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The Noble Tale of the Sangreal
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1920
15 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Malory
886 books751 followersFrom French sources, Sir Thomas Malory, English writer in floruit in 1470, adapted
Le Morte d'Arthur
, a collection of romances, which William Caxton published in 1485.
From original tales such as the Vulgate Cycle , Sir Thomas Malory, an imprisoned knight in the fifteenth century, meanwhile compiled and translated the tales, which we know as the legend of king.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...
From original tales such as the Vulgate Cycle , Sir Thomas Malory, an imprisoned knight in the fifteenth century, meanwhile compiled and translated the tales, which we know as the legend of king.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 5, 2025
Floating chalice, Lancelot losing ego, and Galahad being THE knight... I love Malory.
September 21, 2014
A really engrossing story (or part of a story) despite the fact that it largely ignores building up any connection between the reader and any of the characters (Sir Lancelot, I suppose, is the main exception). The author was clearly just using the Grail quest as a pretext for advocating some relatively extreme Christian values, which is shown in how comically formulaic the whole story is. (1. Be a knight of the Round Table. 2. Do something. That thing is either good or bad. 3. Go to a holy man, holy woman or a hermit. If the thing you did step 2 was good, you will be commended and told that you're on the right track to reaching the Grail. If the thing you did was bad, then you will be berated and told that you will not reach the Grail. You will likely still keep on adventuring even if the latter is the case, though, because you're Sir Gawain and you're a doofus.) Despite all that, the adventures themselves can be really entertaining: Sir Bors' development is spectacular, as Malory illustrates very well through him a sense of growth and movement towards Christian ideals; the mythology that underlies that magical sword on the boat (yes, this is a thing) is convoluted and tries a little hard to fit the two most famous Biblical kings into the narrative, but its uniqueness still allows for it to work in the long run; and Sir Lancelot's adventure gives the story an emotional (and tragic, in a way) layer that makes the didactic intentions of the author a lot less obnoxious. There's also some unintentional humour in characters like Sir Galahad - the way Sir Lancelot basically just says, "Yeah, a really virtuous dude is gonna show up and take this sword out of a stone; then we're gonna go on a quest for the Grail" is such forced foreshadowing that it becomes hilarious when Sir Galahad shows up about 2 minutes later and fulfills Lancelot's "prophecy". Ditto to how Sir Galahad is basically so perfect of a human being that he never has any of the conflicts that the other two virtuous knights have and chooses to die soon after reaching the Grail; he's so unconcerned with the material world that I always imagine him working through his adventure towards the Grail with a really tired, uninterested look on his face, thinking, "Am I gonna get to die soon?"
Middle English prose is something I was completely inexperienced with before reading this, but it wasn't a difficult adjustment; I'd be lying if I didn't say it actually helped me become more immersed in the story, as it pulls you away from the dialect you're familiar with and brings all of the Medieval stereotypes out of hiding. I also really like that the word "Anon" used to be in such frequent use.
Middle English prose is something I was completely inexperienced with before reading this, but it wasn't a difficult adjustment; I'd be lying if I didn't say it actually helped me become more immersed in the story, as it pulls you away from the dialect you're familiar with and brings all of the Medieval stereotypes out of hiding. I also really like that the word "Anon" used to be in such frequent use.
January 8, 2022
Read for HUMS3200 at Carleton University.
Not sure if this is the right version, since the professor just gave us a PDF of this to print out. But the story was really interesting - this is the first time I've read an original version of the Holy Grail quest. I actually watched Monty Python And The Holy Grail around the time I was reading this and was amused that I noticed similarities between the movie and the story - I'd not considered they might have tried to take things from the original legends to twist and make funny, like the castle of maidens that Galahad encounters.
Not sure if this is the right version, since the professor just gave us a PDF of this to print out. But the story was really interesting - this is the first time I've read an original version of the Holy Grail quest. I actually watched Monty Python And The Holy Grail around the time I was reading this and was amused that I noticed similarities between the movie and the story - I'd not considered they might have tried to take things from the original legends to twist and make funny, like the castle of maidens that Galahad encounters.
February 23, 2019
Yeah enjoyed it, the characters have a surprising degree of nuance for what is primarily a religious text. Keeps the pages turning in that way.
March 10, 2015
ANON, FOR GRACE OF THE MOST LEVE AND NOBLESSE KNIGHTES OF GRET DAUNGER AND CORAGE I DOON TO WRIT THIS BOOKE SIKERLY AL IN INGLYSSH TRU
No, nope, I can't, that alone took me like five minutes. Anyways, Malory is THE easiest Middle English to read, and is a complete staple for anyone interested in original Arthurian legend. It bears saying that if you take this as a stand-alone book, a lot of it won't make sense. This is the middle part of Le Morte d'Arthur, and is meant to be read as a middle part. A lot of prophecies from the earlier books come true here, and more prophecies are made for later books.
In this take of the Sankgreal, a vision of the covered Holy Grail comes before the Round Table. Of course, this entices Gawain to decide to go on a quest for a true Grail vision, and then of course, 150 other knights (the entire Round Table) decide that this is a really good idea. Arthur cries a little bit and whines a lot at their leaving. No, seriously.
Of course, not everyone can achieve a Grail vision, and Malory's text guides readers through unsuccessful Grail quests (the most hilarious of which is Gawain, who doesn't give a single crap about anything, including penance for his wickedness), partial Grail visions (Lancelot, who would have been the perfect knight, if not for all of those times he slept with another dude's wife) and complete Grail visions (Perceval, Galahad, Bors).
You have to be creepishly perfect to have a Grail vision, which is why 3/150 make it. Perceval is as virginal as a silky newborn calf. Galahad (Lancelot's son) is descended from Joseph of Arimathea on his mother's side, and eight ancestors away from JESUS on Lancelot's side, so obviously he's the asexual prince of this tale. Bors is an almost-virgin-except-for-that-one-time-so-I-guess-it-doesn't-really-count.
Perfection is super boring though, and so all of these flawed knights are much more interesting than the Chosen Three. Lancelot especially. Malory had the biggest repressed homoerotic love for Lancelot. Actually, actually. It's wonderful. You get the feeling that if he could have had his way he'd have absolved him of all his sins and made him gain the complete vision, but couldn't quite bring himself to stray that far from the original French.
The Grail is so mythologized in modern culture, it's wicked to read some of the original sources for it in the English. Once you get into the swing of the diction, it flies.
No, nope, I can't, that alone took me like five minutes. Anyways, Malory is THE easiest Middle English to read, and is a complete staple for anyone interested in original Arthurian legend. It bears saying that if you take this as a stand-alone book, a lot of it won't make sense. This is the middle part of Le Morte d'Arthur, and is meant to be read as a middle part. A lot of prophecies from the earlier books come true here, and more prophecies are made for later books.
In this take of the Sankgreal, a vision of the covered Holy Grail comes before the Round Table. Of course, this entices Gawain to decide to go on a quest for a true Grail vision, and then of course, 150 other knights (the entire Round Table) decide that this is a really good idea. Arthur cries a little bit and whines a lot at their leaving. No, seriously.
Of course, not everyone can achieve a Grail vision, and Malory's text guides readers through unsuccessful Grail quests (the most hilarious of which is Gawain, who doesn't give a single crap about anything, including penance for his wickedness), partial Grail visions (Lancelot, who would have been the perfect knight, if not for all of those times he slept with another dude's wife) and complete Grail visions (Perceval, Galahad, Bors).
You have to be creepishly perfect to have a Grail vision, which is why 3/150 make it. Perceval is as virginal as a silky newborn calf. Galahad (Lancelot's son) is descended from Joseph of Arimathea on his mother's side, and eight ancestors away from JESUS on Lancelot's side, so obviously he's the asexual prince of this tale. Bors is an almost-virgin-except-for-that-one-time-so-I-guess-it-doesn't-really-count.
Perfection is super boring though, and so all of these flawed knights are much more interesting than the Chosen Three. Lancelot especially. Malory had the biggest repressed homoerotic love for Lancelot. Actually, actually. It's wonderful. You get the feeling that if he could have had his way he'd have absolved him of all his sins and made him gain the complete vision, but couldn't quite bring himself to stray that far from the original French.
The Grail is so mythologized in modern culture, it's wicked to read some of the original sources for it in the English. Once you get into the swing of the diction, it flies.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews