As we have it, this alone, of all the Grail romances, connects the hero
alike with Nicodemus, and with Joseph of Arimathea, the respective
protagonists of the Saint-Sang legends; while its assertion that the
original Latin text was found in a holy house situated in marshes, the
burial place of Arthur and Guenevere, unmistakably points to
Glastonbury.
In any case, when Robert de Borron proposed to himself the task of
composing a trilogy on the subject the Joseph legend was already in
a developed form, and a fresh element, the combination of the Grail
legend with the story of a highly popular Folk-tale hero, known in
this connection as Perceval (though he has had many names), was
established.
Borron was certainly aware of the real character of his material;
he knew the Grail cult as Christianized Mystery, and, while following
the romance development, handled the theme on distinctively religious
lines, preserving the Mystery element in its three-fold development,
and equating the Vessel of the Mystic Feast with the Christian
Eucharist. From what we now know of the material it seems certain
that the equation was already established, and that Borron was simply
stating in terms of romance what was already known to him in terms of
Mystery. In face of the evidence above set forth there can no longer
be any doubt that the Mystic Feast of the Nature cults really had, and
that at a very early date, been brought into touch with the Sacrament
of the Eucharist.
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