York author TOM HARPER will be part of a panel discussing the legend of the Holy Grail at this year’s Harrogate History Festival. Here, he explains why literature is so fascinated by the object...

YOU probably know how it goes. A band of knights rides out of the mist towards a lonely castle. The King hails the garrison and invites them to join his quest for the Holy Grail. And the knight in the castle says (in an outrageous French accent): "We've already got one!"

Already got one?

And then the immortal insult: "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries."

When I was young and romantic and painfully literal, this scene from Monty Python And The Holy Grail offended me. Not the insults, but the suggestion there could be more than one grail. It’s the Holy Grail, after all: the ultimate of ultimates.

But as I researched The Lazarus Vault, my novel about the Holy Grail, I began to appreciate how right Monty Python were. There isn’t just one Holy Grail any more: there are dozens. The Basilica of San Isidoro in Spain might have it; so could Valencia Cathedral. We think of it as the cup of Christ, but in the poem where it first appears it’s presented as a fish platter.

In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown tied it to the bloodline of Jesus; in a medieval German poem, it’s a stone.

TS Eliot detected the remains of an ancient fertility rite hidden inside the legend. Other authors connect it with the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, old Celtic magic and the tarot deck.

It’s a one-size relic that fits all your conspiracy needs.

History is full of these myths. Obscure origins, conflicting stories, unsolved mysteries. They're catnip to the imagination. You might not know the battle of Bouvines and be hazy on Magna Carta, but you know King John because he fought Robin Hood. You may well know more about King Arthur than you do about King George II, even though most historians will tell you the former never existed.

I'll be discussing these legends and more at the Harrogate History Festival next weekend with Angus Donald, who’s provided his own robust take on the Robin Hood legend; James Wilde, who’s written a historically convincing portrait of Hereward the Wake; and William Ryan, who’s confronted some rather more modern myths around the terror of Josef Stalin.

It’s part of a brilliant weekend of historical novelists and writers, coming together to discuss what we love best: history, and the pull it exerts on us. Maybe we’ll even find another Holy Grail.

And that outrageous French accent? Though we associate the quest for the Holy Grail with that quintessential British hero King Arthur, we don’t own the Grail. The man who first brought it into the western imagination – the poet Chrétien de Troyes – was French.

* Edwin Thomas, who writes as Tom Harper, will be speaking as part of the 50 Shades of Grail event at the Harrogate History Festival at 3.30pm on Sunday October 26. Tickets £7 from www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/history or call the box office on 01423 562 303.

 

Festival highlights

The Festival runs from October 23-26 at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate. It features a host of leading historians and historical novelists, including CJ Sansom, Bernard Cornwell, Robert Low, SJ Parris, Peter Snow, Sandi Toksvig, James Naughtie and Conn Iggulden.

Full programme details are at harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/history

Here are a few highlights:

Friday, October 24

Special Guest: Bernard Cornwell, 9am,Tickets £11 They Die In The End, noon, tickets £7: If a historical novel is based on a real-life character, and we know how their story turned out, how can a writer keep it fresh? James Aitcheson, Toby Clements, Michael Ridpath and Robert Wilton disclose how they give their characters the power to enthrall us.

New Blood, 2pm, tickets £7. Four sparkling new talents – Elisabeth Gifford, Victoria Hendry, Beatrice Hitchmann and Kate Worsley – in conversation with Manda Scott Special Guests: Alison Weir In Conversation with Sarah Gristwood, 3.30pm, tickets £11.

Saturday, October 25

Special Guest: Peter Snow, 9am,Tickets £11: Snow on his new book, the story of, 31 years after the American war of Independence, British troops burned the White House.

Special Guests: James Naughtie interviewed by Robert Wilton, 10.30am, tickets £11 Special Guest: Dr Irving Finkel, 5pm, tickets £11. The Assistant Keeper at the British Museum talks about a clay tablet containing the instructions for building Noah's Ark which, it turns out, was round...

Special Guest: Conn Iggulden, 8.30pm, tickets £11 Sunday, October 26 Special Guest: C.J. Sansom interviewed by William Shaw, 11.30am, tickets £11 Training The Dragon, 2pm, tickets £7: Authors Margaret Elphinstone, Giles Kristian, Rob Low, Phil Stevens and chair Gareth Williams talk about the life and times of the Vikings 50 Shades of Grail, 3.30pm, tickets £7: Angus Donald, Tom Harper (Edwin Thomas), James Wilde and Bill Ryan discuss the legends of the Holy Grail.