Holy Grail

This article is about the object of Arthurian legend. For the cup from the Last Supper, see Holy Chalice.
"Grail" and "Grail Quest" redirect here. For other uses, see Grail (disambiguation), Grail Quest (disambiguation), and Holy Grail (disambiguation).
Grail
Matter of Britain element
The Damsel of the Sanct Grael
by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1874)
First appearancePerceval, le Conte du Graal
Created byChrétien de Troyes
GenreChivalric romance
In-universe information
TypeReligious relic
OwnersPerceval and his sister, Grail Family (Fisher King, Grail Maiden), Joseph of Arimathea, Knights of the Round Table (Galahad, Bors), Morgan
FunctionQuest subject
Traits and abilitiesHealing, restoring the Wasteland, providing nourishment, granting ascension or eternal life
AffiliationAvalon, Grail Castle

The Holy Grail (French: Saint Graal, Breton: Graal Santel, Welsh: Greal Sanctaidd, Cornish: Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often guarded in the custody of the Fisher King and located in the hidden Grail castle. By analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as a "holy grail" by those seeking such.[1]

A mysterious "grail" (Old French: graal or greal), wondrous but not unequivocally holy, first appears in Perceval, the Story of the Grail, an unfinished chivalric romance written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1190. Chrétien's story inspired many continuations, translators and interpreters in the later-12th and early-13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who portrayed the Grail as a stone in Parzival. The Christian, Celtic or possibly other origins of the Arthurian grail trope are uncertain and have been debated among literary scholars and historians.

In the 1190s, Robert de Boron in Joseph d'Arimathie [fr] portrayed the Grail as Jesus's vessel from the Last Supper, which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood at the crucifixion. Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the Holy Chalice, the Last Supper cup, an idea continued in works such as the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and subsequently the 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur.[2] In this form, it is now a popular theme in modern culture, and has become the subject of folklore studies, pseudohistorical writings, works of fiction, and conspiracy theories.

  1. ^ "Definition of Holy Grail". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  2. ^ Campbell 1990, p. 210.