The most comprehensive account of the story of Arthur, the Round Table and the Grail is to be found in the work known as Lancelot-Grail or the Vulgate Cycle. It tells the story of the Arthurian world from the events of the Crucifixion, where the Grail originated, to the death of Lancelot after the destruction of the Round Table. It draws in many different strands, from the pseudo-historical stories about Arthur to the romances of chivalric adventure and the spirtual quest for the Grail. It consists of five works: the longest is Lancelot, a kind of chivalric history of the Round Table, which leads into the quest for the Grail and Arthur's death. The first two books were added later, and provide an account of events through Arthur's marriage and early military victories. Not long after the cycle was completed, another writer retained the first two books of the Vulgate cycle but recast the last three books with a rather different emphasis; this version is known as the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and is one of the main sources used by Sir Thomas Malory. The Death of Arthur brings the Vulgate Cycle to its tragic ending. It opens with the aftermath of the Grail quest, and the king's attempts to revive the much depleted Round Table.

But at this point the affair between Lancelot and Guenevere intensifies, and comes into the open when Agravain succeeds in catching them in the act. Lancelot saves the queen from the stake, and flees with her to his castle of Joyous Gard, which is besieged by Arthur. The final pages recount Arthur's death at the hands of his illegitimate son Mordred, and the deaths of Lancelot and Guenevere. Book jacket.