Perceforest, Le Roman de. First devised, probably in Hainaut, between 1314 and 1340, this vast prose romance was probably adapted in mid-15th-c. Burgundy. In one great pseudo-historical sweep, it links the cycles of Alexander the Great and Arthur. Inspired by the prowess of the former, Britain under Perceforest and his lineage becomes an oasis of civilization, prefiguring the Round Table, in which chivalric and spiritual values are increasingly established. Through a proliferation of quests and adventures, his tone varying from the farcical to the tragic, the anonymous writer follows a firm narrative thread culminating in the coming of the Grail and the birth of Merlin, and heralding the birth of Alexander's descendant, King Arthur.
[Jane Taylor]
