According to
Christian mythologyChristian mythology is the body of traditional narratives associated with Christianity. Many Christians believe that these narratives are sacred and that they communicate profound truths...
, the
Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by
JesusJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
at the
Last SupperIn the Christian Gospels, the Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and disciples before his death...
, said to possess miraculous powers. The connection of
Joseph of ArimatheaJoseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. A native of Arimathea, he was apparently a man of wealth, and probably a member of the Sanhedrin, which is the way bouleutēs, literally "counsellor", in ...
with the Grail legend dates from
Robert de BoronRobert de Boron was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, originally from the village of Boron, in the present arrondissement of Montbéliard...
's
Joseph d'Arimathie (late 12th century) in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
; building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch
Christ's bloodThe Blood of Christ in Christian theology refers to the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby; and the Eucharistic blood used at Holy Communion...
while interring him and that in Britain he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe. The quest for the Holy Grail makes up an important segment of the
ArthurianKing Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated...
cycle, appearing first in works by
Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Little is known of his life, but he seems to have been from Troyes, or at least intimately connected with it, and between 1160 and 1172 he served at the court of his patroness Marie of France, Countess of...
. The legend may combine Christian lore with a
Celtic mythCeltic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
of a
cauldronA cauldron or caldron is a large metal pot for cooking and/or boiling over an open fire, with a large mouth and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger.-Symbolism and mythology:...
endowed with special powers.
The development of the Grail legend has been traced in detail by cultural historians: It is a legend which first came together in the form of written romances, deriving perhaps from some pre-Christian folklore hints, in the later 12th and early 13th centuries. The early Grail romances centered on
PercivalPercival or Perceval is one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. In Welsh literature his story is allotted to the historical Peredur...
and were woven into the more general Arthurian fabric. Some of the Grail legend is interwoven with legends of the
Holy ChaliceIn Christian tradition the Holy Chalice is the vessel which Jesus used at the Last Supper to serve the wine.The Gospel of Matthew says:...
.
Grail
The Grail plays a different role everywhere it appears, but in most versions of the legend the hero must prove himself worthy to be in its presence. In the early tales,
PercivalPercival or Perceval is one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. In Welsh literature his story is allotted to the historical Peredur...
's immaturity prevents him from fulfilling his destiny when he first encounters the Grail, and he must grow spiritually and mentally before he can locate it again. In later tellings the Grail is a symbol of God's grace, available to all but only fully realized by those who prepare themselves spiritually, like the saintly
GalahadSir Galahad is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot and Elaine of Carbonek, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity. He is perhaps the knightly embodiment of Jesus in the Arthurian...
.
Early forms
There are two veins of thought concerning the Grail's origin. The first, championed by
Roger Sherman LoomisRoger Sherman Loomis was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval and Arthurian literature.-Biography:...
,
Alfred NuttAlfred Trubner Nutt was a British publisher, now known for his writing as folklorist and Celticist. He was the son of David Nutt, a London publisher. He was educated at University College London School and College de Vitry-le-Francais, in Maine, France...
, and
Jessie WestonJessie Laidlay Weston was an independent scholar and folklorist, working mainly on mediaeval Arthurian texts.Her best-known work is From Ritual to Romance ; this book is now available as an online text, as are others of hers...
, holds that it derived from early
Celtic mythCeltic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
and folklore. Loomis traced a number of parallels between
Medieval Welsh literatureMediaeval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material from the time of the tongue's formation between the 5th and 8th centuries to the works of the 16th century....
and
IrishFor a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionatly large contribution to world literature in all its branches. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages....
material and the Grail romances, including similarities between the
MabinogionThe Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
s
Bran the BlessedBrân the Blessed is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. He appears in several of the Welsh Triads, but his most significant role is in the Second Branch of the Mabinogion, Brânwen, daughter of Llŷr. He is a son of Llŷr and Penarddun, and the brother of Brânwen, Manawydan, Nisien and...
and the Arthurian
Fisher KingThe Fisher King, or the Wounded King, figures in Arthurian legend as the latest in a line charged with keeping the Holy Grail. Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin, and incapable of moving on his own. When he is injured, his kingdom suffers as he does,...
, and between Bran's life-restoring cauldron and the Grail. Other legends featured magical platters or dishes that symbolize otherworldly power or test the hero's worth. Sometimes the items generate a never-ending supply of food. Sometimes they can raise the dead. Sometimes they decide who the next king should be, as only the true sovereign could hold them.
On the other hand, some scholars believe the Grail began as a purely Christian symbol. For example, Joseph Goering of the
University of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated north of the city's Financial District on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. The university was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in the...
has identified sources for Grail imagery in 12th century wall paintings from churches in the
CatalanCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
PyreneesThe Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain...
(now mostly removed to the
Museu Nacional d'Art de CatalunyaThe National Art Museum of Catalonia , abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is housed in the Palau Nacional, built for the 1929 World's Fair...
,
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
), which present unique iconic images of the Virgin Mary holding a bowl that radiates tongues of fire, images that predate the first literary account by
Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Little is known of his life, but he seems to have been from Troyes, or at least intimately connected with it, and between 1160 and 1172 he served at the court of his patroness Marie of France, Countess of...
. Goering argues that they were the original inspiration for the Grail legend.
Another recent theory holds that the earliest stories that cast the Grail in a Christian light were meant to promote the
Roman CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
sacramentA sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is what Roman Catholics believe to be "a rite in which God is uniquely active." Augustine of Hippo defined a Christian sacrament as "a visible sign of an invisible reality." The Anglican Book of Common Prayer speaks of them as "an...
of the Holy Communion. Although the practice of Holy Communion was first alluded to in the Christian
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
and defined by theologians in the first centuries AD, it was around the time of the appearance of the first Christianized Grail literature that the Roman church was beginning to add more ceremony and mysticism around this particular sacrament. Thus, the first Grail stories may have been celebrations of a renewal in this traditional sacrament. This theory has some basis in the fact that the Grail legends are a phenomenon of the Western church (see below).
Most scholars today accept that both Christian and Celtic traditions contributed to the legend's development, though many of the early Celtic-based arguments are largely discredited (Loomis himself came to reject much of Weston and Nutt's work). The general view is that the central theme of the Grail is Christian, even when not explicitly religious, but that much of the setting and imagery of the early romances is drawn from Celtic material.
Etymology
The word graal
, as it is earliest spelled, appears to be an Old FrenchOld French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 900 to 1300...
adaptation of the LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
gradalis
, meaning a dish brought to the table in different stages of a meal. According to the Catholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and it was completed in April 1914...
, after the cycle of Grail romancesAs a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about the marvelous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight errant,...
was well established, late medieval writers came up with a false etymologyA false etymology is any assumed or postulated etymology that is incorrect.Folk etymology, in its basic sense, refers to popularly held beliefs about the origins of specific words, especially where these originate in "common-sense" assumptions rather than serious research...
for sangréal
, an alternative name for "Holy Grail." In Old FrenchOld French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 900 to 1300...
, san graal
or san gréal
means "Holy Grail" and sang réal
means "royal blood"; later writers played on this pun. Since then, "Sangreal" is sometimes employed to lend a medievalizing air in referring to the Holy Grail. This connection with royal blood bore fruit in a modern bestseller linking many historical conspiracy theories (see below).
Chrétien de Troyes
The Grail is first featured in Perceval, le Conte du Graal
(The Story of the Grail) by
Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Little is known of his life, but he seems to have been from Troyes, or at least intimately connected with it, and between 1160 and 1172 he served at the court of his patroness Marie of France, Countess of...
, who claims he was working from a source book given to him by his patron, Count Philip of Flanders. In this incomplete poem, dated sometime between 1180 and 1191, the object has not yet acquired the implications of holiness it would have in later works. While dining in the magical abode of the Fisher King, Perceval witnesses a wondrous procession in which youths carry magnificent objects from one chamber to another, passing before him at each course of the meal. First comes a young man carrying a bleeding lance, then two boys carrying candelabras. Finally, a beautiful young girl emerges bearing an elaborately decorated graal
, or "grail."
Chrétien refers to his object not as "The Grail" but as un graal, showing the word was used, in its earliest literary context, as a common noun. For Chrétien the grail was a wide, somewhat deep dish or bowl, interesting because it contained not a pike, salmon or lamprey, as the audience may have expected for such a container, but a single Mass wafer which provided sustenance for the Fisher King’s crippled father. Perceval, who had been warned against talking too much, remains silent through all of this, and wakes up the next morning alone. He later learns that if he had asked the appropriate questions about what he saw, he would have healed his maimed host, much to his honor. The story of the Wounded King's
mystical fastingInedia is the alleged ability to live without food, which has been dismissed by the scientific community. Breatharianism is a related concept, in which believers claim food and possibly water are not necessary, and that humans can be sustained solely by prana , or according to some, by the energy...
is not unique; several saints were said to have lived without food besides communion, for instance Saint Catherine of Genoa. This may imply that Chrétien intended the Mass wafer to be the significant part of the ritual, and the Grail to be a mere prop.
Robert de Boron
Though Chrétien’s account is the earliest and most influential of all Grail texts, it was in the work of
Robert de BoronRobert de Boron was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, originally from the village of Boron, in the present arrondissement of Montbéliard...
that the Grail truly became the "Holy Grail" and assumed the form most familiar to modern readers. In his verse romance Joseph d’Arimathie, composed between 1191 and 1202, Robert tells the story of
Joseph of ArimatheaJoseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. A native of Arimathea, he was apparently a man of wealth, and probably a member of the Sanhedrin, which is the way bouleutēs, literally "counsellor", in ...
acquiring the chalice of the Last Supper to collect Christ’s blood upon his removal from the cross. Joseph is thrown in prison, where Christ visits him and explains the mysteries of the blessed cup. Upon his release Joseph gathers his in-laws and other followers and travels to the west, and founds a dynasty of Grail keepers that eventually includes Perceval.
Other early literature
After this point, Grail literature divides into two classes. The first concerns King Arthur’s knights visiting the Grail castle or questing after the object; the second concerns the Grail’s history in the time of Joseph of Arimathea.
The nine most important works from the first group are:
- The Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes.
- Four continuations of Chrétien’s poem, by authors of differing vision and talent, designed to bring the story to a close.
- The German Parzival
Parzival is a major medieval German epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German language. The poem is commonly dated circa the first quarter of the 13th century...
by Wolfram von EschenbachWolfram von Eschenbach was a German knight and poet, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of his time. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry.-Life:...
, which adapted at least the holiness of Robert’s Grail into the framework of Chrétien’s story.
- The Didot Perceval, named after the manuscript’s former owner, and purportedly a prosification of Robert de Boron’s sequel to Joseph d’Arimathie.
- The Welsh romance Peredur
Peredur son of Efrawg is one of the three Welsh Romances associated with the Mabinogion. It tells what is essentially the same story as Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished romance Perceval, the Story of the Grail, but it contains many striking differences from that work, most notably the absence of the...
, generally included in the MabinogionThe Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
, likely at least indirectly founded on Chrétien's poem but including very striking differences from it, preserving as it does elements of pre-Christian traditions such as the Celtic cult of the head.
- Perlesvaus
Perlesvaus, also called Li Hauz Livres du Graal , is an Old French Arthurian romance dating to the first decade of the 13th century...
, called the "least canonical" Grail romance because of its very different character.
- The German Diu Crône
Diu Crône is a long Middle High German Arthurian poem attributed to Heinrich von dem Türlin, of whom little is known. Usually dated to around the 1220s, it consists of about 30,000 lines. A scholarly edition was made in 1852 by Gottlob Heinrich Friedrich Scholl...
(The Crown), in which GawainGawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
, rather than Perceval, achieves the Grail.
- The Lancelot
In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot is one of the Knights of the Round Table. He is typically considered to be one of the greatest and most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
section of the vast Vulgate Cycle, which introduces the new Grail hero, GalahadSir Galahad is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot and Elaine of Carbonek, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity. He is perhaps the knightly embodiment of Jesus in the Arthurian...
.
- The Queste del Saint Graal, another part of the Vulgate Cycle, concerning the adventures of Galahad and his achievement of the Grail.
Of the second class there are:
- Robert de Boron’s Joseph d’Arimathie,
- The Estoire del Saint Graal, the first part of the Vulgate Cycle (but written after Lancelot and the Queste), based on Robert’s tale but expanding it greatly with many new details.
Though all these works have their roots in Chrétien, several contain pieces of tradition not found in Chrétien which are possibly derived from earlier sources.
Conceptions of the Grail
The Grail was considered a bowl or dish when first described by Chrétien de Troyes. Other authors had their own ideas: Robert de Boron portrayed it as the vessel of the Last Supper; and Peredur
had no Grail per se, presenting the hero instead with a platter containing his kinsman's bloody, severed head. In Parzival
, Wolfram von EschenbachWolfram von Eschenbach was a German knight and poet, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of his time. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry.-Life:...
, citing the authority of a certain (probably fictional) Kyot the ProvençalKyot the Provençal was the French poet who supplied Wolfram von Eschenbach with the source for his poetic epic Parzival, according to Wolfram. Wolfram may have been referring to the northern French poet Guiot de Provins, but this identification has proven unsatisfactory...
, claimed the Grail was a stone that fell from Heaven (called lapsit exillis), and had been the sanctuary of the Neutral Angels who took neither side during
LuciferLucifer is a Latin word, literally meaning "light-bearer", that was used as a name for the "day star" or "Morning Star" that precedes the rising of the sun. The name is frequently given to the Devil in Christian convention...
's rebellion. The authors of the Vulgate Cycle used the Grail as a symbol of
divine graceIn Christianity, grace is "unmerited favor" from God. Divine grace is a description of the character of God, which is displayed by God's gifts to humanity. Grace describes the means by which humans are granted salvation...
. Galahad, illegitimate son of
LancelotIn the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot is one of the Knights of the Round Table. He is typically considered to be one of the greatest and most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
and
Elaine-Elaine of Carbonek:Elaine of Carbonek is the daughter of Pelles, the Fisher King and Lord of Carbonek...
, the world's greatest knight and the Grail Bearer at the castle of
CorbenicCorbenic is the name of the castle of the Holy Grail in the Lancelot-Grail cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur...
, is destined to achieve the Grail, his spiritual purity making him a greater warrior than even his illustrious father. Galahad and the interpretation of the Grail involving him were picked up in the 15th century by Sir
Thomas MalorySir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholarship assumes that he was Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire...
in
Le Morte d'ArthurLe Morte d'Arthur is Sir Thomas Malory's compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances...
, and remain popular today.
Various notions of the Holy Grail are currently widespread in Western society (especially British, French and American), popularized through numerous medieval and modern works (see below) and linked with the predominantly Anglo-French (but also with some German influence) cycle of stories about King Arthur and his knights. Because of this wide distribution, Americans and West Europeans sometimes assume that the Grail idea is universally well known. The stories of the Grail are totally absent from the folklore of those countries that were and are
Eastern OrthodoxThe Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members...
(whether Arabs, Slavs, Romanians, or Greeks). This is true of all Arthurian myths, which were not well known east of Germany until the present-day Hollywood retellings. Nor has the Grail been as popular a subject in some predominantly Catholic areas, such as
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
and
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, as it has been elsewhere. The notions of the Grail, its importance, and prominence, are a set of ideas that are essentially local and particular, being linked with Catholic or formerly Catholic locales, Celtic mythology and Anglo-French medieval storytelling. The contemporary wide distribution of these ideas is due to the huge influence of the pop culture of countries where the Grail Myth was prominent in the Middle Ages.
Later legend
Belief in the Grail and interest in its potential whereabouts has never ceased. Ownership has been attributed to various groups (including the
Knights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple , were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, probably because they were at the peak of their influence around the time that Grail stories started circulating in the 12th and 13th centuries).
There are cups claimed to be the Grail in several churches, for instance the
Saint Mary of Valencia CathedralThe Cathedral of Valencia , commonly known as the "Seu" in Catalan, is the see of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Valencia. The church was consecrated in 1238 by the first bishop of Valencia Pere d'Albalat and was dedicated by order of James I the Conqueror to Saint Mary...
, which contains an artifact, the
Holy ChaliceIn Christian tradition the Holy Chalice is the vessel which Jesus used at the Last Supper to serve the wine.The Gospel of Matthew says:...
, supposedly taken by
Saint PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
in the first century, and then to
HuescaHuesca is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon...
in Spain by
Saint LawrenceLawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.-History:...
in the 3rd century. According to legend, the monastery of
San Juan de la PeñaThe monastery of San Juan de la Peña is located at the south-west of Jaca, in Huesca, Spain. It was one of the most important monasteries in Aragon in the Middle Ages. Its two-level church is partially carved in the stone of the great cliff that overhangs the foundation...
, located at the south-west of
JacaJaca is a city of northeastern Spain near the border with France, in the midst of the Pyrenees in the province of Huesca...
, in the province of
HuescaHuesca is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca.Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French Departments of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées...
, Spain, protected the chalice of the Last Supper from the Islamic invaders of the Iberian Peninsula. Archaeologists say the artifact is a 1st century Middle Eastern stone vessel, possibly from
AntiochAntioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River...
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
(now
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
); its history can be traced to the 11th century, and it now rests atop an ornate stem and base, made in the Medieval era of alabaster, gold, and gemstones. It was the official papal chalice for many popes, and has been used by many others, most recently by
Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI is the 265th and reigning Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Catholic Church and, as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State...
, on July 9, 2006. The emerald chalice at
GenoaGenoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000...
, which was obtained during the
CrusadesThe Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between...
at Caesarea Maritima at great cost, has been less championed as the Holy Grail since an accident on the road, while it was being returned from Paris after the fall of Napoleon, revealed that the emerald was green glass.
In Wolfram von Eschenbach's telling, the Grail was kept safe at the castle of Munsalvaesche (mons salvationis), entrusted to Titurel, the first Grail King. Some, not least the monks of Montserrat, have identified the castle with the real sanctuary of
MontserratMontserrat is a mountain near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It is the site of a Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat, which hosts the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary and which is identified by some with the location of the Holy Grail in Arthurian myth."Montserrat" literally means "jagged ...
in
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. Other stories claim that the Grail is buried beneath
Rosslyn ChapelRosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church in the mid-15th century...
or lies deep in the spring at
Glastonbury TorGlastonbury Tor is a hill at Glastonbury, Somerset, England, which features the roofless St. Michael's Tower. The site is managed by the National Trust....
. Still other stories claim that a secret line of hereditary protectors keep the Grail, or that it was hidden by the Templars in
Oak IslandOak Island is a 140-acre island in Lunenberg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone Bay and rises to a maximum of 35 feet above sea level....
,
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
's famous "
Money PitOak Island is a 140-acre island in Lunenberg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone Bay and rises to a maximum of 35 feet above sea level....
", while local folklore in
Accokeek, MarylandAccokeek is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located about 8.5 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. The population was 7,349 at the 2000 census. It is home to Piscataway Park....
says that it was brought to the town by a closeted priest aboard Captain
John SmithCaptain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He is remembered for his role in establishing the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, and his brief association with the Virginia Indian girl Pocahontas during an...
's ship. Turn of the century accounts state that Irish partisans of the Clan Dhuir (
O'Dwyer-People:*O'Dwyer *Edward Thomas O'Dwyer, , Renowned Bishop of Limerick, Ireland-Things:* J. R. O'Dwyer Company, magazine publisher for the United States public relations industry* O'Dwyer VLe...
,
Dwyer-Surname:*Alan Michael Dwyer, One of the original members of the C.O.N.*Bernard Dwyer, rugby player*Bernard J. Dwyer, U.S. politician*Bil Dwyer, American comedian*Bill Dwyer, US gangster and prohibition bootlegger*Bob Dwyer, rugby union coach...
) transported the Grail to the United States during the 19th Century and the Grail was kept by their descendents in secrecy in a small abbey in the upper-Northwest (now believed to be Southern Minnesota).
Modern retellings
The story of the Grail and of the quest to find it became increasingly popular in the nineteenth century, referred to in literature such as Alfred Tennyson's Arthurian cycle the
Idylls of the KingIdylls of the King, published between 1856 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, following the rise and fall of Arthur and his kingdom...
. The combination of hushed reverence, chromatic harmonies and sexualized imagery in Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
's late opera ParsifalParsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail....
gave new significance to the grail theme, for the first time associating the grail – now periodically producing blood – directly with female fertility. The high seriousness of the subject was also epitomized in Dante Gabriel RossettiDante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 and was later to be the main inspiration for second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement...
's painting (illustrated
), in which a woman modelled by Jane Morris holds the Grail with one hand, while adopting a gesture of blessing with the other. Other artists, including George Frederic WattsGeorge Frederic Watts, OM was a popular English Victorian painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical works, such as Hope and Love and Life...
and William DyceWilliam Dyce was a distinguished Scottish artist, who played a significant part in the formation of public art education in the UK, as perhaps the true parent of the South Kensington Schools system.Dyce began his career at the Royal Academy schools, and then traveled to Rome for the first time in...
also portrayed grail subjects.
The Grail later turned up in movies; it debuted in a silent Parsifal
. In The Light of Faith
(1922), Lon ChaneyLon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema. He is best remembered for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his...
attempted to steal it, for the finest of reasons. The Silver ChaliceThe Silver Chalice is a 1952 English language historical novel by Thomas B. Costain. It is the fictional story of the making of a silver chalice to hold the Holy Grail and includes first century biblical and historical figures: Luke, Joseph of Arimathea, Simon Magus and his companion Helena, and...
, a novel about the Grail by Thomas B. CostainThomas Bertram Costain was a Canadian journalist who became a best-selling author of historical novels at the age of 57.- Life:...
was made into a 1954 movie (in which Paul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, and auto racing enthusiast...
debuted), that is considered notably bad by several critics, including Newman himself. Lancelot du LacLancelot du Lac is 1974 film that was written and directed by Robert Bresson. It is based on Arthurian legend, and is told in a highly stylised manner. It relates the story of Lancelot and Guinevere's love, as Camelot and the Round Table fall apart...
(1974) is Robert BressonRobert Bresson was a French film director known for his spiritual, ascetic style.-Life:...
's gritty retelling. In vivid contrast, Monty Python and the Holy GrailMonty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...
(1975) (adapted in 2004 as the stage production SpamalotMonty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways, especially in its parodies of Broadway theatre...
) deflated all pseudo-Arthurian posturings. ExcaliburExcalibur is a 1981 fantasy film which retells the legend of King Arthur. It grossed $34,967,437 USD, and was the 18th most successful film of that year.-Plot:...
attempted to restore a more traditional heroic representation of an Arthurian tale, in which the Grail is revealed as a mystical means to revitalise Arthur himself, and of the barren land to which his depressive sickness is connected. Indiana Jones and the Last CrusadeIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third film in the Indiana Jones franchise. Harrison Ford reprises the title role and Sean Connery plays Indiana's father, Henry Jones, Sr...
and The Fisher King
place the quest in modern settings, one a modern-day treasure hunt, the other robustly self-parodying.
The Grail has been used as a theme in fantasy, historical fiction and science fiction; a quest for the Grail appears in Bernard CornwellBernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
's series of books The Grail QuestThe Grail Quest is a historical fiction novel series written by Bernard Cornwell dealing with a 14th Century search for the Holy Grail, around the time of the Hundred Years' War. They follow the adventures of Thomas of Hookton as he leaves Dorset after the murder of his father and joins the...
, set during The Hundred Years War.
Michael MoorcockMichael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels....
's fantasy novel The War Hound and the World's PainThe War Hound and the World's Pain is a 1981 fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock, the first of the "von Bek" series of novels.The book is set in Europe ravaged by the Thirty Years' War. Its hero Ulrich von Bek is a mercenary and freethinker, who finds himself a damned soul in a castle owned by Lucifer...
depicts a supernatural Grail quest set in the era of the Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
, and science fiction has taken the Quest into interstellar space, figuratively in Samuel R. DelanySamuel Ray "Chip" Delany, Jr. is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and nonfiction essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...
's 1968 novel NovaNova is a science fiction novel by Samuel R. Delany. Nominally space opera, it explores the politics and culture of a future where cyborg technology is universal, yet major decisions can involve using tarot cards. It has strong mythological overtones, relating to both the Grail Quest and Jason's...
, and literally on the television shows Babylon 5"Grail" is an episode from the first season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Synopsis:A traveler named Aldous Gajic comes to the station in search of the Holy Grail. Having sent information requests to the ambassadors prior to his arrival, he is greeted as a very important...
and Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1 is an American-Canadian military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
(as the "Sangraal"). Marion Zimmer BradleyMarion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series, often with a feminist outlook. Her first child, David R...
's The Mists of AvalonThe Mists of Avalon is a 1982 novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which she relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters.-Plot introduction:...
has the grail as one of four objects symbolizing the four Elements: the Grail itself (water), the sword Excalibur (fire), a dish (earth), and a spear or wand (air). The grail features heavily in the novels of Peter DavidPeter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer, known for his work in comic books and Star Trek novels, as well as in television, movies, and video games....
's Knight
trilogy, which depict King Arthur reappearing in modern-day New York City, in particular the second and third novels, One Knight Only
and Fall of Knight
. The grail is central in many modern Arthurian works, including Charles WilliamsCharles Walter Stansby Williams was a British poet, novelist, theologian, literary critic, and a member of the Inklings.- Biography :...
's novel War in Heaven
and his two collections of poems about TaliessinTaliesin was a British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...
, Taliessin Through Logres
and Region of the Summer Stars
, and in feminist author Rosalind MilesRosalind Miles is an author born and raised in England and now living in both Los Angeles and Kent, England. She has written both works of fiction and non-fiction. As a child, Miles suffered from polio, and had to undergo several months of treatment...
' Child of the Holy Grail
. The Grail also features heavily in Umberto EcoUmberto Eco is an Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher, literary critic and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
's 2000 novel BaudolinoBaudolino is a 2000 novel by Umberto Eco about the adventures of a young man named Baudolino in the known and mythical Christian world of the 12th century.Baudolino was translated into English in 2001 by William Weaver...
.
Non-fiction
The Grail has also been treated in works of non-fictionNonfiction is an account or representation of a subject which is presented as fact. This presentation may be accurate or not; that is, it can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question. However, it is generally assumed that the authors of such accounts believe them to be...
, which generally seek to interpret its meaning in novel ways. Such a tack was taken by psychologists Emma JungEmma Jung was the wife of Carl Jung, the prominent psychiatrist and founder of Analytical psychology. She came from an old Swiss-German family of wealthy industrialists; that wealth later gave Carl Jung the financial freedom to pursue his own work and interests...
and Marie-Louise von FranzMarie-Louise von Franz , the daughter of an Austrian baron and born in Munich, Germany, was a Swiss Jungian Psychologist and scholar. In her native Switzerland, she was known by a pet form of her Christian name, Malus . She worked with Carl Jung, whom she met in 1933 and knew until his death in 1961...
, who utilized analytical psychologyAnalytical psychology is the school of psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and then advanced by his students and other thinkers who followed in his tradition. It is distinct from Freudian psychoanalysis but also has a number of similarities...
to interpret the Grail as a series of symbols in their book The Grail Legend
. This type of interpretation had previously been utilized, in less detail, by Carl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology known as Jungian psychology. Jung's approach to psychology has been influential in the field of depth psychology and in countercultural movements across the globe...
, and was later invoked by Joseph CampbellJoseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
.
Other works, generally of dubious historical value, attempt to connect the Grail to conspiracy theoriesConspiracy theory is a term that originally was a neutral descriptor for any conspiracy claim. However, it has come almost exclusively to refer to any fringe theory which explains a historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful Machiavellian conspirators.Conspiracy...
and esoteric traditions. In The Sign and the SealThe Sign and The Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant is a controversial book by Graham Hancock...
, Graham HancockGraham Hancock is a British writer and journalist. His books include Lords of Poverty, The Sign and the Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, Keeper of Genesis , The Mars Mystery, Heaven's Mirror , Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization, and Talisman: Sacred...
asserts that the Grail story is a coded description of the stone tablets stored in the Ark of the CovenantThe Ark of the Covenant is a container described in the Bible as containing the Tablets of Stone on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments as well as Aaron's rod and manna. According to the Pentateuch, the Ark was built at the command of God, in accord with Moses' prophetic vision on Mount Sinai...
. For the authors of Holy Blood, Holy GrailThe Holy Blood and the Holy Grail is a controversial book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln....
, who assert that their research ultimately reveals that Jesus may not have died on the cross, but lived to wed
Mary MagdaleneMary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala is described, both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament apocrypha, as one of the most important women in the movement of Jesus. As a follower, Mary was one of many women who accompanied Jesus and the twelve apostles during his travels...
and father children whose Merovingian lineage continues today, the Grail is a mere sideshow: they say it is a reference to Mary Magdalene as the receptacle of Jesus' bloodline.
Such works have been the inspiration for a number of popular modern fiction novels. The best known is
Dan BrownDan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
's bestselling novel
The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective fiction novel written by American author Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discovers a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of...
, which, like Holy Blood, Holy Grail, is based on the idea that the real Grail is not a cup but the womb and later the earthly remains of
Mary MagdaleneMary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala is described, both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament apocrypha, as one of the most important women in the movement of Jesus. As a follower, Mary was one of many women who accompanied Jesus and the twelve apostles during his travels...
(again cast as Jesus' wife), plus a set of ancient documents telling the "true" story of Jesus, his teachings and descendants. In Brown's novel, it is hinted that Jesus was merely a mortal man with strong ideals, and that the Grail was long buried beneath
Rosslyn ChapelRosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church in the mid-15th century...
in Scotland, but that in recent decades its guardians had it relocated to a secret chamber embedded in the floor beneath the
Inverted PyramidLa Pyramide Inversée is a skylight constructed in an underground shopping mall in front of the Louvre Museum in France...
near the
Louvre MuseumThe Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the...
. The latter location, like
Rosslyn ChapelRosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church in the mid-15th century...
, has never been mentioned in real Grail lore. Yet such was the public interest in this fictionalized Grail that for a while, the museum roped off the exact location mentioned by Brown, lest visitors inflict any damage in a more-or-less serious attempt to access the supposed hidden chamber
See also
- Cornucopia
The cornucopia is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as horn of plenty, Horn of Amalthea, and harvest cone.- In mythology :...
, sampoIn Finnish mythology, the Sampo was a magical artifact of indeterminate type constructed by Ilmarinen that brought good fortune to its holder...
and the Cup of JamshidThe Cup of Jamshid is a cup of divination which, in Persian mythology, was long possessed by the rulers of ancient Persia. The cup has also been called Jam-e Jahan nama, Jam-e Jahan Ara, Jam-e Giti nama, and Jam-e Kei-khosrow...
are other mythical vessels with magical powers.
- Relics attributed to Jesus
Throughout the history of Christianity a number of relics attributed to Jesus have been claimed and displayed. While some people believe in the authenticity of some relics, others have cast doubt on them...
- List of Mythological Objects
External links
- The Holy Grail at the Camelot Project
- The Holy Grail at the Catholic Encyclopedia
The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and it was completed in April 1914...
- The Holy Grail today in Valencia Cathedral
- The Holy Grail, an episode of In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)
In Our Time is a live BBC radio discussion programme hosted by Melvyn Bragg. Each week, three guest speakers cover a specific historical, philosophical, religious, artistic or scientific topic...
, a 45 minute discussion is available for listening at the page. XVth century Old French Estoire del saint Graal manuscript BNF fr. 113 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, selection of illuminated folios, Modern French Translation, Commentaries.