Edessan sources for the legend of the Holy Grail

Daniel C. Scavone

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Medieval Literature and History Biblical Studies and Interpretation Byzantine Studies and History

Abstract

Second-century Edessan King Abgar VIII is shown to be the originator of the account of the apostolic conversion of Abgar V. After Edessa’s flood in 201, he built a new royal complex on high ground, thence known in Syriac as the Birtha. Documents attest that Birtha became Britium in Latin. The Easter display of Edessa’s Christ-image as changing its appearance from Child to Crucified became the secret of the Grail in its legends. Glastonbury later usurped the name Abgar as the fictitious king who brought the Faith to Britain, inventing Joseph of Arimathea as Britain’s apostle.

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References

1981The early history of Glastonbury : an edition, translation, and study of William of Malmesbury's De antiquitate Glastonie ecclesie 1930The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth 2005Edessa: 'The Blessed City'1969The quest of the Holy Grail 1996The High Book of the Grail: A translation of the thirteenth-century romance of Perlesvaus 1985The chronicle of Glastonbury Abbey : an edition, translation, and study of John of Glastonbury's Cronica, sive, Antiquitates Glastoniensis Ecclesie 1978The Turin Shroud 1999Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail, and the Edessa Icon

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