The Holy Grail Legend: Robert de Boron's Vision of Salvation History

cups that surrounded it. The book of Emmerich's visions further states that one of these small cups (seven in total) was brought to Antioch, and another to Ephesus. In short, each of the seven churches had its small cup. These visions suggest a grail-like knowledge of German mysticism. • SALVATION HISTORY AND THE 3 TABLES: The last extremely important aspect that appears with Robert de Boron is the role of the Grail in the history of Salvation, a metaphysical story never narrated by mortal man³⁶. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his transmission of the Grail to Joseph of Arimathea initiated the History of Salvation which would be structured in 3 times in relation to the 3 persons of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which can be related to the times expressed by Joachim of Fiore as time of law, time of grace and time of even more grace). There will be 3 guardians of the Grail: Joseph, Hebron and a descendant of Alain³⁷, and 3 tables must be instituted: the TABLE OF THE SUPPER, that of the Last Supper instituted by Jesus to transmit the Grail to Joseph of Arimathea; the TABLE OF THE GRAIL, that instituted by Joseph of Arimathea to transmit the Grail to Hebron; and the ROUND TABLE, that instituted by Merlin which will lead to the completion of salvation through Perceval. MERLIN Before the advent of the chosen one, the Round Table destined to receive the Grail must be constituted. • BIRTH OF MERLIN: The round table is instituted by Merlin. The story of Merlin and the institution of this round table is quite strange. Merlin is born from the union of a virgin and the devil as part of a demonic plot for the damnation of mankind. Merlin is thus born as a kind of anti-Christ generated by the devil and a virgin who has never known man. Merlin's mother must be burned at the stake, but Merlin saves her by proving that the judge's mother was an adulteress and the judge son of adultery with the priest. The purity of Merlin's mother saves him in a certain way and thus the demonic plot fails and Merlin, while having the ingenuity of demons, also has divine knowledge. • EXTRACTION OF THE SWORD: Merlin represents Wisdom, Science and priestly power, while ARTHUR will represent Strength or Royal Power. King Arthur is conceived by Merlin through adultery committed by Pendragon and raised unaware of his origin. He will be qualified by the extraction of a magical sword from the rock. The sword has always been associated with will and liberation from the rock to the dominion of will over matter, but this symbol is also deeper. The Sword represents initiation and the extraction of the sword is the sign of liberation of this buried force. This extraction qualifies Arthur for the Kingdom. • THE SWORD represents authorization for the affirmation of God's Kingdom on earth. It is a special blessing of temporal authority for the institution of the Kingdom. For this reason the Castle of the Holy Grail after the quest can be seen after the sword has been re-welded. Or the Quest can begin only after the sword has been extracted. • Constitution of the ROUND TABLE: On Merlin's initiative, the Round Table will be constituted by Uther Pendragon. Thus 3 tables are constituted: The first instituted by Jesus Christ with the Last Supper for Joseph, the second by Joseph of Arimathea for Bron, the third by Merlin for Arthur.