The Grail owes its mythical status today to the first stories in which it featured prominently at the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century. The Templars were at the height of their power. The Church reigned supreme. Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 "best-seller", "History of the Kings of Britain", continued to inspire many with its tales of King Arthur and Merlin the wizard.
According to de Boron, who based his book on the Gospel stories and on the Apocrypha, the cup used by Jesus in the Last Supper was stolen and taken to Pontius Pilate. This latter, however, did not want to have anything to do with Jesus and so he gave the cup to Joseph of Arimathea who, in this account, is portrayed as a soldier.
When Jesus was taken down from the cross and his wounds washed, Joseph collected his blood in the cup. Then, when Christ's body disappeared from its tomb, Joseph was arrested, but Christ appeared to him, gave him the cup and told him to celebrate mass to commemorate the Crucifixion.
Joseph gathered some followers and together they became the Company of the Grail, vowed to guard the sacred object. The next keeper after Joseph was his brother-in-law Bron who is also known as the legendary Fisher King.
It was de Boron's account that first described the Grail as being the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. Actually, the Grail assumes various shapes in different texts. Sometimes it is a bowl or a dish - in Old French "graal" is derived from the Latin "gradalis" meaning "dish". The poet knight Wolfram von Eschenbach, who was influenced by Eastern literature, describes it as a stone that fell from Heaven and empowered the phoenix to rise from its ashes.
