What do we really know about the Holy Grail?
Does the Holy Grail come from the Bible, or
from Arthurian legend?
Is it even a cup?
Is it even real?
If it is, where is it?
Here's the truth about the Grail, as far as
we know.
You probably know the basic story surrounding
the Holy Grail: it was the cup used by Jesus
at the Last Supper.
Later, one of his followers, a man named Joseph
of Arimathea used the cup to catch Jesus'
actual blood from the cross, ensuring it became
a relic of unimaginable holy power.
Joseph then went to England for some reason,
taking the holy cup with him, where it would
become the source of much chivalric desire.
If you're only passingly familiar with the
Gospels, there's a chance you might assume
some or even all of that is in the Bible.
In fact, the Gospels merely mention there
was a cup Jesus used at the Last Supper with
no special attention drawn to it, and there's
certainly no mention of Joseph catching Christ's
blood in it at the crucifixion.
In fact, the only information we have about
Joseph of Arimathea is he was a member of
the Jewish high council and a devoted follower
of Jesus who offered his own tomb as a burial
place for his savior after the crucifixion.
Pretty much everything else about the Holy
Grail first pops up in the Middle Ages.
The first appearance of the Grail comes in
the 12th century poem "Percival, the Story
of the Grail" written by Chrétien de Troyes.
The relevant portion of the poem features
our hero Percival inside the magical home
of the Fisher King, where he witnesses a spectacular
event: a parade of holy relics, and at the
end, a maiden brings in a grail made of gold
and studded with jewels.
That fancy glowing cup turns out to hold a
single communion wafer, which is the miraculous
sustenance for the Fisher King's father, the
only thing he's eaten for 12 years.
Notably, the grail in this story is called
a grail and not the grail.
And it's definitely never called the Holy
Grail or related to the Last Supper at all.
Heck, just to make things even more confusing,
the modern idea of the grail as a cup is most
likely a misconception that evolved after
a few mistranslations of ancient Greek and
Latin words.
In its oldest form, it wasn't a cup but a
bowl or serving tray.
Really!
"A grail actually looks like this, which means
a holy grail looks like this.”
“Oooooooh.”
One of the writers who picked up the threads
from Chretien's unfinished poem was Robert
de Boron, who wrote a work based on the legend
of Joseph of Arimathea.
This verse romance retells the story of the
last days of Jesus, adding in some additional
details from popular belief, including the
bit about Joseph using the cup from the Last
Supper to catch Christ's blood as he was moving
his body into the tomb.
When Jesus' body disappeared, Joseph was arrested
under suspicion of stealing it, and he remained
in prison for many years.
Fortunately, Jesus appeared to him and gave
him the Holy Grail, which sustained him until
he was released by the emperor Vespasian.
After this, Joseph and his family found a
new home in the West, where he established
a line of Holy Grail protectors, which eventually
included Percival.
Don't bother looking for the grail, though,
because it's already been found - according
to Arthurian legend, that is.
And while Lancelot might be the most famous
knight, he definitely wasn't the one to find
it.
It was his son, Galahad, who was deemed so
pure he was allowed to find the Holy Grail
and then ascend to heaven.
This familiar version of the story, and indeed
the very character of Galahad, was added to
the Arthurian mythos in a cycle of prose romances
from 13th century France known as the Vulgate
Cycle.
The version of the story of the Holy Grail
downplays the role of Percival in order to
highlight Galahad, the chosen one who is the
only one able to sit in the Siege Perilous,
the chair at the Round Table reserved for
the knight destined to find the grail.
Anyone else who dared sit there without being
worthy would die, and it's here the Holy Grail
becomes a symbol of divine grace only attainable
by the purest of the pure.
“Oh, hello.”
“Quick!
Quick, you’re in great peril!”
“No he isn’t!”
"Silence, foul temptress!"
And then there's the Da Vinci Code-style idea
of the grail as a person instead of an object.
This isn't a new idea, though.
It stretches back as far as the 15th century,
when English writer John Hardyng first wondered
if "sangreal" - the Old French term for Holy
Grail — wasn't san-greal, but sang-real.
If that was the case, it would mean "royal
blood".
From this completely fake etymology, a whole
cottage industry has sprung up around the
idea that rather than a blessed relic from
the Last Supper, the Holy Grail is in fact
the secret bloodline of Jesus with his secret
wife, Mary Magdalene.
It was the premise behind the early '80s best-seller
Holy Blood, Holy Grail and perhaps more famously
of the early 2000s cultural phenomenon that
ripped it off, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.
Various writers have also embroiled the Knights
Templar in conspiracy theories surrounding
the Grail, even though there is no historical
evidence linking them to any non-fictional
Grail quest.
Further complications to the story involve
Gnostic Christian movements like the Cathars,
and those tales are heavily reliant upon the
existence of the secret society the Priory
of Sion, which was a complete hoax, made up
in the 1950s and 1960s by a French man named
Pierre Plantard.
So, the most realistic modern interpretation
of the grail legend?
That's right…
"NI!
NI!
NI!"
“Who are you?!”
“We are the knights who say NI!”
But hey, who knows what's really out there?
We're not here to rain on anyone's parade,
not completely, at least.
It's technically possible the Holy Grail is
still out there!
According to the earliest tales, Joseph of
Arimathea delivered the Grail to the valleys
of Avalon, a location which, since the 12th
century, has been associated with Glastonbury
in Somerset, England.
Legend even states that the first of the famous
Glastonbury Thorn trees sprung up from a spot
where Joseph thrust his staff into the ground.
Allegedly, Joseph's grave can be found in
Glastonbury as well, so it seems like a logical
spot to begin your personal quest.
The association of the Cathars with Grail
conspiracy theories has led people since the
early 20th century to believe that the Grail
could be found at the Cathar castle known
as the Chateau de Montsegur, which is believed
to be the Grail Castle from a 13th-century
knight-poet's version of Parzival.
Among those convinced this was the Grail Castle
was Heinrich Himmler, who really did send
the Nazis in, hoping they could win the war
with Jesus' magic cup.
Needless to say, they didn't find it - maybe
Galahad or Percival got there first!
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite
stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the
bell so you don't miss a single one.
