In Robert de Boron’s Joseph d’Arimathie, what sacred vessel becomes the Holy Grail?

In Robert de Boron’s Joseph d’Arimathie, the Holy Grail becomes the cup from the Last Supper.

Robert de Boron’s late-12th- or early-13th-century poem is one of the earliest works to give the Grail a specifically Christian history. In his account, Joseph of Arimathea uses the vessel at the Crucifixion to collect blood from Jesus. The cup therefore links the Last Supper, the Passion, and the later Grail quest.

This is an important development in Grail literature. Chrétien de Troyes’s earlier Perceval presents a mysterious grail procession but does not clearly identify the object as Christ’s cup. Robert de Boron helps establish the version that became dominant in later Christianized retellings.

The Grail is not identified with the Ark, the spear, or another relic in this tradition. Those objects may appear in related legends, but the defining vessel in Robert’s story is the Last Supper cup.