Heretic Emperor: The
Lost History of King Arthur
Copyright © V M Pickin 2005
Synopsis
Book 2 - The Legend
Chapter
5 - The Grail Mystery
Chapter
6 - Perfidious Britons
Chapter
7 - The Johannine Tradition
Chapter
8 - The Church and the Heretics
Chapter
9 - Sovereignty
Chapter 5 - The Grail Mystery
Examines the link between the Arthurian legend and esoteric Christianity, ie Gnosticism. Opens with the suggestion that the Grail legend is actually the secret history of a non-Roman western church. Presents Jessie Weston’s argument that the Grail quest is a cryptic reference to initiation into a pagano-Christian syncretic cult, and the counter-argument of R S Loomis, that the Grail originates in Celtic paganism and so could not be heretical. Demonstrates that the entire 12th century Arthurian legend was directed against the aggressive monasticism of the Papal Reformation, and that the Reformers then in control of the Roman Church were well aware of this. Shows that one storyteller, Wolfram von Eschenbach clearly does link the Grail with contemporary heresy. Argues that, since the Grail is always linked to Arthur, then Wolfram is linking Arthur with heresy: But is he right?