The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal: V. The Lesser Hallows of the Legend: § B.--Legends of the Sacred Lance

§ B.--LEGENDS OF THE SACRED LANCE

In the Gautier section of the Conte del Graal, and in the description of Gawain's visit to the Graal Castle, he sees among the sacred objects a Lance, which bleeds into a silver cup, but it is not the Cup of the Graal. The Lance is the weapon which pierced the side of Christ, and it is said that it will bleed till Doomsday. The body of the arm was of wood. The blade was white as snow, and the weapon was at the head of the master dais; it seems to have reposed in the vessel, and two tapers were burning before it. The stream of blood issued from the point of the Lance and ran down into the vessel, from which, as it overflowed, it poured into a channel of gold and ran without the Hall. This extravagant description is substituted for a much simpler account in Chrétien's portion of the poem; there only a single drop of blood trickles down to the hand of the squire who bears the weapon in the pageant. The fuller historical account is found in Manessier's section, which says that the Lance is that of the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Christ. According to a Montpellier manuscript, Joseph of Arimathæa was present at the foot of the Cross, and seeing, as the spear was withdrawn, how the blood ran down, he collected it in the Holy Vessel, turning black as he did so with sorrow. The Didot Perceval says only that a squire in the Graal Castle carried a Lance in his two hands, that it was that of Longinus, and that a drop of blood flowed from the sacred point. I believe that this romance represents a primitive state of the Christian Quest, though it is late in its