At their last supper together, Jesus Christ and his disciples shared a sip of wine from a cup in what became a communal ritual for the Christian Church. The ritual continues to this day, but whatever happened to the cup and where it currently resides remains the subject of a vast amount of (mostly) medieval literature. It became important in the development of the code of chivalry that evolved during that same period providing a guideline that became a major civilizing and stabilizing influence in European society.
Etymology of the Word Grail: The word “Grail” with the initial capitalized is defined in the modern dictionary as the cup or platter used by Christ at the Last Supper, and thereafter the object of quests by medieval knights. When not capitalized it means the object of any extended or difficult quest. The extended study of the source of the word brings up a variety of origins from Old French, Latin, Ancient Greek, and 15th Century English. The meaning has varied from a cup or bowl, a wine mixing vessel, a woven basket, or a dish that’s served in different stages during a meal. The English version adds a twist to the Old French word for “Holy Grail” by parsing it into “royal blood.” It is this latest etymology that paved the way for various books written about Christ’s surviving bloodline. The most common use today is Holy Grail, and generally it refers to a cup or chalice.
Relics Appear: The first known quest for Christian relics is traceable to Helena, the mother of Emperor Constatine I. After Christianity was recognized throughout the Roman Empire as a legitimate religion about 325 AD, Helena conducted a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to identify sacred sites and retrieve early Christian relics. With the help of Eusebius of Caesarea, a bishop and historian familiar with the region, Helena located specific places that were associated with the events of Christ in biblical times. She found several relics that had their place in the story of Jesus, such as the original cross upon which he was crucified, a nail from the crucifixion, the robe he wore while being crucified, and the tomb where he was buried. This mission was important for several reasons, but the most significant result was a heightened interest in the pursuit of other relics that may still be in existence. The first mention of a grail other than in the Bible appeared in 570 AD by the “Pilgram of Piacenza.” The references to a grail diminished over the next several hundred years in spite of the heightened interest in relics. But there none-the-less were hundreds of candidate cups and chalices in various churches across Europe. One of the most famous is the red agate vessel referred to as the Chalice of Valencia. Another famous candidate is the Sacro Catino held today at the Treasury of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy.
The Impact of Joseph of Arimathea: The four gospels in the Bible’s New Testament all point to Joseph of Arimathea as being the person who took custody of Christ’s body after his death. This meant that Joseph had to bargain with Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, whose authority it would take to have a crucified body released. He further wrapped the body in a burial shroud and placed it in his personal tomb. According to the Gospel of Nicodemus, Joseph went afterward to the high priests and explained that Christ had risen from the dead. Other medieval texts have Joseph as the original custodian of the Holy Grail. At this point, the story takes many different shapes and forms with some having Joseph as the founder of Christianity in Britain. There are two shortcomings that most historians have in dealing with Joseph of Arimathea: one is that the Gospel of Nicodemus, the closest source of the stories, was never canonized by the church. Secondly, the exact location of Arimathea has never been documented, making Joseph a semi-historical person.
The Impact of King Arthur: Another semi-historical personage in the story of the Holy Grail is King Arthur, who is believed to have lived in England about the mid sixth century AD. He was referred to as the “King of the Britons,” although it is not clear exactly where he lived or reigned. The first king to unite the Anglo-Saxon cultures and be referred to as the King of England was Alfred of Wessex, who lived about 300 years later. Stories about a fighter named Arthur who united several duchies in an effort to stand up to the encroachment of Norsemen in the British Isles survived in oral traditions in Welsh and English folklore. Then in 1136 AD, an English bishop named Geoffrey of Monmouth combined these oral traditions into a written work named the History of the Kings of Britain. His sources included the ninth century Welsh historian Nennius along with a variety of other texts from the times. A number of characters and settings were added to the Arthurian legend by Geoffrey. Such characters as Merlin, Mordred, Guinevere, and Uther, appeared. In 1155 AD, Romance of Brutus was written by the Anglo-Norman poet Wace. In this work the Knights of the Roundtable and the sword Excalibur were added. In the next hundred years or so, a bevy of different authors wrote poems, in particular, about Arthur, the Knights, and the Holy Grail. In the period from 1859-1885 Alfred, Lord Tennyson published the Idylls of the King embellishing the legend even further. The growth of the stories shows the resilience of the theme of King Arthur, Camelot, and the Quest for the Holy Grail. But it must be noted that the original source for nearly all of it, Geoffrey’s History of the Kings of Britain, lacks credibility leaving the entire legend as largely fiction.
The Quests: During the late 12th century in the middle of the Crusades era, a number of poems and stories featuring the quest for the Holy Grail appeared in the Arthurian conventions that came to be known as the “Lancelot-Grail Cycle.” These featured such places as Camelot, Avalon, and Tintagel Castle, that provide the reader with an insight into the Arthurian environment. Certain conventions further moved the legend toward providing a spiritual foundation as the quests became an effort by the various knights to obtain or restore purity or perfection. The failure to find the Holy Grail was often traceable to the character’s own various shortcomings or moral failings. In later years the cup became symbolic with the story of a pregnant Mary Magdalene being relocated to Southern France to enable Christ’s bloodlines to survive and thrive. The Holy Grail then provided the bloodline that reached the throne of some of Europe’s powerful monarchs. In most of the stories, the Holy Grail possessed a magic power the pushed the protagonist to great lengths to acquire it. The cup itself would often be depicted as ornate, solid gold, or jewel encrusted.
Conclusions: There surely was a cup used by Jesus and the disciples at their Last Supper. However, it was likely a simple cup with humble origins as the group did not have the resources to acquire gold or jewel incrusted eating and drinking utensils. The actual cup is likely lost to history much as old or worn-out household furnishings might be. But the legend provided the working material for many stories that earmarked the code of chivalry that evolved during the medieval period of the mid 12th to mid 13th centuries.
Sources: National Geographic History, Quest for the Holy Grail, Volume 9 Number 5, October 15, 2023.
Wikipedia, Holy Grail, Joseph of Arimathea, King Arthur.
Meriam-Webster.com, Grail.