Pic: bogenfreund

Wales Online reported on the 12th July that the Holy Grail may have rested in Wales, as an academic claimed. Cardiff University folklore expert Dr Juliette Wood,  said theories linking the Grail to Scotland, such as those in Dan Brown’s hit book The Da Vinci Code, were relatively new. The work has sold 60 million copies since 2003 by suggesting Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh may have been the iconic Grail’s home. In her new book Eternal Chalice: The Enduring Legend of the Holy Grail, Dr Wood says Wales’ claims on the ancient relic are far stronger. The Holy Grail, believed to be the cup from which Christ drank at the last supper, is thought to have magical powers.

In her book she says evidence of the Grail having travelled to Wales can be traced back to the 1300s.

And she dismisses Dan Brown’s assertion the Grail was discovered by the Knights Templar, who buried it beneath Rosslyn chapel.

But she said of the Da Vinci Code:

It certainly heightened interest in the Grail and has done wonders for tourism in Edinburgh.

She added:

One of the strongest links of the Grail having travelled to Wales is found in the story of Peredur, son of Evrawc, which appears in the Mabinogion.

In it, the Grail appears to Peredur in the form of his cousin’s head, floating on a dish in a pool of blood… the dish represents the Grail but it seems to have disappeared.

Other theories linking the Grail to Wales include the Nanteos Cup, said to be a sacred life-giving cauldron.

You can buy her book at I.B. Tauris.

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