Then  Walter  Map,  a  cha])lain  to  King  Henry  II.,
and  the  Englishman  of  greatest  genius  in  Henry's
reign,  a  man  who  united  li^■ely  wit  with  a  profound
religious  earnestness,  blended  Arthurian  romance
with  the  legend  of  Joseph  of  Ai'imathea  and  the  Holy
Graal  visible  only  to  the  pure  in  heart.     Taking  the


12


CASSELL'S   LIBRARY    OF   ENGLISH    LITERATURK.
[a.d.  1170


Holy  Graal  as  a  symbol  of  the  mysteries  of  God,  lie
opened  new  spiritual  depths  among  tales  of  the
animal  life  of  man,  and  elevated  Arthur  to  the  place
he  has  since  held  as  the  mj-thical  hero  of  an  essen-
tially religious  people.  Walter  Map — who  called  the
Welsh  his  countrymen,  England  "  our  mother  " — was
bom  about  the  year  11-13,  and  after  studies  in  the
University  of  Paris,  became  attached  to  the  coiu-t  of
otu-  Henry  II.,  under  whom  he  became  a  canon  of
St.  Paul's  and  a  precentor  of  Lincoln.  He  held  also
the  living  of  Westbury  in  Gloueestershii'e.  Map  has
been  called,  l)y  misunderstanding  of  the  sense  of  some
of  his  lines,  the  jovial  archdeacon ;  but  he  did  not
become  an  archdeacon  till  the  year  1196,  in  the  reign
of  Richard  I.,  when  his  work  as  a  writer  was  done.
He  then  became  Archdeacon  of  Oxford,  and  after
that  date  nothing  is  known  of  him.  His  time  of
energy  was  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.
