344 



GRAHAM'S LAND 



GRAIL 



blank- verse poem, The Sabbath. It falls far short 

 of Cowper's vigour, variety, and real genius, but in 

 its tender devotional feeling and occasional felicity 

 in describing quiet Scottish scenery it is not 'un- 

 worthy of that master, whom he resembled further 

 in the retiring amiability of his character. 



Graham's Land, an island of the Antarctic 

 Ocean, discovered by Biscoe in 1832, lies between 

 65 and 67 S. lat. In front, towards the north, 

 are a number of islets, called Biscoe's Chain. 



Graliailistowil, the capital of the eastern pro- 

 vince of Cape Colony, stands near the centre of 

 the maritime division of Albany, 1728 feet above 

 sea-level. By rail it is 106 miles NE. of Port 

 Elizabeth, and 43 NW. of Port Alfred. It is the 

 seat of two bishops Anglican and Roman Catho- 

 lic ; and in its Anglican cathedral is a monument 

 to Colonel Graham, after whom the city is named. 

 Leather is manufactured, and among the institu- 

 tions of the place are its museum, St Andrew's 

 College, a public library, a general hospital, and 

 large barracks. Pop. (1875) 6903; (1891) 10,436 

 (two-thirds white, the rest coloured natives). 



Graliamstown, New Zealand. See THAMES. 



Graian Alps. See ALPS. 



Grail, LEGEND OF THE HOLY (etymology un- 

 certain). The spelling varies considerably in the 

 oldest texts from graal to greaus. A vessel of 

 some kind is obviously intended, and derivation 

 has been suggested from the Low Lat. gradalis or 

 gradalus ( ' a shallow vessel ' ), which appears also 

 in the forms grasale, grassale, grazala, and Old Fr. 

 grasals or grazals. See Ducange-Favre, Gloss. Med. 

 et Inf. Lat., under 'Grasala.' This etymology is 

 supported by the testimony of Helinandus (c. 1204), 

 ' gradalis dicitur gallice scutella lata et aliquantu- 

 lum profunda, in qua dapes solent apponi, et dicitur 

 nomine graal.' Diez, Etymol. Worterbuch, 601, 

 suggests a lost cratalis from cratus, the Low Latin 

 form of crater, as the original of the above-cited 

 forms. Other etymologies have been suggested, 

 but all are worthless. 



Chronological Arrangement of the Grail 

 Romances. () Chrestien's portion of the Conte 

 (hi Graal, circa 1190 ; (b) Gautier de Doulens' con- 

 tinuation of same, circa 1195 in one form, with 

 expansions circa 1200; (c) Robert de Borron's 

 poem, 1200-10; (d) Queste del Saint Graal, about 

 the same date ; (e) Grand St Graal, only known in 

 a redaction of circa 1230-50, but extant in a less 

 extended form prior to 1204 ; (/) Wolfram von 

 Eschenbach's Parzival, ctVc1210; (g, h) continua- 

 tion of Conte du Graal by Manessier and Gerbert, 

 circa 1220-30; (i) the prose Perceval le Gallois, 

 circa 1225 ; ( k ) prose continuation of Robert de Bor- 

 ron's poern known as the Didot Perceval, circa 1230- 

 50 ; ( / ) Heinrich von dem Tiirlin's Diu Krone, 

 prior to 1250. Personages and part of the subject- 

 matter of the Grail romances also appear in (in) 

 the Mabinogi of Peredur ab Evraw and () the 

 alliterative metrical romance Sir Perceval. Both 

 these last are in 14th-15th century MSS., but are 

 certainly older, though posterior in their present 

 form to Chrestien, whom both have used. 



Subject-matter of the Romances. The legend 

 consists of two portions : a Quest relating ( 1 ) how 

 Perceval comes to the castle of the Fisher King, 

 sees the Grail, fails to ask concerning it, is re- 

 proved, has to wander many years, comes a second 

 and third time to Grail Castle, makes whole a 

 oroken sword or slays the enemy of the Fisher King, 

 is hailed by the latter as his nephew, and succeeds 

 him in his kingship ( a, b, /, g, h ), or releases him at 

 once from supernaturally prolonged life (&) or from 

 the enchantment of death in life (I) (the same inci- 

 dents as in a, f, g, h reappear in part in m, but 

 the Grail is replaced by a nead in a dish ) ; ( 2 ) 



how Galahad, Perceval, and Bors alone of Arthur's 

 knights succeed in beholding the Grail, follow it 

 to the east, where Galahad and Perceval die, but 

 Bors returns to Arthur's court ( d, e ) and an Early 

 History relating how the Grail was given by Christ 

 to Joseph of Arimathea (c, d, e, g, h, k), and how it 

 came to England either in the charge of Brons, 

 Joseph's brother-in-law (c, k), or of Josephe, 

 Joseph's son (d, e). In all these versions the Grail 

 is a cup or vessel, and in the Early History forms it 

 is the cup used first by Christ at the Last Supper, 

 secondly by Joseph to collect the blood which 

 flowed "front Christ's wounds as he hung upon, or 

 after his body was descended from, the cross. In 

 (f) Wolfram an entirely different account is found i 

 the Grail is a precious stone, fallen from heaven, 

 and given in charge to Titurel and his dynasty the 

 Grail kings. 



Nature and Properties of the Grail. In the Quest 

 romances, the oldest portion of the cycle, and 

 notably in the Conte du Graal, the Grail is simply a 

 miraculous food -producing vessel. With a broken 

 sword which only the destined hero can make whole, 

 and a lance which drops blood, it is simply one of 

 three taliatna&B, and its importance in the conduct 

 of the story is not greater than theirs. The Chris- 

 tianisation of the legend brought about a profound 

 change in the conception of the Grail. This change 

 is only fully manifest in Robert de Borron, where 

 the properties of the Grail are exclusively spiritual : 

 it separates the pure from the impure, and gives 

 to the former as full and sweet solace as their 

 heart could long for. In the other Early History 

 forms, and in those later Quest versions which 

 have been affected by the Early History, the Grail 

 retains its material side by side with its spiritual 

 properties, even where, as in the case of d, e, 

 and h, these versions are written in a mystical 

 and theological spirit. From (d) Queste we learn 

 that the Grail strikes with dumbness those to 

 whom it appears. In Wolfram (/) the spirit is 

 likewise mystical and theological, but of course the 

 sacramental nature of the Grail, so prominent in 

 those romances which identify it with the Last 

 Sunper cup, is wanting, hence the symbolism is on 

 different lines. Here too, however, the material 

 properties of the Grail are as strongly insisted upon 

 as the spiritual ones. 



Hypothetical Development of the Legend. The 

 Grail is originally a portion of the gear of old 

 Celtic divinities, more especially of the god of the 

 underworld, whose name among the Cymry was 

 Bran. Numerous Celtic sagas, as well as existing 

 Celtic folk-tales, tell of a hero who journeys to the 

 land of shades and brings back talismans, prominent 

 amongst them the inexhaustible vessel of plenty 

 and rejuvenation. At an early period this tale got 

 mixed up with a Peredur saga, in which the hero, 

 to avenge a kinsman, had to seek for a magic 

 lance and sword. The result of the fusion may be 

 traced in the forms which underlie the Mabinogi of 

 Peredur, the Conte du Graal, and the metrical 

 Sir Perceval. Peredur thus came in contact with 

 Bran, lord of the under-world, who Avas identi- 

 fied with Bran the Blessed, whom later Welsh 

 tradition made the hero of a conversion of Britain 

 story. This Bran is the Brons of the Joseph of 

 Arimathea legend, and by this means the old 

 Celtic heathen vessel of increase and youth came 

 into connection with the follower of Christ, who 

 was at an early date a favourite legendary figure 

 on British soil, the Evangelium Nicodemi which 

 relates his legend having been widely known there 

 at a time when continental literature is altogether 

 silent -regarding it. The Christianisation of the 

 Celtic saga had probably begun before Chrestien, 

 though only to a very slight extent. It Avas 

 fully carried out by men who wrote after, and in 



