A Glimpse of the Grail
In a lonely castle upon a remote island, Sir Lancelot’s wanderings brought him once more into the presence of the elusive cup of Christ’s blood.
before 1470
In a lonely castle upon a remote island, Sir Lancelot’s wanderings brought him once more into the presence of the elusive cup of Christ’s blood.
before 1470
Sir Lancelot has been searching many years for the Sangreal, the Holy Grail or cup which Christ gave to his Apostles at the Last Supper. Now he has taken ship and sailed many seas, and come at last to a lonely isle, and a castle kept only by lions as door-wardens. Entering within, he finds a brightly lit chamber, filled with heavenly song, and prays fervently to Jesus: “Show me something of that I seek!”
AND with that he saw the chamber door open, and there came out a great clereness, that the house was as bright as all the torches of the world had been there. So came he to the chamber door, and would have entered. And anon a voice said to him, Flee, Lancelot, and enter not, for thou oughtest not to do it; and if thou enter thou shalt forethink it.* Then he withdrew him aback right heavy. Then looked he up in the middes of the chamber, and saw a table of silver, and the holy vessel,* covered with red samite,* and many angels about it, whereof one held a candle of wax burning, and the other held a cross, and the ornaments of an altar.* And before the holy vessel he saw a good man clothed as a priest.* And it seemed that he was at the sacring of the mass. And it seemed to Lancelot that above the priest’s hands were three men, whereof the two put the youngest by likeness between the priest’s hands; and so he lift it up right high, and it seemed to show so to the people.
* ‘Forethink’ is not an ideology belonging to some Orwellian dictatorship, but an obsolete verb meaning ‘have knowledge of something beforehand’. The heavenly Voice is warning Lancelot to keep out of the chamber, and that if he goes in it will be a deliberate and conscious act, not an accident or the result of ignorance.
* The Sangreal or Holy Grail is the cup from which Christ gave wine to his Apostles at the Last Supper, saying ‘do this in remembrance of me’ (in Greek ‘remembrance’ is a word of subtle meaning connected with Temple sacrifices in e.g. Leviticus 24:7, Numbers 10:10, and indicates not us remembering God but God remembering us). It was believed to possess miraculous healing properties. The word sangreal (pronounced sang-grail) derives from saint meaning holy and Middle English graal meaning platter, though by happy accident the words sang and real may be interpreted as French for ‘blood royal’, as indeed they were by John Harding (1378-1465).
* Samite is a heavy silken fabric often used for liturgical purposes in the mediaeval church, and recurring throughout the Morte d’Arthur in situations of heavenly mystery. The colour is sometimes white, sometimes red, and at the funeral of Elaine, Sir Lancelot’s erstwhile lover and the mother of Sir Galahad, it is black.
* We discover later that the priest celebrating these mysteries is Joseph of Arimathaea, the wealthy man who organised the burial of Jesus: see Mark 15:43-46. Malory hands on the peculiarly English tradition that in the year that Jesus Christ was crucified, Joseph of Arimathaea travelled to this land and brought with him the cup of Christ’s blood.
* Malory’s dreamlike liturgy attended by angels and celebrated by an otherworldly priest is fiction, but similar tales have been attested by sober eyewitnesses: see Cuthbert’s Christmas and When Godric Sang with Angels.
* Lancelot’s vision of the three men strongly recalls the icon of the Trinity known as the Hospitality of Abraham (see above). The icon shows the events of Genesis 18, when three men visited Abraham and were invited to his table. Christian churches often have an icon of this meeting, interpreting it as a manifestation of the Holy Trinity. Malory implies that the central figure, who is seen blessing the communion cup and is usually identified with Jesus Christ, appeared to Lancelot’s eyes to take the place of the bread and wine during the elevation.