Elaine of Corbenic

In the Vulgate Cycle and later works, Elaine of Corbenic was a lover of Lancelot and mother of Galahad.

In Chretien de Troyes' Conte du Graal, he wrote that a woman bore the Grail in a procession before Perceval. This maiden was not given a name, nor was there any indication that she was a daughter or niece of the Fisher King. This changed in the Prose Lancelot (Vulgate Cycle). The Grail Bearer was named Elaine, Amite, Helaine or Helizabel, daughter of King Pelles, the Fisher King and the Lord of Corbenic.

Note however that in the early part of the Prose Lancelot, the writer called her Amite instead of Elaine. Her beauty was compared to that of Guinevere, Arthur's queen. Only Amite and Helen (or Elaine) the Peerless was a match to Guinevere's beauty. Then the author went on to say that Amite's true name was Helizabel (Heliabel). In the pre-cyclic version of the Prose Lancelot, it mentioned that Heliabel was the sister of Perceval, while others called her Dindraine.

This Grail Maiden Elaine was also confused with Elaine the Peerless. In the Lancelot Proper (Vulgate), they were distinguished as two different people. Elaine (Grail Maiden) was the daughter of King Pelles, while Elaine the Peerless was the niece of the Lord of the Fens and wife of Persides the Red of the Castle of Gazevilte. But in Merlin (Vulgate), the writer didn't distinguish between the two, and called Pelles' daughter Elaine the Peerless, who was wife of Persides the Red.

When Lancelot came to Corbenic Castle, Pelles wanted the greatest knight in the world to be the father of the future Grail hero.

Brisane, the governess of Elaine, was also a sorceress. Brisane gave Lancelot a drug that made him think he was making love to Queen Guinevere, when the hero was actually sleeping with Elaine. A child was conceived in from this union, and Elaine became the mother of Galahad the Pure Knight, by her lover Lancelot. Galahad would be the knight who restored the kingdom which had been laid waste through powerful enchantment.

The story also indicated that Elaine also slept with Lancelot, not only because she was inspired by love for the hero, but in the hope she would conceive a son who would save her people and her father's kingdom.

It is strange that the son born from a union of an unmarried couple would win the supposedly holy Christian vessel. Normally, Christians would see that the union between Lancelot and Elaine was a sin of fornication, and that Galahad was the result of sinful birth: illegitimacy and bastardy. So it was no different from adultery, which Lancelot had committed with Queen Guinevere, and Elaine would have been condemned along with Guinevere. Yet the author indicated that this was a special union. Elaine was virgin and chaste, the bearer of the Grail. Even though Elaine would lose her maidenhood to the best knight in the world, her virginity would be passed onto her son. One of the reasons why Galahad would succeed in his quest was that he had remained pure: he had retained his virginity and chastity.

See Elaine and Galahad in Lancelot du Lac.

In Queste del Saint Graal, Elaine was the Grail Bearer when the three Grail knights finally arrived in Corbenic.