The trail of Christ’s Grail
QUESTION What is the origin of the Holy Grail story? What is a ‘grail’? ACCoRDING to Grail legend, the Holy Grail was the cup (or platter, cauldron or stone) from which Jesus drank at the last Supper and which Joseph of Arimathea later used to collect drops of Jesus’s blood at the crucifixion. legend has it that Joseph then brought the cup to Britain, where it was lost. The Holy Grail then became part of Arthurian legend.
It was believed to be kept in a mysterious castle in a wasteland, guarded by a custodian called the Fisher king, who suffered from a wound that would not heal. His recovery and the renewal of the blighted lands depended on the successful completion of the quest to find the Grail. The magical properties attributed to the Holy Grail have been plausibly traced to the ‘ horn of plenty’ of Celtic myth that satisfied the tastes and needs of all who ate and drank from it.
The Holy Grail first appeared in a written text in Chretien de Troyes’s old French verse romance, perceval, le Conte du Graal from about 1180. De Troyes claimed he received knowledge of the tale from a book from his patron philip, Count of Flanders.
His prologue specifically implies this was his source, ending ‘it is the story of the Grail of which the count gave him the book’. But there is speculation as to whether this book existed: 12th- century writers were sensitive to the charge they invented stories for which they had no ‘authority’.
During the next half- century, several works, both in verse and prose, were written about the quest for the Grail although the story, and the principal character, vary from one work to another.
The word graal, as it was historically spelled, comes from old French graal or greal, cognate with old provençal grazal and old Catalan gresal, meaning a cup or bowl of earthenware, wood or metal.
The most commonly accepted etymology derives it from latin gradalis or gradale via an earlier form, cratalis, a derivative of crater or cratus, borrowed from the Greek krater, a large wine-mixing vessel. The Grail myth was revived in the 19th century by romantic authors Scott and Tennyson, pre-Raphaelite artists, and composers, notably Richard Wagner.
The story has persisted in novels by Charles Williams, C. S. lewis, John Cowper powys, in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and the Indiana Jones movies.
Eric Lowndes, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. QUESTION On a visit to Washington DC, I looked at the Declaration of Independence and noticed that among the signatories were a number of Welsh-sounding names. Were any of the signatories of Welsh descent? THe Declaration of Independence, asserting that the 13 American colonies at war with Britain were independent states, was signed by 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress in philadelphia.
Although the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress on July 4, 1776, the document wasn’t signed until August 2.
While most members of the Second Continental Congress were native-born Americans, eight men voting for independence were born in Britain.
Button Gwinnett and Robert Morris were born in england, Francis lewis in Wales, James Wilson and John Witherspoon were born in Scotland, George Taylor, Matthew Thornton and James Smith in Ireland. Several with Welsh roots included Button Gwinnett, Joseph Hewes, Thomas Jefferson (probably), John Hancock, Robert Morris, William lloyd, Ian Adams, Francis Hopkinson, Stephen Hopkins and William Williams.
Tim Powell, Poole, Dorset. FRANCIS leWIS was the only signatory of the Declaration of Independence born in Wales. Julia Delafield ( his greatgranddaughter), in her Biographies of Francis lewis And Morgan lewis (New York, 1877), says he was born at llandaff, the son of the rector of the parish, Morgan lewis, his mother Anne being ‘ the daughter of the Rev Dr pettingal, also a clergyman of the established Church and settled at Carnarvon’.
orphaned, he was raised by his mother’s Welsh and Scottish relatives, educated at Westminster School and apprenticed to a london mercantile house. In 1738, he went into business for himself and set up branches in New York and philadelphia.
In 1745 he married elizabeth Annesley, his business partner’s sister. He is believed to be the first American businessman to visit Russia and was twice shipwrecked off Ireland.
During the French and Indian War, in 1756, while functioning as a clothing contractor for British troops at Fort oswego, in present New York, lewis was captured and sent to France for imprisonment.
Upon his release in 1763, the British Government awarded him land in America. He returned to New York City, re- entered business and quickly earned a fortune. In 1765, he retired from business and moved from New York City to long Island, NY.
When Britain passed the Stamp Act, lewis joined protest groups.
In April 1775, he was elected to the Continental Congress, where he worked to supply the Army with weapons and supplies, on which he spent most of his fortune.
In autumn 1776, a British force burned down his long Island home and took his wife prisoner. Held in a damp, unheated, filthy prison, elizabeth lewis became sick and died about two years later. lewis retired from Congress in 1781, living with his sons until his death on New Year’s eve 1802, aged 89. Judith Higgs, Cardiff. QUESTION Are the two buses EBY 504 and FBY 752 still being used on the Island of Malta? FURTHeR to the earlier answer, after trade training, I did my National Service in Malta and remember fondly the familyrun buses that congregated at the fountain terminus.
When arriving as a lily-white RAF erk (Aircraftsman), I boarded such a bus and saw the driver sitting off centre, close to his door, apparently to stop the devil gaining access to the driving seat. There was one seat left and next to it stood a little Maltese lad. I told him to sit and I would stand, but he said he was the conductor and the driver’s brother! Happy days. John Collins, Chelmsford, Essex.
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