The next morning Parzival finds himself completely alone in a totally deserted castle, leading him to speculate that his experiences of the previous night were an illusion conjured by malevolent spirits to snare him.
Parzival returns to the world of Arthur and meets again Sigune, who now explains him that his mother Herzeloyde is the sister of the dangerously ill Anfortas, king of the grail. He also meets Jeschute again, who was unwittingly humiliated by him the last time, and he defeats Orilus in a single combat. Eventually Parzival renews the marriage of Jeschute and Orilus. Parzival returns as a perfect potential member of the Round Table to King Arthur. But during a festive meal Cundrie, messenger of the grail, appears, curses Parzival in the name of the grail and claims that Parzival had lost his honour. Parzival immediately leaves the court, even though he is not able to understand his guilt. For a while Gawan takes over as the central figure of the book while Parzival appears as a red knight who fights on "the other side." All along he fights for the good, but he suffers from his distance to God. After nearly five years of wandering and fighting, from combat he gains a new horse, one owned by a grail knight, and this horse leads the despairing knight one Good Friday to Trevrizent to whom he introduces himself as a regretful sinner. He stays with this holy man for fourteen days. From him he learns about the hidden meaning of life and the true meaning of the grail.
With that action Parzival makes the first step to a life of spiritual understanding. Through his loneliness and through his yearning for the grail and for Condwiramurs he puts himself outside the world of Arthur. He is called to another world, that of the grail. He fights with a knight who is the first to seem more adept even than he. Parzival's sword breaks, but instead of slaying him, the other knight sees no honor in such a feat and both retire to the grass. There they learn that they share the same father. "I was against my own self," says Parzival to Feirefiz, his brother from afar. Again Cundrie appears and proclaims now that Parzival's name has appeared on the grail, marking him as the new grail king. During his journey to the grail Parzival reunites with his wife and takes Feirefiz as a companion. Feirefiz cannot see the grail, but he can see the grail maiden and promptly falls in love with her.
Editions
The standard edition of the text is Karl Lachmann's, 1926. This is the basis for all modern editions, including:
- Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival. De Gruyter 2003. ISBN 3-11-017859-1.
Translations
English
- Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival with Titurel and The Love-lyrics, trans. Cyril Edwards. Boydell Press, 2004. ISBN 1-84384-005-7.
- Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, trans. A.T.Hatto. Penguin 1980. ISBN 0-14-044361-4.
- Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, A Romance of the Middle Ages, trans. Helen M. Mustard and Charles E. Passage. Vintage Books, 1961. ISBN 0-394-70188-7
Modern German
Many recent editions of the text include a translation into Modern German, including
- Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival. De Gruyter 2003. ISBN 3-11-017859-1. With prose translation by Peter Knecht.
- Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, (2 vols). Deutscher Klassiker Verlag 2006. ISBN 3-618-68007-4. With verse translation by Dieter Kühn.
- Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, (2 vols). Reclam 1986 ISBN 3-15-003682-8 und ISBN 3-15-003681-X. With translation by Wolfgang Spiewok.
External links
- Literary Encyclopedia entry on Parzival
- Electronic version of a Parzival-manuscript from the Bibliotheca Palatina (Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg) -from the workplace of Diebold Lauber in Hagenau around 1443-1446.
- E-text of Parzival ('Bibliotheca Augustana')
Sources
- Otto Springer. "Wolfram's Parzival" in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, Roger S. Loomis (ed.). Clarendon Press: Oxford University. 1959. ISBN 0-19-811588-1