ABSTRACT
The Galahad Queste differs from the other Grail texts in being practically an independent form of the story, unrelated to any preceding version; the only romance with which it is really organically connected is the Lancelot. Numerous texts, both MS. and printed editions, of the Queste exist, but none show variants other than those due to more or less careful copying, and the impression left by the work is that of a ‘Tendenz-Schrift,’ a story invented at a special time, for a special purpose, and in no way dependent upon an earlier form. Sixteen MSS. of the work have been preserved to but, with the possible exception of a portion of the ‘Riccardiana’ text; none are earlier than the first half of the thirteenth century. While fully admitting the resemblance between the two works, the variants, to a critical student, are such that they can with difficulty be ascribed to a German imagination.
