About The Holy Grail and What Made It So Important

The Story of The Grail

Hauschild, Wilhelm. 'Das Gralswunder' ('The Grail Miracle'). Schwangau, Germany, 1878.


    Before I go into the importance of the Holy Grail, I find that it is important for everyone to know the legend behind it. The legend of The Holy Grail most likely started with a story only shared orally for many years until 1190 CE in Chrétien De Troyes’ wrote Perceval or Conte du Graal (The Story of The Grail)(Mark). The story has grown to have many different translations over the years. The general story goes as such: After Christ died, Joseph of Arimathea travelled to Glastonbury, England to build the first church. With him he brought The Holy Grail that Christ himself had drank out of during The Last Supper. This particular cup would be a holy relic at the church. The belief is that touching the cup could heal you of all your sicknesses. However, our world became so evil and corrupt that the Holy Grail disappeared and returned back to heaven. Sir Perceval of The Roundtable had a sister who was a nun. She was afraid of the corruption shown in King Arthur’s court. She heard of a legend that said that when the earth was clean and free of sin, the Holy Grail would return to Earth. It was expected that this would happen when the Round Table was founded, but this did not happen due to the corruption of the court. She prayed and fasted until she saw a vision of the Grail. Perceval told the other knights about this and they began praying and fasting. After this, Percival sat on Merlin’s empty chair at the round table. This was a big deal because it was engraved with “no man should sit here but he should lose himself”. When he sat on the chair the Holy Spirit appeared before the knights in a vision, holding the Holy Grail (pictured above). Upon seeing the glorious Holy Grail, Perceval and many of the other knights present took a vow to search for it. As it turns out the only person who had seen the Grail was Sir Galahad. This was presumably because he was so chaste and holy. The next day all of the knights who made the vow left on a quest, with a warning from King Arthur that it might not turn out well for them.

    While on his quest, Perceval learns why he is not fit to see the Grail and possibly that he should not have gone. Evil thoughts begin to overtake him as he wanders aimlessly searching for the Grail. He grew sadder and emptier as the quest drew on. He encounters a man to whom he recounts his tale. The man responds saying that he has not learned to be humble like Galahad has. Galahad, Perceval, and the man all pray together. Galahad has another vision of the Grail. Galahad has spends most of his quest defeating Pagans with a vision of a burning and bloody Holy Grail in his head. Due to this fact, Galahad seemed to know he was going to Heaven soon. Perceval then helped Galahad float away in a boat when he saw visions of The Holy Grail and Heaven over Galahad’s head. The next day Perceval returned to Camelot, knowing that the Grail would not return to Earth. On his way back to the Kingdom he heard stories from Sir Bors’ quest, his vision, and Lancelot’s inner battle to see the Grail as well as deal with his sin. Many knight’s admitted that they were not worthy of the vision, but the damage from their respective quests had already been done and lives had been lost. The story ends with King Arthur having his “I told you so” moment. He basically said that only those who had visions of the Grail were worthy of the quest (Weston 31-49).



What made it so important?

    There is much to dissect in this story in terms of the possible symbol that the Grail might represent. Most people have come to believe that the Grail is not an actual object, but more of a symbol, like when Christ referred to the wine and bread as his blood and body. It would not be until Arthurian legends surrounding the cup became popular that people actually cared about it. The Holy Grail seemed to serve as a call-to-arms of sorts for knights who served when the story was popular. The general message that people took from the story was “Knights can always do better because even most of the knights of the round table where still sinners.” The Holy Grail legend also held up the standard that morality and spirituality should be treated the same. Just being a Christian would not get you into heaven, you would have to do good deeds as well. There is also a bit of symbolism behind the Grail being a device that many people used to serve their food to others.This possibly hints that the Grail would reappear if people were willing to be servants to others, much like the cup is used to serve food to others. Many saw the recurring visions of the Grail as a sign that they need to serve others in order to get what they want. Given all these possible interpretations of what the Grail stood for, it is no wonder that calling something a “Holy Grail” can be somewhat common today. It is something an individual might desire a lot, but it could be next to impossible for that person to achieve.

    This particular story might have also been constructed to hold up a mirror to humanity's true nature. The theme seems to show us that even the self-proclaimed purest among us are prone to sin and impurities. I find it a bit ironic how the Round Table was designed so that no one would be at the head, therefore no one would be more valuable than that other. Then the Holy Grail comes along and weeds out the most pure and leaves the others striving to be better(Sorenson 2).



References/ Works Cited:

Mark, Joshua J. “Grail Legend.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 19 Oct. 2020, www.ancient.eu/Grail_Legend/.

Sorenson, Richard B. “The Meaning and Significance of the Holy Grail.” Researchgate.net, Apr. 2011,www.researchgate.net/publication/328028696_The_Meaning_and_Significance_of_the_Holy_Grail.

Weston, Jessie L. The Quest of The Holy Grail. Barnes and Noble Inc., 1964.