In search of the Grail

The Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler believed its magical power would change the course of the war. Others see it as the ultimate symbol of holiness and the closest physical link with God.

It is said to have turned up in an attic in Coventry, while some claim it is safely deposited in a bank in Aberystwyth.

But next week the hunt for the Holy Grail will centre on Oxford, as interest in that most potent legend in Western culture reaches levels unseen since the Middle Ages.

On Wednesday, a four-day Holy Grail conference opens at St Hilda's College. And the timing could not be better. Earlier this month archaeologists unearthed evidence suggesting that King Arthur existed in reality, as well as in legend, during the Dark Ages. And there has been a glut of documentaries and books claiming that the legend so obsessed senior Nazis that they believed its discovery was crucial to the glory of the Third Reich.

Oxford author John Matthews, who will be one of the main speakers at the conference, believes the sudden worldwide interest in the Grail can be put down to a form of pre-Millennium tension, with people being increasingly drawn to the quest for spiritual truth.

John, 50, has written nearly 40 books and is well placed to know the extent to which the subject can affect people. Every summer a trail of foreign visitors heads to his home in search of the Holy Grail. In times past the quest led people to Sarras, the heavenly city in the East. The caves beneath the 13th century stronghold at Montsegur in southern France, and the ancient ruins at Glastonbury Abbey have also been favourites with Grail-hunters. But these days it seems John Matthews's house in Headington is as good a starting place as any.

Whether he likes it or not, John is regarded as the man with all the answers when it comes to the Grail.

"People come to my home to ask where they can find the Grail," said John, an ex-librarian who published his first book on the Grail back in 1980.

"The Grail has occupied a place in man's imagination since awareness of it dawned in the Middle Ages. It continues to exert a fascination upon all who come within its sphere of influence." His own fascination began through reading King Arthur stories as a child, but he quickly discovered the legend was an altogether more complex affair than the search for a temple on a mountain top in some far-off country.

For a start, experts cannot agree what the Holy Grail actually is. As John declared at the start of his first book: "It may be a cup, a shallow dish, a stone or a jewel. Yet most agree that it is a profound and mysterious thing, perhaps worth giving up the whole of one's life to find, even in the knowledge that the search may be fruitless."

It has hardly proved fruitless for John and his wife Caitlin - who, like her husband, will be speaking at the conference. They make a decent living writing and lecturing around the world.

Ironically, John does not believe the Holy Grail exists - at least in the sense that he doesn't anticipate it appearing one week as the star find on the Antiques Roadshow.

Not that there is any shortage of "true" Holy Grails around the world. "People have claimed to have found it in attics and other strange places," said John. "There are five or six objects that people have claimed to be the Grail at one time or another. Two are in Italy, one in New York's Metropolitan Museum and then there is the Glastonbury Bowl, a bronze vessel now in Taunton Museum. There's also a wooden cup at Nanteos in north Wales. They all have a feeling of sanctity about them, they all feel holy. But for me the Holy Grail isn't an object.

"I think of it as a theme or idea, a spiritual teaching that runs through history and has done so since Celtic times."

The fact that the conference is being organised by the Guild of Pastoral Psychology means it is certain to be heavier on Jung than on Guinevere's adultery.

"It is also a fair bet to say you are more likely to be offered insights into Celtic spirituality, rather than tips on where to start digging." The Guild of Pastoral Psychology says there are only a limited number of places available at the conference, from Wednesday to Saturday. Telephone 0181 993 8366 for details.

THE NAZIS' QUEST

The Oxford Grail Legend conference is unlikely to focus on new controversy surrounding the Grail and the Third Reich.

Some of Hitler's most senior party members were said to be obsessed with the Grail, with the SS commander Heinrich Himmler the most prominent.

This historical detail about the Nazis was seized on by film-maker Steven Spielberg for his trilogy of Indiana Jones movies, in which the archaeologist adventurer constantly outwits the German enemy in his bounty-hunting. Some historians claim Himmler approved an 18-month search in caves in southern France, where tradition says the Grail fell into the possession of medieval heretics.

Oxford expert John Matthews said: "Himmler and his protege Otto Rahn looked on it as an object of great power in both the occult and political sense. Rahn told Himmler that if he was given the time and manpower he would find it.

"So Himmler gave him a squad of SS men and told them to go off and dig. Rahn was to return to Germany broken and Grail-less, eventually to die in suspicious circumstances in the Austrian Alps."

A TALE OF FASCINATION

The story of the Holy Grail begins with Joseph of Arimathaea, the man who was given Christ's body after the crucifixion. Joseph had already obtained the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper.

The legend goes that while he was washing the body, he managed to catch some of the blood from Christ's wounds in the vessel. According to some versions, Joseph then sailed to Britain and set up the first Christian church at Glastonbury, where the Grail was housed.

But in other accounts, Joseph got no further than mainland Europe, with a temple built on Muntsalvach, the Mountain of Salvation.

The story of the quest for the Grail began with tales of King Arthur, first written down in detail by Thomas Mallory in his saga Le Morte d'Arthur.

In these stories, only three knights succeed in finding the Grail, with just one - Bors, "the humble ordinary man" - returning to Camelot.

The tale has been retold in countless ways since, including the epic film Excalibur and a spoof movie by the Monty Python team complete with tap-dancing crusaders and the Knights Who Say 'Ni'.

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