Christian Grail Research Paper

1641 Words4 Pages

The Christianized Grail The French, ironically, had become some of the main contributors to the legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Being far more well-known than Peredur as well as lacking the usage of characters found in previously known legends, Chretien de Troyes’ Le Conte du Graal is generally considered the earliest “pure” Grail romance (Nickell). Composed around 1190, it was an unfinished work, but, due to its high resemblance to Peredur, in which Le Conte du Graal included a golden platter and a bloody lance in its storyline, it was highly likely Le Conte du Graal was the author’s interpretation of the Welsh tale and reworked the story to his own version (Braswell). However, from this work did the first image of the Holy Grail as a radiant chalice appear, where it is described as made of “pure, fine gold” and embedded with “precious stones of …show more content…

This work lead way to further grail stories, including the highly impactful poet Robert de Boron, author of Joseph d’Arimathie and Merlin. Published roughly ten years after Chretien, he was the first to link the Arthurian Holy Grail to the chalice from which Jews and Jesus Christ’s disciples drank from a the Last Supper and “subsequently used to catch and preserve [Jesus’] blood from the Crucifixion” (Nickell). Similar to the idea of the restorative cauldron and the horn of plenty, he cites that the Grail enabled Joseph of Arimathea, who had collected the blood and later buried Jesus in his tomb, remain alive and well for twelve years after being imprisoned by the Jewish authorities (RS Review). Furthermore, the Grail gets taken to England in 37 C.E. by Joseph of Arimathea to the “valleys of Avaron”, which becomes interpreted as Avalon, the legendary location of healing King Arthur is taken to once he becomes fatally wounded by his traitorous

More about Christian Grail Research Paper

Open Document