The Quest of the Holy Grail

Chapter I: Introductory

THE end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries, a period covering, at its utmost extent, not more than some fifty years, witnessed the formation of a body of romantic literature, verse and prose, dealing with the quest for, and attainment of, a mysterious Talisman, varying in provenance, form, and effect, though known always by the same name.

Thus, while that Talisman is always known as the Grail, the term may connote a mysterious and undescribed Food-providing Object, which comes and goes without visible agency; a Stone, endowed with food- and life-giving properties, which also from time to time assumes the réle of an oracle; a ‘Holy’ Object, the form of which is not indicated, wrought of gold and precious stones, and emitting a brilliant light; a Reliquary; the Dish from which our Lord and His Disciples ate the Paschal Lamb at the Last Supper, or the Cup of that Meal; the Vessel (sometimes that just mentioned, whether Cup or Dish, sometimes one specially made for the purpose) in which Joseph of Arimathea received the Blood which flowed from the Wounds of the Redeemer; finally, a mysterious combination of these two latter forms with the Chalice of the Eucharist. Even in this final, highly ecclesiastized shape the Grail retains traces of its earlier origin, appearing and disappearing automatically and mysteriously, and, as one romance definitely states, being of no material substance whatsoever, “ for of wood was it not, nor of any kind of metal nor of stone was it wrought, neither of horn, nor of bone.”’ And as the Grail itself varies, so do also the results arising from a successful fulfilment of the Quest. At first the object is the cure of the Guardian of the Talisman, an enigmatic personage, generally known as the Fisher, or Maimed, King, who is helpless from the effects either of a wound, of extreme old age, or of illness caused by the failure of the Quester, and with the cure of the ruler the restoration of fertility to his land, which lies waste while the Quest is unfulfilled. In the final form the result of the Quest is rather the