Faking the Grail
Research
The first stories about the Grail are full of echoes from earlier myths and legends about solar heroes and sun gods from other traditions which have nothing to do with Christianity. In the earliest Welsh poems the hero is King Arthur's nephew, Gawain. Excalibur, the "Light-Bearer", belonged to him in the original legend. The hero of the English poem, "Syr Percyvelle of Galles", is also King Arthur's nephew. He too has attributes in common with earlier protagonists.
In "Parzifal", which was written by Wolfram von Eshenbach at the end of the twelfth century, the Grail is described as the
large green gem that fell out of Lucifer's crown when he was thrown out of heaven. Wolfram said his source was Kyot, a troubadour
and jongleur from Provence. Kyot said he heard it from someone called
Flegitanis in Toledo: "By this stone the Phoenix is burned to ashes, from which he is reborn."
In Greek legend, Phoenix is a Prince of Tyre and one of Poseidon's grandsons. He turns up in the Iliad disguised as a peddler with trinkets and weaponry and helps Odysseus and Ajax persuade Achilles to go to Troy, where he apparently became Achilles' tutor and his charioteer.
If young Phoenix was carrying trinkets and weapons, he probably knew how to make them and mend them too, if necessary. Most people who worked with metal in those days also knew how to make glass but the Phoenicians were experts and their skills were in great demand.
Glass is made from sand and ash. Like metal it can be recycled. The mythical bird reborn from the ashes may be a metaphor for the tricks of these trades, which were valuable secrets and just as jealously guarded as confidential information about high tech products today.
The only reference to Lucifer in the Bible is in Isaiah. (14:12). It was a title, aspired to by the King of Babylon: Lucifer, the Light-Bearer, Son of the Morning, associated with the Persian god Mithras and the planet Venus, which was called the Morning Star.
In "Peredur", the Cymru (Welsh) equivalent of "Parzifal", the Grail is described as a charger bearing a severed head of an unspecified gender, which has been assumed to be related to John the Baptist for some reason. Severed heads are fairly common in legends and they don't always belong to men.
(In the middle of the sixth century there was a Cymru King called Peredyr in Euark (York), who shared the throne with his brother. In AD 573, they joined the King of Strathclyde to defeat the King of Caer-Wenddoleu and his allies at Arderydd (Arthuret). Myrddin (Merlin), the defeated king's bard, was one of the few survivors. Seven years later, Peredyr and his brother died in a battle against the Anglians of Berenicia. Peredyr's son was forced to flee from his kingdom when another local king invaded Eaurk and was never heard of again.)
According to Chrestien de Troyes, his poem "Perceval" or the "Conte del Graal", was inspired by an older manuscript, which his patron, Philip of Flanders, brought back from the Holy Land. Chrestien's poem describes "a graal", which is covered in jewels and shines more brightly than the candles in the castle hall.
In the legends, Percival and Peredur both had a son called Lohengrin, the "Syr du Cygne" or Swan Knight, who inherited the guardianship of their Grail, which was the philosophers' stone, according to some alchemists who'd have sold their souls to possess it.
Robert de Borron's story about Joseph of Arimathea bringing the Grail to Britain wasn't written until the beginning of the thirteenth century. By then the Grail had acquired a much greater religious significance and was described as the dish which contained the bread at the Last Supper before it was used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect the blood of Christ when he took him down from the cross.
Other objects, believed by some to be the genuine article, are made out of wood or ceramic. They are simple, unpretentious items of the type that were mass-produced and widely used during Christ's own life time. For a craftsman like me, the objects in the Grail legends are far more interesting and the jewel that fell from Lucifer's crown is the most fascinating of all.
Copyright©2005 Alex Murray.