The Character and Role of Bohort in the Vulgate Cycle

Abstract

Bohort's importance in the Vulgate Cycle has been dealt with to some extent in all the critical works but no real attempt has been made to turn this into a comprehensive study. Thus I have attempted in the following pages to tackle this character in all the romances in which he appears in the Vulgate Cycle and to establish his importance, as I firmly believe that he contributes in a very big way to these romances. His development as a character has been closely followed by analyzing his worth as chivalrous Knight of the Round Table and by examining his relationships with other important characters of the Vulgate Cycle, especially his cousin Lancelot. In addition, the study has also served as an attempt to try and determine the authorship of the Vulgate Cycle. This was perhaps the most intriguing part of the research and it was extremely difficult to arrive at any sort of a coherent conclusion. I tried to determine the authorship by examining the consistency in the presentation of Bohort and I tend to believe that more than one author was responsible for the compilation of the Vulgate Cycle. It does seem though, that this team of authors could have been inspired by a plan laid out by a single person.