Grailquest

2,000-year-old Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury is cut down

2010-12-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

Vandals have destroyed one of the most celebrated Christian pilgrimage sites in Britain and chopped down a tree said to have sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea 2,000 years ago.

The Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury, Somerset, is visited by thousands every year to pay homage and leave tokens of worship. Those visiting today were moved to tears on finding the
tree cut to a stump.

The sacred tree is unique in that it blossoms twice a year - at Christmas and Easter - and sprigs taken from the thorn are sent to The Queen each year for the festive table.

St. Laurence and the Holy Grail

2009-06-10T18:04:00.001-07:00

Janice Bennett, St. Laurence and the Holy Grail (Ignatius Press, 2004).

From the description at GetFed.com:

Many scholars are convinced that The Holy Chalice of Valencia is the Holy Grail, celebrated in medieval legends as it was venerated by monks in the secluded Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, built into a rocky outcropping of the Spanish Pyrenees. The tradition of Aragón has always insisted that the flaming agate cup of the Holy Chalice was sent to Spain by St. Laurence, the glorious Spaniard martyred on a gridiron during the Valerian persecution in Rome in 258 AD.

Now there is new evidence: A sixth-century manuscript written in Latin by St. Donato, an Augustinian monk who founded a monastery in the area of Valencia, provides never-before-published details about Laurence, born in Valencia but destined for Italy, where he became treasurer and deacon of the Catholic Church under Pope Sixtus II. It explicitly mentions the details surrounding the transfer of the Holy Cup of the Last Supper to Spain.

Janice Bennett acquaints the reader with the enthralling story of the Holy Chalice, the renowned relic that embarked from the Last Supper on an amazing pilgrimage that providentially ended in the Cathedral of Valencia, a miraculous odyssey that has been characterized by danger, greed, martyrdom and fire. It is a fascinating and captivating account that will dispel forever the erroneous notion that the famous relic was ever lost. The mythical Quest for the Holy Grail is now over. Includes 20 pages of color illustrations.

The Holy Grail & The Grail-Kings

2009-05-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

David Hughes presents a mish-mash of interesting information regarding the Holy Grail. It appears to be well-researched, but is confusing and sometimes repetitious in its presentation. For example, compare the first two paragraphs:

The Holy Grail, by Norma L. Goodrich (1992), informs us that Joseph of Arimathea is the first person mentioned in history to have possession of the object called "The Holy Grail", after its use by Jesus at the "Last Supper". The word "Grail" derives from the Latin "gradalis" that means "cup" or "chalice". The earliest reference to The Holy Grail is found in a book [now lost] called "The Holy Grail", which is mentioned in later writings, whose author probably wrote the book from materials found in about 200 apocryphal gospels written in the second-century. The Holy Grail was the cup or chalice that Jesus used at the "Last Supper" with which He instituted the "Eucharist", the sacrament and/or rite of the "bread and wine" (Lk. 22:20), to commemorate the sacrifice of His Body [the bread] and His Blood [the wine] as God’s "paschal-lamb" (Gen. 22:8; compare Jn. 1:29; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:19). The rite replaced the "Passover" among Christians, who regard the rite (Ex. 12:21) as an Old Testament proto-type of "...Christ, Our Passover..." (1 Cor. 5:7). The Levitical animal-sacrifices (Lev. 1-7) are among the Old Testament proto-types of the New Testament Sacrifice of Jesus. The Holy Grail supposedly contained some of Jesus' Holy Blood collected by Joseph of Arimathea, however, according to Christian doctrine, Jesus, having accomplished His Sacrifice, following His resurrection Easter Sunday, collected His spilled Holy Blood, which could not decay, and, acting, as it were, as the High-Priest fulfilling the "Day of Atonement" (Lev. 16), which New Testament doctrine interprets as an Old Testament proto-type, presented His Holy Blood in Heaven for the sins of the human-race (Heb. 9:12). The true Holy Grail which contains Jesus’ Holy Blood sits today upon the high-altar in the celestial temple in Heaven, while its terrestrial counterpart became a holy relic and symbol of Christianity [comparable to the ark-of-the-covenant as the symbol of Judaism].

The earliest reference to "The Holy Grail" is found in a fourth-century book [now lost] called "The Holy Grail", which is mentioned in later writings, whose author [supposedly the Roman Emperor Theodosius "The Great", or probably more likely by an un-named cleric in his court] wrote the book from materials found in about 200 apocryphal gospels that were written during the second-century. In the twentieth-century, Norma L. Goodrich cites some old records in her book, "The Holy Grail", that Joseph of Arimathea is the first person mentioned in classical literature to have possession of the object called "The Holy Grail", after its use by Jesus at the "Last Supper". The story of Joseph of Arimathea is given in the "Cronica sive Historia de Rebus Glastoniensibus" (1342), by John of Glastonbury, a medieval writer. The modern author, Reginald F. Treharne, uses "Cronica" as one of his sources in his book, "The Glastonbury Legends" (1975). Joseph of Arimathea appears in "Cronica" as a wealthy Jewish merchant who traveled all over the Roman Empire, and, according to legend, even did business in Britain. He is so called for a small town in the Judean hill-country, Arimathea [Ramallah], called a descendant of King David and of ancient Jewish royalty, and, was the Virgin Mary’s uncle. Her father Heli had two brothers, namely, Joseph, and Gjor. The son of Gjor, Simon, was Israel’s last king AD 69-70, executed by the Romans, AD 71/73. Joseph of Arimathea is called "uncle" by the "supposed" children of his niece, The Virgin Mary, mentioned in scripture (Mk 6:3), namely, "Saint" James, Jose[ph] "Ha-Rama-Theo", Simon, Jude "of Galilee", and their sisters, Miriam, Anne, and Salome [or Mary, Salome, and Anne]. Joseph of Arimathea, the Virgin Mary's uncle, as "kinsman-redeemer" (Lev 25:25), according to Jewish law, as Mary's nearest senior male relative, claimed her son's [Jesus'] body on her behalf, after His crucifixion, and, the Roman Governor, Pilate, gave Jesus’ mother, Mary, her son’s body. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, one of the members of the Sanhedrin, and, heretofore, a secret disciple of Jesus, came forward publicly at this time and helped Joseph of Arimathea to take down Jesus’ body from the cross. The two men at the bottom of the cross wrapped His body in a linen cloth, reputed to be "The Shroud of Turin", and laid His body in "the garden tomb" (so-called), which was a newly hewed-out un-used cave-tomb originally built by Joseph of Arimathea for himself and his wife. He was one of Jesus’ financial-backers, and gave his tomb for Jesus' temporary use. Joseph of Arimathea kept the relics of the Crucifixion, including the Holy Grail.

SOURCE: David Hughes, "The Holy Grail & The Grail-Kings," (2005). Retrieved 26 May 2009.

The first sentence of the first paragraph is essentially repeated in the second sentence of the second paragraph. The third sentence of the first paragraph is virtually identical to the first sentence of the second paragraph.

New World Order - Holy Grail

2009-05-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

From the New World Order - The Movie website:

The Holy Grail is literally the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper, yet it has come to symbolize many things to many people. Most popularly the Grail legends of King Arthur give the cup the metaphorical power of fertility and healing. The Knights of the Round Table in seeking the cup remained on the path of Truth that led to the rejuvenation of the soul, and thus allowed for a Spiritual rebirth. . . .

The Grail is first heard of in tales of the Last Supper, which in the Gnostic tradition of the historical Christ was a ritual based upon the Tantric teachings of Tibet and India. These teachings are about the enjoyment of the wine that fills the Grail, and reach for the mystical answer to the always human question "Why do we drink of the cup?"

Meaning "Why do we live?"

Symbolically, the Quest for the Grail is the quest for the answer to this eternal question, which can only be found by following the true path and teachings of one's Destiny.

By materializing the cup as opposed to the contents, the pure bloodline fraternities are perhaps eating the menu, instead of the food.

SOURCE: Dr. Marisa Santeria and Dr. Simon Peel, "The Holy Grail," New World Order - The Movie (Retrieved 8 May 2009).

Parzifal

2009-04-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

Anonymous illustration. "Parzival mit einem Begleiter vor der Gralsburg." (c. 1443).Courtesy Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.

Parzival

Manuscripts

Cod. Pal. germ. 339: Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival. Hagenau: Diebold Lauber, c. 1443.

Editions

Lachman, Karl, ed. 1926.

Translations

Wolfram von Eschenbach. Parzival with Titurel and The Love-lyrics. trans. Cyril Edwards. Boydell Press, 2004.
________. Parzival. trans. A.T.Hatto. Penguin, 1980.
________. Parzival, A Romance of the Middle Ages. trans. Helen M. Mustard and Charles E. Passage. Vintage Books, 1961.

Summary

A summary by Michael McGoodwin based on the 1961 Vintage edition is available at his website.

The Holy Grail: From Romance Motif to Modern Genre

2009-03-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

Juliette Wood published this article in Folklore (October 2000):

This article intends to trace the Holy Grail theme from a set of motifs in medieval romance to the modern genre of grail literature and to focus on the resulting interface between literary and popular culture.

Read it at FindArticles.com.

Introduction to the Queste

2009-02-25T18:36:00.000-08:00

by W. W. Comfort (1926)

. . . The Queste is dated about 1220,--a fact which renders its attribution to Gautier Map, who died before 1210, "fantastic." As we shall see, it was plainly conceived by someone writing under the influence of the Cistercian Order, and it was intended to be a picture of the victorious Christian life as shown forth to medieval humanity by the White Friars. The individual author is unknown.

The Queste forms part of a long series of French prose compositions collectively known as the Lancelot-Graal series, arranged in the following order: Estoire du Graal, Merlin, with its continuation, Lancelot, The Queste, and Mort Arthur. The material contained in this series of romances has been preserved in whole or in part in many manuscripts.

The Queste, however, is to be distinguished from all the other romances with which it is associated in the manuscript compilations. By its subject it is of course connected superficially with the earlier biographical treatments of Lancelot, who was the central figure of the entire cycle. Further, Robert de Boron had already identified Perceval with the search for the Grail as a holy object of desire. In what, then, consists the apparent originality of the author of the Queste before us?

There is no necessity of repeating here information which is easily accessible in the vast amount of critical writings relating to the Arthurian romances, their origin and development, or to the origin and nature of the mysterious vessel called the Holy Grail, which came to be the object of knightly search at King Arthur's court. I am concerned here merely with the significance of the Holy Grail as revealed in the present text, and with the Christian qualities required in him who would succeed in the search for the precious vessel. The earliest authors who had presented the Grail as an object of search have failed to describe it with sufficient clearness to enable us to seize its outward appearance. Robert de Boron had described it as an actual cup used by Christ at the Last Supper, in which Joseph of Arimathea later caught His blood after the Crucifixion and which, after being carefully preserved, was finally transported to Britain. But even so, there is something more mysterious back of it as a symbol, as well as of the bleeding lance with which Longinus pierced Christ's side upon the Cross and which came to be so mystically associated with the Grail itself. Our author is not concerned in clearing away the cloud of mystery surrounding these precious relics. He pays little attention to the lance and gives nowhere any description of the Grail as a tangible object. He is interested in the Grail as a symbol, in its virtues as an object of search, and in its effect upon him who is privileged to behold it. To him the Grail symbolises God, and the search for it is the search for God, who reveals Himself only to the pure--those who are pure in heart as well as in deed. Evidently the common man of the world, sullied with sin and unrepentant, is not fit to see God or to enjoy His benefits. A break in the established literary tradition will be required before the ascetic life can be portrayed in the old Arthurian atmosphere. This break is precisely what constitutes the originality of the present treatment.

Literary tradition had had its way with Gawain, Lancelot, Arthur, Guinevere, Bors, Hector des Mares, Perceval, and the rest of the great personages at court. This tradition had portrayed in these personages divers qualities dear to twelfth-century French chivalry, but it had not undertaken to represent any of this society as impeccably chaste, as pure, as "virgin." Perceval was the purest of them all, but even his literary title was not clear enough in the eyes of our author to entitle him to serve as protagonist in this new spiritual Quest. As for the rest of the courtiers, they were all far from perfect: they were guilty of pride, cruelty and incontinence. Their past record, known of all, debarred them from any hope of success in this exacting competition. Yet they were favourites with the social class whom the Cistercian apologist wished to reach with his revival call. He wished to call this proud and luxurious public to a militant career of virtue and self-abnegation. How should he catch their attention and turn it to his own purpose? By taking the old favourites, by showing their delinquencies and their unworthy traits, and by creating beside them a new character to embody those virtues which alone could win in the Quest. So he created Galahad, son of Lancelot, who thus belongs in the old corrupt society, but who distinguished himself from all his relatives and associates by his possession of those qualities which the ascetic author had determined to extol.

The whole setting of the Arthurian court, the Round Table and the knights, even their search for the Holy Grail--all this was taken over; the endless adventures which came to the knights-errant as they went up and down through the earth in their hopeless search are repeated with persistence but without enthusiasm. What our author is interested in is the revelation of a higher standard to these wayward worldlings. With all their pride and bravery in the field and joust, with all their chivalric trappings, he brings them to their knees before the White Friars, who mercilessly flay them for their sins of omission and commission and who instruct them in the true purpose of life as conceived in the cloistee--the search for God.

These familiar adventures with lorn ladies, with eyrie castles, with awful tombs and sylvan shrines, with cruel or craven knights--are all invested with a new "significance." They are interpreted by the lonely hermits and learned abbots as mere trials of that faith which must survive all trials along the way of life. These adventures which astound and baffle the knights are inexplicable to them until they are explained by godly men in their true perspective as tests of moral and spiritual strength. These Cistercian counsellors into whose hands the knights unfailingly fall in their moments of greatest confusion and chagrin are God's ministers set to interpret the meaning of life. They will tolerate no excuses or palliation of guilt. They stand for the monastic doctrine undefiled, but a monastic doctrine applied to the man of the world. Faith, humility, mercy and chastity are the pillars of their teaching. Life is a continuous warfare against man's lower nature. There can be no compromise with the Devil, who is ever ready with his wiles to drag men down to Hell.

Here we have, then, exhibited in action the crusading spirit for which the Cistercians were famous. Militant Christianity was their ideal, in which the Christian hero should lay aside every weight and sin and fight straight on to the goal. Be not surprised if Galahad hearkens to no appeal of the world! He has been created and reared for a more arduous task than mere victory in a tourney or in a lady's bower like his father Lancelot. His eye is kept single upon the great Quest; where others falter and lose heart, he knows no discouragement. His eye is clear, his sword is keen, his heart is pure. Galahad is always in training. He will reach his goal. He will see God, and then gladly die.

Now we see the novelty of this composition: taking contemporary society as it loved to imagine itself in the brilliant but false colours of the Arthurian court, the author has introduced a new idealism--an idealism which has penetrated the entire mass of this romantic material and which has survived to our own day. Mere courtesy, formal deference to the rules of knighthood were not enough to purify society: these things savoured too much of the world and of corruption. What was needed to regenerate man was an insistent call to a higher Quest. It was more important to fight for the High Master than for Arthur, more imperative to save one's own soul than to save a fair damsel in distress.

This text, then, furnishes us with the biography of the perfect knight as seen by an important corporate body of Christians in the thirteenth century--an Order which we are told had eighteen hundred houses about 1200. This Order presented the most energetic type known in the Middle Ages. Galahad may be plainly taken as an embodiment of their ideal: he is the Christ of 1200.

How powerfully this portrayal of manly perfection has fastened itself upon the imagination of posterity is evidenced by the manner in which today Galahad has come to dominate the entire Arthurian cycle. He arrived late, but he arrived with power. Artistic representations of Arthur himself, of his beloved Lancelot, of his nephew Gawain, of Kay the seneschal, of the goodly Perceval, may be sought in vain. But who is there unfamiliar with the figure of the saintly Galahad? From among all the glittering assembly of the Table Round, he represents for us, as he represented for his companions in the Quest, all that is best in knighthood and all of its spirituality that has survived.

Il Santo Milagro

2009-02-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

Reliquary of the Eucharistic Miracle. Image courtesy of Milagro Eucarístico de Cebreiro.

Cebreiro

The focal point of the village is the modern Iglesia de Santa Maria, rebuilt in the 1960s on the top of the ruins of a Romanesque church. It's believed that the Holy Grail from which Christ drank at the Last Supper was hidden here for safe-keeping in the Middle Ages. In the fourteenth century, a local farmer braved a fierce snowstorm to attend Mass at the church. The priest told the man it was silly to come all the way just for a bit of bread and wine in such terrible weather, at which point the bread turned into flesh, and the wine in the Holy Grail became blood.

The church's statue of the Virgin is said to have tilted her head to get a better look at the miracle, and she's now known as La Virgen del Milagro. Although the grail is no longer here, the remains of the flesh and blood are held in a silver reliquary donated by Queen Isabel.

SOURCE: Bethan Davies and Ben Cole, Walking the Camino de Santiago (Pili Pala Press, 2003), p. 151.

Il Sacro Catino

2009-02-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

Il Sacro Catino. Image courtesy of Grail Diary.

Bruges Grail

2009-02-23T17:10:00.001-08:00

Sanguis Christi (Holy Blood). Basilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges, Belgium. Image courtesy of Holy Blood.com.

The tradition of the Holy Blood states that Thierry (Derrick), Count of Flanders brought the relic to Bruges in 1150.

Because of his exceptional heroism during this crusade, Derrick received this relic, with the approval of the patriarch of Jerusalem, from the hands of his brother-in-law, Baldwin III of Anjou, King of Jerusalem.

Arriving in Bruges on april 7th 1150, Count Derrick, accompanied by his wife Sybilla of Anjou and Leonius, abbot of Saint Bertin's abbey of Saint Omar, brought the relic to the Basilius chapel on the Burg, a chapel which he himself had built.

The oldest document, however, regarding this relic dates to 1256.

In 1203 Constantinople fell into the hands of the crusaders. The imperial city was sacked during the 4th crusade (1204).

Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, was chosen as the new emperor.

Presumably he sent looted relics to Flanders and particularly to Bruges. His daughters Johanna and Margaretha were in charge of the county. It is likely that this is the way Bruges came into possession of the relic of the Holy Blood. Also the manner in which the rock-crystal flask is cut indicates an origin in Constantinople.

SOURCES: "Tradition" and "History," Procession of the Holy Blood (Retrieved 23 February 2009). See also Bruges: Chapel of the Holy Blood.

Antioch Chalice

2009-01-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

The Antioch Chalice (first half of 6th c.) Byzantine. The Cloisters Collection, 1950. Image courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds another contender for the Grail cup known as the Antioch Chalice. Most experts believe, however, that it is from the 6th century, making it not nearly old enough to be the "real grail." In the description the Museum writes:

When it was discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century, this "chalice" was claimed to have been found in Antioch, a city so important to the early Christians that it was recognized with Rome and Alexandria as one of the great sees of the church. The chalice's plain silver interior bowl was then ambitiously identified as the Holy Grail, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. The elaborate footed shell enclosing it was thought to have been made within a century after the death of Christ to encase and honor the Grail. The fruited grapevine forming the rinceau pattern of the gilded shell is inhabited by birds, including an eagle; animals, including a lamb and a rabbit; and twelve human figures holding scrolls and seated in high-backed chairs. Two of the figures are thought to be images of Christ. The other ten figures have been variously identified as ten of the twelve apostles, or philosophers of the classical age, who, like the prophets of the Old Testament, had foretold the coming of Christ. The sixth-century chronicler Malalas of Antioch was among those who sought to make such links between Christianity and classical philosophy.

The identification of the "Antioch Chalice" as the Holy Grail has not been sustained, and even its authenticity has at times been challenged. The work has usually been considered a sixth-century chalice for the Eucharist. Most recently, however, its shape has been recognized as more closely resembling sixth-century standing lamps, its decoration possibly in recognition of Christ's words "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). It has been argued to be part of a treasure of liturgical objects found in 1908 belonging to the Church of Saint Sergios in the town of Kaper Koraon southeast of Antioch. If so, Saint Sergios' parishioners might well have traveled to Antioch to purchase the object as a donation for their church. Or it may have been used in one of the churches in or near Antioch.

SOURCE: "'Antioch Chalice', The [Byzantine] (50.4)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/06/waa/ho_50.4.htm (October 2006).

Abbot Suger's Chalice

2009-01-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

Abbott Suger's Chalice (cup, c. 2nd/1st c. B.C., mounting c. 1140). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Image courtesy of National Gallery of Art

A chalice listed as a contender for the Holy Grail is now in the National Gallery of Art. On their website they state:

This chalice, a vessel to hold wine for Mass, is one of the most splendid treasures from the Middle Ages. Acquired by Abbot Suger for the French royal abbey of Saint-Denis, near Paris, the stone cup was set in gold and probably used in the consecration ceremony for the new altar chapels of the church on 11 June 1144.

Suger, abbot of Saint-Denis from 1122 to 1151, was not only a Benedictine monk but also a brilliant administrator who served as regent of France during the Second Crusade. With objects such as this chalice and the abbey's new Gothic architecture, he aimed to create a vision of paradise on earth that would awe beholders. In his writings, Suger equated Divine Light with the real light shimmering through stained glass and glistening from gems.

The cup incorporated in Abbot Suger's chalice was carved from sardonyx, probably in Alexandria, Egypt during the second to first centuries B.C. Suger's goldsmiths mounted the cup in a gold and silver setting with delicate gold-wire filigree and adorned it with gems. On the foot, a medallion depicts the haloed Christ, flanked by the Greek letters signifying: "I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End."

SOURCE: "Chalice of the Abbott Suger of Saint-Denis," National Gallery of Art (Retrieved 23 February 2009).

Marian Chalice

2009-01-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

The Marian Chalice (c. 1st c.). Roman Onyx scent jar. Image courtesy of the Official Graham Phillips Website.

According to another legend it was not Joseph of Arimathea, but Mary Magdalene who caught the blood of Christ in a small cup that later became known as the Marian Chalice. The cup allegedly was found by St. Helen, taken to Rome, and later to Britain after Rome fell to the Visigoths in 410.

Author Graham Phillips believes:

that the real Holy Grail was a secret Christian book, the Gospel of Thomas, a copy of which was discovered in Egypt in 1945. However, he also theorises that, through the belief that the Grail was a cup, it was confused with the legendary Marian Chalice. His hypothesis supposes that the chalice would have been brought to the chief 5th century City of Britain, Caer-Guricon (Wroxeter), which he and Martin Keatman identify as the capital of their King Arthur. The great King and his descendants are therefore seen as the Grail guardians: a lineage which he traces to Payne Peveril, the original of Percival, and on to his great grandson Sir Fulk FitzWaryn. Sir Fulk is the subject of a long rambling 13th century ballad which claims that the Grail was housed in his private chapel at Whittington Castle in Shropshire. It was removed to Alberbury Priory on his death, from where a further descendant, Robert Vernon, recovered it in the late 16th century. It was eventually hidden in a statue of St. John erected in Hawkstone Park, near the family estate, in the 1850s. Here a small Roman onyx scent jar was discovered in 1934.

SOURCES: "The Marian Chalice: The Holy Grail?" King Arthur in Legend (Retrieved 11 February 2009). Graham Phillips, "The Chalice of Magdalene," The Official Graham Phillips Website (Retrieved 11 February 2009).

Nanteos Cup

2009-01-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

The Nanteos Cup--contender for the Grail. Image courtesy of Brittania.com.

Brittania.com provides the following history and description of the Nanteos Cup:

The Tradition

During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a group of monks left Glastonbury for Strata Florida Abbey, in South Wales, where they hoped to escape from the ravages of Henry VIII's commissioners. However, the Royal officials soon reached Strata Florida too and the monks were forced to flee over the hills to nearby Nanteos House. Here, the old Prior of Glastonbury became chaplain to the local lord, Mr. Powell, and the other monks became servants around the estate. So things carried on until the monks eventually started to die off. On his death-bed, the last monk revealed to Mr.Powell that his little group had brought with them, from Glastonbury, the Holy Grail which had been brought to Britain by their Abbey's founder, St. Joseph of Arimathea. This was subsequently entrusted to the Powell family "until the church shall claim her own".

Subsequent History

The "Nanteos Cup" as the supposed Grail became known remained at the Manor, attracting many pilgrims and performing many apparent miracles until 1952. All this is well documented. At this date, the last of the Powells died. The house (and the cup) were then sold to a Major Merrilees, who later moved to Herefordshire, taking the Nanteos Cup with him. It is understood that it currently resides in a bank vault somewhere. It is a small wooden vessel (5" diameter, 3" deep) in a very poor state today, due to pilgrims' biting large chunks out of it, over the years, in order to aid recovery from their ills.

SOURCE: "King Arthur in Legend: The Nanteos Cup," Brittania.com (Retrieved 26 January 2009).

Nanteos cup held by Ysatis De Saint-Simon (1985). Image courtesy of Eworldwire.com.

See also: The Nanteos Cup at Nanteos Mansion.

More Holy Grail Tapestries

2009-01-02T18:28:00.001-08:00

Panel 1 - Knights of the Round Table Summoned to the Quest by the Strange Damsel.

Panel 2 - The Arming and Departure of the Knights.

Panel 3 - The Failure of Sir Gawaine; Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine at the Ruined Chapel.

Panel 5 - The Ship.

Verdure with Deer and Shields.

SOURCE: "Holy Grail Tapestries," Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (Retrieved 2 Jan 2009).

The Attainment of the Grail

2009-01-02T17:18:00.001-08:00

Sir Edward Burne-Jones, "The Attainment of the Grail." (1891-4).
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

This tapestry by the Pre-Raphaelite Burne-Jones is one of my favorite images of the Grail Quest. Sir Galahad kneels before the Grail, while Sir Perceval and Sir Bors look on. The website, Artfacts.net has some additional information:

. . . The Holy Grail tapestries were commissioned by William Knox D'Arcy to furnish the dining room of his house, Stanmore Hall. Morris and Burne-Jones chose the subject, based on the fifteenth century narrative The Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. It tells the story of the spiritual quest by knights of King Arthur's round table for the Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus and the disciples drank at the Last Supper, and the symbol of man's achievement of truth, purity and faith.

The original series consists of six narrative panels. It opens with 'The Knights of the Round Table Summoned to the Quest by a Strange Damsel', showing the knights dining with the King, being summoned to adventure. The second tapestry shows 'The Arming and Departure of the Knights', as ladies of the court help the knights prepare for their quest. Symbolically, Queen Guinevere hands Sir Lancelot his shield – their affair and betrayal of Arthur will lead to Lancelot's failure. Then, 'The Failure of Sir Gawaine' shows Gawaine and his brother Ywaine being barred from the spiritual mysteries of the Grail, represented by a brilliant light escaping through the door of a ruined chapel. 'The Failure of Sir Lancelot' shows the knight sleeping outside a chapel, also forbidden entry by an angelic figure. 'The Ship' effectively moves the action from Britain to the 'land of Sarras' where the final scene, 'The Attainment' takes place. It is an impressive, dramatic culmination to the quest, depicting the successful knights; Sir Galahad kneels before the Holy Grail. Below the first four subjects were hung decorative verdure panels, with shields hung upon trees in a forest, and an inscription describing each scene above. . . .

SOURCE: "The Holy Grail Tapestries," Artfacts.net (Retrieved 2 Jan 2009).

Kindle is Kool

2009-01-01T23:41:00.001-08:00

Image courtesy Wikimedia.

I got one of these for Christmas and have to say I recommend it highly for the next generation of book readers. If you are interested, click on the banner below to find out more.

Treasuries in Full: Malory's Arthurian Manuscript

2008-12-30T15:47:00.001-08:00

A detail from Le Morte Darthur, with 'Galahad' and 'Sankgreall' shown in red ink.

BL Add. MS 59678, 357v. © The British Library Board.

On the website of the British Library one may find sample pages from the manuscript of Sir Thomas Malory's stories about King Arthur, known as the Winchester Manuscript, later printed by William Caxton as Le Morte Darthur.

Malory's work had been known only through William Caxton's printed edition of 1485 for nearly 500 years. However in 1934 a librarian at Winchester College, Walter Oakeshott, discovered this manuscript in a safe in the Warden's bedroom.

The manuscript was written by two professional scribes working together, some time during the years 1470 to 1483. The most striking feature of the manuscript is its extensive use of red ink. Most of the proper nouns, some place-names and common nouns are written in red, as well as marginalia, Lombardic Capitals, some Explicits and Incipits, and some scribal corrections. Textual variants between the manuscript and Caxton's edition suggest that these two texts derived from a common original. That means that the Winchester Manuscript cannot have been used as the sole basis for Caxton's book.

Clues on the pages of the Winchester Manuscript, however, do suggest that it was kept in Caxton's workshop some time in the years 1480 to 1483, when Caxton was preparing his Le Morte Darthur. Pages fresh from his press were laid on the manuscript and the wet ink accidentally transferred reversed images of Caxton's type faces. This suggests that Caxton used the Winchester Manuscript together with another, now lost, manuscript.

In the colophon to his edition William Caxton says that this is the end of 'this noble and joyous book entitled Le Morte Darthur', and since then Le Morte Darthur has been used as the title of
the whole book. Malory, however, called his work 'the whole book of King Arthur and his noble Knights of the Round Table'.

How Winchester College acquired the manuscript is not known. It was purchased by the British Library from the Warden and Fellows of the College on 26 March 1976.

SOURCE: "Who Was Thomas Mallory?" British Library (Retrieved 30 Dec 2008).

Chronology of King Arthur and the Grail

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c. 518 - The battle of Badon in which Arthur bore the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three days and three nights, and the Britons were the victors. (Annals of Wales, cited in Barber 1979: 7)

c. 539 - Gueith (Battle of) Camlann in which Arthur and Medraut perished; and there was plague in Britain and Ireland. (Annals of Wales, cited in Barber 1979: 7)

c. 540 - St. Gildas "the Wise" writes De Excidio Brittaniae (Concerning the Ruin of Britain). He mentions Ambrosius Aurelianus, the battle of Badon, but neglects to mention Arthur.

c. 830 - Nennius writes the Historia Brittonum, where in Chapter 56 he mentions Arthur as the military commander (dux bellorum) and writes of his twelve battles against the Saxons. Nennius' work is described as "inventive" by historians, but allegedly he had access to 5th century sources that are no longer available, so it cannot be entirely dismissed.

c. 970 - The Annales Cambriae (Annals of Wales) are dated to this time and contain two entries regarding Arthur (see above).

c. 1129 - William of Malmesbury, in residence at Glastonbury Abbey, writes De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae, a history of the abbey.

1129 - Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum is based on Bede, Nennius and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

1136 - Geoffrey of Monmouth writes the Historia Regum Britanniae.

1155 - The Norman poet Wace translates Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae from Latin into French.

c. 1180-1190 - Chrétien de Troyes writes Le Conte du Graal.

1207 - Wolfram von Eschenbach has completed Parzival.

March 10, 1208 - Pope Innocent III declares crusade against the Cathars.

July 22, 1209 - Béziers is the first Cathar city to be sacked in the Albigensian Crusade.

c. 1225 - An anonymous author completes the Perlesvaus.

c. 1350 - John of Glastonbury writes Cronica sive Antiquitates Glastoniensis Ecclesiae, a chronicle of Glastonbury Abbey.

1470 - Sir Thomas Malory has completed Le Morte d'Arthur.

1477 - Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival becomes the earliest printed Arthurian romance. (Barber 2004: 228)

1485 - William Caxton prints Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

1934 - W. F. Oakeshott discovers at Winchester College a previously unknown manuscript copy of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (now known as the Winchester MS).

The Legend of the Holy Grail Gallery

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Illustration from a 14th century French illumination accompanying Chrétien de Troyes' 'The Story of the Grail'. Courtesy BBC - History - Legend of the Holy Grail Gallery.

The BBC has an interesting gallery on the Holy Grail with commentary by Richard Barber. In addition to the above, it contains the following illustrations:

SOURCE: Richard Barber, "The Legend of the Holy Grail Gallery," BBC - History (Retrieved 29 Dec 2008).

The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief

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Richard Barber's book is a great resource for studying the history of the Grail. From the dust jacket of the hard cover edition:

The elusive image of the Holy Grail has haunted the Western imagination for eight centuries. It represents the ideal of an unattainable yet infinitely desirable goal, the possibility of perfection. Initially conceived in literature, it became a Christian icon which has been re-created in a multitude of forms over time even though the Grail has no specific material attributes or true religious significance.

Richard Barber traces the history of the legends surrounding the Holy Grail, beginning with Chrétien de Troyes's great romances of the twelfth century and the medieval Church's religious version of the secular ideal. He pursues the myths through Victorian obsessions and enthusiasms to the popular bestsellers of the late twentieth century that have embraced its mysteries. Crisscrossing the borders of fiction and spirituality, the quest for the Holy Grail has long attracted writers, artists, and admirers of the esoteric. It has been a recurrent theme in tales of imagination and belief which have laid claim to the highest religious and secular ideals and experiences. From Lancelot to Parsifal, chivalric romances to Wagner's Ring, T. S. Eliot to Monty Python, the Grail has fascinated and lured the Western imagination from beyond the reach of the ordinary world.

SOURCE: Richard Barber, The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004).

Barber also has a very informative website, Holy Grail.ws.

Holy Grail Legend Endures for Centuries

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Sir Galahad discovering the Holy Grail. Photograph by Burstein Collection/CORBIS. Courtesy Flickr.com.

In the Bible, the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper is little more than a prop, given no particular prominence. But over the centuries, the fate of this now legendary vessel, the so-called Holy Grail, has come to haunt stories ranging from Arthurian legend to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Because Jesus used the cup during the Last Supper in what became the basis for the Christian Eucharist, the Grail has for many taken on the aura of an extremely holy relic.

The Grail takes on even greater significance from tales that Joseph of Arimathea, in whose tomb Jesus was placed prior to his resurrection, used the cup to collect Jesus' blood while he was being crucified.

Theories abound as to where the cup eventually went. One says the Knights Templar, a medieval military order that persisted for more than 200 years, took it from Jerusalem during the Crusades.

There's also a story in which Joseph carries the Grail to Glastonbury, England, a Roman outpost at the time of Christ's crucifixion. In 1906, in fact, a blue bowl claimed by some to be the Grail was found there, and since then at least four other cups have been proclaimed to be the Grail, two from England and Wales and two from the Middle East.

But the reality, says historian Richard Barber, author of The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief, is that the Grail stories are just that—stories.

'Poet With a Remarkable Imagination'

"The whole thing is basically the imagination of a 12th-century poet," he says.

The poet, Chrétien de Troyes, created the initial, "fairly unspecific" story, Barber says, as a way of examining the theology of the Roman Catholic Mass.

"That may sound terribly obscure," he says, "but in the 12th century, the nearest you got to drama, theater, and spectacle, if you were an ordinary person, was the celebration of Mass."

In working through his story, Barber says, Chrétien worked backward from his own time to the time of Christ. "So you've got a poet with a remarkable imagination who invents the idea of the Grail."

In fact, Barber says, the most remarkable thing about the legend is simply the fact that the story appears to have originated with a single writer. "There are so many people out there looking for the thing," he says. "Actually it's more exciting that someone can imagine something in the 12th century ... that is still a hot concept 800 years later."

Not that this means there wasn't a cup. But even if it still exists, Barber asks, how would you know if you found it? "You are not going to come up with a cup with a neat label tied around it saying 'This is the cup of the Last Supper, guaranteed authentic.'"

Archaeologist Fred Hiebert, a National Geographic Society fellow, agrees. "I'm always interested in finding remains of ancient people, especially pottery or metal vessels," he says. But when it comes to linking any such object to a specific legend or biblical story? "We can't do it."

SOURCE: Richard A. Lovett, "Holy Grail Legend Endures for Centuries," National Geographic (Retrieved 28 Dec 2008).

See also: Justus Koshiol, "The Grail Quest," Flickr.com (22 Jun 2007), for the entire series of paintings (1885-1895) by Edwin Austin Abbey in the Abbey room of the Boston Public Libary.

What is a Grail? (Part 2)

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The following selection is from the dissertation of Dr. Linda A. Malcor:

What is a Grail?

Medieval authors . . . seem to have been largely unclear about what a grail was. This "fuzziness" has led to an inordinate amount of ink being spilled on the subject by medieval and modern authors alike. In an effort not to add unduly to the dilemma, the following is a brief summary of the argument.

While Sterzenbach and others have asserted that the Grail is always the Chalice of the Last Supper, this is not so. Beginning in the early 1200s, many authors discussed the Grail in a variety of forms: the Chalice of the Last Supper, the Eucharistic chalice, the dish of the Paschal Lamb, the basin in which Pilate washed his hands, and the cup in which Joseph of Arimathea received Christ's blood. In the thirteenth-century Prose Lancelot a vessel, which may be a chalice, appears draped with white samite. Some scholars attribute these multiple forms to "confusion" by the medieval authors. Others suggest that a form, such as the dish, was primary and altered by the later medieval authors to one that made more sense to them, namely, the Chalice. (The figure of Christ in Robert's Joseph says that the vessel that contains the divine blood is "to be called 'calice.'")

The Chalice of the Last Supper is a relic of the Passion. Some scholars argue that the idea of the Grail as the platter preceded the notion of the Grail as the "Kiddush Cup" from the Last Supper, pointing out that the Paschal Dish is not a Eucharistic vessel and that, therefore, the Grail tradition was not influenced by the Eucharistic tradition of the Church. For the motif of the Chalice at the Cross, however, the connection between the Grail and the Eucharistic chalice is generally implicit and often explicit. One exception to this occurs in the metrical Joseph, where though the poet describes the Grail as containing the "blood of the slain god" and compares this vessel to the Eucharistic chalice, the two vessels are apparently distinct in his mind.

All the furor arises over the uncertainty surrounding the meaning of the word graal ("grail"). While some scholars have tried to make a case for the derivation of graal from the Welsh dysgyl, the more convincing etymology has been provided by a contemporary of the Grail romancers. Perhaps the most frequently quoted medieval author concerning the meaning of the word graal, Helinand (d. 1227), the Cistercian abbot of Froidmont (1215) in the diocese of Beauvais, who became one of the "most ardent preachers of the Albigensian Crusade" was a Flemish trouvère who was favored by Philip Augustus. In his chronicle, he derives graal from gradalis and sets the date for a hermit's vision of the Grail at 717-719 A.D. This passage is quoted by Vincent of Beauvais (Speculum Historiaie, 1200s) and John of Tynemouth (Historia Aurea). A contemporary of St. Francis, Helinand was greatly influenced by Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Odilo of Cluny, and Guerric of Igny. Some scholars have argued that Helinand's gradalis did not resemble a chalice but rather a dish on which fish were served. This description, however, is perfectly consistent with some descriptions of the Grail and all of the translations are well within the semantic field of Helinand's gradalis since the very fact that Joseph of Arimathea uses the Grail to catch blood implies that it is a vessel designed to hold liquid. Bergmann concurs with Helinand's etymology, pointing out that the medieval Latin noun m. gradail and n. gradale translate as "vase, goblet, or basin" and that in the south of France these forms became m. grasal and f. grazale. In the Burgundian dialect, which was used by Robert de Boron, the final consonants of Latin words drop off (e.g., grad-alis, grad-ale, gra-alz, gra-al), whereas the pronunciation of vowels sharpens in the dialects of Picardy and Normandy (e.g., gr‚al). It is interesting to note that the word garalis is translated as "a vessel for vinegar or cup"; this may account for a few rare examples of the Chalice at the Cross in the iconographical position that is usually reserved for the vinegar in scenes of the Crucifixion. Frappier concurs with Bergman, pointing out that the 'a' that Chrétien de Troyes, author of the Conte del Graal, used in graal is more similar to the Provençal grazal and langue d'oc variations than to the langue d'oïl greel.

The Chalice itself generally is formed of precious metal. Glass chalices were known and used in the ancient world, but they were outlawed by Charlemagne. In 873 the word garalis appeared in the will of Count Eberhard von Treviso, the grandfather of the German King Henry I, who left his son Adalardus V, among other items, three silver vessels. In another copy of the same will, the word calix is used for garalis. Similar examples appear in other wills and ecclesiastical inventories. From this evidence, it would appear that the words garalis and calix were interchangeable as were gradalis and scutella, the latter of which becomes escuele, or "vessel." In fact all of these words can be used to designate a chalice of precious metal.

Some scholars have offered various other etymologies for graal. For example, Rudolf Steiner translated graal as coming from gradalis, but he translates gradalis as "gradually." The pseudo-etymology of graal as "agreeable," while interesting and oft quoted, does not sound as reasonable as the etymology submitted by Helinand. In a further development of Helinand's etymology, some scholars propose that the Low Latin cratalis or gradalis derived from Ancient Greek krater, which is likely enough, but then these scholars go on to derive the Grail from the krater of the hermetic cults. The evidence for the motif of the Chalice at the Cross, however, simply does not support such a derivation. And still other authors have interpreted gradalis as the graduale, which was the "service-book or Antiphonary for High Mass."

To further muddy the waters Harwood believes that scholars have superimposed "Christianized themes" on the stories of the Grail as told by the Continuators of Chrétien's Conte del Graal and the authors of the later variants. She declares that the Grail is not of the same metal as the other vessels in the Grail Procession and is, therefore, not a communion vessel. Several scholars cite the common reference that women were forbidden to carry such vessels except in the sickbed communion service.The symbolism of the Church, however, was very much in the minds of the medieval authors and artists. This needs to be considered in any discussion of the motif of the Chalice at the Cross. For example, Fisher argues (quite rightly) that, for the men of the Middle Ages, the paten--which covered the chalice and on which the bread, the body of the Lamb according to several medieval texts, was placed--was more likely the Grail than the Jewish dish, through its connection with the Agnus Dei.

SOURCE: Dr. Linda A. Malcor, "What is a Grail?" from The Chalice at the Cross, at Knighthood, Chivalry and Tournaments Resource Library (Retrieved 30 Dec 2008).

Candidates for the Grail

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The Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Image courtesy of Virgin Media.

Glastonbury
Nanteos Cup
Marian Chalice
Roslin Grail

Other Claimants

Abbot Suger's Chalice (France)
Antioch Chalice (Palestine)
Bruges Grail (Belgium)
Sacro Catino (Genoa)
Santo Milagro (Spain)

SOURCE: "Holy Grail Candidates," King Arthur in Legend. http://www.britannia.com/history/arthur/grail-cand.html. Retrieved 16 Dec 2008.

Chrétien's Continuations

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Gawain sees the Bleeding Lance and the Grail. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Fr. 12577, f. 18v. Courtesy of Dr. Debora B. Schwartz.

First Continuation

The author of the First Continuation, sometimes called the Gawain Continuation, was once believed to be Gautier de Denain, but the work is now considered anonymous. (Ashley: 418.)

In the First Continuation we have the first mention of the "Holy Grail." Gawain encounters a dead knight with a broken sword and discovers that whoever can mend it, can explain the mysteries of the Grail.

Gawain also learns that the Bleeding Lance is the one that pierced the side of Christ at the Crucifixion. He fails to mend the sword, but succeeds in asking the right question about the Grail.

Perceval arrives at the Grail Castle and sees the Grail Procession. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Fr. 12577, f. 213v. Courtesy of HAA1210-Medieval Iconography.

Second Continuation

In the Second Continuation, Perceval resumes his quest for the grail but is again distracted by chivalrous combat. He meets his sister and learns the truth about his mother's death. He is also able to mend the broken sword except for a small notch, which shows he has still not reached perfection. This version also ends unfinished as the Fisher King is about to explain the significance of the grail.

Perceval kneeling before the Grail Maiden. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Fr. 12576, f. 261. Courtesy of HAA1210-Medieval Iconography.

Third Continuation

The majority of the MSS. for The Story of the Grail contain Chrétien's original text and three continuations. According to Barber (2004: 28) the "fourth continuation seems to have been an alternative to the Third Continuation." The Third Continuation, written by Manessier (c. 1214-27), actually fits the storyline better if it follows the Fourth Continuation. Both show the influence of Robert de Boron.

The Third Continuation tells how Joseph of Arimathea used the Grail to catch the blood of crucified Jesus, and the bleeding spear was that of Longinus. Perceval sets out to avenge the Fisher King’s injury and fights the devil in the form of a detached black arm. Perceval overcomes another demon who has taken the form of his beloved Blancheflor. He slays the traitor Partinial and learns that the Fisher King is his mother’s brother. Perceval returns to Arthur’s court where he proves himself the most excellent knight. He restores the land and retires to a hermitage, sustained by the grail, which accompanies his soul to heaven and is never seen on earth again.

Angel bearing the Grail before the king. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Fr. 1453, f. 283 . Courtesy of HAA1210-Medieval Iconography.

Fourth Continuation

The Fourth Continuation was written by Gerbert de Montreuil (c. 1225). Perceval realizes he has failed and has not paid for the transgression of neglecting his mother. He learns that the Earthly Paradise is beyond a garden that he cannot enter. After fighting demons and ghosts, he returns to Blancheflor, marries her, but believing they must remain pure, they do not consummate the marriage.

Gawain's adventures are more mundane and he seems uninterested in his quest for an answer to the Bleeding Lance. Meanwhile Perceval returns to the Grail Castle and is able to mend the sword completely.

SOURCES: Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (NY: Carroll and Graf, 2005).

Richard Barber, The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004).

Gerbert de Montreuil, La Continuation de Perceval, ed. Mary Williams (Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1925).

The Story of the Grail

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The Story of the Grail, or Le Conte du Graal as Chrétien himself calls it in the introduction, is also known as Perceval. It is an unfinished, 9,234 line, verse romance written sometime between 1180-1190. This Story contains the first historical appearance of the Grail in literature.

. . . A damsel, who came with the youths and was fair and attractive and beautifully adorned, held in both hands a grail. Once she had entered with this grail that she held, so great a radiance appeared that the candles lost their brilliance just as the stars do at the rising of the sun or moon. After her came another maiden, holding a silver carving-dish. The grail, which proceeded ahead, was of pure refined gold. And this grail was set with many kinds of precious stones, the richest and most costly in sea or earth: those stones in the grail certainly surpassed all others. . . . [Owen 1987: 417.]

It is interesting that the first reference to the grail is purely a secular one. The golden and richly adorned object is evidently of some size--at least large enough to hold a fish--as later, a hermit who happens to be Perceval's uncle tells him:

. . . the Rich Fisherman, believe me, is the son of that king who has himself served from the grail. But don't imagine he has pike, lamprey or salmon: he's served with a single consecrated wafer brought to him in that grail -- that supports his life in full vigour, so holy a thing is the grail. [Owen 1987: 459.]

Here is a reference to the grail as a "holy thing," but it will not be until Robert de Boron writes Joseph d'Arimathie that there is a connection with the vessel from the Last Supper.

SOURCE: Owen, D. D. R. Arthurian Romances - Chrétien de Troyes. London: J. M. Dent, 1987. See also: Chrétien de Troyes. The Story of the Grail. Trans. by Kirk McElhearn.

The Holy Grail - 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica

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THE HOLY GRAIL, the famous talisman of Arthurian romance, the object of quest on the part of the knights of the Round Table. It is mainly, if not wholly, known to English readers through the medium of Malory's translation of the French Quête du Saint Graal, where it is the cup or chalice of the Last Supper, in which the blood which flowed from the wounds of the crucified Saviour has been miraculously preserved. Students of the original romances are aware that there is in these texts an extraordinary diversity of statement as to the nature and origin of the Grail, and that it is extremely difficult to determine the precise value of these differing versions.

Broadly speaking the Grail romances have been divided into two main classes: (1) those dealing with the search for the Grail, the Quest, and (2) those relating to its early history. These latter appear to be dependent on the former, for whereas we may have a Quest romance without any insistence on the previous history of the Grail, that history is never found without some allusion to the hero who is destined to bring the quest to its successful termination. The Quest versions again fall into three distinct classes, differentiated by the personality of the hero who is respectively Gawain, Perceval or Galahad.

The most important and interesting group is that connected with Perceval, and he was regarded as the original Grail hero, Gawain being, as it were, his understudy. Recent discoveries, however, point to a different conclusion, and indicate that the Gawain stories represent an early tradition, and that we must seek in them rather than in the Perceval versions for indications as to the ultimate origin of the Grail.

The character of this talisman or relic varies greatly, as will be seen from the following summary.
1. Gawain, included in the continuation to Chretien's Perceval by Wauchier de Denain, and attributed to Bleheris the Welshman, who is probably identical with the Bledhericus of Giraldus Cambrensis, and considerably earlier than Chrétien de Troyes. Here the Grail is a food-providing, self-acting talisman, the precise nature of which is not specified; it is designated as the "rich" Grail, and serves the king and his court sans serjant et sans seneschal, the butlers providing the guests with wine. In another version, given at an earlier point of the same continuation, but apparently deriving from a later source, the Grail is borne in procession by a weeping maiden, and is called the "holy" Grail, but no details as to its history or character are given.

In a third version, that of Diu Crone, a long and confused romance, the origin of which has not been determined, the Grail appears as a reliquary, in which the Host is presented to the king, who once a year partakes alike of it and of the blood which flows from the lance. Another account is given in the Prose Lancelot, but here Gawain has been deposed from his post as first hero of the court, and, as is to be expected from the treatment meted out to him in this romance, the visit ends in his complete discomfiture.

The Grail is here surrounded with the atmosphere of awe and reverence familiar to us through the 1 The etymology of the O. Fr. graal or greal, of which "grail" is an adaptation, has been much discussed. The Low Lat. original, gradale or grasale, a flat dish or platter, has generally been taken to represent a diminutive cratella of crater, bowl, or a lost cratale, formed from the same word (see W. W. Skeat, Preface to Joseph of Arimathie, Early Eng. Text Soc.). - ED.
Quete, and is regarded as the chalice of the Last Supper. These are the Gawain versions.

2. Perceval. - The most important Perceval text is the Conte del Grael, or Perceval le Galois of Chretien de Troyes. Here the Grail is wrought of gold richly set with precious stones; it is carried in solemn procession, and the light issuing from it extinguishes that of the candles. What it is is not explained, but inasmuch as it is the vehicle in which is conveyed the Host on which the father of the Fisher king depends for nutriment, it seems not improbable that here, as in Diu CrOne, it is to be understood as a reliquary. In the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, the ultimate source of which is identical with that of Chretien, on the contrary, the Grail is represented as a precious stone, brought to earth by angels, and committed to the guardianship of the Grail king and his descendants.

It is guarded by a body of chosen knights, or templars, and acts alike as a life and youth preserving talisman - no man may die within eight days of beholding it, and the maiden who bears it retains perennial youth - and an oracle choosing its own servants, and indicating whom the Grail king shall wed. The sole link with the Christian tradition is the statement that its virtue is renewed every Good Friday by the agency of a dove from heaven. The discrepancy between this and the other Grail romances is most startling. In the short prose romance known as the "Didot" Perceval we have, for the first time, the whole history of the relic logically set forth.

The Perceval forms the third and concluding section of a group of short romances, the two preceding being the Joseph of Arimathea and the Merlin. In the first we have the precise history of the Grail, how it was the dish of the Last Supper, confided by our Lord to the care of Joseph, whom he miraculously visited in the prison to which he had been committed by the Jews. It was subsequently given by Joseph to his brother-inlaw Brons, whose grandson Perceval is destined to be the final winner and guardian of the relic. The Merlin forms the connecting thread between this definitely ecclesiastical romance and the chivalric atmosphere of Arthur's court; and finally, in the Perceval, the hero, son of Alain and grandson to Brons, is warned by Merlin of the quest which awaits him and which he achieves after various adventures.

In the Perlesvaus the Grail is the same, but the working out of the scheme is much more complex; a son of Joseph of Arimathea, Josephe, is introduced, and we find a spiritual knighthood similar to that used so effectively in the Parzival. 3. Galahad. - The Quete du Saint Graal, the only romance of which Galahad is the hero, is dependent on and a completion of the Lancelot development of the Arthurian cycle. Lancelot, as lover of Guinevere, could not be permitted to achieve so spiritual an emprise, yet as leading knight of Arthur's court it was impossible to allow him to be surpassed by another.

Hence the invention of Galahad, son to Lancelot by the Grail king's daughter; predestined by his lineage to achieve the quest, foredoomed, the quest achieved, to vanish, a sacrifice to his father's fame, which, enhanced by connexion with the Grailwinner, could not risk eclipse by his presence. Here the Grail, the chalice of the Last Supper, is at the same time, as in the Gawain stories, self-acting and food-supplying.

The last three romances unite, it will be seen, the quest and the early history. Introductory to the Galahad quest, and dealing only with the early history, is the Grand Saint Graal, a work of interminable length, based upon the Joseph of Arimathea, which has undergone numerous revisions and amplifications: its precise relation to the Lancelot, with which it has now much matter in common, is not easy to determine.

To be classed also under the head of early history are certain interpolations in the MSS. of the Perceval, where we find the Joseph tradition, but in a somewhat different form, e.g. he is said to have caused the Grail to be made for the purpose of receiving the holy blood. With this account is also connected the legend of the Volto Santo of Lucca, a crucifix said to have been carved by Nicodemus. In the conclusion to Chretien's poem, composed by Manessier some fifty years later, the Grail is said to have followed Joseph to Britain, how, is not explained.

Another continuation by Gerbert, interpolated between those of Wauchier and Manessier, relates how the Grail was brought to Britain by Perceval's mother in the companionship of Joseph.

It will be seen that with the exception of the Grand Saint Graal, which has now been practically converted into an introduction to the Quete, no two versions agree with each other; indeed, with the exception of the oldest Gawain-Grail visit, that due to Bleheris, they do not agree with themselves, but all show, more or less, the influence of different and discordant versions. Why should the vessel of the Last Supper, jealously guarded at Castle Corbenic, visit Arthur's court independently? Why does a sacred relic provide purely material food? What connexion can there be between a precious stone, a baetylus, as Dr Hagen has convincingly shown, and Good Friday? These, and such questions as these, suggest themselves at every turn.

Numerous attempts have been made to solve these problems, and to construct a theory of the origin of the Grail story, but so far the difficulty has been to find an hypothesis which would admit of the practically simultaneous existence of apparently contradictory features. At one time considered as an introduction from the East, the theory of the Grail as an Oriental talisman has now been discarded, and the expert opinion of the day may be said to fall into two groups: (i) those who hold the Grail to have been from the first a purely Christian vessel which has accidentally, and in a manner never clearly explained, acquired certain folk-lore characteristics; and (2) those who hold, on the contrary, that the Grail is aborigine folk-lore and Celtic, and that the Christian development is a later and accidental rather than an essential feature of the story.
The first view is set forth in the work of Professor Birch-Hirschfeld, the second in that of Mr Alfred Nutt, the two constituting the only travaux d'ensemble which have yet appeared on the subject. It now seems probable that both are in a measure correct, and that the ultimate solution will be recognized to lie in a blending of two originally independent streams of tradition. The researches of Professor Mannhardt in Germany and of J. G. Frazer in England have amply demonstrated the enduring influence exercised on popular thought and custom by certain primitive forms of vegetation worship, of which the most noteworthy example is the so-called mysteries of Adonis.

Here the ordinary processes of nature and progression of the seasons were symbolized under the figure of the death and resuscitation of the god. These rites are found all over the world, and in his monumental work, The Golden Bough, Dr Frazer has traced a host of extant beliefs and practices to this source. The earliest form of the Grail story, the Gawain- Bleheris version, exhibits a marked affinity with the characteristic features of the Adonis or Tammuz worship; we have a castle on the sea-shore, a dead body on a bier, the identity of which is never revealed, mourned over with solemn rites; a wasted country, whose desolation is mysteriously connected with the dead man, and which is restored to fruitfulness when the quester asks the meaning of the marvels he beholds (the two features of the weeping women and the wasted land being retained in versions where they have no significance); finally the mysterious food-providing, self-acting talisman of a common feast - one and all of these features may be explained as survivals of the Adonis ritual.

Professor Martin long since suggested that a key to the problems of the Arthurian cycle was to be found in a nature myth: Professor Rhys regards Arthur as an agricultural hero; Dr Lewis Mott has pointed out the correspondence between the so-called Round Table sites and the ritual of nature worship; but it is only with the discovery of the existence of Bleheris as reputed authority for Arthurian tradition, and the consequent recognition that the Grail story connected with his name is the earliest form of the legend, that we have secured a solid basis for such theories.

With regard to the religious form of the story, recent research has again aided us - we know now that a legend similar in all respects to the Joseph of Arimathea Grail story was widely current at least a century before our earliest Grail texts. The story with Nicodemus as protagonist is told of the Saint-Sang relic at Fecamp; and, as stated already, a similar origin is ascribed to the Volto Santo at Lucca. In this latter case the legend professes to date from the 8th century, and scholars who have examined the texts in their present form consider that there may be solid ground for this attribution. It is thus demonstrable that the material for our Grail legend, in its present form, existed long anterior to any extant text, and there is no improbability in holding that a confused tradition of pagan mysteries which had assumed the form of a popular folk-tale, became finally Christianized by combination with an equally popular ecclesiastical legend, the point of contact being the vessel of the common ritual feast.

Nor can there be much doubt that in this process of combination the Fecamp legend played an important role. The best and fullest of the Perceval MSS. refer to a book written at Fecamp as source for certain Perceval adventures. What this book was we do not know, but in face of the fact that certain special Fecamp relics, silver knives, appear in the Grail procession of the Parzival, it seems most probable that it was a Perceval-Grail story. The relations between the famous Benedictine abbey and the English court both before and after the Conquest were of an intimate character.

Legends of the part played by Joseph of Arimathea in the conversion of Britain are closely connected with Glastonbury, the monks of which foundation showed, in the 12th century, considerable literary activity, and it seems a by no means improbable hypothesis that the present form of the Grail legend may be due to a monk of Glastonbury elaborating ideas borrowed from Fecamp. This much is certain, that between the Saint-Sang of Fecamp, the Volto Santo of Lucca, and the Grail tradition, there exists a connecting link, the precise nature of which has yet to be determined. The two former were popular objects of pilgrimage; was the third originally intended to serve the same purpose by attracting attention to the reputed burial-place of the apostle of the Grail, Joseph of Arimathea?

Bibliography. - For the Gawain Grail visits see the Potvin edition of the Perceval, which, however, only gives the Bleheris version; the second visit is found in the best and most complete MSS., such as 12,576 and 12,577 (Fonds francais) of the Paris library. Diu Crone, edited by Scholl (Stuttgart, 1852), vol. vi. of Arthurian Romances (Nutt), gives a translation of the Bleheris, Diu Crone and Prose Lancelot visits.

The Conte del Graal, or Perceval, is only accessible in the edition of M. Potvin (6 vols., 1866-1871). The Mons MS., from which this has been printed, has proved to be an exceedingly poor and untrustworthy text. Parzival, by Wolfram von Eschenbach, has been frequently and well edited; the edition by Bartsch (1875-1877), in Deutsche Classiker des Mittelalters, contains full notes and a glossary. Suitable for the more advanced student are those by K. Lachmann (1891), Leitzmann (1902-1903) and E. Martin (1903). There are modern German translations by Simrock (very close to the original) and Hertz (excellent notes). English translation with notes and appendices by J. L. Weston. "Didot" Perceval, ed. Hucher, Le Saint Graal (1875-1878), vol. i. Perlesvaus was printed by Potvin, under the title of Perceval le Gallois, in vol. i. of the edition above referred to; a Welsh version from the Hengwert MS. was published with translation by Canon R. Williams (2 vols., 1876-1892).

Under the title of The High History of the Holy Grail a fine version was published by Dr Sebastian Evans in the Temple Classics (2 vols., 1898). The Grand Saint Graal was published by Hucher as given above; this edition includes the Joseph of Arimathea. A 15th century metrical English adaptation by one Henry Lovelich, was printed by Dr Furnivall for the Roxburghe Club 1861-1863; a new edition was undertaken for the Early English Text Society. Quete du Saint Graal can best be studied in Malory's somewhat abridged translation, books xiii.-xviii. of the Morte Arthur. It has also been printed by Dr. Furnivall for the Roxburghe Club, from a MS. in the British Museum. Neither of these texts is, however, very good, and the student who can decipher old Dutch would do well to read it in the metrical translation published by Joenckbloet, Roman van Lanceloet, as the original here was considerably fuller.

For general treatment of the subject see Legend of Sir Perceval, by J. L. Weston, Grimm Library, vol. xvii. (1906); Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail, by A. Nutt (1888), and a more concise treatment of the subject by the same writer in No. 14 of Popular Studies (1902); Professor Birch-Hirschfeld's Die Sage vom Gral (1877). The late Professor Heinzel's Die alt franzosischen GralRomane contains a mass of valuable matter, but is very confused and ill-arranged. For the Fecamp legend see Leroux de Lincey's Essai sur l'abbaye de Fescamp (1840); for the Volto Santo and kindred legends, Ernest von Dobschiitz, Christus-Bilder (Leipzig, 1899). (J. L. W.)

Catholic Encyclopedia: The Holy Grail

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The name of a legendary sacred vessel, variously identified with the chalice of the Eucharist or the dish of the Pascal lamb, and the theme of a famous medieval cycle of romance. In the romances the conception of the Grail varies considerably; its nature is often but vaguely indicated, and, in the case of Chrestien's Perceval poem, it is left wholly unexplained.

The meaning of the word has also been variously explained. The generally accepted meaning is that is given by the Cistercian chronicler Helinandus (d. about 1230), who, under the date of about 717, mentions of a vision, shown to a hermit concerning the dish used by Our Lord at the Last Supper, and about which the hermit then wrote a Latin book called "Gradale." "Now in French," so Helinandus informs us, "Gradalis or Gradale means a dish (scutella), wide and somewhat deep, in which costly viands are wont to be served to the rich in degrees (gradatim), one morsel after another in different rows. In popular speech it is also called "greal" because it is pleasant (grata) and acceptable to him eating therein" etc. The medieval Latin word "gradale" because in Old French "graal," or "greal," or "greel," whence the English "grail." Others derive the word from "garalis" or from "cratalis" (crater, a mixing bowl). It certainly means a dish, the derivation from "grata" in the latter part of the passage cited above or from "agréer" (to please) in the French romances is secondary. The explanation of "San greal" as "sang real" (kingly blood) was not current until the later Middle Ages. Other etymologies that have been advanced may be passed over as obsolete.

When we come to examine the literary tradition concerning the Grail we notice at the outset that the Grail legend is closely connected with that of Perceval as well as that of King Arthur. Yet all these legends were originally independent of each other. The Perceval story may have a mythical origin, or it may be regarded as the tale of a simpleton (French, nicelot) who, however, in the end achieves great things. In all the versions that we have of it, it is a part of the Arthurian legend, and, in almost all, it is furthermore connected with the Grail. So the reconstruction of the original Grail legend can be accomplished only by an analytical comparison of all extant versions, and is a task that has given rise to some of the most difficult problems in the whole range of literary history.

The great body of the Grail romances came into existence between the years 1180 and 1240. After the thirteenth century nothing new was added to the Grail legend. Most of these romances are in French, but there are versions in German, English, Norwegian, Italian, and Portuguese. These are of very unequal value as sources, some are mere translations or recasts of French romances. Now all of these romances may be conveniently divided into two classes: those which are concerned chiefly with the quest of the Grail, and with the adventures and personality of the hero of this quest; and those that are mainly concerned with the history of the sacred vessel itself. These two classes have been styled respectively the Quest and the Early History versions.

Of the first class is the "Conte del Graal" of Chrestien de Troyes and his continuators, a vast poetic compilation of some 60,000 verses, composed between 1180 and 1240, and the Middle High German epic poem "Parzival" of Wolfram von Eschenbach, written between 1205 and 1215, and based, according to Wolfram's statement, on the French poem of a certain Kyot (Guiot) of Provence, which, however, is not extant and the very existence of which is doubtful. To these may be added the Welsh folk-tales or "Mabinogion" known to us only from manuscripts of the thirteenth century, though the material is certainly older, and the English poem "Sir Percyvelle," of the fifteenth century. Of the Early History versions the oldest is the metrical trilogy of Robert de Boron, composed between 1170 and 1212, of which only the first part, the "Joseph d'Arimathie," and a portion of the second, the "Merlin," are extant. We have, however, a complete prose version, preserved in the so-called Didot manuscript. The most detailed history of the Grail is in the "Grand St. Graal," a bulky French prose romance of the first half of the thirteenth century, where we are told that Christ Himself presented to a pious hermit the book concerning this history. Besides these versions we have three French prose romances, also from the thirteenth century, which, though concerned chiefly with the quest, give also an account of the history of the sacred vessel. Of these the most notable is the "Queste del St. Graal," well known to English readers because it was embodied almost entire in Malory's "Morte d' Arthur." The others are the so-called "Didot Perceval" or "La petite queste" and the lengthy and prolix "Perceval le Gallois," also known as "Perlesvaus."

The poem of Chrestien, regarded by many as the oldest known Grail romance, tells of Perceval's visit to the Grail castle, where he sees a Graal borne in by a damsel. Its accompaniments are a bleeding lance and a silver plate. It is a precious vessel set with jewels, and so resplendent as to eclipse the lights of the hall. All the assembled knights show it reverence. Mindful of an injunction not to inquire too much, Perceval does not ask concerning the significance of what he sees, and thereby incurs guilt and reproach. Undoubtly Chrestien meant to relate the hero's second visit to the castle, when he would have put the question and received the desired information. But the poet did not live to finish his story, whether the explanation of the Graal, offered by the continuators, is that which Chrestien what the Graal signifies; in his version it has no pronounced religious character. On the other hand, in the Early History versions it is invested with the greatest sanctity. It is explained as the dish from which Christ ate the Paschal lamb with his disciples, which passed into possession of Joseph of Arimathea, and was used by him to gather the Precious Blood of Our Saviour, when His body was taken from the Cross. It becomes identified with the Chalice of the Eucharist. The lance is explained as the one with which Longinus pierced Our Lord's side, and the silver plate becomes the paten covering the chalice. The quest in these versions assumes a most sacred character, the atmosphere of chivalric adventure in Chrestien's poem yields to a militant asceticism, which insists not only on the purity of the quester, but, in some versions (Queste, Perlesvaus), on his virginity. In the "Queste" and "Grand St. Graal," moreover, the hero is not Perceval but the maiden-knight, Galaad. But the other knights of the Round Table are made to participate in the quest.

The early history of the Grail is intimately connected with the story of Joseph of Arimathea. When he is cast into prison by the Jews, Christ appears to him and gives him the vessel, through which he is miraculously sustained for forty-two years, until liberated by Vespasian. The Grail is then brought to the West, to Britain, either by Joseph and Josephes, his son (Grand St. Graal), or by Alain one of his kin (Robert de Boron). Galaad (or Perceval) achieves the quest; after the death of its keeper the Grail vanishes. According to the version of the "Perlesvaus" Perceval is removed, no one knows whither, by a ship with white sails on which is displayed a red cross. In the Guiot-Wolfram version we meet with a conception of the Grail wholly different from that of the French romances. Wolfram conceives of it as a precious stone, lapsit exillis (i.e. lapis or lapsi ex caelis?) of special purity, possessing miraculous powers conferred upon it and sustained by a consecrated Host which, on every Good Friday, a dove brings down from heaven and lays down upon it. The angels who remained neutral during the rebellion of Lucifer were its first guardians; then it was brought to earth and entrusted to Titurel, the first Grail king. It is guarded in the splendid castle of Munsalvaesche (mons salvationis or silvaticus?) by itself and nourished by its miraculous food-giving power.

The relationship of the Grail versions to each other, especially that of Chrestien to those of Robert de Boron and the "Queste," is a matter of dispute. Nor is their relative chronology certain. But in all these versions the legend appears in an advanced state of development, the preceeding phases of which are not attested by literary monuments, and therefore, can only be conjectured. The origin of the legend is involved in obscurity, and scholars are divided in their views on this point. An Oriental, a Celtic, and a purely Christian origin have been claimed. But the Oriental parallels, like the sun-table of the Ethiopians, the Persian cup of Jamshid, the Hindu paradise, Cridavana, are not very convincing, and Wolfram's statement, that Kyot's source was an Arabic manuscript of Toledo, is open to grave doubt. It is different with the Celtic story. There are undoubtly Celtic elements in the legend as we have it; the Perceval story is probably, and the Arthurian legend certainly, of Celtic origin, and both of these legends intimately connected with the quest story. Talismans, such as magic lances and food-giving vessels figure prominently in Celtic myths and folk-tales. According to this theory the "Mabinogion," with its simple story of vengeance by means of talismans and devoid of religious significance, would yield the version nearest to the original form of the legend. Back of the quest-story would be some pre-Christian tale of a hero seeking to avenge the injury done to a kinsman. The religious element would then be of secondary origin, and would have come into the legend when the old vengeance-tale was fused with the legend of Joseph of Arimathea, which is essentially a legend of the conversion of Britain.

Those who maintain the theory of a purely Christian origin regard the religious element in the story as fundamental and trace the leading motifs to Christian ideas and conceptions. It is derived from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, which is known to have had a great vogue in the twelfth century, paricularly in Britain. There we read how Joseph, whom the Jews had imprisoned, is miraculously fed by Christ Himself . Additional traits were supplied by the "Vindicta Salvatoris," the legendary account of the destruction of Jerusalem. Furthermore, Joseph was confused with the Jewish historian, Josephus, whose liberation by Titus is narrated by Suetonius. The food-producing properties of the vessel can be explained, without resorting to Celtic parallels, by the association of the Grail with the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which gives spiritual nourishment to the faithful. The purely Christian legend which thus had arisen was brought into contact with the traditional evangelization of Britain, and then developed on British soil, in Wales, and thus the Celtic stamp, which it undeniably bears, is accounted for. In connection with the legendary conversion of Britain it is noteworthy that the literary accounts of this event are connected with the famous Abbey of Glastonbury, which is also intimately associated with the legend of Arthur, Glastonbury being identified in William of Malmesbury's account with the mythic Avalon. So scholars are inclined to connect this British sanctuary with the origin of the Grail romances. Possibly Walter Map, who died as Archdeacon of Oxford in 1210, and to whom is ascribed the authorship of a Grail-Lancelot cycle, got his information from that abbey. The first Grail romances was then probably written in Latin and became the basis for the work of Robert de Boron, who was an English knight under King Henry II, and a contemporary of Chrestien and of Map.

The fully developed Grail legend was later on still further connected with other legends, as in Wolfram's poem with that of Lohengrim, the swan-knight, and also with that of Prester John, the fabled Christian monarch of the East. Here also the story of Klinschor, the magician, was added. After the Renaissance the Grail legend, together with most medieval legends, fell into oblivion, from which it was rescued when the Romantic movement set in at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The most famous modern versions are Tennyson's "Holy Grail" in the "Idylls of the King" (1869), and Wagner's music-drama, the festival-play, "Parsifal," produced for the first time at Bayreuth in 1882.

A word as to the attitude of the Church towards the legend. It would seem that a legend so distinctively Christian would find favour with the Church. Yet this was not the case. Excepting Helinandus, clerical writers do not mention the Grail, and the Church ignored the legend completely. After all, the legend contained the elements of which the Church could not approve. Its sources are in apocryphal, not in canonical, scripture, and the claims of sanctity made for the Grail were refuted by their very extravagance. Moreover, the legend claimed for the Church in Britain an origin well nigh as illustrious as that of the Church of Rome, and independent of Rome. It was thus calculated to encourage and to foster any separatist tendencies that might exist in Britain. As we have seen, the whole tradition concerning the Grail is of late origin and on many points at variance with historical truth.

The "Queste" was edited by Furnivall, "La Queste del Saint Graal" (Roxburghe Club, London, 1864), also the Grand St. Graal under the title "Seynt Graal or the Sank Ryal", etc. (Roxburghe Club, London, 1861-63). The Perlesvaus is in Potvin's edition of Chrestien, I (Mons, 1866); the Didot Perceval in Hucher, "Le Saint Graal" (Le Mans, 1874-78). Robert de Boron's poem was edited by Michel, "Le roman du St. Graal" (Bordeaux, 1841), Malory's "Morte D'Arthur" by Sommer (London, 1889-91), and the Perlesvaus rendered into English by Evans, "The High History of the Holy Grail" (London, 1898). (See WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH.)

SOURCE: Arthur F.J. Remy, "The Holy Grail," The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909). http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06719a.htm. Retrieved 23 December 2008.

Sources of the Grail

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The principal sources for the Grail stories can be classified into the following two groups:

1. Adventures of King Arthur's Round Table Knights.

a. Chrétien de Troyes. Le Conte du Graal, ou Perceval, c. 1180-1190.
b. Four continuations of the above:
i. Anon. First Continuation, c. 1190-1200.
ii. Anon. Second Continuation, c. 1200-1210.
iii. Manessier. Third Continuation, c. 1210-1220.
iv. Gerbert de Montreuil. Fourth Continuation, c. 1226-1230.
c. Parzival, c. 1210-1220.
d. Peredur from the Mabinogion.
e. The Didot Perceval, c. 1200-1210.
f. Perlesvaus, before 1210.
g. The Prose Lancelot, the third portion of the compilation called the Lancelot-Grail or Vulgate cycle, c. 1210-1220.
h. The Queste del Saint Graal, the fourth portion of the Lancelot-Grail, c.1220-1230.

2. History of the Grail from the time of Christ to the time of Arthur.

a. Robert de Boron. Joseph d'Arimathie. c. 1200-1210.
b. L'Estoire del Saint Graal, the first portion of the Vulgate cycle. c. 1230-1240.

SOURCE: Roger Sherman Loomis, The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol (University of Wales Press, 1968; reprint ed., Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), p. 3.

What is a Grail?

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grail

Main Entry: grail
Pronunciation: 'grA(&)l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English graal, from Middle French, bowl, grail, from Medieval Latin gradalis.
1 capitalized : the cup or platter used according to medieval legend by Christ at the Last Supper and thereafter the object of knightly quests.
2 : the object of an extended or difficult quest.

Source: Merriam-Webster Online.

Dictionary.com gives the following etymology:

(Middle English greal, from Old French graal, from Medieval Latin gradālis, "flat dish.")

Online Etymology Dictionary adds the following:

grail

c.1330, from O. Fr. graal "cup," earlier "flat dish," from M.L. gradalis "a flat dish or shallow vessel," perhaps ult. from L. crater "bowl," from Gk. krater "bowl, especially for mixing wine with water." Holy Grail is M.E. Sangreal (Saint graal), grafted awkwardly onto the Celtic Arthurian legends 12c. by Church scribes in place of some pagan Otherworldly object. It was said to be the cup into which Joseph of Arimathea received the last drops of blood of Christ (according to the writers who picked up the thread of Chrétien de Troyes' "Perceval") or the dish from which Christ ate the Last Supper (Robert de Boron), and was ultimately identified as both. (e.g. "þe dische wiþ þe blode," 14c.)

The Columbia Encyclopedia adds the following:

Grail, Holy,

a feature of medieval legend and literature. It appears variously as a chalice, a cup, or a dish and sometimes as a stone or a caldron into which a bleeding lance drips. It was identified by Christians as the chalice of the Last Supper brought to England by St. Joseph of Arimathea. Miraculous in its powers, it could provide food and healing. However, it would be revealed only to a pure knight, and the Grail Quest appears in different stories. In Arthurian legend Arthurian legend, the purest knight is variously Parsifal or Galahad. The Grail is one of the most difficult problems of Arthurian legend, introducing as it does features of Christian story, Celtic myth, and ancient fertility cults.

Bibliography

See R. S. Loomis, The Grail (1963); E. Jung and M.-L. von Franz, The Grail Legend (tr. 1971).

See also the Catholic Encyclopedia article.