History Literature / Parzival

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Li contes del Graal ou Le roman de Perceval'' by Chrétien de Troyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien. ''Parzival'' was the equivalent of a best-seller in its age: no other 13th-century literary work was copied or quoted as often.

''Parzival'' proved very influential in the presentation of the Grail Legend, as well as being the touchstone for the German understanding of the stories of King Arthur. RichardWagner's last opera, ''Parsifal'', was based on this, while his earlier opera ''{{Lohengrin}}'' was written around a sequel to the poem [[note]]Lohengrin is Parzival's son[[/note]].

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Li contes del Graal ou Le roman de Perceval'' by Chrétien de Troyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien. ''Parzival'' was the equivalent of a best-seller in its age: no other 13th-century literary work was copied as often (there are over 80 manuscripts in existence).

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Li contes del Graal ou Le roman de Perceval'' by Chrétien de Troyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien. ''Parzival'' was the equivalent of a best-seller in its age: no other 13th-century literary work was copied as often.

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Li contes del Graal ou Le roman de Perceval'' by Chrétien de Troyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: For Parzival this is [[spoiler: his elder brother Feirefis]].

* DuelToTheDeath: Pretty much every encounter Parzival or Gawan have with another knight ends in this.

* LongLostRelative: Several, but especially Parzival's Moorish half-brother Feirefis.

* MixedAncestry: Feirefis. Being the son of a white father and a white mother, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology he has skin that is black and white like a magpie]].

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Gahmuret's two sons are this to his two widows. Wolfram in particular describes Belacane kissing the white parts of baby Feirefis's piebald skin because they reminded her of his father.

* [[DamselInDistress Damsels in Distress]: Gahmuret, Parzival and Gawan save their share. Taken up to Eleven with Gawan, who has to liberate several hundreds of ladies imprisoned by the wizard Klingsor in his castle.

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Li contes del Graal ou Le roman de Perceval'' by Chrétien des Troyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien.

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Gahmuret's two sons are this to his two widows. Wolfram in particular describes who Belacane would kiss the white parts of baby Feirefis's piebald skin because they reminded her of his father.

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Perceval, le Conte du Graal'' by Chrétien des Troyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Wolfram linked the already existing but originally completely unrelated stories of Percivale and the Swan Knight by identifying the latter as Parzival's son Loherangrin.

* PlotTumor: Some look on much of the Gawan-centric chapters as this, but the Gawan plot actually serves an important purpose: The protagonist and deuteragonist epitomize two different models of chivalry, Gawan as the perfect knight in the traditional Arthurian mold, while Parzival aspires to a higher ideal as a Knight of the Grail.

* MeaningfulNames: Quite a few, even if it is not always easy to see as they usually take the form of Old French names phonetically spelled by a speaker of Middle High German. For instance, the Grail Castle is called ''Munsalvaesche'', which would correspond to Modern French ''Mont Sauvage'' (wild mountain).

* ThrowTheDogABone: Sir Kay tends to be a bit of a JerkAss and ButtMonkey in Arthurian Romance, but when he portrays Kay getting into a fight with Parzival (and losing, of course), Wolfram notes that in his distrust of strangers coming to Arthur's and rudeness to them he actually fulfilled a valuable function. If only, Wolfram says, his own benefactor Duke Henry of Thuringia had a Kay at his court [[TakeThat it would not be so overrun with spongers]]!

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Parzival, spurred by what his mother told him a knight should do, innocently takes tokens of her favour. When her husband arrives once Parzival has gone, he believes that she has been unfaithful to him. This is definitely not PlayedForLaughs.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: For Parzival this is [[spoiler: his half-brother Feirefis]].

* MixedAncestry: Feirefis.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Parzival, spurred by what he has heard a knight should do, innocently takes tokens of her favour. When her husband arrives once Parzival has gone, he believes that she has been unfaithful to him. This is definitely not PlayedForLaughs.

* InterracialRomance: Parzival's father Gahmuret and his black-skinned first wife Belacane, mother of Feirefis.

* RedIsHeroic: Parzival, early on, is known as the Red Knight, on account of his armour.

* TheGoodKing: King Arthur.
* TheHermit: Trevrizent, the retired knight.

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Perceval, le Conte du Graal'' by Chrétien des Troyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival''.