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84-731: Most versions of the story contain the Holy Grail and the Lance of Longinus as plot elements. In some versions, a third character is introduced; this individual, unlike the hero-knight archetype, is ignorant of the King's power, but has the ability to save the king and land, or to doom it. Variations of this third party produce divergent legends. As a literary character, the Fisher King originates in Chrétien de Troyes 's unfinished writings of

168-515: A French poet active around the late 12th and early 13th centuries, notable as the reputed author of the poems Joseph d'Arimathie  [ fr ] and Merlin . Although little is known of Robert apart from the poems he allegedly wrote, these works and subsequent prose redactions of them had a strong influence on later incarnations of the Arthurian legend and its prose cycles, in particular through their Christianisation and redefinition of

252-538: A Grail. The character of the Fisher King appears (though he is not called such) and presents Peredur with a severed head on a platter. Peredur later learns that he was related to that king, and that the severed head was that of his cousin, whose death he must avenge by defeating the Nine Witches . The Fisher King is a character in Chrétien's Perceval (1180) which is the first of a series of stories and texts on

336-553: A definitive ending. The Fisher King's next development occurred around the end of the 12th century in Robert de Boron 's Joseph d'Arimathie  [ fr ] , the first work to connect the Grail with Jesus . Here, the "Rich Fisher" is called Bron , a name similar enough to Bran to suggest a relationship, and said to be the brother-in-law of Joseph of Arimathea , who had used the Grail to catch Christ's blood before laying him in

420-432: 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

504-533: A devil and a virgin, and destined to be a redeemed Antichrist . In particular, his works laid a foundation for the Vulgate Cycle and were eventually included into it in a reworked form, and then into the subsequent Post-Vulgate Cycle , formerly known as the "pseudo-Robert de Boron cycle" due to the Huth Merlin manuscript author's attribution of the entire work to Robert. Robert de Boron appears as

588-416: 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

672-404: 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

756-483: 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

840-431: A plot device to both remind Perceval of how he failed to ask the healing question and as a physical reminder of the existence of "Munsalvaesche" (Eschenbach's name for Corbenic). Holy Grail The Holy Grail ( French : Saint Graal , Breton : Graal Santel , Welsh : Greal Sanctaidd , Cornish : Gral ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature . Various traditions describe

924-544: A trilogy – with a verse Perceval forming the third part – or a tetralogy – with Perceval and the short Mort Artu ( Death of Arthur ). Collectively it is variably known as The Grand History of the Grail ( La Grant Estoire dou Graal ), the Romance of the Grail ( Roman du Graal ), the Book of the Grail ( Livre du Graal ), and The Little/Lesser Grail Cycle ( Le Petit Cycle du Graal ), or simply as Robert de Boron's cycle,

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1008-540: 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

1092-460: Is a common theme in the telling of the Grail Quest. While the details and location of the injury vary, the injury ultimately represents the inability of the Fisher King to produce an heir. Although some iterations have two kings present, one or both are injured, most commonly in the thigh. The wound is sometimes presented as a punishment, usually for philandering . In Parzival , specifically,

1176-592: Is a constant relationship between the knights and religious symbolism; most importantly, the Fisher King is replicated as a priest-like figure. In the case of Sone de Nausay , Bron (the Fisher King) is part of a tale in which the story makes a constant correlation between the Gospel narrative and the history of the Grail. The bleeding lance has taken numerous forms throughout the Arthurian literature chronology. In

1260-482: Is coming to visit Guinevere . So Lancelot sleeps with Elaine, thinking her Guinevere, but flees when he realizes what he has done. Galahad is raised by his aunt in a convent, and when he is eighteen, comes to King Arthur's court and begins the Grail Quest. Only he, Percival, and Bors are virtuous enough to achieve the Grail and restore Pelles. In the Post-Vulgate cycle and Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur ,

1344-506: Is considered significant because it is most often associated directly with the wound of the Fisher King, which is demonstrated both in Chrétien's and Eschenbach's versions of the tale. The more recent writings have the lance presented in the Fisher King's castle with Christian theology. More specifically, it is supposed to be the lance that pierced Jesus Christ while on the cross. This is seen in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur . In Malory's version,

1428-529: Is effectively a continuation, which seems to be in turn a source for later works such as Perlesvaus . Linda Gowans, however, proposed that Robert wrote only the Joseph in prose, which she also sees as the original version. Robert de Boron gave the Grail myth a Christian dimension to produce a history of the Grail. According to him, Joseph of Arimathea used the Grail (the Last Supper vessel) to catch

1512-447: 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

1596-545: Is not stated explicitly, though he at least tolerates his murderous brother Garlon, who slays knights while under cover of invisibility, apparently at random. King Pelles is the Maimed King, one of a line of Grail keepers established by Joseph of Arimathea , and the father of Eliazer and Elaine (the mother of Galahad ). He resides in the castle of Corbinec in Listenois . Pelles and his relative Pellehan appear in both

1680-415: Is taken more as an attempt to drop a famous name than a genuine accreditation, however). Although Le Gentil describes him as a "poet endowed with boldness and piety but with mediocre talent", his work was immensely successful and influential. Notably, his version of the myth of the Holy Grail , originally an element of Chrétien de Troyes 's unfinished Perceval , was adopted by almost all later writers of

1764-580: The Fourth Crusade , and died in the Holy Land in 1212. Le Gentil argues that the mention of Avalon shows that Robert wrote Joseph after 1191, when the monks at Glastonbury claimed to have discovered the coffins of King Arthur and Guinevere . His family is unknown, though the second author of the Prose Tristan claimed to be Robert's nephew, calling himself "Helie de Boron" (this

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1848-481: The Mabinogion tale " Culhwch and Olwen ", in which King Arthur 's men must travel to Ireland to retrieve a magical cauldron, and the poem The Spoils of Annwn , which speaks of a similar mystical cauldron sought by Arthur in the otherworldly land of Annwn . The Welsh Romance Peredur son of Efrawg is based on Chrétien or derived from a common original, but it contains several prominent deviations and lacks

1932-497: The Matter of Britain . Robert de Boron is considered the author of two surviving poems in octosyllabic verse, the Grail story Joseph d’Arimathie, ou le Roman de l’estoire dou Graal and Merlin ; the latter survives only in fragments and in later version rendered in prose (possibly too by Robert himself). Both were translated into Middle English by Henry Lovelich in the mid-15th century. The two are thought to have formed either

2016-429: The sepulchre . Joseph founds a religious community that travels eventually to Britain and entrusts the Grail to Bron (who is called the "Rich Fisher" because he catches a fish eaten at the Grail table). Bron founds the line of Grail keepers that eventually includes Perceval. The Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) prose cycle includes a more elaborate history of the Fisher King. Many in his line are wounded for their failings, and

2100-572: 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

2184-583: 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 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

2268-747: 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

2352-658: 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 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 ,

2436-401: 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 . Robert de Boron Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Roberz", "Borron", "Bouron", "Beron") was

2520-542: 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

2604-538: 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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2688-409: The Fisher King is healed with the blood from the lance, signifying it as a good, holy, Christian object. In Corbenic we see the procession at the Fisher King's feast, featuring heavily on the Holy Grail, which is a strong Christian artifact. It can be extrapolated that in the same procession, the accompanying lance is the lance that pierced Jesus Christ. The sword is commonly thought to be a gift from

2772-402: The Fisher King is no longer nameless and is called Anfortas . Secondly, Eschenbach thoroughly describes the nature of the wound; it is a punishment for wooing a woman who is not meant for him (every Grail keeper is to marry the woman the Grail determines for him), and it causes him immense pain. Lastly, Parzival comes back to cure the Fisher King. Parzival , unlike its predecessor Perceval , has

2856-459: The Fisher King to Perceval. This is then followed by Perceval's cousin's prophecy that the sword will break at a crucial moment. In two cases, the writers tell us that Perceval broke the sword: in Eschenbach, it fails him in his battle against his half-brother at the end of Parzival ; and Gerbert de Montreuil describes how he shatters it on the gates of the "Earthly Paradise". The adventure of

2940-490: The Fisher King's wound was given to him by Sir Balin in the " Dolorous Stroke ", when Balin grabs a spear and stabs Pellam in self-defense. However, the spear is the Spear of Longinus , the lance that pierced Christ's side, and Pellam and his land must suffer for its misuse until the coming of Galahad. The Dolorous Stroke is typically represented as divine vengeance for a sin on the part of its recipient. The nature of Pellam's sin

3024-470: 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

3108-470: 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

3192-562: The Grail romances do not differ much from Parzival and Perceval . That being said, there are two interesting exceptions to this case. The two pieces that hold particularly stronger Christian themed deviations than prior works are the Queste del Saint Graal and the Sone de Nausay . The Queste del Saint Graal is heavily Christianized not only in terms of the tone but also the characters and significant objects. The Grail maidens become angels, there

3276-553: 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

3360-470: 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

3444-588: 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 a "holy grail" by those seeking such. A mysterious "grail" (Old French: graal or greal ), wondrous but not unequivocally holy, first appears in Perceval,

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3528-697: 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

3612-542: The Irish and is wounded in the foot or leg, and the cauldron is destroyed. He asks his followers to sever his head and take it back to Britain, and his head continues talking and keeps them company on their trip. The group lands on the island of Gwales , where they spend 80 years in a castle of joy and abundance, but eventually they leave and bury Bran's head in London. This story has analogues in two other important Welsh texts:

3696-460: 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

3780-461: 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

3864-614: The Robert Cycle, or even just the "Arthurian trilogy" ( trilogie arthurienne ). The Didot Perceval  [ fr ] , also known as the Romance of Perceval in Prose is a retelling of Percival 's story similar in style and content to the other works attributed to Robert, and attached to them. It may or may not be a prosification of the lost sections, and contains elements from Chrétien's own unfinished Perceval and its Second Continuation. Its separate section known as Mort Artu

3948-589: 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

4032-718: The Story of the Grail in the late 12th century, but the character's roots may lie in Celtic mythology . He may be derived from the figure of Brân the Blessed in the Mabinogion . In the Second Branch , Bran has a cauldron that can resurrect the dead, albeit imperfectly; those thus revived cannot speak. He gives this cauldron to the king of Ireland as a wedding gift for him and Bran's sister Branwen . Later, Bran wages war on

4116-523: 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 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

4200-596: The Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles and in later works, such as Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (in which Pellehan is called Pellam). In the Vulgate, Pelles is the son of Pellehan, but the Post-Vulgate is less clear about their relationship. It is even murkier in Malory's work: one passage explicitly identifies them (book XIII, chapter 5), though this is contradicted elsewhere. In all, there are four characters (some of whom can probably be identified with each other) who fill

4284-598: The adventures of Perceval . Many authors have endeavoured to complete and extend the work, resulting in various continuations. Major sources of the legend include Chrétien's Li Contes del Graal; Perceval, ou Le Conte du Graal (c. 1160–1180), Wauchier de Denain 's First Continuation (c. 1180–1200), Robert de Boron 's Didot-Perceval (c. 1191–1202), Peredur son of Efrawg (c. 1200), Perlesvaus (c. 1200), Wolfram von Eschenbach 's Parzival (c. 1217), and Thomas Malory 's Morte D'Arthur (c. 1400). The Fisher King first appears in Chrétien de Troyes 's Perceval,

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4368-615: 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 ,

4452-458: The broken sword is a theme originally introduced by Chrétien, who intended it as a symbol of Perceval's imperfections as a knight. The major example for his imperfection is that Perceval refused to ask about the Grail. This concept of punishment is also seen in Eschenbach's tale where Perceval is told: "your uncle gave you a sword, too, by which you have been granted since your eloquent mouth unfortunately voiced no question there." The sword remains as

4536-400: 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

4620-424: The earlier appearances of the lance, it is not represented as a Christian symbol, but morphs into one over time. In Perceval and Parzival , the lance is described as having "barbaric properties" which are difficult to associate with Christian influence. Chrétien describes his lance with "marvelous destructive powers", which holds a closer connection to the malignant weapons of Celtic origin. In Chrétien's Perceval ,

4704-629: 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,

4788-572: 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

4872-471: 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

4956-520: 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

5040-413: The king is injured by the bleeding lance as punishment for taking a wife, which was against the code of the "Grail Guardians". In some early storylines Percival asks the Fisher King the healing question, which cures the wound. The nature of the question differs between Perceval and Parzival , but the central theme is that the Fisher King can be healed only if Percival asks "the question". The location of

5124-477: The lance takes on a dark and almost evil persona and also seems to overshadow the Grail, which, were this a Christian story, would be rather odd. Wolfram's tale also treated the lance in a similar dark manner. In Parzival , the lance is "poisonous" which contrasts sharply with the general trend of healing Christian themes. This lance is plunged into the Fisher King's wound at different times to continue his pain, as punishment for having sought forbidden love. This lance

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5208-491: The last drops of blood from the Christ 's body as he hung on the cross. Joseph's family brought the Grail to the vaus d'Avaron , the valleys of Avaron in the west, which later writers changed to Avalon , identified with Glastonbury , where they guarded it until the rise of Arthur and the coming of Percival. Robert also introduced a "Rich Fisher" variation on the Fisher King and is also credited with introducing Merlin as born of

5292-623: 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

5376-471: 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

5460-462: 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

5544-523: 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

5628-563: The only two that survived to Arthur's day are the Wounded King, named Pellehan ( Pellam of Listeneise in Malory), and the Fisher King, Pelles . Pelles engineers the birth of Galahad by tricking Lancelot into bed with his daughter Elaine , and it is prophesied that Galahad will achieve the Grail and heal the Wasteland and the Maimed King. Galahad is conceived when Elaine gets Dame Brisen to use magic to trick Lancelot into thinking that he

5712-468: 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

5796-638: 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

5880-479: The previously ambiguous Grail motif and the character of Merlin , as well as vastly increasing the prominence of the latter. Robert de Boron wrote Joseph d'Arimathe for a lord named Gautier de Montbéliard and he took on the name Boron from the village of Boron near Montbéliard in today's eastern France (formerly a part of the Holy Roman Empire ). What is known of his life comes from brief mentions in his own work. At one point in Joseph , he applies to himself

5964-412: The role of Fisher King or Wounded King in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur . In addition, there is King Pellinore , who is Percival's father. (In other versions of the legend, Percival is related to the Pelles family). It appears that Malory intended to have one Maimed King who was wounded by Balin and suffered until healed by his grandson Galahad, but he never successfully reconciled his sources. The injury

6048-439: 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

6132-538: The subject of Perceval and the Grail. Parzival was written in 1210 by Wolfram von Eschenbach , thirty years after Perceval . Although a different work, it is strikingly similar to Perceval . The story revolves around the Grail Quest and once again the main character is Percival or Parzival. As in Perceval , Eschenbach's story does not have Parzival ask the healing question initially, which results in him Questing for years. However, Eschenbach's Parzival differs from Chrétien's Perceval in three major ways. Firstly,

6216-758: 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

6300-508: 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

6384-460: The title of meisters (medieval French for 'master', indicating being a clerk); later he uses the title messires (medieval French for 'sir', indicating his knighthood). At the end of the same text, he mentions being in the service of Gautier of "Mont Belyal", whom French philologist Pierre Le Gentil (1906–1989) identifies with one Gautier de Montbéliard (the Lord of Montfaucon), who in 1202 left for

6468-418: The use of the substitute terms "groin" or "thigh", although any informed medieval listener or reader would have known exactly the real nature of the wound. Such a wound was considered worse than actual death because it signaled the end of a man's ability to function in his primary purpose: to propagate his line. In the instance of the Fisher King, the wound negates his ability to honor his sacred charge. Most of

6552-552: 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

6636-454: 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

6720-632: 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

6804-513: The wound is significant to the legend. In most medieval stories, the mention of a wound in the groin or more commonly the "thigh" (such as the wounding of the ineffective suitor in Lanval from the Lais of Marie de France ) is a euphemism for the physical loss of or grave injury to one's genitalia. In medieval times, acknowledging the actual type of wound was considered to rob a man of his dignity, thus

6888-514: 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

6972-417: 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

7056-612: 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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