The Holy Grail

Lundy, Isle of Avalon Texts The Holy Grail

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'The Grail may be described as the dish from which Christ ate the Passover Lamb at the Last Supper; or as the chalice of the first sacrament, in which later the saviour's blood was caught as it flowed from his wounded body; or as a stone with a miraculous feeding and youth preserving virtues; or as a salver containing a man's head, swimming in blood. It may be borne through a castle hall by a beautiful damsel; or it may float through the air in Arthur's castle, veiled in white samite, or it may be placed on a table in the East, together with a fresh caught fish, and serve as a talisman to distinguish the chaste from the unchaste. It's custodian may be called Bron or Ansfortas or Pelles or Joseph of Arimathea or simply called the Fisher King. He may be sound of wind and limb or wounded in the genitals. The hero who achieves the quest may be the notoriously amorous Gawain or the virgin Galahad.

Loomis; The Grail from Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol

The Grail Legends 'The Principal Romances associated with the Holy Grail fall into two classes; [1] Those which relate the adventures of knights of King Arthur's time who visit by chance or design the castle in Britain where the vessel is kept. [2] Those which relate the history of the vessel from the time of Christ to the time of Merlin and which account for its removal from the Holy Land to Britain....read more

The Grail Chapel

Grail Chapel Large Framed Print

The Chapel of the Holy Grail

Chapel of the Holy Grail Large Poster

The Grail Knights Galahad, Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval, Bors are all Grail Knights. All undertake the quest for the Holy Grail, to search for and return the Grail to Camelot.Each knight's quest follows a similar pattern of encounters, but the outcome of each situation differs according to each individual's character....read more

The Grail Castles The approach to the Grail Castle usually lies across or beside a river. But there are a number of passages which place the god's abode on an island out in the sea. These localisations seem to have their basis in a powerful British tradition....read more

The Grail Island "We have seen the Guardians of the Grail assuming more and more distinctly the forms of the Welsh gods, Manawyd, Myrddin, Bran, Avallach, Gwair, Beli, and Llwch; and the castle of the Grail as distinctly rearing its crystal walls and phantom towers on Lundy." ...read more

The Grail Kings 'The immediate prototype of Chrétien's Fisher King has been recognised .. as Bran the Blessed, son of Llyr, the principle figure in the mabinogi of Branwen.' ....read more

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Released in April, 1975, and filmed on a budget of less than £250,000. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" explores the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Charged by God with a sacred Quest, Arthur and his Knights set out in search of the Holy Grail. Our Heroes face seemingly insurmountable obstacles along the way ranging from a killer Rabbit to the feared Black Knight himself!...read more

Joseph of Arimathea Joseph of Arimathea was a highly respected Jewish councillor, a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Judaic community under the Romans. He was a secret disciple of Jesus .....read more

Three Hebrew missionaries are named, but only with their British names in Welsh manuscripts as having brought the teachings of Jesus into Britain in the first century. The three are called 'Ilid', 'Cyndaf' and his son 'Mawan. Most eminent authorities concur in identifying the three with Bron, Joseph of Arimathea, and Joseph's son Josephes.....read more

"Joseph and his company prepared their fleet and entered without delay, and did not end their voyage till they reached the land which God had promised to Joseph. The name of the country was the White Isle;....read more

Joseph of Arimathea & Nicodemus	Joseph of Arimathea in Judea	Joseph in the Tin Trade
Joseph's flight from Judea	nobilis decurio	Joseph of Arimathea In Welsh Legend.
Joseph of Arimathea and the White Isle

Perlesvaus The anonymous 'Perlesvaus' (entitled ‘The High History of the Holy Grail’ by Sebastian Evans in his translation) is believed to have been composed on the continent of Europe, circa 1220-1230, as a continuation of Chretien DeTroyes' unfinished work "Perceval, or the Knight of the Grail". This romance is rather more mystical in tone than its predecessors although the basic events remain the same. Almost uniquely among the early grail texts this continental romance overtly draws on archaic Celtic legends. The hero of the tale, Perceval, comes from Kamelot in Wales. He is a descendant of Joseph of Arimathea. His grandfather was Alain li Gros. His uncles are King Pelles, the Fisher King and the evil king of Castel Mortel. In the romance Perceval encounters the 'Grail Knights' who wear white surcoats adorned with a red cross. The hero makes the journey to what is recognisable as a Celtic Elysium. ...read the full text here

Peredur from the Mabinogion - 'Earl Evrawc owned the Earldom of the North. And he had seven sons. And Evrawc maintained himself not so much by his own possessions as by attending tournaments, and wars, and combats. And, as it often befalls those who join in encounters and wars, he was slain, and six of his sons likewise. Now the name of the seventh son was Peredur, and he was the youngest of them....read the full text here

The Wasteland After the defeat of the invading Anglo-Saxons by Arthur at the Battle of Mount Badon the Celtic kingdoms in the west maintained independence and maintained their Romano Celtic traditions for at least another hundred years. But when the Anglo-Saxons finally conquered Devon almost all traces of the existing Celtic society were obliterated, a situation strongly paralleled in the wasteland of the grail legends ....read more

T.S.Eliot - The Wasteland APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

...read the full poem here

The White Isle "Joseph and his company prepared their fleet and entered without delay, and did not end their voyage till they reached the land which God had promised to Joseph. The name of the country was the White Isle;....read more

The Holy Grail

Grail Chapel Large Framed Print

The Chapel of the Holy Grail

Chapel of the Holy Grail Large Poster

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