THE MAIMED KING

 

Fisher King was the name given to the succession of kings who were entrusted to guard the Grail; some of whom are Brons (or Helbron), Pelle, and Anfortas.

The goal of the quest was to reach the elusive home of the Fisher King and ask the (correctly worded) question. [Think the Greek Sphynx). It waas believed that this would unlock the secret of the Grail, whereupon the king would be healed of his wound and the wasteland would rejuvenate. Here the Maimed King or Wounded King motif was fused with the already confounded nature of the Fisher King. Adding to the confusion is that there can be up to three wounded kings.

Brons is one fo the first Fisher Kings, who in Robert de Borton's work sufferes from (great) old age but has no wound. It is explained in Boron's Joseph of Arimathea that upon the command of God, grons caught a fish and placed it with the Grail, where it became part of a mystic meal from which only the worthy could partake. Therefore, Brons is called "The Rich Fisher.f

In the work of Chretien de Troyes, there are two kings. One suffers from old age and is the father of the wounded Fisher King. Chretien reasons that the King is called "Fisher" King because of his fondness of fishing. The Parzival of von Eschenbach is the same in having two kings, but there are three kings: Pelles, his father, and Mordrain. Pelles and his father are both within the Grail Castle, and either one may be referred to as the Fisher King.



Percivale--and later, Galahad--were descendants of the Grail Guardians. In the case of Percivale, once he has achieved his Quest and land and king are whole, Percivale is appointed the "Keeper of the High Word," thus releasing his elders from their charge, allowing them to pass on to the Otehrworld. In the tale of galahad, the hero heals the king adn his land, and then withdraws from thsi world with the Grail.



Some maintain that the Fisher King is a Christian motif, owing to the early Christian symbol of the fish; othrrs argue that Brons is the avatar of the Welsh Bran the Blessed who suffered from a wounded foot [again think Achilles heel]. It is further explained that the fish equates with the Celtic Salmon of Knowledge. Continuing on the Celtic line, some consider Pelles to be the original Fisher King and connect him with Pwyll of the Welsh Mabinongion.



It has been theorized that the wise Fisher King was the central figure of an age-old symbolic rejuvenation ritual that involved the phallic symbol of the spear and its feminine counterpart, the cup/cauldron. In this line of thought, the ritual healing of the king, who was bound in a sacred marriage to the land, was performed to bring renewal and fertility to the earth.



Though we may never know the origins of the Fisher/Maimed King, it would seem that most instinctively relate and intuitively feel the old magick that surrounds the figure. The magnetic Fisherr King and his wasting lands continue to fascinate our modern world--perhaps with good reason.







Ferguson, Anna-Marie. Keeper of Words. 1995 Llewellyn Publications. St. Paul, Minnesota. (241-242)

 

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