The Fisher King

Until the accession of King Charles, it was many years since we last had a King. I am old enough to remember the later years of the reign of King George VI. Between the two kings we have a Queen (a much-loved and admirable one).
But our new King currently has an ailment which requires treatment. He is also the Head of the Church of England and we saw that the Christian Faith was prominent in his recent Coronation. We hope and pray that His Majesty will soon recover and be restored to full health. The monarch is a vital part of our constitution and while he is unwell, there is a naturally a feeling of anxiety both for him and for the country. This calls to my mind the ancient myth of the “Fisher King”. For this we have to go back in history.
When the Romans withdrew from Britain in about 410 AD and the invasion by the Anglo-Saxons began, some Britons (Welsh and Cornish) migrated to Brittany, taking with them their language and culture, their Christian religion and some Celtic myths. This happened over two centuries. These myths included the story of King Arthur but also it seems the myth which evolved into that of the Fisher King.
This myth was taken up in the 12th century by the French, particularly by the poet Chrétien de Troyes. According to his version of the myth, there was a king living in a castle and he had suffered a wound in his thigh, which would not heal and prevented him from riding, jousting, fighting and hunting. Instead of these activities, his pastime was fishing. The King was guardian of the Grail, a mysterious object with magical powers. Chrétien died before finishing the story. Other writers continued with it until the Grail became a Christian symbol: the chalice which Joseph of Arimathea used to collect blood from Christ on the cross. There were a variety of stories from these later writers: in one Sir Percival saved the life of the Fisher King and later on took over that role himself. Wagner’s opera Parsifal is heavily influenced by this version.
The idea of the Fisher King has had resonance over the centuries, including the idea that, if the King has a wound which cannot be healed, his kingdom becomes infertile and turns into a waste land. This was the background to the poem by T. S. Eliot, “The Waste Land”, compose in the aftermath of the Great War. There are references to the Fisher King in that famous poem.
I do not for one moment suggest that the UK will become a waste land pending the recovery of His Majesty. It is, however, a land where there is anxiety for him personally and in view of his role as Head of State and Head of the Anglican Church. There is a parallel with the mythical Fisher King who was a monarch and also Guardian of the Holy Grail. I am sure that our King will have high quality health care and expect that any anxiety will disappear.

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