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Primary Sources: Le Morte D’Arthur, Book II Chapter XVI — 3 Comments

  1. Wow! I’m not totally surprised at how accurate my prediction was, but a widespread death curse is a bit extreme, even for Sir Malory. How did Joseph’s corpse get to England, being that the Romans were just starting to show an interest in the place in 0-100 A.D.? And he apparently started a family there, since he had a direct descendant? I guess his tomb in Jerusalem had been ruined by You Know Who when He also disappeared from the living a few hundred years earlier. Might as well keep Joe’s corpse in England then, it’s only a thousand or so miles away. Did he die in England or did his descendants tote along his body when they moved there? So many questions left unanswered that have nothing to do with this story. I guess that’s why it takes 257? chapters.

    The big question: Will the Idiot Knight manage to encounter even one female without causing her death? Probably not, given his track record.

    • William Blake wrote a poem about this whole unlikely spiel, Joseph and the grail being in England, which became a beloved drinking song or something. I know it from Monty Python:

      And did those feet in ancient time.
      Walk upon Englands mountains green:
      And was the holy Lamb of God,
      On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

      And did the Countenance Divine,
      Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
      And was Jerusalem builded here,
      Among these dark Satanic Mills?

      Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
      Bring me my Arrows of desire:
      Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
      Bring me my Chariot of fire!

      I will not cease from Mental Fight,
      Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
      Till we have built Jerusalem,
      In Englands green & pleasant Land

  2. They sang the New Jerusalem in the Opening ceremonies for the Olympics. You might have missed it with all the craziness.

    Lots of reasons have been give for ole Joe hoofing it to the far corners of the empire. Glastonbury, in the middle of a big swamp, doesn’t seem like the most likely of places for desert dweller to settle in. Maybe he was stick of sand. But then it couldn’t have been too different, since the Thorn grew there well enough.

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