Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Different traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous powers: providing eternal youth, or sustenance in infinite abundance, often in the custody of the Fisher King. By analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as a holy grail by those seeking it. A grail, wondrous but not explicitly holy, first appears in Perceval, le Conte du Graal, an unfinished romance written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1190. Chrétien's story attracted many continuators, translators and interpreters in the later 12th and early 13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who perceived the Grail as a stone. In the late 12th century, Robert de Boron wrote in Joseph d'Arimathie that the Grail was Jesus's vessel from the Last Supper, which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood at the crucifixion. Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the Holy Chalice, the Last Supper cup, a theme continued in works such as the Lancelot-Grail cycle and consequently Le Morte d'Arthur. The word, as it is earliest spelled, comes from Old French or, cognate with Old Occitan and Old Catalan, meaning a cup or bowl of earth, wood, or metal. The most commonly accepted etymology derives it from Latin or via an earlier form, a derivative of or, which was, in turn, borrowed from Greek. Alternative suggestions include a derivative of, a name for a type of woven basket that came to refer to a dish, or a derivative of Latin meaning by degree, by stages, applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during a meal. In the 15th century, English writer John Hardyng invented a fanciful new etymology for Old French, meaning Holy Grail, by parsing it as, meaning royal blood. This etymology was used by some later medieval British writers such as Thomas Malory, and became prominent in the conspiracy theory developed in the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, in which refers to the Jesus bloodline. The literature surrounding the Grail can be divided into two groups. The first concerns King Arthur's knights visiting the Grail castle or questing after the object. The second concerns the Grail's history in the time of Joseph of Arimathea. The nine works from the first group are: Perceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes. Four Continuations of Chrétien's unfinished poem, by authors of differing vision and talent, designed to bring the story to a close. Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, which adapted at least the holiness of Robert's Grail into the framework of Chrétien's story. In Wolfram's telling, the Grail was kept safe at the castle of Munsalvaesche, entrusted to Titurel, the first Grail King. Some, not least the Benedictine monks, have identified the castle with their real sanctuary of Montserrat in Catalonia. The Didot Perceval, named after the manuscript's former owner, and purportedly a prosification of Robert de Boron's sequel to Joseph d'Arimathie. Welsh romance Peredur son of Efrawg, a loose translation of Chrétien's poem and the Continuations, with some influence from native Welsh literature. Perlesvaus, called the least canonical Grail romance because of its very different character. German poem Diu Crône, in which Gawain, rather than Percival, achieves the Grail. The Lancelot section of the vast Vulgate Cycle introduced the new Grail hero, Galahad. The Queste del Saint Graal, a follow-up part of the cycle, concerns Galahad's eventual achievement of the Grail. Of the second group there are: Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie. The Estoire del Saint Graal, the first part of the Vulgate Cycle, based on Robert's tale but expanding it greatly with many new details. Verses by Rigaut de Barbezieux, a late 12th or early 13th-century Provençal troubador, where mention is made of Perceval, the lance, and the Grail. The Grail was considered a bowl or dish when first described by Chrétien de Troyes. There, it is a processional salver, a tray, used to serve at a feast. Hélinand of Froidmont described a grail as a wide and deep saucer; other authors had their own ideas. Robert de Boron portrayed it as the vessel of the Last Supper. Peredur son of Efrawg had no Grail as such, presenting the hero instead with a platter containing his kinsman's bloody, severed head. The Grail is first featured in Perceval, le Conte du Graal by Chrétien de Troyes, who claims he was working from a source book given to him by his patron, Count Philip of Flanders.