Holy Grail and the legends origins
... It is with fairly ubiquitous acceptance that scholars look to dark age Wales in order to fathom the distant origins of Arthurian literature. ... In an age of where chivalry and courtly heroism were revered, the Arthurian legends offered just what readers, listeners and authors alike craved as a part of their lifestyle. The aspect of the tradition that offers perhaps the most controversy is that of the ‘holy grail’ which often takes many different and patently ambiguous forms within a variety of texts. ... Though Geoffrey of Monmouth is attributed with inaugurating the controversial Arthurian tales as literature, perhaps the most significant continuator of the Arthurian legends in the twelfth century (and the man who brought the ’Graal’ in its primitive form) was a French writer named Chretien de Troyes. ... Though Chretien is famed for his contributions to the Grail legend and for the tale of ‘Perceval’ or the ‘conte del graal’ it is interesting to note that the tale was never finished; death would eventually get the better of Chretien. ... This is first apparent in ‘continuation one’ where the author instils supernatural powers upon a free-moving Grail, the lance remains in a rack and is identified as the lance that pierced Christ’s body#, which continues to drip blood into the ‘silver’ vessel. The ‘second continuation’ #blatantly states that the Grail is the cup used in the last supper. ... A powerful example of the change in the effectiveness of the grail legend places relativity on Chretien’s tale of Perceval within the context of other particular versions of the grail story. Essentially the grail story has assumed its heroic form in the personification of many Arthurian stock characters#. ... More traditional in terms of chivalry and structure, the Gawain story features the core elements of other grail stories,# yet ideals such as revenge and restoration take the place of futility and desperation. The kingdom of the Grail is restored by a vengeful act and not an empty question. ... On one hand Perceval remains true to his teachings and resists the temptation of inquisition into the Grail’s authenticity, and yet he condemns the kingdom by doing so. To investigate the origins of such an obscure legend one must possibly look to Chretien’s use of symbolic and ritualistic emphasis. ... Examples like this look promising but are too ambiguous to really be defined as origins of the ‘graal.’ It is all to comfortable to place the birth of the grail legend in the secure hands of Chretien de Troyes; to simply fashion a belief that elements of his tale were rhetorically motivated and fabricated whilst not being based on any previous literary examples of similar rituals and themes. ... In certain continuations of Perceval and the Estoire del Saint Graal copious amounts of viands are consumed from a dish that echoes the ‘Dysgl’ at the passing of the Grail ritual. ... The unsightly appearance of the grail bearer in the Irish tale links closely with the grotesque female of Perlesvaus and Peredur. ... ‘The body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life#’ From its birth as a patently habitual serving dish utilised as part of an absurd ritual, the grail seemed destined to become an artefact of intense speculation and awe amongst scholars and historians alike. Ultimately the transition of the grail from functional dish to Christ’s cup from the last supper should be assigned with ambivalence to a French Burgundy poet named Robert de Boron whose heroic embellishment of Biblical character Joseph of Arimathea would lead many authorities to believe he had brought the cup of Christ to England. ... This Tomb is now called the Holy Sepulchre and since then a large church has been erected enclosing the place of the crucifixion and the tomb. ... His extensive work on Joseph and Didot Perceval helped enormously to Christianise the already overworked Grail legends.