In Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, the Grail is called “lapsit exillis.”
Wolfram’s early-13th-century German poem gives the Grail an unusual form: it is a stone rather than a cup. The stone is associated with nourishment, renewal, and the mysterious community that guards it. This makes Wolfram’s account distinct from later popular images that treat the Grail primarily as a chalice.
The phrase is often printed as “lapsit exillis,” although scholars and translators have debated how the expression should be understood. Proposed interpretations have connected it with ideas such as a stone fallen from heaven, but there is no universally accepted translation.
Parzival adapts earlier Grail material while expanding it into a long courtly and spiritual narrative. Wolfram also introduces the Grail castle Munsalvaesche and identifies the Grail community in ways that differ from French romance traditions.