Holy Grail of Heresy
Richard Barber and A E Waite write that the Holy Grail is both Christian and orthodox. I enjoy reading their cogent and penetrating arguments, but, unlike them, I can't forget or ignore the many indications of heresy in the documents themselves, as well as the historical background.
Chrétien's account makes it clear that the secret words must be spoken before the Grail is achieved. An non-canonical litany is implied, since the grail processions have the ceremony of liturgical worship, and the substance of Eucharist. The grail is said to be carrying the host.
Robert de Borron's account also involves the secret words, but Perlesvaus includes many many instances of forgivness of sins by non-ordained hermits, more in the Celtic Church tradition than Roman Catholic apostolic succession. Borron also includes a succession of Grail keepers in unbroken line from Joseph of Arimathea, an extra-Apostolic succession who are appointed directly by Jesus himself, not St Peter, and without reference to the Vatican. Indeed, King Henry VIII used the Grail story to split from Rome with the excuse that the English Church had been established by Joseph of Arimathea before St Peter was in Rome, and therefore had priority.
The Grail's ability to feed everybody in sight clearly harks back to the Roman myth of the cornucopia and to Celtic cauldrons of plenty. Barber and Waite both tell of the fabulous stories of hermits who are fed and sustained for years on the host (communion wafer) alone and insist that this is the original of the Grail's provender. But that's not what the texts say. They say each man had whatever food he best desired. That's not much like hagiographies where the host alone provides sustenance for some holy hermit. In fact I would argue that there is a difference in kind between a man so ascetic that he needs no sustenance except the body of Christ, and a robust and physically-fit fighting knight whose huge appetite is completely satisfied by every delicacy he imagines or best desires. The second is clearly more in line with the myths of magic cauldrons which never become empty.
Wolfram's Grâl isn't even associated with the Eucharist. It's a magic stone which fell from heaven, kept by a company of mysterious knights, which he plainly calls Templars. The Grail castle is called a Temple, not a Church or chapel. Influences in Wolfram can be traced to his crusading experiences. Arabic and Byzantine traditions of a magic stone which falls from heaven are clearly wrapped up together with the Gnostic traditions of relics and magic talismans.
The influences on Chrétien have been completely ignored by most commentators. In 1065 Rabbi Solomon bar Isaac founded a Kabala school in Troyes, the capital of Champagne, where he taught Jewish mysticism to the Court of Champagne. He also taught that there was a treasure buried beneath the temple mount in Jerusalem. This school continued for 200 years and was in place and influential during the reign of Marie de France and during the tenure of Chrétien de Troyes as minstrel to the Court of Champagne.
In 1070 Hughes de Payens was born at the Chateau de Payns in Champagne, 10 kilometers from Troyes. Hughes was the vassal of Hughes, Count of Champagne who went with Hughes de Payens on the first crusade and was one of the knights who with de Payens founded the Knights Templar. Hughes de Payens was, of course the first Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Both Hughes de Payens and Hughes de Champagne would have been students of Rabbi Solomon.
The first Cathars appear between 1012 and 1020 in Limousin. According to Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth, there is documentation of early Cathars in Cologne and Champagne (http://www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk). One of the first recorded uses of the name "Cathar" is Eckbert von Schönau, who wrote (in Latin) on heretics from Cologne in 1181: Hos nostra germania catharos appellat ("In Germany we call these people Cathars"). If the Cologne and Champagne appearances are simultaneous, we have Cathars in Champagne as Chrétien is writing Le Conte du Graal. The Cathars were protected in the South by William X, Duke of Aquitaine, the father of Eleanor and grandfather of Marie of Champagne.
This Marie de France or Marie of Champagne was actually Marie Capet, the oldest daughter of King Louis VII by his first wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. This Marie was the great-granddaughter of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, the very first Troubadour. Her (Marie's) husband Henri I, Count of Champagne originated the Champagne Fairs at Champagne and Brie, which made Champagne rich and brought people from all over Europe to the capital in Troyes. They were married and Marie became Countess of Champagne in 1164. Henri I, the nephew of King Stephen of England, and vassal of Burgundy, not France, participated in the second Crusade and left Marie in charge as regent of Champagne from 1179 to 1181, then died in 1181 leaving Marie regent for her young son, Henri II from 1181 until 1187, and when Henri II went on crusade Marie continued as regent from 1190 until 1197. Marie ruled Champagne for 18 years between 1179 and 1197 except for three years when her oldest son ruled. Marie established the first Court of Love. The court of Champagne was home to Chrétien de Troyes and visited for some time by Walter Map.
Chrétien began writing Arthurian poems dedicated to Marie of Champagne in 1165, the year after she became Countess of Champagne. In 1181 Henri I died and Marie became engaged to marry Philip, the Count of Flanders. This is almost exactly the time when Chrétien begins writing Le Conte du Graal, dedicated to Philip of Flanders, Marie's fiancé.
The Counts of Champagne at this time included in their dominions the County of Blois which includes the city of Chartres. The first Gothic Cathedral in the world began construction in 1194 in Chartres, during the regency of Marie, Countess and regent of Champagne and Blois.
Marie was ruler of the richest and most cosmopolitan domain of Europe from 1164 to 1197. She was great neice-in-law to one of the founders of the Knights Templar, she was the originator of the Courts of Love, she was the great granddaughter of the first troubadour, and she was the daughter of the virtual ruler of England and all of what is now western France (and Eleanor was arguably the most influential woman of the middle ages). This then is the woman to whom Chrétien dedicates his life's work.
Chrétien identifies the origin of the Grail account as a book he received from Philip of Flanders, who in turn received it from Bleheris. This Bleheris might be the Welsh troubadour Bledri ap Cadivor. He also might be Merlin's scribe Blaine. He might also be the Breri who wrote Tristam. Chrétien's unfinished masterpiece, Le Conte du Graal, was the world's first ever (surviving) written mention of the Grail. However Celtic antecedents certainly exist. The Welsh poem Predideu Annwn dates to between the 9th and 12th century. In part, it states:
The cauldron of the Head of Annwyn, what is its custom,
dark about its edge with pearl?
It does not boil a coward's food; it has not been so destined.
The sword of Lluch Lleawg was raised to it,
and in the hand of Lleminawg it was left.
And before the door of the gate of hell, lanterns burned.
And when we went with Arthur, renowned conflict,
except for seven, none returned from Caer Feddwid...
This is a poem about a quest by Arthur and his knights for a magic cauldron from the otherworld (remember, some Grail stories put the Grail Castle in Sidhe) from whence only 7 survivors return. The survivors of Annwn are Manawyddan, Taliesin, Pryderi, Llwch Lleminawg, Gwalchmei, Bedwyr and Cei. Pryderi is likely Perceval, since the Pryderi of the Mabinogion would have been 100 years dead by the time of Arthur. Gwalchmei is of course Gawain, whom Chrétien's first continuator, who calls himself "Bleheris", shows finding the Grail. Llwch Lleminawg is the owner of a magic lance and likely is a Welsh version of Lancelot, another Grail knight. Bedwyr and Cei of long time Arthurian fame, were substituted in the Vulgate version with Bors and Galahad. Looked at in this light, Preiddeu Annwn is a proto-Grail poem, which identifies the Grail as the Cauldron of Annwn and the Grail Castle as Caer Sidi.
Wolfram attributes the original idea for his epic masterpiece to a Provençal poet named Kyot. The influences on Provençe certainly include Kabala: Isaac the Blind wrote the Bahir or "Book of Brightness" in Provençe in the very same 12th century as Wolfram wrote Parsival. The influences on Provençe include Cathars, it was Eleanor's father William X, Duke of Provençe, who gave the Cathars freedom of religion in southern France. The influences on Provençe also include troubadours, it was Duke William IX, Eleanor's grandfather who invented troubadours.
Walter Map may not have written the Vulgate Cycle, but he certainly had something to do with outlining it. He is named as author in both the Prose Lancelot and in the Queste. Map was a courtier of England's King Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine's husband. In 1179 he stayed with Henry I, Count of Champagne while on a mission to the King of France. 1179 is also the year Henry left for Palestine, leaving Marie as regent. It is also just one or two years before the resident poet Chrétien de Troyes writes Le Conte du Graal, and several years after he wrote Le Chevalier de Charette. When Map is visiting the court of Champagne, Chrétien is active there and at the height of his poetic power. Marie is the daughter of the Queen of England and of the King of France, and the patroness of Chrétien's poems. How could Map not have heard about Chrétien's stories of King Arthur, and probably the story of the Grail, since it was undoubtedly sung aloud before being written.
I think the indications of heresy are more pronounced than any indications of orthodoxy. If Chrétien did get his ideas from a Welsh poet, then he certainly would have been exposed to an established Welsh poem like Preiddeu Annwn. The Peredur of the Mabinogion is very similar to Chretièn's Le Conte du Graal, except for the absence of any reference to a Grail. It is possible that Peredur was written after Chrétien's death, but it wasn't copied directly from Chrétien, because it has no Grail. Peredur must incorporate another tradition, a Welsh story that uses the character Peredur, but does not include a Grail quest. And that tradition must have been around before Chretién wrote Le Conte du Graal. I conclude therefore, that Chrétien could have been influenced by both Preiddeu Annwn and by a proto-Peredur story. Both elements, the quest of Perceval for his uncle's castle, and the quest of Arthurian knights for a jeweled and magic vessel could have been presented to him by Count Philip who gets it from a Welsh poet named Bleheris. At the height of both Templar banking influence, and the influence of Cather heresy, poets would not be afraid of the Church while residing in the domain of the granddaughter of the man who originated freedom of religion for Cathars and great granddaughter of the man who invented troubador poetry. Furthermore, the entire idea of the Courts of Love has an element of heresy implicit or inherent. They require or at least encourage worship of a woman, a lover, who is most often the wife of another man. Sin, at least, and heresy if the Church wanted to call it that. This places Marie of Champagne firmly in the camp of those who believed in freedom of religion, if not heresy.
It seems likely that Marie of Champagne and-or her mother were the seminal influence on the creation of the Holy Grail as literature. It is without question that Chrétien was profoundly influenced by Marie and there is strong evidence that Walter Map was influenced by Eleanor. Wolfram claims to be influenced by a man who lived in Eleanor's domain of Provençe. Perlesvaus and Robert de Borron borrow heavily from Chrétien, so the influence descends and spreads. Historically we can point to heretical influences, and textually we can point to the appearance of heretical doctrines embedded in the texts. Not precisely Cathar, necessarily, but certainly not orthodox Christian. The Cathar influence may be speculative, but the influence of Jewish Kabala and the Knights Templar is certain. Marie of Champagne resides in the center of a web of influence and commerce which includes ideas and suggestions from all over the Mediterranean world from Jerusalem to the Pyranees, from Egypt to Norway. The presence of the body of Mary Magdalene in France also dates from this general period. The first gothic cathedrals and the rise of freemasonry, or at least the working predecessers, the craft guilds, also date from this period and general area. Many of these concepts can be discerned in the stories, and not all of these influences are orthodox.