According to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers. Arthur Rackham ( 19 September 1867 &ndash 6 September 1939) was a prolific English book illustrator Christian mythology ( μῦθος (mythos in Greek is the body of traditional Narratives associated with Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) In the Christian Gospels the Last Supper (also called the Lord's Supper or Mystical Supper) was the last meal Jesus shared with his The connection of Joseph of Arimathea with the Grail legend dates from Robert de Boron'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 Britain; building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ's blood while interring him and that in Britain he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe. Joseph of Arimathea was according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Bouron" "Beron" was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries originally from the village See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Christ is the English term for the Greek ( Khristós) meaning "the anointed " The quest for the Holy Grail makes up an important segment of the Arthurian cycle, appearing first in works by Chrétien de Troyes. King Arthur is a legendary British leader who according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and Trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. ^[1] The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers. Christian mythology ( μῦθος (mythos in Greek is the body of traditional Narratives associated with Christianity. Celtic mythology is the Mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the Religion of the Iron Age Celts Like other Iron Age A cauldron or caldron (from Latin Caldarium, hot bath is a large Metal pot ( Kettle) for cooking and/or boiling

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 Percival and were woven into the more general Arthurian fabric. Percival or Perceval is one of King Arthur 's legendary Knights of the Round Table.

Some of the Grail legend is interwoven with legends of the Holy Chalice. In Christian tradition the Holy Chalice is the vessel which Jesus used at the Last Supper to serve the wine

Contents 1 Origins of the Grail 1.1 The Grail 1.2 Early forms of the Grail 1.3 Etymology of grail 2 The beginnings of the Grail in literature 2.1 Chrétien de Troyes 2.2 Robert de Boron 2.3 The Grail in other early literature 3 Ideas of the Grail 4 The later legend 5 Modern interpretations 5.1 Modern retellings 5.2 Non-fiction 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Origins of the Grail

The 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, Percival'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. Percival or Perceval is one of King Arthur 's legendary Knights of the Round Table. 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 Galahad. Sir Galahad is a knight of King Arthur 's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend.

Early forms of the Grail

There are two veins of thought concerning the Grail's origin. The first, championed by Roger Sherman Loomis, Alfred Nutt, and Jessie Weston, holds that it derived from early Celtic myth and folklore. Roger Sherman Loomis ( October 31, 1887 – October 1966 was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval and Arthurian Alfred Trubner Nutt (1856-1910 was a British publisher now known for his writing as Folklorist and Celticist. Jessie Laidlay Weston (1850-1928 was an Independent scholar and Folklorist, working mainly on Mediaeval Arthurian texts Celtic mythology is the Mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the Religion of the Iron Age Celts Like other Iron Age 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. Mediaeval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. For a comparatively small island Ireland has made a disproportionate contribution to World literature in all its branches Bran the Blessed ( Welsh: Bendigeidfran, literally "Blessed Crow" is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. The Fisher King or the Wounded King figures in Arthurian legend as the latest in a line charged with keeping the Holy 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 Toronto has identified sources for Grail imagery in 12th century wall paintings from churches in the Catalan Pyrenees (now mostly removed to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona), 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. This article is about the University of Toronto's St George Campus Catalonia (Cataluña Catalunya Aranese: Catalonha) is an Autonomous Community in the northeast part of Spain. The Pyrenees (Pirineos French: Pyrénées; Catalan: Pirineus; Occitan: Pirenèus; Aragonese: Perinés The National Art Museum of Catalonia (Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya abbreviated as MNAC, is a Museum of Catalan Barcelona ( Catalan bəɾsəˈlonə Spanish baɾθeˈlona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and Trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Goering argues that they were the original inspiration for the Grail legend. ^[2][3]

Another recent theory holds that the earliest stories that cast the Grail in a Christian light were meant to promote the Roman Catholic sacrament of the Holy Communion. A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a Rite in which God is uniquely active The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names is a Christian Sacrament by which in a common interpretation those Although the practice of Holy Communion was first alluded to in the Christian Bible 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. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Thus, the first Grail stories may have been celebrations of a renewal in this traditional sacrament. ^[4] 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 of grail

The word graal, as it is earliest spelled, appears to be an Old French adaptation of the Latin gradalis, meaning a dish brought to the table in different stages of a meal. Old French was the Romance Dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, after the cycle of Grail romances was well established, late medieval writers came up with a false etymology for sangréal, an alternative name for "Holy Grail. The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia As a Literary genre of High culture, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic Prose and verse Narrative A false etymology is an assumed or postulated Etymology that current consensus among scholars of Historical linguistics holds to be incorrect " In Old French, san graal or san gréal means "Holy Grail" and sang réal means "royal blood"; later writers played on this pun. Old French was the Romance Dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium 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).

The beginnings of the Grail in literature

Chrétien de Troyes

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. Perceval the Story of the Grail (Perceval le Conte du Graal is the unfinished fifth romance of Chrétien de Troyes. Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and Trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Philip of Alsace (1143 – August 1, 1191) was Count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191 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 fasting is not unique; several saints were said to have lived without food besides communion, for instance Saint Catherine of Genoa. Inedia is the alleged ability to live without Food, which has been dismissed by the scientific community Saint Catherine of Genoa (born San Lorenzo 1447 - 15 September 1510) is an Italian Roman Catholic saint and mystic admired for 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 Boron that the Grail truly became the "Holy Grail" and assumed the form most familiar to modern readers. Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Bouron" "Beron" was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries originally from the village In his verse romance Joseph d’Arimathie, composed between 1191 and 1202, Robert tells the story of Joseph of Arimathea acquiring the chalice of the Last Supper to collect Christ’s blood upon His removal from the cross. Joseph of Arimathea was according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion 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.

The Grail in 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. Perceval the Story of the Grail (Perceval le Conte du Graal is the unfinished fifth romance of Chrétien de Troyes.
• The German Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, which adapted at least the holiness of Robert’s Grail into the framework of Chrétien’s story. Parzival is a major medieval German Epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German
• 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, generally included in the Mabinogion, 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. The Three Welsh Romances ( Y Tair Rhamant in Welsh) are three tales associated with the Mabinogion. Peredur son of Efrawg is one of the three Welsh Romances associated with the Mabinogion.
• Perlesvaus, called the "least canonical" Grail romance because of its very different character. Perlesvaus, also called Li Hauz Livres du Graal ( The High History of the Holy Grail) is an Old French Arthurian
• The German Diu Crône (The Crown), in which Gawain, rather than Perceval, achieves the Grail. Diu Crône ( The Crown) is a long Middle High German Arthurian poem attributed to Heinrich von dem Türlin, of whom little Gawain (ˈgɔːwɪn or /gəˈweɪn/ also called Gwalchmei Gawan Gauvain Walewein etc
• The Lancelot section of the vast Vulgate Cycle, which introduces the new Grail hero, Galahad. In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot ( Lancelot du Lac, also Launcelot) is one of the Knights of the Round Table. The Lancelot-Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend Sir Galahad is a knight of King Arthur 's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend.
• The Queste del Saint Graal, another part of the Vulgate Cycle, concerning the adventures of Galahad and his achievement of the Grail. The Lancelot-Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend

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.

Ideas of the Grail

The Grail was considered a bowl or dish when first described by Chrétien de Troyes. Sir Galahad is a knight of King Arthur 's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. Bors (Bohort Julius Tiberius circa 540s-580s is the name of two knights in the Arthurian legend, one the father and one the son Percival or Perceval is one of King Arthur 's legendary Knights of the Round Table. 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 Eschenbach, citing the authority of a certain (probably fictional) Kyot the Provençal, 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 Lucifer's rebellion. For the radio station in Phoenix Arizona see KYOT-FM. Kyot the Provençal was the French poet who supplied Wolfram von Eschenbach Lucifer is a name frequently given to Satan in Christian belief The authors of the Vulgate Cycle used the Grail as a symbol of divine grace. In Christianity, divine Grace refers to the sovereign favour of God for humankind — especially in regard to Salvation — irrespective of actions Galahad, illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine, 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. In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot ( Lancelot du Lac, also Launcelot) is one of the Knights of the Round Table. Elaine is a name shared by several different female characters in Arthurian legend. Corbenic (also Carbonek and Corbin) is the name of the castle of the Holy Grail in the Lancelot-Grail cycle and Thomas Malory Galahad and the interpretation of the Grail involving him were picked up in the 15th century by Sir Thomas Malory in Le Morte d'Arthur, and remain popular today. Sir Thomas Malory (c 1405 – 14 March 1471 was an English writer the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. Le Morte d'Arthur (spelled Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions Middle French for la mort d'Arthur

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 Orthodox (whether Arabs, Slavs, Romanians, or Greeks). The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world 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 Spain and Latin America, as it has been elsewhere. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. 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.

The later legend

Belief in the Grail and interest in its potential whereabouts has never ceased. Valencia ( Valencian: València, Valencia Spanish phonology --> is the capital of the Spanish autonomous Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Ownership has been attributed to various groups (including the Knights Templar, probably because they were at the peak of their influence around the time that Grail stories started circulating in the 12th and 13th centuries). The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order

There are cups claimed to be the Grail in several churches, for instance the Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral, which contains an artifact, the Holy Chalice, supposedly taken by Saint Peter to Rome in the first century, and then to Huesca in Spain by Saint Lawrence in the 3rd century. The Cathedral of Valencia (Metropolitan Basilica Cathedral commonly known as the " Seu " in Catalan, is the see of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese In Christian tradition the Holy Chalice is the vessel which Jesus used at the Last Supper to serve the wine Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Huesca (Uesca Latin: Osca; Greek:, Ptol ii 6 § 68 is a city in Aragon, Spain. According to legend the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, located at the south-west of Jaca, in the province of Huesca, Spain, protected the chalice of the Last Supper from the Islamic invaders of the Iberian Peninsula. The monastery of San Juan de la Peña is located at the south-west of Jaca, in Huesca, Spain. Jaca ( Chaca in Aragonese) is a City of northeastern Spain near the border with France, in the midst of the Pyrenees in Huesca ( Spanish: Huesca, Aragonese: Uesca) is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. Archaeologists say the artifact is a 1st century Middle Eastern stone vessel, possibly from Antioch, Syria (now Turkey); its history can be traced to the 11th century, and it presently rests atop an ornate stem and base, made in the Medieval era of alabaster, gold, and gemstones. Antioch on the Orontes (Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Δάφνῃ Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ Μεγάλη Antiochia ad Orontem also Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches It was the official papal chalice for many popes, and has been used by many others, most recently by Pope Benedict XVI, on July 9, 2006. Pope Benedict XVI ( Latin: Benedictus PP XVI; Italian: Benedetto XVI; German: Benedikt XVI; born Joseph Alois Ratzinger Events 455 - Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ^[5] The emerald chalice at Genoa, which was obtained during the Crusades 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. Genoa ( Genova, ˈdʒɛːnova in Italian; Zena in Genoese and Ligurian; Genua in Latin and archaically in English The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents Caesarea Maritima (Greek παράλιος Καισάρεια called Caesarea Palaestina from 133 CE onwards was a city and Harbor built by Herod the Great Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe.

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. Corbenic (also Carbonek and Corbin) is the name of the castle of the Holy Grail in the Lancelot-Grail cycle and Thomas Malory Some, not least the monks of Montserrat, have identified the castle with the real sanctuary of Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain. This is the mountain in Catalonia For other uses see Montserrat (disambiguation. Catalonia (Cataluña Catalunya Aranese: Catalonha) is an Autonomous Community in the northeast part of Spain. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Other stories claim that the Grail is buried beneath Rosslyn Chapel or lies deep in the spring at Glastonbury Tor. Rosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Church of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church (with between Glastonbury Tor is a Hill at Glastonbury, Somerset, England, which features the roofless St Still other stories claim that a secret line of hereditary protectors keep the Grail, or that it was hidden by the Templars in Oak Island, Nova Scotia's famous "Money Pit", while local folklore in Accokeek, Maryland says that it was brought to the town by a closeted priest aboard Captain John Smith's ship. TalkOak Island. If you believe this article can be improved either make the necessary changes yourself or state your Nova Scotia (ˌnəʊvəˈskəʊʃə ( Latin for New Scotland; Alba Nuadh Nouvelle-Écosse is a Canadian province located on Canada 's TalkOak Island. If you believe this article can be improved either make the necessary changes yourself or state your Accokeek is an Unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Captain Sir John Smith (c January 1580– June 21 1631) Admiral of New England was an English Soldier, Sailor Turn of the century accounts state that Irish partisans of the Clan Dhuir (O'Dwyer, Dwyer) 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). ^[6]

Modern interpretations

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 King. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882 was an English poet Illustrator, painter and Translator. Alfred Tennyson 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892 was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and remains one of the most popular English poets Idylls of the King, published between 1856 and 1885 is a cycle of twelve Narrative poems by the English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892 The combination of hushed reverence, chromatic harmonies and sexualized imagery in Richard Wagner's late opera Parsifal gave new significance to the grail theme, for the first time associating the grail – now periodically producing blood – directly with female fertility. Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. ^[7] The high seriousness of the subject was also epitomized in Dante Gabriel Rossetti'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. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882 was an English poet Illustrator, painter and Translator. Jane Burden ( 19 October 1839 &ndash 26 January 1914) was an English artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite Other artists, including George Frederic Watts and William Dyce also portrayed grail subjects. George Frederic Watts, OM ( 23 February, 1817 – 1 July, 1904; sometimes spelled "George Frederick Watts" was a popular William Dyce ( September 19, 1806, Aberdeen, Scotland &ndash February 14, 1864, London) was a distinguished

The Grail later turned up in movies; it debuted in a silent Parsifal. In The Light of Faith (1922), Lon Chaney attempted to steal it, for the finest of reasons. Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Lon Chaney ( April 1 1883 &ndash August 26 1930) nicknamed " The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American The Silver Chalice, a novel about the Grail by Thomas B. Costain was made into a 1954 movie (in which Paul Newman debuted), that is considered notably bad by several critics, including Newman himself. The Silver Chalice is a 1952 English language Historical novel by Thomas B Thomas Bertram Costain ( May 8, 1885 - October 8, 1965) was a Canadian Journalist who became a best-selling author Paul Leonard Newman (January 26 1925 &ndash September 26 2008 was an Academy Award Lancelot du Lac (1974) is Robert Bresson's gritty retelling. Lancelot du Lac is 1974 Film that was written and directed by Robert Bresson. Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. Robert Bresson (ʁɔbɛʁ bʁɛˈsɔ̃ in French ( September 25, 1901 &ndash December 18, 1999) was a French Film director In vivid contrast, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) (adapted in 2004 as the stage production Spamalot) deflated all pseudo-Arthurian posturings. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python ( Graham Chapman, John Cleese Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Excalibur 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. Excalibur is a 1981 Fantasy film which retells the legend of King Arthur. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Fisher King place the quest in modern settings, one a modern-day treasure hunt, the other robustly self-parodying. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 Adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a story co-written by Executive producer The Fisher King is a Comedy-drama Film made in 1991, written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Terry Gilliam.

The Grail has been used as a theme in fantasy, historical fiction and science fiction; a quest for the Grail appears in Bernard Cornwell's series of books The Grail Quest, set during The Hundred Years War. Bernard Cornwell OBE (born February 23, 1944) is a prolific and popular English Historical novelist He is best known for his The Grail Quest novels are a series of books written by the Historical novelist Bernard Cornwell dealing with a 14th Century search for the Holy Grail The Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior Michael Moorcock's fantasy novel The War Hound and the World's Pain depicts a supernatural Grail quest set in the era of the Thirty Years' War, and science fiction has taken the Quest into interstellar space, figuratively in Samuel R. Delany's 1968 novel Nova, and literally on the television shows Babylon 5 and Stargate SG-1 (as the "Sangreal"). Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939, in London) is an English writer primarily of Science fiction and fantasy who has also The War Hound and the World's Pain is a 1981 Fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock, the first of the "von Bek" series of novels For the Mauritanian Thirty Years' War see Char Bouba war. For the band see The 30 Years War. Samuel Ray Delany Jr (born April 1, 1942, New York City) is an award-winning American Science fiction Nova (1968 is a Science fiction novel by Samuel R Delany. Nominally Space opera, it explores the politics and culture of a future where Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created produced and largely written by J The Ancients —also known as the "Alterans" and Lanteans —are an advanced race discovered by the SGC. Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon has the grail as one of four objects symbolizing the four Elements: the Grail itself (water), the sword Excalibur (air), a dish (earth), and a spear or wand (fire). Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley ( June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999) was an American author of Fantasy novels such The 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 The grail features heavily in the novels of Peter David'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. For the Grenadian politician see Peter David (politician. Peter Allen David (often abbreviated PAD) (born September 23 The grail is central in many modern Arthurian works, including Charles Williams collections of poems about Taliessin, Taliessin Through Logres and Region of the Summer Stars, and in feminist author Rosalind Miles' Child of the Holy Grail. Charles Walter Stansby Williams ( September 20, 1886 – May 15, 1945) was a British Poet, Novelist, Theologian Taliesin (c 534 – c 599 (spelled as Taliessin in Alfred Lord Tennyson 's Idylls of the King and in some subsequent works was a Brythonic Rosalind Miles (born 6 January 1943) is an author born and raised in England and now living in both Los Angeles and Kent, England The Grail also features heavily in Umberto Eco's 2000 novel Baudolino. Umberto Eco (born 5 January 1932 is an Italian Medievalist, semiotician, Philosopher, literary critic and Novelist, best Baudolino is a 2000 novel by Umberto Eco about the adventures of a young man named Baudolino in the known and mythical Christian world of

Non-fiction

The Grail has also been treated in works of non-fiction, which frequently connect it to conspiracy theories and esoteric traditions. Non-fiction is an account or representation of a subject which is presented as Fact. A conspiracy theory attributes the ultimate cause of an event or chain of events (usually Political, Social or Historical events or the concealment According to the notorious Italian traditionalist philosopher Julius Evola (1898-1974), the Holy Grail currently rests in the hands of the Dwyers, a noble family of Ireland. Julius Evola, also known as Baron Giulio Cesare Evola, ( May 19, 1898 &ndash June 11, 1974) was an Italian Philosopher Evola also said it was an initiatory "Hyperborean mystery" and also "a symbolic expression of hope and of the will of specific ruling classes in the Middle Ages (namely, Ghibellines), who wanted to reorganize and reunite the entire Western world as it was at that time into a Holy Empire, that is, one based on a transcendental, spiritual basis. In Greek mythology, according to tradition the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting respectively the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in "^[8]

In The Sign and the Seal, Graham Hancock asserts that the Grail story is a coded description of the stone tablets stored in the Ark of the Covenant. The Sign and The Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant (Toronto Doubleday ISBN 0-671-86541-2 is a controversial book by Graham Hancock. Graham Hancock (born August 2 1950 is a British Writer and Journalist. The Ark of the Covenant (אָרוֹן הָבְרִית ʔārōn hāb’rīθ, Modern aron habrit) is described in the Bible as a sacred container wherein For the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, who assert that their research ultimately reveals that Jesus may not have died on the cross, but lived to wed Mary Magdalene 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. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (retitled Holy Blood Holy Grail in the United States) is a controversial book by Michael Baigent Saint Mary Magdalen or Mary Magdalene is described both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament apocrypha, as a devoted The Merovingians (also Merovings) were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin ^[9][10] In their book Swords at Sunset, Canadian authors Michael Bradley and Joelle Lauriol connect the Grail to the pseudohistorical legend that Henry Sinclair came to the Americas (specifically Lake Memphremagog in Vermont, USA) 100 years before Columbus. Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and feudal baron of Roslin (c Vermont ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer ^[11] In an argument drawing more closely on earlier "pro-Celtic" research, English author John Grigsby attempts to connect themes of the Grail to other Indo-European myths, including Osiris, Adonis and the Greek Dionysos in his book Warriors of the Wasteland. John Grigsby (1971-) is a British author of two books on prehistory and mythology Warriors of the Wasteland (Watkins 2002 and Beowulf and Grendel (Watkins Osiris ( Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Ausir Adonis (Άδωνης also Άδωνις is a figure of West Semitic origin where he is a central cult figure in various Mystery religions, who enters In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman ^[12].

These works of non-fiction have inspired a number of works of modern fiction. Heraldry in its most general sense encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of officers of arms. For the Blackford Oakes novel see Stained Glass (novel The term stained glass refers either to the material of coloured Glass or to the art A coat of arms or armorial bearings (often just arms for short in European tradition is a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people Sir Robert Bell (Unknown &mdash d 1577 of Beaupre Hall, Norfolk, was a Speaker of the House of Commons (1572-1576 who served during the The best known is Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code, 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 Magdalene (again cast as Jesus' wife), plus a set of ancient documents telling the "true" story of Jesus, his teachings and descendants. Dan Brown (born June 22 1964 is an American Author of Thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code The Da Vinci Code is a controversial mystery / detective Novel by US author Dan Brown, published in 2003 by Doubleday Saint Mary Magdalen or Mary Magdalene is described both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament apocrypha, as a devoted 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 Chapel in Scotland, but that in recent decades its guardians had it relocated to a secret chamber embedded in the floor beneath the Inverted Pyramid near the Louvre Museum. Rosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Church of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church (with between The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France The latter location, like Rosslyn Chapel, has never been mentioned in real Grail lore. Rosslyn Chapel, properly named the Collegiate Church of St Matthew, was founded on a small hill above Roslin Glen as a Roman Catholic collegiate church (with between 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 and sampo are other mythical vessels with magical powers. The cornucopia ( Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as horn 'o' plenty In Finnish mythology, the Sampo was a magical artifact constructed by Ilmarinen that brought good fortune to its holder nobody knows exactly what
• Relics attributed to Jesus

References

External links

• The Holy Grail at the Camelot Project
• The Holy Grail at the Catholic Encyclopedia
• The Holy Grail today in Valencia Cathedral
• The Holy Grail in Saint Sophia Museum
• The Holy Grail, an episode of In Our Time (BBC Radio 4), a 45 minute discussion is available for listening at the page. The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia In Our Time is a discussion programme hosted by Melvyn Bragg on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.

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