The Holy Grail: its secrets revealed

An examination of the Grail, the most important Arthurian element, whose nature is repeatedly redefined, as in The Da Vinci Code.

The Grail is arguably the single most important element in the story of King Arthur. Its nature and meaning have been repeatedly redefined, most recently etching themselves into the public imagination in the best-selling The Da Vinci Code. This talk returns to the beginning - and the end - of the quest in the medieval masterpieces which, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, constructed what might, misleadingly, be called "the legend of the Grail", to find both the real nature and the real meaning of this potent and tantalising symbol.

Nigel Bryant is an expert on the medieval Grail romances and is the author of four books on the subject: The High Book of the Grail - Perlesvaus; The "Perceval" of Chretien de Troyes and its Continuations; Robert de Boron's "Merlin and the Grail"; and a new compilation of the medieval French romances, The Legend of the Grail, reissued in paperback this year. He works in the shadow of an important Arthurian site in Wiltshire, about which he has written the novel Merlin's Mound, published in 2004.

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