The Grail legend includes stories of the Holy Grail, with different traditions describing it as a stone or cup with the power to provide nourishment or eternal life. The hero who seeks the Grail changes in later accounts, with Galahad becoming the virgin son of Lancelot and Elaine. Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte D’Arthur is the Roman Catholic version of the legend, with King Arthur commissioning the quest for the Grail and the Knight’s Templar keeping it hidden. Retellings in literature and media vary from sticking closely to Mallory’s version to twisting the story, such as in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The legend of the Grail refers to several stories involving the Holy Grail. It can refer to the stories contained in the Arthurian myths, where men were able to search and find the relic. In other cases, the legend is representative of all traditions concerning the origins and location of the Grail.
There are several traditions describing the Grail or “Grail” and its origins. Early Arthurian accounts describe it as a stone that may have fallen from the sky. On this stone one can receive any food or drink one needs, or one can receive eternal life. The stone has also been described as a platter or platter. The roots of this description lie in the concepts of alchemy. The philosopher’s stone could provide nourishment and also support life. The stone or plate features in the earliest accounts dating from the 12th and 13th centuries.
Later accounts of the Grail’s origins refer to it as a cup. There are two possible sources for the cup. It was either the cup from which Jesus Christ drank at the Last Supper, or it was a cup used to catch Christ’s blood. If the cup caught Christ’s blood, it is thought that Joseph of Arimathea was originally the cup’s owner. Some versions of the legend have Joseph giving the cup to Christ at the Last Supper, and then using it to collect his blood at the crucifixion.
The decision of what constitutes the Grail is related to the popularity of the Arthurian myths, and also to the hero who gains sight of them. The first legends were written by Chrétien de Troyes and Wolfram von Eschenbach and are quite similar. Chrétien Perceval’s work is unfinished. Wolfram Parzival’s work is considered one of the best examples of early Germanic writing.
In both early works, a man who is married but has never consummated his marriage seeks the Grail. During his journey, Parzival meets many of King Arthur’s knights. Indeed, in Wolfram almost half of the book is devoted to the search for Sir Gawain, who never manages to see the object. The pursuit of worldly success is contrasted with the spiritual pursuit.
Later accounts change the hero, and this is important because it represents the interference of the clergy in trying to make the books less scandalous. The plate is transformed into a chalice, and this greater sacredness means that a married man never has access to it, even if the marriage is not consummated. Instead, the hero becomes Galahad, the virgin son of Lancelot and Elaine.
Galahad’s purity and virginity equate to the ultimate medieval retelling of the Grail, Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. The popularity of Arthurian myths was not to succeed Church rights, and Mallory was tasked with adding morality and turning Galahad into a saint-like figure. As such, the latter tale from the medieval period lacks references to paganism and is essentially the Roman Catholic version of the legend.
Some aspects of the story remain unchanged. King Arthur commissions the quest for the Grail which proves to be a weakness for many of the Knights of the Round Table. Only one knight reaches him, and then returns to tell Arthur of the quest. As for the object itself, the legend continues that the Knight’s Templar, in some hidden place, keeps the Grail.
Retellings of the legend in literature tend to stick closely to Mallory’s version. In the opera, however, Wagner’s Parzival celebrates the German epic. In modern movies, the story is very twisted, especially in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It is doubtful that the original writers of any version of the legend would have allowed someone of Jones’ unworthy nature to glimpse the Grail, let alone hold it in their hands.
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