Technically, lapsit exillis is nonsense-it looks like Latin, but it isn't. Oddly enough, Wolfram's concept of the grail is not as a chalice or dish, as it is usually conceived, but as the stone from Lucifer's crown. This romance is also famous for having inspired Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, one of Hitler's favorites.Īs for the grail itself, it is called the lapsit exillis.

It contains a curious little idea that Prester John is the son of Feirfiz, half-brother of Parzival, and Repanse de Shoye, the grail maiden.

It is possible (though not necessarily true) that he was unconsciously (or even consciously) referencing the Kaba'a in Mecca, though more likely he was refering to the Philosopher's Stone. Moreover, he states that the Grail is a stone from Lucifer's crown, which fell with him from heaven (he calls it the 'lapsit exillis'). He also explicitly ties the Grail to the house of Anjou, from which the Plantagenets-the rulers of England, such as Henry II and Richard I-were descended. the Crusades) Wolfram is also the first to say that the Knights Templar are the guardians of the Grail. These are, of course, interpolations due to the political climate of the thirteenth century (i.e. The beginning episodes details Parzival's father Gahmuret and his adventures in Baghdad. He then becomes the new Grail King when the old king dies. He also finishes the poem where Chretien left off, taking Parzival to the castle of the Fisher King, asking the question 'What ails you, uncle?' and thus restoring the Waste Land to fertility. It is distinguished not only for Wolfram's humor, but also because it fills out the beginning, adding three chapters before Chretien de Troyes' version starts.

Parsifal wolfram von eschenbach