Joseph of Arimathea and King Evelake

Joseph of Arimathea and King Evelake are linked by conversion, sacred relics, and a promise that carries the Grail story across centuries. In the romance’s account, Joseph brings the Christian faith into Britain, while Evelake’s devotion to Joseph and the relics binds his long life to the coming of Galahad, the knight destined to achieve the Sangreal. Their relationship turns an early history of conversion into a prophecy fulfilled during the Grail quest.

Joseph and Evelake in the Grail tradition

The account places Joseph of Arimathea in Britain after his departure from Jerusalem. Joseph’s son meets Evelake, then a king at war with the Saracen ruler Tolleme la Feintes. He warns Evelake that defeat and death await unless he abandons the old law and accepts the new faith, and explains the belief in the Holy Trinity. Evelake agrees wholeheartedly. The story thus presents his conversion not as a private change alone but as a decision made amid a struggle for his kingdom.

The white shield becomes the sign of that conversion. Made for Evelake in the name of the one who died on the cross, it bears a concealed image that is revealed at a moment of great danger in battle. When Evelake orders the covering removed, his enemies see the figure of a man on the cross and are defeated. The same tradition connects faith with healing: after one of Evelake’s men loses a hand, Joseph directs him to touch the cross, and the hand is restored. The shield’s power is narrated as a manifestation of Christian belief and divine aid, not simply as a military advantage.

A bond marked by the shield

After the battle, Evelake is baptized, and most of the city’s people follow. When Joseph prepares to depart, Evelake insists on accompanying him. Their shared journey brings them to Britain, where a hostile pagan ruler imprisons Joseph. Mondrames gathers his people, comes to Britain on hearing of Joseph’s reputation, defeats the ruler, and frees him; afterward, the people are converted to the Christian faith. Evelake’s association with Joseph therefore belongs to a wider account of religious change, extending beyond the king’s own conversion.

As Joseph approaches death, Evelake asks for a token of their relationship, explaining that he has left his own country for Joseph’s sake. Joseph answers by marking Evelake’s shield with a cross made from his blood. It is to remain fresh as a remembrance of Joseph, but it also carries a restriction and a future purpose: no one may bear it without repentance until Galahad, the last of Joseph’s lineage, takes it up and performs marvelous deeds. The personal keepsake thus becomes both a relic of their bond and a sign that the story’s sacred history has not ended with Joseph’s death.

Evelake’s long vigil and Galahad’s arrival

Evelake keeps the promise’s future in view. He follows the Sangreal so persistently that, when he comes too near it, God is displeased and strikes him almost blind. Evelake asks for mercy and prays not to die before a good knight of his blood, nine degrees removed, comes to achieve the Sangreal and kiss him. His desire is specific: he wants to see that knight openly and receive the kiss before his life ends.

The answer makes Evelake’s continued life conditional on the promised meeting. A voice declares that he will not die before the knight has kissed him; when the knight comes, Evelake’s sight will return and his wounds will be healed. By the time Percivale encounters him in a monastery, Evelake is an extraordinarily old, wounded king, described as having lived three hundred winters in a holy life. At the service, he lies behind an iron enclosure, crowned, and raises his hands in prayer; the priest brings him the sacrament. A monk explains that Evelake has continued to seek the Sangreal and has been preserved until the knight of the ninth degree arrives.

Fulfillment and narrative significance

The narrative identifies that future knight as Galahad. The promise attached to the shield and the prophecy attached to Evelake converge: Galahad is the descendant who will achieve the Sangreal, and Evelake is kept alive to meet him. The relationship consequently spans the sacred history narrated to Galahad and the present action of the quest. Its time scale—Joseph’s death, Evelake’s centuries of waiting, and the knight’s eventual arrival—makes the Grail adventure the fulfillment of an inherited Christian history rather than an isolated test of arms.

Evelake’s story also shows that proximity to a sacred object does not itself amount to spiritual attainment. His desire to follow the Sangreal too closely brings a divine rebuke, while his prayer, repentance, and patient expectation shape the condition under which he may finally see Galahad. Joseph’s shield and Evelake’s healing prophecy give this relationship material and bodily signs, but its decisive outcome is recognition: the old king is preserved until the destined knight appears, and the quest’s promise links the first Christian witnesses in Britain to its culmination.