In medieval Grail romances, what object commonly appears alongside the Grail in the procession?

In medieval Grail romances, a bleeding lance commonly appears alongside the Grail in the procession.

The image is especially associated with the Grail procession witnessed by Perceval. In Chrétien de Troyes’s unfinished Perceval, a bleeding lance is carried during the mysterious ceremony at the Fisher King’s castle. The scene also includes the Grail, although Chrétien’s poem does not explain its full Christian significance.

Later writers expanded and reinterpreted these elements. The bleeding lance was frequently associated with the spear used at the Crucifixion, sometimes identified with the Holy Lance or Spear of Longinus. That identification is a later development and should not be treated as a complete description of every early Grail text.

The lance is therefore distinct from the sword, another important Arthurian object. Its bleeding is the feature that makes it recognizable in Grail-procession descriptions.