The Holy Grail in Arthurian Legend

The Quest for Absolute by Spownik

The Holy Grail is most well known as having been the vessel from which Christ drank during the Last Supper.  In this legend the Holy Grail, it was given to Christ's grand-uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, who used the vessel to capture Christ's blood and sweat while he hung on the cross.  After Christ's death, Joseph was said to have been imprisoned in a rock tomb similar to the one he had given for the body of his grand-nephew.  He was left to starve but was sustained for years by the Holy Grail, which provided food and drink for him every day.  Later, Joseph travelled to Britain, bringing the Grail with him and settling in Ynys Witrin (Glastonbury), but the Grail was taken to Carbenic where it was kept in a castle that was guarded by the Grail Kings, descended of Joseph's daughter Anna (Enygeus) and her husband, Brons.

Joseph of Arimathea is depicted in this 14th Century

Here the Holy Grail stayed and was prophesised to be rediscovered by the one man able of sitting in the Siege Perilous - one of the unoccupied chairs of the Round Table that could only seat the most noble and pure of knights.  Many of Arthur's knights went in search of the Grail.  In this tale, the Grail waited for Galahad, son of Lancelot, while Perceval failed to ask the correct questions and left empty-handed, and Lancelot was prevented from entering the castle because he was an adulterer.  Galahad entered the castle and asked the questions correctly.  He gazed upon the Holy Grail and his life became complete.  He and the Grail were then lifted up to Heaven.

From the start of this tale, one might assume that the Holy Grail should appear in the Bible, but this is not the case.  The Holy Grail first appears as simply 'graal' in Chretien de Troyes' Perceval, le Conte du Graal, composed around 1181-90.  He describes it as made of fine pure gold and set qith precious stones of many kinds.  The word is probably derived from the Old French word 'graal' meaning 'broad and capacious dish or salver'.  Though it is best known as a cup or chalice, the Holy Grail has been variously described as a platter, dish, cornucopia, horn of plenty, a book, or even a stone.

The Quest for the Holy Grail “Chretien de Troyes, “Yvain,” 13th c.

... A girl
Entered with the, holding
A grail-dish in both her hands -
...
She walked into the hall,
Holding this grail, it glowed
With so great a light that the candles
Suddenly seemed to grow dim,
Like the moon and stars when the sun
Appears in the sky...
...
The grail that led the procession
Was made of the purest gold,
Studded with jewels of every
King, the richest and most costly
Found on land or sea.
Perceval, le Conte du Graal by Chretien de Troyes

The quest for a divine vessel has been a popular theme in Arthurian legend and it has been so since well before medieval writers introduced the 'Holy Grail'.  This divine vessel appears in the Mabinogian tale of Culwch and Olwen, but is particularly well known in the Preiddeu Annwn or Spoil of the Underworld as told by Taliesin.  In this tale, Arthur and his warriors sail to the Celtic Otherworld to capture the pearl-rimmed Cauldron of Annwfn, the giver of plenty and prophecy.  It was apparently last discovered at Caer-Skiddi (or Wydyr), an island bound castle of glass, where it was guarded by nine divine maidens.  Apparently the perils were too much for Arthur and his men, with the mission being abandoned and only seven of their group returning home.

The Gundestrup Cauldron

My poetry

from the cauldron

it was uttered.

From the breath of nine maidens

it was kindled.

The cauldron of the chief of Annwfn:

what is its fashion?

A dark ridge around its border

and pearls.

...

And when we went with Arthur,

brilliant difficulty.

Except seven 

none rose up

from the Fortress of Mead-Drunkenness.
Preiddeu Annwn or Spoil of the Underworld

Celtic Cauldrons were used during ceremonial feasts as early as the late Bronze Age.  Ritual deposits in Llyn Fawr (Glamorgan) included such vessels.  The best known example is the Gundestrup Cauldron which was discovered in the peat bogs of Jutland (Denmark).  The cauldron is decorated with the portraits of many Celtic deities and would have once held up to 28.5 gallons.  Other Celtic legends mention cauldrons: the Rider of Sidhe possessed a cauldron that could never be emptied, providing a neverending supply of sustenance and restorative properties.

Some believe the Holy Grail is not an object but an ideal.  When something is referred to as one's Holy Grail, it implies something that is sought after with passion but could be forever out of reach.  It signifies a great goal or achievement, or something of great importance.  This is represented in the Welsh tale Peredur, found in the Mabinogion, where the Grail is not an object but the quest itself.  The glory is to be found in the chivalrous acts carried out during the quest, not an object to be acquired at the end of the quest.

 The Knight of the Holy Grail by Frederick J. Waugh, 1912

And she quoth, 'Now indeed I know thee, for in sooth art thou Parzival!

Didst thou see the mournful monarch?  Didst thou see the wondrous Grail?

Ah!  tell me the joyful tidings, may his woe at last stilled?

Well is thee that the blessed journey thou hast ta'en, now shall earth be filled,

As far as the winds of heaven may blow, with thy fair renown;

Naught on earth but shall do thee service, fulfilment each wish shall crown!'

                                                           Parzival, a knightly epic by Wolfram von Eschenbach

Chretien's introduction of the graal was a great inspiration to other medieval authors and, due to his tale never being completed, many felt that they could not only complete the story but improve on it.  The seeker of the Grail varies from tale to tale, some naming Perceval and others naming Galahad.  One such author, Wolfram von Eschenbach, renamed Perceval as Parzival, composing his tale in rhyming couplets in the first decade of the 13th century.  He tells us that he is writing his tale because Chretien did not do justice to the Grail story, possibly due to the tale having been left incomplete and the lack of explanation of the Grail.  Although the romance seems to be based on Chretien's tale, Wolfram claims that he is working from a better version written by a poet named Kyot.

 The Achievement of the Grail by Morris & Co

Wolfram's tale explains more about the Grail than Chretien did, telling us that the Grail is not the vessel of Chretien's tale, nor the cup used during the Last Supper.  Instead the Grail is called lapsit exillis - a stone with so much power that it allows a phoenix to rise from its own ashes, and that anyone who sees it, no matter how ill he or she might be, will not die within a week, nor will they age or change appearance.  Every Good Friday a dove from Heaven deposites a small white wafer on the stone from which it gets its power.

 Quest for the Holy Grail by Arthur Hughes

They would agree to no other name, but that it should be called the Grail; and it is right that people should agree in this way.  Both those who departed and those who remained called the vessel the Grail, for the reason I have told you.

                                                    Joseph of Arimathea: A Romance of the Grail By Robert (de Boron)

Robert de Boron, writing in the last decade of the 12th century or the first few years of the 13th century, wrote his octosyllabic French verse romance Joseph d'Arimathie, which is of great importance in the development of the Grail legend.  Robert's is the first romance to turn Chretien's graal into the now familiar Holy Grail, by linking it to the cup used by Christ during the Last Supper.  In this tale, Perceval is the one to find the castle and, on his second visit, to ask the correct questions, leading him to assume the position of Fisher King.

Sir Galahad's Vision of the Holy Grail by Sir Joseph Noel Paton

There have been many various items used to represent the Holy Grail.  It has, like King Arthur, been invented by the input of many different authors over many hundreds of years.  The Holy Grail may mean something different to everyone and, due to its beginnings and its evolution over the years, there is no one definition to explain it's appearance or use.

That's all for today.  Next time we will learn about Merlin.

Useful Resources 

Parzival, a knightly epic by Wolfram von Eschenbach

Joseph of Arimathea: A Romance of the Grail by Robert de Boron

Perceval: The Story of the Grail by Chretien De Troyes
Preiddeu Annwn: The Spoils of Annwn by: Sarah Higley (Translator)
The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend by Alan Lupack
Timeless Myths - The Holy Grail 

King Arthur, Mordred and the Battle of Camlann

King Arthur's final battle was the Battle of Camlann, where he is fatally wounded by Mordred.  But who was Mordred and what events brought him to fatally wound King Arthur in the Battle of Camlann?

King Arthur, Battle of Camlann, 13th century

Mordred, as we know him, has evolved over the centuries, much like the other characters of Arthurian legend.  The question of who Mordred is varies from text to text.  In some texts he is King Arthur's nephew, while in others King Arthur is not just Mordred's uncle.  He is also Mordred's father.  Certainly, Mordred is probably best known to be the illegitimate and incestuous child of Arthur and one of his half-sisters, Morgause or Morgan Le Fay.  However, the story in which Morgan le Fay enticed Arthur into an incestuous affair, from which Mordred is conceived, is a misconception derived from the desire of modern writers to merge Morgan with her sister Morgause together as one.

The first mention of Mordred and the Battle of Camlann can be found in the Annales Cambriae, a 9th century collection of obscure Welsh material.  However, here he is known as Medraut rather than Mordred.

537:  The Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut fell: and there was plague in Britain and Ireland.

While we are made aware of Arthur and Medraut's deaths, we are not told that they were on opposing sides of the battle, nor are we told the reason for the battle.

Battle of Camlann by Arthur Rackham 

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Mordred is called Modred and is presented as Arthur's nephew, the son of Lot and Morgause, who is sometimes known as Anna.

...which when Arthur intelligence of, he committed the government of the kingdome to his nephew Modred...

Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur brings incest into the mix, with Mordred being born to Arthur and the wife of King Lot, Morgause.  It is not until later that King Arthur discovers that Morgause also happens to be his half-sister, daughter of Igraine and Gorlois.

And thither came to him, King Lot's wife (Morgause), of Orkney... with her four sons, Gawaine, Gaheris, Agravine, and Gareth, with many other knights and ladies.  For she was a passing fair lady, therefore the king cast great love unto her, and desired to lie by her; so they were agreed, and he begat upon her Mordred, and she was his sister, on his mother's side, Igraine...  But all this time King Arthur knew not that King Lot's wife was his sister.

"Sir Mordred" by H. J. Ford 

When Arthur discovers the truth, Merlin tells him that Mordred must die as his existence is a threat to King Arthur's life.  Arthur has all of the boys born on the day of Mordred's birth, Mordred included, put onto ships which were set adrift.  While most aboard the ships die, Mordred survives.

Then King Arthur let send for all the children born on May-day, for Merlin told King Arthur that he should destroy him... born on May-day... and so he sent for them all, upon pain of death; and so there were found many lords' sons, and all were sent onto the King, and so was Mordred sent by King Lot's wife, and all were put in a ship on the sea, and some were four weeks old and some less.  And so by fortune the ship drove unto a castle, and wall all toriven, and destroyed the most part, save that Mordred was cast up and a good man found him and nourished him till he was fourteen years old.

In Wace's Roman de Brut, Mordred is again Arthur's nephew and his is in love with Guinever.

...Mordred was a man of high birth, and of many noble virtues, but he was not true.  He had set his heart on Guinevere, his kinswoman, but such love brought little honour to the queen.  Mordred had kept this love close, for easy enough it was to hide since who would be so bold as to deem that he loved his uncle's dame?

Sir Mordred

Accounts of Mordred consider him to be traiterous and he was introduced by Layamon, who translated Wace's Alliterative Morte Arthure, to the reader as 'Modred, wickedest of men; truth he had none to ever any man... to the queen was his resort - that was evilly done - to his uncle he did treachery.'  Layamon adds that Mordred and the queen did numerous sorrows to the land, losing their lives and souls as a result.

When Mordred reaches adulthood, he becomes one of Arthur's knights and Geoffrey tells us that, when Arthur was away on his Roman campaign, Mordred, who had been entrusted with Arthur's kingdom, seized Guinevere and the throne, paving the way for Arthur's final battle.

...But at the beginning of the following summer, as he was on his march towards Rome and was beginning to pass the Alps, he had news brought to him that his nephew Mordred, to whose care he had entrusted Britain, had by tyrannical and treasonable practices set the crown upon his own head; and that queen Guanhumara (Guinevere), in violation of her first marriage, had wickedly married him.

Arthur and Mordred

According to Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, when Arthur is away on his campaign, Mordred is left with the care of the kingdom and informs the people that Arthur was killed in battle.  He is crowned king and Guinevere agrees to marry him.

As Sir Mordred was ruler of all England, he did do make letters as though that they came from beyond the sea, and the letters specified that King Arthur was slain in battle with Sir Lancelot.  Wherefore Sir Mordred made a parliament, and called the lords together, and there he made them to choose him king, and so was he crowned at Canterbury, and held a feast there fifteen days; and afterward he drew him unto Winchester, and there he took the Queen Guinever, and said plainly that he would wed her which was his uncle's wife and his father's wife.  And so he made ready for the feast, and a day prefixed that they should be wedded; wherefore Queen Guinever was passing heavy.  But she durst not discover her heart, but spake fair, and agreed to Sir Mordred's will. 

The Marriage of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere By John Henry Frederick Bacon

The Dream of Rhonabwy, the latest of the tales included in the collection of the Mabinogion and believed to date from sometime betweel 1159 and 1200, tell us that Mordred is Arthur's nephew and also his foster-son.

I will tell thee.  I was one of the messengers between Arthur and Medrawd his nephew, at the battle of Camlan; and I was then a reckless youth, and through my desire for battle, I kindled strife between them, and stirred up wrath, when I was sent by Arthur the Emperor to reason with Medrawd, and to show him, that he was his foster-father and his uncle, and to seek for peace, lest the sons of the Kings of the Island of Britain, and of the nobles, should be slain.  And whereas Arthur charged me with the fairest sayings he could think of, I uttered unto Medrawd the harshest I could devise. And therefore am I called Iddawc Cordd Prydain, for from this did the battle of Camlan ensue. And three nights before the end of the battle of Camlan I left them, and went to the Llech Las in North Britain to do penance. And there I remained doing penance seven years, and after that I gained pardon.

Banishment of Mordred 

Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us that when King Arthur discovers that his nephew is a traitor, a series of battles commence, with Mordred fleeing Arthur.  Mordred is twice beseiged but eventually decides to stay and fight, whether he might live or die.

Arthur, being inwardly grieved that he should so often escape, forthwith pursued him into that country as far as the river Cambula, where the other was expecting his coming.  And Mordred, as he was the boldest of men, and always the quickest at making an attack, immediately placed his troops in order, resolving either to conquer or to die, rather than continue his fight any longer.

And so Arthur's final battle commences, where many, including King Arthur, lose their lives.

For in this assault fell the wicked traitor himself, and many thousands with him.  But notwithstanding the loss of him, the rest did not flee, but running together from all parts of the field maintained their ground with undaunted courage.  The fight grew more furious than ever, and proved fatal to almost all the commanders and their forces...  And even the renowned king Arthur himself was mortally wounded.

 The Death of Mordred

Le Morte d'Arthur gives us more information about the battle between Mordred and King Arthur:

Then the king gat his spear in both his hands, and ran toward Sir Mordred, crying: Traitor, now is thy death-day come.  And when Sir Mordred heard Sir Arthur, he ran until him with his sword drawn in his hand.  And there King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield, with a foin of his spear, throughout the body, more than a fathom.  And when Sir Mordred felt that he had his death wound he thrust himself with the might that he had up to the bur of King Arthur's spear.  And right so he smote his father.

Malory's account of this battle is in line with most of the other literature.  In some texts, while King Arthur is always fatally wounded, Mordred survives the battle.  Jean d'Outremeuse's Ly Myreur des Histors (The Mirror of Histories), an ambitious 14th century narrative claiming to be a history of the world from the flood to the 14th century, tells how Mordred apparently survives the Battle of Camlann only to be defeated by Lancelot.  Lancelot executes Guinevere and imprisons Mordred with her body.  Starving, Mordred eats her body but later dies of starvation.

 The Death of King Arthur by James Archer

While it is assumed that King Arthur dies as a result of this battle, sources do vary and the conclusion is often left open to interpretation.

That's all for today.  Next time we will look at the Avalon and the fate of King Arthur.


Annales Cambriae
Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth
Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory
Roman de Brut by Wace
The Mabinogion: The Dream of Rhonabwy