The Holy Grail () 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 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 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.
Writing soon after Chrétien, Robert de Boron in 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 the 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur.Campbell 1990, p. 210. 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.
Etymology The word , as it is spelled in its earliest appearances, comes from Old French common noun or , cognate with Old Occitan and Old Catalan , meaning "a cup or bowl of earth, wood, or metal" (or other various types of vessels in different Occitan dialects).Diez, Friedrich. An etymological dictionary of the Romance languages, Williams and Norgate, 1864, p. 236. Its origin is uncertain. One unlikely is the Old Welsh word griol. The most commonly accepted etymology derives it from Latin or via an earlier form, , a derivative of or , which was, in turn, borrowed from Ancient Greek (, a large wine-mixing vessel).Nitze, William A. Concerning the Word Graal, Greal, Modern Philology, Vol. 13, No. 11 (Mar., 1916), pp. 681–684 .Jung, Emma and von Franz, Marie-Louise. The Grail Legend, Princeton University Press, 1998, pp. 116–117.Skeat, Walter William. Joseph of Arimathie, Pub. for the Early English Text Society, by N. Trübner & Co., 1871, pp. xxxvi–xxxviiMueller, Eduard. , chettler, 1865, p. 461. Alternative suggestions include a derivative of , a name for a type of woven basket that came to refer to a dish,Barber 2004, p. 93. or a derivative of Latin meaning by degree', 'by stages', applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during a meal".Richard O'Gorman, "Grail" in Norris J. Lacy, The Arthurian Encyclopedia, 1986
In the 15th century, English writer John Hardyng invented a fanciful new etymology for Old French (or ), meaning "Holy Grail", by parsing it as , meaning "royal blood".Barber 2004, p. 215.Wood 2012, p. 55, 77. 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 the Holy Grail, in which refers to the Jesus bloodline.Wood 2012, p. 77.
Medieval literature Overview
The literature surrounding the Grail can be divided into two branches. The first concerns King Arthur's knights visiting the Grail castle or questing after the object:
Perceval, the Story of the Grail, a chivalric romance poem by Chrétien de Troyes where a girl mysteriously carries it in a procession. When first described by Chrétien, the marvelous nature of "a grail" is mysteriously unexplained. There, it is a salver, a tray used to serve at a feast.Staines, David. (Trans.) The Complete Romances of Chrétien de Troyes. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 1990, page 380. The four continuations of Chrétien's unfinished poem, by authors of differing vision, designed to bring the story to a close. The , purportedly a prosification of Robert de Boron's lost sequel to his romance poems and Merlin. Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, where it is a gemstone linked to the fall of the angels. Welsh romance Peredur son of Efrawg, a loose translation of Chrétien's poem and the Continuations, with some influence from native Welsh literature. It had no Grail as such, presenting the hero instead with a platter containing his kinsman's bloody, severed head.Guest, Lady Charlotte. The Mabinogion. A Facsimile Reproduction of the Complete 1877 Edition, Academy Press Limited Edition 1978, Chicago, Ill. page 124. Perlesvaus, an alternative work inspired by Perceval. German poem Diu Crône (The Crown) by Heinrich von dem Türlin, in which Gawain, rather than Perceval, achieves the Grail. The Prose Lancelot section of the vast Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) cycle introduced the new Grail hero, Galahad. The Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal, a follow-up part of the cycle, ends with the eventual achievement of the Grail by Galahad. The story was rewritten in the Post-Vulgate Cycle and other derivative works.
The other branch tells the Grail's earlier history since the time of Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea:
Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie and Merlin (the Little Grail Cycle), establishing the Grail as the vessel of the Last Supper. The Vulgate Estoire del Saint Graal and the Vulgate Merlin, parts of the Lancelot-Grail cycle (but written after Lancelot and the Queste) based on Robert's telling but expanding it greatly with many new details. It, too, was then rewritten in the Post-Vulgate, as well as in the Prose Tristan.
+ Comparison of select Grail works Text Date and language Grail Questers Fisher King Wasteland Question testPerceval (not including the continuations)1180—1890, Old French (verse)Mass wafer serving dish PercevalPerceval's cousin (wounded in battle)Caused by Perceval failingPerceval failsJoseph d'Arimathie1191—1202, Old French (verse)Last Supper vessel with the blood of ChristBron the Rich FishermanPeredur13th century, Middle Welsh (prose)Head on a platterPeredur (Perceval)Peredur's uncle (lame)Caused by Peredur's failurePeredur failsParzival1200—1210, Middle High German (verse)Gemstone from Lucifer's crownParzival (Perceval)Parzival's uncle Anfortas (injured)Parzival fails but later succeedsPerlesvaus1200—1210, Old French (prose)Vessel with the blood of ChristPerlesvaus (Perceval)Perlesvaus' uncle (sick)Caused by question failure (prior to story)Perlesvaus failed, Gawain failsVulgate Estoire1215—1235, Old French (prose)Last Supper vessel with the blood of ChristAlain the Rich FishermanVulgate Queste1215—1235, Old French (prose)Dish that held the Paschal Lamb at the Last SupperGalahad, Bors, Perceval (achievers) & LancelotPelles' father Pellehan (wounded)Caused by Varlan with a swordPost-Vulgate Queste1230—1240, Old French (prose)Unidentified vesselGalahad, Bors, Perceval (achievers)Pellehan (wounded by Balin's Dolorous Stroke)Caused by Balin with the Holy LanceTale of the Sangreal1469—1470, Middle English (prose)Dish that held the Paschal Lamb at the Last SupperGalahad, Bors, Perceval (achievers) & LancelotPellam (wounded by Balin's Dolorous Stroke)Caused by Balin with the Holy Lance
Chrétien de Troyes and continuators The subject is first featured in Perceval, le Conte du Graal (The Story of the Grail) by Chrétien de Troyes,Loomis 1991. who claims he was working from a source book given to him by his patron, Count Philip of Flanders.According to a French scholar, the book given by Philip I may be Ovid's The Metamorphoses, in POZ #76 (in French). In this incomplete poem, dated sometime between 1180 and 1191, the object has not yet acquired the implications it would have in later works.
While dining in the magical castle 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".Staines, David. (Trans.) The Complete Romances of Chrétien de Troyes. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 1990, page 379. Perceval, who had been warned against talking too much, remains silent through all of this and wakes up the next morning alone. Later, a hermit informs Perceval that the latter is a "very holy thing" in which a host is served that miraculously keeps the crippled Fisher King alive. If Perceval had asked the appropriate questions about the meaning of the lance and the grail, he would have healed his maimed host and restored the Wasteland.
Chrétien refers to this object not as "the Grail" but as "a grail" (un graal), showing 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. 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 the significant part of the ritual, and the Grail to be a mere prop.Loomis 1991, p. 184. Hélinand of Froidmont's Chronicon described it as a "wide and deep saucer" (scutella lata et aliquantulum profunda). It is also mentioned by others such as Rigaut de Barbezieux."Like Perceval when he lived, who stood amazed in contemplation, so that he was quite unable to ask what purpose the lance and grail." ("Attressi con Persavaus el temps que vivia, que s'esbait d'esgarder tant qu'anc non saup demandar de que servia la lansa ni-l grazaus.") Sayce, Olive. Exemplary comparison from Homer to Petrarch, DS Brewer, 2008, p. 143.
Chrétien's Perceval does not achieve the quest, but four different authors attempted to completed his unfinished story in their own poems known as Perceval Continuations that include two successive follow up tales and then two alternative endings. In these works, the mysteries left unsolved by Chrétien (the bleeding lance, the broken sword, the wounded king) develop an explicitly Christian character, transforming a chivalric adventure into a mystical religious quest, undertaken by not only Perceval but also Gawain.
The First Continuation (Gawain Continuation) seemingly features two grails: a floating dish and a carved head of Jesus. The Third Continuation has it again as carried by a girl. Here, the Fisher King dies and is replaced by Perceval, after whose death the Grail is taken to Heaven.
German stories In Parzival, the author Wolfram von Eschenbach, citing the authority of a certain (probably fictional) Kyot the Provençal, claimed the Grail was a gemstone, the sanctuary of the neutral angels who took neither side during Lucifer's rebellion. It is called lapis exillis (other forms lapsis, lapsit, exilis), which in alchemy is the name of the philosopher's stone.Von Eschenbach, Wolfram. Parzival. Hatto, A.T. translator. Penguin Books, 1980, page 239. In Wolfram's telling, the Grail was kept safe at the castle of Munsalvaesche (mons salvationis), entrusted to Titurel, the first Grail King. The stone grants eternal life to its guardian. First, Gawain fails his quest, given to him by the elven king Vergulaht. In the end, Perceval (Parzival) replaces the maimed and long suffering Anfortas as the new Grail King, having finally released him by correctly answering his question.