The Secret of Urgell
According to Roach "the textual critique of literary works from the Middle Ages is a long series of unstable hypotheses and arbitrary decisions by the editors" (1). This is most apparent in Le Conte du Graal, the last work of the French poet Chrétien de Troyes, because the prologue has such "excessive praise" (Hilka) for Philip of Alsace, the count of Flanders. This contradicts Chrétien's usual balance and elegant style and implies that he was getting old and had to solicit a new patron for room and board. Although most scholars suspect that he attached himself to Philip's court before his death, they went admittedly from "hypothesis to hypothesis", which allowed us to try a radically different approach. Our starting point was Cligès, Chrétien's "most intellectual and most amusing romance" (Frappier), where “scholars have found intriguing analogies...to contemporary politics between 1170 and 1175” (2). We stipulated that he decided to crown his career with an ultimate masterpiece: Not the usual fiction, but a roman à clef that would reverse the excessive praise to an equally strong attack of the pious count. This approach is supported by Philip's bad reputation and by his "pressing courtship" (Frappier) of Marie de Champagne, Chrétien's patroness, which was rejected in 1182, the same year he had "heretics" burned at the stake in Flanders.
Consequently, we noticed that the jeu de mots in the prologue of Le Conte du Graal repeats four times the ambiguous old French conte (lines 64-66), and that it questions Philip's command to write the poem. Because graal (l. 66) is mentioned for the first time in history, we concluded that if an obscure word within an etymological word play with "conte" has a function, it should identify the source because etymology is its perfect symbol! According to Coromines, du Cange, and the Oxford Dictionary, graal is derived from gradalis, a simple bowl or service dish, not a chalice, and the earliest written form as gradal (1010 CE) was documented in Urgell, a town in the High Pyrenees of Catalonia, between France and Spain.
It will surprise Arthurian scholars who favor the "Matter of Britain" that nine churches in the medieval diocese of Urgell used to display paintings of the Holy Grail.
According to the Canadian historian Goering, to whom we are greatly indebted for this information, it is the only place "in all of Christendom" where such paintings were ever created – over half a century before Chrétien coined the word grail! They became known among scholars when Joan Vallhonrat, a friend of Picasso, made copies in 1908, which are said to have had an influence on modern art. But as soon as the public learned about this unique treasure, the churches could no longer be protected at their isolated locations in the mountains and the frescoes were covered with layers of glue and masterfully peeled off. They are today at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) in Barcelona and considered the most important collection of Romanesque Art in the world. After the removal, painters filled the empty walls with copies, as shown at right, and at the left is the restored original at the museum. (These close-ups of the "grail virgin" offer a comparison of the original with the inferior copy.)
Goering opens his book with the sentence: "The story of the Holy Grail is not an ancient myth whose roots are lost in the depths of time...." and he uses the first chapters to summarize the first grail poems. One of the highlights is a ceremonial procession in the Grail Castle with a beautiful virgin carrying the grail, as described by Chrétien and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The historian offers a great introduction of the poems, but fails mention that the grail procession was a "heretical" ceremony. According to Roger S. Loomis (3): “The sacramental vessel in the hands of a woman…” was already condemned in the sixth century, and according to conciliar decrees and episcopal edicts “…regarded as an abuse down to the thirteenth century”. Loomis adds that the churchmen who wrote "the Didot Perceval, Queste del Saint Graal, and Estoire del Saint Graal substituted the grail virgins with a young man or priest". Neither scholar seems to have considered that heretical sects like the Cathars had both men and women in their clergy. Hence, the paintings of Alt Urgell may be "heretic" as well, which is probably why Goering felt obliged to conclude that Chrétien "seems to have had only a vague notion of just what a graal might be, where it might have come from, or why it should be so important" and proposed, therefore, that the anonymous painter of Taüll may have been the "inventor of the holy Grail".
According to the MNAC, Sant Climent de Taüll was consecrated in 1123 CE and the frescoes painted at around that time. International scholars like Charles L. Kuhn, Chandler R. Post
and Otto Demus have linked these "virgins"
to the grail since the 1930s, and we are flattered that Goering followed our etymological path to Urgell. However, we disagree respectfully with his evaluation of Chrétien and intend to show that the anonymous painter did not invent anything, but preserved the grail secret for posterity. The art historian Demus writes (4): "The grotesquely–expressive figure holds up with her covered left hand a vessel filled with the red-glowing blood of Christ – the depiction of the grail is a reminder that Catalonia was one of the centers of grail worship." If we examine the powerful image – and click on Mary's picture at right to enlarge it – the fiery grail seems so hot that she covers her left hand with her robe. But does her other hand reflect the heat or emphasize the holiness of the grail? What makes this painting unique is Mary's facial expression – because her lips are sealed. The secret alludes to Christ, who thrones majestically in the central apse, high above the Saints, holding the message EGO SVM LVX MVNDI. It is understandable that Goering, a history professor, would overlook the subtle "stitches" because he had neither studied art nor literature
! He admits humbly to
Goering didn't address the heretic aspects of the Grail Virgins, because they are linked officially to the Gregorian Reform and their orthodoxy has never been questioned. He interpreted the red grail flames as "The grace of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost" and concedes that "sacraments of oil, chrism and consecration; the Blood of Christ in the Eucharist; each and all of these meanings, and others too, might be represented..." But instead of pointing out that Pentecost is an important Arthurian theme, he ends his book with the trivial pursuit of a certain count Rotrou of the Perche as the most likely candidate for Chrétien's Perceval.
If he is right, we have come to the wrong place and should be heading North and study Helinandus, one of the most ardent preachers of the Albigensian Crusades. But the magical mystery of the grail virgins keeps us in the Pyrenees a bit longer to follow
Master Chrétien to Mount Verdera, the "green mountain", because he was obviously inspired by the Grail Virgin with the sealed lips. In addition to the usual questions, we will try to find out why some images relate to the "Second Coming", what the hand of Jesus might signal, and why an older painting from nearby Sant Pere de Burgal depicts the fiery grail still as a "ciborium", an enclosed relic – with St Peter holding up his hand and keys? It seems that Mary's "Holy Grail" (MNAC) parallels Peter's two keys, because her vessel is made up of two chalices, with the top one reversed – as if both Saints were posing for a poster to advertise the "dualism" Chrétien adopted in his poem. Hermetic messages that require a detour to the Pontifical Institutions of the Vatican, as well as a closer look at the Christian "history" (estoire) of Robert de Boron, whom we honor as one of the three originators of grail romance.
After this extensive detour, we may want to return to Catalonia to fill in the blanks between Arianism, Adoptionism, Iconoclasm, and the Cathar heresy,
which may explain some of the blank walls at Taüll. Anyone with an art background will notice the rich, ornamental style of the inscription that dates the consecration of Sant Climent de Taüll. Either the contrast of black & white is a message in itself, or it was created much later than the paintings. The texts below Christ's figure are in stark contrast and seem to have been created at different times for different reasons. In fact, it is much more likely that the text at left was created later because of the sophisticated design. Unless, of course, Impressionism is f
ollowed by Expressionism every 800 years or so. Before we consider Kepler's opinion, substantially more research is needed to consider that the "consecration" may have been a response to a heretic movement, and that the frescoes were white-washed and covered up in 1123. For starters, and pending further research, many more "grail virgins" would have to be discovered in Catalonia, which is not an easy task. But under the guise that these works had a major influence on modern art, a clever Catalan could easily get such a project going. How about it, Leopoldo, Freixenet might want to sponsor it?
Notes:
1. William Roach, Le Roman de Perceval ou LE CONTE DU GRAAL, (Genever, 1956), p. XI. The quote: "la critique textuelle des oevres litteraires du moyen age a ete une longue suite d'hypotheses instabiles et de decisions arbitraires des editeurs".
2. Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, tr. William W. Kibler, (London, 1991), pp. 7-8.
3. Roger S. Loomis, The Origin of the Grail Legends, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, A Collaborative History, (Oxford, 1959), pp. 277-82.
4. Otto Demus, Romanische Wandmalerei, (Munich, 1968), p. 160: “Die grotesk-eindrucksvolle Gestalt hebt mit der verhüllten Linken eine Schale empor, die mit dem rotstrahlenden Blut Christi gefüllt is – eine Gralsdarstellung, die daran denken lässt, dass Katalonien ein Zentrum der Gralsverehrung gewesen ist.”
5. Manuel Castiñeiras and Jordi Camps, Romanesque Art in the MNAC collections, in collaboration with Joan Duran-Porta, photographs by Matías Briansó, (Barcelona, 2008)
6. If you fail to recognize the subtle effect of the two "stitches" in the center of Mary's mouth, you can use your browser to enlarge the page with John's image to 200%, and the crack and unrestricted lips will stand out clearly!
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