Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram's Parzival

254 Pages·2006·3.52 MB·English

by  G. Ronald Murphy

Gemstone of Paradise
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Gemstone of Paradise
The Holy Grail in Wolfram’s Parzival
g. ronald murphy, s.j.
1
2006
1
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Murphy,G.Ronald,1938–
Gemstoneofparadise:theHolyGrailinWolfram’sParzival/
G.RonaldMurphy.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13978-0-19-530639-2
ISBN0-19-530639-2
1. Wolfram,vonEschenbach,12thcent.Parzival. 2. Grail—
Romances—Historyandcriticism. I. Title.
PT1688.M872006
831'.21—dc222005027731
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
To
Madelyn Willoughby Murphy
my mother
and
to
my four families
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Acknowledgments
ResearchingtheGrailisaquestthatbringsoneintocontactwith
manyhelpingfiguresalongtheway,somewholivedlongago,some
wholivenow,somenear,andsomefaraway.IhopeIcanexpressa
tokenofmygratitudeherefortheassistanceIreceivedinarrivingat
thegoalofthisquestbymentioningafewnames.Letmebeginin
Europe.IwouldliketothankBrunoKochandthepersonnelofthe
Muse´esRoyauxinBrusselswhogavemeeasyaccesstotheTreasury
withitspricelessreliquariesandportablealtars.InBamberg,Iam
gratefultoWalterMilutzki,DirectoroftheDio¨zesanMuseum,who
actedasmyguideandletmeexamineandphotographbothoftheir
portablealtars,whilehewasatthesametimeattemptingtodirect
theoverflowcrowdcomingtoviewaspecialexhibitionofBamberg’s
medievaltreasures.InSiegburg,attheTreasuryofSt.Servatius,I
wasgivenleavetoexaminetheirholdingsandtreatedtoaspecial
showingofdrawersanddrawersofpreciousmedievalcloth.Aspe-
cialthankyougoestotheparishcouncilofSt.Servatiusforarrang-
ingphotographyformeandforgrantingpermissiontousethere-
sults.ThroughallofthistraveltheJesuitsoftheHochschuleSankt
GeorgeninFrankfurtgavemeacomfortableplacetocallhome
base.
InWashington,IamgratefultoGeorgetownUniversityforgiv-
ingmeleavetofinishthisproject,toitsJesuitCommunityforgiv-
ingenthusiasticencouragement,andtoLauingerLibrary’sinterli-
braryloanstafffordoingtheirownsuccessfulquestingonmy
viii acknowledgments
behalf.Agreatdealoftheresearchforthisbookwasdoneduringasabbatical,
duringwhichtimeIwasespeciallyhelpedbyPrincetonUniversity’scollection
ofmedievalGermanauthorsattheFirestoneLibrary,aswellasbytheholdings
in medieval art of Princeton’s Marquand Library. The proximity of the two
librariestooneanotherononecampusisamostwelcomeboonforthescholar.
In nearby Hamilton, New Jersey, I once again made use of the Hamilton Li-
brary’s quiet room to complete many chapters of this book. St. Joseph’sUni-
versityinPhiladelphiagraciouslyassistedmeinthecompletionofthisproject
bythegenerousawardoftheMacLeanChair,forwhichIamverygrateful.
I am delighted to be able once again to acknowledge the support and
encouragement of Cynthia Read of Oxford University Press. Her experience,
competence,andenthusiasmareoneofthemostwelcomepartsofpresenting
a manuscript to her for publication. She makes it a gratifying experience for
anauthortoworkwithaneditor.Iamdeeplygratefultohernowforthefourth
time. I owe a special debt to her patient assistant, Julia TerMaat. I would like
to thank also Oxford’s anonymous readers for their suggestions, both critical
andpositive.Manyofthesuggestionshavebeenadopted,totheenhancement
of the book. I am particularly indebted to the anonymous reader who con-
stantly, and positively, considered the manuscript from the pointof viewof it
beinga pleasure.Thankyou.Twootherreadersvolunteeredtoreadtheman-
uscriptpriortoitssubmissioninanattempttoheadoffmyvariousslipsand
typos.AspecialthankyouforthisselflessservicegoestoJamesWalsh,S.J.,of
GeorgetownUniversity,andtomyformerstudentJenniferNiedermeyer.
It is hard to express sufficient gratitude to Bonnie Wheeler of Southern
MethodistUniversity,whoataconferenceofmedievalistsinsistedonreading
thewholemanuscriptoneeveninginonefellswoop.Herimmediatelyenthu-
siasticreactionandherinsightfuldiscussionofthethesisthefollowingmorn-
ingwasasupportthattheauthorwillneverforget.
I would like to thank Vintage Books, of Random House, for numerous
citationsoftheirEnglishversionofParzival,translatedbyHelenMustardand
Charles Passage. For translations of Scripture into English, I have generally
reliedontheRevisedStandardVersion(RSV)andtheNewInternationalVer-
sion(NIV).TranslationsoftheOldLatinaremine.Forillustrationsandviews
of the Holy Sepulcher and for carefully researched information on the stone
of the burial couch, I would like to thank Professor Martin Biddle of Oxford
University. I am further grateful to many sources for the illustrativematerial
foundinthisbook.AmongthosetobeacknowledgedaretheCentredesmon-
umentsnationaux,Paris;Bildarchiv-Monheim;ProfessorWaltherK.Stoitzner
and the Chorherrenstift Klosterneuburg;TheVaticanLibrary;MichaelThuns
and LVR-Rheinisches Amt fu¨r Denkmalpflege; The PierpontMorganLibrary,
acknowledgments ix
New York; The Conway Library, Courtauld Institute of Art, London; The
Bridgeman Art Library, New York; Ko¨nemann Verlagsgesellschaft, Cologne;
and The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Once again, a very special word of
thanks goes to the Dio¨zesan Museum in Bamberg and to the parish council
ofSt.ServatiusinSiegburgforgivingmepermissionfortheuseofreproduc-
tions and for providing me with more detailed photographs of the portable
altarsintheircare—aswellasforbeingsohelpfultoavisitingscholar.
Lastlyawordofthankstomymother,whohelpedmenotonlybyproviding
awarmandcomfortableplacetoworkbutevenbyvolunteeringtocorrectmy
manuscript, from which task she was only dissuaded by a lack of medieval
GermanandLatin.Shehelpedbypatientlywatchingmegooninthequest.