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98-455: According to the prologue, the first part of the book (i.e. everything before the Grail material) is attributed to the otherwise unknown Luce de Gat, and was probably begun between 1230 and 1235. The work was expanded and reworked sometime after 1240 to create the more popular version known as V2. In the epilogue of V2, its author names himself as "Hélie de Boron", asserting that he is the nephew of

196-591: A "holy grail" by those seeking such. A mysterious "grail" (Old French: graal or greal ), wondrous but not unequivocally holy, first appears in Perceval, the Story of the Grail , an unfinished chivalric romance written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1190. Chrétien's story inspired many continuations, translators and interpreters in the later-12th and early-13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach , who portrayed

294-584: A conversion of Robert de Boron's poem by the same title. It can be divided into: The cycle's centerpiece part Lancelot en prose , also known the Estoire de Lancelot ( Story of Lancelot ) or Le Livre de Lancelot du Lac ( The Life of Lancelot of the Lake ), follows the adventures of the eponymous hero as well as many other Knights of the Round Table during the later years of King Arthur's reign up until

392-432: A derivative of crater or cratus , which was, in turn, borrowed from Ancient Greek krater ( κρᾱτήρ , a large wine-mixing vessel). Alternative suggestions include a derivative of cratis , a name for a type of woven basket that came to refer to a dish, or a derivative of Latin gradus meaning " 'by degree', 'by stages', applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during

490-416: A glass bowl near Glastonbury; a group of his friends, including Wellesley Tudor Pole , retrieved the cup in 1906 and promoted it as the original Holy Grail. Glastonbury and its Holy Grail legend have since become a point of focus for various New Age and Neopagan groups. In the early 20th century, esoteric writers identified Montségur , a stronghold of the heretical Cathar sect in the 13th century, as

588-607: A happy ending for him, discovering his true identity and receiving a kiss from Guinevere when he confesses his love for her. Elspeth Kennedy identified the possible non-cyclic Prose Lancelot in an early manuscript known as the BNF fr. 768 . It is about three times shorter than the later editions and notably the Grail Quest (usually taking place later) is mentioned within the text as already having been completed by Perceval alone. The Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal ( Quest for

686-426: A later Welsh redaction ). Map's connection has been discounted by modern scholarship, however, as he died too early to be the author and the work is distinctly continental. The cycle's actual authorship is unknown, but most scholars today believe it was written by multiple authors. There might have been either a single master-mind planner, the so-called "architect" (as first called so by Jean Frappier, who compared

784-404: A meal". In the 15th century, English writer John Hardyng invented a fanciful new etymology for Old French san-graal (or san-gréal ), meaning "Holy Grail", by parsing it as sang réal , meaning "royal blood". This etymology was used by some later medieval British writers such as Thomas Malory , and became prominent in the conspiracy theory developed in the book The Holy Blood and

882-634: A modern canon of Arthuriana that is still prevalent today. The Vulgate Cycle emphasizes Christian themes in the legend of King Arthur , in particular in the story of the Holy Grail . As in Robert de Boron 's poem Merlin ( c.  1195–1210 ), the cycle states that its first parts have been derived from the Livre du Graal ("The Book of the Grail") that is described as a text dictated by Merlin himself to his confessor Blaise  [ fr ] in

980-483: A mounting for use as a chalice. The bowl may date to Greco-Roman times, but its dating is unclear, and its provenance is unknown before 1399, when it was gifted to Martin I of Aragon . By the 14th century, an elaborate tradition had developed that this object was the Last Supper chalice. This tradition mirrors aspects of the Grail material, with several major differences, suggesting a separate tradition entirely. It

1078-456: A tragic affair that ends with Tristan being banished to the court of Hoel of Brittany . He eventually marries Hoel's daughter, also named Iseult. Especially after this point, however, the traditional narrative is continually interrupted for side adventures by the various characters and episodes serving to "Arthurianize" the story. Notably, Tristan's rivalry with the Saracen knight Palamedes

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1176-540: A vast influence on conspiracy and alternate history books. It has also inspired fiction, most notably Dan Brown 's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code and its 2006 film adaptation . The combination of hushed reverence, chromatic harmonies and sexualized imagery in Richard Wagner 's final music drama Parsifal , premiered in 1882, developed this theme, associating the Grail – now periodically producing blood – directly with female fertility. The high seriousness of

1274-592: Is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature . Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often guarded in the custody of the Fisher King and located in the hidden Grail castle. By analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as

1372-755: Is appropriate considering Tristan's traditional link to poetry. The Grail Quest has been a source of controversy regarding the Tristan en prose . Instead of writing new material, the author chose to insert (or interpolate) the entire Queste del Saint Graal from the Vulgate Cycle into the Tristan story, thus undermining the sanctity of the Vulgate Queste itself. Holy Grail The Holy Grail ( French : Saint Graal , Breton : Graal Santel , Welsh : Greal Sanctaidd , Cornish : Gral )

1470-408: Is attributed to be the editing author, as can be seen in the notes and illustrations in some manuscripts describing his discovery in an archive at Salisbury of the chronicle of Camelot , supposedly dating from the times of Arthur, and his translation of these documents from Latin to Old French as ordered by Henry II of England (the location was changed from Salisbury to the mystical Avalon in

1568-427: Is given substantial attention. Additionally, in the long version, Tristan leaves Brittany and returns to his first love, and never sees his wife again, though her brother Kahedin remains his close companion. Tristan is compared frequently to his friend Lancelot in both arms and love, and at times even unknowingly engages him in battles. He becomes a Knight of the Round Table (taking Morholt's old seat) and embarks on

1666-447: Is not associated with Joseph of Arimathea or Jesus' blood; it is said to have been taken to Rome by Saint Peter and later entrusted to Saint Lawrence . Early references do not call the object the "Grail"; the first evidence connecting it to the Grail tradition is from the 15th century. The monarchy sold the cup in the 15th century to Valencia Cathedral , where it remains a significant local icon. Several objects were identified with

1764-405: Is spelled in its earliest appearances, comes from Old French graal or greal , cognate with Old Occitan grazal and Old Catalan gresal , meaning "a cup or bowl of earth, wood, or metal" (or other various types of vessels in different Occitan dialects). The most commonly accepted etymology derives it from Latin gradalis or gradale via an earlier form, cratalis ,

1862-506: Is the longest part, making up fully half of the entire cycle. It is inspired by and in part based on Chrétien's poem Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette ( Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart ). It primarily deals with a series of episodes of Lancelot 's early life and with the courtly love between him and Queen Guinevere , as well as his deep friendship with Galehaut , interlaced with

1960-825: The Enfances Lancelot ("Lancelot's youth") or Galehaut (sometimes Galeaut ), further split between the Charrette and its follow-up the Suite de la Charette ( Continuation of the Charrette ); the Agravain (named after Gawain's brother Agravain ); and the Preparation for the Quest linking the previous ones. It was perhaps originally an independent romance that would begin with Lancelot's birth and finish with

2058-759: The Historia di Merlino (1379) was loosely adapted from the Vulgate Merlin . The cycle's elements and characters have been also incorporated into various other works in France, such as Les Prophecies de Mérlin (or the Prophéties de Merlin ) and Palamedes , and elsewhere. Some episodes from the Vulgate Cycle have been adapted into the Third and Fourth Continuations of Chrétien's unfinished Perceval,

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2156-611: The Lancelot Proper , and consequently most of Lancelot and Guinevere's content, instead focusing on the Grail Quest. It also borrows characters and episodes from the first version of the Prose Tristan (1220), making Tristan one of the main characters. The second version of the Prose Tristan (1240) itself partially incorporated the Vulgate Cycle by copying parts of it. Along with the Prose Tristan , both

2254-527: The Post-Vulgate Cycle , the next major prose treatment of the Arthurian mythos, and served as the main source for the Tristan section of Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur . Before any modern editions of the Prose Tristan were attempted, scholars were dependent on an extended summary and analysis of all the manuscripts by Eilert Löseth in 1890 (republished in 1974). Of the modern editions,

2352-595: The Vulgate Mort Artu / La Mort Artu , a tragic account of further wars culminating in the king and his illegitimate son Mordred killing each other in a near-complete rewrite of the Arthurian chronicle tradition from the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth and his redactors. It is also connected with the so-called "Mort Artu" epilogue section of the Didot Perceval  [ fr ] , a text uncertainly attributed to Robert de Boron, and which itself

2450-513: The "Grail" originally referred to the Image of Edessa . Goulven Peron (2016) suggested that the Holy Grail may reflect the horn of the river-god Achelous , as described by Ovid in the Metamorphoses . In the wake of the Arthurian romances, several artifacts came to be identified as the Holy Grail in medieval relic veneration. These artifacts are said to have been the vessel used at

2548-694: The "Mörlin" part of Ulrich Fuetrer 's Buch von Abenteuer (1471). Jacob van Maerlant 's Dutch translation of the Merlin added some original content in his Merlijns Boek also known as Historie von Merlijn (1261), as did the Italian writer Paolino Pieri in the Storia di Merlino (1320). The Dutch Lancelot Compilation (1320) added an original romance to a translation of the Prose Lancelot . The Italian Vita de Merlino con le suo Prophetie also known as

2646-747: The 15th century. The narrative developed is that Jesus was not divine, and had children with Mary Magdalene , who took the family to France where their descendants became the Merovingian dynasty. Supposedly, while the Catholic Church worked to destroy the dynasty, they were protected by the Priory of Sion and their associates, including the Templars, Cathars, and other secret societies. The book, its arguments, and its evidence have been widely dismissed by scholars as pseudohistorical, but it has had

2744-424: The 1904 silent film Parsifal , an adaptation of Wagner's opera by Edwin S. Porter . More recent cinematic adaptations include Costain's The Silver Chalice made into a 1954 film by Victor Saville and Brown's The Da Vinci Code turned into a 2006 film by Ron Howard . Vulgate Cycle The Lancelot-Grail Cycle (a modern title invented by Ferdinand Lot ), also known as the Vulgate Cycle (from

2842-542: The 1970s, and was elaborated upon in the bestselling 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail . The theory combines myths about the Templars and Cathars with various other legends, and a prominent hoax about a secret order called the Priory of Sion . According to this theory, the Holy Grail is not a physical object, but a symbol of the bloodline of Jesus . The blood connection is based on the etymological reading of san greal (holy grail) as sang real (royal blood), which dates to

2940-568: The Arthurian legend. Characters like Palamedes, Dinadan , and Lamorak , all of whom first appear in the Tristan , achieved popularity in later works. The pagan knight Palamedes even lent his name to the Romance of Palamedes , a later work that expands on episodes from the Tristan . This material is also preserved in the Compilation of Rustichello da Pisa and numerous later redactions in several languages. The Prose Tristan also influenced

3038-538: The Cathars guarded the Grail at Montségur, and smuggled it out when the castle fell in 1244. Beginning in 1933, German writer Otto Rahn published a series of books tying the Grail, Templars, and Cathars to modern German nationalist mythology. According to Rahn, the Grail was a symbol of a pure Germanic religion repressed by Christianity. Rahn's books inspired interest in the Grail within Nazi occultist circles, and led to

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3136-631: The Cistercian Saint Aelred of Rievaulx 's idea of "spiritual friendship" seen in the interactions between the Grail knights ( Galahad , Percival , and Bors ). Others doubt this, however, and a compromise theory postulates a more secular writer who had spent some time in a Cistercian monastery. Richard Barber described the Cistercian theology of the Queste as unconventional and complex but subtle, noting its success in appealing to

3234-521: The Grail and of the quest to find it became increasingly popular in the 19th century, referred to in literature such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson 's Arthurian cycle Idylls of the King . A sexualised interpretation of the grail, now identified with female genitalia, appeared in 1870 in Hargrave Jennings ' book The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries . In the cinema, the Holy Grail debuted in

3332-566: The Grail as a stone in Parzival . The Christian, Celtic or possibly other origins of the Arthurian grail trope are uncertain and have been debated among literary scholars and historians. In the 1190s, Robert de Boron in Joseph d'Arimathie  [ fr ] portrayed the Grail as Jesus 's vessel from the Last Supper , which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood at

3430-470: The Grail castle. Similarly, the 14th-century Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian , Scotland, became attached to the Grail legend in the mid-20th century when a succession of conspiracy books identified it as a secret hiding place of the Grail. Since the 19th century, the Holy Grail has been linked to various conspiracy theories. In 1818, Austrian pseudohistorical writer Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall connected

3528-553: The Grail to contemporary myths surrounding the Knights Templar that cast the order as a secret society dedicated to mystical knowledge and relics. In Hammer-Purgstall's work, the Grail is not a physical relic, but a symbol of the secret knowledge that the Templars sought. There is no historical evidence linking the Templars to a search for the Grail, but subsequent writers have elaborated on the Templar theories. Starting in

3626-570: The Holy Grail ), also known as Les Aventures ou La Queste del Saint Graal ( The Adventures or The Quest for the Holy Grail ) or just the Vulgate Queste , is, like the Estoire del Saint Graal , another highly religious part of the cycle. It relates how the Grail Quest is undertaken by various knights including Perceval and Bors, and achieved by Lancelot's son Galahad, the perfect holy knight who here replaces both Lancelot and Perceval as

3724-470: The Holy Grail , in which sang real refers to the Jesus bloodline . The literature surrounding the Grail can be divided into two groups. The first concerns King Arthur's knights visiting the Grail castle or questing after the object. The second concerns the Grail's earlier history in the time of Joseph of Arimathea . The nine works from the first group are: Of the second group there are: The Grail

3822-697: The Holy Grail in the 17th century. In the 20th century, a series of new items became associated with it. These include the Nanteos Cup , a medieval wooden bowl found near Rhydyfelin , Wales; a glass dish found near Glastonbury , England; the Antioch chalice , a 6th-century silver-gilt object that became attached to the Grail legend in the 1930s; and the Chalice of Doña Urraca , a cup made between 200 BC and 100 AD, kept in León ’s Basilica of Saint Isidore . In

3920-584: The IRHT's Initiale project. The earliest copies are of French origin and date from 1220 to 1230. Numerous copies were produced in French throughout the remainder of the 13th, 14th and well into the 15th centuries in France, England and Italy, as well as translations into other European languages. Some of the manuscripts are richly illuminated: British Library Royal MS 14 E III, produced in Northern France in

4018-460: The Last Supper until later, in the wake of the Grail romances; the first known association is in Jacobus de Voragine 's chronicle of Genoa in the late 13th century, which draws on the Grail literary tradition. The Catino was moved and broken during Napoleon 's conquest in the early 19th century, revealing that it is glass rather than emerald. The Holy Chalice of Valencia is an agate dish with

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4116-461: The Last Supper, but other details vary. Despite the prominence of the Grail literature, traditions about a Last Supper relic remained rare in contrast to other items associated with Jesus' last days, such as the True Cross and Holy Lance . One tradition predates the Grail romances: in the 7th century, the pilgrim Arculf reported that the Last Supper chalice was displayed near Jerusalem. In

4214-601: The Latin editio vulgata , "common version", a modern title invented by H. Oskar Sommer ) or the Pseudo-Map Cycle (named so after Walter Map , its pseudo-author ), is an early 13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance originally written in Old French . The work of unknown authorship, presenting itself as a chronicle of actual events, retells

4312-584: The Post-Vulgate and the Vulgate original were among the most important sources for Thomas Malory 's seminal English compilation of Arthurian legend, Le Morte d'Arthur (1470), which has become a template for many modern works. The 14th-century English poem Stanzaic Morte Arthur is a compressed verse translation of the Vulgate Mort Artu . In the 15th-century Scotland, the first part of

4410-426: The Quest for the Holy Grail before abandoning the idea to stay with Iseult at Lancelot's castle . Manuscripts which do not include the Grail material preserve the earlier version of the lovers' deaths, while the longer versions have Mark kill Tristan while he plays the harp for Iseult, only to see her die immediately afterwards. The Prose Tristan had a huge effect on subsequent medieval literature and treatments of

4508-429: The Round Table . The chief of them is the famed Lancelot, whose chivalric tale is centered around his illicit romance with Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere. However, the cycle also tells of adventures of a more spiritual type. Most prominently, they involve the Holy Grail, the vessel that contained the blood of Christ, which is searched for by many members of the Round Table until Lancelot's son Galahad ultimately emerges as

4606-589: The SS chief Heinrich Himmler 's abortive sponsorship of Rahn's search for the Grail, as well as many subsequent conspiracy theories and fictional works about the Nazis searching for the Grail. In the late 20th century, writers Michael Baigent , Richard Leigh , and Henry Lincoln created one of the most widely known conspiracy theories about the Holy Grail. The theory first appeared on the BBC documentary series Chronicle in

4704-542: The Story of the Grail . Other legacy can be found in the many so-called "pseudo-Arthurian" works in Spain and Portugal. H. Oskar Sommer published the entire original French text of the Vulgate Cycle in seven volumes in the years 1908–1916. Sommer's has been the only complete cycle published as of 2004. The base text used was the British Library Add MS 10292–10294. It is however not a critical edition, but

4802-754: The Vulgate Lancelot was turned into verse in Lancelot of the Laik , a romance love poem with political messages. In the 15th-century England, Henry Lovelich 's poem Merlin and the verse romance Of Arthour and of Merlin were based on the Vulgate Merlin and the Merlin Continuation . Outside Britain, the Vulgate Merlin was retold in Germany by Albrecht von Scharfenberg in his lost Der Theure Mörlin , preserved over 100 years later in

4900-438: The adventures of Gawain and other knights such as Yvain , Hector , Lionel , and Bors . The Lancelot Proper is regarded as having been written first in the cycle. The actual [ Conte de la ] Charrette ("[Tale of the] Cart"), an incorporation of a prose rendition of Chrétien's poem, spans only a small part of the Vulgate text. Due to its length, modern scholars often divide the Lancelot into various sub-sections, including

4998-483: The appearance of Galahad and the start of the Grail Quest. The separate parts of the Lancelot – Queste – Mort Artu trilogy differ greatly in tone, the first (composed c.  1215–1220 ) can be characterized as colorful, the second ( c.  1220–1225 ) as pious, and the third ( c.  1225–1230 ) as sober: The Vulgate Lancelot propre ( Lancelot Proper ), also known as Le Roman de Lancelot ( The Novel of Lancelot ) or just Lancelot du Lac ,

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5096-615: The authority of a certain (probably fictional) Kyot the Provençal , claimed the Grail was a Stone, the sanctuary of the neutral angels who took neither side during Lucifer's rebellion . It is called Lapis exillis , which in alchemy is the name of the philosopher's stone . The authors of the Lancelot-Grail Cycle used the Grail as a symbol of divine grace ; the virgin Galahad, illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine ,

5194-400: 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. He founds a dynasty of Grail keepers that eventually includes Perceval. In Parzival , Wolfram von Eschenbach, citing

5292-445: The chosen hero. Their interlacing adventures are purported to be narrated by Bors, the witness of these events after the deaths of Galahad and Perceval. It is the most innovative part of the cycle as it was not derived from any known earlier stories, including the creation of the character of Galahad as a major new Arthurian hero. The Vulgate Mort le roi Artu ( Death of King Arthur ), also known as La Mort le Roy Artus or just

5390-461: The court of his uncle Mark , King of Cornwall , and defends his country against the Irish warrior Morholt . Wounded in the fight, he travels to Ireland where he is healed by Iseult , a renowned doctor and Morholt's niece, but he must flee when the Irish discover he has killed their champion. He later returns, in disguise, to seek Iseult as a bride for his uncle. When they accidentally drink the love potion prepared for Iseult and Mark, they engage in

5488-450: The courtly audience accustomed to more secular romances. The Lancelot-Grail Cycle may be divided into three main branches, although more usually into five, with the romances Queste and Mort regarded as separate from the Vulgate Lancelot (the latter possibly initially standalone in the original so-called "short version"). In particular, the Lancelot , the Queste and the Morte are 'so divergent as to leave no doubt that they are

5586-457: The crucifixion . Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the Holy Chalice , the Last Supper cup, an idea continued in works such as the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and subsequently the 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur . In this form, it is now a popular theme in modern culture, and has become the subject of folklore studies , pseudohistorical writings, works of fiction, and conspiracy theories . The word graal , as it

5684-470: The early 13th century, the originality of the Tristan en prose is found in the author's use of lyrical poems to express characters' hopes, despair or anger. Various books and articles have studied the lyrical content of the Prose Tristan whether expressed as riddles in verse, letters in verse, songs of mockery or love songs. In this way, the Prose Tristan functions like a musical. Characters placed in extreme situations actually "break into song." All of this

5782-422: The early 14th century and once owned by King Charles V of France , contains over 100 miniatures with gilding throughout and decorated borders at the beginning of each section. Other manuscripts were made for less wealthy owners and contain very little or no decoration, for example British Library MS Royal 19 B VII, produced in England, also in the early 14th century, with initials in red and blue marking sections in

5880-413: The early 20th century, writers, particularly in France, further connected the Templars and Grail to the Cathars. In 1906, French esoteric writer Joséphin Péladan identified the Cathar castle of Montségur with Munsalväsche or Montsalvat, the Grail castle in Wolfram's Parzival . This identification has inspired a wider legend asserting that the Cathars possessed the Holy Grail. According to these stories,

5978-441: The early years of Arthur's reign. Next, following the demise of Merlin, there are more supposed original (fictitious) authors of the later parts of the cycle, the following list using one of their multiple spelling variants: Arodiens de Cologne (Arodian of Cologne ), Tantalides de Vergeaus (Tantalides of Vercelli ), Thumas de Toulete (Thomas of Toledo ), and Sapiens de Baudas (Sapient of Baghdad ). These characters are described as

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6076-415: The entire narrative together into a coherent single tale. Its alternate titles include Philippe Walter's 21st-century edition Le Livre du Graal ("The Book of the Grail"). There is no unity of place within the narrative, but most of the episodes take place in Arthur's kingdom of Logres . One of the main characters is Arthur himself, around whom gravitates a host of other heroes, many of whom are Knights of

6174-451: The esoteric significance of the grail, relating it to the Iranian Islamic symbols that he studied. Richard Barber (2004) argued that the Grail legend is connected to the introduction of "more ceremony and mysticism" surrounding the sacrament of the Eucharist in the high medieval period, proposing that the first Grail stories may have been connected to the "renewal in this traditional sacrament". Daniel Scavone (1999, 2003) has argued that

6272-411: The evangelist of Britain rather than as the custodian of the Holy Grail, but from the 15th century, the Grail became a more prominent part of the legends surrounding Glastonbury. Interest in Glastonbury resurged in the late 19th century, inspired by renewed interest in the Arthurian legend and contemporary spiritual movements centered on ancient sacred sites. In the late 19th century, John Goodchild hid

6370-399: The first author of the Arthurian Grail cycles, poet Robert de Boron . Hélie de Boron claims, like the so-called authors of the Roman de la Rose , to have picked up the story where Luce left off. Neither the biographies of the two authors, nor the claim that they had been translating the work from a Latin original are taken seriously by scholars. The first part of the work stays closer to

6468-465: The hero instead with a platter containing his kinsman's bloody, severed head. The Grail is first featured in Perceval, le Conte du Graal ( The Story of the Grail ) by Chrétien de Troyes, 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

6566-400: The infamous Vienna 2542 manuscript. His edition follows from Curtis', includes Tristan's participation in the Quest for the Holy Grail and ends with Tristan and Iseult's death and the first signs of Arthur's fall. The shorter version, which contains no Grail Quest, was published by Joël Blanchard in five volumes. Though part of the larger prose cycles, which dominated all things Arthurian after

6664-434: The legend as essentially Christian in origin. Joseph Goering identified sources for Grail imagery in 12th-century wall paintings from churches in the Catalan Pyrenees (now mostly moved to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya ), 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 Troyes. Goering argues that they were

6762-428: The legend of King Arthur by focusing on the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere , the religious quest for the Holy Grail , and the life of Merlin . The highly influential cycle expands on Robert de Boron 's "Little Grail Cycle" and the works of Chrétien de Troyes , previously unrelated to each other, by supplementing them with additional details and side stories, as well as lengthy continuations, while tying

6860-437: The long version is made up of two editions: one edited by Renée L. Curtis and the other by Philippe Ménard. Curtis' edition of a simple manuscript (Carpentras 404) covers Tristan's ancestry and the traditional legend up to Tristan's madness. However, the massive amount of manuscripts in existence dissuaded other scholars from attempting what Curtis had done until Ménard hit upon the idea of using multiple teams of scholars to tackle

6958-471: 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 this object not as "The Grail" but as "a grail" ( un graal ), showing

7056-528: The main story, it is derived from Robert de Boron's poem Joseph d'Arimathie  [ fr ] with new characters and episodes added. The Vulgate Estoire de Merlin ( Story of Merlin ), or just the Vulgate Merlin , concerns Merlin 's complicated conception and childhood and the early life of Arthur , which Merlin has influence over. It is a redaction of the Prose Merlin , itself

7154-462: The modern era, a number of places have become associated with the Holy Grail. One of the most prominent is Glastonbury in Somerset , England. Glastonbury was associated with King Arthur and his resting place of Avalon by the 12th century. In the 13th century, a legend arose that Joseph of Arimathea was the founder of Glastonbury Abbey . Early accounts of Joseph at Glastonbury focus on his role as

7252-402: The most widespread form of Arthurian literature of the late medieval period, during which they were both translated into multiple European languages and rewritten into alternative variants, including having been partially turned into verse. They also inspired various later works of Arthurian romance, eventually contributing the most to the compilation Le Morte d'Arthur that formed the basis for

7350-523: 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 honour. The story of the Wounded King's mystical fasting 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 Communion wafer to be

7448-468: The original inspiration for the Grail legend. Psychologists Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz used analytical psychology to interpret the Grail as a series of symbols in their book The Grail Legend . They directly expanded on interpretations by Carl Jung , which were later invoked by Joseph Campbell . Philosopher Henry Corbin , a member of the Eranos circle founded by Jung, also commented on

7546-638: The origins of the Holy Grail before Chrétien, suggesting that it may contain elements of the trope of magical cauldrons from Celtic mythology and later Welsh mythology , combined with Christian legend surrounding the Eucharist , the latter found in Eastern Christian sources, conceivably in that of the Byzantine Mass , or even Persian sources. The view that the "origin" of the Grail legend should be seen as deriving from Celtic mythology

7644-429: The process to building a cathedral ), who may have written the main section ( Lancelot Proper ), and then overseen the work of multiple other anonymous scribes. One theory identified the initiator as French queen Eleanor of Aquitaine , who would have set up the project already in 1194. Alternately, each part may have been composed separately, arranged gradually, and rewritten for consistency and cohesiveness. Regarding

7742-629: The question of the author of the Lancelot , Ferdinand Lot suggested an anonymous clerical court clerk of aristocratic background. Today it is believed by some (such as editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica ) that a group of anonymous French Catholic monks wrote the cycle – or at least the Queste part (where, according to Fanni Bogdanow, the text's main purpose is to convince sinners to repent ). The evidence of this would be its very Cistercian spirit of Christian mysticism (with Augustinian intrusions ), including

7840-730: The scans of many of them) close to 150 manuscripts in French, some fragmentary, others, such as British Library Add MS 10292–10294, containing the entire cycle. Besides the British Library, scans of various manuscripts can be seen online through digital library websites of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France 's Gallica (including these from the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal ) and the University of Oxford 's Digital Bodleian; many illustrations can also be found at

7938-544: The scribes in service of Arthur who recorded the deeds of the Knights of the Round Table , including the grand Grail Quest, as relayed to them by the eyewitnesses of the events beings told in the story. It is uncertain whether the medieval readers actually believed in the truthfulness of the centuries-old "chronicle" characterisation or if they recognised it as a contemporary work of creative fiction. Welsh writer Gautier (Walter) Map ( c.  1140  – c.  1209 )

8036-483: The sections which deal with the Grail and religious themes, omitting the middle section, which relates Lancelot's chivalric exploits. The Vulgate Cycle was soon afterwards subject to a major revision during the 1230s, in which much was left out and much added. In the resulting far-shorter Post-Vulgate Cycle , also known as the Roman du Graal , Lancelot is no longer the central character. The Post-Vulgate omits almost all of

8134-439: The significant part of the ritual, and the Grail to be a mere prop. Though Chrétien's account is the earliest and most influential of all Grail texts, it was in the work of Robert that the Grail truly became the "Holy Grail" and assumed the form most familiar to modern readers in its Christian context. In his verse romance Joseph d'Arimathie , composed between 1191 and 1202, Robert tells the story of Joseph of Arimathea acquiring

8232-496: The stories of the cycle were immensely popular in medieval France and neighboring countries between the beginning of the 13th and the beginning of the 16th century, they survived in some two hundred manuscripts in various forms (not counting printed books since the late 15th century, starting with Jean le Bourgeois and Jean Dupré's edition of the Lancelot printed in Paris in 1488). The Lancelot-Graal Project website lists (and links to

8330-706: The subject was also epitomized in Dante Gabriel Rossetti 's painting in which a woman modeled by Alexa Wilding holds the Grail with one hand, while adopting a gesture of blessing with the other. A major mural series depicting the Quest for the Holy Grail was done by the artist Edwin Austin Abbey during the first decade of the 20th century for the Boston Public Library . Other artists, including George Frederic Watts and William Dyce , also portrayed grail subjects. The story of

8428-508: The successful end of the Grail Quest and are witnesses of his ascension to Heaven . Galahad and the interpretation of the Grail involving him were picked up in the 15th century by Thomas Malory in Le Morte d'Arthur and remain popular today. While it is not explicit that the Holy Grail is never to be seen again on Earth, it is stated by Malory that there has since then been no knight capable of obtaining it. Scholars have long speculated on

8526-495: The technique known as interlace (French: entrelacement ). Narrative interlacing is most prominent in the Queste , a literary technique used by modern authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien . The Vulgate Estoire del Saint Graal ( Story of the Holy Grail ) is the religious tale of early Christian Joseph of Arimathea and how his son Josephus brought the Holy Grail to Britain from the Holy Land . Set several centuries prior to

8624-525: The text and larger decorated initials at chapter-breaks. One notable manuscript is known as the Rochefoucauld Grail . However, very few copies of the entire Lancelot-Grail Cycle survive. Perhaps because it was so vast, copies were made of parts of the legend which may have suited the tastes of certain patrons, with popular combinations containing only the tales of either Merlin or Lancelot. For instance, British Library Royal 14 E III contains

8722-441: The traditional story as told by verse writers like Béroul and Thomas of Britain , but many episodes are reworked or altered entirely. Tristan 's parents are given new names and backstories, and the overall tone has been called "more realistic" than the verse material though there are moments where characters sing. Tristan's guardian Governal takes him to France, where he grows up at the court of King Pharamond . He later arrives at

8820-615: The wake of Robert de Boron's Grail works, several other items came to be claimed as the true Last Supper vessel. In the late 12th century, one was said to be in Byzantium ; Albrecht von Scharfenberg 's Grail romance Der Jüngere Titurel associated it explicitly with the Arthurian Grail, but claimed it was only a copy. This item was said to have been looted in the Fourth Crusade and brought to Troyes in France, but it

8918-476: The winner of this sacred journey. Other major plotlines include the accounts of the life of Merlin and of the rise and fall of Arthur. After its completion around 1230–1235, the Lancelot–Grail was soon followed by its major reworking known as the Post-Vulgate Cycle . Together, the two prose cycles with their abundance of characters and stories represent a major source of the legend of Arthur as they constituted

9016-514: The word was used, in its earliest literary context, as a common noun. For Chrétien, a 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 Communion 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

9114-474: The work of different authors'. The story of Lancelot was actually the first to be written (beginning c.  1210–1215 ). The stories of Joseph and Merlin joined the cycle late (before c.  1235 ), serving as "prequels" to the main story. The cycle has a narrative structure close to that of a modern novel in which multiple overlapping events featuring different characters may simultaneously develop in parallel and intertwine with each other through

9212-572: The world's greatest knight and the Grail Bearer at the castle of Corbenic , is destined to achieve the Grail, his spiritual purity making him a greater warrior than even his illustrious father. The Queste del Saint Graal ( The Quest of The Holy Grail ) tells also of the adventures of various Knights of the Round Table in their eponymous quest. Some of them, including Percival and Bors the Younger , eventually join Galahad as his companions near

9310-462: Was based on Wace 's Roman de Brut . In a new motif, the ruin of Arthur's kingdom is presented as the disastrous direct consequence of the sin of Lancelot's and Guinevere's adulterous affair. Lancelot eventually dies too, as do the other protagonists who did not die in the Queste , leaving only Bors as a survivor of the Round Table. The mortally wounded Arthur is put on a barge commanded by his sister, Morgan , and taken to an uncertain destiny. As

9408-626: Was championed by Roger Sherman Loomis , Alfred Nutt , and Jessie Weston . Loomis traced a number of parallels between medieval Welsh literature and Irish material, and the Grail romances, including similarities between the Mabinogion ' s Bran the Blessed and the Arthurian Fisher King, and between Bran's life-restoring cauldron and the Grail. The opposing view dismissed the "Celtic" connections as spurious, and interpreted

9506-417: Was considered a bowl or dish when first described by Chrétien de Troyes. There, it is a processional salver , a tray, used to serve at a feast. Hélinand of Froidmont described a grail as a "wide and deep saucer" ( scutella lata et aliquantulum profunda ); other authors had their own ideas. Robert de Boron portrayed it as the vessel of the Last Supper . Peredur son of Efrawg had no Grail as such, presenting

9604-612: Was lost during the French Revolution . Two relics associated with the Grail survive today. The Sacro Catino (Sacred Basin, also known as the Genoa Chalice) is a green glass dish held at the Genoa Cathedral said to have been used at the Last Supper. Its provenance is unknown, and there are two divergent accounts of how it was brought to Genoa by Crusaders in the 12th century. It was not associated with

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