This book surveys the influence of the middle ages, and of medieval attitudes and values, on later periods and on the modern world. Many artistic, political and literary movements have drawn inspiration and sought their roots in the thousand years between 500 and 1500 AD. Medieval Christianity, and its rich legacy, has been the essential background to European culture as a whole.Gothic architecture and chivalry were two keys to Romanticism, while nationalists, including the Nazis, looked back to the middle ages to find emerging signs of national character. In literature few myths have been as durable or popular as those of King Arthur, stretching from the Dark Ages to Hollywood. In Search of the Holy Grail is a vivid account of how later ages learnt about and interpreted the middle ages.

First translated into English by our country's third president, this is the Bible of Gnostic Christianity, the original source for the legends of the Holy Grail, Freemasonry, even of the Mormon Church. Its text contains the most attacked and suppressed alternative gospel of the life of Jesus, and the book disputes accounts in the traditionally accepted gospels regarding what Jesus' mission on Earth really was, what Jesus taught, and how Jesus died.

Composed by an unknown author in early thirteenth-century France, The Quest of the Holy Grail is a fusion of Arthurian legend and Christian symbolism, reinterpreting ancient Celtic myth as a profound spiritual fable. It recounts the quest of the knights of Camelot - the simple Perceval, the thoughtful Bors, the rash Gawain, the weak Lancelot and the saintly Galahad - as they journey through danger and temptation to reach the elusive Holy Grail. But only one of them is judged worthy to see the mysteries within the sacred vessel, and look upon the ineffable. Enfused with tragic grandeur and an aura of mysticism, The Quest is an absorbing and radiant allegory of man's perilous search for divine grace, and had a profound influence on later Arthurian romances and versions of the Grail legend. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

‘There is no way of approach to the Grail through words of any kind, or through philosophical speculations. The only way is by changing all these words into feeling, by becoming able to feel in the Grail the sum of all that is holy...’ - Rudolf Steiner (from lecture 6) Reviewing human history in relation to the cosmic-earthly events of Christ’s incarnation, Rudolf Steiner explains the significance of both the Gnostic religion and the legend of the Holy Grail. He indicates how the Grail emerges in human history, and how the ‘stellar script’ relates to the secret of Parsifal. Steiner examines humanity’s existential quest in the historical patterns of human thought and spiritual development. We are shown the widespread influence of the sibyls, who with their astrological and clairvoyant prophecies were a backdrop to one of the richest cultural epochs, the Greco-Roman world. Steiner contrasts the revelations of the sibyls to those of the Hebrew prophets. This course of lectures, a complete edition from Steiner’s Collected Works, offers an illuminating insight into the development of the soul through succeeding ages.

In this fascinating work, Barber traces the history of the legends surrounding the Holy Grail, beginning with Chrtien de Troyes's great romances of the 12th century and the medieval Church's religious version of the secular ideal.

THE HOLY GRAIL IS ONE of the most powerful myths in Western Culture. At the centre of this myth is the story of the chalice containing the Holy Blood of Christ, shed when Longinus pierced his side at the crucifixion. The search for the Grail has inspired artists and mystics for hundreds of years. Many churches and cathedrals were built on sites that claimed their part in this sacred mystery. IMBUED WITH THE SPIRIT OF the ancient quest and aware of its power as an antidote to our modern spiritual malaise, Ean and Deike Begg travelled throughout Europe, researching sites of the Holy Grail, the Precious Blood and their associated myths. This book is an illustrated account of their search and a practical, informative guidebook for travellers and seekers. It is full of fascinating information, such as the name of the Spanish cathedral that holds the cup of the Last Supper, the story of how a fig tree carried the Precious Blood to France and the secrets of the Grail castles of Germany. 'I believe that Ean and Deike Begg have done something of great importance in exploring the myth of the Holy Grail that played such a vital part in the deeps of Jung's spirit, and in re-establishing how now it is still one of the most dynamic elements in the search of the lost and bewildered modern soul for wholeness.'-Sir Laurens van der Post 'Deike and Ean Begg have revitalized the idea of pilgrimage.'-Michael Baigent 'An exemplary and vividly written guide to the many strange and beautiful sites associated with the Grail quest throughout Europe.'-Count Nikolai Tolstoy

In 1191, fifteen-year-old Tristan, a youth of unknown origin raised in an English abbey, becomes a Templar Knight's squire during the Third Crusade and soon finds himself on a mission to bring the Holy Grail to safety.