Perceval the Welshman: Identity in Medieval British Romance

My dissertation examines the literary representation of Welshness in medieval Perceval romances, challenging the assumption that this category of identity is a remnant of the Celtic origins of Perceval and Grail romance. Instead I argue that Perceval's Welshness is a way for these authors to engage their patrons and audiences in questions about what it means to be British in the Middle Ages. In my study I examine a series of texts which have hitherto been classified as 'Grail romances' and argue that they are instead Perceval romances: that is, tales preoccupied not with the object of the hero's quest but with his identity development. Whether in ChrÌÄå©tien de Troyes's Conte du Graal, the Middle English Sir Percyvell of Galles, or the Morte Darthur of Sir Thomas Malory, Perceval's mistakes are as essential to the plots of these romances as his achievements are. One clue to the medieval association of Perceval with identity is the recurring epithet li galois or de Galles, the Welshman, the one from Wales. Although Perceval's Welshness is characterized differently in each romance, it always surfaces in relation to questions about his name, ancestry, achievement, education, and fitness to belong to chivalric society. His Welshness endures, even when his relationship to the grail does not. Ultimately, Perceval's struggles with his own identity represent the struggles of individual readers to forge their own identities within communities.