The
Holy Grail is a dish, plate, stone, or cup around which an important theme of
Arthurian literature revolves. A grail, wondrous but not explicitly "holy", first appears in
Perceval le Gallois, an unfinished romance by
Chrétien de Troyes:
it is a processional salver used to serve at a feast. Chretien's story attracted many continuators, translators and interpreters in the later 12th and early 13th centuries, including
Wolfram von Eschenbach, who makes the grail a great precious stone that fell from the sky. The Grail legend became interwoven with legends of the
Holy Chalice.
The connection with
Joseph of Arimathea and with vessels associated with the
Last Supper and crucifixion of
Jesus, dates from
Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to
Great Britain. Building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch
Christ's blood while interring him and how he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe in Britain. The legend may combine
Christian lore with a
Celtic myth of a
cauldron endowed with special powers.