Joseph of Arimathea and the Arthurian tradition

One of the most intriguing figures in the Arthurian literature is Joseph of Arimathea who supposedly brought the Holy Grail and the Christian faith to Britain. Although Joseph figures directly in only a small portion of the Arthurian material, he is ever present in the background, and it is this presence that helps to tie the Arthurian history into a coherent whole and legitimizes the chivalric material, giving a spiritual direction to an otherwise secular story, and transforming the saga into a complex Christian allegory.

In this study, the figure of Joseph of Arimathea is traced from every available viewpoint. Chapter I deals with the develop ment of the figure of Joseph in Biblical and apocryphal tradition and demonstrates why he of all the possible Biblical personages was the logical choice for bearer of the Holy Grail and first evangelist to Britain. Chapter II traces his development through the pseudohistory of the romances and suggests that his history closely corresponds to that of Arthur and that it is the merging of these two histories which provides the Arthurian story with its peculiar vitality. Chapter III examines Joseph of Arimathea in the individual romances and attempts to outline the process by which the standard version of this figure was derived. Chapter IV then discusses the effect of Joseph upon the Arthurian romances as a whole, with special emphasis upon the cycles, and concludes that what unity and spiritual thrust the romances possess is largely a result iv of his presence. Chapter V traces his development after Malory's Morte Darthur and demonstrates the steadily increasing influence of the Glastonbury legends of Joseph, which downplay his association with the Grail, upon later Arthurian literature. Ultimately, it is the Glastonbury version of Joseph's story which shows the greatest vitality, for after he ceases to play a dominant role in later versions of the Arthurian story, Joseph's alternate Glaston bury legend has enjoyed a steadily increasing popularity. In fact, his legend is accepted as truth by many who regard that of Arthur as myth.