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" 'A lame old man invites a young knight to his castle where he sees a maiden carrying a jewelled object called a "graal".' This is how the writer Chrétien of Troyes introduces one of medieval literature's most enduring themes, the quest for the Holy Grail. The medieval French romance follows the adventures of the naïve and impetuous Perceval who aspires to become a worthy knight. Chrétien did not finish his romance, so we will never know exactly how he would have concluded his story. Fortunately, other medieval writers completed the grail quest. Some are known by name, some are anonymous, but they transformed Chrétien's ideas into one of the most famous episodes in Arthurian tradition The grail became the very cup from which Jesus Christ drank at the Last Supper when he instituted the Eucharist, the sacrament by which, in medieval Christianity, ordinary bread and wine became the body and blood of Christ. By undertaking the grail quest in these romances, Arthur's knights could aspire to the supreme achievement of the code of chivalry, namely physical prowess combined with the Christian ideals of spiritual love and sacrifice."--Back cover.