doing, assumes that this Lord of Cambrein is none other than the
Bishop of Cambrai. If this assumption be correct, the person
referred to was probably either John of Berhune, who held the see
from 1200 till July 27, 1219, or his successor Godfrey of
Fontaines (Conde), who held it till 1237. To me, however, it
seems more likely that the personage intended was in reality the
'Seingnor' of Cambrin, the chef-lieu of a canton of the same
name, on a small hill overlooking the peat-marshes of Bethune,
albeit I can find no other record of any such landed proprietor's
existence.

Be this as it may, the Messire Jehan, Seingnor of Neele, can
hardly be other than the John de Nesle who was present at the
battle of Bouvines in 1214, and who in 1225 sold the lordship of
Bruges to Joan of Flanders. (5) These dates therefore may be
regarded as defining that of the original Romance within fairly
narrow limits.

This conclusion is confirmed by other evidence. An early Welsh
translation of the story was published with an English version
and a glossary by the Rev. Robert Williams in the first volume of
his "Selections from the Hengwrt MSS". (6) The first volume of
this work is entitled "Y Seint Greal, being the adventures of
King Arthur's knights of the Round Table, in the quest of the
Holy Grail, and on other occasions. Originally written about the
year 1200". The volume, following the manuscript now in the
library of W.W.E. Wynne, Esq., at Peniarth, is divided into two
parts. The first, fol. 1-109 of the manuscript, represents the
thirteenth to the seventeenth book of Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte
d'Arthur". Of the second, which represents the Romance here