The Nanteos Cup ( cy, Cwpan Nanteos) is a medieval wood
mazer bowl, held for many years at
Nanteos Mansion
Nanteos (Welsh: ''Plas Nanteos'', Nanteos Mansion) is an 18th-century former country house in Llanbadarn-y-Creuddyn, near Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. A Grade I listed building, it is now a country house hotel. The gardens and parkland surroundi ...
, near
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...
in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
.
Since at least the late 19th century, it has been attributed with a
supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
ability to heal those who drink from it and traditionally believed to be fashioned from a piece of the
True Cross
The True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus was said to have been crucified, particularly as an object of religious veneration. There are no early accounts that the apostles or early Christians preserved the physical cross themselves, althoug ...
.
By the early 20th century, it had become a candidate – one of at least 200 in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
– for the
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...
.
Juliette Wood
Juliette Wood is a British historian and lecturer at Cardiff University. She specializes in Celtic and Medieval history, magic, and folklore. She is a former director of the Folklore Society and an Honorary Fellow of the National Museum of Wales.
...
, a
folklorist
Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
specialising in medieval folklore and
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a ...
, has stated that there is "no credible reference" to the cup prior to the end of the 19th century and "no mention of possible connections to the Grail until 1905."
In 1977, the cup was displayed at the
National Library of Wales
The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...
, Aberystwyth, as part of the "Aberystwyth 1277–1977" celebrations marking the 700th anniversary of the granting of the town's charter by
Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
. Specialists from the
used the opportunity to examine the cup and concluded that it dated from the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
and was carved from
wych elm
''Ulmus glabra'' Hudson, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches i ...
.
In July 2014, it was reported that the cup had been stolen from a house in
Weston under Penyard
Weston under Penyard is a small village in Herefordshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 1,007.
It lies on the A40 road two miles east of Ross-on-Wye. The Penyard is a prominent hill.
The parish church of St ...
while the occupant to whom it had been loaned was in hospital.
It was recovered in June 2015.
Following the recovery of the Cup, the owners placed it in the care of the National Library of Wales, where it went on permanent public display in June 2016.
Description
The vessel is a shallow, hardwood bowl without handles, with a broad flat foot. Originally it would have stood 10 cm in height, with a diameter of 12 cm, although it has been extensively damaged over the years and slightly less than half of the bowl remains. Unlike other examples of mazers, it has no boss or knob in the centre of the inside, and there is no evidence that one has been removed or lost due to damage.
It is fashioned from hardwood, most likely wych elm, with no visible decorations. A groove which may previously have held a metal rim runs around the lip.
First public exhibition
The Cup was first exhibited by
George Powell (1842–1882) in 1878 at
St David's College, Lampeter
University of Wales, Lampeter ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru, Llanbedr Pont Steffan) was a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822, and incorporated by royal charter in 1828, it was the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales, with limited ...
(now a campus of
University of Wales, Trinity Saint David
The University of Wales Trinity Saint David ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru Y Drindod Dewi Sant) is a multi-campus university with three main campuses in South West Wales, in Carmarthen, Lampeter and Swansea, a fourth campus in London, England, and learning ...
), during a meeting of the Cambrian Archaeological Society. Powell was the son of Colonel William Powell (1815–1878), from whom he inherited the Nanteos estate in 1878.
The minutes of the meeting at which the cup was first exhibited record that George Powell introduced the object and gave an account of it being "preserved for many years past at Nanteos", having formerly been in the possession of the abbey at
Strata Florida
Strata Florida Abbey ( cy, Abaty Ystrad Fflur) () is a former Cistercian abbey situated just outside Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The abbey was founded in 1164. is a Latinisation of the Welsh ; 'Valley of F ...
( cy, Ystrad Fflur, "Vale of Flowers"). The minutes also state:
The cup was correctly identified and subsequently catalogued by the Society as a wooden mazer dating from the Middle Ages. A drawing made around the same time by
Worthington George Smith
Worthington George Smith (25 March 1835 – 27 October 1917) was an English cartoonist and illustrator, archaeologist, plant pathologist, and mycologist.
Background and career
Worthington G. Smith was born in Shoreditch, London, the son of a civ ...
shows the cup in the same damaged condition as it exists today, held together with 2 metal staples. Wood found that prior to 1878 "evidence for a relic at Nanteos
aslacking" and that it had not appeared in
Samuel Rush Meyrick
Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, KH (16 August 1783 – 2 April 1848) was an English collector and scholar of arms and armour. He lived at Goodrich Court, Goodrich, Herefordshire, and introduced systematic principles to the study of his subject.
Li ...
's survey, published as ''The History and Antiquities of the County of Cardiganshire'', in 1809. Wood also noted that Worthington G. Smith had made sketches of archaeological excavations at Strata Florida Abbey and suggested that the cup may actually have been found during those excavations. Powell was known to have had repairs carried out to make the unstable abbey ruins safe and the appearance of the Nanteos Cup "coincided quite closely" with these repairs.
Richard Barber
Richard William Barber FRSL FSA FRHistS (born 30 October 1941) is a British historian who has published several books about medieval history and literature. His book ''The Knight and Chivalry'', about the interplay between history and literatur ...
, a historian specialising in
Arthurian legends
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Western ...
, has also proposed that the cup was probably discovered at the site of the abbey in the 19th century.
[ John Thomas Evans, in his ''The Church Plate of Cardiganshire'' (1914), suggested that the cup may have been passed to the Powell family from the Stedman family, who owned the Strata Florida estate, when Richard Stedman died in 1746: Wood points out that there is no record of the cup in any will or inventory of the Stedman or Powell families.
The cup received wider attention over the following two decades. In 1890, the ''North Wales Chronicle'' newspaper mentioned the cup on its ''Notices'' page, reproducing the same details that had been reported in ''Archaeologia Cambrensis'' in 1878. By 1895, more details had been added to the cup's legend, and the '' Western Mail'' reported:
The introduction of a connection with "certain cases of female disorder" coincided with the introduction of sexualized imagery in Wagner's '']Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...
'', which for the first time associated the Holy Grail directly with the womb and female fertility. The revival of interest in the Arthurian legends and the Grail had been bolstered by the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
who retold the legends in the ''Idylls of the King
''Idylls of the King'', published between 1859 and 1885, is a Literature cycle, cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892; Poet Laureate from 1850) which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knig ...
'', published between 1856 and 1885. This was followed by J. M. Dent's illustrated edition of Sir Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of '' Le Morte d' ...
's ''Le Morte d'Arthur
' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...
'', issued in 12 parts between 1893 and 1894.
Association with the Holy Grail
''Sought and Found: A story of the Holy Grail''
By 1901, George Eyre Evans, a local historian and antiquarian, had become concerned about the preservation of the ruins at Strata Florida. He set out to promote and "raise the public profile" of the site and organised a number of tours. In the summer of 1901 Evans led a guided tour of Strata Florida for the Chautauqua
Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...
movement's summer assembly "where he spoke enchantingly on the rise, glory and fall of the abbey." He then arranged for the Chautauquans to visit Nanteos "to see the celebrated wooden healing cup." Ethelwyn Mary Amery, a member of the Chautauqua movement, subsequently declared the cup to be the Holy Grail and published a pamphlet announcing this, ''Sought and Found: A story of the Holy Grail'', in 1905. In it she relates the story of the cup's origins, allegedly as told to her by her "hostess" at Nanteos (who at this time would have been either a very elderly Anna Maria Powell, wife of William Powell, or her daughter-in-law Margaret Powell):
Wood reports a variation of this story in which the cup is taken by seven monks from Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...
to Strata Florida during the Dissolution and entrusted by the last survivor to the Stedman family. The Stedman family, however, originated from Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
and "cannot be associated with the area before the seventeenth century."[ Similarly, the first Powell to live at Nanteos was William Powell (1658–1738) in 1705.] The Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
had taken place between 1536 and 1541, over a century before the establishment of the Nanteos estate by Colonel John Jones, a Royalist during the English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
and High Sheriff of Cardiganshire
The office of High Sheriff of Cardiganshire was established in 1541, since when a high sheriff was appointed annually until 1974 when the office was transformed into that of High Sheriff of Dyfed as part of the creation of Dyfed from the amalgamat ...
for 1665. Strata Florida was dissolved in February 1539 and the site and most of its estates were passed to Sir Richard Devereux and his father Walter Devereux, 1st Viscount Hereford
Walter Devereux, 10th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, created 1st Viscount Hereford, KG (1488 – 17 September 1558) was an English courtier and parliamentarian.
Baron Ferrers
Walter was the son and heir of John Devereux, 9th Baron Ferrers an ...
. Medieval records do not record that Strata Florida ever held a cup or bowl as a relic or that it was previously connected with Glastonbury, but both these elements became part of the Nanteos Cup legend.
Barber states that "the story of the flight from Glastonbury seems to have been deliberately invented using antiquarian accounts of the dissolution of the monasteries." Noting that "no historical evidence has ever been offered for the story" he also asserts that the "reputation" of the cup grew simply "by being repeatedly asserted."[ Jenkins said that Amery had been "doubtless inspired by... eorge EyreEvans's zeal" during her visit to Nanteos, that Evans' "enthusiasm for such unique objects 'had never been known to evaporate'" and that he "clearly delighted in publicizing the remarkable properties and historical significance of the healing cup... and its association with Strata Florida."][
In the years following the publication of ''Sought and Found'', Evans "increasingly wielded a powerful influence over developments at Strata Florida" and the cup and its association with the Grail played an important part in generating the public interest necessary to ensure the remains of the abbey were "properly preserved and excavated more intensively."][ On 23 June 1909, Evans held an event at Strata Florida advertised as "A Day at the Abbey ('The Westminster of Wales')", which was attended by 350 people despite heavy rain. The event consisted largely of "lengthy addresses" by Rev. J. Francis Lloyd, Evans and Edmund Tyrrell Green but the main attraction was the cup. Jenkins reports:
]
In culture
Gerald Morgan describes a claim made in the 1960s guide to the Nanteos Mansion that German composer Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
stayed at Nanteos and was said to have been intrigued by the legend, which eventually inspired him to compose the Grail opera ''Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...
''. However, although the artistic dilettante George Powell probably met Wagner, there is no record of him visiting Nanteos.
The cup was included in the documentary ''The Search for the Holy Grail: The True Story'', broadcast by Channel 5. In the programme they concluded that the wood the cup is made from dates from at least 1400 years after the crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
. The Commissioner for Monuments in Wales examined the piece and said it was exactly the right size and shape to be a mazer bowl, a type of medieval vessel, that it was wych elm and was from the 14th century. Similarly, in a 1998 BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
/TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an A ...
/Time-Life Television
Time Life Television was a division of Time Life Films and was the television production and distribution arm of Time Inc. With CBS, they led a partnership to export their shows overseas.
Broadcasting
Time Life also owned several radio and TV st ...
documentary Juliette Wood of the Folklore Society confirmed that the cup was a wych elm mazer or food bowl, and not made of olive wood. For a BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 documentary ''The Making of King Arthur'', Simon Armitage
Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds.
He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...
interviewed the cup's current owner, Fiona Mirylees, and examined the cup.
Theft
In July 2014, the cup became the object of renewed media interest after it was reported stolen from a house in Weston under Penyard, Herefordshire
Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...
. The cup had been loaned to "a seriously ill woman with connections to the family hat owned it, and was believed to have been stolen while the woman was in hospital. A spokeswoman for West Mercia Police
West Mercia Police (), formerly the West Mercia Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Worcestershire in England. The force area cover ...
said: "I don't want to say we are hunting the Holy Grail, but police are investigating the burglary." Following intelligence that the cup had been sighted, police raided the Crown Inn pub at Lea, Herefordshire
Lea is a village and civil parish in the South East of Herefordshire, just south-east of Ross-on-Wye and adjoining Gloucestershire. Amenities include a school, church, village hall, shop, public house, garage and a twice weekly mobile Post Office, ...
. The only item found that vaguely resembled the Nanteos Cup was a salad bowl. A £2000 reward was offered for the safe return of the cup. It was recovered on 19 June 2015 – as part of Operation Icarus
Operation Icarus is a police investigation into the organised theft and black market trade of religious and church artefacts in England and Wales. The investigation, led by West Mercia Police, commenced in 2013 and has subsequently been declare ...
– following an appeal on BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
's ''Crimewatch Roadshow
''Crimewatch Live'' (previously known as ''Crimewatch Roadshow Live'' or simply ''Crimewatch Roadshow'' and originally as ''Crimewatch Daily'') is a British television programme produced by BBC Studios Documentary Unit Cymru Wales, that recon ...
''.[ West Mercia Police gave few details of the recovery except to say that they were contacted by an anonymous source and the cup was subsequently "handed to officers 'on neutral ground' in a pre-arranged meeting". No arrests were made.]
Gallery
File:Nanteos Cup 1.jpg
File:Nanteos Cup 3.jpg
File:Nanteos Cup 4.jpg
See also
*Archaeology of Wales
The archaeology of Wales (Welsh: ''Archaeoleg Cymru'') is the study of human occupation within the country of Wales which has been occupied by modern humans since 225,000 BCE, with continuous occupation from 9,000 BCE. Analysis of the sites, arte ...
*Wales in the Middle Ages
Wales in the Middle Ages covers the history of the country that is now called Wales, from the departure of the Romans in the early fifth century, the development of regional Welsh kingdoms and Celtic conflict with the Anglo-Saxons, reducing Celt ...
*Cornucopia
In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (), from Latin ''cornu'' (horn) and ''copia'' (abundance), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers ...
(mythical vessels with magical powers)
* Mythological objects (list)
*Relics associated with Jesus
A number of alleged relics associated with Jesus have been displayed throughout the history of Christianity. While some individuals believe in the authenticity of Jesus relics, others doubt their validity. For instance, the sixteenth-century phil ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
Notes
External links
*
*
*
{{Archaeology of Wales
Aberystwyth
Drinkware
Holy Grail
Mythological objects
Relics associated with Jesus
Welsh artefacts
Archaeology of Wales