The Holy Grail
The name of a legendary sacred vessel, variously identified with
the chalice of the Eucharist or the dish of the Pascal lamb, and
the theme of a famous medieval cycle of romance. In the romances
the conception of the Grail varies considerably; its nature is
often but vaguely indicated, and, in the case of Chrestien's
Perceval poem, it is left wholly unexplained. The meaning of the
word has also been variously explained. The generally accepted
meaning is that is given by the Cistercian chronicler Helinandus
(d. about 1230), who, under the date of about 717, mentions of a
vision, shown to a hermit concerning the dish used by Our Lord at
the Last Supper, and about which the hermit then wrote a Latin
book called "Gradale." "Now in French," so Helinandus informs us,
"Gradalis or Gradale means a dish (scutella), wide and somewhat
deep, in which costly viands are wont to be served to the rich in
degrees (gradatim), one morsel after another in different rows. In
popular speech it is also called 'greal' because it is pleasant
(grata) and acceptable to him eating therein" etc. The medieval
Latin word "gradale" because in Old French "graal," or "greal," or
"greel," whence the English "grail." Others derive the word from
"garalis" or from "cratalis" (crater, a mixing bowl). It certainly
means a dish, the derivation from "grata" in the latter part of
the passage cited above or from "agreer" (to please) in the French
romances is secondary. The explanation of "San greal " as "sang
real" (kingly blood) was not current until the later Middle Ages.
Other etymologies that have been advanced may be passed over as
obsolete.
When we come to examine the literary tradition concerning the
Grail we notice at the outset that the Grail legend is closely
connected with that of Perceval as well as that of King Arthur.
Yet all these legends were originally independent of each other.
The Perceval story may have a mythical origin, or it may be
regarded as the tale of a simpleton (Fr., nicelot) who, however,
in the end achieves great things. In all the versions that we have
of it, it is a part of of the Arthurian legend, and, in almost
all, it is furthermore connected with the Grail. So the
reconstruction of the original Grail legend can be accomplished
only by an analytical comparison of all extant versions, and is a
task that has given rise to some of the most difficult problems in
the whole range of literary history.
The great body of the Grail romances came into existence between
the years 1180 and 1240. After the thirteenth century nothing new
was added to the Grail legend. Most of these romances are in
French, but there are versions in German, English, Norwegian,
Italian, and Portuguese. These are of very unequal value as
sources, some are mere translations or recasts of French romances.
Now all of these romances may be conveniently divided into two
classes: those which are concerned chiefly with the quest of the
Grail, and with the adventures and personality of the hero of this
quest; and those that are mainly concerned with the history of the
sacred vessel itself. These two classes have been styled
respectively the Quest and the Early History versions.
Of the first class is the "Conte del Graal" of Chrestien de Troyes
and his continuators, a vast poetic compilation of some 60,000
verses, composed between 1180 qnd 1240, and the Middle High German
epic poem "Parzival" of Wolfram von Eschenbach, written between
1205 and 1215, and based, according to Wolfram's statement, on the
French poem of a certain Kyot (Guiot) of Provence, which, however,
is not extant and the very existence of which is doubtful. To
these may be added the Welsh folk-tales or "Mabinogion" known to
us only from manuscripts of the thirteenth century, though the
material is certainly older, and the English poem "Sir
Percyvelle," of the fifteenth century. Of the Early History
versions the oldest is the metrical trilogy of Robert de Boron,
composed between 1170 and 1212, of which only the first part, the
"Joseph d'Arimathie," and a portion of the second, the "Merlin,"
are extant. We have, however, a complete prose version, preserved
in the so-called Didot manuscript. The most detailed history of
the Grail is in the "Grand St. Graal," a bulky French prose
romance of the first half of the thirteenth century, where we are
told that Christ Himself presented to a pious hermit the book
concerning this history. Besides these versions we have three
French prose romances, also from the thirteenth century, which,
though concerned chiefly with the quest, give also an account of
the history of the sacred vessel. Of these the most notable is the
"Queste del St. Graal," well known to English readers because it
was enbodied almost entire in Malory's "Morte d' Arthur." The
others are the so-called "Didot Perceval" or "La petite queste"
and the lengthy and prolix "Perceval le Gallois," also known as
"Perlesvaus."
The poem of Chrestien, regarded by many as the oldest known Grail
romance, tells of Perceval's visit to the Grail castle, where he
sees a Graal borne in by a damsel. Its accompaniments are a
bleeding lance and a silver plate. It is a precious vessel set
with jewels, and so resplendent as to eclipse the lights of the
hall. All the assembled knights show it reverence. Mindful of an
injunction not to inquire too much, Perceval does not ask
concerning the significance of what he sees, and thereby incurs
guilt and reproach. Undoubtly Chrestien meant to relate the hero's
second visit to the castle, when he would have put the question
and received the desired information. But the poet did not live to
finish his story, whether the explanation of the Graal, offered by
the continuators, is that which Chrestien what the Graal
signifies; in his version it has no pronounced religious
character. On the other hand, in the Early History versions it is
invested with the greatest sanctity. It is explained as the dish
from which Christ ate the Paschal lamb with his disciples, which
passed into possession of Joseph Arimathea, and was used by him to
gather the Precious Blood of Our Saviour, when His body was taken
from the Cross. It becomes identified with the Chalice of the
Eucharist. The lance is explained as the one with which Longius
pierced Our Lord's side, and the silver plate becomes the paten
covering the chalice. The quest in these versions assumes a mst
sacred character, the atmosphere of chivalric adventure in
Chrestien's poem yields to a militant asceticism, which insists
not only on the purity of the quester, but, in some versions
(Queste, Perlesvaus), on his virginity. In the "Queste" and "Grand
St. Graal," moreover, the hero is not Perceval but the maiden-
knight, Galaad. But the other knights of the Round Table are made
to participate in the quest.
The early history of the Grail is intimately connected with the
story of Joseph of Arimathea. When he is cast into prison by the
Jews, Christ appears to him and gives him the vessel, through
which he is miraculously sustained for forty-two years, until
liberated by Vespasian. The Grail is then brought to the West, to
Britain, either by Joseph and Josephes, his son (Grand St. Graal),
or by Alain one of his kin (Robert de Boron). Galaad (or Perceval)
achieves the quest; after the death of its keeper the Grail
vanishes. According to the version of the "Perlesvaus" Perceval is
removed, no one knows whither, by a ship with white sails on which
is displayed a red cross. In the Guiot-Wolfram version we meet
with a conception of the Grail wholly different from that of the
French romances. Wolfram conceives of it as a precious stone,
lapsit exillis (i.e. lapis or lapsi ex caelis?) of special purity,
possessing miraculous powers conferred upon it and sustained by a
consecrated Host which, on every Good Friday, a dove brings down
from heaven and lays down upon it. The angels who remained neutral
during the rebellion of Lucifer were its first guardians; then it
was brought to earth and entrusted to Titurel, the first Grail
king. It is guarded in the splendid castle of Munsalvaesche (mons
salvationis or silvaticus?) by itself and nourished by its
miraculous food-giving power.
The relationship of the Grail versions to each other, especially
that of Chrestien to those of Robert de Boron and the "Queste," is
a matter of dispute. Nor is their relative chronology certain. But
in all these versions the legend appears in an advanced state of
development, the preceeding phases of which are not attested by
literary monuments, and therefore, can only be conjectured. The
origin of the legend is involved in obscurity, and scholars are
divided in their views on this point. An Oriental, a Celtic, and a
purely Christian origin have been claimed. But the Oriental
parallels, like the sun-table of the Ethiopians, the Persian cup
of Jamshid, the Hindu paradise, Cridavana, are not very
convincing, and Wolfram's statement, that Kyot's source was an
Arabic manuscript of Toledo, is open to grave doubt. It is
different with the Celtic story. There are undoubtly Celtic
elements in the legend as we have it; the Perceval story is
probably, and the Arthurian legend certainly, of Celtic origin,
and both of these legends intimately connected with the quest
story. Talismans, such as magic lances and food-giving vessels
figure prominently in Celtic myths and folk-tales. According to
this theory the "Mabinogion," with its simple story of vengeance
by means of talismans and devoid of religious significance, would
yield the version nearest to the original form of the legend. Back
of the quest-story would be some pre-Christian tale of a hero
seeking to avenge the injury done to a kinsman. The religious
element would then be of secondary origin, and would have come
into the legend when the old vengeance-tale was fused with the
legend of Joseph of Arimathea, which is essentially a legend of
the conversion of Britain.
Those who maintain the theory of a purely Christian origin regard
the religious element in the story as fundamental and trace the
leading motifs to Christian ideas and conceptions. It is derived
from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, which is known to have
had a great vogue in the twelfth century, paricularly in Britain.
There we read how Joseph, whom the Jews had imprisoned, is
miraculously fed by Christ Himself . Additional traits were
supplied by the "Vindicta Salvatoris," the legendary account of
the destruction of Jerusalem. Furthermore, Joseph was confused
with the Jewish historian, Josephus, whose liberation by Titus is
narrated by Suetonius. The food-producing properties of the vessel
can be explained, without resorting to Celtic parallels, by the
association of the Grail with the Sacrament of the Eucharist,
which gives spiritual nourishment to the faithful. The purely
Christian legend which thus had arisen was brought into contact
with the traditional evangelization of Britain, and then developed
on British soil, in Wales, and thus the Celtic stamp, which it
undeniably bears, is accounted for. In connection with the
legendary conversion of Britain it is noteworthy that the literary
accounts of this event are connected with the famous Abbey of
Glastonbury, which is also intimately associated with the legend
of Arthur, Glastonbury being identified in William of Malmesbury's
account with the mythic Avalon. So scholars are inclined to
connect this British sanctuary with the origin of the Grail
romances. Possibly Walter Map, who died as Archdeacon of Oxford in
1210, and to whom is ascribed the authorship of a Grail-Lancelot
cycle, got his information from that abbey. The first Grail
romances was then probably written in Latin and became the basis
for the work of Robert de Boron, who was an English knight under
King Henry II, and a contemporary of Chrestien and of Map.
The fully developed Grail legend was later on still further
connected with other legends, as in Wolfram's poem with that of
Lohengrim, the swan-knight, and also with that of Prestor John,
the fabled Christian monarch of the East. Here also the story of
Klinschor, the magician, was added. After the Renaissance the
Grail legend, together with most medieval legends, fell into
oblivion, from which it was rescued when the Romantic movement set
in at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The most famous
modern versions are Tennyson's "Holy Grail" in the "Idylls of the
King" (1869), and Wagner's music -drama, the festival-play,
"Parsifal," produced for the first time at Bayreuth in 1882.
A word as to the attitude of the Church towards the legend. It
would seem that a legend so distinctively Christian would find
favour with the church. Yet this was not the case. Excepting
Helinandus, clerical writers do not mention the Grail, and the
Church ignored the legend completely. After all, the legend
contained the elements of which the Church could not approve. Its
sources are in apocryphal, not in canonical, scripture, and the
claims of sanctity made for the Grail were refuted by their very
extravagance. Moreover, the legend claimed for the church in
Britain an origin well nigh as illustrious as that of the Church
of Rome, and independent of Rome. It was thus calculated to
encourage and to foster any separatist tendencies that might exist
in Britain. As we have seen, the whole tradition concerning the
Grail is of late origin and on many points at variance with
historical truth.
(See also WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH.)
ARTHUR F. J. REMY
Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas
In memory of Hattie Ratajezak
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.
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