Christian/Pagan Influences The Grail House The Grail Knights

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Christian/Pagan Influences The Grail HouseThe
Grail KnightsThe Death of Arthur
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Christian/Pagan

• Archbishop of Canterbury
• Christian calendar
• Religious oaths By grace of God.

• Merlins prophecies
• Arthurs dream of dragons and beasts
• Hand in the lake
• Arthurs departure to Avalon

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The Holy Grail

• Christs chalice from the Last Supper spiritual
  vessel with healing power
• or
• Chalice used to catch Christs blood after the
  Roman centurian Longinus pierced his side with a
  spear

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The Holy Grail

• Joseph of Arimathea carries the grail to Britain
• On Pentecost Galahad assumes the Siege Perilous
• Grail magically appears to the Round Table, feeds
  them, and vanishes

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The Grail Question

• Along with Perceval and Bors, Galahad reaches
  Castle Carbonek, the Grail Castle
• Perceval first fails to ask the wounded Fisher
  King the Grail Question
• What is the secret of the Grail? Whom does it
  serve?

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The Fisher King(s) aka the Maimed King(s)

• Descendants of Joseph of Arimathea Guardians of
  the Holy Grail
• Wounded through the thighs (genitals?) by the
  Dolorous Stroke

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The Fisher King(s) aka the Maimed King(s)

• Wound makes his land an infertile Wasteland
  (impotence)
• Vegetation myth the king and the land are one

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The Dolorous Stroke

• Balin (Balan fratricide) stabbed his rival Pellam
  with the Lance of Longinus
• Rendered the kingdom a barren Wasteland
• The saddest blow since the lance pierced the side
  of Christ

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The Wasteland

• No king no God chaos
• Lack of fertility lack of spirituality
• Corruption of Edenic verdance
• Vegetation myth the king and the land are one

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The Grail House
Pellam maimed by the Dolorous Stroke First King
of the Wasteland
Pelles Pellams son and Elaines father
Elaine of Carbonek the Grail Princess Galahads
mother by Lancelot
Galahad Heals the Maimed King Achieves the Grail
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The Holy Grail

• The three knights depart in a ship for Sarras
  (near Jerusalem?) with the silver Grail Table and
  the Holy Grail, covered in red silk
• Galahad kneels in front of the Grail Table and
  ascends bodily into heaven

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The Death of Arthur

• Vision of spirit Gawain, accompanied by ladies
  Knight of the Goddess
• Wheel of Fortune turns fate upside-down
• Monsters in the swamp of chaos and the imagination

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The Death of Arthur

• Fateful sting of the serpent Satan in the
  Garden of Eden
• Mortal conflict of father and son
• Chaos and robbery on the battlefield end of the
  Golden Age

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The Death of Arthur

• Bedivere fails Arthur three times as Peter denied
  Christ three times
• Avalon the Fortunate Island, the Isle of the
  Apples
• Otherworldly, heavenly
• Three queens three Fates, three Marys

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The Death of Arthur

• Arthurs return Christs Second Coming
• Future restoration of a Golden Age
• King the land vegetation cycle

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The Death of Arthur

• Young Arthur united 11 rulers against Saxons
• Quest for the Holy Grail temporarily restored
  kingdom fragmented by Mordred
• Kingdom is ultimately destroyed by human weakness
  Lancelot and Guinevere

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Further Resources

• Select this link for excellent Arthurian
  resources
• The Camelot Project at University of Rochester