Critics have examined Malory's Grail quest and the ‘The Healing of Sir Urry’ in light of his perceived tendency to favour chivalric adventures over spiritual perfection in the rest of his Morte Darthur. In particular, Lancelot's miracle in healing Urry may be seen as a fracture rather than an element of continuity in the post-Grail adventures. Two questions are raised in this episode: how can Lancelot be the vehicle of a divine miracle unless he has truly repented in his heart, and if he has truly repented, how can he return to his sin with Guenevere? As I have shown elsewhere, there are signs that in the ‘Tale of the Sankgreal’ Malory wishes to present Lancelot as some sort of model for repentant knights. In the present article I suggest that the ‘Healing’ is Malory's version of the Grail quest, one in which all theological explanation has been stripped off, and where Lancelot's success (in contrast to his failure in the quest) shows that only fellowship and obedience to both an earthly lord and God, rather than solitary accomplishment and obedience to the heavenly lord, can guarantee the preservation of knightly worship. Thus in the ‘Healing’ Lancelot’s reputation is maintained and Arthur's court is celebrated; despite the knights’ failures in the quest, the fellowship can experience a collective religious moment.

The main thesis of this article will be explored in several sections with the following aims: firstly, to suggest that Lancelot's spiritual state is developing, not declining, as others have stated, between the Quest and the ‘Healing’, and thus there is more overlap between his religious and chivalric values than conflict; secondly, to show that Malory intends the episode of the ‘Healing’ as an open miracle, for the whole fellowship, offered as a contrast to the privacy of the Grail experiences, which were granted to a select few; thirdly, to argue that it is Malory's intention to give Lancelot the mission of showing what the famous phrase ‘best knight’ should mean in the ‘Healing’.

The first two sections will focus on Lancelot's progression in humility during the Grail quest, his acknowledgement of pride, his chief sin, and of choosing to obey God rather than Arthur. These sections will reveal that a new interpretation for the phrase ‘best knight of the world’ may be gleaned from the Grail quest.