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> The
Times
> > TUESDAY JULY 10 2001 > > The hidden treasures of King Arthur > > BY ROBERT COCKBURN > > A middle-aged housewife's interpretation of Camelot has caused > controversy in the world of medieval literature > > An Australian grandmother has made a sensational discovery about the > legends of King Arthur and his court. Joan Helm, 64, believes that she > has unearthed a secret subtext that has remained hidden for 800 years. > It seems as if this unassuming, intensely private and shy woman has > scooped the academic world. > > The original Arthurian romances, the tales of Camelot, King Arthur, > his Queen Guinevere, Lancelot and The Story of the Grail, were written > by a Frenchman called Chr�tien de Troyes in the 12th century. > > Scholars have always been baffled by some of the more bizarre episodes > described in the stories: de Troyes's heroes' fits of madness, for > instance, strange number puzzles or the Arthurian coronation robes > emblazoned with symbols of geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy. > > But for eight centuries no manuscript analyst had been able to work > out what they all meant. Enter a down-to-earth housewife from a > Brisbane suburb. Like many people when they reach midlife and their > children have left home, Helm wanted an intellectual challenge. She > enrolled in an English literature course at Queensland University, and > one of her course books happened to be the Arthurian Romances, > translated into English. > > "As I read them I became irritated by the way Lancelot and others > swooned into madness at the sight of Guinevere's golden hair," she > says. "I am a mum and a grandma and I know what teenage boys are like. > Lancelot is so excessive that I knew there had to be another > explanation. > > "There had to be some deeper meaning to this ridiculous behaviour. I > suspected that de Troyes was trying to convey something else but for > some reason was disguising his meaning." > > Like a latter-day Miss Marple, Helm began a quest that was to take her > along an academic road that was as exciting as it was fraught. First > of all she taught herself old French so she could follow the legends > in the original. Then she applied her mathematical brain (a phenomenal > aptitude for numbers of which she was virtually unaware until she > began this investigation) to the words and discovered a remarkable > sequence of numbers that provided a key to unlocking some of the > legends' mysteries. > > Like all good detective stories, the clue that was to unravel the > secret treasures lay in a small detail. Sorting out photocopies of the > manuscript's pages on her living room floor, Helm saw a huge grid > system unfolding in its precisely numbered lines. Unexplained ornate > capitals and events are written at line numbers that correspond to > Greek mathematical ratios. > > The two most famous legends are Lancelot and The Story of the Grail > (not called Holy Grail in the original). Lancelot is the tale of a > knight torn between his love and his honour. As King Arthur's most > trusted warrior, he falls in love with Queen Guinevere. Choosing love > over honour, Lancelot descends into madness and becomes an outcast - a > parallel with those who defied the Church to follow Platonic > philosophy. > > Following de Troyes's clues, Helm found examples of classical > structural and narrative patterns inspired by the Greek, Arab and > Jewish learning being rediscovered by Christian Europe at the time. De > Troyes was writing for Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine in an age of > crusades and tumultuous change. > > His tales mirror their passions and power games but also, according to > Helm, the scientific and philosophical discoveries that would shape > the Western world. Such learning was condemned as heresy by the > Church, which was swift to excommunicate overt writers such as Abelard > (of Abelard and H�lo�se fame). > > Does Helm's discovery suggest that de Troyes was being deliberately > covert in order to avoid the Christian Church's threat of eternal > damnation? Academics will probably argue about it for the next eight > centuries. > > One of Helm's theories concerns an ornate, painted capital letter "E" > which appears for no particular reason in the middle of the manuscript > telling the story of Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart. (No one, > including Helm, has a theory as to why it is an E as opposed to any > other letter.) She argues that the "E" is at line 4,401. By dividing > the total line count of the story, 7,118, by 4,401, you arrive at the > Greek golden ratio, 1.618 or Phi. This is the sacred geometry Plato > said the Gods used to create the Universe. It shapes the spiral of the > nautilus shell and the face of the sunflower and gives the proportions > of the Parthenon and Europe's Gothic cathedrals. > > "It sounds strange today but the medieval mind was obsessed with the > mystical power of Greek numbers and geometry," says Helm. "These new > numerals were thought of as something evil because they had come from > the pagan world - this was enough to get them banned. > > "When I saw the geometric pattern emerging I thought 'bingo'. Here is > an explanation for some of the characters' absurd behaviour. It made > me very happy," says Helm. > > "I saw that knights went into trances with golden hair at line numbers > corresponding with those golden ratios in Lancelot and Cliges. > Throughout the Arthurian Romances you get these apparently absurd > scenes that you feel must have some concealed meaning. They did not > seem to have any intelligent or logical explanation. When Lancelot > finds the golden hairs of Guinevere in a comb, for example, he swoons > into a trance of rapture that goes on and on and on. Why do you find a > grown man swooning into some trance just because he found a hair in a > comb? "As Lancelot praises his forbidden love for the king's wife, he > says, 'He who obeys Love's command is uplifted and all shall be > forgiven him'. I think de Troyes is also expressing here a love for > the forbidden Platonic philosophy. > > "In the tale of Cliges, the hero is given a shirt by Guinevere with a > golden hair embroidered in it. The story says, again at the > significant 'golden ratio' line, 'When he beheld the hair he thought > he was lord of the whole world', which I interpret as a reference to > the ancient Greek creation story." Helm has similar "golden ratio" > explanations for de Troyes's obsession with the numbers three and five > in Erec and Enide and the first haunting Story of the Grail. > > "At the time I didn't realise what I had stumbled across. There is far > more treasure in this manuscript than one would think. I suppose the > reason no scholars have divined these extra meanings in the legends > before is because literary people generally don't know much about > maths." > > It would be easy to be fooled by her cable cardigan and soft voice but > Helm has a steely determination and is irreverently humorous about the > literary establishment. She is quintessentially Australian: brought up > in a strict Victorian family, she has a pioneering spirit. She might > have been untutored (although she has now gained her doctorate), but > she is also intellectually free of the burden of work by previous > scholars. > > Her homespun philosophy comes from a mind that is both sharp and > sceptical - and not afraid to take chances. Her uncovering of hidden > meanings, of a multicultural King Arthur in what have always been > assumed were Christian tales, is startling. > > Keith Atkinson, professor of French, who supervised Helm's > postgraduate work at Queensland University, is full of praise for his > mature student. "Joan's discovery has dramatically shifted our > understanding of medieval construction principles in texts," he says. > "Her work means a major rethink." Dr David Howlett, the editor of > Oxford University's medieval Latin dictionary, who has met opposition > to his own research on the structure of religious and literary > manuscripts, says of Helm's findings: "De Troyes's pattern leaps off > the page at you. He didn't invent the pattern but is a supreme > practitioner of it. How long do you think the arm of coincidence is?" > But Professor William W Kibler, the translator of Penguin Classics' > Arthurian Romances, one of the world's leading medievalists, from > Austin University, Texas, is dismissive. > > "I am not big on number symbolism," he says. "De Troyes was not > writing for an audience that was going to sit down with the manuscript > and try to puzzle it out." > > "Why does Lancelot behave the way he does? Is he simply crazy or is he > in love? And if you are in love, why do you behave so crazily? People > who are in love do foolish things. That is what life is like." Of > Helm's assertion that de Troyes had a "greater purpose", he admits: "I > really do not know what his meaning is. Scholars are still trying to > figure out what he means." > > Whether or not what Helm has uncovered turns out to be the Holy Grail > of literary discoveries, her achievement is remarkable for a > middle-aged woman so far from the centres of medieval learning. Her > work adds an enthralling new dimension to the mystery of Camelot. > |
