G. Ronald Murphy, SJ, Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram's Parzival

Medium Aevum, Spring-Summer, 2008 by Yvonne Dellsperger

G. Ronald Murphy, SJ, Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram's Parzival (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 256 pp. ISBN 13-978-0-19530639-2. 17.99 [euro].

In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival the Grail is identified as a stone, rather than as a gem-encrusted vessel as in Chretien de Troyes's Conte du Graal. The question of where this idea originates has long since been the subject of fascination. For example, numerous magical stones that have their origins in the oriental tradition have been cited in the search for precursors. Parallels in the Bible have been used in an attempt to explain its shape. In the earlier literature (T. Sterzenbach, 1908, and J. Schwietering, 1944/6) the thesis was put forward that Wolfram's representation of the Grail stone was related to medieval portable altars, the mensa of which was a precious stone set in wood or metal. G. Ronald Murphy takes up this idea, but without explicit reference to the above-mentioned studies. Rather, he takes as his point of reference Joseph Braun's monumental work of 1924 (Der christliche Altar in seinergeschichtlichen Entwicklung), in which the author explores the historical development of the Christian altar, and makes reference to a small portable altar dating back to the second half of the twelfth century. Murphy's painstaking search for one particular portable altar described by Braun weaves its way throughout the whole of his study like a background story. It is only in the last chapter that the reader learns of the success of this 'queste'. In the Diocesan Museum in Bamberg he discovers a portable altar embellished with a green precious stone and maintains that it is precisely this altar stone that inspired Wolfram von Eschenbach's masterpiece. The background story comprises a total of six chapters in which Murphy discusses the recent scholarly literature, including research that has extended the importance of Wolfram's Grail stone to the most diverse of areas, which can be reconstructed using the motif of the precious stone. In the first chapter he summarizes what we learn of the mysterious object from Wolfram's poetic work. Some of the Grail's characteristics have resonances with the Last Supper. It can be connected with the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and it can be a metaphor for Christ.

Chapter 2 is dedicated to 'The world of precious stones'. Here Murphy points out that the precious stones in Wolfram's Parzival are given a more spiritual meaning than in Chretien's Conte du Graal. In the next step the author turns his attention to the Crusades. In a perceptive text interpretation he formulates the key idea of Wolfram's work, including the Willehalm. The reason why Wolfram refers back to the motif of the precious stone, he argues, is that the penetration of the hardest of stones by sunlight was to be understood as a wondrous phenomenon that could be used as a counter-image to the bellicose world of the Crusades. This thesis only stands up to scrutiny if the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is, itself, deemed to be a precious stone. In the following two chapters Murphy concentrates on the background story in Wolfram's Parzival. The lengthy expansion of the narrative structure in comparison with its model suggests that Wolfram was couching the search for the Grail in a new theological and poetic narrative. In opposition to established opinion, the author asks us to cast a more critical eye on those passages of the text that are concerned with the spiritual conflict surrounding 'triuwe'. In the final chapter the attention is turned to the concept of the Grail in the central part of Wolfram's narrative and to the fundamental differences between its representation in the Old French model and in Parzival.

A particular feature of this book, and no doubt a problem for the reader, is the unconventional combination of the author's own search for the Grail stone, which he attempts to present in an entertaining manner, and scientific research. Confronted with a narrative of the author's personal experiences in the Diocesan Museum in Bamberg one finds oneself in danger of losing the thread of the scholarly argument.

YVONNE DELLSPERGER

Bern