# data[].attributes.body
Made by Natacha Mongrain

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This article briefly summarizes the history of the legend of the Holy Grail, what it is believed to be, modern beliefs regarding the possible location of the Holy Grail and its appearance in pop culture. It is a great article to learn the nitty gritty of what is believed about the item. Further, we find within mention of the believed “healing powers” that the Grail possesses.

Connection:
This article is a very brief overview of what the Grail is, I have included it more so  as an introduction to the topic than as evidence of beliefs related to the object. Interestingly, although not surprisingly, other than the mention off the belief that the Grail is the Chalice from which Jesus himself drank from at the Last Supper, the article mentions religion very little and is based primarily on the historical search or quest to find it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Holy Grail is traditionally thought to be the cup that Jesus Christ drank from at the Last Supper and that Joseph of Arimathea used to collect Jesus's blood at his crucifixion. From ancient legends to contemporary movies, the Holy Grail has been an object of mystery and fascination for centuries. Scores of people have hunted for this sought-after Christian relic. But what makes the Holy Grail so significant and alluring?

What Is the Holy Grail?

The Holy Grail is the subject of numerous myths and legends, which makes it difficult for scholars to distinguish fact from fiction.

The word "grail" probably comes from the Latin word gradale, which refers to a deep platter that foods were served on at medieval banquets. Throughout the years, the Grail has been described as a dish, a ciborium, a chalice, a platter, a goblet and even a stone.

Many literary works have portrayed the Grail as possessing miraculous healing powers. Historians believe that the origins of the Holy Grail can be traced back to pre-Christian Celtic mythology as well as Christian legend.

The quest for the Holy Grail first made its way into written text in Chrétien de Troyes's Old French unfinished romance, the Conte del Graal ('Story of the Grail'), or Perceval, which was written around 1180.

Robert de Boron further specified its Christian significance around 1200 in his poem Joseph d'Arimathie, citing the Holy Grail's origins at the Last Supper and Christ's death.

The Holy Grail and Medieval Legend
Read exclusive excerpts from the best-selling book, "The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors" here
The Holy Grail became a popular theme in medieval literature, and stories about it were read and recited throughout Europe.

Some Arthurian tales claimed that Joseph of Arimathea brought the Grail to Glastonbury in England. One legend has it that on the spot where he buried the Grail, the water runs red because it travels through Christ's blood, though scientists agree this is just the effect of red iron oxide in the soil.

Others believed the Knights Templar, a medieval order that protected pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, seized the Holy Grail from the Temple Mount during the Crusades and secreted it away.

The mythical literary figure, King Arthur, was said to coordinate great spiritual expeditions to search for the enigmatic relic. Legends hold that the Grail had the power to heal all wounds, deliver eternal youth and grant everlasting happiness.

In one popular Arthurian story, a character known as the "Fisher King" had a serious wound that kept him from moving. He needed the Grail to be healed and could only sit and fish near his castle until someone found the magical cup.

Since the inception of these widespread tales, countless travelers, scientists, historians and archeologists have attempted lofty quests to recover the Holy Grail.

Recent Discovery

In March 2014, two Spanish historians claimed they discovered the Holy Grail at a church in León in northern Spain. They said the chalice had been there since the 11th century.

Scientific dating confirmed that the cup was made between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. The historians also presented data that included three years of research on the whereabouts of the Grail.

Despite these convincing facts, there's no way to know for sure that what the pair discovered is actually the true cup that Jesus drank from. Adding to the controversy is the fact that there are roughly 200 alleged Grail cups in various locations around the world, and many scholars question whether the Holy Grail ever existed at all or is merely a legend.

Popular Culture and the Holy Grail

In recent years, the Holy Grail has appeared in many popular books and movies.

Some of these films include Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Excalibur (1981), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and The Fisher King (1991).

In Dan Brown's popular novel, The Da Vinci Code, the Holy Grail isn't described as an object but instead as Mary Magdalene's womb. The book proposed that Mary gave birth to Jesus's child, which started a bloodline of Christ.

Although scholars may never know whether the Holy Grail was an actual physical object or simply a mythical fantasy, the mysterious relic continues to fascinate millions even to this day.

Sources:

The Quest for the Holy Grail: The British Library.
The Holy Grail: Symbols and Motifs: The Camelot Project: University of Rochester.
Crowds flock to Spanish church after holy grail claim: The Guardian.
The Real History of the Holy Grail: Catholic Culture.
The Holy Grail: New Advent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Holy Grail is traditionally thought to be the cup that Jesus Christ drank from at the Last Supper and that Joseph of Arimathea used to collect Jesus's blood at his crucifixion. From ancient legends to contemporary movies, the Holy Grail has been an object of mystery and fascination for centuries.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
As the title suggests, his article elaborates the history of the Grail and how it came to be the modern legend it is. It begins with a French text that did not mention the holy or religious significance of the cup, but merely a vessel in which a mass wafer was presented to the Fisher King, which then healed his sick father. It also elaborates the first story in which the Grail is linked to Jesus, not only as a vessel used at the Last Supper but also and the vessel used to collect Christ’s blood during his crucifixion. The story is that of a man who was imprisoned and was kept alive for years by the Grail. Also mentioned are Celtic references to the grail as “Spoils of the Otherworld”.

Connection:
This article is evidence of how stories often times are regarded as fact as they are repeated and elaborated upon. In particular it is interesting that the first known mention of the Grail is not related to religion at all. Further, this article shows that throughout history many cultures have looked to explain the same object or phenomenon with varying results.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The History of the Holy Grail | History Cooperative

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
RelatedArticles By any means necessary: Malcolm X's controversial struggle for black freedom The History of Hardwicke's Marriage Act (And The Beginning of The Wedding Industry) The History of Buddha As far as history-spanning, full-on conquests and religious iconography go, few objects have a more fantastical, bloody, and legendary tale than the Holy Grail.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This article refers more so to the undefined nature of the Grail and why it is so appealing. The grail has often been used by authors as a means to get a message across, as an object of value and untold benefits spanning from immortality to miraculous healing. Also, it explains how this inconsistency and legend has given birth to the concept of “the Holy Grail of....” meaning that if something. Is referred to as the Holy grail of any subject it is that which is practically unobtainable.

Connection:
This article, as the one above, mentions the historical significance of the Holy Grail, but elaborates on the mystery of this unobtainable, unknowable object of lore. I find the approach of defining the Grail less as a tangible object and more as a tool for writers refreshing and likely most accurate. Though it is possible that the Grail itself does exist, it is far more believable that it was used to give credit to messages that would not be as easily welcome if not for a bigger meaning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Type "Holy Grail" into Google and ... well, you probably don't need me to finish that sentence. The sheer multiplicity of what any search engine throws up demonstrates that there is no clear consensus as to what the Grail is or was. But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of people out there claiming to know its history, true meaning and even where to find it.

Modern authors, perhaps most (in)famously Dan Brown, offer new interpretations and, even when these are clearly and explicitly rooted in little more than imaginative fiction, they get picked up and bandied about as if a new scientific and irrefutable truth has been discovered. The Grail, though, will perhaps always eschew definition. But why?

The first known mention of a Grail ("un graal") is made in a narrative spun by a 12th century writer of French romance, Chrétien de Troyes, who might reasonably be referred to as the Dan Brown of his day - though some scholars would argue that the quality of Chrétien's writing far exceeds anything Brown has so far produced.

Chrétien's Grail is mystical indeed - it is a dish, big and wide enough to take a salmon, that seems capable to delivering food and sustenance. To obtain the Grail requires asking a particular question at the Grail Castle. Unfortunately, the exact question ("Whom does the Grail serve?") is only revealed after the Grail quester, the hapless Perceval, has missed the opportunity to ask it. It seems he is not quite ready, not quite mature enough, for the Grail.

British Library

But if this dish is the "first" Grail, then why do we now have so many possible Grails? Indeed, it is, at turns, depicted as the chalice of the Last Supper or of the Crucifixion or both, or as a stone containing the elixir of life, or even as the bloodline of Christ. And this list is hardly exhaustive. The reason most likely has to do with the fact that Chrétien appears to have died before completing his story, leaving the crucial questions as to what the Grail is and means tantalisingly unanswered. And it did not take long for others to try to answer them for him.

Robert de Boron, a poet writing within 20 or so years of Chrétien (circa 1190-1200), seems to have been the first to have associated the Grail with the cup of the Last Supper. In Robert's prehistory of the object, Joseph of Arimathea took the Grail to the Crucifixion and used it to catch Christ's blood. In the years that followed (1200-1230), anonymous writers of prose romances fixated upon the Last Supper's Holy Chalice and made the Grail the subject of a quest by various knights of King Arthur's court. In Germany, by contrast, the knight and poet Wolfram von Eschenbach reimagined the Grail as "Lapsit exillis" - an item more commonly referred to these days as the "Philosopher's Stone".

British Library

None of these is anything like Chrétien's Grail, of course, so we can fairly ask: did medieval audiences have any more of a clue about the nature of the Holy Grail than we do today?

Publishing the Grail

My recent book delves into the medieval publishing history of the French romances that contain references to the Grail legend, asking questions about the narratives' compilation into manuscript books. Sometimes, a given text will be bound alongside other types of texts, some of which seemingly have nothing to do with the Grail whatsoever. So, what sorts of texts do we find accompanying Grail narratives in medieval books? Can this tell us anything about what medieval audiences knew or understood of the Grail?

Arthur Rackham

The picture is varied, but a broad chronological trend is possible to spot. Some of the few earliest manuscript books we still have see Grail narratives compiled alone, but a pattern quickly appears for including them into collected volumes. In these cases, Grail narratives can be found alongside historical, religious or other narrative (or fictional) texts. A picture emerges, therefore, of a Grail just as lacking in clear definition as that of today.

Perhaps the Grail served as a useful tool that could be deployed in all manner of contexts to help communicate the required message, whatever that message may have been. We still see this today, of course, such as when we use the phrase "The Holy Grail of..." to describe the practically unobtainable, but highly desirable prize in just about any area you can think of. There is even a guitar effect-pedal named "holy grail".

Once the prose romances of the 13th century started to appear, though, the Grail took on a proper life of its own. Like a modern soap opera, these romances comprised vast reams of narrative threads, riddled with independent episodes and inconsistencies. They occupied entire books, often enormous and lavishly illustrated, and today these offer evidence that literature about the Grail evaded straightforward understanding and needed to be set apart - physically and figuratively. In other words, Grail literature had a distinctive quality - it was, as we might call it today, a genre in its own right.

In the absence of clear definition, it is human nature to impose meaning. This is what happens with the Grail today and, according to the evidence of medieval book compilation, it is almost certainly what happened in the Middle Ages, too. Just as modern guitarists use their "holy grail" to experiment with all kinds of sounds, so medieval writers and publishers of romance used the Grail as an adaptable and creative instrument for conveying a particular message to their audience, the nature of which could be very different from one book to the next.

Whether the audience always understood that message, of course, is another matter entirely.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What exactly is the Holy Grail - and why has its meaning eluded us for centuries?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Type "Holy Grail" into Google and ... well, you probably don't need me to finish that sentence. The sheer multiplicity of what any search engine throws up demonstrates that there is no clear consensus as to what the Grail is or was.

# data[].attributes.headline
4 -Do we finally know how the Holy Grail disappeared?

# data[].attributes.subject
4 -Do we finally know how the Holy Grail disappeared?

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This video shows the newest belief of where the GRail is located and how it disappeared and came to be in Spain. The Grail is believed to have been looted from churches in the beginning of the 11th century and offered to King Ferdinand of Christian Spain in hopes of preventing the invasion of Southern Spain.

Connection:
This video recounts the possible journey of the Grail to its possible final destination in Spain. The video shows a document found in Egypt directly referencing the Grail as the Cup of the Messiah and is the basis for the belief that a chalice, now covered in gold, is the original Grail. Although the document does use the the words “Cup of the MEssiah” it is hard t put much faith in the story as many stories over the centuries have given detail accounts of the Grail and its significance.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Do We Finally Know How the Holy Grail Disappeared?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How did an onyx cup thought to be the Holy Grail disappear from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 909 AD? This historian's breakthrough might provide some intriguing answers.

# data[].attributes.headline
5 - Da Vinci Code - The Secret of the Last Supper.

# data[].attributes.subject
5 - Da Vinci Code - The Secret of the Last Supper.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This video is a scene from the movie The Da Vinci Code. It shows a man explaining the Last Supper to a woman and how the Grail is not in fact a literal chalice but a woman’s womb. The movie goes on to explain that one of the people at the table was not , in fact, one of Jesus’ disciples but rather Mary Magdalene who was keeping a secret. The secret being that she is pregnant with Jesus’ child at the time of the Last Supper that the Grail refers to her womb and the holy bloodline of Jesus.

Connection:
This is modern interpretation of and age old story and though it seems far fetched, I believe it is more credible than a chalice or vessel that can grant immortality. The Holy Grail is often referenced as the cup used during the Last Supper, however in the fresco there is no cup present. Though it is a work of fiction, its amazing the symbols and seemingly innocent details which Dan Brown pulls out to give an age old story a new modern twist. Further, his explanation of why and how the truth was covered up is, again in my opinion, much more believable than I Number able other theories of the Grail.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Da Vinci Code (5/8) Movie CLIP - The Secret of The Last Supper (2006) HD

# data[].attributes.headline
6 - Is this 2000 year old Roman cup the Holy Grail?

# data[].attributes.subject
6 - Is this 2000 year old Roman cup the Holy Grail?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is This 2,000-Year-Old Roman Cup the Holy Grail of Christ?

# data[].attributes.headline
7 - 6 Stops on the hunt for the Holy Grail

# data[].attributes.subject
7 - 6 Stops on the hunt for the Holy Grail

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This article is almost like a treasure map for Grail enthusiasts listing six locations believed to be connected to the Grail.

Connection:
This article is very forward on its opinion that the Grail is nothing but myth and uses the multiple locations as evidence of this.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The first of many myths involving a divine grail was written more than eight centuries ago. People have been fascinated with the potential whereabouts of the holy treasure every since, making it one of history's most enduring legends. As the stories evolved and fractured over time, the lure of the Holy Grail persisted and expanded, muddying historical events with religious beliefs, Arthurian literature, wild conspiracy theories, and pop culture epics.

While the Holy Grail is generally thought of as mythology, some believe the vessel is a real object that still exists today. The question is, where?

There's no way to know the answer to that age-old curiosity, especially since there's no consensus on what the Holy Grail even is. The sacred object has variously been described as a vessel, dish, chalice, golden bowl, platter, and silver basin, imbued in Celtic myths with miraculous powers. Some camps define it as the cup that was used to collect the blood and sweat of Christ during the Crucifixion. More often it's conflated with the Holy Chalice used to serve the wine at the Last Supper.

Over the centuries there have been copious religious treasures claimed to be some form of the coveted grail, from the time of the Crusades, when such holy relics were a highly lucrative trade, up to present day, when even a rumored trace of the famous cup can attract grail-seeking tourists to a locale. One of the most popular stops on the grail hunt today is Spain's Valencia Cathedral, which displays an ancient relic that historians and treasure hunters alike believe to be the most likely contender for the Holy Grail, if it does indeed exist.

VALENCIA, SPAIN

Kept in the golden Chapel of the Holy Grail and guarded behind glass, the Valencia Chalice doesn't look like something from the first century. The holy part is specifically the cup at the top, carved from a chocolatey-red agate. (The base, handles, and jewels were added centuries later to add a medieval flare).

In this theory, the holy cup used at Christ's Last Supper was taken by Saint Peter to Rome, and some time later by a Vatican soldier to Spain, where it landed in Valencia's Gothic cathedral. This possible history is based less on literary tales and more on archaeological authenticity: The chalice was carbon-dated to the period between the third century BC and second century AD, and manufactured in the Middle East, making it possible it could have been in the possession of Jesus and his disciples.

Before the cup made it to Valencia, however, it had a stop-off at the ancient monastery of San Juan de la Peña, "Saint John of the Cliff".

JACA, SPAIN

Built between 920 and 1190 CE, the highly fortified monastery has remained one of the safest, most secure places to store booty of any sort for well over a millennium, due in no small part to the extremely inconvenient cliffside the structures were built directly into. The story holds that the Roman soldier that acquired the Holy Chalice took it to Spain where it was hidden at this monastery to protect it from an upcoming Moorish invasion.

Yet another school of thought as to the Holy Grail's whereabouts stems from medieval literature, most famously the tales of King Arthur and his valiant Knights of the Round Table.

The first literary mention of a wondrous grail was by the poet Chrétien de Troyes in the late 12th century. But it became connected to Christianity, and thus holy, in a slightly later legend by Robert de Boron, which centers around Joseph of Arimathea, the disciple said to have collected the blood and sweat of Christ on the cross before burying him in Joseph's own tomb.

This is the story that first equated the grail and the Last Supper chalice, which Joseph is said to have taken to Glastonbury, where he established the first Christian church in Britain. De Boron's legend was incorporated into the Arthurian romances (the Knights' Round Table was modeled after the Grail Table that Joseph built in remembrance of the Last Supper) and elaborated on.

According to the tales, Joseph hid the grail in a secret place at Chalice Well, an ancient spring at the foot of Glastonbury Tor. Some believe the red color of the water that flows from the well, also known as the Red Spring, represents either the blood of Christ or the rusty iron nails used at the Crucifixion.

GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND

Throughout the Middle Ages, myth and reality started to blur as the grail romances were repeated as historical fact. Today, Glastonbury's history is steeped in legend. The Tor itself is sometimes claimed to be the mythical Avalon, and the burial site of King Arthur and his Queen Guinevere, though some archaeologists say this latter claim was created by the abbey monks in the 12th century after a financial crisis.

The fascination with questing for the elusive grail took hold in the Arthurian legends, with heroes like Lancelot and Galahad traveling around Britain in search of the holy cup at the mysterious "Grail Castle." The Grail Castle in these literary tales is entirely mythical, but that hasn't stopped speculation over what real-world medieval structures it may be referencing. One such candidate is the castle at Montségur, which today is a gorgeous mountaintop ruin perched 3,900 feet high in the mountains of France.

MONTSÉGUR, FRANCE

The fortress ruins at Montségur today are located on the site of a former 13th-century castle that was once the center of the Cathar church, a Christian sect with dualist beliefs-meaning they considered there to be one good god and one evil god. It is said to have temporarily housed sacred treasures including the Holy Grail. Montségur is believed to be the Holy Grail castle mentioned in Wolfram Eschenbach's grail epic Parzival ( "Percival"), in which the grail was taken from the castle when it was conquered by the royal French army.

The medieval legends of Joseph and Arthur also became entwined with the mysterious Knights Templar, the ancient religious order that has long been rumored to be the guardians of the Holy Grail.

The order formed in 1120 as a small group of monks in Jerusalem, headquartered at Solomon's Temple, not far from where Jesus was entombed. It's believed the knights dug around the temple looking for religious artifacts, and one theory is that they discovered the holy cup in the process. It's thought the Templars then squirreled it away to Britain when they were persecuted after the first Crusade, and have been hiding it ever since in various secret locations throughout Europe and North America.

The centuries-long mystery surrounding the Templars has been perfect fodder for grail-seekers over the years, leaving room for speculation, stories, and conspiracies. Some believe the Knights themselves may have encouraged the lore by promoting or even writing many of the Arthurian legends about the quest for the Holy Grail.

After the Renaissance the grail stories fell out of vogue-temporarily. The legend was brought back into popularity by Richard Wagner's dramatic opera Parsifal in 1882, paving the way for a new flood of grail fascination in the modern era, which materialized in everything from Nazi rituals to Monty Python to Indiana Jones to Dan Brown's bestselling book and subsequent film The Da Vinci Code (which draws heavily from the 1982 book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail.")

The Da Vinci Code resuscitated the myth that the Knights Templar secretly hid the Holy Grail under Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. (Although in this alternative history the grail is interpreted as the remains of Mary Magdalene, who, in Dan Brown's universe, was Jesus' wife.)

ROSLIN, SCOTLAND

This tiny 15th-century chapel is a hotbed for conspiracy theorists and occultists. It had been linked with the Templars, Freemasons, and Illuminati, in part because its interior is full of mysterious sculptural carvings that range from Nordic pagan figures to Christian images to the apparent seal of the Knights Templar, making up an iconography that's one of the more puzzling of the European Heritage.

The myth goes that a small group of Templars flocked into Scotland with the coveted treasure, then hid their gold and holy relics, the Holy Grail among them, in several locations including the vault of Rosslyn Chapel. Though this has been debunked by skeptics, it's one of the most popular grail theories today.

It's worth wondering, though: What if the Knights Templar never did find the grail in Jerusalem? While less enticing, this reasonably logical course of events could mean the holy cup is still buried somewhere in the extensive network of tunnels and sewers stretching underneath the holy city.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

One of these ancient tunnels, built more than 2,000 years ago to support the height of the Western Wall surrounding the Temple on the Mount, was only unearthed as recently as the 19th century. Archaeologists are still excavating the tunnels under the wall, discovering some ancient artifacts in the process. Some even believe the Ark of the Covenant is still hidden beneath the Temple Mount and-who knows-maybe the Holy Grail as well.

Of course, even if the cup is out there somewhere, there would likely be no way to prove it is the Holy Grail. And that's part of the beauty of it: As long as the fascination holds, the myth, and the quest itself, may continue indefinitely.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tracing history's most elusive holy relic will lead you to these real places.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
Pretty obvious, its a Dictionary.com definition of the word grail.

Connection:
I used this screenshot because it demonstrates how deeply people want to believe in the unbelievable. When looking up the definition of the word grail you encounter the idea of the Holy Grail even prior to the proper definition of the word itself.  Ideology and beliefs play such a large role in peoples lives that it can even impact day to day use of words as you will rarely see the word grail used outside of referencing the Holy Grail.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
Full episode of a documentary, this episode focuses the Nazi’s efforts to find Atlantis, the master race in the Himalayans and efforts to find the Holy Grail. Henrick Himmler had a fascination with finding the Holy Grail, having studied documents he made numerous wartime visits to possible Grail locations.

Connection:
I found this interesting seeing as the Grail is often used to relay a message of perseverance and endeavours toward peace. However, Nazi’s hoped to find it as reinforcement of their position as the master race.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nazi Quest for the Holy Grail - Nazis & the Aryans | History Documentary | Reel Truth History

# data[].attributes.body
1. I did not learn much as most of the resources I used were resources I’ve visited prior. Mostly what surprises me most about this topic is the lack of consistency and consensus.
2. Religion is such a broadly taboo subject capable of dividing and offending and so the subject interests me as it spans so many cultures and religions both positively and negatively. It is referred to in relation to the crusades as well as a peace offering between Muslims and Christians.
3. I found that learning that the Nazi’s searched for the Holy Grail was most fascinating. It reveals such a disconnect between the destruction caused by their war and a desire to preserve history.
4. I will remember that many consider the Grail to be less of a literal object but more so as a means to deliver a message of importance.
5. I find religious ideologies to be the most harmful as they create barriers between people that could easily be overcome. Patternicity to me is least harmful, it just seems more evidence of an active and healthy imagination than detrimental on its own.
6.  When speaking to loved ones about beliefs it would be most important that they know that there’s no judgement, people believe what they want or need to believe that that’s okay. However, despite that its also important not to push individual beliefs onto others.