Mario Bürki

Perceval

Parzival was one of the most important knights at King Arthur's court, not only because of his unusual career, but above all because of his role in the search for the Holy Grail. Numerous important authors of the Middle Ages dealt with this topic, including Chrétien de Troyes ("Perceval", around 1150) and Wolfram von Eschenbach ("Parzifal", around 1200).

Parzival, raised by his mother in the solitude of the forest, is an outsider at Arthur's court. He does not know the strict rules that govern courtly life, knows nothing about how people live together and even less about chivalry and its ideals. In his foolishness, he mistakes the first knights he meets for angels, then leaves his mother behind in solitude to become a knight too. He meets the Red Knight, slays him dishonorably, takes his armor, arrives at the royal court and fancies himself a knight. The learning process will be slow and painful until he is rightly allowed to use this honorary title.

Like most other Arthurian knights, Parzival goes in search of the Holy Grail at some point. Only very few get anywhere near it, but Parzival is even invited to the Grail Castle, where he is allowed to watch a procession in which veiled maidens carry an obviously holy object veiled in light past the ailing Grail King. But even though Parzival has already become a true knight in many ways, he lacks the nobility and spiritual maturity to ask the decisive compassionate question, and so he is expelled from the castle again and the Fisher King remains unredeemed. Only another wandering through the world will make Parzival worthy and his second visit to Carbonek Castle finally redeems Amfortas and makes Parzival the new guardian of the Grail Castle.