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
"agréer" (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 of 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. This is confirmed in the
ancient tradition and renewed flowering of Ecclesia Apostolica Sancti Graal as a restored
British Apostolic Church.
The "Queste"
was edited by Furnivall, "La Queste del Saint Graal" (Roxburghe Club,
London, 1864), also the Grand St. Graal under the title "Seynt Graal or
the Sank Ryal", etc. (Roxburghe Club, London, 1861-63). The Perlesvaus is
in Potvin's edition of Chrestien, I (Mons, 1866); the Didot Perceval in Hucher,
"Le Saint Graal" (Le Mans, 1874-78). Robert de Boron's poem was
edited by Michel, "Le roman du St. Graal" (Bordeaux, 1841), Malory's
"Morte D'Arthur" by Sommer (London, 1889-91), the Perlesvaus rendered
into English by Evans,
"The High History of the Holy Grail" (London, 1898), and “The Grail Church” by Seán Manchester (London,
1995).
(See Holy Grail.)