Page "Knights Templar" Paragraph 44

The Holy Grail quickly became associated with the Templars, even in the 12th century.

The first Grail romance, Le Conte du Graal, was written around 1180 by Chrétien de Troyes, who came from the same area where the Council of Troyes had officially sanctioned the Templars ' Order.

Perhaps twenty years later Parzival, Wolfram von Eschenbach's version of the tale, refers to knights called " Templeisen " guarding the Grail Kingdom.

Another hero of the Grail quest, Sir Galahad ( a 13th-century literary invention of monks from St. Bernard's Cistercian Order ) was depicted bearing a shield with the cross of Saint George, similar to the Templars ' insignia: this version presented the " Holy " Grail as a Christian relic.

A legend developed that since the Templars had their headquarters at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, they must have excavated in search of relics, found the Grail, and then proceeded to keep it in secret and guard it with their lives.

However, in the extensive documents of the Templar inquisition there was never a single mention of anything like a Grail relic, let alone its possession by the Templars, nor is there any evidence that a Templar wrote a Grail Romance.

In reality, most mainstream scholars agree that the story of the Grail was just that, a literary fiction that began circulating in medieval times.