Crown of Stars :

The Grail in the Troubadour World

HANK HARRISON

ARKIVES
San Francisco

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 International Copyright
© 1991 and 2009
© World Rights G. H. Harrison
All rights reserved.

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 In Memory:
Kurt Cobain & Dame Frances Yates, O. B. E.

For Bean

By the sa m e auth or:

The Grail Quarto:
The Cauldron & the Grail:
The Grail in the Megaliths of Western Europe-1991
The Grail in Stone: The Megaliths & the Templars
Crown of Stars: Secrets of the Perlesvaus-2009
Ace of Cups: The Grail in the Tarot
~
The Goddess & the Grail
~
Atlantis Rising
Over Avalon
~
The Eyes of Avalon: a Novel
~

Quest for Flight

Hamburger Zen
Glass Country (Poetry)
The Dream Place
& The Dead Trilogy

With Karen Han:

Arthur the God

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 Contents
Introduction 8
The Book of the Graal 11
Alpha 21
Book One 28
Stars in the Stones 29
Trouvère 38
Gnostics 50
The Bardic Stream 58
Wisdom 63
Avalon 69
A Fresh Wind 74
Hermits & Knights 83
A Publishing Empire 89
Natural Magic 92
Scriptoria 96
Part Two 101
The Shy Monk 102
Passing of the Torch 109
The Anagram 117
Astral Magic 125
The Hermit Knights 129
Branches & Leaves 133
Unbroken Chain 139
Life Sub Rosa 146
A War of Destiny 152
An Uncrowned King 160
Nepenthe 167
The Hermits Booke 174
Evans Vs. Nitze 182
Jessie Weston 190
Robert de Boron 197

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 1170 203
Wolfram 209
Primum Mobilis 214
Judgment 218
The Fairy Cup 225
Lancelot & Gawain 232
The Green Man 238
Gawain’s Quest 246
The Book in Arthur’s Grave 256
The Trouvère Mind 270
A Secret World 276
The Goddess Cult 284
The Sapphire Altar 290
Blois at Chartres 296
Omega 300
A Final Argument 303
Appendices 304
Appendix A: The Elucidation 305
Appendix B: Time Line 314
Appendix C: Manuscripts 328
Appendix D: Blois Architecture 329
Bibliography
Index

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Crown of Stars

7
 Introduction
early one thousand years ago, a shy monk in residence at
Glastonbury Abbey, one of the most famous locations in all
of England, wrote a mysterious book. That book turned out
to be one of the most important books in English history. Un-
fortunately, the author has been lost to us. Since the book
was first introduced, scholars have been trying to fathom its
meaning and the identity of its extraordinary author with no
success…until now.

N
The present work focuses on three tasks. First, to in-
troduce the book itself to a contemporary audience,
secondly, to unmask the anonymous author of that
ancient book and finally, to introduce the Grail quest as it
operated in the author’s social universe, a world populated
by misfit monks, Knights Templars, Royalty of the highest
rank and philosopher poets commonly known as
Troubadours. 1
Based on his writing style, this mysterious author was an
almost saintly figure who could astound us with his abilities.
I am certain I known who he is, because I found him, quite
by accident. I was not looking for him, but I did wonder why
he chose anonymity.
Hidden since the 12th century, it is now time to bring the
mysterious author into the light. Although 19th century schol-
ars paid lip service to his identity, no one has yet been able
to name the author of the great book with confidence, even
though he left us several outstanding clues. From his choice
of words, one assumes he was familiar with architecture and
astronomy. He must have known something about rhetoric,
since several of his characters and scenes depict debate,
and he narrates as if he were a policy maker, an insider.
Moreover, he seems to have come from a royal background.
Based on internal evidence, the author must have been a
banker; a monk; a knight; an engineer and architect, a farm-
er, a political leader; and a theologian, as he describes all of
these topics in intimate detail. To call him a, “renaissance
man,” would be an understatement. He was more like a pla-
tonic “Philosopher King.” Like DaVinci in later centuries, he
was a visionary lights shining between the old and new
worlds. He lived in an era of intellectual and political chaos
and yet, through his writings, actions and deeds, he was
able to bring peace.
1 Evans, Sebastian, High History of the Holy Grail. 1898. Introduction.

8
 The book in question has come down to us by several
titles. Known in English as the, High History of the Holy Grail.
It also exists in a French romance version titled the Perles-
vaux. 1
Troubadour romance sagas like the Perlesvaus (spelled
more commonly in English with an s instead of an x) became
a driving force in the intellectual world between the first and
second crusades c. 1099-1140. This social movement im-
pacted the actions of a few medieval families emerging from
Poitiers, the Langudoc, Champagne, and the Loire River
basin centering on Blois and Troyes. In the 19th and early
20th centuries, historians began calling them
“Thebaudians,” (pronounced tee-bow-dee-ans) after Theo-
bald and Thibaut, common first names given to the Counts
of Champagne. 2
Unfortunately, this naming tradition does not tell us much
about the life-style of the last Normans and their emergent
Trouvère traditions. At first glance they were practicing
Christians. On closer inspection, they were influenced by
Hermetism and the Greek philosophers and lived more like
wealthy Bohemians, “Rich Hippies,’ in an American context.
They loved to breed fine horses, they imported rare silks and
linens, they wore astonishing jewelry used perfumed soaps
and collected books of all kinds.
No respecting Thebaudian house would be caught want-
ing for an expansive library and paramount to all of these
values were the songs and poetics of the Trouvère they pat-
ronized. In fact this patronage system was so all encom-
passing, that one could hardly tell the patrons from the artis-
ans. In some cases the poet minstrels were virtual beggars
and in a few cases, they were actual Kings. This process tells
us that a form of democracy was at work in every day life.
Thus, these wealthy intellectuals, thought of as heretic
and far too open minded by certain elements in Rome,
began to dedicate themselves to uprooting the repressive
dogma forced on humanity in the Dark Ages. The adventures
of the crusades blew everything wide open in the mid 12th
century. The courtly ways, styles of dress and forms of po-
etry of the new bohemian class, amounted to a revolution, a
Troubadour Revolution. 3
I believe the Perlesvaus, was more than a simple bi-

1 Nitze, William, A. Perlesvaus. John Murphy&Co. Baltimore 1899.

2 These names are echoed in New Orleans as Tibidow and Teebow and in
Quebec as Thebaud etc.
3 See Appendix A. Nitze &Traditional scholars erroneously assume Per-
lesvaus=Percival.

9
product of this revolution and I hope to demonstrate how the
book, and its author, were central to the Trouvère move-
ment, a semi-pagan value set referred to by the Inquisition
as a heresy. It seems the High History of the Grail, became a
platform to promote a naturalistic philosophy designed to in-
spire young people and knights-errant.
°°°
Finally, a word about the Somerset Effigy System. In
1919, a women named K. E. Maltwood, the wife of a wealthy
industrialist, herself a renowned sculptor and prominent
member of London’s Bloomsbury Circle, hired an aerial sur-
vey to photograph, what she claimed to be a circular pattern
of huge—Bronze Age or possibly Neolithic—figures etched
into the landscape in the Glastonbury region. I have pur-
posefully avoided linking her so called, “Glastonbury
Zodiac,” hypothesis to the present Perlesvaus material since
the controversy could dilute my main argument. Let me just
say, I have spent hundreds of hours traveling in Somerset on
horseback and by Land Rover and I have flown over the
area. Moreover, I began analyzing Kathryn Maltwood's aerial
maps in 1973 and have several official 1” to the mile, survey
maps, overlaid for me by Elizabeth Leader, founder of RILKO.
I have also scrutinized satellite photos, provided by Google
and NASA. I have concluded that undoubtedly, there are sev-
eral earth art figures etched into the landscape near Gla-
stonbury. I cannot be sure they are zodiac figures, but there
is something there of an ancient nature. These figures, in
some cases, relate to portions of the Perlesvaus and may
have been dug into the earth or modified, by monks and en-
gineers from Glastonbury Abbey.
The British government should survey these figures. You
might want to bear these facts in mind as you read. H. H.

10
 The Book of the Graal
T
he Perlesvaus may have been redacted in the 13th cen-
tury, as suggested by several scholars, but it was al-
most entirely based on a book written and compiled in
the 12th century at Glastonbury Abbey. This original book
contained clues pointing to mysteries intrinsic to the abbey
and the esoteric cults functioning there. These clues were in-
cluded by the first and original author at a time when the
Troubadour revolution was taking hold in France and Eng-
land, an era lasting roughly four centuries, from the Norman
Conquest to the fall of the Knights Templars (c. 1066-1308).
The original book was also, probably, historical from a
stylistic standpoint, in that it seems to be an attempt to cre-
ate non-fiction out of fiction or rather truth from legend.
The original author of the Perlesvaus—or the basic book
contained within it—lived in the golden age of the
Troubadours and was probably influenced directly by
Troubadours and the Knights Hospitalier or, more than likely
was a Hospitalier and Troubadour himself. If I am correct in
his identity, his life almost exactly spanned a period from
the crowning of King Henry I (Beauclerc) 1101 to the death
of Thomas Becket, and the unjust imprisonment of Queen
Eleanor of Aquitaine in the early 1170s. Moreover, this monk
from Glastonbury knew Becket, Beauclerc and Eleanor and
was acquainted with many other legendary figures of that
era.
Although monastically educated in architecture, his nar-
rative point-of-view reveals a way of life designed to com-
pete with Roman Christianity, an almost heretical value sys-
tem designed to keep the Celtic church alive and implant an
ancient spiritual enlightenment into the secular world.
This “Naturalistic Christianity,” for lack of a better term,
combined pagan, Gnostic, and Christian teachings, espe-
cially in Thebaudian families. In other words these stately
families of Champagne and Northern France were deeply in-
fluenced by the Troubadour and Trouvère value system. In
this combined world view—defined throughout the Perles-
vaus—serfs could state their opinions in public, reading was
encouraged for everyone, and women could hold power,
marshal troops, inherit chattels, and buy and sell land, just
as easily as their husbands, many of whom died in the Cru-
sades. 1
1 Op cit. LoPrete,Kimberley. Adela, Countess and Lord.Four Courts, Dub-

11
 At the same time, a new kind of music and poetry was
emerging. Costumes were changing. Hairstyles were more
flamboyant. The old Celtic languages, often forbidden in Ro-
man dominated churches, were making a comeback. In
some cases, the literature of the Troubadours took on a
risqué, and anti-papal tone, while at the same time, a deep
hermetic stream ran like a human pulse, a heart beat pump-
ing intellectual blood into every village in Europe, even ex-
tending to the Arabic world. At the center of this heartbeat
stood a quest for enlightenment, an initiation known as the,
“Quest for the Holy Grail.” In this quest King Arthur was not
the main character, instead the entire process centered on a
mysterious figure known as the Fisherking.
Schools influenced by the Troubadour system placed an
emphasis on reading and writing for everyone. Under Elean-
or of Aquitaine, small village schools began teaching ad-
vanced subjects to girls. In the Thebaudian controlled areas
of France and England, methods of thought, like logic and
rhetoric, once taught only to boys, in cathedral learning cen-
ters, became part of Troubadour tradition. Naturally, a great
deal of public debate for and against the Roman Church
grew out of this movement.
Even before the 1st Crusade, Troubadour values, formu-
lated essentially in Champagne and Langudoc spread into
the British Isles with the Norman transformation. In this pro-
cess, the lowliest serf, once thought of as a slave in the
feudal system could express an opinion without fear of being
excommunicated, or burned at the stake. Unfortunately, as
stated earlier, this movement did not last long and by the
middle of the 14th century, its influence was all but lost. But,
books like the Perlesvaus and the writings of Peter Abelard
and the Lays of Marie d’ France…show us what might have
been.
The date of the authorship of the Perlesvaus is tradition-
ally set in the later part of this Gothic Renaissance. The
scholastically agreed upon dates for the productions of Chré-
tien d’ Troyes, run approximately between 1180-1210. I
agree on the dates for Chrétien, although we are not sure
when or where he was born or even how or when he died.
Conversely, I am sure Chrétien had help and that at least
one other, directly kinked book, was published for a small
circle, at least two decades before 1180, a book Chrétien
had access to as he began his own great quest.
I argue that the Perlesvaus was that influential book. Un-

lin, 2007 p.4

12
fortunately, as nothing is easy in this kind of scholarship,
most historians and literary scholars attribute the Perlesvaus
to one of Chrétien’s continuers. And insist it was written in
the 13th century. I disagree. The body of The Perlesvaus was,
probably, completed at Glastonbury before 1165.
There are several very good reasons for fixing that date
as the latest possible final draft for the Perlesvaus. When all
the facts are on the table, attributing the Perlesvaus to Chré-
tien’s continuers — Manessier; Gerbert; Wauchier or even
Wace — will seem ridiculous. For the present, let us, simply
view the title of the Perlesvaus as derived from the parable
of entering heaven as mentioned in Mathew, Chapter 13,
Verse 45, and 46. In this story, the price of entering the king-
dom of heaven is like unto a merchant, seeking goodly
pearls—when he finds a pearl of extreme beauty; he sells
everything, to buy it. 1
For cosmetic and marketing purposes, the British publish-
er changed the name of the book to the High History of the
Holy Grail, a title suggested by William Nitze in Chicago, but
in France, to this day, the book is known as Perlesvaux,
spelled with an X.
Always a mysterious book, this invaluable text, presents
modern scholars with a series of profound puzzles. First, the
text seems to have been written by someone in residence at
Glastonbury Abbey in Southwestern England, near the Welsh
border in the mid-12th century. Its content is cryptic and
multi-layered. At first, the Perlesvaus appears as an adven-
turous fairy tale, but, on a deeper level, it reveals the molten
core of medieval politics. More specifically, the Perlesvaus
traces expressions of Troubadour cosmology, based on
Gnostic, Hermetic and Neoplatonic philosophy. Thus, its an-
onymous author must have been a leader in the broadcast-
ing of these views. 2
Anyone who reads the book, in any language, will prob-
ably see a great mind at work. This is not the typical child’s
Prince Valiant or Robin Hood adventure. Instead, the Perles-
vaus reads like a deeply serious and religious book, geared
for an audience of equally educated individuals.
The Perlesvaus presents its material on many levels. In
the first case, it relates the classic story of three knights,
Lancelot, Parsifal, and Gawain, with emphasis on the Welsh
version of the Gawain story. On another level, the Perles-

1 KJV New Testament. Mark 12:38-44, Luke

20:45-47,21:1-4
2 Op cit. Evans.

13
vaus recounts historical medieval events mixed with affairs
that are more mundane. In yet another dimension, the book
is glossed with mystic Christian imagery, especially as per-
tains to the Essene view of Christianity, the Agape’ (Last
Supper), communion through symbolic bread and wine and
baptism through the ordeal of quest. In this way, the entire
book becomes a magical process, more like an initiation
than a historical text.
The author of the Perlesvaus seems to have been a com-
passionate man of high station. Although ostensibly de-
signed to enthrall its audience with the theatrical escapades
of the Arthurian legends, the book also captures Benedictine
ritual, mixed with Troubadour and Jongleur ceremony. More
specifically the text is blended with the language and man-
nerisms of a certain family of Champagne. 1
For many centuries, copies of the Perlesvaus slept in roy-
al collections, monastery libraries, and musty crates. Only a
few copies managed to survive. In 1892, a British scholar,
Sebastian Evans, finally translated the book for the English-
speaking world, but the Evans translation reeks with Victori-
an stuffiness, offers no insights into the lifestyle of the
Troubadours, and glosses over several obvious internal clues
to the identity and milieu of the author.
Evans provides almost no information about the book in
the book. He tells us nothing of its author and adds only a
few annotations. Was he unsure of his sources? Obviously,
he was a translator not an anthropologist or historian. Sever-
al critics said just that, more than a century ago. 2
The main criticism was not so much for his translation,
but for his adaptation of Mallory’s narrative style, a style of
speech that made the book sound like Morte de Arthur, from
the Caxton publishing era in the 15th century.
Evans also made some startling mistakes in interpreting
place names and dates of authorship. As stated earlier,
Evans, following the lead of several earlier critics, placed the
Perlesvaus after the death of Chrétien de Troyes, instead of
before, as is probably the case. As we shall see it is possible
that Chrétien, as a very young man, may have been intro-
duced to the author of the Perlesvaus either in France or in
England.
Like a court painting, the Evans edition came to life to
please a Victorian audience and, as such, was not seen as a

1 Opcit. Lo Prete, Kimberly. Adela of Blois. Four Courts Press. Dublin,

2007. p. 34
2 The Cambridge History of English Literature, (1907-21) Vol. Xiii. The
Victorian Age. Part One # 42. Note 33 p. 197

14
portal to the Grail initiation, at least not to the Germanic
weltanschauung surrounding the Hapsburgs, the fans of Al-
fred Tennyson or the Oxfordians of the period. Specifically,
Tennyson dedicates his Idylls of the King to the Queen’s con-
sort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Ironically, the Idylls, as a
period piece, is a metaphor for the social ills of Victorian
England and Ireland. 1
The Perlesvaus did enjoy a brief resurrection after WW I,
but the Pre-Raphaelite audience was, in retrospect, a bit too
phlegmatic. Virginia Wolfe, the Trevalians, the Huxley’s, and
the other intellectuals of the Bloomsbury Circle, loved it, but
their adoration remained esoteric and the book languished
as a sidebar in coffee houses and tea rooms.
Seventy years later, the Evans translation came to the at-
tention of New Age audiences, but the secret rituals and hid-
den beliefs of the Troubadour cultus, embedded in its pages,
were not apparent. Only the most perceptive observers had
yet made the connection between the Grail and the
Troubadours. Many readers saw the Avalonian content as al-
legorical.
Finally, the role of the early Hospitalier and Templars, as
integral to the Fisherking and the other characters in the
Perlesvaus, went unnoticed by most 20th century scholars,
even though the book focused on the quest sagas of three
knights who often wore white capes decorated with red
crosses. 2
In the mid 1970s, several West Coast cognoscenti began
to recognize the Templar and Troubadour connections of the
book, and the nature of its relationship to Bardism and to
Hermetic initiations, through its structure, phrasing and
branching. Scholars like Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, the
famed author, and publisher John Michell, Elizabeth Leader,
with the founding members of R. I. L. K. O., the Research
into Lost Knowledge Organization, and the present author,
found the deeper levels of the book fascinating.
To the more enlightened reader, the Perlesvaus contains
several mysteries hinting at the revitalization of ancient be-
liefs. From this view, the Perlesvaus provides colorful
glimpses into an aristocratic and yet democratic way of life
operating within the feudal system— the way of the
Troubadours and Trouvéres.
At first, the Perlesvaus makes sense in a hypnotic way,
but gradually the ritualized process becomes clear. It is as if
1 Tennyson, Alfred North. Idylls of the King. Penguin Classics, London,
1992
2 Leader, Elizabeth et al. Patterns, RILKO, London. 1974

15
the author is speaking directly to the reader through the
centuries. He tells us he is a knight who respects women, a
celibate monk who builds temples that heal, an early Nos-
tradamus who is writing based on his visions and also that
he frequents high places—the court of a king perhaps.
Although never translated into American vernacular, the
High History of the Grail did hold an appeal to American
mystics and several spin-offs emerged. One of these came in
the form of a major motion picture, entitled, the Fisher King,
starring the great modern troubadour Robin Williams. In that
film, a homeless man has visions of the Holy Grail jousting
with the Green Knight. 1
In the Perlesvaus, the Grail is not a chalice but rather a
repository of knowledge and an initiation, a way of decoding
secret information. Again, based on internal evidence, who-
ever wrote the original text was possessed of an intimate
knowledge of English and French abbeys and the theology
behind them. He was also familiar with the entire history of
the Grail quest before his time, including the Arthurian sagas
and the hermetic mysteries, because all of these elements
flow through the Perlesvaus like fish in a huge aquarium.
Whoever wrote the Perlesvaus was one the most mysteri-
ous and capable authors of all time. On the way to glimpsing
his true face, the present author was able to see into the
Troubadour life-style and the writings of the author’s con-
temporaries, such as William of Malmsbury and the mysteri-
ous Marie d’ France, the equally anonymous author of the
Lais of France. 2
The text also tells us he is no stranger to monastic isola-
tion, hermits abound and lead us through every adventure,
and yet he portrays lavish court scenes as if he experienced
them directly. He describes melancholy as a catalyst for one
of the knights and yet he describes the joy of the contem-
plative life. His story unfolds, wrapped in the swaddling of
the past, but the practiced eye can find him peering out
from one of the castles or chapels he describes.
With focus, the reader will undoubtedly see the anonym-
ous author as an enlightened soul, not so much for his
monkish character, but for the books he must have studied,
I.e., Ovid, Marcus Aurelius, the commentaries on the Tim-
aeus of Plato by Saint Honorius, Hillary of Poitiers, Erigena
and Peter Abelard, to name only a few. In addition, he must
have been an architect because the reader is lead through
landscapes and buildings as if the author is a master mason
1 Op cit. Evans, S. Legend of the Golden Circlet in: Perlesvaus
2 The Lais of Marie de France: Project Gutenberg.

16
holding a plumb and compass. 1
Here then, for the first time in almost a millennium, a
truly bashful medieval mind shines through. Hiding in the
dense fog of historical censorship, the author of the Perles-
vaus now steps forward to redefine the Grail for us. It bears
repeating that the Grail, at least in this context, is not a solid
object, not the divine DNA carried by Mary Magdalene, not
an artifact, like the shroud of Turin, but rather an ancient,
initiation ceremony, a baptism by quest. All who ‘success-
fully’ undergo its rigors, change from common minded to
prescient?
Both Christianity and Judaism owe a great deal to this an-
cient process. It is a primordial form of enlightenment, prob-
ably traceable to the Ice Age. In other words, the Grail initi-
ation, containing in part, the idea that the stars and the
heavens affect human behavior and that the sun is really a
fixed star, seems to have migrated from the Atlantic region.
This reverse migratory wave, when seen only as based on
writing without deference to oral tradition, gave scholars the
illusion that civilization came from Iraq or Persia, Pakistan or
Northern India. In reality, the Grail teachings and the Gothic
or ‘French Style’ architecture of our Western civilization,
may well have developed in the mound culture of Neolithic
Europe, since it is now well verified that passage mounds
(Star Temples) like Kercado and Newgrange represent some
of the oldest stone buildings on earth. The cathedrals and
the mound temples serve the same purpose, they both filter
and condense light into specific beams, and they are both
set up to observe stars and planets. There must be a link.2
The Grail initiation, as depicted in the Perlesvaus, seeks
not to be an Indo-European phenomenon but is, most prob-
ably, Celtic, Medieval and Megalithic. Likewise, the idea that
the Grail is a ”thing” is erroneous and typical of Victorian
materialism. The fact that the questing knights seem to be
going through this same confusion, hints that the author is
leading us, ala gradual, to a higher level and to a realization
of the Grail as something ghostly and ephemeral.
If a metallic or glass object could have miraculous healing
power, it would seem dangerously illogical to the modern
world. The Perlesvaus often shows the subject knights in a
depressed and failure prone state, but this only occurs when
the actor sees the Grail as an object. The author hints,
mostly by shifts in mood, that looking for the Grail, as a tan-
1 Shaw, J. & T. McKenney, The Deadly Deception, Lafayette, 1988, pp.
142-144.
2 Shee-Twohig, E. The Megalithic Art of Western Europe', Oxford: 1981

17
gible item is futile. Conversely, seeing a chalice, as a symbol
of liberation, forces the seeker to operate on a visionary
level. In other words, the Grail is a teaching not a cup. 1
The Grail quest is not specifically Christian. It has taken
on Christian coloration because it provides a fluid connection
between the ancient mysteries and the mysteries of Christ
consciousness.
Without doubt, the Troubadours link certain musical and
intellectual talents to the Druids and Greek hermetic schol-
ars, especially their uncanny use of memory. Many examples
of memory magic and prodigious feats of mental gymnastics
populate Troubadour poetry.
G.R.S.Meade, the prodigious translator of the Hermetic
Pymander adds:
Pliny comments upon the similarity existing between the
teachings of the ancient Persian Magi and that of the Druids
of Gaul and Britain, almost to imply that they have a similar
point of origin or source. 2
The link between Druidism and Christian Magia, espe-
cially as it uses mnemonic magic, can be traced back to the
Gnostics and later to the Cathars and Saint Hillary of Poiti-
ers, who translated oral tradition into an interpretation of the
Christian Trinity using Gnostic and Bardic forms as inspira-
tion. It is important to note that Poitiers, especially under
Eleanor of Aquitaine, was a breeding ground for Catharism
and the Troubadour revolution. From Saint Hillary onward, it
seems the Troubadours were imbued with the gifts and tal-
ents of the Celtic Bards, gifts of mental magic that originate
as far back as the Stone Age. 3
A very mysterious document, known as the Elucidation,
(see Appendix A), probably authored by the same monk who
wrote the Perlesvaus, came to light at the turn of the 20th
century causing quite a stir in intellectual circles. The styles
of both are amazingly similar. In it, the author’s fascination
with the ancient Megalithic culture comes into focus. This
short performance piece, presented almost like a one act
play or Greek oratorio, demonstrates the need for harmony
and balance and how the mounds keep the land fertile only
when their occupants, the fairy maidens, remain in resid-
ence to serve all humanity. When the ban sidh (Fairy Folk or
Fairy maids) disappear from their mounds the land devolves
1 Op Cit, Evans, S. Perlesvaus. The Hermit at the Fountain
2 Mead, G.R.S. Thrice Greatest Hermes, Vol. III. p. 295.
3 McKenna, S. , Saint Hilary of Poitiers In: ”Fathers of the Church,” Vol.
25, Catholic University 1954. p. 555f.

18
into an infertile state. Characters and descriptions in the text
make it apparent that the author knew about the astronomy
and folklore of the mound builders. Deeper then, it seems
plausible that the shape and decor of a given mound, known
to the author as a ”burial chamber,” can act as a transmitter
of an ancient language based on astronomy, measurement,
and above al—architecture.
In a nostalgic way, the mounds and stone circles repres-
ent the ancestors—almost like books from the past. This fol-
lows a line of reasoning used by the Knights Templar build-
ers. According to Plato and Vitruvius, hundreds of books of
epic information can be included into the very walls and
columns of a well-designed temple, as was the case at Gla-
stonbury Abbey and Winchester, but only if one knows the
esoteric language and measurements.
Hermits and other mysterious characters, which appear,
and just as quickly disappear, in the pages of the Perlesvaus,
pass on the knowledge of the mounds. The knight, who
seeks true knowledge, must understand that the earliest
mound builders remain alive through their stone workman-
ship and that, likewise, a Platonic architect can achieve im-
mortality through his buildings. Our author had access to
this concept through the library at Glastonbury that con-
tained copies of Vitruvius’ De architectura, among other ar-
chitectural books. 1
The personal library of our mysterious author at Glaston-
bury originated, in part, at Cluny Abbey in Burgundy and
from other Troubadour centers. Cluny’s library, founded by
Abbot Odo, the son of a feudal lord and expanded, in turn,
by Abbot Odilio proved to be the largest library in Europe.
Books on architecture and alchemy arrived between
1024-1109 from the private collections of the sainted Hugh
de Semur, a monastic knight who also added large portions
to the building plan. As we shall see, this lost library estab-
lishes links between the early Benedictines, the Thebaudians
of Champagne and the Trouvéres of Northern France, and
Glastonbury.
The dates marking the last years of Hughes life at Cluny
are also significant for the education of anyone who would
eventually serve at Glastonbury. Several miracles took place
near his tomb. Thus, the story of the Perlesvaus and its au-
thor is really a story of two monasteries, one in England the
other in Burgundy. The book is also reflective of two conflict-
ing value systems one based on the dogma the Roman Cath-
1 Vitruvius, Marcus Pollio. The Ten Books of Architecture, (de architec-
tura) a treatise in Latin dedicated to the emperor Augustus.

19
olic Church and the other based on the alternative beliefs of
the Normans in England, the Thebaudian families of Cham-
pagne in the 12th century and the Troubadours who eventu-
ally published the Arthurian texts in the 13th century.

20
 Alpha
T
he Grail, King Arthur, Guenevere, and the Knights of
the Round Table all evolved from the creation myths of
the prehistoric peoples of Atlantic Europe and not from
Mesopotamia, as the Victorian scholars believed. 1
The Celts, and their remote ancestors, believed the uni-
verse began in the womb of the Great Mother Goddess—of-
ten seen as a she-bear or cauldron carrier—after impregna-
tion by Bolg or Og the Thunder and Rainbow God. Some
clans believed this light and shadow deity, possessed a
cauldron, a huge basin made of stone which cold provide
spiritual nourishment for everyone. The pathway to this
cauldron was fraught with challenges and could be found
only through experiencing the true meaning of the giant
stones and mounds as well as overcoming the innate human
fear of death, although the living could find the cauldron if
they traversed a spiral labyrinth, such as those at Glaston-
bury Tor, Newgrange, Amiens or Chartres. Essentially this
spiral dance is the prototype for the Holy Grail. 2
Jungians will argue that stepping ones way along a spiral
path is an ikon representing life itself—a function of the col-
lective unconscious, but I counter that, although that idea is
true, it is now time to look at the evidence for a “direct” and
tribal transmission of ritual. A growing body of archaeology
supports the contention that ceremonies tracing a spiral
stretch back to the cave dwellers, who passed their legends
down through shamanic tradition over thousands of years.
Naturally, the core spiral legend took on various forms
and names as it progressed, depending upon language and
clan affiliation, but, fundamentally, the spiral ritual grew
from an early understanding of the invisible force of the cos-
mic void and the spirits of nature. In this cosmology, the
male and female deity share equal powers and the spiral,
created by their union, is seen everywhere, even in the
mammalian brain stem. 3
In the Atlantic region and in many places in ancient North
America, the void and cavernous Mother Goddess merges
each year with the light beam father and the world is born
anew. It is, essentially, a heterosexual cosmology. Thus the

1 Harrison, Hank. The Cauldron and the Grail, 1995, p. 127

2 Ibid p. 241
3 Giambutus, Marija: The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe. 1986, pp.
167f

21
Grail, its spiral, and its sacraments, even Christian Commu-
nion, are, I argue, “directly” based on the earliest fertility
rights.
Because the Celts, and their mound-building ancestors,
reckoned their calendar by the moon, certain, special
moonchildren were conceived each year on ”special” days.
The large unexcavated mound at Dowth in Ireland, contains
a birthing chamber set to pick up the rays of the rising sun
on the Winter Solstice, after the longest night of the year, a
similar chamber captures the rays of the setting sun on the
same day, but both alignments were erected by observing
the moon. This also occurred at Newgrange, built 1/2 mile to
the west of Dowth and about 500 years later, indicating a
persistence of ritual in the builder culture. Those who wit-
nessed this miracle were, presumably, reborn themselves.
Here then we have a kind of shamanic Christianity function-
ing some 3500 years before Jesus. 1
The actions of sunrise and sunset beams in the Boyne
Valley is not derived from Indo-European reincarnation, but
is rather a process of mental and spiritual renewal, unique to
ancient cultures, predominantly those from the Atlantic rim.
These rituals percolated into Christianity from the ancient
past. How this information came to us, may well reveal the
true inner meaning of the Perlesvaus and its foundations as
a book of initiations. 2
As mentioned earlier, nearly one thousand years ago, in
England, a book, known as the Perlesvaus, written by an an-
onymous master, became almost as important as the bible.
It contained scenes and descriptions of secret initiations
never before described in writing.
In the Victorian era, Sebastian Evans, an Arthurian schol-
ar, translated this mysterious book into stylized English, us-
ing Caxton’s publication of Sir Thomas Malory’s work as a
guide. It is important to realize that Caxton published his
books (c. 1438) centuries after the Perlesvaus and the lan-
guage used by Caxton was far different than that used by
the originator of the work. This caused great deal of confu-
sion as to the dates and sequencing of the book.
Assuming the Perlesvaus arose from the 13th century ad-
ded further confusion. We now realize the book originated in
the mid-12th century at Glastonbury and somehow got
transferred to France in the early 13th century were it was
redacted and added to the court library of Marie of Cham-
pagne.
1 Trask, W. Trans. Eliade, M. Death & Rebirth, New York. 1983.
2 Minahane, John. Christian Druids, Sanas, Dublin, 1993 p. 45

22
 In the late 19th century, roughly contemporaneous with
Sebastian Evans, Professor William Nitze, a well-respected
American medieval scholar, produced his own translation as
his doctorial thesis and called it the High History of the Holy
Grail. Unfortunately again, Nitze placed the Perlesvaus in the
13th century asserting that it belonged somewhere amongst
the continuations of the famed writing of Chrétien De
Troyes. Thus, since the pre-WWII era, students of the Grail
believed Chrétien to be the originator of the Grail quest
prose and the Arthurian sagas. He was not, and, as we shall
prove, could not have been the original author, because
Chrétien tells us, in his own words, he used inspirational
texts to inspire him—one of which was probably the original
version of the Perlesvaus. 1
On the surface, the Perlesvaus is a compilation of quests
and sagas that, when enacted, as in a passion play, could
prepare certain initiates—probably crusaders—for the hard-
ships they might likely face. The narrative becomes a meta-
phor of three young knights on a quest for enlightenment,
but, on a deeper level, the three knights represent partitions
of one human soul, perhaps even a paradigm for the human
mind, although the Christian interpretation would connect
the three to the Trinity.
In the 12th century, this degree of wisdom would only be
available to someone with an advanced education, someone
privileged, with access to libraries of great scope and an-
cient learning—Troubadour libraries of the kind banned by
the Roman church, libraries that contained books sup-
pressed as early as the Synod of Whitby in the 7th century. 2
Although we now think of them as song stylists and wan-
dering minstrels, the Troubadours and their northern coun-
terparts, the Trouvéres, were far more than entertainers.
Through agreements within extended clans, and with the
Knights Templars and Hospitalier, also linked by family ties,
they developed a lucrative goods trade, an architectural sys-
tem, a banking network, and a vast publishing empire. This
first conglomerate included outlets for performance art and
literature, another element arising from ancient Celtic Bard-
ism.
Thousands of inspired masons passed this memory theat-
er into architecture. Once established they built the first
“French Style” Gothic arches and facades at St. Denis in Par-
is, (p. Den ee) although some authorities claim Sens, under
1 Nitze, William, Old French Romance: Perlesvaus, s study of it’s Prin-
ciple Stories. Thesis. Baltimore, 1902
2 Council of Trent ; Index librorum prohibitorum [Tridentine Index] (1564)

23
the authority of Cluny, was the first source with St. Denis,
and Chartres following soon after. Each of these building
programs, seem to be part of an even more colossal plan or-
chestrated by a secret society in operation before the Tem-
plars.
Although following a sub-rosa plan, each of the cathedrals
grew to be a little larger, until the stress mechanics seemed
to have reached their peak at Amiens, displacing more than
200,000 cubic meters. Nor was the process perfectly thought
out, in fact it was a bit of a hodge-podge and even organic.
Some masons worked from templates developed in the Paris
Basin others found ways to improvise, and undoubtedly ap-
prentices were ever-present, the entire subculture was
learning as they worked. Not coincidentally, the source of in-
come for Gothic temples like Chartres began to run out as
the Cistercians came to power. The grand Gothic reach for
heaven, was slowed down in favor of a reversion to the
Romanesque—Citeaux being the prime example. 1
To fully understand this we should briefly retrace our
steps. The publishing and architectural traditions connecting
the Essenes and Troubadours to the Benedictines began
with the fall of Rome. As the Roman legions moved back to
Italy, many pre-Christian books, scrolls and illuminated
manuscripts found their way into private libraries. In the late
Dark Ages, these libraries coalesced under Benedictine rule,
especially, at Cluny in Burgundy, and Montecassino in the
mountains south of Rome. At the same time many heretical
works were taken to Rome to be hidden away in the Vatican,
but the majority were destroyed. The suppression of exoteric
learning accelerated in the mid 12th century under Cistercian
rule, leading ultimately to the Inquisition and to the persecu-
tion of witches and Jews.
In 664, the previously mentioned, Synod of Whitby at-
tempted to dissolve the Celtic Church, with specific refer-
ence to its vast Gnostic and Hermetic libraries, especially in
Ireland and Wales, but the spirit of the old church and its for-
bidden Gaelic schools, lived on, especially in teachers like
Dun Scotus Erigena, who became the head of the Paris
school at Saint Denis in the mid 9th century. 2
The monastic libraries shared books over a wide territory,
but, instead of moving the books from place to place, schol-
ars often traveled to the books, as was the case when the Al-
exandrian library was intact. Some of these books came
from private estates, even royal palaces; some were simply
1 James, John. The Master Masons of Chartres. West Grinstead,1991
2 Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2006.

24
abandoned and wound up in the hands of traveling monks or
itinerant vendors, others were transcribed from traditional
folk legends. 1
As a powerful and ancient organization with roots in the
Megalithic era and with its libraries intact, the Celtic church
as known to William of Malmsbury and therefore also, Henry
Blois, became a well-organized body of abbots, monks, and
nuns answering more directly to Jerusalem and Alexandria.
In sum they were far more dedicated to Cluny and Monte
Cassino than to Rome. Thus, when asked what form their
liturgy imitates, the monks of Glastonbury would often an-
swer, ”We practice in the Egyptian style,” meaning the Alex-
andrian, or Gnostic-Essene style. But this is also cryptic, be-
cause they were Benedictines and this odd response really
implied something far more esoteric.
Before the introduction of the Benedictine Rule, Glaston-
bury Abbey was thought of as an extension of Egyptian
Gnosticism. The answer is not simple, but moreover it is not
wholly indecipherable. According to the Wikipedia, "Chris-
tianity spread throughout Egypt within half a century of
Saint Mark's arrival in Alexandria as is clear from the New
Testament writings found in Bahnasa, in Middle Egypt, which
date around the year AD 200. In addition a fragment of the
Gospel of John, written in Coptic, was found in Upper Egypt
dated to the first half of the second century." This would be
the time of St. Pachomius, the founder of Coptic Christianity
in Egypt, making this kind of Christianity a direct extension
of the Essenes and the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. St.
Benedict founded the Benedictine Order on the principles of
St. Pachomius. And like the Gnostic orders, their monastic
leader would be thought of as a Teacher of Righteousness,
or, as portrayed in the Perlesvaus, the Fisher King. In other
words, each new Abbot of Glastonbury had to be initiated as a Fisher
of men and as the king of the fishers of souls. 2
Vatican preachers, in the sixth century fought against this
blatant nonconformist doctrine. In Ireland, France, Scotland,
and Wales, hundreds of years of merger with the Brehon and
Bardic system forced compromise, both in spirit and in lan-
guage. To compete, papal evangelists offered bribes or re-
sorted to threats.
In addition, competitive envoys from Alexandria and Jeru-
salem, more Gnostic than Judaic, more Hermetic than Papal,
embedded themselves in the Gaelic culture as early as the
first century. These men and women, following in the foot-
1 Charpentier, L. Les Myster du San Jaques, Paris 1973. p. 19
2 Ibid p. 89. See also: Malmsbury, W. Antiquities of Glastonbury.

25
steps of the first pilgrims to France, called themselves
Zadokian evangelists. These groups were essential evolved
from the biblical Sadducees. Like the Essenes, who inspired
them, these evangelists taught that women could inherit
lands, rule as monarchs, and act as fully endowed clergy.
Like the Celts and Merovingian’s, they practiced fosterage of
children and the sharing of trade. Most learned to speak
Gaelic as well as Latin and Greek.
By the 11th century, many of these inspired free thinkers,
steeped in Celtic and Greek mythology, developed followers,
and began calling themselves, Troubadours (Trouvère in the
North). In addition to staging colorful shows, they made a
profit from distributing books and music sheets. Unfortu-
nately, much of what they produced is lost to us, in fact,
after 1130; whole libraries met the flames of ignorance, of-
ten under mysterious conditions. 1
Like any conquering force, these new Norman overlords,
carrying Viking and Celtic blood in their veins, preferred their
own artistic forms, styles of dress, music, and language and
their own entertainments. In many cases, much to the dis-
may of the papacy, they often fell in league with the
Troubadours and Gnostics, who were already established
throughout Europe.
The direct descendents of William the Conqueror often
used feudal law in creative ways, and were not generally as
brutal as the church in carrying out punishments. Then
again, the Norman hierarchy supported the Troubadours
who preferred a wide-ranging education for women, peas-
ants, poets, and musicians, as part of their Christian up-
bringing. 2
More importantly, for this discussion, the Normans—who
had been absorbing ancient Greek and Roman teachings as
well as Gaelic culture through the Benedictine order—pre-
ferred a form of Christianity which carried within it, the ap-
peasement of heretics and the elevation of women.
King Henry Beauclerc (Henry I) includes the following
curious edict in the Charter of Liberties of 1100—a document
that set the stage for the Magna Carta, a century later:

1 Paris, Gaston, Chansons D’ Trouvier, Warburg. 1977

2 Maitland, F. W. The Constitutional History of England. Cambridge, 1965

26
 And if, upon the death of a baron or other of my
men, a daughter is left as heir, I will give her with her
land by the advice of my barons. And if, on the death of
her husband, the wife is left and without children, she
shall have her dowry and right of marriage, and I will
not give her to a husband unless according to her will. 1

Labeled heresies, works elevating women, such as the

Gnostic Gospels, which include the Book of Mary Magdalene,
appeared only in collections belonging to the wealthiest cit-
izens. Likewise many books based on the philosophies of
the, so called, ”Pagan Fathers,” remained hidden in monast-
ic libraries, always ready to come out of the darkness when
the opportunity arose. The Troubadours and Trouvéres took
that opportunity at every turn in the road.

1 ibid.

27
Book One

28
 Stars in the Stones
N
o scholar has yet pinpointed the date when people
began to think of God as an architect or when archi-
tecture became a language. Traditionalists place the
first sacred architecture in Mesopotamia, but evidence is ac-
cumulating to argue for the precedence of the megaliths,
cairns and standing stones of the Atlantic rim as the first
stone structures on earth. Highly advanced Radiocarbon
technology employed by Serge Cassen in 2007, dates the
telescopic mounds of Locmariaquer in Brittany to a calib-
rated date of 6400 years BPE.1
Plato mentions Atlantis in his Timaeus and Criteas. He also
refers to, Tekton the master architect or demiurge who
structures the universe by use of geometry. This same figure
appears again in Modern Freemasonry as G. A. O. T. U., the
Grand Architect of the Universe, symbolized by the letter G.
Perhaps, by this odd inclusion, Plato was pointing us toward
Atlantis in the west as a source, not Babylon. We now know
that the first stone buildings appeared in the Atlantic region
during the earliest Neolithic Age. The first use of overlapping
stone plates to construct a corbelled ceiling is found at the
temple complex at Barnenez in Bretagne, near Brest, facing
the Atlantic, this great mound, built more than 6000 years
ago displays several chambers which resemble Gothic
arches in cross section. Apparently this design technology
spread quickly because around that same time, similar
designs appeared at Knowth near Newgrange in Ireland. 2 ,3
All of the megaliths surrounding the Atlantic Rim track
the moon, sun and major planets in some manner. Struc-
tures displaying etchings and carvings, like those at Dowth
in Ireland and Locmariaquer, in Bretagne, reveal radiocarbon
dates thousands of years older than the Great Pyramids.
This means these mounds came into existence long before
any structure in Egypt or the Fertile Crescent. I mention
these stones and their meaning in this context only because,
as we shall see later, the man I am suggesting as the author
of the Perlesvaus, studied the megaliths and used megalithic
1 Cassen, Serge., Material Culture & Chronology of the Middle Neolithic
of Western France. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Vol 12. #2 May 2007.
pp197-208
2 Plato. Timaeus, Viking Edition p. 179 and see: Penn, William, The Sev-
en Gs of Masonry. British Museum Mss.
3 Thomson, Jane and C. Thomson, "Tracing the Maritime Archaic. ” In: Ar-
chaeology of Newfoundland and Labrador. 1983, pp. 6-47.

29
principles in the buildings he designed.
In 1936, R. A. F. Macalister, the dean of prewar Irish ar-
chaeology, saw the stone markings as distinct forms of writ-
ing, although high-ranking religious pundits insisted they
were senseless doodles. Elizabeth Shee-Twohig, of Cork Uni-
versity, first cataloged the markings Macalister mentioned,
in depth. In the late 1970s Shee-Twohig, searched hundreds
of sites in Western Europe and identified specific forms of
geometric writing carved into the stones. In her monumental
work, she acknowledged that the markings had to be a form
of writing as they appeared in almost identical configura-
tions in many areas including Ireland, France, and Iberia.
This system had no words; as we know them, rather it was a
language of geometry and cosmic motion. Zigzags and dis-
tinct spirals, flowing ribbons, radials and stars formed the
communication instead of Phoenician syllables. 1
Although not interested in the markings per se, Alexander
Thom and his son, both civil engineers by trade, working
from Scotland to Cornwall, established an early astronomical
connection to stones other than Stonehenge. At first very
few people believed him. Now, more than sixty years after
Thom began his work, the United Nations and the world her-
itage fund have seen fit to protect Callinish and Maes Howe,
in Scotland, and the Boyne Valley sites in Ireland as well as
hundreds of other sites, all dating to the early Neolithic Age
and all holding astronomical relevance. 2
Thom, argued that the megaliths were often based on a
standard measurement and that this measurement, which
he called the Megalithic Yard, could be found all over the At-
lantic rim. More proof for a standardized ancient measure
came between 1979 and 1982, when, armed with a grant
from the highly regarded Japan Creation Group, Martin Bren-
nan argued that the markings on the stones were astro-
nomical tracking marks, basically cosmic words, and that
two standard measures, which he called an Alpha measure
and a Beta measure, were used in the Irish mounds. Further-
more, he proved, that many of the mounds, especially he
three mounds in the Boyne Valley, worked together, like
cogs in a clock wheel or like sliding triggers in a puzzle box.
A trained artist and Aikido master and a native Irish
speaker from birth, Brennan spent several years researching
in Japan and Mexico before coming to Ireland. His back-

1 Macalister R. A. The Archaeology of Ireland. Arno, 1977. Ills.

2 Thom, A. "A Statistical Examination of the Megalithic Sites in Britain".
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) 118 part III:
275 – 295. 1955

30
ground allowed him to see patterns the archaeologists were
not looking for.
Between 1979 and 1982 Brennan, worked in the mounds
almost daily, taking hundreds of expeditions, to prove the
earliest builders, known in Ireland as the Passage Grave Cul-
ture, were able to site their buildings by marking the Winter
Solstice as early as 6000 years ago. Brennan proved that the
builders used both the sun and the moon as well as planets
to reckon their calendars.
In addition, Brennan and Jack Roberts, later accompanied
by the present author as an observer, were able to prove
that some of the mounds were astronomical observatories
and that many of them sent signals to one another. 1
Roberts, working alone in Ireland since 1982, has shown
consistent evidence of an extremely old written code carved
into thousands of stones located throughout the Atlantic
Neolithic Sphere. Roberts suggested that virtually every ma-
jor farm in West Cork in the Neolithic era featured a stone
ring. He estimates the Neolithic population of Ireland to be
approximately 500,000 inhabitants. 2
In 1982, the present author, working with dozens of reli-
able witnesses, including Martin Brennan, and local radio
and television observers, showed that by using an octagonal
quartz prism and other defined prism shapes, the color
bands of normal light could easily be separated in the
mound interiors at Equinox and Solstice occasions. I got this
idea at Glastonbury Abbey, and Chartres Cathedral many
years earlier. So, again, we find the anonymous author of he
Perlesvaus, a man we are certain spent much time at Gla-
stonbury, standing in the middle of this odd mystery. Al-
though more work needs to be done, it seems plausible that
these ancient mound temples were set up to observe the
light beam striking certain points, separating into the color
spectrum and reuniting. This arcane phenomenon symbol-
izes the birth and rebirth of light as a dynamic process fol-
lowing the triune pattern: light-color-darkness. 3
In any case, the signs and markings carved into the huge
stones around and within the mounds are not random
doodles. Brennan, Roberts, and an increasing population of
more recent researchers, many of which live near the
mounds and can visit them everyday, continue to prove that
the markings on the stone temples correlate with shadow
and brightness, and prism arrays. If this is true then these
1 Op cit. Shee-Twoig. The earliest written language on record.
2 Roberts, Jack. Stone Circles of West Cork, Key Books,1987
3 Harrison, Hank. The Stones of Ancient Ireland, Arkives, 2003, p. 127

31
mounds and their markings represent, the earliest com-
puters and exhibit the earliest abstract writing anywhere on
earth. 1
After 40 years of solid research, I feel it is time to take
Thom’s and Brennan’s research further. The megalith build-
ers were astronomers and, although more difficult to prove,
they were probably also aware that the sun stood at the cen-
ter of the known universe. In other words, they were prob-
ably heliocentric. They were also sea travelers who could
navigate oceans using solar and stellar tracking techniques.
It is also important to stress, that the carved stones of
Western Europe represent a coherent written language. Did
the Druids and, subsequently, the Troubadours and Knights
Templar inherit this code? Is this the key to the Grail Mys-
tery?
In The Cauldron and the Grail, I answered these questions
in the affirmative. That work established the Grail as an initi-
ation, not a material object and not the womb of a Goddess
or early Christian priestess related to royal DNA. Instead, the
Grail is a vast teaching system based on the measurements,
curves and circles, ribbons and starbursts etched into the
stones of the ancient mounds dotting the Atlantic rim.
Hebraic, Greek, Egyptian, Sufi, Essene and Gnostic influ-
ences came later, but the root of the Grail secret is more
than likely megalithic and probably heliocentric.
In other words, the Grail teaching system, although re-
lated to the line of David and the Essenes in a Talmudic con-
text, is much older. This assertion became reasonable only
recently with the aide of ultramodern technologies such as
DNA sampling, computer analysis, florescent tests and ra-
diocarbon dating.
To repeat, the Grail initiation seems to be an ancient ma-
gical and geometric custom linked to astronomy. This early
science worked its way Eastward, over time, donating the
wisdom of the Atlantic Maritime mound builders to the tribes
of the Levant, in other words, from Bretagne, for example, to
Lebanon via the Phoenicians. More specifically, we may soon
be able to trace the DNA of the mound builders, the mysteri-
ous people who came before the Celts, through the Druids,
who had no written history, to the Egyptians and Israelites
and to biblical personages like Melchizedek, thence to Abra-
ham. 2
Although it may be true that the Merovingian’s came
from the royal line of David, a royal line that extended
1 Brennan, Martin. The Stars & the Stones. Thames & Hudson, p. 111.
2 Freke, Timothy and Gandy, Peter. The Jesus Mysteries. 1999, p. 104ff.

32
through Jesus and Mary Magdalene, it is almost irrelevant
from an anthropological perspective, since the worship of
the concave womb object, as hewn in stone, as a solar and
lunar catchment basin, is at least 10,000 years older than
Judaism. 1
It will soon be apparent, that the author of the Perlesvaus
knew how old the Grail motif really was, and that it repre-
sented heliocentrism, Gnostic teachings, and other cosmic
principles as well as operative geometry and Celtic folk
tales. He may have been a child of the lost royal bloodline
himself, more focused on bringing out the spirit of the Grail
than exploiting his royal birthright.
If the present hypothesis is correct, Mithraism, Neoplaton-
ism, Gnostic teachings and Hermetism were common with
his mentors and he was writing his book (s) accordingly. Fur-
thermore, if he proves to be a high-ranking Knight Templar,
it follows that the Templars knew about the link to the mega-
liths and that at least some of their early initiation and
rituals portrayed Heliocentrism as central to their beliefs. I
say this because, the measurements mentioned early, and
the alphanumeric etchings found on the stone temples,
neatly fit the measurements of the Medieval Cathedral build-
ers, an, if it turns out the author of the Perlesvaus was, in
fact, an architect, he must have known and understood the
connection. 2
Stated anthropologically, it appears that human beings,
some 6000 years ago, observed the sun at the center of our
planetary system and recorded these observations in stone
for posterity. This idea became a heresy but, it seems, the
truth of heliocentricity has always been around. Somewhere
along the way, these first ‘psychologists’ undoubtedly ob-
served that those who synchronized their minds with the sun
and the cosmos lead healthier lives. Later, perhaps in the
Dark Ages, certain groups carried on this enquiry and began
to build chapels, monasteries and cathedrals using the same
or similar measurements.
I came to these conclusions during a sabbatical in Ireland.
I lived within two miles of the 5500 year-old mound known
as Newgrange. During that two-year period, Brennan,
Roberts and I became notorious for sneaking inside the
Boyne Valley mounds and spending nights in various inner
chambers to observe Winter Solstice and Equinox events. It
was not exactly legal, but it was necessary in view of the
vandalism that was going on at the hands of the inept ar-
1 Harrison, H. Cauldron and the Grail, Op cit.
2 Harrison, Hank. 6000-Year-Old Computers. Dr Dobbs, October 1982

33
chaeologists in charge of the projects. In one case, a major
gnomon (shadow casting) stone disappeared under a wall.
Had the stone been left standing, had it been placed back in
its Neolithic socket, the stone would have cast a clock like
shadow and would have show the way to the Spring Equinox
lightbeam entering he eastern chamber of the mound. To
this day, the docents at Knowth deny such a lightbeam ex-
ists at Knowth. This outrageous larceny took place because
the lightbeam and mound interaction hypothesis was con-
trary to the Archaeologists early thesis and contrary to
church dogma.
The more we explored the more we were motivated to
take action. Proof exists. The official archaeologists appear
in photographs directing the burial of the stone under a re-
vetment wall. This is tantamount to vandalizing the mounds.
Workmen, laboring under orders from the head archaeolo-
gist, admitted to building debris piles on the eastern side of
the mound to block the light from coming in and planting
trees on the Western side in the direct path f the sunset light
again to block a lightbeam from entering the western portal.
Their actions denied access to the academic world and we
still have no idea how much vital data was lost. 1
During those expeditions, I observed stars and planets
passing across roof boxes and between stones. During day-
light observations, we tracked solar and lunar shadows and
observed dozens of light beams and shadow dials, entering
and leaving at dozens of locations. The light beam at New-
grange is quite famous now, but I assure you there are hun-
dreds, if not thousands of others. Once you begin looking for
them they appear all over the place and for every beam,
there are dozens of shadow dials and markings for every
dial.
In the early 1980s and again in the 1990s I spent several
nights standing vigil inside at Chartres, also living nearby for
several weeks during Solstice and Equinox days. Light
beams from the sun and moon are easily observed at
Chartres and at other Grail inspired cathedrals.
Throughout that period, I was reading and rereading the
Perlesvaus. It did not take long to realize that the Gothic ar-
chitects and the author of the Perlesvaus had somehow
figured out the secrets of the Stone Age builders, almost as
if the two groups were able to talk across time in an indelible
language.
In any case, the transhistorical link between the masons

1 Brennan, Martin. The Boyne Valley Vision. Dolmen Press. 1980.

34
of the cathedrals and the mound builders is observable,
demonstrable, and palpable. More directly, we can trace this
link in the great book known as the Perlesvaus, in that the
source for a great deal of learning in that book comes from
the people of the, so called, Fairy Mounds. 1
Star Temples, like Newgrange, Glastonbury Tor, and Ker-
cado, and cosmically oriented cathedrals like Chartres, Ami-
ens, and Notre Dame d’ Paris—or any cathedral built under
the auspices of the Templars—were designed to track the
stars and planets. Anyone who rejects this idea has never
truly seen Stonehenge or Chartres first hand. Like the Star
Temples and megaliths before them, the grand French
cathedrals continue to represent a door to an ancient en-
lightenment, and in each case a labyrinth is associated with
the structure. 2
When you stand at the center of the maze at Chartres or
the octagonal maze at Amiens, you sense that you are the
sun and that the entire planetary system is revolving around
you. This happens because the builders planned it that way.
In a later chapter I will offer more proof, but for now let us
assume that, 400 years before Copernicus, the cathedral
builders, ‘sensed’ the sun stood still at the center of our
planetary system. 3
More amazingly, the ancient megalith builders also
marked the sun at the center of the solar system, some five
thousand years before Copernicus, and to demonstrate their
knowledge they left us hundreds of mounds surrounded by
stones incised with spirals and stars which were deciphered
many years ago. 4
In both Medieval and Neolithic contexts, the religious ex-
perience of quest, of treading a labyrinth in search of God,
and against opposition, lifts the supplicant and saturates the
mind with light and shadow. If we included a stained glass
window or a quartz crystal, we can include color, a third va-
lence, making the paradigm similar to the Christian Trinity.
This tripartite theme or ”triad,” is so universal that, accord-
ing to D. O. Hebb, the father of Cognitive Psychology, it may
be a projection of the physiology of the mammalian, brain. 5
1 See Appendix A. Comments on the Elucidation
2 Lewis-Williams, David. Inside the Neolithic Mind: Consciousness, Cos-
mos, and the Realm of the Gods. Thames&Hudson. London. 1995 p. 112
3 Yates, Frances, Giordano Bruno& the Hermetic Tradition, RKP 1976,
p-278
4 Op. cit. Brennan, Martin. The Stars and the Stones. Thames and Hud-
son, 1982, London
5 Hebb, D. O. ”The Hebb Synapse. Neuroimage 4, S7–S11 1996 Article #
0041

35
 Ancient structures like Newgrange and Amiens continue
to generate astronomical data, as if they were giant com-
puters. Whoever built these temples passed this information
along to us by building them in permanent stone. Without
them, we may not have reconnected ourselves to the an-
cient past and its lost knowledge. 1
Over the millennia, the truth of the fairy faith and the
mounds remained alive until it became the highest aspect of
the Grail process under the Troubadours and the original
Crusader Knights sponsored by the Counts of Champagne.
The belief that the ancient people are still with us in
many ways, began to fade, when the larger body of Tem-
plars was recruited by Abbe' Bernard leading up to the Coun-
cil of Troyes, 1128. In other words, when the esoteric teach-
ings began to fade and a more stoic regimen set in, philo-
sophers and poets, like the author of the Perlesvaus, wrote
books to remind us of our heritage almost as if the old le-
gends were rescued from the closed mindedness that was
soon to come.
For example, Bernard thought bathing was unhealthy,
even ungodly, so he enforced an edict against soap. His
hatred of perfume and cosmetics, even talcum, was so viol-
ent that he required all recruits to wear sheepskin under-
wear and his feelings about the influences of legends from
the past were well publicized.
In retrospect, the gathering of the army for Bernard’s ill-
fated second crusade did not take place overnight. From
1102, when Count Stephen Etienne Blois died at Ramelah, to
1145—when the second crusade collapsed, Abbe’ Bernard
was busy preaching his masochistic doctrine of redemption.
The earliest Templars, with roots in Champagne and Cluny—
those with a slightly more hedonistic temperament, and a
great deal more access to soap—had more than 40 years to
construct their counterrevolution. This movement centered
on the construction of cathedrals in the Gothic style and on
the development of new forms of writing both of which were
connected directly to Henry Blois.
Eleanor of Aquitaine was six when the Council of Troyes
convened, her father and her exalted grandfather, both
revered in their own lands, were still alive and both men did
a great did to support Cluny and avert repression, but their
eleemosynary ways did little to slow Bernard’s march to
power.
At the peak of Bernard’s anti-intellectual crusade, Eleanor
1 Clark, D. V. et al Symbols of Power at the Time of Stonehenge. Edin-
burgh, 1983

36
became, queen in her own right. She married the king of
France and arranged marriages for her two daughters, Marie
and Alix, both destined to marry into the Thebaudian dy-
nasty.
At age twenty-four Eleanor decided she and her husband
would sew on the red, cross patch, identifying them as pil-
grims on the second Crusade, but to her it seemed more like
a party than a pilgrimage. She took the cross at Vezelay, and
pledged herself and Louis VII to the crusade before the reli-
quary of Mary Magdalene, all with great solemnity. Within
three months, she managed to upstage Bernard and turned
the Crusade into a scandal. Within one month of arriving in
Palestine, she had an affair, with her uncle, Prince Raymond,
the Duke of Poitiers. 1
Meanwhile the original Templars received funding to build
cathedrals and monasteries, forts and hospitals at a breath-
taking rate. By the time the Templars were dispossessed (c.
1308) Eleanor’s Goddess cult had been operating under-
ground for more than three centuries and undoubtedly con-
tinued, probably growing into what we now call white witch-
craft.

1 Op cit, Amy Kelly. pp. 70-71

37
 Trouvère
J udging from his narrative style, the author of the Perles-
vaus, was, without question, influenced by the Thebaudi-
ans in Western France, specifically Champagne and
Troyes, and as such was probably also influenced by the
Troubadour traditions that date back to the Bards and
Druids.
In the Dark Ages, as the Roman empire receded from the
west, the word Troubadour obtained to wandering minstrels
who, like the poet storytelling bards before them, sang at
inns, along country roads and at celebrations. In the tenth
century these intellectuals grew into a new subculture, per-
haps less focused then that of their grandparents, but plying
the same trade.
As the Crusades progressed, the term, ‘Troubadour’ be-
came an almost occult identity, extending to writing and
commercial enterprise as well as music and entertainment.
By the 12th century, the term "Troubadour" applied to certain
highly talented or charismatic people of both genders. This
group, gathered momentum by adopting gifted young
people, and enriching them in the arts and other studies.
This class of free thinkers grew in power rather quickly,
especially accelerated by the first crusade. By the 13th cen-
tury Troubadour values grew to be heresy. Writing poetry
about uplifting the social position of women, for example,
could easily cause economic censure and even excommunic-
ation. Thus, from the 10th through the 13th century the
Troubadour class, the entire medieval bohemian subculture,
especially in Western France and Norman England, grew into
a huge population of intellectuals who ran the risk of losing
everything they owned if they said mass in Welsh or spoke
the old languages buried in music and poetry. 1
For the present argument the differences between
Troubadour and Trouvère are insignificant, they were all part
of the same expanded cult family. In all cases, the free
knowledge taught by these seers and poets threatened the
church—and the ruling elite outside of Troubadour areas—
whose livelihood depended upon church policy. The specter
of a freethinking Gnostic church, not dependent on dogma,

1 Duffy, Jonathan. August 22, 2002. Back from the Dead: Cornish BBC
News Review. See also: Caith do vóta ar son páirtithe atá ar son na
gaeilge (Irish language) — conradh na Gaeilge press release, Dublin 22
may 2006.

38
and interwoven into the fabric of common Christianity, was
intolerable in Rome. 1
In addition to the active promotion of women, almost in
the style of the Trojans, Troubadour ideas about how the
universe began differed markedly from those of the church
fathers. Far more like Celts and the preapic Greeks, the
gentry of Central France, influenced by Gnosticism and Neo-
platonism, felt the papacy was almost out of touch. The Ro-
man church, virtually owned Paris, and everything in it but
this, largest city in the known world, was encircled by agrari-
an lands loaded with troubadours and pagan thinkers a situ-
ation not in keeping with the growing power lust emanating
from the Hills of Rome. From the Dark ages on, the Vatican’s
propensity for xenophobia came to focus on the Gnostics
and Cathars. The papal fear of losing power to an alternative
religion, painted all Celts, nature worshippers, Mohamme-
dans, Jews and Troubadours, with one brush.
After the Norman Revolution, anyone claiming to be Mer-
ovingian became déclassé, and anyone of the belief that Je-
sus was married, or anything but divine, was guilty of
heresy. Yet, there were mystics and alternative believers,
especially within certain Benedictine monasteries and
Troubadour courts, who centered themselves at Cluny. Were
the Troubadours really heretics? 2
During the High Middle Ages, a Troubadour was often a
composer and performer of songs. The tradition began to
flourish during the Dark Ages and under the assimilated
Druids and ethnic Bards, but many of these performers were
also politicians and newscasters, court gossips and traveling
storytellers.
The earliest Troubadour, whose work survives, is Guilhem
de Peitieus (Guillaume d'Aquitaine) or William IX, Duke of
Aquitaine (1071-1127), Eleanor of Aquitaine's grandfather.
Peter Dronke, author of The Medieval Lyric, notes that
Guillaume’s songs are not the beginning of the Troubadour
form. Instead, they represent a higher development of an
earlier style that traces back to Celtic times. This implies
that Guillaume practiced an unheralded performance art
that came from the era of the bards and Druids, the post-Ro-
man period when most art and music had to be memorized
and passed on in families. 3
The Duke’s fame went before him, expressly because he

1 Freke, T. and Gandy,P. Jesus & the Lost Goddess. Three Rivers Presk.
2002
2 In Gaelic the word Cloonagh or Clooneigh, means. ”meadow. ”
3 Dronke, Peter. Medieval Lyric, David Brown, p. 212ff.

39
operated on the highest levels of Occitan and Merovingian
royalty, and because he could afford to have his songs and
poems transcribed. He sold the song sheets to other singers
and musicians and published his poetry abroad. His longev-
ity and success derive from his gracious acceptance into vir-
tually every royal house in Western Europe. It is no surprise
that the Dukes of Aquitaine, especially those who endowed
Cluny, were virtual kings. It was, as if, they carried with
them, the beating heart of ancient France. 1
Guillaume’s style continued to flourish in the late 12th
century, long after his death and his songs and poetry were
still performed in the 13th and early 14th centuries, especially
in the courts of his great Granddaughters, Marie, and Adella,
the daughters of Eleanor, both of who married into the
Champagne aristocracy. Marie had a huge impact on intel-
lectual life. In addition to amassing an important library, she
urged Chrétien de Troyes to begin his world shattering writ-
ing career.
Let us not adopt the idea that Troubadours traveled
alone. Guillaume, like a rock star today, usually traveled with
a sizeable entourage, and could easily raise an army, on
short notice. I suppose the cooks, jesters, musicians, scribes,
guards and nurses who traveled with him, would be known
in modern American slang as a, “krew.”
News of any great Troubadours arrival preceded him by
months. It was as if a small circus was coming to town.
Townships and Royal houses sent arbitrators ahead to seek
him out, often offering rich rewards to seal a performance
contract.
Not only was he a rock star he was a trendsetter, espe-
cially as his clothing and equestrian styles moved through
the Champagne region and the Langudoc. Guillaume was
also a bookseller. This uncanny service was essentially a spy
network, which made him as popular as his songs and many
Troubadours followed his lead. 2
The etymology of the word Troubadour is controversial.
The argument breaks into two camps. Romantics argue that
the root of the word can be found either in the Occitan verb
trobar, 'to compose, invent, or devise', or in the Vulgar Latin
tropare, 'to say with tropes'. By contrast, Arabic scholars
posit a near Eastern origin (via Spain) in the word tarrab, 'to
sing'. The word Trouvere, to search, is also part of the puzzle
as it attaches to the families of Champagne and Rheims.
1 Op cit. Amy Kelly: Bernard Ventadour affair pp. 85-87ff.
2 Gordon, Raymond G. , (ed. ), Languages of the World, 15th ed. Dallas,
2005.

40
 The word, "Troubadour" labeled poet-musicians, who
spoke Occitan and Langue d’oc in the mid 12th century, but
Troubadour beliefs grew from Gnostic and Celtic roots.
This style spread to the Trouvéres in the north of France,
who spoke the langue d'oïl, meaning the language of ”yes”
or the affirmative language. However, it also puns on the art
of seeing, as in the language of the eye. To stretch it further,
this could mean the language of reality or seeing truth. Fi-
nally it could mean seeing the word through the eyes of the
old gods and goddesses. They did not call themselves pa-
gans, as that term took on a pejorative tone as soon as the
church was established in Rome. Instead the Trouvéres were
increasingly labeled, “heretics” by the Lateran Councils,
which evolved eventually into the Inquisition. 1
Troubadour songs deal mainly with themes of chivalry
and courtly love. These feminist ideas took hold in the 12th
century and grew in magnificence everywhere Queen Elean-
or held court, but even within Eleanor’s sphere of influence,
which was, immense after 1180, they took on a special
power with her favored Potevins, the local country folk who
adored her and everything she did. In some ways we could
say Eleanor herself was a Troubadour with a vast following,
like an operatic Diva today.
Her most favored song styles, known as ”aubade,” came
from her folkloric roots in Poitiers and Albi. These popular
lyric poems, suggestive of the Lancelot-Guenevere tryst, ad-
dressed both the pain and euphoria of errant lovers falling in
love. This poignant theme sprang from the fact that so many
arranged marriages took place in that era.
Some of the Troubadour works exist in manuscripts
known as chansonniers (songbooks). Troubadours with sur-
viving works include one of Eleanor’s lovers, Bernart de
Ventadorn, but songbooks also survive attributable to Arnaut
Daniel, and Jaufré Rudel. We know also, that the inquisition,
in the early 12th century, persecuted Troubadours because
their lyrics and songs were often suggestive of physical love.
The dramatic fate of Abelard and Heloise, well known as it
occurred, acted as an early warning of things to come. 2
We only have slightly more than three hundred songs left
to us in writing, most of them simple tunes, but no one can
be sure how complex they became in the nuanced perform-
ance. More dramatically, Troubadours usually followed

1 The inquisition xxx turns ugly

2 Runciman, Steven: The Medieval Manichee, A study of the Christian
Dualist Heresy, Cambridge University Press, London 1947 and 1982. p.
116

41
guidelines relating to lost and found love or d'amors, a tricky
topic indeed.
The commonly used verse of the Troubadours was like a
modern Canto; five lines with a terse, often sensual or hu-
morous hook line.
In the Pastorela, the story is often narrated by a knight,
but addressed to a ladylove disguised as a rose, or a star.
The idea of forbidden love, seen as the Lancelot saga in the
Perlesvaus and throughout subsequent Arthurian literature,
strikes a major chord in the human soul. One wonders how
much of this material drifted to Glastonbury and how much
of an influence the Trouvéres had on the cloistered monks
who held debates almost every day.
Here we find another element of similarity between
Trouvère style and monastic life. The rhetorical debate
format, known as Jeu parti, or débat, took on an argument
between two poets or monks performed face to face often
before the abbot or other high-ranking officials. These de-
bates must have been much like the rap duels or ”ranks,”
sometimes also called, “dozens,” that we see in a modern
American urban context.
They were heated and highly emotional events, often
boiling over into near juvenile name-calling and ad hom-
onym attacks. Covalently these exchanges often carried a
subtext that conveyed the much-needed news of the day.
The Troubadours elongated and elaborated on this kind of
discourse. In addition to debate in form they added singing.
This debate style often took on a wider meaning when it
grew into a Descort, a song, or poem with an angry tone de-
picting serious human conflict, as in the Perlesvaus (Brus-
sels-Evans version) when Gawain encounters the Coward
Knight at Branch IV Chapter V — VI and must decide weather
to kill him or pity him.
The Gap also took the form of a stylistic duel, but was
rarely as emotional as the Descort. This style appears in the
Perlesvaus in an almost comedic form, as two copper auto-
matons guard the entrance to the Turning Castle locked in
perpetual disagreement. 1
A fanciful entertainment, known as the Alba or morning
song is observable in romance literature associated with
Eleanor’s Capet court en route to the second crusade in the
11th century. These exercises usually pointed at the human
inability to cope with Mother Nature and other feminist
themes. Comical conflict also appeared frequently at morn-

1 Op cit. Evans. Perlesvaus. Turning Castle. Branch XVIII Title I (x)

42
ing table amongst the Benedictine brethren until Troubadour
influences died out after interdiction by the Cistercians.
A lover's apology for his tardiness or poverty was an
Escondig, in the Troubadour world and a Planh was a self-de-
precating lament, usually for love lost.
Finally the more comedic Sirventes, took the form of a
satirical poem, often a jape on a royal personage, devised to
a melody.
Performers known as Joglares in Occitan and Jongleurs in
French, filled a similar role, but were not distinctly sons or
daughters of a royal caste. They often based their entertain-
ments on bringing ancient folk tales o light from the unwrit-
ten Celtic or Saxon underworld. These Jongleurs usually
worked under or with Troubadours and Trouvéres, filling the
role of an opening act. We see their presence in the Perles-
vaus in the role of squires, maidens and dwarfs, characters
with no function except to move the story along. 1
The popular image of the Trouvère is that of the itinerant
musician wandering from town to town, lute on his back
singing songs like a character out of Ivanhoe or Robin Hood.
Such people, known as jongleurs and minstrels—generally
peripatetic musicians, lived on the fringes of society, but still
others were monks with deep seated monastic affiliations.
The Troubadours and Trouvéres, on the other hand, repres-
ent an extended aristocratic cult. They were both poets and
composers who were supported by the aristocracy, for whom
the creation and performance of music was part of the
courtly life. The texts of their writings often revolve around
idealized love, spiritual life, and, more frequently, a ribald
form of earthly love. 2
In the 12th century, immediately before the Inquisition,
the title Troubadour or Trouvère grew more formalized.
Some entrepreneurs and impresarios, frequently sponsored
song and poetry competitions known in Gaelic as ard feis
and feis ceol. These promoters, known as Grand Signors, be-
came extremely powerful and wealthy. They sponsored fairs,
traveling shows, horse races, and challenges at arms. These
gala affairs hearken back to the high kings of the Celtic
world.
In the third and fourth centuries, high chiefs, such as
Conomorus in Bretagne, spent large sums to put on sporting
events, especially horse racing, timed to solstice and equi-

1 Baret, Eugene. Les Troubadours et leur Influence du midi de Europe.

Paris: Bibliotheque National, 1867. p. 148
2 William of Poitiers, Les Chansons de Guillaume IX d Aquitane, Paris
1927

43
nox festivals. This was, most likely a carry over from Pre-ro-
man and Druid times. Apparently this trend continued, long
after the collapse of the Roman Empire, because the dukes
of Champagne often held sporting events at their flourishing
trade fairs, which also took place four times each year. 1
These events took on an Olympian status. Business com-
petitors came from all over the known world bearing silks
and exotic trade goods. Local farmers displayed their prize
cattle and the finest wines from every vineyard were on
sale. These fairs included cattle and craft exhibits, but book-
sellers, scribes, and bookbinding stalls, were common. 2
In the 12th century the country, fairs were emerging out of
feudalism as the single most important method of cultural
and monetary exchange and the Troubadours and Trouvère
cultus of Champagne was leading the charge. People
changed currency, tapestries, and commodities, and the
sponsors received a percentage. In some ways, especially
with the addition of the Templars banking system, these
fairs were like our modern malls and superstores, the begin-
nings of our current economic system.
In Celtic cultures, to this day, the poetry and song con-
tests are heated events attracting large crowds, just as they
had done in pre-Christian times. The Glastonbury Fair and
Woodstock are only two modern examples.
Lisdinvorna Fair, an ancient matchmaking festival held in
Western Ireland each year, draws huge crowds of eligible
bachelors and of course an equal number of young women
and their chaperones. Oddly, no scholar can remember when
the matchmaking festival began except that it has pagan
overtones. The modern church allows it because it makes
Catholic marriages, but the festival itself is pre-Christian.
One would think the largest shows and fairs would occur
in large cities like Paris, or London but in the Middle Ages the
largest of these gatherings took place in Champagne and
they always attracted talented minstrels, poets, storytellers
and bards, eager to entertain for a coin or two. This fact is
extremely important to our later discussion of the Perles-
vaus and its author. 3
Before they fell into accusations of heresy, many of these
poets, and magicians traveled to remote abbeys, manors, or

1 Page, C, ”Listening to the Trouvères,”Early Music, Vol. 25,November

1997.
2 Cave, Roy C. & H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic His-
tory, Biblo & Tannen, 1965. New York: pp. 113-125.
3 Evans, Sebastian. Trans. The Elucidation. Perceval. BN 12576, Paris. In:
Sources of the Grail. ed. John Mathews, Lindisfarne 1997.

44
castles to earn their living and spread the news of the day.
In some cases, they would band together as extended famil-
ies or troops. These entertainments—similar to Cirque d'
Soliel— came in an almost infinite variety. They usually
evoked pathos, and often had nothing to do with devotions
to anything but an evening of ribald, entertainment. Dark
and sanctimonious sermons were rare, and in some cases,
the pope was the focus of the jape. Jesus, except as an ab-
straction of the Platonic King who sacrificed himself for his
people, was often ignored or blended in. Church representat-
ives did not appreciate the bawdy and irreverent produc-
tions. Sexy songs and puppet shows featuring marital spats
like those seen in the Punch and Judy dramas were common.
1

Frances Yates comments:

The wandering theaters provided a world for testing a hu-
man soul, a life parallel and the plays, be they tragedy or
comedy, were designed to enact it over again, in the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance. 2
In the twelfth century, the Troubadour, movement along
with the earliest Knights Templar, grew into a powerful politi-
cal force, superficially adherent to the church, but deeply
committed to Manichaeism and the Cathars, and secretly op-
posed to the apostolic succession, and to the idea that Peter
established the first church. Objective for his time, Rosetti
traces the Troubadours (in the Albigensian context) from the
Medieval to the Reformation and insists they Troubadours
had a secret language, similar to Sai of the Thracians. He
posits that the language was aboriginal, probably connected
to Basque or Gaelic, and was not Greek or Latin. He argues,
in conclusion, that this forbidden language, may well have
been the language of Samos, contributed by the Celtic Gala-
tians, Thus the inhabitants of Samos may have been helio-
centric, through the public works of Aristarchus, and Py-
thagoras and included this insight in their speech.
Ironically, the suppression of languages, along with their
astronomy and geometry, helped to bring about an anti-pap-
al trend, because many tribes persisted in speaking their
native tongues at any cost. This issue was never more obvi-
ous as when Saint Gildas regenerated the Gaelic tongue in
mass.
The antichurch, symbolized by the Black Virgin, the Lunar

1 Op cit. Rosetti, Gabrielle.

2 Yates, Frances. Theater of the World. Chicago, 1972. p. 14

45
Mother in shadow, the Queen of Heaven or even the child
Sarah, would have spread much further from the Languedoc
and the North of France, had it, and its languages, been
labeled a form of witchcraft by Saint Bernard. Bernard of
Clairvaux felt inspired to preach the second crusade be-
cause, for one reason, this latent, ”witchcraft," and profem-
inist sentiment made persistent returns to popularity after
the triumph of the first crusade.
Bernard began to preach his anti-Cluniac, anti-voluptuary
ideas, long before the second crusade and the ordination of
his Vatican dominated Templars. This war like campaign
evolved into a church wide suppressive regime, opposed to
the long-standing liberality of Pope Urban II, a liberal minded
priest who began life as Odo of Lager, a Cluniac abbot from
the Troubadour bastion of Champagne. 1
Bernard preached the second attack on Jerusalem from
Vezelay, over the crypt of Lazarus promising redemption for
any soul who joined the slaughter. Millions joined up, includ-
ing Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis Capet, Eleanor’s’ newly
acquired, Puppy Dog king. All recruits swore allegiance to
Bernard’s puppet Pope, and showed their loyalty by sewing a
rustic patch bearing a red cross to their clothing. The church
would strictly control this crusade and kings as well as
knights would be required to attend. There was no longer
shame in killing in the name of Christ. A politics of doom pre-
vailed, especially in the recruitment process.
In the end, this second crusade was a political disaster,
but Bernard was unrepentant and the Capet dynasty, espe-
cially Louis VII, took the blame. Families melted away, a
huge army of orphans emerged, and even more repressive
measures emerged, leading ultimately in the Pogrom against
the Cathars and the fully empowered Inquisition. The eco-
nomy also wreaked, hundreds of thousands of able-bodied
men simply evaporated. The work force was anything but
cheerful. And yet, thought this sadness, the old ways re-
turned in many areas. In spite of the bluster and rhetoric,
Bernard’s forced sterilization of the old songs and festivals,
was a success only on the surface. In reality the Gnostic
Christianity with its Essene and hermetic components intact,
went into hiding in the underground, just as Christianity had
done since the days of the Roman martyrs. This under-
ground had two centers within Norman territory, one in
Southwest England including Somerset and the other in
Northwestern France and the Loire region including Cham-

1 Op cit. Rosetti, Gabriele. p. 172.

46
pagne and Troyes, in those places the old religion never
died.
The Troubadours and Trouvéres, although stifled, did not
fade out, instead they merged. Their alternative form of
Christianity, tantamount to a separate religion, blended with
Hermetic and Essene practices derived from Alexandrian
Gnosticism. The Christianity they practiced was almost Juda-
ic in scope and mystical depth. They were not prejudiced
and harbored a functional form of democracy.
Their definition of God was monotheistic, but dealt with
the direct sense of the spirit in a style reminiscent of the
Gaelic speaking tribes of pre-roman times. The merger
between the Troubadours and Trouvéres acted as an accel-
erant to feelings against the church. Ideas like freedom of
speech and the liberation of women spread rapidly every-
where the old Bardic system held influence.
Across Europe Vatican, doctrine gained converts but only
by literally murdering hundreds of thousands of alternative
believers. In remote parts of the abbey system, any monk or
nun adhering to the more liberal Cluniac system became
suspect. Some Cluniac sympathizers, as well known in the
12th century as rock stars today, took up the struggle for in-
dependence. Charismatics, like Peter Abelard, were
Troubadours in manner, and often preached against the
strict suppressions of the Vatican.
The author of the Perlesvaus must have been familiar
with rebels like Abelard and Bernard of Morlaix (Cluny), and
conversely, he must have been put-off by the stoic dryness
of the Cistercians. During the build up to the second cru-
sade, while Bernard was resurrecting Lazarus in Central
France, he undoubtedly immersed himself in the literature of
Gnosticism and other practices of the ancient world. He
must have been a high-ranking church official, because he
had access to many banned books, but he could not publicly
advocate his alternative interests, and he was not alone in
his quest for secrecy. If he was a Trouvère, he belonged to a
huge extended family, which seems to have evolved from
the Celts via the Norman Conquest.
Whoever wrote the Perlesvaus also included hundreds of
Hermetic and alchemical references by carrying the story
line through dozens of seers called ‘Hermits’ in the text.
These magi appear in critical junctures, each one bringing in
an initiatory element. Oddly, the hermits mentioned in the
Perlesvaus, never debate Christian rhetoric. Instead, they re-
veal the next action, or guide the questing knight on his
quest through the mystery and through the underground

47
stream. In some cases they point to stars and planets, in
others they discuss morality and ethics.
Papal historians would like us to think the old Celtic and
Greek Gods died out in the Dark Ages, but they did not. If
anything, some of the old forms became more powerful as
subtle elements within Christianity.
Throughout the 12th century the Paleolithic Bolg, Og, or
Lugh—the god of light and the root for Lucifer as in Old
Dutch, “Lucifer” (torch-light) and Spanish, ”luce”— remained
alive, as did the worship of the shadow mother or Virge Noir.
1

Although the Troubadours came alive in the 12th century,

they can easily trace their roots to the 6th century. Life in
Western France in the six-century was anything but dark.
Vatican historians call this era the Dark Age because papal
Christianity was not yet ubiquitous, but from a humanistic
perspective, life was evolving and the arts were thriving in
both material production and social spirit. As the Roman le-
gions receded from France many mystery traditions and
laws, especially the rites of Hermes, Isis (Serapis) and Mith-
ras, came back to fill the vacuum, and now they were being
translated from Breton (Brezh) into provincial French, Greek
or Latin, the traditional languages later adopted by the
Troubadours. 2
As soon as the Roman influence subsided, many cultural
activities reverted to Druidism mixed with Greek and Gnostic
mystery beliefs. This included oral transmission of astro-
nomy derived from the megaliths. This included the marking
of a lunar calendar into eight sections as seen as early as
5000BC in Brittany and the unwritten, belief that the sun
was at the center of these cycles. In other words, the secrets
of the megaliths were transmitted to the monks of the 11th
century and by them to other generations of stonemasons
and architects.
Even the daily markets and annual festivals became asso-
ciated with the stone temples. Finistere Abbey, near the At-
lantic shore, still uses, a huge megalithic complex, located
just behind the chapel. At Lemans, the Cathedral in the town
center displays a mysterious stone that looks like a woman
in a long shawl, a common depiction of the Mother Goddess
from the Neolithic Age and still functioning
Hints of ancient paganism prevail in the Perlesvaus and
throughout medieval literature, especially any literary effort

1 Op cit. Giambutas. M.
2 Cumont, Franz. The Mysteries of Mithra. Dover, New York, Reprint
1956.

48
associated with the Troubadours. As recently as 1964, the
people of Dorset recall seeing the Ooser, on parade. De-
stroyed several times by the local Presbyterians, this sham-
anic costume, depicting the bovine horned god, probably
Hearn the Hunter played an important cultural and folkloric
role. A similar stag costume depicted in Shakespeare’s
Merry Wives of Windsor, can still be seen dancing through
village streets on Equinox and Solstice dates mimicking the
Minotaur, Taurus, and other members of the ancient bull or
stag cult. 1
The horse and its Epona cult provide a very influential as-
pect to the author of the Perlesvaus. To the Thebaudians,
the Normans, and any Celtic tribe in France or England, the
equine animal was an embodiment of the mother Goddess
and without question the Horse is seen everywhere in the
High History.
The Celtic tribes and their Druids, known to Pliny, grew
weary of war just as the Roman legions faded back to Italy to
protect Rome against the Visigoths. The, Dumnoni and Icini
tribes, for example, became so fragmented, so socially de-
pressed, they seem to have disappeared, much like native
Mexican Indians or Mayans who went back to farming and a
less demanding, less territorial, lifestyle, but integrated their
old beliefs into Christian routines. Fortunately, these seem-
ing regressions preserved a great deal of their old spiritual-
ity. 2
By use of bribes and threats, a few early Petrine evangel-
ists made inroads into the Celtic areas, but en mass, the
Celts, never fully converted and therefore could not be satis-
factorily brainwashed. Yet, as early as the first and second
century, a form of Christianity did take hold, a form known
as the Celtic church. Thus, the author of the Perlesvaus at
Glastonbury took inspiration under the protection of the Celt-
ic church, the Troubadours and the Benedictines who cham-
pioned the old ways.

1 Shakespeare, William. Merry Wives of Windsor, Oxford Press, 2000. Act

V, V. see also Readers Digest Eds. ”Folklore, Myths and Legends of Bri-
tain. ”1978, p. 164.
2 Madsen, William. A Guide to Mexican Witchcraft. 1969 pp. 43-52

49
 Gnostics
I
n the south of France, in the region of Perpignan and Lan-
gudoc and especially around Marseilles, a legend contin-
ues to circulate that the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene
arrived on the French coast around AD 45. A festival held at
Saints Maries de la Mer commemorates the occasion every
year.
Rabanus Marius, the Archbishop of Mainz (c. 856) docu-
mented the legend in De Vita Beatae Mariae Magdalena, so
the story must have circulated as far as the German frontier
by the 9th century and was believed, long after. This story
also connects to famous relics and relates to the skull of Laz-
arus, which will be explored in a later chapter. 1
True folk myths are rarely without some basis and in
keeping with this assumption, the Occitan speaking areas of
France, even into Spain, consistently harbor the belief that
Mary Magdalene (possibly bearing the sacred DNA line) did
arrive in France and is said to have gone into hiding in the
caves of Sainte-Baume near Marseilles. A small chapel on
the cliff now commemorates her presence there.
In 1590, the Annales Ecclesiastici told the same legend
with a great deal of anti-Semitic propaganda attached, by
way of adding the Glastonbury based story of Joseph of Ar-
imathea. Thus, by the 12th century, the legend must have
traveled as far as Anglo-Norman Glastonbury.
Bear in mind that the, “Blood of Jesus,” concept traveled
in monastic circles throughout the Dark Ages long before the
writing career of Robert de Boron, who we will explore more
fully later on. Let us simply say at this point, that Robert is
currently cited as the first author to link the royal DNA
concept to the idea of a chalice, and one of the first to men-
tion Joseph of Arimathea as connected to the Grail, defining
the chalice as the vessel used to catch the blood of Christ as
he was crucified. We now realize that Robert was working
from a source book and that he says so in his own words.
Although traditional scholars disagree with this time line, I
contend that thirty or more years before Robert’s comments,
the author of the Perlesvaus was one of the first to associate
"Holy Blood" (as in lineage) to the Holy Grail by saying:

1 Geary, Patrick. Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages.-
Princton. 1990

50
 I saw the Grail," said the master, "before the Fisher
King. Joseph, who was his uncle, collected in it the
blood, which flowed, from the wounds of the Savior of
the World. Know well all ye lineage and from what folk
ye are descended... 1

This is a reference to a Gnostic parable that equates the

Grail with a cup wherein are written the names of each man
and woman who has been initiated by blood.
As Imperial Rome began to fade from power, a westward
apostolic migration took on greater significance. First, it be-
came part of an ongoing migration of Gnostic and alternat-
ive Christians. Many were Jewish Sadducees, others were
Aramaic speakers influenced by the religious teachings of
the Essenes, and the already formative Marian cult dedic-
ated to the mother of Jesus. Still others came from Persia,
and Alexandria, but all of these groups were fleeing Roman
repression. This evangelic migration began following ancient
Celtic pathways and trade routes and within a century, an al-
ternative form of Christianity, a form suggested by certain
Gnostic teachings, especially those of Philo of Alexandria
and opposed to the Christianity of Peter and Paul, took hold.
Beginning immediately after the crucifixion, this alternat-
ive track began with a head start on Roman Christianity.
Evangelists, with beliefs markedly different from those of
Peter and Paul, in particular a belief that Jesus was a human
being and not a GOD, began to arrive at French seaports.
This second wave, sponsored by followers directly linked to
Jesus including the apostles Phillip, James the Just (Bonar-
ges)—said to be the brother of Jesus—and their followers,
the Sons of Thunder. 2
These westward-wending Christians, influenced by the
mysteries of Melchizedek, continued in the footsteps of the
original travelers. They built or improved upon shrines fol-
lowing Ice Age salt tracks and were guided by trade routes
from Jerusalem through Spain to the Atlantic seaboard. The
westernmost ports of Spain then allowed further migration
to England. This Diaspora also followed paths used by the
Druids and routes known to Phoenician sea traders more
than a millennium earlier. 3
The early Christian group, those who derived their think-
ing from the Sadducees and Zadoks, incorporating, the Cult

1 Op cit Evans, Sebastian p. 27

2 Eisenman, Robert, James the Brother of Jesus. New York, 1977 p. 808
3 Morris, John. The Age of Arthur, New York. 1973 p. 250 ff. See also: Or-
merod, H. A. Piracy in the Ancient World. Chicago, 1924.

51
of Mary, and the Black Virgin, took much of their literary
strength from Aramaic Gnosticism, an esoteric teaching em-
phasizing knowledge by understanding and compassion, a
form of teaching similar to the teachings of the Dead Sea
Scrolls and the Essenes.
Oliver Manitara, describes the first Essenes:
They were not limited to a single religion, but studied all
of them in order to extract the great scientific principles.
They considered each religion to be a different stage of a
single revelation. They accorded great importance to the
teachings of the ancient Chaldeans, of Zoroaster, of Hermes
Trismagistus, to the secret instructions of Moses and of one
of the founding Masters of their order who had transmitted
techniques similar to those of Buddhism, as well as to the
revelation of Enoch. Thus, they knew how to communicate
with angelic beings and solved the question of the origin of
evil on the earth. 1
Pertinent to any study of the Grail is the fact that the
Thebaudians like their Troubadour forbearers and the Sad-
ducees, Cathars and the Essenes, allowed women elevation
to the priesthood. Women were encouraged to own land and
freely traded chattels. By contrast, women forbidden by
strict edict to own land or perform priestly duties grew less
inclined to participate. Strong queens like Eleanor and wo-
men in leadership roles, like countess Adella Blois, strenu-
ously resisted this law and carried on in their husband’s ab-
sence. 2
In the Hebrew tradition, the dark Goddess Lilith, became
a succubus, exemplified by teachings that carried over into
Roman Christianity. Under Gnosticism, with its Hellenic and
humanizing influences, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Mag-
dalene, now recognized as a priestess rather than a prosti-
tute, and their child Sarah, became healing ikons. The Black
Virgin exemplifies the presence of these women and others
like them. 3
This feminist form of Christianity, directly linked to
Christ’s bloodline, the Tree of Jesse, and the so-called,
“Zadok” line in Judaism, catalyzed by Norse and Celtic folk-
myth, took root rapidly. This western wending blend did not
pay direct homage to Rome, and felt little pressure to send
tithes and payments to the apostolic see. 4

1 Manitera, Oliver. The Essenes, Cottonwood, Arizona. 1983 p. 8

2 Op cit. Lo Prete, K.
3 George, Margret. Mary Called Magdalene. New York, 2002, p. 231
4 Chartres features a Tree of Jesse window located above the emerging

52
 In France, Spain, and England, in the mid-second century,
papal considerations were marginal. The alternative form, let
us call it the, “liberal school, “arose from a small family of
evangelists, who—following the direct orders of Jesus—
worked conversions by allowing pagans and women into
heaven. The most outstanding advocate of this conversion
technique was a monk known as Pelagius, thus the theolo-
gical label, Pelagianism—a heresy. However, St. Patrick
preached a lighter form, known as semipelagianism, so, in
essence, the concept won out over time. Here again the
specter of an alternative Christ based on Hermes, the an-
cient stone god, pops up, and again, the ancestors of the
Troubadours lead the trend. 1
Any liberating tradition that led away from dogma was
anathema in Rome. According to the Vatican, the conver-
sions produced from Troubadour, Gnostic practices were
tainted, and revisionist, especially the process of admitting
women to the inner priesthood and authorizing women to in-
herit land, and make political decisions. 2
Christianity was, and perhaps still is, a religion at war
with itself. For every concession given to local customs in
the” Dark Ages,” a new restrictive law took its place. Phobic
reactions from the Vatican should not come as a surprise to
modern readers. Eventually, roughly around the time of the
first Crusade, (c. 1080) activists working for alternative prac-
tices took their ceremonies underground. Still, in Celtic coun-
tries, where the populace continued to think, dream, speak
and sing in the old Gaelic tongues, some legends and cus-
toms endured. One of these was the classic story of the
eternal cauldron, the horn of plenty, the sacred urn, and how
to achieve the contents of these mysteries in gradual steps.
In other words, achieving the Grail was, to the Bardic
peoples, a process of steps through a challenging and gradu-
al initiation.
The feminine icon evolved into a communion chalice, es-
pecially as it linked the communion cup and the baptismal
font with the legends of the Round Table, and more directly
from an ancient belief system known as the Fairy Faith, (the
spirit of the stone circles and mounds.
At the foundation, the essence of religious worship in
Gaelic speaking territories was, and remains, Neolithic. The
current pan-Celtic revival of the old languages, music and
folk-art, is proof that the mythos of the old religion simmers
Christ tympanum (main entrance) to the left of the Great Rose Window.
1 Fergusen, John. Pelagius, A Theological Study. Dutton, 1957.
2 Op cit. Parry, J. J. The Art of Courtly Love.

53
just beneath the surface of modern society in Celtic coun-
tries. Christ’s sacrifice seemed acceptable, but the wrathful
visions of the patriarchs, ideas like burning in hell and dam-
nation for sins, made true conversions politically problemat-
ic. 1
Greek mystery schools were a strong influence on Chris-
tianity at the time of Christ and they continued to have influ-
ence 1200 years later, especially with the Troubadours. In
the first century, Nazareth was one of the most active Di-
onysian cities in the Greco-Roman sphere and the Neopla-
tonic developments of Plotinus continued to grow in the
mystery schools as they spread westward. Not until the Albi-
gensian pogrom, (circa 1210) did the church succeed in
hurting the old rites. In the 13th century the Vatican, operat-
ing under Saint Bernard, instead of accommodating the old
legends, set out to eradicate them, calling them heresies.
Yet in spite of these repressions the ancient Celtic church,
still secretly speaking Welsh and Irish, taught elements of
naturalism and paganism incorporated into stories about the
Holy Grail quest in every shire. 2
The initiation and legends of the Grail are as old as sham-
anism and survived through Greek and Gaelic history. Tradi-
tionally no one knows where these songs and legends came
from, except to attribute them to the mound dwelling fairies
from Brittany, Ireland and Wales. Now we realize anything
from the Fairy Faith means it came from the era of the
megaliths in the Neolithic Era or before. Those who redacted
the Grail legends into written form at places like Glastonbury
Abbey, knew only that the Fairy lore and that the legends
were extremely old. 3
W. Evans-Wentz argued, that the legends of the, “Fairy
Faith,” are Paleolithic, and that the ardor of the most sup-
pressive Christian censor could never expunge anything that
archaic. That the Fairy Faith, which is rally an envelope for
shamanism as practiced in the Celtic sphere, continued into
Christian times is also certain, since hundreds of examples
continued in the poetry of the Breton and other tribal
groups.
As recently as 1245, Troubadours and Trouvéres were
singing songs to the moon and sun. This “way” must have
influenced Shakespeare, where we encounter Falstaff wear-
ing stags horns and Romeo and Juliet describing themselves
as sun and moon, a system not discouraged by the Francis-
1 Evans-Wentz, W. The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, 1966.
2 Aroux, Eugene. Mysteries de la Chevaorie, Paris, 1858 pp. 161f.
3 Op cit. Evans Wentz.

54
can monks who took up the brown garb of the old Bards. 1
A 13th century Troubadour continues the ancient dialog:

“Belles, from where are you born?”

Of France I come, but from before.

“But, to whom where you born?”

I come from a higher learning

Bacchus is my father,

The Troubadour who sings

In a higher tone

Like the Fairies…”

“And your Mother?”

Serene is my mother

Who sings above the Sea?”

This lyrical poem, takes on several of the characteristics

of Welsh poetry in that it draws on nature as metaphor, and
uses layered puns. It also acts as an unanswerable (rhetoric-
al) query, such as in the Bardic triads, where the audience
solves a riddle:

I am a fashioned rock, wind kisses me. I am a stately

Oak— sun heals my leaves. Who am I?” 2

Here, the riddle arises from nature. The carvings on the

stones, the shape and age of the Oak groves, the singing
sounds of the sea, represent the oldest ceremonies, conduc-
ted at the earliest hand made temples in Europe.
In addition, around these stones, women are equal in
nature. We do not know the narrator, but we are urged to
think of the voice of the oracle as gender free. If masculine,
the oracle could be the voice of Bolg the Irish thunder or
rainbow God (Welsh Og), In France, Dis Pater served the
masculine faction as the thunder and lightening ikon. It
could also be the Goddess Aanwyn. Once these legends
1 Gorres, J. Der Heilige Franciskus Assisi, ein Troubadour. Strasbourg,
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. 1826
2 Chambers, Frank M. Proper names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours, U.
of North Carolina Press, 1971.

55
emerged in book form, they presented a strong challenge to
biblical scripture, mainly because Gaelic remained the day-
to-day language of he people until Anglo-Saxon times. .
In the 9th century, the oral history of the Celts, the libera-
tion folklore hidden in the Cauldron of Heaven (Aanwyn)—in
itself an early prototype for the Grail as chalice ikon—grew
in popularity and continued to compete with Petrine Chris-
tianity for hearts and minds. Some of these legends were
shamanic in nature. More than a few traced back to the
megalithic culture, and almost all of them came to court
through the agencies of folk singers, Bards, and storytellers.
Rarely were they copied on parchment or vellum, except at
places like Cluny Abbey, and its sister houses.
As the, now educated and refined descendants of the
Norsemen moved across the English Channel, so moved
their perennial mass of legend, including Celtic variants,
Troubadour and allied groups with them. In the 11th and 12th
centuries the lost and absorbed Celtic families, long exiled in
Western France, migrated back to Southwestern England,
Western Ireland and Wales and they too brought their stor-
ies, many intact and many with a hint of Greek and Hermetic
topology.
After 1066, English art and poetry began to change in
several important ways. The art of weaving, as demonstrat-
ed by Frances Yates in her lavishly illustrated work on the
Valois Tapestry, is heavily linked to the Flemish world. Nor-
man tapestry making grew to world fame on the looms of
English and Welsh crofters. 1
Thus, the Bardic process snapped back to life in areas
usually dominated by Gaelic speakers. In one prominent ex-
ample from Ireland, members of the DeLacy clan grew to be,
“More Irish than the Irish themselves.”
The mythic, Cauldron of Aanwyn, as the Kalix of Dionysus,
returned with the Normans from a long exile. When they in-
vaded England, they released the Celts to worship in the old
ways, which included hundreds of shamanic sagas and sky
myths.
The Kahane’s also quote Helinand de Frodmont who de-
scribes the Gradalis used in a Dionysian ritual, as a basin or
”scutella,“ a dish, inscribed like a book that tells a story.
In the 7th century, Gnostics, Jews, Manicheans and other
suppressed groups who valued free speech and the eleva-
tion of women, fled to safe areas, just as the Celtic tribes
fled to Bretagne from Wales and Cornwall, three centuries

1 Yates, Frances. The Valois Tapestries. Gen ref. London, 1980

56
earlier. 1

1 Kahane, Henry and Renee Kahane. The Krater and the Grail: Hermetic
Sources in Parzival, University of Illinois, Press Urbana, 1965.

57
 The Bardic Stream
I
n 1858, Eugene Aroux, a noted French historian, pointed
out that the Troubadours saw themselves as a, ”global
family,” meaning an extended family, somewhat like
Gypsies or Irish “Travelers” or the Deadheads or Rainbow
People in America today. Aroux argues that the Troubadours
arose from Bardism and a union of Dark Age court jesters or
legend tellers, and that, like the Druids, the Troubadours
emerged from royal families, especially in Champagne and
Atlantic France. Moreover, he infers that the Troubadours
were little more than latter-day Bards. To illustrate Aroux de-
scribes the baptism or graduation of an Ovate into the Bard-
ic class thusly:

The chief Druid washes the supplicant in the river or

in some cases in the ocean waves. The term Oblate, as
used in monastic societies, may be an extension of,
Ovate, meaning, and “egg.” 1

The basin stones within Newgrange in Ireland’s Boyne

Valley depict a very clear form of baptism in water. This is
not at all occult, but it does antedate Christian baptism by
several thousand years. Without question baptism in water,
as practiced by the first Christians, extended from Eleusis to
Alexandria, and was central to the rites of the Essenes be-
fore John the Baptist made it popular, in fact, the image of
John the Baptist, dressed in animal pelts, is a common re-
minder of the shamanic origins of baptism. The point being
that many of the hermits depicted in the Perlesvaus are at-
tired in this same rustic manner and are found near baptiz-
ing fountains or pools. Here again paganism is a fundament-
al theme in the Perlesvaus and its author must have been fa-
miliar with hermits like these during his boyhood. 2
The modern Irish writer John Minahane agrees. He asserts
that many Troubadours, probably direct relatives of the
Bards, often dressed in brown surplus, and were able to set-
up networks in all classes of society while the Druids, wore
hooded robes, sometimes white, sometimes brown or black
and remained, more or less, isolated in religious enclaves.
The similarity of this description to early monastic groups,

1 Op cit. Aroux, Eugene. Mysteries de la Chevaorie, Paris, 1858 pp.

161-169.
2 Op cit. Evans, S.

58
especially the Benedictines and the later Franciscans seems
obvious.
Minahane tells us that:
Druids abstain from going to war and do not pay a tax
like the others: they are exempt from military service and
free from any burden to pay in lieu of military service and
yet the elders are excellent war advisors. Attracted by so
great advantages, most children are sent by their families to
monastic houses where the old Druids reside to follow their
lessons.
This is one of the reasons important monasteries, like
Glastonbury, Kells, Cluny and Monasterboice, operated well
in Gaelic speaking, ”Gaeltalch” (pronounced: Gail-tock) ter-
ritories. Troubadour values naturally merged with, and
emerged from, this supportive environment.
In War of the Gauls VI, Julius Caesar speaks of the Druids
learning system:

It is said that near them they learn by heart (rote

memory) a considerable number of books and lessons.
They remain at school for more than 20 years. Their
teachings are not entrusted to writing but they use the
Greek alphabet when they need to write something of
importance. There are two reasons for this practice.
They want to maintain their doctrines as secret, but
more importantly, the students become slow of mind
when they neglect their memory practices.

In chapter XII he continues: (Paraphrase)

The people take a great deal from the Druids. The

essential point of their ritual, it is that their souls do not
perish. Implying they all go to heaven and that there is
no Hell. This belief, they assert, is the best stimulant to
courage, because one is no longer afraid of death.

They (the Druids) are devoted to many speculations

on the stars and their movements, dimensions of the
world and those of the ground, on the nature of the
things, the power of the gods and their attributions,
and they transmit these doctrines to all of their chil-
dren. Mercury is chief amongst their Gods, followed by
Apollo. 1

1 Op cit. Bella Gallico ix

59
 The geometric and astronomical elements and the link to
the vegetation gods found incorporated into the Gothic
cathedrals also evolved from Druidic and Hermetic practice.
Again according to the historians embedded with Roman
troops on the Celtic campaign:
Druids were not celibate, although abstinence is found as
a voluntary life-style in the higher ranks, much like the Cath-
ar Parfaits of the Middle Ages. However, like Druids, certain
Christian orders, such as the Cluniacs and early Benedict-
ines, carried advanced Memory Theater and other elements
of Druidism into their Christian practice and passed it on to
the Troubadours. Aroux, a master mason, equated Druidism
with the technology of the Templars. 1
The archaeological record tells us that almost every so-
ciety on earth features a purification rite dealing with birth,
death, and rebirth. These rites usually link to a central cos-
mology or creation legend. In many cases, especially in the
societies of Western Europe, the rites of rebirth, took place
near the mouth or source of a major river, Lourdes for ex-
ample. In Atlantic Europe, this process probably comes dir-
ectly from the Ice Ages especially in rituals and in artifacts
from the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras. Markings on stone
temples, standing stones and stone rings. In fact, the ar-
chaeology of the temples and rings themselves typify a ritu-
al sense of rebirth, not only in daily practice, but also in the
tribal soul…the cosmology of the divine. 2
In Ireland, ceremonies at Newgrange on the Boyne River
directed pilgrims to cross the Boyne River before entering
the temple compound. Once there, the pilgrims drank rain-
water, which had passed through the body of the mother
sprit in the mound to be captured in a huge basin in the east
recess. This basin mirrors the etchings on the stone above
and reverses the images. Thus, the observer standing next
to the basin can peer into the water and read the heavenly
ceiling markings as the colored lights from the prisms shine
through the quartz crystals.
In addition, we can assume the pilgrims ate, “sacred
bread,” baked in the north recess, beneath the triple spiral.
This is an identical practice to that of Eleusis near Athens
and ties this ancient paradigm to Holy Communion wherein
the bread of heaven or Manna represents the flesh of the dy-

1 Op cit. Aroux.
2 Lewis-Williams, D. and Pearce, David. Inside the Neolithic Mind. Con-
sciousness, Cosmos, and the realm of the Gods. Thames and Hudson,
London. 2005 pp 198 ff.

60
ing and resurrecting god. 1
The chronology here is important. Newgrange was opera-
tional at least 3200 years before Christianity, and the light
beam event also takes place at Knowth, c. 4000, BCE, Dowth
c. 3800 BCE and Kercado in Bretagne, 4200 BCE, so the idea of
the light appearing in the temple, must be at least 6000
years old. Moreover, we know that the worship of a concen-
trated light beam or natural streams of light coming down
from the clouds and creating rainbows did not begin at New-
grange; it must have been transferred, from the Ice Ages.
An almost identical rebirth ritual through baptism and the
ceremony of communion are part of Christianity. This is diffi-
cult for some Christians to accept because the rite of bap-
tism in a river is usually associated with John the Baptist, but
where, we must ask, did the Baptist learn his art and what
ritual was he practicing? Remember, it was John, dressed as
a wooly shaman, who baptized Jesus in the Jordan, but the
ritual he practiced was not Hebraic nor was it Zoroastrian or
Buddhist, although each of these practices uses water as
part of the core ritual.
In retrospect the baptism conducted by John, the Baptist
seems identical to and derived from the megalithic quest for
rebirth and eternal life, the quest to enter the womb of the
Great Goddess. 2
Many Megalithic Temples (Fairy Mounds or caer sidhi) as
mentioned in the Perlesvaus and the Elucidation) are located
near a river, fountain, lake or other deeply profound water
source. At Newgrange, the morning light crosses the river
before forming into a beam, after which it strikes a basin
stone, filled with water. Some of this water is diverted to
make bread, probably a rye bread from a grain known in Ire-
land as emmer. If so, mushrooms and ergot were probably
part of the ceremony as both are abundant in the region
within a dew miles of the mounds. Bright light striking the
ergot may have helped take the deleterious effects out of
the substance, changing it into something similar to, what
we now call, hallucinogenic compounds.
In other words, the rationale for the concave basin—as a
central component in the ritual—is ‘baptism,’ both pharma-
cological and ritualistic. It is thus difficult to deny that later
religions such as the Dionysian rites and even Christianity it-
self were influenced by this early sacrament. In other words,
the stone basins found in the Irish Star Temples celebrate a
universal rebirth rite, identical to the baptismal font found in
1 Op cit. Harrison, Hank. The Stones of Ancient Ireland. pp. 112
2 Hoffman, A. H. Osmond. Eleusis. Harpers, New York, 1983. p. 116

61
every major church.
In the Troubadour milieu a ceremonial graduation into the
mysteries, known as the, ‘Gradual,’ formed a rite wherein
the supplicant advanced through the mysteries in steps or
grades just as a Boy Scout starts out as a Cub and finishes
as an Eagle.
By the thirteen century the entire body of ancient myster-
ies, including the analogy of death and rebirth, resurrection
and transcendence, became part of the Grail quest. As the
process grew into Christianity, the baptismal font took the
place of the cauldron (macro cosmos) and the communion
chalice symbolized the microcosms. The always-secret Grail
ceremony, often accompanied by music, continued to take
on emotional elements. 1
The Christian mass, especially at Chartres, Cluny, Blois
and Meaux, and other places influenced by the Thebaudians,
often took on a mystical flavor. The antiphon, sung during
the Eucharist in many chapels influenced by the Thebaudi-
ans and Trouvéres, made secret reference to the gradual
and other initiations taken directly from Pagan, Neoplatonic
and Hermetic mysteries.
The Thebaudians, allies of the Normans and transchannel
moguls who ruled England and France in the 12 th century, of-
ten sponsored grande festes with pagan overtones and often
married into Trouvère families, especially in the Loire Valley.
This is a critically important connection, because, as we shall
see later, one of these Thebaudian princes may have pro-
duced the Perlesvaus.

1 Charroux, Robert. The Book of the Betrayal of Secrets, Paris, 1965.

62
 Wisdom
A
s stated earlier, the wisdom of the Trouvéres probably
bubbled-up through Bardic oral tradition, which in-
cluded a profound knowledge of astronomy and the
meaning of the megaliths and mounds. The literate monastic
houses transcribed this wisdom into manuscripts more com-
patible with Christian dogma.
To the denizens of Normandy and the Aquitaine memoriz-
ation of heroic stories and legends, both Apollonian and Celt-
ic, survived in full view of the church mainly because such
views were maintained by the Benedictine libraries, espe-
cially the Cluniac branches. Some of these teachings
bubbled up to the more artistically talented monks who pre-
served them into bound books until eventually they appear
as books like the Perlesvaus.
Hidden just beneath the surface, Chrétien’s Perceval le
Gallois, an unfinished book of verse in slightly more than
9000 lines, reflects a distinct ceremonial process, an echo of
an almost forgotten ritual, not truly Celtic and not fully Chris-
tian. What was so critical, so vital, about the books given to
him by Count Phillip of Flanders and the earlier source books
given to him by Marie of Champagne? It was as if these
books were given to Chrétien in a certain gradual sequence,
the last one having to do with the sacrifice of a young man
who sees the truth about the Grail, in all of its purity.
Many scholars think of Chrétien as a prodigious genius,
but others, especially more recent investigators, think of him
as a redactor, brilliant, to be sure, but more a copyist than
an originator. We know Chrétien thought of himself as a
courtier, and we know he was in direct contact with high-
ranking nobility, probably on a daily basis. According to
Gaston Paris, Chrétien, although perhaps conceited, was
truthful in his view of himself since, at best guess, he was a
Herald-at-Arms at Marie’s court at Troyes circa 1177. In that
capacity, he might have been privileged to witness a cere-
mony so secret he could not speak of it directly, a life chan-
ging, and up-lifting ritual. How could Chrétien, inject a vast
encyclopedia of pagan and Christian lore into his books,
without the influence of earlier sources? We know, from his
own comments that he was handed books to study by his
patrons.
I will present more details later, but for now, let us simply
say that several medieval authors seem to have similar

63
sources. Robert d' Borron, a monk, inherited a text to work
from and, a full century later, the German author Wolfram
Von Eschenbach, supposedly gained his motivation from a
gypsy known as Kyot from Toledo. This may be Guiot d'
Provins, a monk, probably with Cluniac sympathies. 1
Wolfram corrects the record saying Chrétien does not
provide the full legend. Wolfram perceives Chrétien’s version
as a derivative, somewhat redacted version, and of course,
that is true as Chrétien tells us the same thing on several oc-
casions. Thus, the Perlesvaus was probably the earlier ver-
sion.
However, there may be another flavor to this controversy.
No one has the original, autographic, manuscript. Wolfram
receives his source material from a monk, probably a
Troubadour or Manichean or both. The version passed on to
him circa 1235, long after Chrétien, was probably copied in
the Langue d’ Oc, a books of stories copied in the patois of
the southern Troubadours. Conversely, the source for Chré-
tien was from Northern Trouvère traditions, probably written
in Occitan or Anglo-Norman two languages common to the
Champagne courts.
Looking at all of this material forces us to ask, what great
light shown upon these men? What source made them so
eloquent in such a short time? In his own words, Chrétien
calls himself a storyteller dedicated to getting it right as op-
posed to other practitioners of his trade who usually,
”botched the job.”
Referring to himself in the third person, Chrétien says:

Chrétien’s first story is about Erec the son of Lac, a

story that those who earn a living by telling stories are
accustomed to mutilate and spoil in the presence of
kings and counts. 2

Here Chrétien infers that he is not one who earns a living

by acting, as do the Jongleurs. Here and elsewhere, he
seems snobby. Eric and Enide may be based on Abelard and
Heloise, who are laid to rest at Paraclete convent, less than
ten miles from the castle at Troyes, but the story may also
include elements of the love affair between Queen Eleanor
and here uncle, Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch, while
on the Second Crusade. In any case, Chrétien seems to be
putting himself above the rustics and the jocularists who
made a living by giving oral recitations and dramatizing stor-

1 Op cit. Parry J. J.
2 Chrétien, D’ Troyes. Erec et Enide (1) (Vv. 1-26. )

64
ies.
For modern readers, Chrétien’s elitist comments show a
lack of respect for the old players. They also lend us an in-
sight into his rigidity and why some scholars think of him as
a monotonous writer with a distinct lack of humor. His drab-
ness may also reflect a leaning toward the anti-Benedictine
repressions then sweeping Europe. In other words, although
patronized by Troubadours, Chrétien may not have been a
Troubadour at heart. This explanation may also shed light on
his odd and untimely demise.
Unlike the Quest, the Perlesvaus, when read aloud, takes
on the humor of Bardic and Ovidian tradition while interla-
cing the emerging Troubadour styles. This meld makes the
book all the more important. Its author avoided stolid think-
ing and used a flowing prose. He was also familiar with Aris-
totelian logic, even going so far as to name one Castle, “Ar-
isto.” It seems he was punning on the name Aristotle and
the word aristocratic. Odd, you may wonder. Did monks at
Glastonbury know Aristotle? The answer is, “Yes,” especially
if they were educated at Cluny. Once again, we see that
whoever originated the Perlesvaus was a creator rather than
a copyist.
Chrétien was not necessarily humble or retiring as was
the anonymous author of the Perlesvaus. Given to vanity in
his work as well as his personal life, Chrétien loved to dwell
on what some critics called, ”wearisome subtleties.” In a
word, Chrétien received rave reviews in his lifetime, because
he was most often compared to inferior poets at court. After
his mysterious disappearance he became a legend and was
never compared to the author of the Perlesvaus, who can
easily be described as 'mystifying. '
Even so, Chrétien did not have access to the more mysti-
fying book until later in his career, as Phillip of Flanders gave
it to him, probably at a time when Phillip and Marie were
courting. This may explain why he turned, more or less, sud-
denly, to the quest theme. More importantly, Chrétien’s pos-
session of the book must have been secretive in the ex-
treme. 1
Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that Chrétien
spent some part of his early career traveling and visiting
England and may well have written his first romantic poetry
there. References to the British countryside, especially in
Cliges, reveals that the Britain seen by Chrétien was the
England in transition between Stephen Blois and Henry II
1 Dixon-Kenedy, M. A Companion to Arthurian Celtic Myth, London, 1998.
See entry for Druids.

65
Plantagenet. Moreover there is a close link between Troyes
and England through the person of Henry Blois, the uncle of
Henry the Liberal of Champagne at whose court we are cer-
tain, Chrétien was employed although it seems apparent
from studying Henri's library, that Chrétien’s immediate
charm would appeal more to Countess Marie, the daughter
of Eleanor of Aquitaine. 1
As we shall explore later, the Perlesvaus author seems
directly influenced by Ovid and the hermetic bards. He often
uses hermits and storytellers to provide wisdom and guide
actions throughout the book. This is not a singular theme;
many outstanding books were floating around the parlors of
the Troubadour aristocracy like nostrums. Costly illuminated
books were passed around as objects of wealth and power.
That said, it is important to point out that not every member
of that milieu was a brilliant savant. Like writers in every
generation the authors of the early 13th century in Troyes,
hoped that at least a few readers would understand their
work and remember that the Thebaudians were keen on pro-
moting reading amongst the masses.
By contrast, the Perlesvaus author, whom I assert was a
mentor to the Troubadour courts, must have had direct con-
tact with Glastonbury and the region around Glastonbury.
The main action of the book takes place, without doubt, in
Somerset, England, not Champagne.
This juxtaposition, leads to the assumption that work on
the Perlesvaus probably originated before Chrétien’s major
efforts, possibly even before his birth, and that it may have
been used to inspire knights on their way to the Holy Land,
probably around the time of the dedication of the altar of
Saint David at Glastonbury in the mid 12th century.
In the final analysis The Perlesvaus might have arrived in
France for a performance, possibly for the fete gala associ-
ated with the wedding of Marie of Champagne to the leading
Thebaudian and Trouvère patron of the day, Henri the Liber-
al at Troyes in 1158.
The date of 1158 coincides neatly with Chrétien’s arrival
at Marie’s Court while she was acting as regent for her hus-
band in abstentia. Thus the, guiding light, the manuscript set
before Chrétien, must have traveled to Champagne through
Eleanor, Marie—or someone close to their courts—with a
date before 1170—the probable date Chrétien began to
write Erec et Énide. 2
1 Benton, John F. ”The Court of Champagne as a Literary Center,”Specu-
lum, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Oct. , 1961), pp. 551-591.
2 Frappier, Jean, Chrétien de Troyes: The Man and His Work. Trans. R. J.

66
 The spoken legends as presented in the Perlesvaus, espe-
cially tales of Arthur, the Grail and the quests of the knights,
grew increasingly popular with the common folk and the
growing Middle Class. In the early medieval era, the Celtic
legends began to merge with Kaballah and Jewish mysticism,
gypsy Tarot glyphs, Gnostic teaching and other ideas. Thus,
by the time Chrétien wrote, the beliefs and values of many
cultures had become part of the underground stream. When
presented well, the Grail legends could convert hidebound
Christians to transcendentalism. While the church spoke of
painful death and retribution for heretics, the old legends
spoke of freedom from oppression, especially for women and
children.
The general economies of France, the Lowlands, and Ger-
many, were unstable as the second Crusade began. King
Stephen’s inconsistent policies locked England into a state of
civil war.
In spite of the near anarchy, many isolated areas found
stability and continued to thrive. The cathedrals and hun-
dreds of church and castle building projects provided work
and a sense of spiritual attainment not achievable through
subsistence farming. Market towns and villages sprang up,
especially toward the late 12th century. The ground plans
and road designs provided by the Crown allowed a new liv-
ing pattern. The larger cathedrals and abbeys spoke of con-
struction dedicated to a paradise on earth, a New Jerusalem.
Thus the quest, like Christ’s travail along the Stations of the
Cross, appears at Glastonbury as depicted by the author of
the Perlesvaus. 1
It is thus, not by coincidence that each of the cathedrals
planned by the master builders and most of the great ab-
beys possessed a labyrinth cut into the processional floor of
the structure, a maze, like a child’s hopscotch court, which
brought each pilgrim face to face with the supernal light of
the mysteries.
According to the events depicted in the Perlesvaus, the
knight’s quest for the knowledge of the Grail is identical to
the treading of a labyrinth or maze, except in many cases
the Perlesvaus depicts knights mounted on horseback.
This labyrinth symbolic of the quest may be an interior
maze, drawn in marble on the floor of a cathedral or a huge
geoglyphic maze, made up of hills and valleys, rivers and

Cormier. Ohio University, 1982.

1 Fulcanelli (Pseud). Possibly Schwaller de LubiczLe Mystere de la Cathd-
ral. See also: Laura Knight-Jadczyk The True Identity of Fulcanelli and
The Da Vinci Code.

67
horse trails. Be it large or small, stellar or earthbound, the
spiral and the labyrinth are symbolic of initiation and the
quest for enlightenment. It is also symbolic of the pattern of
the sun’s ecliptic as the earth moves around it. 1

1 Tertullian, On the Proscription of Heretics, trans. T. Bindley, 1914).

68
 Avalon
G
lastonbury, also known as the Isle of Avalon, is, even
today, a mysterious and serene place, isolated in the
center of the richest farmland in England. For centur-
ies, its famed abbey has been a point of pilgrimage. Since its
beginnings as a first century community of Essenes, similar
to Qumran, it has been a hospice for the ill, and a safe house
for people fleeing prosecution.
Moreover, from the dawn of written history and probably
back before Stonehenge I, Glastonbury was a sanctuary and
a place of entry into the Celtic underworld. Prehistoric trade
roads and salt tracks from all over England, and the Contin-
ent, lead to Glastonbury. This geographic fact, portrayed in
the Perlesvaus, shows us that the author was almost propa-
gandist for Avalon and its legends.
The Isle of Avalon or Avallach is strategically located at
the headlands of the Somerset moors, running off from the
Severn channel. Stonehenge, Woodhenge, and the temple
complex at Avebury, to say nothing of Silbury Hill, are less
than forty miles from Glastonbury. A straight line drawn on
an ordinance survey map between Glastonbury and Stone-
henge directly intersects at least seven significant Neolithic
sites, indicating to some observers, that Glastonbury Tor is
perhaps the terminus of an ancient sacred network.
It is important for tourists to understand that Somerset is
in the central region of what the native English refer to as
“the West Country.” This land is rich and its crops grow upon
some of the most vital soil in England. Beyond Bath lies the
Mendip Hills and at their base, the farm plain begins to level
out at Glastonbury Tor.
Rumors of divine sanctity, miracles and fairy tales, have
clung to it, almost like the Pyramids of Egypt. Today, New
Age tourists walk in the footsteps of the medieval pilgrims,
each soul still seeking a promised enlightenment, a light,
said to be obtainable only at this sanctified place. It is, as if,
in retrospect, Glastonbury is the ancient capital of the Celtic
culture. Objectively, even with its modern trappings, the
place reeks with magic and healing. Unfortunately, since the
1970s, sodium vapor and halide parking lamps create a
blinding sky glow. This illumination blocks out the stars and
moon, but if you travel a few miles further towards the small
village of Baltonsburough, the stars still map out their sanc-
tuary below.

69
 Glastonbury Tor, also known as Saint Michael’s Mount is a
huge hill, at least 600 feet tall, with a maze like pathway cut
into it. On its top stands a tall observation tower, once part
of a chapel. The friezes on the square chapel tower, named
after Saint Michael, hints that solemn ceremonies were once
conducted there, especially rituals that dealt with the weigh-
ing of the human soul before judgment.
Each Celtic tribe added to the Tor or modified it in some
way, and none knows who built it originally. Archaeological
digs tell us that the mound itself was a natural outcropping,
but that the strip lynchets and labyrinthine rungs on its sides
came into being by human endeavor. No reliable radiocar-
bon dates exist, but he labyrinth seems to be from the Iron
Age or earlier.
We know two facts. The monks of the abbey maintained
the labyrinth over the centuries; some more devoted than
others, and the chapel, built on the apex of the Tor as a
lighthouse and beacon. A fire lit, in a cauldron on the Tor
could easily be seen from anywhere in the valley below, in
the hills, and across the channel to Brecon Beacon in Wales.
That a far ranging signal system did exist, across the chan-
nel to France, is a strong possibility.
The Perlesvaus depicts a similar maze. In the book, the
knight’s rise to the chapel of the Fisher King, but as soon as
they see the tower, the path disappears. This is exactly what
happens when you walk the Tor at Glastonbury.
The pathway up Glastonbury Tor extends almost two
miles in circumference. Could the Perlesvaus be a remem-
brance of an almost forgotten initiation? Here the knight er-
rant sees the Grail but cannot be part of the ceremony until
he travels away from the chapel and then returns again,
after being tested.
It is important to establish, that the mounds and circles of
Western Europe are not strictly tombs (although they may
have had a funereal function) and that most are cosmolog-
ical in nature. Mounds like Saint Michael’s Tor, were built as
computers, almanacs and horologes and that the legends
that emerge from them, the songs of the Fairy Faith (ban
sidh) pronounced, ”baahan shee.” literally Milk Fairies—are
direct precursors of the Celtic civilization.
Celtic Christianity and its affiliated Troubadours took its
beginnings directly from the Druids and Bards who remained
alive and functional in most Celtic territories. In this same
context, the God Hermes sprang from a pile of stones. In the
Perlesvaus the women of the wells and the hermits of the
fountains were identical to the Fairy inhabitants of the an-

70
cient mounds that can still be found all over the British Isles
and Bretagne.
The first eastward wending evangelists spoke Irish or
Welsh themselves and where, often, high ranking members
of Celtic royal families. Wherever sacred groves, holy wells,
and stone circles once stood the newly founded church erec-
ted a chapel or a shrine that would often, over time, grow
into an abbey or a cathedral. This was not at all appealing to
the Bishops in Rome, who thought of themselves as an ex-
tension of the old Roman Empire, now operated by a succes-
sion of paternal figures tracing themselves back to the
apostles Paul and Peter and, of course to the emperors.
The main conflict grew because Celtic Christianity, at
least the forms emerging in Merovingian France, claimed a
direct line to Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Many sects, both
Protestant and catholic, find this thought deeply disturbing.
Millions of Christians base their faith on the assumption that
Christ became an immortal, and that he, when crucified,
transcended into heaven to take the form of God, a force
that was once invisible but was now reborn to appear like a
man.
In the Troubadour/Manichean view—Christ was a holy
man who lived a corporeal life after the crucifixion. He was
not a God but rather a human being, a man who was mar-
ried and sired at least one child, probably a daughter. These
genetic descendants of Jesus and his brother James, Mary
Magdalene and, through a series of circumstances, John the
Baptist and Lazarus where adored in certain subcultures in
France and beyond to Spain and England. The inclusion of a
priestly blood line implies that priests, in this alternative
form of Christianity, could marry and sire children, and that
women could own land, inherit property, administer to the
church body and preside over church matters. These were
serious distinctions causing the entire Christian world to split
apart, as soon as it began.
In Iron Age Britain, the most revered shrine was not
Stonehenge, but rather Saint Michael’s Tor, the sacred hill at
Glastonbury. This previously mentioned hill has a labyrinth
carved into its sides and has always featured an oratory or
chapel on its summit. The present chapel tower is medieval,
but there was a structure on the summit long before Christi-
an times. This structure may have originally taken the form
of a stone cairn, a beam dial device, lighthouse, beacon or
signal station, similar to those in Wales and Ireland. It is
therefore natural to entertain legends of the holy family ar-

71
riving at this site only a few years after the crucifixion. 1
Several centuries before Christ, travelers, from Jerusalem,
made trips to Avalon to walk the strange labyrinth that takes
pilgrims to the summit. It was a Druidic site, in the Iron Age,
but before the Druids, thousands of pilgrims arrived each
year, just as they did at Stonehenge, Avebury, and New-
grange in Ireland and Kercado in Bretagne.
Saint Michael’s Tor has always been a place to visit with
the ghosts of ancestors who live in the stars, a place of deep
serenity and meditation. These pilgrims came from every
known tribe in the Neolithic world. Since there are caves in
the area, one can speculate that both Mesolithic pilgrims,
probably cattle drovers and sheepherders, made their way
to the area. When the first Christians did arrive, they built a
chapel of mud and stick at the base of the Tor, near an
equally sacred well, its water flowing blood red from the iron
and minerals leaking from the mounds interior.
Because of this early settlement, scholars are now con-
vinced Glastonbury is the oldest Christian foundation in Eng-
land and, possibly one of the very first remote Christian out-
posts anywhere. Every layer of human history exists there
and it is to Glastonbury that one must turn for research into
any book depicting a mystery rite or initiation, especially one
with such profound links to Celtic Christianity and the Grail.
Likewise, Glastonbury’s archaeology, both ecclesiastic
and secular, is rich in the lore and artifacts of all ages. Even
today, the specter of Excalibur and the Grail hover over the
skeletal arches, and the place reeks with mystery. Legend
has it that the bones of Queen Guenevere and King Arthur
still reside at Glastonbury, but even without that probable
ruse, and dismissing the New Age tourist atmosphere, Gla-
stonbury remains an astonishing place.
At Glastonbury, Christian humanism merges with sham-
anism in every aspect of the Atlantic dream quest. The name
Merlin, used to describe the famed magician, is in realty, the
Gaelic word for Hawk, the raptor that is all seeing and all
knowing—the Egyptian Thoth. This same Merlin is said to
have brought the megaliths of Stonehenge from Ireland to
their present location so, by extension, and taken literally,
the mysteries of Glastonbury must be connected to the Irish
and Breton monuments, especially those along the Boyne
River. The connection is spiritual, of course, but it is also ar-
chaeological and astronomical and a lot of the meas-

1 Michelle, John. A Little History of Astroarchaeology: Stages in the

Transformation of a Heresy. London 1977 pp. 84-85

72
urements and geometry are identical. 1

1 Op cit. Harrison, Hank. The Stones of Ancient Ireland. p-189.

73
 A Fresh Wind
K
ing Henry Beauclerc sent a new abbot to Glastonbury
in 1122 to oversee the development of an area wide
plan. The new abbot followed the Cluniac Benedictine
rule to the letter while also maintaining the Celtic and Saxon
roots and the place began to thrive again, as it had done un-
der Saint Dunstan centuries earlier. It was as if Glastonbury
had become an Essene or Hermetic temple in the west, per-
haps even a New Jerusalem.
Bear in mind also that 1122 is an important year for many
reasons. It was the year Peter the Venerable took over at
Cluny, and the birth year of Eleanor of Aquitaine. It was also
the year of the arrival of our unsung author at Montacute
near Yeoville in Somerset; a Cluniac priory located only a
few miles from Glastonbury. This is not to be confused with
Montacute House built by Elizabeth I in 1598. 1
When it was rebuilt, during the reigns of Henry I and
Stephen Blois, Glastonbury became, like Chartres, a hybrid
between Romanesque and Gothic, with plans taken from
templates designed by masons from the Paris Basin. These
new plans revealed Arabic influences, almost as if the draw-
ings and measurements came from a secret order of archi-
tects, perhaps even from plans brought back to France by
the crusaders who understood Solomon’s Temple. 2
According to John James, the overseer of Chartres in the
1980s, there was no actual plan in the transition between
Romanesque and Gothic. Guild workers under the guidance
of a master mason performed experiments:

1 Montacute House Ham Hill, British National Trust Publication. # 1129

2 Malmsbury, W. Antiquities of Glastonbury, Talbot, p. 12.

74
 The cathedral of Chartres (c.1124) was not designed
by three architects, or even five or six: in our sense of
the word there were no architects at all - only building
contractors who were led by men deeply trained in all
the subtle aspects of their craft. The evidence shows
that large mobile teams of masons who moved around
the countryside from job to job working for as long as
the money lasted built this cathedral. When the funds
ran out they would leave the site in a body, the crews
still intact under their master, to find another project.
They were like the circuses of today, which roam the
country, settling on one site for an allotted time and
then, complete with their tents and tools, departing for
other places. 1

By 1122, Adela’s youngest and brightest son, Henry, was

on his way From Cluny to Glastonbury to become the new
abbot. In his train, he probably carried plans for building pro-
jects and templates from masons frequenting Cluny. Un-
doubtedly, the things he saw and heard at Cluny and
Chartres, and the aesthetics he inherited from his family,
made their way to Glastonbury and into his other building
projects. See Appendix E.
As stated earlier, the area surrounding Glastonbury, for at
least twelve miles in radius, is extremely rich in Megalithic
structures. Some of these are famous as landmarks, such as
St. Michael’s Tor, others have chapels built on mounds,
some have been removed or plowed under and still others
are known to the local populace, but not reported on the
ordnance survey maps for fear of further vandalism. Housing
developments are killing off the land, the starry sky is im-
possible to see at night, and yet, Glastonbury remains ma-
gical.
The oldest road in England, called the Fossway, ends at
Glastonbury Tor, implying this great labyrinth is the terminus
of a great journey. Other Neolithic track-ways and Roman
Roads extend out, over the bogs to form, what an increasing
number of observers refer to as, ”Giant Figures.”
In the process of excavating the Sweet Track on the Glas-
tonbury Levels, near the river Parratt, archaeologists have
discovered outlying villages joined by preserved wooden
roads, dating to the fourth millennium BCE, so it is possible
that some kind of ceremonial temple, acting as a doorway to
the Celtic mystery world, did exist in the third millennium
1 James, John. Contractors of Chartres. Architectural Association, London,
1978

75
BCE. It is also highly probable that the land was extensively
modified in the middle Ages. 1
Bear in mind also that Glastonbury Abbey was no small
structure. When we use the term ”abbey,” we evoke the im-
age of a rather small church with rustic pilings, perhaps one
made of wood, which served its congregation well. This is
simply not the accurate picture for Glastonbury Abbey, espe-
cially after 1125. Glastonbury was huge, almost as large as
Cluny in France, and with almost as much funding. Obviously
masons flocked to the place in droves.
Cluny had several direct Troubadour connections includ-
ing sponsorship of Abelard and Heloise, endowments from
the Thebaudians, centuries of support from the Dukes, Kings
and Queens of the Aquitaine and, of course, the protection
of the original Knights of Jerusalem, the founders of the Hos-
pitaliers and Templars. When new projects began, these
funds and attributes were duplicated and extended. Glaston-
bury was one of the main recipients of this extension. 2
After 1126, Glastonbury Abbey was never far behind the
continent in terms of architectural splendor. The choir and
columnar arrangement probably came from Cluny—the
largest church in the world in the 11th century. In addition,
Glastonbury borrowed ideas and actual masons from
Vezelay, another Cluniac basilica important to the second
crusade. It is also, one of the mother churches of the cult of
Mary Magdalene. In any case, the overall ambience at Gla-
stonbury under Norman development was brilliant and truly
Benedictine in every respect.
The once fabulous abbey at Glastonbury reached its first
peak of influence at the time the legends of King Arthur were
said to have originated, that is circa AD 544 when the Ro-
man Legions still had a fading influence in Britain, but the vi-
cissitudes of time caused damage. A look at a simple map
will reveal that Glastonbury was the hub of a great wheel
with spokes that pointed to Denmark and Holland, France,
and Iberia. The connection to Ireland, Wales, and Scotland is
also well established.
The original Celto-Saxon name for Glastonbury was Yny-
swytrin. The place name derives from the Anglo-Saxon root
word wytrin ”glass,” also meaning ”glass cup” or ”drinking
vessel.” Our English word, ”vitrified” comes from this root
and, of course, we use a glass of something every day.
Inis (Irish) and Ynys (Welsh) (Latin: insula) means island.
1 Coles, Bryony and Coles John. Sweet Track To Glastonbury. London, 1987. pp. 119-122
2 Barrow, Julia, et al,”A Checklist of Writings of Peter Abelard and
Heloise. ”Revue d’ historie des texts 14/15 (1983/1984) p. 183f

76
Local traditions translate the Anglo-Saxon as meaning,
”Glass Island.” As previously mentioned, the ideogram of
Glastonbury as an island is probably derived from the fact
that the fields around Glastonbury flood with rain water each
year, creating the image of an island floating on glass and
turning on its axis, especially when seen from the Tor.
The illusion of the, ”Turning Isle” is caused by the unique
lighting conditions in the Somerset area. That the area typi-
cally had two harvest seasons each year is a tribute to its
fertility. Mt. St. Michael in Cornwall and the island of the
same name in Bretagne (across the channel) both become
islands at flood tide, so it is not odd to assert that a mound
like hill, named St. Michael’s Tor should appear at the center
of a floating island. Moreover, the tides did wash up to the
Glastonbury fens as recently as the 18th century, allowing
shallow draft boats to land and depart. Even today, the area
floods with alarming regularity. 1
One further interpretation must be considered. This hing-
es on the assumption that whoever named Glastonbury was
punning, rather deftly. The anagrammatic interpretation
comes not from the Saxon root for ”glass” but rather from
the Celtic root ”glast.” This creates a whole new, and older,
set of variables to consider since the Gaelic ”glast” means
‘radiance’ and is related to the old Dutch word, ”glat” mean-
ing smooth-surfaced or glassy. If the place name Glaston-
bury is really Glast-on-bury instead of Glas-ton-bury then the
place name reads: ”radiance on the town” instead of the tra-
ditional, ”town of the glass cup” although when both are
combined the image can be ”radiance on or ”from” the town
of green glass.” and so forth. Celestial connotations and cos-
mic puns cannot be ignored when we consider the entire im-
age; the landscape seems to fulfill a prophecy. A radiant
light or light beam came to be manifest at Glastonbury be-
cause many early observers thought of it as a place of radi-
ance, but it might have been used as a beacon or lighthouse
for ships.
This fact is bolstered by the perpetual legend that severe
punishment would accrue to anyone who planted any tree or
built any structure that would block the light on the Tor or
any monastery building. The light must have been an im-
portant component. The assumption here, is that the wor-
ship of the light beam and the shadows it creates, repres-
ents the primal cosmology of Atlantic shamanism; the yin
and yang of the underworld, and it would appear that here,

1 BBC World News Friday, 24 June, 2005,Page 1.

77
at Glastonbury, as too at Chartres and Amiens, we find it
manifest again.
The ancient Celtic name for Glastonbury is also a pun. In
this case, the Welsh word ”glass” refers to the color of pre-
cious stones, usually green. By combining both the Celtic
and Saxon meanings the intermediate result is:
Radiance on the green or emerald teachings
The word, ”bury” derives from the Saxon, ”burg” mean-
ing sacred or civic enclosure, thus Glastonbury is a ”glass-
town” or ”sacred enclosure.” Eventually an elaborate poem,
extending culturally from the Megaliths to the Renaissance,
emerges. The modern rendering might then read:
The place of the Cauldron of Aanwyn
Or, from a Hermetic and Dionysian standpoint:
The place where the divine light shines on the secrets of
the ancient cauldron
If we define Green Tablet or Emerald Tablet as a Hermetic
initiation, the inscription becomes:
Place of rebirth—the great initiation, redemption through
baptism in light and water, the place where heaven and
earth meet.
There is still more evidence which ties the place name
Glastonbury to the Hermetic mysteries and the Troubadour
movement.
As stated earlier, the land around Glastonbury floods fre-
quently. Twice each year the incoming tides of the Severn
channel swell into a tidal flux known as the, ‘Severn Bore.’
This tide, floods the river Brew (Bru), and backs up the rain-
water surrounding Glastonbury, turning it into an island. This
flushing effect, which has the additional impact of forcing
water into subterranean hot springs causing steam to rise in
spirals, can still be seen in the rainy season. In the wettest of
years, often in summer, an aerial view will reveal the area
around Glastonbury and Central Somerset to be an inland
sea, dotted with islands.
First, called Ynyswytrin by the early Britons, Glastonbury
provides an archaeological history as far back as the Ice
Age. The Kings of Mercia and the West Saxons called it,
‘Glastinbeary.’ It was also known, by the Latin speaking
monks of Saint Dunstan’s time as Innis Avalonia or Insula
Avalonia: the Isle of Apples. 1
The flood plain around Glastonbury, known as Lake Aval-
lach since at least the seventh century, the supposed time of
1 Op cit. Malmsbury William, Antiquities. See also”The Deeds of the Bish-
ops of England,”[Gesta Pontificum Anglorum], Trans. David Preest,
Oxbow 2002

78
King Arthur, has always been a mystery because it appears
and disappears with the summer rains. Avallach evolved into
Avalon.
In 1129, William of Malmsbury, a monk from Malmsbury
Abbey, a religious edifice very close to Stonehenge, was
transferred to Glastonbury by order of King Henry. Malms-
bury’s Historia Regnum Britannica marked him as a gifted
scribe in the royal court and earned him extraordinary ac-
cess to all texts and maps in the realm. Malmsbury and the
new Abbot became great friends. Remember this fact, as it
will be important later when we unmask the true author of
the Perlesvaus.
The emphasis on the syllable TIN in the word pronounced
”Glas-tin-bury,“ could be a reference to the existence of TIN
(Tinnium) in the nearby hills, a commodity long known to be
the target of Mediterranean sea traders in search of copper
and tin with which to make Bronze. Tin is also used in mak-
ing glass in various colors. Antimony and tin can be used to
make emerald green glass, while cobalt, in various amounts,
can make glass look like amethyst. Likewise Gold is used for
red glass, while silver creates sapphire tones. Most of these
minerals came from the Mendip Hills above Glastonbury.
Any discussion of alchemy in this context would surly
take an entire book, but there can be no doubt St. Dunstan
(Abbot of Glastonbury c ad 850) was a blacksmith of the
most peculiar kind and was rumored to have made miracles
at his forge. His secrets were probably passed down for gen-
erations so that Glastonbury would possess the most beauti-
ful glass windows in England, windows situated to admit tin-
ted beams of light at particular times of the day and year.
The connection between glass and tin and the black-
smith’s forge appears in William’s reference to the old
tongue, another reference to green glass at Glastonbury:

The Saxons when they arrived over the Mendip Hills,

although not wholly Christian, were at least respectful
to the Elde Kirk, and did not wish to change the mean-
ing of the place.

William here implies that the Saxons simply made a

literal translation of Ynyswytrin, meaning, ”Isle of
Glass.”

The suffix ‘bury’ derives from the Saxon, ”Burg,” for vil-
lage and enclosure or cattle pen. However, with Glastonbury,
still another philological aspect crops up.

79
 By again dividing the word into its syllables GLAS-TON-
BURY and relating the word BURY to its literal English verb
meaning, TO BURY something in the ground, we can con-
clude that the name means, “The place where the green
stone (emerald) is hidden.” This extends sympathetically to,
”The place where the emerald teachings reside.”
For pilgrims, the magnetism of Glastonbury naturally in-
creased through the centuries, but King Ine, the ruler of all
Wessex, increased his commitment to the monks at Glaston-
bury by building a new church and then adorning the place
with gold and relics.
The Winchester Chronicle under the year 688 reads:
Ine timbered a minister.
This means Ine built a strong wooden church or Lignea
Basilica at Glastonbury to protect and enclose the ancient
wattle church. In other words, according to the Chronicle the
original chapel made of sticks and mud, stood for almost 700
years and was saved by King Ine because he knew it was
sacred in some way. This in itself could seem like a miracle. 1
The Chronicle goes on to say:
The monk named Paulinus then gave it a roof of Plum-
bum (lead).
The truth of this deed may be verified in Ine’s documents
dated 704 (which also mention that his final Christian con-
version is in doubt). Ine’s deed is proven further some three
hundred years later by Canute’s deed of 1032, a deed that
donated a huge angelic cross to Winchester. 2
Malmsbury further hints that the scene at Glastonbury
was almost unbelievable and far more beautiful than
Winchester. According to this writer-in-residence, Ine de-
livered gold to the Lady Chapel enough to cover it with silver
and gold leaf. This sight must have impressed pilgrims. 3
So, from a humble wattle and daub oratory, Glastonbury
grew into a gold plated temple to rival its own diocesan
cathedral, an opulent stone structure as large, and as or-
nate, as any cathedral then known. Why? Moreover, how did
this wee kirk grow to be so deserving of global praise? Was it
connected to a universal cult? Alternatively, was its location
at the foot of the Tor significant beyond the normal under-
standing?
There seems to be something deeper than cosmetics and

1 Finberg, H.”The Winchester Cathedral Clergy and the Expansion of

Wessex.” In: Lucerna (1964) pp 95-115
2 Fletcher, Richard. Bloodfeud. Oxford Press, 2003. p.107
3 Scott, John. “A Study of William of Malmesbury's ”De Antiquitate Gla-
stonie Ecclesie, Boydell, London, 2001

80
devotional offerings in Ine’s actions. The wooden church
known as the chapel of the moon and, by the time of Ine, re-
ferred to as the temple of Mary Magdalene, the Black Virgin,
takes on extraordinary significance as a cult symbol. To re-
build the Lady Chapel Ine gave two thousand six hundred
and forty pounds of silver. The altar itself required two hun-
dred and sixty nine pounds of gold, one tenth the amount of
silver. Here the architect uses an alchemical ratio (1 in 10)
to express the nature of gold and silver in flux, a ratio that
also represents the nature of the moon and sun pulling on
one another.
This alchemical sun and moon coupling appears in the
Perlesvaus where Gawain, like Ine, becomes the savior of
the old church. In the 12th century Gawain, not Perceval, en-
acts the role of the Troubadour populist hero. This role is
universal and eternal. The same role is played by Stephen
Daedalus in Joyce’s Ulysses and by Nial O’ Cassadeigh (Dean
Moriarty) in Jack Kerouac’s, On the Road.
In the Perlesvaus, Arthur and Guenevere are the sun and
moon and the light they project is the supernal light of
nature. Their mating reenergizes fertility and the death of
their son Lohot represents the potential death of the planet
when the balance is lost. Certainly, the author of the Perles-
vaus must have been aware of the power of the alchemical
wedding and must have understood the nature of the old re-
ligion, the spiritual underpinnings of he megaliths. Here
again we see the hand of authorship pointing toward a monk
at Glastonbury, a high-ranking monk, educated in the Cluni-
ac system. 1
Writing about the celestial bodies and the local geology
around Somerset, implies that the author knew something
abut the astronomy of the stones and mounds. Here then a
secret formula, derived from the megaliths, involving ratios,
standard measurements, and the mysterious workings of as-
tronomy hidden in the altars at Glastonbury.
The solid gold dishes used in the Celtic and Saxon rites,
weighed ten pounds, and Ine’s candelabras added two hun-
dred and twenty-four pounds. The covers for the Gospels re-
quired twenty-one pounds of gold and hundreds of semipre-
cious stones, amber, and jewels. The altar was also adorned
with tapestries woven from gold and silver strands while
painted statues of an almost animistic nature, surrounded
the altar along with icons of Mary with the Infant and various
portraits of the Apostles, as well as silver ikons of Saint Mi-
1 Yates, Frances, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, RKP, London, 1975. p.
52-59

81
chael. 1
But, how did this wealth come to be part of a ritualistic
ceremony, a quest for the Graal, at Glastonbury? Did the
brethren of Glastonbury Abbey hold special ceremonies “loci
theatricus” in this gilded environment?
The consecrated shrines further solidified future political
and secular negotiations. It is important, also to understand
that Bernard of Clairvaux, showing his contempt for tradi-
tion, hated the idea, even the implication, that jewelry would
be used in any church ritual, no matter how old or sanctified.
This concept is an important key.

1 Stubbs, William R. ed. William of Malmsbury, Acts of the Kings (De-

Gestis Regnum Anglorum),London: Rolls, 2 Vol. 1887-1889.

82
 Hermits & Knights
A
s the Cluniac system grew, so did Glastonbury’s repu-
tation as the premiere house in the chain, but it reflec-
ted its history in art and relics and was not a plain or
austere place. Much of the wood and stone of the early
church was carved with Saxon tribal symbols, gargoyles and
inlays depicting the mystic Eye of Horus and the all seeing
facade of Ogmios the Gnostic-Celtic god of elocution, wis-
dom and learning. In addition, the floors were lined with mo-
saics depicting Gnostic, Christian symbols lined the floors,
and the walls were coated with similar frescos. 1
This should not be surprising. West Saxon kings, like Ine,
practiced their own tribal rites interlarded with Christianity.
To them, and the Gaelic speakers, the eight rayed cross was
a compass and sundial. Later the Knights Templars and cer-
tain Troubadour benefactors adorned the abbey with art.
It is not so well known that the Troubadour brotherhood
emerging from Southern France and Spain, led by famed
and mysterious men like Guilluime IX, the father of Eleanor
of Aquitaine, managed to amass large fortunes which they
dedicated to building funds in the era between 900-1200 AD.
It is also little known that the creed of the early Troubadours
was almost identical to the methods of the later Knights
Templars, whose main geometric symbol was the octagon. 2
Again, a pre-Celtic connection appears, linked to the
name of the God tracing back in time to the Neolithic thun-
der and rainbow deity Oc, Og, or Bolg, which the Greeks
called Zeus and the Scandinavians called Thor. Since the
Templars emerged from Champagne and the north, and
since the Troubadours came to action in the south, specific-
ally, Languedoc, one would assume there must have been
some direct link, some fraternal connection from ancient
times, perhaps though the monasteries.
The Roman Mithra cult at nearby Bath (aqua sulas) used
the octagon to define their barracks and flags, but the spas
at Bath were going full blast long before the Romans arrived.
The Druids, who inherited the healing baths from the late
Bronze Age populace, also featured the octagon as repres-
entative of their calendar year. Just to note how directly the

1 Ogmios, equivalent to Dionysius, was a stellar deity. His presence

translated into the number eight. In esoteic tradition Eight is also the
number of Christ perfected.
2 Thys, Leo, Templar Architecture. Templar Press, London 2005

83
octagonal motif stretched across generations, the eight
sided figure, in walls and windows, was also critically import-
ant to the Knights Templars who came to power at Glaston-
bury five hundred years after King Ine.
The main body of the Abbey is now gone, but one perfect
building remains, the octagonal Abbots Kitchen constructed
by masons under orders by the reigning abbot c. 1157. This
eight-sided figure is common in Templar designs.
We may never know exactly what was carried to Wells ca-
thedral when it was built to rival and replace Glastonbury,
but the ogival arches still stand today, and they may have
been suggested by the architects of Glastonbury and Cluny.
This supports the idea that the Troubadours had a major
hand in the design of the Abbeys and cathedrals in the era
before the Crusades and passed these ideas on to the Tem-
plars. Without doubt, Glastonbury abbey, built and rebuilt
several times, reached a special level of architectural signi-
ficance in the 12th century. Due to the plans of several
groups, the abbey remained bathed in light and not a small
degree of superstition. As early as the 8th century, King In-
e’s bequeaths reveal that the abbey was haunted, claiming
that the graveyard was precipitous. William of Malmsbury
who repeats the old legend, reports that the Abbey buildings
were aligned with the sun and stars in a very specific way:

No one dared carry a hunting bird [Hawk or Merlin]

through the cemetery and departed unharmed in him-
self or his possessions. 1

The reference here is a caveat. Blocking the light of the

church, meaning the sun and moonlight as well as the spir-
itual light coming into the church, could lead to dire con-
sequences. This gives us yet another reason to believe the
legend that the study of the esoteric book known as the
Enochion, an amazing book of cosmology and heavenly
archangels, was commonplace at Glastonbury.
After Ine’s donation, gold was abundant, but fish and
cattle were also important. The abbey had to grow and feed
its monks and pilgrims. In 601, King Dyfnant—known in
Welsh as Gwrgan Varvtrwch, 87 years before Ine built the
wooden church, deeded the first verifiable grant of land to
Glastonbury. This grant is critical as it acts as a bridge
between the era of Gildas and Conomorus in Bretagne and
the first true splendor of the abbey in England. Make no mis-

1 Op Cit. Malmsbury, Antiquities. p. 32 See also reference to Merlin

Hawks in the Elucidation. Appendix A.

84
take; the Elde Kirk was at least 500 years old at that time
and it was venerated long before Christianity arrived.
Fifty-eight years after Dyfnant’s grant the Angles took
over and accepted the antiquity of the place, as if it had
been a temple all along.
Malmsbury again tells us of solemnity and warnings:

The people of the region had no holier or more fre-

quent oath than that of swearing “by the old Church,”
and they never more avoid perjury, out of fear of sud-
den retribution when they used this oath. 1

Clearly, then a cult had formed early on at Glastonbury,

probably long before Christianity arrived. Moreover the basis
for this cult practice was carried through like a torch being
passed down an eternal tunnel. Each successive generation
knew about it and practiced it. Those who did not agree with
the process stood out as interlopers and was replaced. The
Elde Kirk and the Pyramids in the graveyard were symbols of
remembrance that the Grail was not just a chalice or a cere-
mony but a teaching, a path to enlightenment.
More realistically, the Grail, especially as a symbol of
democracy, is an initiation into the methods of the Hermetic
philosophers. For this insight, we owe a debt of gratitude to
the aforementioned Henry and Rene Kahane. Without ques-
tion, their work is one of the most important events in Amer-
ican scholarship leading to a redefinition of the Grail be-
cause it clearly links the Grail cultus to the Dionysian Krater
Hermetis. 2
The Kahane’s demonstrate how the Grail of the medieval
literature owes its essence to the Dionysian Krater and to
Christ as a glyph for Hermes-Dionysius. It is therefore reas-
onable to connect the Celtic and Atlantic Neolithic basin
stone and cauldron to the Krater, thence to the Christian
Mysteries and the Cathedral (especially baptismal fonts) and
finally to the communion chalice. 3
Several other clues bear directly on the existence of a liv-
ing Grail cult at Glastonbury and Winchester in the 12th cen-
tury, which is at a time about 100 years earlier than Chré-
tien. In a historical work, compiled and published at Ipswich
in 1548, Henry Bales, a Tudor court historian, states that
certain sacred initiations known as the, "Grail” were well
1 Ibid.
2 Kahane, Henry and Renee Kahane. The Krater and the Grail: Hermetic
Sources in Parzival, University of Illinois, Press Urbana, 1965
3 Dillon, John and Lloyd P. Gerson, Neoplatonic Philosophy. Introductory
Readings. Trans. and ed. Indianapolis: Hackett. 2004.

85
known to the monks of Glastonbury and were passed on
from the Saxon King Ine. In 1540, shortly after the dissolu-
tion of the monasteries, writing amidst the protests that fol-
lowed Henry VIII’s ”Betrayal of the Signatures,” I.e., those
who went on the “Pilgrimage of Grace,” Bales seems to be
describing the Perlesvaus without knowing its name:

A hermit who wrote in the style of the bards of the

region of Glastonbury, and who devoted his life to the
science of the stars and history, assembled the events
from different sources that had taken place in Wales,
and laboriously wrote them down. The work is in a
strange language and is called the Great Book of the
Holy Grail. 1

This comment is revealing. First, Bales defines the Grail

as an “initiation,” as in a ceremony. He does not refer to a
communion chalice. Also, remember that it was Ine, known
as a, "Melchizedek,” who first endowed Glastonbury with
”Twelve Hides” of land. As for the strange language, both
Welsh and Occitan would have been strange to Bales’ Tudor
ear.
Statistically, a line of historic continuity between Gildas,
Ine, and the author of the Perlesvaus could not exist at ran-
dom. There must be a direct link, another unbroken chain.
This chain represents the first clue that there may be a
secret society behind the initiation and that it may have
something to do with the investiture of leader known as the
“Fisher King.” Here then we have another reference to the
passing of a torch of enlightenment from one generation to
the next.
In the early 1970s Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln offered the
hypothesis that a mystery school, Le Prior du Sion, [Priory of
Zion] was at work behind the scenes. They suggest, inter
alia, that a group of hermetic philosophers, royal person-
ages, and intellectuals, evolved from certain family lines,
had been manipulating European history for several centur-
ies. They do not mention the possible inclusion of the abbots
of Cluny abbey or Glastonbury as members of this group. 2
It is also necessary to point out the Priory idea could eas-
ily be a hoax, at least in regards to the 20th century
claimants, since several French eccentrics have been ac-
cused of planting the story in newspapers and the French

1 Bales, J. Illustrium Majoris Britanniae Scriptorium Summarium,

Ipswich, 1548 In: Le Roux de Lincy, Sur L’ Abbey de Fecamp, Vol I P. 292
2 Op cit, Baigent, et al. Ch. 1

86
National Library. However, and this should be emphasized
with great vigor, the mystery of the Templars, what they
brought back from Jerusalem, what they took to Rome or
Cluny in 1099 and what else they knew has never been re-
solved. 1
The belief that Christ and Mary Magdalene were married
does not answer the definition of the Grail as a spiritual or
anthropological icon. Mary’s DNA, may well be one form of
the Grail, as expressed in medieval terms, but the ritual wor-
ship of a concave stone object is far older and far more
demonstrable. 2
To repeat, proving the Priory a hoax does not erase the
possibility that a vast underground movement, linked to the
Benedictines and Troubadours, did form during the earliest
Crusade. This secret society may have been forced under-
ground by the repression and genocide hidden behind the
motives of Bernard of Clairvaux and the inquisitions he in-
spired against freethinkers of all kinds. There can be no
doubt that Bernard was opposed to the Thebaudians and
their Benedictine monks. 3
Bear in mind, that the soldiers who slaughtered the
Manicheans during the Albigensian Crusade in 1210 and the
churchmen who allowed millions of lost or abandoned chil-
dren to wander off into slavery in the Children’s Crusade of
1212, were the very same men used to slay innocent
Moslems and Jews in Odessa, Acre and Jerusalem, during
subsequent crusades. These men were not Norman revolu-
tionaries or Thebaudian knights, like the first Knights Tem-
plars, but were rather conscripts with a far more barbaric
mind-set, shamefully, some of these men were members of
the Knights Templar order as organized by Bernard of Clair-
vaux.
Forrester Roberts describes the onset of the Albigensian
Crusade as the end for the Cathars and the Troubadours of
Southern France:

1 Picknett, Lynn and Prince, Clive. The Sion Revelation, 2006. pp.
129-166.
2 Harrison, Hank. The Cauldon and the Grail, Arkives , San Francisco,
1992. App II
3 Gardner, Laurence. Bloodlines of the Holy Grail, The Hidden Lineage of
Jesus Revealed. Element, 1966 p. 222ff.

87
 In the summer of 1209, several church leaders
joined the growing army at Lyon, each leading a mixed
group of soldiers and pilgrims. Despite the exhortations
to avenge the honor of God, the bulk of the self-right-
eous raiders were motivated by the prospect of unlim-
ited plunder and the acquisition of real estate. In its un-
holy appetite for power, the Church had created a mon-
ster. Now its dreadful creation turned south and lum-
bered down the Rhone towards Languedoc. At its head
rode Arnald-Amalric, the fanatical Abbot of Citeaux
trained in his passion by the now dead, but not forgot-
ten, Abbe' St Bernard. 1

In the center of this crusading zeal a book like the Perles-

vaus, already forced underground, a book written perhaps
six decades earlier, would have been an important initiatory
gospel for the Knights who refused to participate in the mas-
sacre. This controversy may have caused a split in the Tem-
plar ranks.

1 Roberts, Forrester, Cathar Eclipse, 2005

88
 A Publishing Empire
I
f the Perlesvaus was compiled, as I suspect, in the midst
of the political maelstrom of the 12th century, one motive
for keeping its author anonymous might have been
simple survival. The book seems to be an initiation guide for
alternative thinkers, such as Benedictine monks who were
exploring new ideas, and for those who subscribed to the el-
evation of women. Dreaming of freedoms like this could eas-
ily prove dangerous.
A forthcoming shift in power and a sense of fatalism
spread through every activity after Bernard denounced
Abelard in 1140. Abelard, the famed orator and teacher—
banished, tortured and castrated, for speaking against the
church, spent his final days at Cluny. The pleadings of Peter
the Venerable, the last great Abbot of Cluny, and an out-
spoken antagonist of Bernard, fell on closed minds in Rome.
Fear of repression was palpable amongst the Norman-
Trouvère families in England and Champagne, especially
those who sponsored the first Knights Templar garrison in
Jerusalem. Pope Honorius II was a vainglorious puppet, con-
trolled by Abbe’ Bernard, who was busy preaching a new
crusade and above all organizing his own version of the
Knights Templar, but his power over the Celtic church and
any church with pagan leanings was almost absolute. The
full inquisition lie fifty years in the future, but repressive
portents seeped into every fissure of society from the first
two Lateran councils. 1
Yet, the Perlesvaus managed to see the light of day. It
portrays a great deal of joyful exuberance—and it possesses
an uplifting, almost defiant tone. Moreover, whoever wrote it
must have had some form of immunity. Every Benedictine
sister house, greatly reduced in power by the rising tide of
Cistercian influence in Rome, could feel the repression, only
Glastonbury. Seemed immune. Why? The answer will be-
come apparent soon.
Glastonbury Abbey grew even though other abbeys
faded, and even though its Thebaudian bishop, a staunch
Cluniac, expressed disdain for Bernard’s Spartan philosophy.
He spoke many languages, and seems to have traveled
widely; he also served several kings, but still, the terror of

1 Peters,Edward. Heresy in Medieval Europe. U Pennsylvania, 1980 . p.

32-81. See also: Butler, Alan. Goddesses, the Grail and the Lodge. ( )
Books, 2004. p.124

89
the Inquisition was on the horizon.
Finally, whoever wrote the Perlesvaus, was not just a
simple journalist, he was a practiced orator with access to an
uncanny number of source books and transcribed oral tradi-
tions. Books like, ”Concerning the Ruin of Britain” (De Exci-
dio Britanniae) written by the 6th century Saint Gildas Sapi-
ens, Badonicus, the first to mention a warrior king or Dux
Bellorum, the prototype of the imagined King Arthur, were at
his fingertips at Glastonbury. The scriptorium at Glastonbury
also featured the works of Ovid and other Hermetic fathers,
and the mysterious author of the Perlesvaus had access to
all of these books. If our soon to be unveiled author, wrote at
Glastonbury, he also possessed the early works of the afore-
mentioned, William of Malmsbury, fresh with ink, because
Malmsbury wrote several books at Glastonbury and died
there in 1143. 1
Many of the books embedded at Glastonbury took on a
heretical tone. Heresy, or the accusation of it, may be one of
the reasons for anonymity in the 12th century. The Trou-
badours, Trouvéres, and Cathars were Christians, closer to
Essenes than Catholics. They sought to incorporate certain
mysteries into the canon of Christianity, ideas, and rituals
that, they believed, were part of Christ’s original teaching.
Unfortunately, the Roman church forbade revisionism of any
type, thus Gnosticism amid the defiant Celtic church posed a
threat to Petrine dogma and was anathematized.
Gabriele Rosetti traces this defiance, represented by the
Troubadour stream, as a politically linked heresy. Objective
for his time, but writing as a church apologist in the early
19th century, Rosetti, had rare access to documents of the
Inquisition. He claims the Troubadours, even before the 12th
century, used a secret language based on the Sun, implying
that they were not just sun worshippers, but had some idea
that the solar system was heliocentric and most certainly,
this was considered heretical. According to Rosetti, this lan-
guage was similar to Sai of the Thracians on the Isle of Sam-
os. 2
Rosetti further suggests, without much footnote support,
that the Book of Revelations was originally written in the Sai
language. He goes on to say, that this language was abori-
ginal, possibly akin to the Greek of the Trojans, possibly tin-
ted with Gaelic, and was not Athenian, Hebrew, Egyptian or
Roman. This would indicate that the denizens of Troyes
1 Op Cit. Scott, John. A Study of William of Malmsbury’s De An-
tiquitate Glastonie Ecclesia, Boydell. London: 2001
2 Op Cit. Rosetti, Gabrielle.

90
(Thebaudian Troubadours) might be Trojans by inheritance. 1
Although Rosetti, like most Victorians, subscribes to a
sophomoric overview, the heliocentric language theory is not
entirely fanciful. In the Celtic Sphere, Miles Dillon admits
that loan words in many languages persist from an earlier
mystery language linked to the Galatians. By the way, the
Galatians were Celts originally from central Gaul. The impact
of this contributory language may be more extensive than
Dillon realized. I argue that the link extends backwards,
through the Druids, to the Neolithic Stone Temples, espe-
cially to their shapes, their placements, and to the geometric
writings carved on them. I am convinced that all of this
knowledge came to rest at Glastonbury, either in books, oral
legends or in the dimensions of the structure itself. Even
today, ancient stones and mounds with proven astral align-
ments surround the Tor and pepper the landscape in Central
Somerset.2
Let us now consider how the change in papal policy and
the powers given to the papal curia, soon to give birth to the
Office of the Inquisition, might affect the author of the Per-
lesvaus at Glastonbury. Nothing could be more frightening to
a warrior monk of the Troubadour or Trouvère persuasion—a
monk who understood Ovid, the nature worship of Erigena,
the mysteries of Christ and the secrets of megalithic astron-
omy—than the thought that his cherished books might fall
into the fires of heresy.
Nor was this fear unfounded. Repeatedly invaded by force
or papal edict, the Cluniac and Benedictine sister houses
suffered immeasurably especially after the fall of Peter
Abelard. The antipaganism of Clairvaux was now in high
gear and the Benedictines, and Cluniacs, due to their love of
music, art, architecture and ornate decoration, quickly grew
disenfranchised.
Sacked several times after the first crusade, Cluny Abbey,
the largest church in Christianity, fell from grace. Today it is
a mere vestige of its former self. Tarred by the same brush,
the Trouvère families who supported the Cluniac mentality,
and the song stylists and storytellers inspired by Erigena and
Abelard, faced the same fate.

1 ibid
2 Michell, John, New View Over Atlantis. Thames & Hudson, Rev ed. 2005

91
 Natural Magic
S
ince Glastonbury stood at the head of a publishing em-
pire in Norman England and since we find nature wor-
ship written all over the face of the Perlesvaus, per-
haps we should look more carefully at the philosopher who
originated what might be called, “Naturalism” or Natural Ma-
gic in the 10th century.
Duns Scotus Erigena also spelled ‘Eriugena, ‘a monk from
Ireland, by way of Paris, made a large impact on our author
at Glastonbury. First, we can be reasonably sure the writer
of the Perlesvaus had access to the writings of Erigena, both
because Duns Scotus was Benedictine himself and because
he deeply influenced the intellectuals and protoalchemists at
Cluny. He also taught at Malmsbury Abbey near Glastonbury
for a short time, undoubtedly leaving a more intimate legacy
to the thinkers of Somerset and the West Country. Bear in
mind that Malmsbury Abbey is less than a single days ride
from Glastonbury—and that William of Malmsbury wrote
books at both locations. 1
Erigena’s work, largely based upon Pseudo-Dionysius
(who he translated) caught hold throughout the Benedictine
world because it was a mixture of Celtic shamanism, Irish
Gaelic naturalistic concepts and mystical Christianity tinc-
tured with Gnostic ideas. More importantly, Erigena was un-
ashamedly Neoplatonic and wrote at a time when Irish philo-
sophers were in vogue. More over, Erigena installed a re-
vised form of the Greek Academy method at his lectures
that, in itself, served to spread the Greek style of discourse
far and wide. This lecture style became a style of writing too
and amounted to a graded hierarchy' or gradual teaching
process. Here we see hints of initiation ala Gradual. By these
methods he revived the Platonic debate between dogma and
scientific logic, (traceable to Aristotle and Pythagoras) which
eventually, over centuries, enriched open-minded thinkers
while serving to destabilize the suppressive forces of the
church. In essence Erigena set the groundwork for scientific
method and the Renaissance, also paving the way for DaV-
1 Harrington , L. Michael. A Thirteenth-century Textbook of Mystical
Theology at the University of Paris: The Mystical Theology of Dionysius
the Areopagite in Eriugena's Latin Translation, with the Scholia translated
by Anastasius the Librarian, and excerpts from Eriugena's Periphyseon
By Anastasius.

92
inci, Bruno and Galileo. A detailed study of the Perlesvaus,
especially if read aloud, shows that Erigena’s teaching meth-
ods and philosophy inspired the author of the Perlesvaus to
lay out the book in a graduated degree of complexity, like
the branches of a tree.
There was, however, a very dark side to including Erigena
in the fabric of the Perlesvaus, an element that may explain
why the author wished to remain anonymous. One could ar-
gue that the Inquisition was, at least in part, a papal abreac-
tion to Erigena’s naturalistic teachings. In the mid to late 12th
century, which is, I assert, exactly when the Perlesvaus was
written, and in the early 13th century when it was most influ-
ential, Erigena was condemned—after three hundred years
of popularity—for the heresy of pantheism. His teaching,
that God could be accessed through prayer, without refer-
ence to orthodox dogma, was forbidden, especially by Bern-
ard and his Cistercians, and sounded a great deal like a re-
finement of 4th century Pelagianism, a heretical doctrine
named after the British monk Pelagius, who argued that free
will was natural and a gift from God to all moral humans.
Modern scholars realize Erigena’s system was brilliant,
acceptable to Pagan and Christian alike and made sense on
every level. In his De Divisione Naturae, his most controver-
sial work, Erigena defines the nature of reality, as we know it
today, 1

Nature is divided into four species": (I) "Nature

which creates and is not created"—this is God, the
Source and Principle of all things; (2) "Nature which is
created and creates"—this is the world of primordial
causes or (Platonic) ideas; (3) "Nature which is created
and does not create"—this is the world of phenomena,
the world of contingent, sense-perceived things; (4)
"Nature which neither creates nor is created"—this is
God, the Term to which all things are returning.

In so doing he also teaches us a natural form of scientific

enquiry, in other words he teaches us a way of thinking
about nature, while including God and Theology in the pro-
cess. There can be no doubt that Erigena had an influence
on the later Italian philosophers, Ficino and Pico Della Miran-
dola and through them the secret traditions such as, Al-
chemy, Freemasonry and the Rosicrucians, But little is
known of his direct philosophy on the monks of the very
monastic system he belonged to. It is equally clear that he

1 Yates, Frances. Erigena in: Lull & Bruno, RKP, London: 1982.

93
had an impact on the Troubadours and Thebaudians as early
as the 11th century through the Benedictines and the school
of Paris, where he taught a mere century earlier.
At that time, Glastonbury and Chartres did not answer to
the Pope in all things. Under the Rule of St Benedict, which,
until the reform of Cluny, was the norm in the West, each
abbot and prioress had jurisdiction over the community, but
they all shared an extensive book distribution network. 1
It was not until the foundation of the Cluniac Order that
the Benedictines, in general recognized a supreme abbot,
exercising jurisdiction over many nunneries, convents, and
monasteries, a kind of Pope of the underground church—a
Fisher King if you will. As we shall see, the abbot of Glaston-
bury in 1136 was only a heartbeat away from that position. 2
This worked well until reactionaries like Bernard came
into power. To anyone sensitive to censorship, it seemed
only a matter of time until the happy-go-lucky lifestyle of the
Troubadours would be forbidden and the rich activities of the
Benedictines would be cut down to plainness, likened by one
monk to, “barley groats for breakfast with no honey.” 3
Bernard's austere piety, forbade elaborate books, fine lin-
ens, jewelry, and paintings, even perfume and incense. It
should now be clear that the Holy Grail, as illustrated in the
Perlesvaus, is an initiation ceremony, and not a Golden
chalice, but it can also be thought of as a book for a high al-
tar and, as such, it would be forbidden if Abbe Bernard had
his way.
An alter table in the church at Somerton, less than three
miles from Glastonbury Abbey, yields clues to the nature of
the Holy Grail as a book. The carvings, one on each of the
table legs, depict scenes from the Bible, but they also con-
tain clues to the decipherment of the Grail mysteries. A
manuscript held open by two heavenly hands, while a
chalice emerges from its pages adorns the table. Does this
carving tell us that the Holy Grail ritual took place here,
close to the center of the ancient roadways of Somerset?
In addition, one might ask, why all this emphasis on ban-
ning or slowing down illuminated books and artistic human-
ism. The answer is simple the threat to naturalism and hu-
manistic Neoplatonism exactly correlates with Bernard of

1 Berkhofer, R. Day of Reckoning: Power & Accountability in Medieval

France. Univ. Pennsylvania. Press, 2004. p 72
2 Venarde, Bruce. Women’s Monasticism and Medieval Nunneries in Eng-
land and France 890-1215. Cornell Press, 1997
3 Brooke, C. N. L. . Ed. The Heads of Religious Houses, England, and
Wales, 940-1216. Cambridge University Press. 2001.

94
Clairvaux’s edicts against any form of artistic endeavor.
The books of the Cathars in the Langudoc were burned as
heretical, beginning as early as 1150 and the Cluniac pub-
lishing empire, so long the aorta of the ecclesiastical body
was cut. There can be no doubt the signal fires were being
set. Anyone who disagreed with Bernard would meet his or
her fate in the flames. Yet, this is precisely when the Perles-
vaus came out of Glastonbury Abbey. We may never know
just how tantalizing and anti-papal the Catharist libraries
were, but a few books did survive, some at Glastonbury and
many at Cluny. These books were well cataloged by John
Glaston after 1247. In John’s list, the transition in emphasis
from Benedictine to Cistercian is obvious. 1

1 Carley, J. P. .John of Glastonbury, ”Cronica sive Antiquitates Glastonien-

sis Ecclesie. ”English Historical Review, Vol. 95, No. 375 (Apr. , 1980), pp.
358-363

95
 Scriptoria
I
n order to truly understand the Perlesvaus and its au-
thor’s intentions, we must understand the nature of the
books available to the author in the 12th century. Bear in
mind that the following list and those books listed earlier and
elsewhere in this text were listed by piecing together various
sources. Undoubtedly the scriptoria at Glastonbury was lar-
ger than this simple list, items as trivial as medical records
were also kept there, but without question Glastonbury, be-
fore the destructive fire of 1184 protected the finest library
in England at that time, a library once filled with thousands
of treasured volumes of great antiquity, the fate of the ma-
jority of its hand illuminated books remaining, for the most
part, unknown for all posterity.
Many a visitor would have marveled at the Abby’s beauti-
ful domed ceiling supported by carved pillars, lit up by lead-
framed windows of alchemically made glass, which over-
looked the monks’ cemetery. The light that streamed
through the library windows of Glastonbury was reputedly
the most illuminating in the world, any monk or visitor would
have walked past the rows of sloping desks, where illuminat-
ors sat, slouched over ancient manuscripts, inkhorns filled
with inks of different colored dyes imported from Egypt. In
adjacent rooms dye makers toiled powdering stones of exot-
ic minerals, grinding dried berries for red color, making up
tempera from egg albumin, and firing stones in small kilns to
set the color. One might also see candles with overflowing
lumps of dripping wax, lampblack and dried oak gall for ink,
and pumice stones for smoothing the parchment.
An inquisitive pilgrim might have seen the illuminations,
painstakingly drawn and painted followed by gilding. The il-
lustrated margins would have been filled with fleet-footed
white stags, unicorns, fire-breathing dragons and coiled ser-
pents, along with griffins, swimming fish, horses, chimeras,
exotic birds and centaurs. Letters of the alphabet became
contorted green leafy branches, birds or strange beasts. 1
The pungent smell of the leather bindings and vellum
would have been overpowering.
The most precious books were chained to lecterns and
desks, especially the codex, which was, itself, a list of books

1 Abrams, L and Charley, J. P. (ends) 1991 The Archaeology and His-

tory of Glastonbury
Abbey. Woodbridge: Boydell Press

96
in the collection of the abbey. Some of these books were gil-
ded, their covers encrusted with jewels. Against the walls
stood shelves, all laden with books, neatly arranged. Large
cupboards would have opened to reveal priceless books,
some of which had been saved by monks fleeing from the
great fire that had ravaged the abbey in earlier times.
There were books by Bede, Augustine, Jerome and Origen,
and many different Psalters, religious manuscripts, letters
and Church Histories, and Lives of the saints shared the
shelves with titles such as the erotic Art of Love by Ovid, the
Ptolemaic De Contemptu Mundi by Bernard of Morlaix, and
works by Aristotle, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Hegessipus, Virgil,
Eusebius, William of Malmsbury, and even the mischievous
Riddles of Aldhelm. There were scientific texts, medical
treatises such as The Leechbook of Bald, philosophical tracts
and books on astrology and celestial navigation. 1
Books on the understanding of God in nature, solemn po-
etry by Vergilius, diatribes criticizing church corruption by
Abelard and historical tracts by Boethius were part of the lib-
rary. Some of the books may have been translated from Ar-
abic, for Henry Blois, was a pupil of Peter the Venerable, the
first scholar to translate the Koran into Latin.
And in this way, Glastonbury’s library contained enough
knowledge to make one enlightened in that day and age.
John Glaston’s list c.1350 confirms that the surviving Gla-
stonbury library contained hand illuminated works of the
Bible, separate books in both Latin and English, with many
grotesques and illustrations. The library also contained eso-
teric books, most interestingly the combined book known as
Enoch, now referenced as, 2Enoch. Ovid was well represen-
ted, as were the works of Marcus Aurelius and books by the
theologians of the era of Dagobert I, before Charles Martel.
The reference to the emperor Marcus Aurelius is exception-
ally relevant, as we shall see when we analyze the dedica-
tion of the Sapphire Altar. 2
The standard works of Bede, Alchane, and Addlehelm
were included along with Abelard’s Yes and No, and the es-
says of Bernard of Morlaix. In addition to these major works
a curious selection of older books, now lost or dispersed, was
listed, which John Glaston described as VETUSTISSIMI. These
were books of the Greek philosophers fathers, Macrobius, Ar-
istotle–only recently translated and Plotinus. Most of these
were copied before the Norman Conquest, especially under
1 Charley, J.P. et al. English Benedictine Libraries. U of Chicago Press,
1995
2 Ibid

97
the great and active leadership of St. Dunstan, but a few,
such as the Koran, had been translated from Arabic, by Peter
the Venerable circa 1145. 1
It is amazing that any of these books survived the
dangers of the times, but unfortunately, John did not catalog
them separately, as he feels they are illegible, being written
in strange tongues. The first books of the Grail, assumed
written in Welsh, the books that influenced the writer of the
Perlesvaus, would, probably appear within this group.
It is safe to assume that since the abbey stood in a state
of disrepair from 1183 to the time John made his catalog—in
fact until the Dissolution in 1539 and beyond—several omis-
sions would seem likely. Books of a heretical nature would
especially be removed, some for protection, others to hide
from those who would use them against the teachings of the
church. 2
For example some of the books on John’s list deal with
Abbot Saint Dunstan’s divinations in resisting the devil. His
alchemical formulae and a mysterious Gnostic book called
the Organon or the Primum Organum of Origen. But the
books that must have been available to Dunstan, books far
more Druidic in nature, were missing from the list. Even so,
the Organon, equates the actions of the celestial orbs with
musical harmony and with specifics of the topography of the
mystic city of Jerusalem. Like Enoch, it projects the possibil-
ity that the planets revolve around a central object, the sun.
It also hints that the inner secret of all Hermetic teachings is
this heliocentrism, not just in an astronomical sense, but
also as a psychological power.
Seeing proof that Origen’s works were available to mys-
tics like Saint Dunstan, and historians like Geoffrey of Mon-
mouth, further hints that a heliocentric cosmology may have
existed at Glastonbury long before Copernicus set forth his
treatise.
Evidence of esoteric astronomy as part of the
Essene/Zadok tradition at Glastonbury comes in verses three
and four of the Book of Enoch. The following is a direct de-
scription of what happens at most megalithic temples,
places like Stonehenge and Newgrange, and hundreds of
other stone gates throughout Western Europe.
Quoting Enoch, as a compilation of several writers:

1 Ibid, Carley et al
2 Charley, J.P. Libraries of Henry VIII, University of Toronto Press, 2002

98
 I behold the gates whence the sun appears to rise
and the gates where the sun appears to set in which
gates also the moon rises and sets and I beheld the
conductors of the stars among those who proceed
them, six gates at the rising and six at the setting. 1

Note the narrative uses the term, ”appears to rise,” when

describing the action of the sun. This implies that the author
knew that the sun does not rise.
The gates referred to in Enoch are the seasons of the
year. The landmarks via the Tor represent the twelve gates.
Each of the Twelve Hides of Glaston, donated by Ine, has a
gate and each, ”hide” (sector) lies about the countryside as
observed from the top of the Tor. Twelve gates for the signs
of the zodiac, twelve gates for the questing Knights of the
Round Table. Remember, that almost any monk at Glaston-
bury had access to these books before 1170. 2
In addition to books and illuminated music sheets, Gla-
stonbury, before the fire of 1184, displayed a number of
unique architectural features. One in particular was a huge
mosaic floor, in the form of a zodiac, built like a labyrinth or
maze. This zodiac had several, particularly Celtic variations
from the one we now use.
First, it was a sky wheel based on Celtic myth. The Gaul-
ish deity Dis Pater (our father) is often depicted holding a
torch while standing next to a wheel. Instead of twins repre-
senting Gemini, it featured a cross-legged navigator looking
up from a platform or ships deck. It also featured an eagle
instead of the traditional water bearer in the place of Aquari-
us. This was described by an anonymous monk, and attested
to by Malmsbury himself.
The zodiac pavement made deviations in several other
ways but we will never know since this floor is utterly lost to
us. 3
Luckily, something similar to it resides near the entrance
of Westminster Abbey in London and surrounding the porch
in quatrefoils at Amiens and on the villa frescos and floors of
Frampton manor, in Somerton. 4

1 Charles, R. H. ed. The Book of Enoch, ”In: the Apocrypha and Pseudepi-
grapha of the Old Testament. Vol. II. Oxford, Clarendon, 1913 pp
163-281.
2 Laurence, Richard. Archbishop trans. the Book of Enoch the Prophet.
Oxford.
3 Several observers, including K.E. Maltwood, have reported seeing
these figures in larger format etched onto the hillsides and valleys sur-
rounding Butleigh, figures forming a huge zodiac aligned with the stars.
4 Oswald, Arthur. Ed. Perkins, Jocelyn. ”Westminster Abbey, Worship &

99
 More importantly, for this investigation, the abbots of Gla-
stonbury often sponsored publications: Professor James Car-
ley tells us:

One of the most impressive collections of books

from the Glastonbury library was that of the 12 th cen-
tury abbot, Henry of Blois, nephew of King Henry I who
caused more than fifty books, to be produced on a
whole range of subjects including, Pliny’s Natural His-
tory, Jerome on Jeremiah and Isaiah, Origen on the Old
Testament, the works of Cyprian, the Libber dictumus
paradises, and the Passions of the Saints in seven
volumes with benedictions and prayers for a full years
round.

Carley also concludes that Blois supervised an extensive

book on lapidary and the properties of gemstones—the Ab-
bot was a well-known collector of gems. Furthermore, the
library under Abbot Blois produced new works on rhetoric,
Quintillion, Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies, and the Cur Deus
Homo of Saint Anselm. 1
In addition, the scriptoria naturally housed the complete
works of William of Malmsbury and sent out copies to dozens
of other libraries, because it bears repeating that Malmsbury
was a resident. Malmsbury, least we forget, became a con-
frere at Glastonbury and wrote at least two books, in resid-
ence, under Blois patronage and friendship.
In addition to his sponsorship of the Winchester Bible,
Blois also caused the Winchester Psalter to be written. This
book reflects Malmsbury’s recitation of Blois dedication to
the Sapphire Altar at Glastonbury. It is published in Latin and
Occitan French, the language of the Trouvéres, and it was
probably produced for a royal woman around 1163.
This book was published around the same time Bishop
Blois added to his bibliophilic largess by sponsoring the
Winchester Bible, the largest, and arguably, the most beauti-
ful, book produced in the British Isles in the 12th century.

Ornaments. ” Burlington Magazines, Vol. 76, # 447. Jun. , 1940), p. 201

1 Carley, James, FRSC University of York. “Hidden Treasures of The Lib-
rary of Glastonbury.” Gematria #3 RILKO, London

100
Part Two

101
 The Shy Monk
M
Y argument states that the Perlesvaus, one of the
most important books ever written, was produced,
edited, and published by a monk at Glastonbury just
prior to the second crusade. The main scholastic disagree-
ment comes with the assumption, first argued by William
Nitze in 1898, that the Perlesvaus is a relatively unimportant
by-product of the 13th century, written in France sometime
after Glastonbury’s great fire 1183-4, and after the strange
disappearance of Chrétien de Troyes. One can only ask why
then, would it have any importance at all? 1
Nitze and his followers, argue, that the Perlesvaus was a
kind of fanciful production by one of Chrétien’s continuers,
perhaps. Pseudo-Gautier. This entire discussion will be illu-
minated in a final chapter, but for now, the reader should
know that the present author disagrees with the 13th cen-
tury placement and argues that the book, and its author, be-
long to the highest ranks of Trouvère and Thebaudian aristo-
cracy in the 12th century.
In my opinion, the Perlesvaus was written and published by
Henry Etudes d’ Blois, Bishop of Winchester, Abbot of Gla-
stonbury, count of Chartres and Mieaux, youngest son of Ad-
ela of Normandy and Stephen Etienne, Count of Blois, the
Crusader. If that is not a sufficient royal ranking, Abbe’
Henry was also a grandson of William the Conqueror, on his
mother’s side. Finally Bishop Henry was the younger, but
more brilliant, brother of Stephen Blois, King of England. See
Appendix A. 2
Abbot Blois was no simple monk. Instead he was, argu-
ably, one of the most powerful, and certainly one of the
richest men in Europe in the 12th century. At a relatively
young age his uncle, King Henry I Beauclerc, appointed him
to the Bishophric of Winchester; and this was long before his
brother took the throne. Thus, by the time of Stephen’s
coronation, Abbot Blois had matters of state well in hand.
Today, in America, we would call this a ”transition strategy.”
Like his father, and brothers, Henry was very much a part
of the Troubadour revolution, and the Norman Enlighten-
ment. Benedictines at Cluny, the largest church in Europe
and the most beautiful monastery in France schooled him.

1 op Cit Nitze William, Nitze. William. The Fisher King in the Grail Ro-
mances AMLA xxiv 365-418. 1909.
2 Evergates, Theodore. Aristocratic Women in Medieval France. 1999

102
Moreover, he was directly mentored by, none other than,
Peter the Venerable, the famous master who first translated
the Koran into Latin and, as a boy, spent many hours talking
privately to Abelard and other famed poets and philosoph-
ers.
Henry’s schooling under the head abbot at Cluny took
place at a time when Cluny was expanding westward. His
education at Cluny involved an intense study of architecture
and engineering. Henry’s involvement with Peter was influ-
ential on everything he did. 1
Blois must have also been aware of the activities of the
Knights Templars when he came of age, since his uncle,
Hughes de Payens, a documented founder of the first Tem-
plar order; took command when Henry was 17. Another
uncle, Count Hugh of Champagne and his older brother
Theobald financed the First Templar enterprise and Henry
must have known about that expedition. In all probability,
Henry benefited from it directly.
The Blois of Champagne, were the cream of the crop, bril-
liant and compassionate in everything they did. Henry’s
mother, Adela, a daughter of the conqueror linked by mar-
riage to the Norman hegemony, took on fiduciary and
comptal duties in her husbands absence and conducted her
life as if she were the count himself. 2
Everyone involved in the Thebaudian family line, could
trace their roots to the Gallo-Roman era, and from Charle-
magne to the Troubadours of Central France with cadet
branches of the family extending to Brittany. They also
traced back to the Merovingian Franks, the Carnutes (Celts)
and to the Vikings from the north. 3 See also: Appendix A
Thus, Henry’s extended family were transchannel moguls
after the Norman Conquest, and enjoyed revenues from
Mieaux, Chartres, Rheims, Troyes, Alancon, Le Mans, and the
entire Loire region. They lost Tours in a divisive battle, but
retained the remainder of the Loire basin, including the river
trade itself. To say they were rich and powerful in France
would be an understatement. Add English holdings to this
list and we see the formation of an almost unbelievable em-
pire.
Henry’s older brother, Theobald II of Champagne was a
virtual king. Through Theobald, especially after the death of

1 Op cit. LoPrete, Kimberly. “Adela of Blois as Mother and Countess', ”in:

Medieval Mothering, pp. 313-33. New York: Garland, 1996.
2 Op cit. LoPrete, Kimberly. Adela of Blois, Countess and Lord. p 74.
3 Markale, Jean. Cathedral of the Black Madonna. Inner Traditions, 2004.
pp. 221-223

103
the matriarch Adela, in 1137, the Blois clan controlled most
of Northern France and a great deal of England. Although
the Capets ruled from the throne in Paris, and enjoyed direct
links to the papacy, the Thebaudians controlled a commer-
cial ring of land around Paris, a circle of power that often
forced the Capet’s into political compromise. 1
More understanding appears when we see that Henry
Blois was in the right place at the right time, and of the right
pedigree, to understand both Christian and ancient myster-
ies, and of course, to write about them at Glastonbury. Born
in 1101, and raised, from 1103 as an oblate child at the Be-
nedictine (Cluniac) convent at La Charite sur Loire, Henry
could not have known his father—Stephen Etienne Count of
Blois, who died in battle in Ramelah the next year. Neverthe-
less, Henry did inherit several of is father’s estates, and it
seems his mystique came from his father’s side too. 2
When he died, Count Stephen owned over 300 castles
and fathered at least two children by a mistress. His full title
was: Ct. de Blois, Etienne-Henry and he was know as Le
Sage, by those who rode with him to the Holy land. Some au-
thorities, partial to the church position, tell us he died a cow-
ard, but mortuary records from the battle at Ramelah con-
tradict the coward label listing him as: ”Henry Brie Blois.
Chartres, Count Champagne, who bravely died in battle with
Godfrey de Buillon. The epithet ‘Le Sage,” seems to have
stuck to Stephen-Henry’s son Henry. 3
Adela and Count Stephen had eight children, possibly
nine, and although the eldest brother, William, was, ”a hot
head,” to use a polite term, most were normal or extremely
gifted. One sister, died in the wreck of the White Ship, anoth-
er brother Odo died young, one became the King of England,
one inherited the family empire another became the Bishop
of Chalon and the youngest became the Bishop of
Winchester. 4
The remaining Blois children married well or faded into
obscurity. Beyond the others, Henry the young Bishop of
Winchester, showed his giftedness early and, due to his up-
bringing in the monastic environment remained wiser and
more serene than Stephen and Theobald. It seems he did in-
herit the full promise of his ”illustrious” bloodline.
Henry was fascinated with books at an early age. Like his

1 Ibid. p. 16-17 note 35

2 Op cit. Lo Prete, K. Adela Countess and Lord. pp.60-70
3 Ibid. Appendix 3 pp. 549-553
4 Lacey, Robert, “Henry I and the White Ship” in: Great Tales from Eng-
lish History, 2003

104
distant uncle Hugh de Semur and his father, and the
Troubadours and Trouvère he saw at court, he was priv-
ileged to read any book available and to visit in Cluny’s vast
archive at any time.
Henry, as a lad, must have sensed he was destined for
greatness. The king of England called him away from Cluny
for a specific purpose. His reputation preceded him, even
then. His peers at the monastery were in awe of him be-
cause he was often seen in rapt reverie. Henry’s bouts of
daydreaming were reported to his superiors on more than
one occasion, but the abbots all saw these trance states as
signs of greatness to come.
Henry left to seek his path destiny in 1124, the year his
friend Peter the Venerable took over as head abbot. After a
short visit to Champagne to see his mother, he was off for
England. This was also the year of the birth of Eleanor of
Aquitaine, Henry’s world-shaking cousin, who he would come
to serve in his twilight years. 1
As stated earlier, Henry Blois arrived at Glastonbury a full
nine years before his brother Stephen took the English
throne and presumably, he arrived with building plans in
hand. Almost upon his arrival, Henry, with the king’s permis-
sion, began an ambitious architectural campaign, a life-long
construction and publishing crusade, which included several
religious houses, and hospitals, dozens of castles, hundreds
of chapels and convents and even whole villages.
As I will demonstrate throughout this presentation, Henry
Blois was also one of the richest men in England, with a per-
sonal income from his father’s estates as well as his own ec-
clesiastical holdings. He avoided borrowing from the ex-
chequer and preferred to spend his own money to commis-
sion works of art. Indeed, he was one of the foremost pat-
rons of the 12th-century renaissance in English art and ar-
chitecture. 2 See Appendix E
Although open to interpretation, Stephen’s crowning
seems to have been carried-out by the Norman-Thebaudian
consortium to block, any Anjevin bid for the English throne.
An earlier treaty appointing Beauclerc’s daughter Matilda to
the post was promised, but, it seems, the king thought bet-
ter of it when he saw both Stephen and Matilda in action.
Stephen was a bit awkward and impetuous, but he was able
on the battlefield and knew how to command men. Con-
versely, Matilda was greedy and vain. In addition, Several of
1 Hollister, C. Warren. Henry I. Yale Press. 2001.
2 Riall, Nicholas. Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester: A Patron of the
Twelfth-Century Renaissance, Winchester Books, 1994.

105
Beauclerc’s barons wanted no part of a female monarch, al-
though they pledged fealty to her several years earlier.
When Beauclerc died in Normandy, Stephen made a beeline
for London—almost as if he was acting on foreknowledge—
and had himself crowned king before Matilda had a chance
to respond. Everyone knows the story so there is no point in
elaborating on it here.
In the second decade of the 12th century, Abbot Henry’s
meteoric rise included his appointment to the See of
Winchester, but in an unprecedented move, he also retained
the post of Abbot of Glastonbury. His remarkable powers
plugged him into the Celtic church in England, Cluny in
France, his brother’s crown, and his ducal entitlements as
well as certain familial links to the Vatican. His influence
spanned the Continent and gave him extensions to Ireland
through the Benedictines and to Scotland through his sister-
in-law. When he presided over his brother’s coronation in
1135, he was, literally, the power behind the throne. 1
Beauclerc, and his wife, Good Queen Maude, saw so
much good in Henry Blois that they invested him with a
massive budget to carry out road and hospital construction
projects, especially at Glastonbury and Winchester. Some of
these funds probably came from early Templar sources, but
most of it came from Beauclerc’s vast accumulation of
wealth in France as well as throughout England. It is also en-
tirely plausible to think he was receiving moneys from the
spoils of the first Crusade. Moreover both Henry Blois and his
brother Stephen were, I repeat, very wealthy in their own
right.
With these funds, Abbot Blois improved the land around
Glastonbury, following the lines of ancient Roman roads, all
the while digging wells, and exploring, possibly even improv-
ing, the old effigies and secret patterns cut into the earth. 2
By the end of the 12th century, any rebellious poet or
subscriber to the art of "Courtsy,” a term for the lifestyle of
the Troubadours invented by Eleanor’s grandfather—could
see dark clouds forming. Eleanor’s decision in 1168, to set
up her daughter Marie as the head of a school in Poitiers for
the training of men and women who might form a, “polite
society,” did nothing to dampen the tension. 3

1 Barlow, F. The English Church, 1066-1134. Loomis, pp. 184f

2 The three accepted pre-Christian civilizations at Glastonbury are, the
Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, the Windmill Hill People and the Bronze Age
Beaker Folk.
3 Kelly, Amy, ”Eleanor of Aquitaine and her Courts of Love,” Speculum,
Jan. 1937. See

106
 Although the brutality of the pogrom against the
Troubadours and the Manichean sect would not fully play-out
until 1209-1220, several early indications of the darkness to
come were obvious. 1
The church became increasingly repressive, after the
death of Pope Urban II, a Cluniac. Alternative thinkers and
politically brash philosophers like Peter Abelard, were ex-
communicated, or slaughtered in areas far removed from
Carcassone, nor were the north of France and England im-
mune. 2
Henry Blois had reason to be alarmed. As stated earlier,
he was born in Champagne and raised by Benedictines as an
oblate child at Charite sur Loire. He had short visits with his
mother until he was old enough to travel, but he did receive
communiqués through the monks at Cluny.
After 1118, threats to the Thebaudian hegemony began
to emerge from Rome. Heretics were being persecuted
harshly. Abbe’ Bernard—by then calling himself Saint Bern-
ard—began to preach against, art, music, especially
troubadour styles of music and poetry, decorated architec-
ture, mosaics and even leisure activities. Using his own mon-
astic cult as an example, Bernard made great progress
throughout Europe and England. Cluniacs were condemned
for their seemingly lax and wealthy ways. Bernard’s mono-
maniacal nature and his meteoric rise to power, made
struggles within the church commonplace. In one case, fac-
tions supporting Bernard razed the Cluniac abbey at La
Charite sur Loire, perhaps as a direct affront to Bishop Blois.
3

The feudal system was not in favor with the Thebaudians.

The Blois clan and the children of the Conqueror were able
to enjoy far more success by granting liberties than by en-
forcing slavery. The charters, granted by Henry I when he
ascended the throne, are indicative of this forward-looking
attitude. First, Beauclerc formally bound himself to the laws,
setting the stage for the rule of law that parliaments and
parliamentarians of later ages would cry for. Second, some
of the wording of his charters reads almost exactly like the
Magna Carta, and served as the model for the Great Charter
in 1215
When Blois became Bishop of Winchester, the Trouvère
pride in free speech and the elevation of women was under

1 Parry J. The Art of Courtly Love, Trans. Le amore et amoris remedio of

Andreas Capellanus. Columbia 1960
2 Lambert, M. The Cathars. Blackwell, 1998 p. 68
3 Op cit. LoPrete, K. Adela Countess and Lord. p.128

107
attack. With those hard won freedoms went the Anglo-Nor-
man publishing enterprise, and income from several pilgrim-
age routes, especially the road of Saint James d Compos-
tella, through Southern France and Spain, The archaic road
passed through many Cluniac monasteries adding still more
envy to Abbe’ Bernard’s motives.
Henry Blois was a Bishop, but all signs indicate he pre-
ferred the abbot’s mantel, since abbots held more power in
the Cluniac system. His actions indicate his awareness of his
predicament. He knew he would not fair well once the Cath-
olic hierarchy got their hands on Glastonbury’s publishing
empire and, as fate would have it they did.
The vast contributions made by Bishop Blois and his fam-
ily was virtually erased from history.

108
 Passing of the Torch
C
obbled together by biased historians and, more re-
cently, taken from Catholic Encyclopedia, the following
list of Glastonbury’s Abbots tells a tale. The list begins
as an extract from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and remains
accurate from king Ine’s time until the beginning of the 12th
century. Around the end of the first crusade, an alarming
discrepancy shows up. Abbot Thurston died at Glastonbury
in 1101, the year Henry Blois was born, and Abbot Herlewin
and others presided over the Abbey until Henry took over in
1126. Here then we stumble across an amazing gap. The fol-
lowing paragraph erases an entire half-century:

In 1077, Thurston was installed by the Conqueror

and set about imposing a rule similar to that of Fecamp
(a Norman abbey running under the old Gaelic system).
Rome complained, and violent disputes followed. Thur-
ston was removed, and then reinstated by William Ru-
fus. Under his successor Herlewin, the Abbey was re-
vived but in 1184, almost the entire monastery was
burned to the ground. 1

The good abbot Blois died in 1171, one full century after
Thurston, but no mention is made of his residency, Henry I
or of King Stephen. Two monarchical reigns were just erased
by the stroke of a biased pen. This omission might be partly
because Thurston and the Thebaudians were never friends,
but there are other reasons, primarily that the historians of
Henry II hated Henry Blois. Could this be a case of historical
amnesia? Herlewin made some progress, but the majority of
the glory and grandeur generated at Glastonbury in the 12th
century came directly from the efforts and estates of Henry
Blois, who, like the father he never met, a palatine count,
managed Glastonbury, from 1126-1171. Bear in mind that
Blois ruled Glastonbury and Winchester through the ascend-
ancy and death of his brother and even into the crowning of
his families rival, Henry II, of Anjou.
True, a few projects and shrines remained after the death
of Bishop Blois—ironically, one at Ivinghoe, dedicated to
Blois himself—but, the Glastonbury reflected in the joyous
Cluniac vision, lived on only until 1184 when an arsonists
fire, accelerated by generous applications of pig fat, raised

1 Catholic Encyclopedia. See also: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Books 7 & 8

109
the entire structure. Only the Bishops octagonal kitchen, the
special pride of Blois and his Templar builders, and the shell
of the main structure remained intact. The treasures were
looted, although some were secreted away in hiding places
across the countryside and there, according to a popular folk
legend, they remain, buried, to this day. 1
In 1186 on Saint Barnabas day, a new chapel was dedic-
ated, but without the grandeur of Cluny and St Denis. The
flying buttress and the heavenly choir paradigm begun by
Abbot Seguré in Paris in 1118, and adopted by Blois at
Winchester, became isolated novelties, almost whimsical,
ideas. The strict piety of the Cistercians cut off the voluptu-
ous aesthetics of the Benedictines and continued until the
Templars of Abbe’ Bernard overtook the Templars of the
Grand Signors. The Troubadour sense of beauty, which
Abbe’ Bernard condemned for its sissyness, was out, and
sackcloth was in. In less than a decade after the death of
King Stephan, the name of Glastonbury and the heavenly
ground of Avalon fell to a mere terrestrial status.
Until the present research, relatively little was known of
Abbe’ Blois as a man or savant. His entire biography, com-
bined from several sources, fills a scant four paragraphs in
the Monasticon and yet, King Henry I Beauclerc loved Blois
and made him the first to sign several important charters.
He was also admired by his fellow monks and beloved by his
older siblings. More importantly, he was sought out by
Thomas Becket and Eleanor of Aquitaine as an advisor and
probably knew Peter Abelard. In sum, he was a guiding light
in the middle of what can only be described as a political
nightmare.
Also, remember that from his first day in England, Beauc-
lerc himself accelerated Blois into high office almost as if
Blois was offered by his mother and recruited as a teenager.
This could not have occurred had Blois been a messed up
young man or an obnoxious bad administrator as were some
of his peers and siblings.
Every time we dig a little deeper, the legacy of Henry
Blois looms larger. His works are scattered, but the shadow
of his public works seems immense. It appears that Henry’s
role grew more difficult as the Cistercians took over and as
Bernard used his templar elite to displace the Knights of
Saint John, but Blois was resolute. Blois was, therefore con-
demned, to remain obscure in history because he refused to
1 Spooner. B. C. The Kaleidoscopic Tale, Folklore, Vol. 80, No. 2 (Summer,
1969), pp. 132-139. Ironically, many of the manuscripts survived the fire
chained to their shelves

110
give up his vision of Avalon as a New Jerusalem, a heavenly
precinct on earth, and because he insisted on passing the
torch of the old religion and to future generations. 1
Henry Blois must have been a larger-than-life character.
He ran Winchester, Glastonbury and operated behind his
brother’s throne simultaneously. His lands possessed fisher-
ies, herbal and zoological gardens, dairies, emmer and bar-
ley fields, bakeries and all of the important forces in mediev-
al life. In addition, Blois supported hundreds of scribes
amounting to a medieval publishing company, and
sponsored pilgrimage hospices. Blois built hospitals, altars
and sacred buildings and above all he built hundreds of con-
necting roads and navigable streams all of them connected
to what is sometimes referred to as: King Arthur’s Temple of
the Stars.
Blois was driven by some internal fire, a mystical tummo,
that motivated him to achieve what normal men could only
dream of. He tirelessly merged all of his duties in a smooth
fashion. In addition, for more than fifty years, he was able to
juggle his beloved Glastonbury with his duties at Winchester
and beyond, finding time, in the interim to construct hun-
dreds of buildings and plan canals and whole townships. In
addition he found time to travel to Rome, to return to Cluny
and even to take a pilgrimage to Compostella in Spain on
the Atlantic coast. This later trip may have been designed to
intersect with Peter the Venerable on his 1140 journey to
study and eventually translate the Koran. 2
Bishop Blois’ intimate biographers greatly admired him,
but Plantagenet and Vatican histories reveal very little of his
passion for acquiring and sponsoring art, jewels, sculpture,
architectural modules, friezes, and musical compositions
building and publishing except to paint all of this as de-
cedent witchcraft and self-indulgent excess. Bernard and
other Roman evangelists criticized his Manichean style of
dress. His collection of exotic animals would have seemed
eccentric had it not been that he inherited them from his
uncle Beauclerc’s hunting lodge at Woodstock, a king who
received travelers from all over the known world including
Africa and Jerusalem.
By contrast, Blois encouraged constant prayer and song.
Monks were encouraged to dress well and remain clean—
this in contrast to the Cistercians under Bernard, who for-
bade bathing. Thus, in every way possible, Blois was the op-
posite of Abbe’ Bernard of Clairvaux. All who knew him
1 Treharne, R. F. The Glastonbury Legends. London: Cresset, 1969.
2 XXX Koran peter the venerable xxx

111
agree that Henry Blois was a great man and yet everyone
who wrote about him paints him as an introvert. He dis-
played massive intellectual energy, yet, he was clinically shy
and taken to fits of melancholia, a syndrome Frances Yates
describes as a form of divine illumination. 1
King Stephen Blois, by contrast, was far more outgoing
and flamboyant. He distinguished himself in battle and in
tournaments at an early age. His brother Theobald, Eleanor
of Aquitaine and most of his sisters and his wife, were poets
as was King Henry I and Henry Plantagenet, but, on the list,
Abbot Henry more than anyone else took on his father’s
troubadour mystique. In court he was whispered about, but
without doubt, he was a true savant. His friends, especially
William of Malmsbury, hasten to imply that Henry managed
England when Steven was overwhelmed.
Malmsbury and Blois may have been close friends. Willi-
am was made confrere and lived at Glastonbury for many
years during the Blois regime, he even turned down the Ab-
bacy of Malmsbury to remain at Glastonbury. Furthermore
William tells us of occasions when the Abbot’s poetry made
listeners cry, so we know he did write and his public
speeches, especially in support of the reconciliation between
himself and Stephen and in support of the initial compromise
between Henry II and Thomas Becket, were awe inspiring.
He also served no fewer than three kings Mathilda, as Lady
of the English, and two queens, including Eleanor, who was
arguably the most powerful woman on earth at that time.
Thus, Abbot Henry could demonstrate a tool kit full of un-
canny fealties. 2
In Champagne Henry was heir to all that his brothers and
sisters had to offer, which, if historians are accurate, amoun-
ted to several fabulous manors with grand and gala courts
decorated with fantasy gardens, and populated by amaz-
ingly talented singers and dancers. This brings us to another
question. Was Henry Blois a Troubadour? Did he surround
himself with gifted people like himself?
In Champagne, especially under his older brother Theo-
bald, a mercantile class emerged to rival the economy of
Paris. The new Champagne economy, roughly based on a
platonic ideal of checks and balances, fueled fashionable
ideas in design and architecture, hints of things to come.
The earliest Templars, those who formed before Bernard’s
Cistercian order, built on a foundation begun by Henry’s
1 Yates, Frances. The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age. RKP. p.
21.
2

112
uncles, and ran publishing and banking operations all over
Europe and the Middle East.
From birth, as stated earlier, Henry was educated at the
great Burgundian monastery at Cluny, a house endowed by
Thebaudian, Champagne and Aquitaine royalty for centuries.
He became ambitious at Cluny, a trait desirable in
Troubadour tradition, but he also glowed with a devotion to
God, a dedication so intense some of his fellow monks repor-
ted Henry's trance like states to the head Abbot, but the ab-
bot’s investigation showed that his religious reveries never
prevented him from carrying out his daily work. The Cluniac
liberalism was well imprinted on Henry and its rich artistic
tendencies appeared throughout his life. 1
In addition, although Blois became the abbot of the most
important monastery in England, and was elevated to the
Bishopric of Winchester, he was never satisfied with a purely
contemplative life. His childhood at Cluny overlapped the
Abelard and Heloise controversy. Because he was close to
Peter the Venerable, Blois probably took Abelard’s side in
the controversy over the mystery of St. Denis, and the
teachings of his distant relative Bishop Odo. After 1143,
Blois may have studied Arabic, at the suggestion of Peter, as
he was the first to translate the Koran. 2
Moreover, his contemporary, Bernard of Morlaix had a
lasting impact. His famous poem, De Contemptu Mundi (On
Contempt for the World) contains about 3,000 verses—a
panegyric against the moral disorders of the church, but it
varies considerably from Bernard of Clairvaux’s stoic view.
Bernard, who preached the 2nd Crusade, was a virtual pope
in his own right and yet with almost now idea of his own hy-
pocrisy, accused Blois of acting as an anti-pope acting in
league with the devil. And by contrast Bernard of Morlaix cri-
ticizes the papacy precisely because people like Bernard La
Fontaine could easily manipulate it.
As Blois grew in age and power, he came to understand
the motives and strategies of the great Queen Eleanor as
she grew into maturity through two husbands and ten chil-
dren. Although he was a prince, possibly even an uncrowned
king, he remained a shy and humble monk, and was always
indebted to his mother’s values, as a liberated politician in
her own right.
William Kibler, the Arthurian literary expert, thought
highly of Henry Blois.

1 Golding, B. The Coming of the Cluniacs. 1980, pp. 65-77

2 Kritzeck. J. Peter the Venerable and Islam. Princeton, 1964.

113
 “Henry of Blois is said to have played a key role in
English politics, and to have patronized the arts almost
on the scale of a Renaissance prince." 1

That Bishop Blois may have also been a Hospitalier and

one of the earliest Templars is moot, since he wielded power
even beyond that of a Grand Master. As time goes on his
burial at Winchester and his shrine at Cluny may provide
clues to his membership in multiple secret societies. 2
When I first set forth the idea that Blois may have written
the Perlesvaus I shyly explained the relocation of the text to
France through a word-of-mouth transmission, or from what
is known as passing along the books. I’m now emboldened
to suggest that the transmission of the Perlesvaus and the
powers of Camelot may have been trsmitted directly, in a
face-to-face manner. Although we gather from Professor
LoPrete’s work that Blois was in touch with his nephew’s
court in Champagne, it is refreshing to find his family links
referred to by several other scholars. Here again Kibler
seems fascinated with the possibility that Blois may have
been providing literary source material directly to his relat-
ives on the continent. Kibler reminds us elsewhere in his in-
troduction, that Henry of Blois's nephew is Henri the Liberal
of Champagne, husband of Countess Marie de Champagne,
daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and an early patron of
Chrétien de Troyes, who, it bears repeating, extracted Arthur
from legend and introduced his knights into the Grail quest
cycle.
How was this done and why has history ignored this im-
portant relationship over the past 1000 years? "Henry of
Blois," writes Kibler, "had intimate contact with his contem-
poraries, Geoffrey of Monmouth and William of Malmesbury.
“ This means Henry of Blois might well be an important link
between the non-fiction of Monmouth and Malmsbury and
the fictional blends of the Troubadours in France. Moreover,
Chrétien is thought to have worked in England at some point
in his career. Since he wrote about Winchester and the idea
of Camelot, we must assume he actually traveled to those
places to see the wonders for himself. Without much debate
we can see that, if Chrétien went on a state sponsored jun-
ket, for a specific purpose chances are he went to
Winchester and Glastonbury and, by extension met Henry
Blois at either or both locations.

1 William W. Kibler, Introduction to the Arthurian Romances, Penguin, 1991, p6-25

2 Bull of Pascal I I-The foundation of the Order of Knights Hospitalier
1113.

114
 Oddly the observation that Blois might be a direct link is
wasted when the biased scholars attribute most of the mira-
culous history of the era to Henry II. In fact, if Chrétien came
to Winchester at all, it would have been to meet his avuncu-
lar patron, and perhaps even receive an insight into what
was intended in the creation of a new prose style evolved
from the Breton lays and other historical forms. Are we look-
ing at the first docudrama here? Was Chrétien chosen be-
cause Blois and his intellectual circle thought they could
evolve a new style through this young and gifted poet?
More specifically, as to geography, Chrétien himself tells
us directly that he may have visited Winchester. Chrétien, in
his poem Cligs, locates Arthur and his court at Winchester,
although in his poem The Knight of the Cart (Lancelot), the
location changes to a more mythical Camelot. However the
mystery is less obscure if we realize that Camelot is also a
link to Blois since Cadbury Camp and Queen Camel, which
lie only a few miles from Glastonbury, are now well exposed
Neolithic and Bronze Age sites topped by several layers of
history including villages dating to the age of the so called,
historical King Arthur, and have been identified by several
modern writers as the location of Arthur’s home base and
the probable location of Camelot. But what is not so well
publicized is the idea that the monks of the Abbey at Gla-
stonbury built hundreds of chapels, farm buildings, wells, fire
beacons and monks dwellings in a 12 mile radius, a wheel
shaped landscape radiating out from Baltonsburough in
Central Somerset. These dwellings and religious houses
could be seen from the Tor when a fire was lit at night and
on clear days. One of these is Cadbury Camp 1
Sadly, Most of what history knows of Blois is filtered
though observers who favored Henry II, but an interesting
picture is emerging and Blois is enshrined in a very interest-
ing place. As we shall see in a concluding chapter, like Le-
onardo Da Vinci, the shy monk’s contributions continue to
enthrall us. 2
Several more examples of the Thebaudian mystique cen-
ter on books Henry Blois sponsored, and as I argue, wrote.
While at Winchester in around 1154, Bishop Henry set his
scribes to work on a remarkable prayer book, one the most
mysterious Psalters ever produced, a book, published in an
Anglo-Norman and Occitan bilingual edition. This rarity, pos-

1 Lacy, Norris J.; Ashe, Geoffrey; and Mancoff, Debra N. The Arthurian
Handbook. Garland. New York: 1997
2 Elizabeth Hallam, The Plantagenet Chronicles. New York: Weidenfeld &
Nicholson, 1986, p.86.

115
sibly created for a woman of great majesty, is now on dis-
play in the British Museum and is considered one of
England’s greatest treasures. 1
This bilingual Psalter perhaps designed for Eleanor her-
self, as Blois and Eleanor met often before his death in 1170
and her exile in 1172, dates roughly to a time shortly before
1161. It’s Latin and French texts are written in parallel
columns on vellum and decorated in ink, tempera colors,
and gold. The manuscript has long been associated with
Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and is attributed to him
by every scholar. The date of 1161 seems correct because it
post dates a period when Henry the II came to power, after
the death of King Stephen Blois and points to a time when
Bishop Henry was still powerful and living in England.xxx
check date xxx
We can speculate that the Psalter was made for a woman
because lavishly illustrated Psalters such as this were usu-
ally made for female patrons, and it is not clear why Henry
would have needed or wanted a bilingual copy unless the in-
tended user was French and familiar with the Troubadour
language. Then again, the Psalter could have been published
for Henry’s mother, Adela Blois, who was resident at
Marcigny convent or for one of her ladies in waiting. It is ex-
citing to speculate that our dear Henry, in addition to all of
his other exploits might have been, like a true Trouvère, and
like his contemporary Peter Abelard, in love, platonically or
otherwise.

1 Cotton Nero CIV, Folio 39 British Library

116
 The Anagram
S
cience requires that we change our view of the world
when evidence is presented contrary to our long-stand-
ing opinions. If this were not so, we would all be Lamar-
ckians, nobody would have listened to Darwin, and the Giraf-
fe's neck would be considerably shorter. Some historians
labor under no such rules. Pseudo-historians especially use
logic, only when it fits their hypothesis and generally do not
test against controls as required by scientific method or
modern juries prudence.
The situation in current Arthurian criticism is similar to
the climate in the Shakespearean world. New evidence
floods in, old ideas become entrenched and scholars persist
in stagnate opinions. Archaeology, which calls itself a sci-
ence, seems to operate more in the historical vein than the
scientific. Even with the Internet at hand, the flooding-in of
opinions, with or without peer review, stifles the consensus
process. Those with a stake in certain interpretations are
loath to abandon old constructs.
As we enter the 21st century things are quite messy in
medieval literary history. The assumption that Chrétien sud-
denly jumped to life and generated ten thousand lines of ori-
ginal poetry, especially poetry giving precise details about
monastic and military life around Glastonbury Abbey—a
place he never saw—is absurd. Even so, scholars continue to
ignore the idea of a lost precursor. Nor can they entertain
the even more thrilling possibility that one of the books we
have, ‘is,’ the lost book. In other words, the Perlesvaus, in all
probability, is the lost book hiding in plain sight.
Early Francophiles, striving to establish Chrétien as the
major source of the Grail story, name him as the most likely
originator, but were his works entirely original? Chrétien was
truly brilliant but, in his own words, he tells us that he had a
book, before him. Chrétien, it bears repeating, thought of
himself as a liege servant to a royal couple who happed to
be the niece (by marriage) and nephew of Abbot Blois.
When Chrétien received his illustrious commission Marie,
Eleanor’s daughter, was widowed by Henry Blois (the Liber-
al) who died on crusade, and was being courted by Phillip of
Flanders who wound up with many esoteric books in his pos-
session.
When reading the Perlesvaux, branch-by-branch, one
seems to be witnessing the rituals and ceremonies of an im-

117
penetrable secret society.
In the Elucidation, a three page introductory narrative ap-
pended to Chrétien’s Perceval, (BN mss# 12576s) the au-
thorship of the original Grail book is ascribed, not to Chré-
tien, but to Master Blihos, who happens to be the narrator of
this short introduction. Here the name is almost shouting for
revelation. It is a simple anagram for Blois.
This anagram gives us two solid clues.
First, we remove the letter H, from BLIHOS
Which is silent anyway, and we see:
BLIOS
The next step is simply to reverse the two vowels (O & I)
thus:
BLOIS H
Moving the H to the front yields:
H BLOIS
Now, as we read the Elucidation, we are probably hearing
Henry Blois narrate his own book. We also see the author’s
great sense of humor emerging, but let us move on to an
even more amazing aspect of the rebus.
The rules of logic and parsimony tell us we should never
simply remove or reverse letters and toss them aside
without explanation. What shall we do with the “O” and the
“I” why reverse them, as they appear in their original order
in the nonsense word BLIHOS?
After telling us that the story is secret and mentioning the
word, secret three times in the first paragraph, he adds that,
“Master Blihos lie not.”
In other words, Master Blois is telling us a secret that we
must keep absolute and he is not lying to us. He is telling us
the truth on many levels, a truth so well disguised, that it
must be thought of as dangerous.
The master then warns that he is revealing:
“…the secret no man should tell.”
Here again he is swearing us to secrecy. Why? If no man
or woman should reveal it, why is it being revealed at this
gathering? It seems obvious that the revelation had to be
made at exactly that time, and to that group, or be lost
forever, perhaps at the hands of church censors.
For a full understanding, the reader will need to read the
document, which appears herein as Appendix A, and on the
Internet in several places.
I have taken the liberty of reinterpreting the text for mod-
ern sensibilities. My version, for general purposes, is just as
intact and entire as that of Evans. I include it to allow the
reader to see the full extent of this amazing preamble in the

118
context of what we have only recently discovered about
Stonehenge, the Neolithic mounds, the megaliths and the
Holy Wells.
The core of the Elucidation is a cautionary tale and a pre-
diction of unpleasant outcomes if moral order is not re-
stored. This much is Christian, but morality, in this case, is
not exclusively Christian. We are also observing a Platonic
morality at work. The narrator is also arguing from a Hermet-
ic and Gnostic framework. The morality of which he speaks is
a crying out for a balancing of nature, one that can be
achieved not by self-loathing or sleeping in hair shirts, but
rather by measured reason.
In addition to Aristotelian logic, known to the Benedict-
ines since the ninth century, the Elucidation is about the
fairy mounds and the women who inhabit them. The author
of the Elucidation calls them wells, but in this context the
term wells is not strictly defined as places of fountains or
water outlets. Emma Jung tells us that the term, “wells” was
often used to refer to the megalithic mounds, such as Gla-
stonbury Tor, Silbury Hill, Kercado in Bretagne and New-
grange in Ireland. It is not strictly about castles and chapels.
In this sense, the Perlesvaus, and the Elucidation are not
Vaticanized at all, as Weston, and others assume. In fact,
they represent radical departures from tradition.1
Now we know we are witnessing an oral address to a
court ruled by women or at least one that practices courtesy
toward women. We know this because in the first line the
speaker uses the term, “worshipfully” which is a term of
great supplication to a sovereign, he also uses the term,
“Noble Commencement,” literally, a royal graduation or per-
haps a wedding or Christening.
The narrator next recites the code of the mound fairies,
describing them as preternatural vestal virgins, who, when
asked politely and with respect, shall leave no man unserved
by their golden cups. This is, without question, a metaphoric-
al sexual reference.
Next, in the dream-like style of the Perlesvaus, the narrat-
ive moves into a cautionary motif. King Amangons was evil
and craven hearted and was the first to break the custom of
courtesy to the fairy guardians of the mounds cum wells. In-
stead of paying homage to the Grail maidens, he raped his
serving girl and “took her maidenhead.” He then forced her
to serve under him everyday, thus setting a bad example so
that others of his subjects did the same for a long time.

1 Op cit. Jung, Emma

119
 A Shakespearean stage aside occurs when the narrator
tells us the King was well deserved to come to mishap for his
actions. In consequence the Fairy Mound, which could easily
be Glastonbury Tor, would no longer provide victual meats
and drink, and the land was turned to a wasteland. This is a
common theme in later Arthurian literature, but here we dis-
cover what created the wasteland. This is an almost modern
ecological forecast. If we rape rob, pollute and pillage the
land will die.
According to Master Blihos, it is the evil and heartless
deeds that men do to Mother Earth, and to women as guard-
ians of her largesse, that transforms the paradise into a
desert.
Moreover, since the King set a bad example, his knights
did the same and no mounds gave forth food of any kind at
any time, this implies food and succor as well as romance.
These evil deeds created a land so barren that no man
can locate the Rich Fisherman, which, in this context can
only be the munificence of future hope.
The peer knights of the Table Round then take an oath to
force a lethal revenge upon all of those responsible for the
death of the mounds and the maids living within them. They
also vow to return the garden of paradise to a normal state.
To achieve this restorative goal they locate the damsels
hiding in the forest in poverty. Then they protect them and
fight the enemy who first carried them off for abuse. Many a
battle ensues and King Arthur himself laments that he has
lost many a good knight in the battle, but has also gained
many.
Now the storyteller, Master Blihos, adds a last name and
calls himself Blihos Bliheris. He then casts himself as one of
the bad people, the first to be defeated by the prowess of
Messier Gawain. As a result, instead of killing him, Gawain
offers Blihos redemption if he will come to King Arthur’s
court and yield himself up. In other words, he goes on a
quest to find his true nature and pledges to leave his cyn-
icism behind.
Upon entering the court as a stranger, he found that he
could tell stories agreeable to the King and court. In other
words, he found his natural talent. Thus he told stories in
such a good way that nobody could ever tire of his words.
Thereafter the damsels and the knights sought him out and
he was saved.
The story ends on an existential note. Blihos, now taking
the tone of a Bard, teaches his audience that the evil is done
and cannot be mended, much like original sin, but that all of

120
the knights and damsels are born of the great mother of the
wells and that they are plighted, so to speak, to wander the
forests at large through the county to seek out and find the
god given court from whence shall come the joy whereby
the land shall again be made bright.
I think we are witnessing Blois himself telling a tale of re-
pentance and restoration, but he is also providing a proph-
ecy of hope, one that looks far into the future, perhaps even
to our present day. His prophecy, as laid out within the Per-
lesvaus, seems to be one of birth, denouement, and rebirth.
The resurrection of the human spirit and a restating of the
old “universal faith,” one that sees hope in the eyes of the
Great Mother.
He goes on to tell us that he himself is a sinner who has
been given a chance to find his true nature, which is to sing
and speak as a Troubadour. In this, he is challenged to
please others and bring about the required healing of the
world through his stories. For a full text, see Appendix A.
But what of O and I? Why does the narrator leave us to
ponder these two letters?
I suggest they are not individual letters, but rather a
name, one familiar to anyone schooled in Greek drama.
In Greek myth, Io was the daughter of Inachus, an an-
cient river, and fertility god of Argos. She was very beautiful
and was repeatedly raped by Zeus (King Amangons). Hera,
his wife, transformed Io into a white cow, equivalent to the
BO Ainne story in Irish myth. The Irish River Boyne, with its
many mounds and stones, derives its name from this same
white cow Goddess; representing the Milky Way on Earth.
Hera then gave the transformed cow to Argus, the guardi-
an with a hundred eyes. When Hermes, who himself arose
from a pile of stones, rescued Io, he killed Argus, whose eyes
became the tail of the peacock, a bird associated with Hera.
It should now be obvious that this is a kind of inside
Trouvère joke because Blois had several peacocks running
around his palace in Winchester along with other exotic an-
imals.
Moreover, the eyes of Argus are also the stars of the con-
stellation Argo Navis, the ship, that sails the milky way and
here again, the good Abbot is telling us where to look, viz a
vi, ”Look to the sky for answers.” Argo Navis is mentioned
toward the end of the Perlesvaus as a templar ship with a
red cross on the sail, the ship that deposits Percival on the
shores of Glastonbury where he sees twelve hermits guard-
ing the landscape. Scholars familiar with the Somerset Zodi-
ac will recognize this ship as part of a huge effigy near Gla-

121
stonbury at Compton-Dundon Hill. 1
But, beyond Blois’ fascination with Greek myth and Her-
metism, why is Ovid important here? As it happens the story
of Io is found in Prometheus Bound, a play by Ovid in collab-
oration with Aeschylus. More directly, Blois was an admirer
of Ovid and a translator of his works. Thus, our little ana-
gram takes only one more necessary twist to reveal Henry
Blois as the author of the Perlesvaus.
This puzzle game does not prove Blois wrote the Perles-
vaux, but there is still more proof. We must ask why he or
someone who knew him appended his one-act morality play
to a work by Chrétien, unless the Abbot wanted to acknow-
ledge the fact that Chrétien had the Perlesvaus on his desk
as he wrote his version of the Percival.
To answer this question we have to take a closer look at
Chrétien. Here we have a Troubadour who died in a mysteri-
ous and untimely fashion, but his continuers tell us nothing
of his departure. The only clues left to us are a few com-
ments he made regarding his inheritance of a prior
manuscript written by a master Blehis, obviously a reference
to the Blihois of the Elucidation anagram.
At two points in his redaction of the Gawain story Chré-
tien’s continuer, Wauchier refers to the mystery author as,
“Bliheris,” a slight variation on Blihois. On the second occa-
sion he states categorically that this Bliheris was of Welsh
birth, implying that he could read and write in Welsh, and
that he came from France or spent time in Gallic France I.e.,
origin, né et ingénues en Galles. How did Wauchier know this
if not by notes now missing or word-of-mouth? He was
wrong, Blois was not Welsh by birth, but he was fluent in
Welsh and that would be enough for Wauchier to assume he
was a native.
Wauchier also tells us that the original author told his
Gawain tale, at least once, to a certain Comte de Poitiers,
because the Count loved it above all others. This implies that
it was not the only tale, “Bliheris,” had in his repertoire, and
indeed the Perlesvaus can be thought of as an anthology of
tales. In other words, Bliheris—like Henry Blois—was a
storyteller.
Specifically as to chronology, Blois was too ill to travel in
1170, so this performance of the Elucidation, must have oc-
curred before that date, perhaps when he was on his way to
Cluny or at Poitiers in the mid-1150s when Eleanor and her
daughters were holding their fabulous courts of love.

1 Op cit. Perlesvaus Chapter XXV title xv, p 367

122
 The Elucidation seems to have been written as a perform-
ance piece, and yet it also stands as a kind of précis, pro-
logue or appendix to the main performance. It also seems to
act as a key to the understanding of the Perlesvaus, without
which the work would be clouded.
In any case, the draft version of the book (in Latin) would
probably have been done before the death of William of
Malmsbury (1141) with the final version rendered either in
exile by Blois, or perhaps after his return from exile in 1158.
This places the drafting and polishing of the book in the peri-
od between 1140 and 1168, a span, ranging from a date be-
fore the death of Malmsbury, who claims he read the work of
Blois, to the date a few years before the passing of Bishop
Blois.
By embracing certain practical issues, we can narrow that
span down to a period between 1140 and 1165, since Blois
as an elder statesman, was probably a bit busy the last five
years of his life. This gives us a median range of 1140 - 1153
or just before the death of Stephen Blois.
What was going on in that period in the lives of the broth-
ers Blois? First, Blois was on his aforementioned building
spree, but the young Henry Plantagenet also known as
Henry of Anjou, sailed for England. He believed he was the
rightful heir to England through his mother Matilda.
However, he had no more success than his mother in taking
the English throne at that time.
In early 1153 the principles, hoping to quell rioting and
anarchy, drew up the, “Treaty of Wallingford.” This docu-
ment made provision for the English crown to pass to Mat-
ilda's son, Henry of Anjou (Henry II). Stephen's legitimate
children, Eustace and William would be passed over.
Bishop Blois drew up a detailed version, with addenda, in
November 1153. This variation allowed Stephen to remain
King of England for life. These documents made Stephan’s
adoption of Henry Plantagenet transparent. Stephen's
second son, William, was to inherit Stephen's baronial lands
without discord, in England or France. This proved temporar-
ily beneficial to the Norman cause in France. Nothing was
said of the natural son Gervase, but we can assume the
Plantagenet faction was concerned about the rise of yet an-
other Thebaudian to the throne.
Predictably, Stephen Blois died of a possible poisoning
the next year—signing the Wallingford treaty was tan-
tamount to signing his own death warrant. 1
1 Bradbury, J. Stephen & Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-1153, Sutton
Publishing, 1996

123
 Because of these potentially lethal affairs, The Elucida-
tion and the Perlesvaus may contain more coded phrases
and ciphers, as many Templar and Hospitalier documents
did at that time. These would only be decipherable by look-
ing at the original French, Occitan, or Latin texts, which
could require another decade of pure translation. As of now,
we are able to work only with the Nitze or the Evans transla-
tion and both are biased. By the way, Evans produced his
translation in 1889 and onward. Nitze presented his PhD.
thesis in 1899 (published in 1902). Thus, both works, now
accepted as holy writ, may be seriously outdated.
It seems a simple enough task to scan the text and use
modern high-powered computers to cross reference the ma-
terial word for word. It also seems cogent to subject these
books to chemical and radiocarbon tests, as has been done
in the case of the Shakespeare folio, the Shroud of Turin,
and many other relics of the Middle Ages. In the meantime
we must hope that future generations, using advanced tech-
niques, will take up the search.

124
 Astral Magic
L
ibrary lists dealing with Glastonbury show that the ab-
bey monks observed and kept records of the stars and
planets, as did there confreres in all of the Cluniac sis-
ter houses. At Cluny and later Chartres, astronomy was
taught everyday as part of the Quadrivium. Like its mother-
house, the abbey also kept esoteric books on astrology, and
these were not the only sciences studied there. Alchemy and
metallurgy grew to be of prime importance at Glastonbury
after the work of Saint Dunstan became well known. 1
Benedictine monks commonly experimented with herbal
cures, kept bees and fishponds, raised goats, sheep, ducks,
and herds of cattle, pruned fruit orchards and reaped fields
of corn, and grains of many types. They also made cheese,
wine, and mead. In short, at its early high point, under Dun-
stan, Glastonbury abbey, like its mother house at Cluny was
self-sufficient. Situated as it was in the midst of a huge cor-
nucopia, anything additional was tithed or purchased with
donations from the pilgrims who came to pray, to take the
waters, to be initiated or to heal or find a final resting place.
For any believer to be buried anywhere within a twelve mile
radius of Glastonbury Abbey would be a fitting end.
Another outstanding aspect of Glastonbury was the obvi-
ous degree of free speech practiced there. Over the ages,
the cooks of the abbey heard Irish Gaelic, Scots, Welsh,
Cornish, Breton, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French (in every pos-
sible patois) as well as Norman English, Dutch, and German.
More importantly, every brand of theological thought
(Gnostic, Arabic, Greek and Christian) fell from the lips of
peripatetic hermits reading aloud and teaching their particu-
lar specialties. Since they were often from Troubadour and
even Manichean families, they thrived on heated debate and
rhetoric.
Around 1135 Glastonbury, above all other sites in Eng-
land, became a power unto itself. Unfortunately, for at least
1000 years, the shine endowed by Ine, became a victim of
envy. By the end of the Reign of Elizabeth Tudor, the place
was no longer a repository of great learning, and yet some-
how the monks, over the centuries, managed to imbue the
landscape around the abbey with mystery. Like an Easter
egg hunt, clues could be located in small chapels groves and

1 Colish, Marcia L. Medieval Foundations of Western Intellectual Tradi-

tion. Yale University Press. 1997. Boethius p. 127.

125
caves, which, according to Elizabeth Leader and a growing
population of observers, are referred to, in the Perlesvaus,
as Hermits huts.
By visiting some of these 12th century locations, and oth-
ers, known to be much older, the power of the original abbey
can be felt many miles out into the countryside. Moreover,
most of the Twelve Hides donated by king Ine, can still be
identified with the naked eye from the top of the tower on
the Tor and from maps, even though modern building pro-
jects and roads tend to interfere.
One scholastic opinion points to the death of Thomas
Becket, and the rise of Plantagenet influence, around 1172,
as a bench mark for Glastonbury’s decline, but, even in de-
cline, the abbey remained mysteriously alive, especially in
the hearts and minds of pilgrims who told their children and
grandchildren of its wonders.
In the 17th century, the place was still so mysterious, so
politically dangerous, that Oliver Cromwell, seeing its intrins-
ic paganism, felt it necessary to destroy the remaining gar-
goyles, stained glass windows, painted columns, and sculp-
tures, using oxen and gunpowder. Nevertheless, even the
mighty Cromwell could not kill the legends.
For most people Glastonbury remains important because
King Arthur and Queen Guenevere might be buried there.
True or legendary, perhaps only to attract tourists, the mod-
ern historical society has seen fit to delineate the probable
Arthur-Guenevere grave with a black chain enclosure set in
the turf in front of what would have been the high altar dir-
ectly beneath the Abbey cathedral’s apex as constructed by
the builders under the direction of Bishop Blois. It should
also be emphasized here that, although it was referred to as
an “abbey,” in fact it was one of the tallest buildings in
Western Europe in the 12th century.
That these graves are authentic or fictional makes little
difference. If they were real it seems more excavations
should be done, if they were fictional then at least their es-
sence lingers on as a folk myth. Merlin’s secret, which may
also be one of the secrets of Henry Blois, presumably lies
buried with them. In any case, the grave is part of the mag-
netism that continues to attract millions of pilgrims from all
lands.
Regardless of who is buried in the center of Glastonbury
Abbey, if anyone, the location is architecturally significant
because it sits in the direct path of the light of the sun, as it
enters the main gates of the Abbey during Winter Solstice.
At certain other times of the year the light of the full moon

126
intersects the light of the sun mixing there in the center of
the cathedral, for, in truth Glastonbury’s main structure, be-
fore it was destroyed, stood as large and as tall as nearby
Salisbury (proximal to Stonehenge) and rivaled Cluny and
the Vatican itself for size and elegance. 1
The discovery of a lost manuscript will usually bring a
great deal of publicity, but the discovery of a lost author is
probably not such and important event. One can only specu-
late on why this is. Usually historians do not need to know
who wrote a book in order to understand its contents, but in
this case, understanding the author of the Perlesvaus will
add greatly to our understanding of the mysteries of the Ab-
bey. 2
A controversial excavation took place at Glastonbury in
1924. In it, the mystic, Frederick Bligh-Bond attempted to
find a mosaic floor, approximately twelve feet below the sur-
face. He suggested, based on his consultation with an auto
hypnotic psychic, that the floor would hearken back to pre-
Christian times. Bond argued that the round floor was a mi-
crocosm of a larger initiation system located in the sur-
rounding countryside. This meant that Bligh-Bond thought of
the Abbey grounds as holding a key to something big,
something like a hill or a river, something organic,
something incorporated into the landscape and, above all an
initiation.
The truth remains that whoever built and rebuilt the ab-
bey and whoever marked the original grave site was deeply
involved with astronomy and astral magic, with sacred geo-
metry and landscape sculpting and with the belief that the
stars and planets do effect events here below. This is the
doctrine of Hermes seen in operation in and around Glaston-
bury, because, during the contiguous reigns of Henry I and
Stephen Blois, no place on the Atlantic Coastline, shown
more brightly than Glastonbury, with its healing wells and
stones planned out at the foot of the spiral labyrinth. In addi-
tion, millions of tourists, to this day, believe there is a large
series of earthwork constructions laid out around Central
Somerset, possible Zodiac signs, which may have been
“touched, by workers under Bishop Blois. can we more
deeply and obviously observe the heavenly impact of the
cosmos.
Anyone who visits the place will see and feel this effect.
Long lines known as Dragon paths, cross exactly at the
gravesite and continue on to other sacred places. One par-
1 Op cit. Treharne, Glastonbury Legends.
2 Smithitt-Lewis, Lionel. Joseph of Arimathea. London: James Clark, 1978

127
ticular line extends from Glastonbury to a Neolithic fairy
mound on the Ridgeway above a village known as Ivinghoe,
thus connecting two locations designed by Bishop Henry
Blois. The solar solstice and equinox lines cross there too
and in addition, the pathway tracing the orbit of Venus and
the rising and setting of the moon intersects at this probable
gravesite thus Guenevere of the tides of the moon and Ar-
thur of the actions of the earth around the sun.
Perhaps this is traceable to several hermits and mystics
who lived in the area and who were in direct contact or had
a direct impact on Abbot Blois.
One of these was known as Wulfric of Haselbury a druid
like sage who lived near Glastonbury and who represents an
example of a cult that seems to have formed there in the
middle ages.

128
 The Hermit Knights

W ulfric of Haselbury, also known as Wulfric of

Somerset—although 20 years his senior—lived as a
contemporary of Henry Blois. (c.1080–1154). He
was a monk and hermit and may have been a knight, an
early Templar initiate, or was possibly involved with a secret
society stemming from the Cluniac involvement with the
First Crusade. According to John, abbot of Ford, Wulfric was
born at Compton Martin (Somerset), eight miles from Bristol
and less than a mornings ride from Glastonbury, but his
early life is sketchy and largely unknown. 1
At the age of 40, Wulfric (tran. Anglo-saxon “wolf king”)
trained to be a monk with the Cluniacs, possibly at Glaston-
bury or Lewes, but was not fully committed because hunting
with hawks and dogs also obsessed him. As time went on he
followed the lead of Saint Benedict from Monte Cassino and
became an ascetic, working as a bookbinder. He was also of-
ten seen bathing in cold streams dressed in chain mail.
His conversion to the Benedictine style, was apocalyptic,
taking place in a flash of understanding after meeting a
mendicant who read from a book by a pool in the forest, pos-
sibly Nine Springs in Taunton or on the mound of Montacute
which, can now be seen as a spiral pathway similar to the
pilgrimage path on the Tor at Glastonbury. This hermitic im-
agery also appears in the Perlesvaus and leads one, again,
to the conclusion that whoever wrote the Perlesvaus was
deeply impressed with monks like Wulfric and the earlier
Saint Dunstan who was a goldsmith by trade.
Eventually, Wulfric withdrew from human contact, limiting
himself to a small, book lined, cell in the eastern corner of
Haselbury abbey near Montacute and under the watchful
eye of the monks there. He is said to have had many visions
in that cell, and although withdrawn, he was able to have
audience with many visitors. In addition, in a clairvoyant
fugue, he was known to spew forth commentary almost like
an Oracle at Delphi. This oracular speech seems quite simil-
ar to the ravings attributed to Merlin and since Hawks are re-
ferred to as Merlins, one might easily make the association
that this old hermit was aware of or perhaps even reciting
some ancient Celtic shamanic prophecies.
1 John Abbot of Ford: Wulfric of Haselbury Somerset. Printed for Sub-
scribers. 1933, 8vo. Somerset Record Society Volume 47 Edited with in-
troduction and notes by Dom Maurice Bell. Pp.202

129
 Shortly after Henry Blois was sent to Montacute by Henry
I, Wulfric prophesied that Abbot Blois should go to Glaston-
bury to rebuild the abbey. Henry’s older brother Stephen,
the future king, and his entire entourage witnessed the
event. Soon thereafter plans for advanced developments at
Montacute were abandoned, and Henry was assigned to Gla-
stonbury. This is an interesting coincidence; if in fact it was a
coincidence at all, because both Glastonbury and Montacute
have spiral hills adjacent to them, spiral pathways built in
pagan times and the two areas are connected by mounds
and roads dedicated to Saint Michael. 1
One year after Blois arrived Wulfric began his return to
the daily world. He continued to work as a bookbinder, but
left his monastic cell and began ministering to the common
folks at Compton Martin. He had no official Episcopal author-
ization, but was supported by the neighboring Cluniac monks
of Montacute.
Nor did Wulfric ignore his sense of piety. His penitential
regime included rigorous fasting with prostrations, and,
oddly again, immersing himself in cold springs. After these
ablutions, he would prophesize to public gatherings. His gift
of prophecy and second sight proved empathic and accurate
and further increased his reputation for holiness across the
countryside. In fact, Wulfric became quite a tourist attrac-
tion,
Visitors to his cell included King Henry I and the future
king Stephen Blois. In 1130, Abbot Henry Blois, at the behest
of his mother Adela, beseeched the hermit for healing pray-
ers for the knight Drogo de Munci from paralysis. This would
probably be the Thebaudian Archdeacon Dreux or Drogo of
Troyes, who presided over Adela’s affairs at the council of
Troyes in 1104. This healing was not done in Adela’s pres-
ence, as she was, at that time, the acting prioress of the
convent of Marcigny where she retired in the spring of 1120,
but the healing was apparently successful. 2
In 1135 King Henry Beauclerc, died in France from ingest-
ing a gluttonous portion of jellied eel. Two years earlier Wul-
fric prophesied the king’s premature death, a prophecy at-
tested to by several observers.
In another stunning vision Wulfric saw Stephan on the
throne and made a prophecy by simply greeting Stephen as,
“Your Majesty.” Moreover, it is doubtful Wulfric was an in-
sider or sycophant since, at the time of this prophecy Math-
1 Michelle, John. View over Atlantis.
2 LoPrete, K. Op cit, p 408. This fascination with hermits and anchorites
appears frequently in The Perlesvaus.

130
ilda was the heir apparent.
Nor was Wulfric a social climber. Several years later, after
Stephan’s controversial coronation, Wulfric strongly admon-
ished the new king for mismanaging the government. 1
It is important to repeat here, that Wulfric was not a
simple mendicant and carried out his trade as a book copyist
and binder throughout his life. This fact leads me to specu-
late on his possible collaboration with Bishop Henry on cer-
tain early publishing projects, including the book of Enoch
and possibly the Perlesvaus, a book which Henry might not
want to have in circulation at Glastonbury, the largest scrip-
torium in England at the time.
When Wulfric died, yet another bizarre struggle ensued
over his body and artifacts. The monks of Montacute natur-
ally attempted to claim the saints body and possessions,
thus to build a shrine, but were unsuccessful. The Cister-
cians also claimed his body, to no avail, and it was removed
by a secret society of some kind, possibly the Templars
since there was a Saint John’s Order of Templars or Hospital-
iers at Glastonbury almost as soon as Henry Blois took over.
In due course, Wulfric’s cell at Haselbury became a place
of pilgrimage and yet, in spite of many written testimonials
to Wulfric’s powers of clairvoyance, his cult was slow to de-
velop. Until 1169 no miracles were reported at his tomb,
which, thanks to his disciple Osbern, remained in his cell. 2
But before his death in 1170 Henry Blois made certain the
place was publicized and sanctified at Winchester, thus in
the later third of the century Wulfric’s shrine grew to be a
place of pilgrimage.
Oddly, by the middle of the 13th century, the shrine was
emptied and no trace was left behind. One wonders if the ar-
tifacts were taken elsewhere for reburial, perhaps on holier
ground, perhaps at Glastonbury. Remember also, that Henry
Blois was sent by his uncle Henry I to be prior of Montacute
Abbey as his first assignment and undoubtedly became fa-
miliar with Wulfric while presiding there.
As the 12th century ended Wulfric was described with ad-
miration by Henry of Huntingdon, Roger of Wendover, and
Matthew Paris. William Worcester and John Leland also men-
tion his tomb, and John Gerard in 1633 recorded that his cell
was still standing and his memory by no means extinct.
There seems to be no trace of an active feast day in his hon-

1 M. Bell (ed.), Wulfric of Haselbury (1933, Somerset Record Society, t.

xlvii); N.L.A., ii. 511–18; T.
2 Arnold (ed.), Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum (R.S., 1879), In-
troduction, pp. xxix– xxx;

131
or, but martyrologies of the 16th century record that pil-
grims visited his shrine on 20 February—one day before
Spring Equinox.1
Thus, we find another celestial mystery linked to the
activities of our mysterious Bishop Blois.

1 Stenton, D. M. English Society in the Early Middle Ages (1965), pp.

214–17

132
 Branches & Leaves
T
he Perlesvaus is laid out in branches and degrees,
leads anyone with an open mind to conclude that the
book might have some ritualistic or even educational
purpose. The lessons contained in an initiatory guide must
be meted out in gradual stages, branches, or degrees and
the Perlesvaus has that structure. It is thus what might be
called a “gradual,” a book of stepped or gradual learning. In
relatively modern times, the Freemasons published such a
book under the title Morals and Dogma, written and com-
piled by General James A. Pike. 1
Before the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians produced sever-
al mystery books, designed to provide insight into the spir-
itual concept of birth and rebirth, ostensibly to overcome the
fear of death. During the latter crusades, the Knights Tem-
plars distributed the works of Raymon Lull and the rules of
chivalry while also publishing training guides detailing the
Orders of Knighthood. 2
The execution of Jacques DeMolay and his fellow knights
horrified the major body of followers, forcing them to scatter
and reform as underground cells. Some theorists argue that
this Diaspora provided a precise continuity, and that the tra-
ditions are still alive in Masonry all over the world. 3
I repeat, the Perlesvaus could be one of these sacred
training guides. It is laid out in branches like a tree of know-
ledge bearing fruit of a profound nature. In this case, as in
the Pentateuch, the tree bears Apples and is located in
Avalon, the isle of Apples. When read with a practiced eye,
the Perlesvaus becomes a book of ritual initiation. It is a
book of tableaux, like the tarot, but with the action and im-
ages written out in text and arranged as a tree filled with
word pictures. Anyone who reads it will see that this text
was intended for a specific audience. It seems to be an edu-
cational text, a guide for the training of Troubadours,
knights, and hermetic scholars; it may have even been de-
signed as an aide to memorizing vast amounts of sacred and
secret material. If so we can assume the book was designed
for a forward thinking generation to discover and thus to de-
cipher.
This is not a sheer folly.

1 Pike, James. Morals and Dogma,

2 Yates, Francis, Ramon Lull xxx p.
3 Yates Frances, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. RKP London, 1972.

133
 Books were extremely expensive and difficult to replace
in the middle Ages. Each copy took many months to pro-
duce. Although esoteric and designed for very special audi-
ences, the Perlesvaus was probably read aloud by actors and
poets, singers and entertainers, all part of the Troubadour or
Trouvère subculture. These well-paid educators traveled
widely, giving command performances in a style reminiscent
of the Irish Shanachees and The Welsh Bards of pre-Christian
times. In their performances, they revealed their memory
skills and embellished the stories to the amazement of chil-
dren and adults alike. 1
Although the narrative of the Perlesvaus seems to focus
on royal activities in Arthurian times, (circa 600) it depicts
initiation ceremonies in a courtly environment around AD
1150. The intended audience must have been made up of
royals as well as monks, architects, and guild artisans asso-
ciated with the Celtic tradition. These people understood
musical architecture. They understood the theme of the
three knights in the Perlesvaus as easily as an American
reader would understand a political cartoon. It seems plaus-
ible then, that a book about the quest for the Grail, repres-
enting three states of consciousness, could have been used
to initiate royal families and their loyal followers.
The royals are part of the story, but not the final audi-
ence. Ultimately the writer seems to have wanted the story
projected to Knights, crusaders, and pilgrims on the quest to
Jerusalem. One would think the Vatican would be in favor of
books like the Perlesvaus, a great deal of its content re-
volves around the moral and ethical codes encountered in
the administration of a knights duties, but, antithetically, the
text seems to be in the service of women, focusing on per-
sonal liberation beyond gender and beyond church.
According to the Perlesvaus the Grail quest is, in itself, an
internal crusade. Although cloaked in a rustic wardrobe, the
Perlesvaus, like the Egyptian Book of the Dead, served as an
aide to the quest. Whoever wrote the Perlesvaus knew it
would come in handy as an educational adjuvant.
It seems reasonable to assume the author of the High
History, came from a royal family. There is a ring of privilege
in his style, but his depth of pathos betrays him as a man of
the people, an everyman who pointed his narrative toward
future knights and pilgrims wishing to enter on the quest. In
this way, a pilgrim on the grueling march to Compostella or
Glastonbury or, above all, to Jerusalem, might find encour-

1 Yates, Francis. The Art of Memory RKP 1969

134
agement. Many such works were available in the late 12th
century and excerpts from them were performed every-
where, but a single allegorical book dealing with an entire
set of initiations by degree, is priceless.
In a further chapter the works of other Grail, writers will
be contrasted to the Perlesvaus. Robert d' Borron and Chré-
tien d' Troyes are said to be the most important early au-
thors and both men were directly linked to the Troubadour
courts in France. Robert was a monk and Chrétien, was,
probably a Knight and a courtier. Unfortunately, many mod-
ern scholars place Robert and Chrétien as the chronological
originators of the Grail literature, but there are many reas-
ons to look to an even earlier author, a writer with inside in-
formation who wrote texts that found their way to Robert
and Chrétien. I believe this mysterious worker wrote the Per-
lesvaus, several decades before Robert and Chrétien and
that the Perlesvaus was available to both authors and prob-
ably to Wolfram in a modified form.
At least one important work came before Chrétien be-
cause in almost every book Chrétien tells us he was, 'in-
spired' by an earlier source. In his introduction to the Knight
of the Charrette, Chrétien says one of his patrons, Count
Phillip of Flanders, gave him a book, which was thought to
be the original story.
Chrétien may have also read copies of the works of the
previously mentioned Robert d' Borron, a Cistercian with
strong Cluniac leanings, and a writer who took the biblical
Joseph of Arimathea from a minor role in the Graal book—
mentioned on the first page, (Title One) as, Josef of Abar-
imacie—to a major role throughout the Grail literature. He
was supposedly a tin merchant who spoke Aramaic as did
the Essenes of Qumran, the originators of the Dead Sea
Scrolls.
This occupation for Joseph seems a bit prosaic, unless we
assume it means more. Perhaps he was more than a mer-
chant, perhaps he was a mining contractor who would, per
force, know about ocean going navigation, hiring large
groups of workers, digging tunnels, and moving earth. In this
light, he is more than the simple Carpenter who played the
role of Christ’s father, but is, in his expanded role, a master
builder, like the Masonic Hiram Abiff.
This places the Perlesvaus first in the sequence or at least
earlier than the others, and shows that a very specific
grapevine linked to the Graal writers, a secret brotherhood,
that made a practice of passing literary moieties, from one
generation to the next.

135
 Robert’s writing reveals a great deal about the production
of the Grail manuscripts over the centuries because it per-
manently joins the four cardinal books of the New Testa-
ment, with the gospels and astrology as well as the order of
priests of which the legendary Joseph was one. This Joseph
of Arimathea character, more specifically his blood line, the
fact that he brings blood (DNA) to Glastonbury, gives us a
perfect picture of the family line and the geography of Gla-
stonbury.
A more recent theory styles Joseph of Arimathea as a dis-
guise for James Bonarges, the Teacher of Righteousness of
Qumran, a son laboring under the father of thunder, the
Celtic ancient God, Bolg, who was also Zeus and several oth-
er sky deities. Joseph appears in only four places in the New
Testament, once in each major book, implying that the four
books represent the core of the doctrine.
By placing Joseph at Glastonbury, with the four icons of
the Grail, Robert reveals that a direct link exists between the
four gospels and the famed Grail location in the West and
that through Melchizedek the Grail is articulated from Jerus-
alem, not Rome. In other words, in this summation, there are
two forms of Christianity and always have been, one based
in Rome and the other emanating from Jerusalem. These are
the two Christianities represented by the two Knights on
each horse within the Knights Templar.
In Hebrews, 5:5-6 God says to Jesus:
You are my son, today I have begotten you.
And
You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
This is the same Joseph-Melchizedek merger seen taking
mass from Gildas in the old fresco at Chartres. Is there a
connection? Predictably there is. In the rite hinted at in
Hebrews, chapter 5, we sense that the order of Melchizedek
comes from father to son, not just through blood lines, but
also through adoption, and that the order deals with a priest-
hood—implying esoteric and sacred knowledge—and also
that the initiation is for life. Gildas was enshrined at Glaston-
bury. Joseph (or at least his spirit) came to Glastonbury;
Melchizedek is depicted in a brilliant glass window at
Chartres, and in a sculpture on the west porch. In each de-
piction, he is seen holding a ciborium (Grail like object) with
both hands at his solar plexus. How could any member of
the family who ruled Chartres for centuries not understand
the more esoteric meaning and artistic sources of these
symbols?
The link is the family Blois, the family who ruled Chartres

136
from the Dark Ages to the end of the Crusades. Anyone can
follow the thread through the maze. Arguing that Stephen
Henry, Adella or their children, did not understand the order
of Melchizedek would be like saying they had no church at
all. Everything here hints at a foreknowledge of helio-
centrism.
As you enter Chartres, through the Royal Portal—between
the tower of the sun and the tower of the moon—you see a
tympanum depicting Christ emerging from a Vesica Pisces,
two overlapping circles—a geometric figure similar to a roun-
ded figure "8,” set on its side. Here the meaning seems obvi-
ous, a marriage of the sun and moon brings about the salva-
tion of humankind. Here we find two overlapping circles,
symbolic of the womb of the Great Mother and the sacred
fish, from whence comes the image of the Fisher King, one
of the earliest of all Christian symbols.
In the Chartres frieze, the central image is surrounded by
the four cardinal zoomorphs of the gospels which correlate
with the evangelists as: the Ram of Matthew, the Lion of
Mark, the Goat of Luke, and the Eagle of John. The five fig-
ures forming a pentagram and taken together, represent the
annual rebirth of the earth, and the transit of Venus in a he-
liocentric solar system.
Above the tympanum, a light beam enters a huge rose
window from the southeast, indicating a Winter Solstice
alignment. This juxtaposition is identical to the lightbeam
phenomenon in the mounds of the Boyne River in Ireland;
the rising sunlight enters through a lens like opening,
(known as the roof box). It then splits into coherent prisms of
color. This collimated beam then paints a dazzling display of
light within the inner chamber for 17 minutes, and recedes.
Likewise, the symbolic angels and cherubim that surround
the Christ figure condense into the four cardinal astrological
signs: Aries=Mars; Taurus=Venus; Capricorn=Saturn and
Aquarius, depicted as the Eagle Aquilla, which, by the way, is
ruled by Jupiter. The Venerable Bede suggested this Aquilla
could be thought of as John the Baptist as early as 649 an
idea that appears in the Perlesvaus as the search of the
sword that beheads John the Baptist. 1
The four major signs of the medieval zodiac represent the
entire year, but also imply that a beam dial is present in the
window above, proving, once again, that the son of man was
a heliocentric symbol.
We can interpret the emergent Christ figure as the

1 Op cit. Hinckley. Star Names

137
product of the heterosexual marriage of the sun and moon,
(Arthur Guenevere) the product of the alchemical wedding or
Hierogamos, [Innana & Sol Invictus] as he emerges from the
interior of the Cathedral. 1
Thus at Chartres, both underground and at the main en-
trance, we have before us a perfect, three dimensional, ex-
planation of heliocentrism on a sexual and spiritual plane,
the core secret in the Grail mystery, which appears promin-
ently in the Perlesvaus. Thus, by reduction, the planets re-
volve around the sun and moon (seen as a unified organism)
and a new form of enlightenment emerges. 2
Similarly, the fresco in the crypt (which survived the fire
of 1048) represents the same symbolic, annual, journey
around the sun. Gildas, a Christianized Druid from Bretagne,
offers the solar bread [manna] to four characters, Melch-
izedek, Nicodemus, Joseph, and, oddly, Saint Nicolas. Here,
Nicolas represents Winter Solstice. Nicodemus represents
Autumnal Equinox and Melchizedek is the Ram of the Vernal
Equinox, but above all Joseph of Arimathea is linked to the
Summer Solstice, Saint John’s day, the cult of the headless
Baptist, and the Hospitaliers.

1 Voss, Karen-Claire. ”The Hierogamos” In: History of Alchemy, Ed. by W.

M. von Martels: Leiden, 1990.
2 Charpentier, Louis. The Mysteries of Chartres, Rilko, London, 1975

138
 Unbroken Chain
T
he Cluniac way of life as expressed by Blois at Glaston-
bury, was transferred to his immediate family through
Trouvère and Troubadour folklore from the Druids in
the Atlantic west and from the Manichean Gnostics from Al-
exandria. This love of books, music and all things beautiful
elevated Blois and his architecture to a high art. In this way
the links between the conforming rituals of the independent
Cluniac sister cells and those of the Celtic church in England,
Scotland, Wales, Brtegane and Ireland, point the way to the
Grail initiation as expressed in the Perlesvaus. This transfer-
ence of enlightenment within the Benedictine Weltan-
schauung gives us yet another reason to think the Perles-
vaus (seen as an initiation book) was written earlier than
Chrétien rather than as part of a continuation of 13th century
romance. Understanding this transition, this unbroken chain,
is imperative to the understanding of the Grail mystery and
Blois’ role in it.
Blois and his family remained defiant to the growing
stoicism of Saint Bernard. Through them the groundwork for
a war of values was well under way. There is no doubt that
Blois, admittedly an eccentric and poised as he was between
the antiquity of his blood lines back beyond Charlemagne
and his visionary quest for the New Age, saw the dangers of
the Inquisition on the horizon. Blois’ plans to build a New Jer-
usalem on earth were in direct conflict with Bernard and his
Cistercian reforms. No matter how enlightened he seems to
Catholic historians, Bernard’s policies were so authoritarian
that even the smallest expression of individuality, the tiniest
deviation from monastic conformity, became suspect and
the offender was often singled out for reprisals.
As Bishop of Winchester, legate to Rome and member of
Beauclerc’s privy council, abbot Blois was able to see his
brother aligned for coronation, he was also able to influence
policy from behind the throne and interdict the repressive
policies of Rome, but power of that magnitude rarely lasts
forever. Through his bloodline and through his vast spy net-
work, made up of monks from Cluny spread through Europe,
Blois played the world game without blinders. Truly, at his
peak of power, Blois would have understood the meaning of
the Siege Perilous, the trembling throne, a throne his older
brother would only partially occupy. 1
1 Robinson, Edwin Arlington. The Siege Perilous. Warburg, London 1956

139
 Although his life was often hectic, one can suppose Gla-
stonbury was always Henry’s true love and developing books
for its library was one of his most critical interests. He had
many opportunities to leave his building and publishing pro-
grams to apprentices, but he never did, even when on pil-
grimages to Compostella and legatine business to Rome, his
lines of communication to Glastonbury remained open and
swift. In sum, he improved the place with fine skill, even as
much as King Ine four centuries earlier.
Once Blois got hold of the place the Abbey, undoubtedly,
seemed like a true place of wonder and it was, without doubt
a museum full of wonders. Pilgrims could see megaliths and
Druid stones hoary with age, runic inscriptions, carved ser-
pentine stones from the Saxon era, crosses from a form of
Christianity so old no one knew from whence they came,
graves of saints forgotten in time and relics from every
known race and culture.
Jealous opponents looked upon Abbe’ Henry’s Gothic, Be-
nedictine and organic building style as devilish, but during
all of this, his fellow monks thought of him as a quiet and
shy man with highly refined tastes. His spectacular sense of
geomancy and landscape architecture, his ability to build
roads on contours and to conscript workers, was legendary.
Crews stood in line to work for him and they were always
well paid. He was a transchannel mogul like the other
Thebaudians and he learned how to deal with men and
money from his mother the most powerful Countess in
France, even after her retirement. In addition he was well
schooled in working with guilds and craftsmen of all kinds,
partially because his family were the over lords of Chartres
and were in touch with Glassmakers and stonemasons from
every country.
As an early Templar initiate, for everyone in his family
was linked to the roots of the Templars—Hugh de Payens
was an uncle and probably took Henry with him on at least
one recruitment foray when Henry was still at Cluny—Abbot
Blois was also able to recruit skilled soldiers, bankers, and
men and women from every known accomplishment.
In addition he was a great cheerleader and motivator.
Like all initiate leaders he frequently urged members of roy-
al families to do manual labor, to dig foundations or place
stones. This supplicant labor, as demonstrated by a long line
of Cluniac Abbots, would inspire the younger workers and
the less fortunate farmers. Seeing royals stooping to do
menial work helped demonstrate the Benedictine commit-
ment to various projects and it broke down the nastier side

140
of the old feudal system as practiced in Rome and parts of
France and England. Blois knew that in many places, not
managed by the Cluniacs and Thebaudians, the Feudal sys-
tem was very much alive and operated, tantamount to
slavery.
Blois saw the Templar banking system linked to the first
crusade evolve in his own family. He knew from direct obser-
vation that holding village markets every week and sponsor-
ing holiday fairs was good for the populace and did much to
spread wealth in a more equitable manner. As the old sys-
tem faded it was replaced by a more strident sense of free
enterprise. In this way the servile obligation of the Nobles
became part of the inner workings of the Knights Templars.
We know that Henry Blois was the first signatory of the
Charter of Saint Bartholomew, in 1133. This Charter gave
the Church of Saint Bartholomew permission to hold a fair
and protected the fair from illegal acts. Geoffrey the Kings
Chancellor drew the Charter itself, but it contained several
inclusions that would protect new villages and priories, or
any township or monastery that desired to operate a fair on
a given day. By the way, Henry’s older brother Stephen,
soon to become king, signed the same charter in the fourth
position along with Hugh Bigod, and Paganus Fitzjohn a pa-
gan attached to the court of Henry I. In addition the queen,
who some experts argue had a great deal to do with setting
up such charters, also signed through her own Chaplin, Bern-
ard of Saint David’s. 1
Without question street fairs, fetes, and other such happy
events were seen as threats to the edicts of Rome and Papal
Bulls, and other societal controls being made manifest in the
mid 11th century. But what was really at stake in this battle?
The ancient Druid and Bardic art of landscape architecture,
common in many of Blois’ site orientations, and innovations
must have irked the church fathers, especially Bernard, no
end. At Winchester Cathedral, Blois set up several classical
statues depicting Pre-Christian mythological themes and star
legends, statues carved in Rome or Montecassino, at Cluny
or at several other Cluniac enclaves. He also brought back
octagonal baptismal fonts from Belgium and set them up at
Winchester, York, and even in small villages like East Meon,
about 15 miles from Winchester. In fact Blois built a church
to house the font in East Meon and, at the same time built a
small house for himself in West Meon. These fonts depicted
biblical scenes, some leaning toward the pagan temptations
1 Barnard, William. St. Bartholomew the Great - Charter of Henry I, 1133. Trans.
from Webb's Records, v I, pg. 60ff

141
of Adam and Eve.
In addition to his statuary, mosaics and tapestry, Henry
Blois collected a fine menagerie of animals and birds all of
which wound up parading on view to the public at Glaston-
bury and Wolvesey, just as they do at Longleat today. These
animals were probably inherited, at least in part, from Beau-
clerc who had a legendary zoo of his own. However, Blois
was not greedy or vain. The large jewels he wore, wound up
in altarpieces, not on his fingers, and the more exotic anim-
als on his estates were used as educational exhibits and
tourist attractions.
For these and other expressions of art and sensuality
Bernard, while haranguing Peter the Venerable at Cluny con-
demned Blois as a “Rival Pope.” Blois was also styled, “The
Whore of Winchester,” possibly because of his association
with Mary Magdalene. Just before his death Bernard called
Blois the “Old Wizard of Winchester,” a phrase that was, at
least for Saint Bernard, a horrible condemnation. 1
Blois may have been a Hospitalier too. He established
hospitals in Glastonbury and resting spas in the countryside
around Somerset. Like a Good Samaritan, Blois was a friend
to the poor, above all founding the magnificent hospital of
Saint Cross. 2
Set in open meadowland to the south of Winchester, on
the road to Southampton, the Hospital of St. Cross was foun-
ded in the 1130’s by Bishop Henry for, according to the
charter:

…Thirteen poor men, feeble and so reduced in

strength that they can scarcely or not at all support
themselves without other aid.

The hospital was placed under the care of the Knights of

St. John, (Hospitalier) and the thirteen brothers of this found-
ation still wear black robes and a badge depicting the Jerus-
alem Cross, in white linen. 3
Blois was also a visionary. He was the first high-ranking
church official to set up welfare for birth mothers and prosti-
tutes. This hints that Blois (and his hidden order) was not
afraid of women, did not suppress women, and championed
the cause of liberty. This trait he undoubtedly inherited from
1 Carley, James P. “Glastonbury Abbey, The Holy House at the head of
the moors adventurous.” Gothic Image, 1999.
2 Cave, Paul. The History of the Hospital of Saint Cross. Paul Cave Pub-
lications: Hampshire, 1982 p. 7-8
3 Lambert, Tim. History of Winchester. London, Albridge Press, 2002. p.
203

142
his mother, one of the most powerful women in Europe at
the time, and from the Troubadour traditions generated by
his cousin Eleanor. This is also a hint that he was aware of
the function of the Sheila Na Gigs, in rural Gaelic speaking
areas. These were sign marks of ancient covens. Wherever
the Sheila Na Gig icon was posted a woman knew she could
get help. These stone signs were the mark of the midwife,
white witches who performed obstetric and gynecological
functions as far back as the Stone Age. In that regard, Blois
took in hand, the famous brothels on his own Southwark es-
tate in London near the Thames and just down the road from
Bermondsey Abbey. Making no moral judgments, rather than
banishing or burning their occupants, as was the policy be-
fore his tenure, Blois regulated the women moving them into
convent like communities. 1
In the Perlesvaus, the writer’s independent style is pre-
cisely opposed to and resistant to the changes ordered by
Bernard. An anguished and spontaneous flow of ideas nar-
rated by a fully emotional human being, speaks to us in an
omniscient voice, a voice that comes through the Evan’s
translation. The division of the material into branches makes
sense and nothing here is turgid or didactic.
Numerous hits against corruption addressed directly by
Abelard and Bernard of Morlaix, (Bernardus of Cluny) are
embedded in the structure of the Perlesvaus, and yet this
polarized and enlightening spirit, the promise of a golden fu-
ture, washes spirituality. The pure knight, who succeeds to
the Grail when the others fail, is typical of the quest itself.
One third of the human spirit can achieve goodness for the
other portions. Here the knight provides glimpses of a divine
and alternative order, either in the faraway past under Ar-
thur and the ideals of the Bards, or in the near future, in the
hands of the Troubadours, Templars and Hospitalier. We
may think of them as naive today, but, in their era, they
hoped, to build a paradise on earth. Clearly, the author of
the Perlesvaus was an initiate into this futurism.
Abbot Henry’s older brother, Stephen advanced to his
destiny, officially in 1135, a full ten years after Henry began
his work at Glastonbury. Stephen was primed for this role as
a child and the entire plan worked smoothly, at least in prin-
ciple. Before Beauclerc died, he made sure one of his sister’s
sons would acquire the throne. In so doing, he managed to
break a relatively dumb promise to put his daughter Matilda
in power without a husband.

1 Roberts, Jack. Shelia na Gigs, Key Books Press, Sligo, Ireland 1999

143
 Predictably, not everyone was happy with the deal. Mat-
ilda wanted her throne and was determined to get it. Mean-
while Stephen married well. His wife, (from the Grail line of
St. Clare) marshaled an army in her own right and managed
to save her husband, both politically and at war, but Stephen
was too weak for the pressures of office.
It can be argued, that Stephen would never have been
ready to be King, if not for Henry’s brilliant preparations and
diplomacy. Henry Blois was a good counselor. He loved Eng-
land, loved his brother, and was bent on making the Jerus-
alem plan work, especially after Adela Blois died. By the time
Stephen took the throne, Abbot Blois was one of the most
powerful men in Europe. He was principally responsible for a
smooth transition for Stephen, having set up a series of
policies made more enlightened against the background of
general lawlessness. In essence Henry Blois was a king pro
tem, not omnipotent—he was unable to control all factions—
but he proved to be the more rational of the two brothers.
Some wags would argue that Stephen was never ready
for the crown; although history records that, he was a fair
and benevolent proprietor when dealing with his own es-
tates. Unfortunately, by the time he grew into the monarchy,
the Northern barons were making short work of border vil-
lages in York and Kent all the while—in true Gaelic style—
waging war on each other. To add to the sense of anarchy,
between 1120 and 1140, most French and English Bishops
were Roman in form and wanted more power over the Ab-
bots and the monastic system.
Like most Trouvère, Henry Blois saw democracy as a
good thing, to him the old church and the Cluniac system
were perfect forms of democracy, and Blois wanted to solidi-
fy them, at least in England. There were more futurisms in
this plan. He did not fancy falling into lock step with the Vat-
ican, and he wasted no time moving his visionary reforms
forward through his brother’s offices and his own.
Ironically, and this is strictly my own evaluation from
looking at this material for some thirty years, I get the im-
pression that Abbot Henry and his scribes were working on
the Perlesvaus throughout this period, almost as a form of
relaxation…almost like soldiers solving a crossword puzzle
between battles.

144
145
 Life Sub Rosa
I
n the Oxford Charter of Liberties of 1136 Bishop Blois
managed to reassert the sovereignty of the Celtic church
in England, thus skirting Abbe’ Bernard’s reforms, at least
temporarily. This move also placed the almost ancient inter-
diction against the Celtic Church as set out at the Synod of
Whitby, squarely back on the table.
In my opinion this reformation of the old church was the
trigger that fired the starting gun for the Albigensian, anti
troubadour, anti-heretic campaigns that emerged after the
second Crusade. Without question, as far as Bernard and his
puppet monks were concerned, the freedoms enjoyed and
championed by the Cluniacs set bad examples and needed
to be repressed. The Gaelic genie, so long controlled,
needed to be put back in the bottle.
The Oxford charter argued for the power of monastic Ab-
bots over Bishops and limited Vatican appointed Bishops to
presiding exclusively over Vatican business in England. This
effectively gave the monastic system (under Blois) local veto
powers and guaranteed autonomy for the Abbots.
Blois’ power took many visible forms. Abbe’ Bernard
wanted to cleanse the walls of tapestries. He wanted to take
all painting away from altars and rid the church, from Jerus-
alem to Dublin, of any sense of voluptuousness. Sadly his re-
forms took hold quickly, especially in France, but in England,
Wales, and Scotland the Celtic church functioned in anti-
pathy to the wishes of the Vatican. Thanks to Saint Dunstan
and Gildas, Gaelic remained the language of the old church.
The people of Gaelic background were happy to perpetuate
the ancient ways and to them, Blois was a saintly man doing
saintly work.
In spite of his heroic efforts, Bishop Blois’ power was
dampened when Stephen proved to be a somewhat con-
fused administrator. He was forced to add stability to his
brother’s monarchy by remaining in power behind the
throne taking on the role of a co-ruler on several occasions.
Although Henry hoped his building plans and village fair
reforms would stabilize events, his brother often relied on
other advisors. Bernard or Clairvaux, who by 1138 held al-
most papal power, made certain the Bishops were infuriated
by the Charter of Liberties and took steps to regain influence
over the English throne and its independent church.
To support Bernard, the powerful Beaumont family, direct

146
descendants of the Capets in Paris, sought favor with Steph-
en, championed papal interests in England, and often cur-
tailed plans laid out by Bishop Blois. This was also done to
Harry Henry’s older brother Theobald V who was constantly
at loggerheads with Louis VI on the continent
Working with information supplied by a vast spy network,
predominately from his newest Templar recruits, Abbe’ Bern-
ard knew Stephen and Henry stood against his reforms. To
counteract their power, Bernard often used the Beaumont’s,
unpleasantly cross married to the Anjou line, to supplement
his Cistercian ambitions in England.
While, on one hand siding with Stephen publicly against
Matilda, and often acting as chief adviser to the King,
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, privately whispered a strong
opposition to Bishop Henry’s seemingly, otherworldly—build-
ing plans, painting him as an overdressed ”kook” or even a
lunatic. This view was, of course supported by Abbe Bernard,
who was opposed to all Cluniac expansion in favor of his own
Cistercian plans.
In one striking example, in 1138, the Beaumont’s, per-
suaded Stephen to abandon Henry’s advice to remain stead-
fast against the papacy, and like a dummy, Stephen caved
in and censured the liberal bishoprics of Salisbury and Ely.
Earl Robert defended the vacillating king in his controversy
with the bishops at the Council of Oxford, a course of politics
Stephen’s younger brother begged him to abandon. In a few
weeks, matters came to a crisis, and a full-scale riot broke
out, the Bishop of Salisbury was seized and imprisoned. This
was followed by a wide spread public outcry and violence.
Robert attacked Worcester in October 1139, destroying a
considerable portion of the city while carting off a great deal
of plunder. By now it would seem obvious that the Earls plan
was to side with Mathilda all along, but Stephen, out of touch
with his brother and out of sorts in general, could not see
the danger and his wife eventually had to marshal her own
troops to save the day.
To head off yet another diplomatic disaster, possibly even
a plot to undermine his visionary building plans, Henry Blois
made certain Abbot Theobald of Bec, was made archbishop
of Canterbury. Pope Innocent II approved of this move and
remained in the Vatican until 1143. Thereafter Theobald
owed Abbot Henry several favors, assuring at least a middle
of the road solution to any further conflicts.
Around this time, Peter the Venerable, left Cluny on a
quest to Spain to seek out Imams who could teach him Arab-
ic and enough wisdom to translate the Koran. William of

147
Malmsbury, Henry’s close friend and proud brother elect at
Glastonbury, took on a commission to write two further
books, a life of Stephen and a detailed account of the history
of Glastonbury. Malmsbury, being originally from Salisbury
and knowing the offended Bishop personally, found himself
in the exact middle of these conflicts.
It is in this period and within this sense of collaboration
that I believe the Perlesvaus was written and produced, at
least in its fundamental form. To see just how close Malms-
bury and Blois were pay special attention to the discussion
of the Sapphire Altar in the final chapter.
Historians rarely opine on how William was impacted by
these events, but, he was moved, if not as a historian than
at least as a man who witnessed everything first hand. His
writings in the unfinished Historia Novella, reveal how close
he was to the Blois family and their plans. 1
Henry Blois played a direct role in financing William’s pro-
jects at the abbey. Before he came to Glastonbury William
produced (about 1120) the Gesta regum anglorum, ”Deeds
of the English Kings" (449-1127), considered by modern
scholars to be one of the greatest histories of all time. It was
followed by the Gesta pontificum anglorum, ”Deeds of the
English Bishops.” in 1125. Ironically, a revision of the Gesta
regum anglorum was dedicated to Robert of Gloucester. 2
Early on William formed a close bond with Bishop Roger
of Salisbury, who owned a castle at Malmsbury. Through Ro-
ger he was offered the abbacy of Malmsbury in 1140, but he
preferred the restive library work reserved for him at Gla-
stonbury and politely abjured. Malmsbury’s public role was
played out at the council of Winchester in 1141. He must
have been in a frightening conflict because his loyalty to
Stephen and the House of Blois was leveraged against many
of his fellow monks who declared for the empress Matilda.
About this date, William wrote Historia Novella (New His-
tory (1128-1142), giving an account of events since 1125, in-
cluding important accounts of King Stephen's reign. This
three vol. work breaks off abruptly in 1142, presumably be-
cause William died before he could finish the book, but I re-
peat Malmsbury was receiving income from Henry Blois
throughout his period and many of his books were tributes
to the Norman-Thebaudian dynasty, from the Conqueror’s

1 William of Malmesbury: Historia Novella (The Contemporary History),

Edited by Edmund King, translated by K. R. Potter, Oxford University
Press, 1999
2 Thomson, Rodney M. William of Malmesbury. Boydell 1987, rev Pb
2003

148
triumphs at Hastings to Henry’s mother’s lineage (Adela’s
masterful comptal rule in France) and to the reign of Steph-
en, which was, as we can surmise, also the reign of Bishop
Henry, the power behind the throne.
Malmsbury died the year before Pope Celestine II (Guido
di Castello) took over. The new pope favored the Cluniacs for
several reasons, but his reign was very short, only five
months and thirteen days, and he died March 8, 1144. He
was unquestionably a link to Henry Blois because the Pope
studied under Pierre Abelard, who we know was a glowing
light in the French house of Blois, sojourning in Champagne
during his exile and ending up at Cluny under the care of
Peter the Venerable, the direct mentor of Henry Blois.
Under Celestine III (Orsini) Henry Blois took direct control
of the finances for Glastonbury and Winchester, making him,
amazingly free to spend funds allocated to the building pro-
jects already underway. 1
In 1144, Henry probably felt he could function more ef-
fectively without a spy and appointed himself Papal Legate
to the new pope. Blois also made sure that this new office
carried with it more power than even that of the Archbishop
of Canterbury, making his own job a technically higher office
than that of Theobald’s. The following year Blois used this
power to push forward several building plans for Winchester.
Henry’s mother Adela died in France in 1142 and al-
though he grieved for her, Henry became the de facto head
of the church in England. In that capacity, added to his other
roles, Henry was essentially the most powerful man in Eng-
land, certainly more functional than his brother Stephen,
who was now willing to acquiesce to his younger brother in
most matters of state. He was also, by the way, one of the
wealthiest men in Western Europe, if we add consideration
for his own ducal lands in France.
One year after his appointment, Henry dissolved the arch-
bishops of Canterbury and did away with Theobald’s post all
together. This move forced Bec into retirement; an act Blois
would regret a decade later.
Henry controlled the church by keeping his well-paid
string of papal envoys en Primum locus, creating a virtual
counterspy network, peopled by Cluniac monks with
Troubadour and early Templar sympathies. These men were
all trained by Blois at Winchester and Glastonbury and were
assigned to trouble spots all over the map.
Henry enjoyed his new position and skillfully wielded
1 Celestine III championed Peter Abelard and favored Cluny over Abbe
Bernard.

149
power without hubris. However, Stephen was not finished
making mistakes. His doltish temper put him in harms way
on several occasions. Without consultation, and for reasons
so thin they hardly made sense, King, Stephen suddenly ar-
rested the Bishop of Salisbury and his followers. This was a
misguided effort to assert himself as King, but Salisbury nat-
urally appealed. To mend the rift, Henry Blois was forced to
summon his own brother, the King, to explain himself. Henry
dismissed the charges, but Stephen, by answering the sub-
poena, showed he recognized the jurisdiction of Henry’s of-
fice. It also showed that Stephen was fully aware of his
younger sibling’s amazing administrative skills and his abil-
ity to handle the awkward transitions between Popes, Inno-
cent II, and Celestine II. 1
Henry was upset with Stephen for going off the farm and
deviating from the Elde Kirk plan. This was most manifest in
two poorly thought out moves. First Stephen’s failure to pro-
mote Blois to archbishop of Canterbury, a promotion which
would have angered the Vatican, but which would have ce-
mented his own crown, and secondly alienating the Bishop
of Salisbury who happened to be a friend of Henry’s and the
recently deceased Countess Blois. Salisbury was also a keen
supporter of Cluny in the Clairvaux issue and the wanted to
extend and protect, the Benedictine system.
Moreover, both abbots knew about the ancient geograph-
ical link between the two abbeys and that Salisbury cathed-
ral was being constructed in the shadow of Old Sarum, a
massive, and well fortified, Bronze Age ring fort with Neolith-
ic foundations—a mystical place at the head of Marlborough
Downs, located on a direct winter solstice line through Sil-
bury Hill, to Glastonbury and Stonehenge. Additionally this
line passes through Avebury Stone Circle in view of Silbury
Hill. The track-way originates in Wales and is sometimes re-
ferred to as, ”Arthur’s Ley,” a Neolithic trade road and an-
cient salt track. We also know this area was important to
Bishop Blois because he built a whole village, known as
Downton, some 6 miles SSE of Old Sarum in Wiltshire. Al-
though Blois died only a few months before Eleanor’s captiv-
ity, Downton would prove a location quite convenient for
anyone visiting her at old Sarum house. 2
For even more irony, the Bishop of Salisbury, although
older, came out of Cluny around the time Blois appeared at
Glastonbury. Here again the Cluniac connection and its link
1 Malmsbury, W. Gestus Stepheni
2 Watkins, Alfred. The Old Straight Track, Garnstone, London, 1972. Vari-
ous editions. From Watkins Meter Works. 1919 onward.

150
to the House of Blois held great weight.

151
 A War of Destiny
L
et us flashback for a moment to see just how the con-
flict between Saint Bernard and the Benedictines from
Cluny began. When Henry Blois first came to London c.
1122 he was hardly more than 21 years of age. He must
have come highly recommended because within a few
weeks he set to work planning and building in the Soutwark
district across the river from The Tower castle. After finishing
the walls and adding rooms to Bermondsey Abbey, which
took on the look of his home at Cluny, he added the chapel
of Mary Magdalene and his own palace. This took a scant
two years, an amazingly brief time for such a large amount
of labor.
In 1124 he took another building commission from his
uncle King Henry I, and moved to Somerset to continue the
orders of the original Templars at Montacute Abbey near
Taunton, about 10 miles south from Glastonbury. His first
mission was to complete the buildings, walls and rooms at
Montacute and to survey the Norman keep in the Montacute
area, a strange spiral hill named after Saint Michael. This
was an odd naming since the Tor at Glastonbury is also
named after the Archangel and since, according to the
lauded work of John Mitchell, most of the Saint Michael
places names are linked to Neolithic trade roads.
The Montacute hill structure, then fallen into desuetude,
was a typical early Norman mote and bailey keep, once lived
in briefly by his grandfather, William the Conqueror. Henry
stayed at Montacute for slightly more than a year and met
with his brother Stephen there on several occasions, but
something happened at nearby Glastonbury that forced him
to pay immediate attention to that ancient edifice.
On the demand of King Henry I, Henry Blois quickly set to
work on building plans for Glastonbury. The plot to renege
on the promise to elevate the Empress Mathilda to be the
first woman to rule England must have been set at an early
date and Henry was being elevated to pave the way for his
older brothers coronation.
For the sake of review, when Beauclerc’s son William,
died in the wreckage of the White Ship in 1120, it was
thought necessary to bring a male heir into the family,
quietly of course, since, several oaths had been sworn to ce-
ment the succession of Beauclerc’s daughter Matilda who

152
was, coincidentally, born in the same year as Henry Blois. 1
It seems odd that Stephen Blois would become part of the
avuncular Beauclerc household and act as a surrogate son
unless the king had specific misgivings about his daughter
and her behavior on the continent.
One of the largest problems for any Norman King was the
maintenance of properties on both sides of the Channel. For
this reason Adela agreed to place her third son Stephen at
Court in London when he was approaching the age of matur-
ity. Obviously Stephen handled himself well. A few years
after his arrival, between 1113 and 1115, Beauclerc
knighted Stephen and gave him properties in Normandy to
supervise. His young age was no deterrent. The county of
Mortain was reacquired in winning the battle of Tinchebray
and was an excellent borderland between Normandy and the
Thebaudian holdings in the North. This bequeaths made
Stephen a transchannel mogul and groomed him for the
kingship to come. This move also positioned Stephen to act
as the Kings man on the continent when Henry was not able
to reside in Normandy himself.
For much of his younger years, while Henry Blois was
studying architecture and book production, Stephen was
managing his inherited properties and jousting on holidays.
It is said his management skills were more than adequate
and his sober behavior indicates he was following his
knightly vows, making good decisions for his lands and
people. Moreover his juxtaposition in Mortain offered comfort
to his mother Adela who was often busy with comptal
matchmaking and treaties in her own domains. 2
Unfortunately, what some would call a premature treaty
pledged the English throne to Adela’s niece Matilda who had
been, in the mean time, (1114) married off to the German
Emperor Henry V. When Beauclerc died, Stephen made
haste to London and took the throne before Matilda could
rally. This could have been part of the plan all along, al-
though many historians paint the picture of Stephen as a
greedy usurper. In any case the Barons and Earl’s agreed on
the action and were released from their original obligation.
Sorrowfully, by taking the throne in such an abrupt man-
ner, Stephen laid the groundwork for public belligerence. He
became a nominal champion to those who wanted no part of

1 Chandler,Victoria. ”The Wreck of the White Ship." in: The final argu-
ment: Donald J. Kagay and L. J. Andrew Villalon, Ed. 1998. See also:
Lacey, Robert, ”Henry I and the White Ship” in Great Tales from English
History 2003.
2 Lo Prete, K. Op Cit Adela. p. 339

153
a woman in power and a whipping boy for the sore losers
who thought they would gain advantage when Matilda took
the throne.
Stephen was never comfortable on the throne and the
political atmosphere was more agitated than ever before
and Matilda made things worse. She vowed publicly to repair
herself to the throne and took steps to act on the promise. It
appears she was easy to manipulate and easy to enrage. By
some accounts, she loved gossip, and all anyone had to do
to get on her good side was say awful things about her en-
emies. 1
Times are fractious when a King dies in discord. The fac-
tions began to squabble, both in England and on the Contin-
ent, and soon small territorial fires burst into major conflag-
rations. Adela Blois did everything she could to calm the wa-
ters, but she had little control or influence over Anjevin or
German decisions. Sweeping civil unrest began to develop in
almost every. The Cluniacs backed Stephen and the Cister-
cians, who were only then emerging into a power position,
tended to back anyone who would support their advantage.
Mathilda might have won the day in spite of Stephen’s
fast takeover had she not turned out to be a spoilt brat.
Beauclerc must have sensed that her marriage to the re-
cently deceased German emperor turned her into an ego-
centric Diva with little true preparation for rule. Likewise, al-
though born in England, probably Winchester or Oxford, she
did not take to the English language as well as she might.
Henry Blois knew that Matilda was extremely well edu-
cated and that she could be appealed to on an intellectual
plane. The Bishop, seeing an advantage for himself and his
brother, thought it better to work with Matilda than battle
with her and her, growing forces.
She spoke German, French and Latin, read dozens of
books, patronized Troubadours and Trouvéres, a habit
learned by her son Henry II, and was, at least on paper, good
monarchical material.
Appealing to her quasi-rational side, Blois proposed she
take the throne as, “Lady of the English,” since she was un-
married and the word Queen connotes “wife” in old Anglo-
Saxon. Apparently, while on the continent she did not cultiv-
ate the queenly skills she might need in her future role, as
did Elizabeth or Victoria centuries later. Instead, she envi-
sioned herself Imperitrix over all of Europe. The Scots, were
well aware of these developments and sent armed body-
1 Bradbury, J. Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139-1153, London,
Sutton 1996

154
guards to secure Scottish interests. They too were divided
because Stephen’s wife Matilda was a Scot and the Impress
was also of Scots descent. Here again Stephen won the day,
thanks to the almost druidical powers of his younger brother
Henry.
After his elevation to the Bishopric of Winchester, Henry
Blois tried to pursue an independent policy, walking a fine
line between the two royal opponents and the papacy. In
1140, he tried to set up a mediation counsel to little effect.
Matilda drew on her armies now amassing on the coastline.
Stephen was almost killed in one of the skirmishes and was
jailed temporarily. Henry, by using the Scots forces at the
disposal of Stephen’s wife, got him out, but not without com-
promise.
The following year, Stephen was again in trouble. After
Stephen’s defeat and capture at the Battle of Lincoln, Bishop
Henry found himself obliged to make an uneasy peace with
the disconsolate Matilda. In many villages, a kind of malaise
began to destroy any semblance of democracy. The road
away from the feudal system seemed to be collapsing rapid-
ly, food was scarce on all sides, and the Blois vision of the
old church in power was fading.
Blois then pulled a clever ruse. Not wanting to elevate
Matilda Plantagenet, and knowing she was power mad, he
welcomed her into Winchester (a territory completely under
his control) as ”Lady of the English,” offering her and her
troops provisioning imported from his family surpluses in
Champagne and elsewhere. Matilda fell for the ploy. She
thought it might be a stepping-stone for her greater ambi-
tions.
To accumulate desperately needed money the future Em-
press aggressively levied a tax on first week she held office
and predictably, the term, ”Lady of the English,” did not res-
onate well with the Barons, vassals, and other gentry. Nor
did it appease the more adamant Londoners who rose up in
protest against the excessive taxes she levied. Later histori-
ans argue that she was Queen for this time, but according to
the Blois legacy, “Lady of the English,” does not constitute
full monarchical status. 1
Matilda was extraordinarily vain. She thought of herself
as an Empress, hoping to extend her reach beyond England
to the continent, and to Jerusalem. Her desire to become
Empress of Germany and Queen of France seems megalo-
maniacal in retrospect. Her overtures to the Roman church
1 Painter, Sidney. `The Rout of Winchester' Speculum, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan. ,
1932), p,70-75

155
were slap-dash and the Blois clan in general, feared she
would make compromising treaties. This fear was justifiable.
Already they were forced to grant land to the church for the
construction of Clairvaux. Matilda was supposed to be
crowned Queen when Beauclerc died, and she wanted her
full entitlement.
The Empress blamed the public unrest on Stephen Blois.
She went so far as to burn parts of London, an act that com-
pelled thousands of Londoners to riot for food. London’s
merchant and craft guilds were not idiots. They knew who
was responsible. The food riots soon turned to ever-stronger
anti-Matilda rallies. In a matter of months, Matilda’s mercen-
aries went into hiding with the grand dame herself not far
behind. One source describes her escape as, ”the avoidance
of an assassination.” 1
Crossing the fields at night, Matilda ran to safety, vowing
to mount another siege as soon as she could regroup her
soldiers, but close inspection of the facts hints that Henry
Blois was at work behind the scenes, handling all factions,
including the Vatican, with masterstrokes.
No doubt, Matilda suspected Henry Blois who had rallied
his sister-in-laws troops against her at Winchester. By now,
she knew Stephen was not the sharpest knife in the drawer
and that his actions might just be motivated by a sly back-
bencher. Emboldened, she worked to sabotage normalcy.
Soon Henry himself came in for abuse from the redolent and
increasingly hysterical Matilda. However, fate dealt a stabil-
izing, albeit tragic blow.
As stated earlier, both Stephen and Henry Blois were
drawn back together by the death of their mother in 1142. It
is not know whether one or both went to her funeral in
Troyes, but surely sadness was the essence of the day, since
Adela of Champagne was almost a Queen in her own right.
Henry could no longer sit on the fence. Eventually he was
forced to grant Stephen full powers and showed his fealty by
abandoning his post as legate to the Papacy.
When Pope Innocent II died the next year (1143) Henry
continued to exercise power in the shadows. By promoting
his popular nephew and protégé, William FitzHerbert, as
Archbishop of York he solidified the Northern church, a body
of separated Bishops and Abbots who had been wrangling
for years over territory and pilgrims routes. He further
moved to have Winchester (his own Bishopric and the seat
of ancient power) made an archdiocese to compete with

1 Chibnall, Marjorie. The Empress Matilda. Blackwell, Boston.p. 116

156
Canterbury, but these moves were not popular
In 1148, Henry failed to attend a Papal council called for
by the new Pope, (and of course Saint Bernard) and was sub-
sequently suspended from the Bishopric, but he was still Ab-
bot of Glastonbury, and as such held great favor with the
people. Encouraged by his army of monks and the shire folk,
Blois, took the demotion gracefully, but remained an emin-
ence Gris operating by courier from remote locations.
The Templars maintained a sizeable fleet in the Severn
Estuary and trading ships still arrived and set-sail at Glaston-
bury on the tides like clockwork. Henry went about building
chapels, palaces, and townships smaller houses for himself,
for overnight stays between Winchester and Southampton
and dozens of other buildings. It was almost as if Henry
would build a new structure as soon as the old ones were
torn down or burned. Most importantly he planned villages in
the midst of Buckinghamshire and at Winchester, he built,
the aforementioned Saint Cross, one of the most important
structures in the West Country, a hospice for ill and destitute
men who had no other place to go. In addition, and with
some mystery remaining, Blois also constructed a number of
labyrinths adjacent to ancient mounds throughout the coun-
tryside. For a full list and details of Henry’s extensive build-
ing plans See Appendix D. 1
Unfortunately, Theobald of Bec, dismissed by Henry years
earlier, sought revenge. In 1150, Theobald launched an offi-
cial complaint to the Papacy accusing Blois of misappropri-
ation of funds and malfeasance. Henry pleaded his case per-
sonally at the Curia in Rome and survived in office long
enough to play a considerable role in peace negotiations
with the future Henry II at Winchester and Westminster. The
fact that the Plantagenet’s new wife was Henry’s cousin,
Eleanor of Aquitaine, may have had something to do with his
survival. Henry II was a ruthless man. The new king, son of
the failed Empress, did not favor the Blois family or hold to
the vision of a unified Celtic church.
Like Stephen’s property, Bishop Blois’ castles and
palaces, with the exception of Wolvesey near Winchester,
were soon confiscated. Over the next 20 years, Blois focused
on Glastonbury and Cluny. He was, after all, the presiding
Abbot. He also took several trips to Bath, which revived his
spirits and his brother remained King, with some sense of
control until Henry Plantagenet acquired a barony in England
1 Childress, David Hatcher. Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet: The
Secret Naval War Between the Knights Templar and the Vatican. Adven-
tures Unlimited, 2003

157
and sought a peace treaty with Stephen Blois.
Henry’ Plantagenet’s rise to power foretold the end for
the Blois hegemony in England, sending a signal that Henry
Blois, should perhaps, make plans to down size his holdings.
1

Meanwhile, in Paris, Abbot Seguré had just finished erect-

ing the first Gothic structures at St Denis and in rapid pro-
gression, Chartres, adorned with cosmological and esoteric
symbolism, was well under way. Thus, there can be no doubt
that the parts of the abbey at Glastonbury, now lost to us,
received at least some of these ideas and treatments.
Some of these ideas may have been recovered by the ex-
pedition that returned from Jerusalem, in approximately
1118 a few years before Blois shows up, with unlimited fund-
ing from the King of England, as head builder of Glastonbury.
The walls that still stand at Glastonbury can be measured,
and without question, many of them represent ogival (goth-
ic) influences especially the almost science- fiction looking
scissor arches.
The building plans for these vast Gothic structures may
have originated in Jerusalem, and may have been imported
to Europe by Henry’s uncle, Hughes d Champagne. In any
case, as a student at Cluny and as a familial patron of
Chartres, there is no possible way Abbot Blois could have
been unaware of the building boom in Paris at his family
holdings, and at Chartres.
Although diplomatic, and pretending to be a Troubadour,
the new king began to commandeer and destroy Blois hold-
ings almost as soon as he arrived in Winchester.
At least since the assassination of his friend Thomas
Becket, Blois knew what Henry II was capable of and seems
to have made provisions for his beloved monastery, provi-
sions that would last long after his passing on. These provi-
sions might well have included the discovery of King Arthur’s
grave.

1 Hill, Rosalind. “ The Battle of Stockbridge, 1141 ” Studies in Mmedival

History, p 173.

158
159
 An Uncrowned King
B
y now it should seem obvious that Henry Blois was
fully capable of great things including being King of
England if need be, but he was also an architect and a
craftsman and as such loved publishing and producing
books. This, if nothing else, makes him a prime candidate for
the authorship of the Perlesvaus. Not only was he capable of
writing it, he was capable of distributing it to the highest roy-
alty in the Norman empire.
His dedication to the installation of the Sapphire Altar
of Saint David, quoted earlier, tells us he saw himself as a
monk and a prince simultaneously. Obviously, he was a man
of mystery, as is the book itself and, predictably, yet another
mystery hangs over the Abbot’s sarcophagus at Winchester.
I shall return to this topic in the concluding chapter, but
for the sake of clarity, it will be necessary to touch briefly on
the topic of Henry’s burial, mainly because his true resting
place was kept secret for at least 800 years and remains in
confusion, to the present day.
Some clarification came in 2009 with a letter from Kate
Rogers an official historian at Winchester cathedral:

Jan 14, Dear Mr. Harrison:

160
 You are correct in thinking that the tomb in the choir
at Winchester Cathedral was once thought to be the
tomb of King William Rufus but it is now known to be
the tomb of Bishop Henri Blois. The tomb has been
moved around the cathedral over the years and has
been in its present position since 1886. When it was
opened in 1868 they found the better part of a skeleton
with most of the major bones intact but only fragments
of the skull. The body was enclosed in a lead envelope
lined with cloth, described as 'woven like a stocking,
but of stout and compact texture'. Other textile frag-
ments were found and these were kept in the cathed-
ral's collections until they were examined in 1951. The
main elements included silk twills, identified as being of
Byzantine or Persian origin and gold braids probably
English. These cloths are thought to be from materials
worn by Bishops. Pieces of iron and wood, which at first
were thought to be part of the arrow that killed King
Rufus, are now thought to be part of a Bishops staff. A
small ivory animal head, perhaps part of the same cro-
sier was also found. There is an account by Francis
Sandford, dated 1677 in the Winchester Chronicle,
which states that the tomb was opened in 1642 (during
the Civil War) and was found to contain, apart from the
cloth, a large gold ring and a small silver chalice - John
Aubrey also mentions a gold ring set with a ruby. We do
not have them now.

I do hope this has been helpful - please get in touch

if you think I can be of any further help.

Best wishes Kate Rogers

The stone box mentioned in this letter and attributed to

Blois has no markings. It is surrounded, on all sides by the
carved oak chairs and pews of the 16th Century choir.
However, one symbolic anomaly stands out near his casket.
On the walls, surrounding the choir screen, one can count fif-
teen identical pentagrams, each a five pointed Star of David,
but one, the last star, the sixteenth, is not a pentagram at all
but rather a star of Solomon, a six pointed star. A star of So-
lomon is made of two intersected triangles, one pointing up-
ward, and one down. This is the sign of Hermes, and Venus.
Like two interlaced increments of energy—two mathematic

161
deltas representing a westernized Yin and Yang symbol, thus
whoever placed those symbols, in the 16th century must
have known something about who was buried nearby, even
though, at that time, people generally thought it was William
Rufus. When placed on a vertical plane the star points up
and down to both heaven and earth, and both triangles act
together as a sign of fertility, perhaps signaling the occult
presence of Hermes, ”heaven above, earth below.” So why
does this singular glyph appear directly parallel to and to the
right of, the abbot’s head? So, how do we solve this
mystery?
Maybe Solomon’s star was placed there for Rufus, but
seeing it as a tribute to Blois is a point worth considering, es-
pecially since we now know more about the Blois mystery
than ever before.
If you lay on your back, parallel to the coffin and look
straight up you will see the answer, there at the crossing of
the arches perhaps thirty feet above your head, just under
the roof boss, you can see the Green Man, the symbol of all
organic life, carved into the cross beam.
To repeat, the coffin of Henry Blois at Winchester is a
long limestone box set on the floor of the choir. It is fitted
with a lid of triangular cross-section. It displays no death
mask, no symbolism, not even a cross. On first glance, it ap-
pears to be a strange resting place for a man with such high
accomplishments, but remember; Henry Blois was a shy
man, and was not well liked, by the Cistercians and Plan-
tagenet historians. Many during his lifetime wished him ill
and after he died his enemies had a field day. 1
There is a deeper enigma associated with the Blois crypt
at Winchester. Henry’s final resting place may not be his fi-
nal resting place at all and it may have symbolism relating
to the Templars and the Hospitaliers. First, this coffin is
much like the unmarked sarcophagi, at the Templar Church
in London, there, the grand master rests anonymously in an
almost identical unmarked sarcophagus, the only unmarked
crypt arrayed among the other well-documented knights.
These stone boxes are symbolic of rituals conducted on tes-
sellated pavements in Masonic temples the world over. Then
again, several other components of the Winchester burial re-
mind us of Arthur’s tomb at Glastonbury, especially the en-
casement in lead and the missing silver chalice. Remember
also that Blois, although originally enshrined at Glastonbury,
was the Bishop of Winchester for more than four decades.
1 Barber, R. The Devil's Crown: A History of Henry II and His Sons. 1996,
Conshohocken, PA, Gen. ref.

162
He was also its principle architect in Norman times. In this
sense, he earned his place in the narthex, but why does his
tomb stand-alone at the crossroads of the cathedral, and
why was it moved around so often and again why was it
completely undecorated? Several Kings and Bishops rest at
Winchester, but none rest in the center of the choir, save
only Blois. True, the shrine was only placed in situ in the 18th
century. Until that time, it bears repeating, popular opinion
had it that the box was the burial place of William ”The Red”
Rufus, for surely only a king would be placed in such a high
position, but did not Blois wield monarchical power for sever-
al decades?
The coffin of Henry Etudes Blois at Winchester acts like a
compass needle, pointing to equinox and solstice light, but
this is only part of the conundrum. Why does Arthur’s grave,
stand in the exact same position at Glastonbury?
The answer should be clear; Blois may have designed and
planned both locations, apparently, although this is conjec-
ture, Blois left plans to be followed by subsequent architects.
In other words, Blois, in keeping with his great sense of hu-
mor, may have designed and built both structures. In fact he
may have been the chief architect of the entire plan, for cer-
tainly, we now must realize, Arthur as a corporeal leader,
never existed. 1
Remember that Henry Blois, came to England as a young
monk just out of his teens—probably with his uncle Hugh d’
Payens, on an early Templar mission—and was set to work
first at Bermondsey and Southwark and then in Somerset at
Montacute Abbey a decade before Stephen’s coronation.
Also, remember that his older brother King Stephen married
Matilda (Maude Saint Clair) of Boulogne, in 1125, a woman
of great strength, and a child of the royal bloodlines agree-
able to the Thebaudians as well as the houses of Wessex,
Scotland, and Champagne-Normandy. 2
Moreover, Saint Catherine is commemorated in a window
at Ivinghoe church built by Henry Blois. This fact is even
more fascinating when we realize that before his bones were
transferred to Winchester, Henry was buried in a crypt at Iv-
inghoe and may still be there. Ivinghoe is a very small vil-
lage about 15 miles from Winchester and, has only one other

1 Harrison, Hank, Han, Karen. Arthur the God. Arkives Press, San Fran-
cisco. 2009
2 Dickson, John. Roslin Castle. The St. Clairs and their History. Edinburgh,
1897. p.7
See Also Given-Wilson, Chris. The Royal Bastards of Medieval England.
RKP. London1984, p. 61-63.

163
claim to fame, it is located directly at the terminus of the
oldest road in England. As stated earlier this road, known as
the Ridgeway, stretches from Avebury to Ivinghoe in one dir-
ection and connects to Foss Way, which takes you straight to
Glastonbury. Between these roads, and crossing them in in-
teresting points, runs a straight track from Glastonbury Tor
to a point on the horizon marked by a Neolithic mound,
known as Ivinghoe Beacon. The chapel is within sight of the
mound on the Ridgeway.
To continue the earlier discussion of Astral Magic emanat-
ing from Glastonbury, one can speculate that there is a dir-
ect geographic and architectural connection between all of
these lines and the gravesite of Arthur and Guenevere at
Glastonbury. But, why was Bishop Blois enshrined at the
functional terminus of at least two of these lines? The official
journals of Buckinghamshire tell us about the Blois sepulcher
at Ivinghoe church:

Below the blocked lancets is a 15th-century recess

with a four-centered molded and cinquefoil subcusped
head, which may have been an Easter sepulcher. It
contains the effigy of a priest vested for mass. The
head and feet of the figure have been defaced. On the
left side is a small hollow with a drain-hole in the bot-
tom. The effigy has been assigned to Henry de Blois,
Bishop of Winchester, brother of King Stephen, who
died in 1171, and to one 'Gramfer.' 1

“Gramfer,” by the way, is a Cornish word for Beatle and

undoubtedly an illusion to the Egyptian scarab, indicating
again that the Benedictine monks of Cluny and Glastonbury
practiced Christianity in an Egyptian style, meaning they ob-
served the Coptic, Gnostic and Hermetic form of worship de-
rived from the Essenes, the authors of the Dead Sea scrolls.
Bishop Blois knew how to be a king and as such he be-
queathed to us a long list of mysteries. As stated earlier, his
maternal grandfather was none other than William the Con-
queror and two of his uncles, William Rufus and Henry I
Beauclerc held the English throne, as did his brother.
His father Stephen Etienne, held kingly powers in France
and controlled over three hundred castle. His senior brother
Theobald was a ducal king in Champagne. Perhaps more im-
portantly, according to Kimberley LoPrete, Henry Blois wiel-
ded the power of a monarch through his mother, Adela, es-

1 Bucks. Rec, ix.143;x pp-266-267 a Gramfer is a water beatle in Corn-

wall

164
pecially after her retirement to Marcigny convent.
The Blois mysteries began as soon as Henry arrived in
England. Henry Blois was close to Henry I Beauclerc. And
both men were extraordinary intellectuals. In 1126 King
Henry I traveled to Rouen with Henry Blois, recently made
Abbot of Glastonbury, in attendance. There they met Henry’s
mother Adela and probably Thibaud, although we only have
proof that Andrew of Baudement, Thibaud’s seneschal,
signed any documents. This meeting was to reform the
foundation of Marcigny and to enact its protections for the
ninety-nine nuns housed there. It also seems certain that An-
drew of Baudement was suing for entrance and protection
for his aging sisters. 1
It seems Henry Blois had power and favor of the king
even above his older brother, who would soon be king in his
own right. In an almost grandiose display of family solidarity
Henry I placed Marcigny convent, its men and nuns, and all
of its possessions under English protection. Any law suits go-
ing forward from that date would be referred to the Kings
court and would not be party to decisions made by the
French provincial courts or any other church body. This
meant, simply that Adela was going to be protected for the
rest of her life and that all of her lands would be protected
as an extension of this important edict. Thereafter Adela be-
came the de facto prioress of that convent and her son
Henry became her watchdog in England.
Henry Blois took his final vows in 1115 at Cluny and re-
mained at Cluny while his mother moved to nearby
Marcigny. Letters between Adela and her brother Beauclerc,
sent back and forth from London, Winchester and Marcigny,
hint that Henry, even as a young monk, was being prepared
for an expanded leadership role in England. Here then we
see a possible familial plan, hatched to negate the original
promise to elevate Matilda to the throne in favor of Stephen,
this on the assumption that Henry, now seen as a savant
and genius, could back-up Stephen, even before Beauclerc
died, and could help Stephen rule, if and when he stumbled.
For these reasons and many others, Bishop Henry was
thought of by his admirers as a, “Prince of the Church.”
Blois was the final member of his Thebaudian line to wield
any sizeable political power in England. Even so, he may
have also been the most artistically gifted member of his
family. There can be no doubt he could have written, or at
least sponsored the Perlesvaus, a book that is riddled with

1 Op cit. Lo Prete. K. Adela. p 409 and fn

165
mysteries and clues, and above all astral magic.

166
 Nepenthe
O
n his deathbed, on August 8, 1171, at the age of 72,
Henry Etudes Blois, one of the most powerful men to
ever be ignored by history, a shy man by all accounts,
who continued to speak out against Henry II, a king who
could not be trusted. In the eyes of the Thebaudians of
Champagne and the Normans, Henry II, was ruthless, harsh
and suspicious of holy men, a womanizer, cruel to his queen
and dismissive of his several mistresses who trailed an un-
known number of children behind them. He was also an as-
sassin in that he undoubtedly had Becket killed, uttering the
well-known rhetorical question:
Who will rid me of this meddlesome (turbulent”) priest? 1
Henry Plantagenet was also a paradox in that, in spite of
this ignominy, he feigned Troubadour values and hosted sev-
eral massive Troubadour and Trouvère castle weekends for
his royal friends, galas, he himself did not attend. Historians
have labeled him, “The First Troubadour,” Which is ridicu-
lous since the courts of Poitiers were operating in
Troubadour terms since the days of Eleanor’s grandparents,
nut Henry II did patronize the Troubadours and paid them
greatly for their songs and entertainments.
Thomas Becket and Henry Blois died less than one year
apart, but Blois had already angered the Plantagenet King
for offering support to Becket’s family. For example, he set
up Beckett’s sister Mary as the abbess of Barking in repara-
tion for Beckett’s assassination. The two men were friends
and it would not have been difficult for Blois to see the en-
dgame as early as 1152, when Henry II and Eleanor were
married. His suspicions of the methods and intentions of the
future king, especially he patronage of the Cistercians over
the Benedictines, would have flared up greatly as early as
1156, when King Stephen died under, what some modern
scholars think of as probable and suspicious circumstances.
Moreover, Bishop Blois would have certainly taken umbrage
when Henry II confiscated and plundered most of his hold-
ings.
At that point, Blois traveled back to France and spent
three years at Cluny to be with his mentor, the dying Peter
Montboisier—known to the world as, Peter the Venerable.
Upon Peter’s passing Blois returned to England by 1158,

1 Bartlett, Robert, England Under The Norman and Angevin Kings

1075-1225. Oxford, 2000 p. 225

167
possibly in time to meet with Eleanor.
As stated earlier it was also precisely in 1158 that Marie
of Champagne. Eleanor’s daughter and a virtual queen in
her own right, married Henri known as the Liberal, the favor-
ite nephew of Bishop Blois. One year earlier Henri founded
the collegiate church of Saint-Etienne, adjacent to the palace
in Troyes, and the wedding probably took place there. It
seems almost unthinkable that the avuncular bishop would
be on the continent, in fair weather, and not attend the wed-
ding of the two most powerful Troubadours on earth. 1
The counts of Champagne acted in conjunction with their
overlords (the Capetian kings) or against them, in some
cases, to negotiate the major struggles of the middle Ages.
Henri the Liberal, like his father and uncles, encouraged the
undertaking of the later failed crusades to the Holy Land and
favored the development of the Order of the Knights Tem-
plars under Bernard. But he did not advocate the wholesale
destruction of the Cluniac order and hated the idea that the
Cistercian order was taking over the Templars, especially
when it was obvious that some of the Templars were eventu-
ally going to be deployed to wipe out the Troubadours and
Manicheans in Langudoc. Thus, we can conclude that more
than one underground stream formed within the Knights Or-
ders and that, in essence two orders of Knights Templars
came out of the mid-12th century, first, those liberal adher-
ents beholden to the old Thebaudian knights and secondly,
those reactionary types beholden to the papacy, and Bern-
ard without exception. I am almost certain the Perlesvaus
was written before the second crusade and, I repeat, it
seems to have been designed to inspire knights of the more
liberal persuasion, that is, knights with pagan leanings.
When Henri was not writing poetry and lyrical composi-
tions, he and Marie gave hospitality to some of the most
renowned Trouvéres, Troubadours and intellectuals of their
day, including undoubtedly Henry Blois. Due to their talent
and their judicious matrimonial alliance, Marie and her
young Henri, were able to protect their domain and enlarge
it with the inheritance of the prestigious kingdom of Navarre.
Thus, while at Troyes, Abbe’ Blois would both, convey and
enjoy some family gossip, possibly some entertainment, and
a few meals. Although doubtful, due to the time-line, he
might have even met the young Chrétien face-to-face in
Troyes or Glastonbury, at Winchester or even in London.
These visits, if they did take place at all, might have oc-
1 Swabey, Ffiona. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Courtly Love and the
Troubadours, Greenwood, 2004 pp. time-line.

168
curred on his eastbound journey to Cluny in 1155 or upon his
return route through Champagne in 1158, or both. He could
have proffered any number of gifts and manuscripts on
either occasion.
As a side note, it is not known, exactly when Bishop Blois
took his pilgrimage to Compostella, but one could conjecture
that he planned his trip to coincide with the Arabic quest of
Peter the Venerable in 1143 and around the time of the
death of his friend William of Malmsbury and also proximal
to the final days of Peter Abelard, who died at Cluny on April
12, 1142. In an odd coincidence this same year saw the re-
moval of the shrine of Lazarus from Vezelay to Avallon in
France and also dates the crusading speeches of Saint Bern-
ard at Vezelay. Even so, there was another reason for Bishop
Blois’ trip to Cluny, one of extreme urgency. Peter the Vener-
able was dying while the Cistercian attacks continued un-
abated. One can also assume that rumors of increasing
power for the Inquisition against heretics were in circulation.
Now, anything pagan would be branded heretical.
Upon his return to England from Cluny, Abbot Blois prob-
ably feared the worst for himself, for the ascent of women,
for his monks and nuns, and above all, for the empowering
mysteries contained in the books he published, including the
fabulous Winchester Bible, which at that time was only par-
tially finished.1
I believe Bishop Blois must have donated his dearest
treasures either to Eleanor or to her daughter Marie at
Troyes sometime before Henri the Liberal died on Crusade.
There can be little doubt that several books could have been
transferred, since Troyes was, I repeat, the antiquarian cap-
ital of Western Europe. If I am correct, we can see how Marie
might have taken possession of a copy of, “A very great
book,” as early as 1158, which she, in turn, could have be-
stowed upon Phillip on one of his visits after her husband’s
death.
Fourteen years later in 1171, Blois had ample time to pre-
pare his final estate and he did not die alone or in sorrow.
Certain trusted monks were with him and carried out his last
wishes to the letter. In the final two years of his life, he
traveled extensively. If he did write the Perlesvaus, one can
be certain it was cared for, and distributed—probably within
the extended Blois family.
Still smarting from the assassination of Thomas Becket,
1 Constable, Giles and Kritzek, James, “Petrus Venerabilis (1156-1956):
Studies and Texts Commemorating the Eighth Centenary of His Death. ”
Rev. Speculum, Vol. 33, # 2 (Apr. 1958), pp. 270-272

169
Henry Plantagenet’s persecution of the Blois family estates
troubled Eleanor in captivity as much as did his affairs and
peccadilloes. Destroying the Abbey the way Blois rebuilt it,
tearing down all of the Blois buildings scattered around
Winchester, pilfering the art and science and statuary he
had collected, for truly it has vanished, and sending
everything to Vatican control worked well for Henry II.
Always the political opportunist, the Plantagenet saw
sense in marginalizing anything that rang of the Old Reli-
gion, but in doing so, he alienated the English country folk.
He was touted as a Troubadour, especially as a youth in
France, but his later actions betrayed his commitment. Ever
the church sycophant, the murder of Becket notwithstand-
ing, Henry II realized that any increase in support for pagan-
ism would weaken his power base with Bernard and the con-
servative church. Thus to destroy remnants of the Celtic
church at Glastonbury would gain him favor with the Vatic-
an.
To enrage his conflict further Henry knew his wife was on
the warpath and that she was a champion of all sorts of fem-
inist and occult practices. Moreover, he feared his wife’s in-
volvement in, what he called, ”Witchcraft.” To salve these
conflicts he donated heavily to a building fund for Wells and
related churches, some of which was to filter down to the re-
construction of Glastonbury. The paltry stipend was made to
look splendid, but the abbey would never again shine as it
did under Henry Blois. 1
As soon as Stephen Blois died, Henry Blois knew Glaston-
bury was the next target. Around 1154, it seems he set
about protecting his legacy by publishing his works anonym-
ously, and by including clues to his philosophy in several
places, in several forms, namely in the Perlesvaus itself and,
as we shall see, in the Elucidation in Appendix A, and espe-
cially in his dedication to the Sapphire Altar in the final
chapter. That he was a writer of prose and lover of poetry
cannot be denied and his publishing distribution network, via
Cluny, spanned Europe, from Spain to Constantinople.
We know he was the driving force behind the publication
of the exquisite, but incomplete, Winchester Bible, struggling
with finances in that exact period, and we know that Malms-
bury dedicated the Antiquities of Glastonbury to him,
between 1135-1142 2
We also know that Blois was constantly digging
1 Op cit. Bartlett, Robert.
2 Donovan, Claire. The Winchester Bible, Univ. Toronto Press. 1993. For-
ward.

170
something up, tunneling under, or building all manner of
structures and roads. Never a day went by when he did not
have some parchment plan on his desk. He built dozens of
wells, and canals and made a lot of money, not just from
taxations, tithes, or grants, but also from his own enterprise.
In one prominent case, he excavated beneath Winchester to
open the grave of Saint Swithen to pilgrims who paid an ex-
tra mark to crawl beneath the foundation to be closer to the
saint’s relics, but he may have also been evaluating the wa-
ter table there. 1
Blois included a treasury in his additions at Winchester
and one assumes he had cash on hand at all times. That
treasury is now commemorated as the Blois treasury. The
Bishop, toward the end of his life, must have used this, as he
continued to move his private belongings from place to
place.
Blois must have experienced a kind of apotheosis around
the time he rebuilt the shrines at Winchester especially Saint
Swithun’s “Holy Hole,” because shortly thereafter he went
on a building spree larger and with greater scope than any
civic plan since Roman times. See Appendix D
Blois’ planning, improvements and development of pil-
grimage sites, topiaries and labyrinths, at Winchester are al-
most identical to the work he did at Glastonbury. Arthur’s
Grave at Glastonbury would, in his futuristic imagination, be-
come equivalent to Swithun’s shrine and the work could
carry on long after Blois died, no matter what the circum-
stances. In fact, the true ingenuity of the hoax was that the
plan itself was bomb poof. No matter what King was in
power and regardless of the vicissitudes of politics, Arthur
and Guinevere’s grave—inspired by the Abelard and Heloise
romance—was a coupe de grace.
Abbot Blois was a man on a mission of extreme sanctity
and power, he spent money on excavations all over Somer-
set, Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire and he must have known
that, if the walls of Glastonbury Abbey were torn to the
ground, the landscape in Central Somerset, the roads, wells
and chapels of Avalon, the megaliths, mounds, streams rivu-
lets, underground steam jets and Celtic sites, would continue
to serve as stage dressing for the Arthur Guenevere pilgrim-
age and the quest under the stars.
It seems almost as if Blois elevated Arthur and Guenevere
to the status of Gods, a status they enjoyed in the Stone
Age. He built canals, worked with the Templar navy, and de-
1 J. D. Le Couteur & D. H. M. Carter. 'Notes on the Shrine of St. Swithun
formerly in Winchester Cathedral. " Antiquaries Journal, Volume 4 (1924)

171
veloped a flat-bottomed boat capable of moving tons of ma-
terial and hired crews in every shire. In fact, unimpeded by
censors and supervisors, and accelerated by access to bil-
lions in Gold Marks, most of it his own, Blois proved capable
of any engineering feat known to the 12th century. He spared
no expense in materials or manpower to get the job done
and a ruse of the nature of Arthur’s grave would be no “Big
Deal,” for him. Ultimately Blois and Saint Dunstan had the
last laugh.
Elizabeth Leader of London, one of the founders of RILKO,
spent many years correlating the Perlesvaux to the Somer-
set Zodiac as did Mary Cain and of course its original dis-
coverer Katherine Maltwood. Anyone who goes to Somerset,
travels the area, and sees the star temple phenomenon for
themselves, will grasp the same truth. The Temple of the
Stars, as first discovered by Maltwood, probably does exist,
but it may not be wholly Neolithic and it may not be a specif-
ic zodiac. Moreover, chances are it was modified, in mediev-
al times and, if so, Blois may have had a hand in it. We know
he was fascinated by and built several labyrinths.
Once Blois died, many treasures were buried, reburied,
and murred up in walls or shifted to other locations, but pil-
grims continued to visit Glastonbury, even without a stellar
attraction. They came to die, to pay their last respects to the
old Gods and Goddesses and they came, perhaps to see a
cosmic dream played out. Others came to see the landscape
around the county, to volunteer to work the land, glean the
fishponds at Butleigh, and make cider and scrumpy, bake
bread in the kitchens, or husband the animals at the tithe
barn. Still others came to keep the dedicated and leaderless
monks alive through donations, or administering to the sick,
mainly because the place was still inspiring, and, of course,
everyone came to traverse the maze on the Tor. 1
This momentous zeal died down when the entire main
church was burned to the ground in 1184. Many historians
think the fire of 1184, might have been arson. One journal
describes hired men, presumably in the employ of an envi-
ous local Bishop, spreading pig fat on every wood surface.
With Blois gone a decade earlier, and the Plantagenet’s in
power, the old occultism seemed doomed and yet, in its
smoldering condition, like the Phoenix stimulated by
nepenthe, the Abbey continued to compete favorably with
the other shrines.
No one knows how, but many of the books survived and
1 Michelle, John, New Light on the Ancient Mystery of Glastonbury, Goth-
ic Image. 1991

172
escaped the burning library. There is no record of how many
were brought back when the library was rebuilt, but we can
speculate that an original version of the Perlesvaux must
have been one of them and that copies may have been
made.

173
 The Hermits Booke
W
e do not have an original orthographic edition of
the Perlesvaus. All known manuscripts are copies,
some more faithful than others. No copy has ever
been radiocarbon dated and until we have solid dates no ar-
gument can ever be fully validated. In the meantime, we can
expect all manner of mischief. In addition, several problems
arise with the English translations, making for a rather odd
literary history. For a complete survey of extant versions and
translations see Appendix C.
We can assume that the theme of a hermit advising a
knight from a ‘lytle booke,’ under a tree, near a pool or foun-
tain is archetypical and seen throughout Troubadour,
Gnostic and even biblical writing. We see it also as a link to
Neoplatonism and in the Tarot.
Without question, the mentor-student paradigm is univer-
sal and represents a gradual oath or ladder of learning. In
this case, monks, knights, and maidens alike are learning
from a sage. The iconic hermit provides us with a direct path
from the Druid to the Ovate, or, if you prefer, from the Neo-
platonic authors, such as Plotinus, to the Gnostics of Alexan-
dria, to the initiate. From there, the lamp is passed on to the
reclusive philosophy of Saint Benedict, and from him to the
ninth century naturalism of Johannes Scotus Erigena (c.
815-877) 1
We can be reasonably sure, from the many references to
hermits and fountains and mystery trees in the Perlesvaus,
that the author drew heavily on Erigena and we can be
equally sure Erigena’s De divisione naturae was available at
Glastonbury as was his translation and commentaries of
Pseudo-Dionysius. 2
We can also be certain that any discussion of angelic hier-
archies, their source and function, such as that found in the
Book of Enoch, (known to scholars as 2 Enoch) is the ele-
mental philosophy of Pseudo-Dionysus, probably as trans-
lated by Peter Abelard. Thus, the appearance of angels as
guardians in the Perlesvaus links us to the entire Abelard af-
fair, a controversy well known to all Cluniacs.
The debate over angels and demons and the teachings of

1 Erigena, Duns Scotuus. De divisione naturae, (Synopsis) See: Wohl-

man, A. Am Cathol. philos. 2005, Vol 79, # 4 pp. 635-651
2 John Scotus Erigena, The Age of Belief, Anne Freemantle, ed., Mentor
Books, 1954, pages 78-87.

174
Dionysius also links us to Abbot Seguré who began work on
St. Denis in 1135 and died about 20 years later. Thus, as a
monk at Glastonbury our author would have benefited from
the entire range of Seguré’s work, including his architectural
secrets.
We know Erigena translated Pseudo-Dionysus when he
taught at Saint Denis in Paris and we know Peter Abelard fol-
lowed in Erigena’s footsteps three centuries later. It is also
probable that the author of the Perlesvaus knew about the
arguments as to the identity of Saint Denis as he was intim-
ately familiar with Abelard, who wrote in opposition to
Pseudo-Dionysus. In addition, many of the earliest books
from St. Denis were available at Glastonbury before and
after the reign of Henry Beauclerc. 1
The Benedictines favored solid dialogue and were con-
stantly harangued by the Cistercians for their love of free
speech. As stated in the prior chapter a virtual war sprang
up during the reign of Stephen Blois as part of what is known
to historians as the “Anarchy.” By the mid-13th century, in
parallel with the Inquisition, several writers attempted to
eradicate the persistent practices of the Troubadours,
Gnostics, and other, “heretics.”
In the late 13th century, even as Eleanor’s persistent fem-
inist credo was expanding into Spain and Majorca, Ramon
Lull, a Catalan philosopher, deeply immersed in Catholic ca-
nonical thinking, began his meteoric rise to fame. While liv-
ing, he gained church kudos by dedicated himself to co-opt-
ing Troubadourial naturalism. He did this, in large measure,
by opposing Eleanor’s view of chivalry and replacing her nat-
ural ”courtly love,” with the mathematics of prayer. Lull does
this by redacting the so-called, “heretical” books of Eleanor
and the Cathars, which included Erigena and the Perlesvaus,
and substituting a focus on what he called, Dignities Dei, or
Dignities of God. 2
Yet, paradoxically, Lull was an alchemist, preferring to
think of alchemy as a process of faith rather than science.
Providentially, for modern thinkers, Lull was eventually
countered by the natural scientists of the Italian renaissance
such as Pico Della Mirandola, Giordano Bruno and Marsillio
Ficino. Still, his impact on knighthood provided the Vatican
with a weapon in the war against humanism. 3
Thus, we are able to place the Perlesvaus in a critical pos-

1 Xxx Abelard books at Glastonbury

2 Yates, Frances. Lull & Bruno, RKP, 1982 p 226, Note 93.
3 Swabey, Fiona. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Courtly Love, and the
Troubadours. Greenwood, London. 2003

175
ition above and previous to, the Arthurian Romance fiction of
Chrétien and Wolfram, making it more akin to mythological
philosophy, the kind of philosophy still in use during the mid
12th century, the kind of story telling and philosophizing
drawn from the ancient Celtic and Anglo-Saxon legends, the
kind of fanciful songs and stories drawn into the Troubadour
world.
The Perlesvaus, no thanks to miscalculations by both
Evans and Nitze, is now enjoying a second look by a new
generation of open-minded scholars. Sadly for the past cen-
tury, Nitze’s arguments placing the Perlesvaus in the 13th
century and as plagiarism of a kind of amateurish dawdle,
sent scholarship backwards. However, if it was actually writ-
ten by the Abbot of Glastonbury we must now look at it as a
profoundly important work. Thus, again, what Professor
Nitze thought of as prolix, was really a book of advanced
philosophical thought, medieval, to be sure, but a book of
reasoned argument couched in a mythical dream world. Un-
like Lull, who bent everything around prayer and the quest
for Catholic grace, the Perlesvaus, integrates Neoplatonism
into Christian Cabala and hints at a hidden ordination of he-
liocentrism, a belief not well accepted until long after Giord-
ano Bruno began to publicize Copernicus. 1
The Perlesvaus places Arthur and Guenevere in the near
solar system with the knights as wardens (or guardians) sur-
rounding the sun, but it hints, that the Fisher King—possibly
like Cepheus and Cassiopeia or the maidens in the Pleiades,
as circumpolar stars—represented an outer universe beyond
the sun. Some, four centuries later, Giordano Bruno es-
pouses the same idea in an Egyptianized form of Christian
Cabala. Although Bruno was more interested in religion than
astronomy, he suggests that space is boundless and that our
solar system is not the only solar system. For his arch com-
ments, Bruno was dragged before the Inquisition, imprisoned
for eight years, condemned and burned at the stake with his
books in 1600 and yet we suspect he may have been ex-
posed to books like the Perlesvaus. 2
Because Glastonbury was well endowed with the books of
the early church fathers, we can assume, the author of the
Perlesvaus found influences from Erigena and Saint John’s
Revelations as well as his contemporary, Peter Abelard. He

1 Lull, Ramon The Book of the Ordre of Chyualry. Ed A. T. Byles, Lon-

don. Early English Text Society, 1926
2 Yates, Frances, Giordano Bruno, the Ash Wednesday Supper. Cena de
la ceneri Trans. E. A. Gosselin & L. S. Lerner, J. Warburg Inst IV. 2 1970 p.
90.

176
also found ways to fuse Celtic thinking with the Gnostic idea
that anyone might find grace through self-exploration and
without the church, which, paradoxically, redefines, the
heresy of Pelagianism. 1
I believe, the Perlesvaus was probably written or drafted,
before circa 1140 or at least before the death of Malmsbury
because, in The Antiquities, Malmsbury calls Blois a great
writer implying he saw something of Blois writing above and
beyond speeches and sermons.
At the precise end of the Antiquities, Malmsbury writes of
Blois. Not only is the entire book dedicated to the Bishop,
but also several cryptic comments are made. One in particu-
lar is telling.

The Bishop of Winchester….is a man remarkable, be-

sides his splendid birth, for his literary skill and for the
friendliness of his address…2

Note that Malmsbury mentions Blois as having literary

skill. Not just writing ability, and he ties this literary com-
ment with the Bishops public speaking abilities. This implies
that Malmsbury, as stated earlier, studied or even edited
something Blois wrote. I can state with confidence—no writer
of merit, in any generation, could read his best friends mas-
terwork and not make a praiseworthy comment.
In any case, after reviewing the life of Henry Blois, I find it
difficult to accept the idea that the Perlesvaus, a book pro-
foundly linked to Glastonbury, came into existence in Troyes
or Paris as a historical wedge between Chrétien and Pseudo-
Gautier. It seems obvious that the Perlesvaus was written
not simply "by" someone from Glastonbury but probably “at”
Glastonbury and neither Wauchier nor Walter Mapp, nor
Gautier made travels to that sacred site, although, ironically,
Chrétien, may have made the pilgrimage at an early age. 3
We can also argue that the book was transferred to
France through Troubadour channels before 1180, and prob-
ably copied, added to, and redacted, several times before
1235. It was not translated into English until just before the
turn of the Twentieth Century, but there is some evidence, in
the archives of the Library of Congress, that a similar book
was in circulation in Italy. In other words, prior to the last
century, only Latin and French readers could make com-
1 Barrow, Julia, et al,”A Checklist of the Manuscripts Containing the Writ-
ings of Peter Abelard,”Revue d’histoire des textes 14/15 (1984/1983), pp.
183-302.
2 Op cit. William of Malmsbury, Antiquities chap LXIX p. 134 Talbot ed.
3 Op cit. Nitze, William. p.88

177
ment.
The first English edition was translated by Sebastian
Evans and released in two volumes by Dent and Sons, in
their Temple Classics series, a highly respected London pub-
lishing firm. This edition featured a short, and as we shall
see, misleading, epilog by the translator. It also featured
stylized title pages and frontispieces, rendered by Sir Ed-
ward Burne-Jones.
In 1916, Dent and Sons released a second edition, in a
single volume, with illustrations by the aforementioned artist
Katherine Maltwood. This same K. E. Maltwood later hired an
aerial survey of the Glastonbury region and claims to have
discovered a number of peculiar shapes in the landscape ra-
diating out from Butleigh and Glastonbury. 1
Most English readers accept the Evans work as almost
flawless, but it has had several critics since its inception and
some of the criticism is quite telling, not to the translation it-
self, but to certain scholastic mistakes. In addition, some of
the earliest critiques of the book, although they are now
over a century old, are skeptical of William Nitze’s specula-
tion s and support the present claim that the Perlesvaus was
the original book of the Graal, a tree of knowledge, and that
it was probably written, before the birth of Chrétien d’
Troyes.
Evans received great praise for translating the medieval
French into English. Unfortunately, he decided to use a kind
of early Tudor (pre-Elizabethan) argot as seen in the work of
Sir Thomas Malory. The late Victorian public was enamored
of Malory’s ”voice,” everyone, including the Pre-Raphaelites,
thought it was tweedy and readable.
Modernists, like John Steinbeck, also found it charming.
Unfortunately, the Caxtonian narrative is no more stylistic-
ally correct for the Perlesvaus, than Mark Twain being trans-
lated into ”pidgin” English or Garcia Lorca being published in
”Spanglish.” Caxton published Malory in the late 15th cen-
tury, and Malory, who, by all reports, was as crooked as a
dog’s hind leg, wrote from incarceration sometime in the
late 14th century. 2
The prose narrative style used by Malory is almost child-
like, thus, when Evans mimicked it, he was regressing. Read-
ing it reminds one of a fairy tale being read to a room full of
highly intelligent school children. He uses terms like, certes,

1 Maltwood. K. Glastonbury’s Temple of the Stars. Aerial Survey and

Maltwood. K. The Enchantments of Britain. Victoria BCE 1929
2 Kittredge, G. S. "Who Was Sir Thomas Malory?" in: Studies in Philology
and Literature, V, Boston, 1897.

178
forsooth, methinks, gadroons and so forth, until it sounds
like the book was written at, Ye Olden Grogg Shoppe” Evans
expressly tried to avoid some of this and yet he assumes his
less elite readers understand Malory’s 400-year-old argot
and he carries forth in, what can only be described as, a con-
descending and patronizing tone.
The original book would be spoken directly to an audi-
ence, perhaps, as I suspect, as a Templar initiation ritual,
presented in gradual chapters or stages, and would have
been respectful, ”right worshipful,” which it still is, if the Elu-
cidation is any example. The Trouvère author would have
had a more musical cadence, something Malory tries to cap-
ture, but never quite grasps.
Malory makes each transition epigrammatic and smooth,
whereas the Perlesvaus transitions are often abrupt, almost
as if designed as a theatrical presentation with intermissions
between scenes. In other words, the translator, Evans, is do-
ing everything he can to avoid any sense of French
Provençal patois, and yet he allows a trace of musicality,
providing hints that the work was, originally, from the voice
of a Trouvère.
Evans claims he chose this,” me thinks,” style for his
translation, sound, because he was attempting to avoid bad
alliterative French. Now, viewed a century later, that reason-
ing seems deceptive. We cannot rule out the ever-present
Victorian Francophobia as a motivating factor.
Evans and his publisher wanted the book to be a best
seller, especially amongst the English gentry of the day and
in this, they succeeded. However, in so doing they opened
the door for dating the original Perlesvaus after Chrétien.
Style is a matter of taste, and if I were arguing based on
style alone, I would not have much to go on, but once we be-
gin to dissect Evans’ scholarship, several mistakes crop up.
First, Evans devotes less than three pages to the original
author’s identity. This is equivalent to an editorial after-
thought or perhaps a long footnote. However, within this
commentary, we find several specific errors that might force
any rigorous scholar to step back and wonder.
To begin with, Evans claims he worked most of his trans-
lation from Ms #11,145 of the Bibliothèque Bourgogne. (The
Royal Library of Brussels) which he claims is a 16th century
copy of a 13th century original bound with the Didot Percival
of Robert d’ Boron. Because it is bound this way, Evans as-
sumes it should be contemporary with its companion texts,
but there is no validity to this assumption since the famous
Didot type foundry of Paris made the error in the first place.

179
Until the 15th century, bookbinding was often designed to
protect pages more than to date content.
Evans basis other assumptions on the endnote added to
the text. This dedication indicates that the version at hand
was given to a secondary knight from a royal patron. For his
source, Evans uses an obscure French cataloguist, one M.
Marchal, who wrote a footnote in the Brussels catalog in
1845, (Vol. I), full seventy years before the Dent edition
came out in London. Marchal’s note was based on the Parisi-
an fashion of the day, and, at that time, Chrétien was god-
like in French literary circles. It was as if Evans accepted the
a-priori French bias that Chrétien was the originator of all
French romance and that no book, especially one of superior
quality, or esoteric content, could have possibly come be-
fore.
Apparently, Chrétien’s own front matter did not register
with Evans due to the translator’s enamored state of mind.
How else can we explain his lack of literary probity?
Chrétien’s foreword, which states, unequivocally, and I
paraphrase here, that he had another book on his desk 'be-
fore' he wrote a single word, tells us he was an inspired
copyist. Other peculiarities occur when we dig a bit deeper.
Jessie Weston, who we shall discuss in the next two
chapters, was on the right track as early as 1916:

As to the date of origin of the Perlesvaus that, of

course, is closely connected with the problem of au-
thorship; if we can, with any possibility, identify the au-
thor we can approximately fix the date. As far as the lit-
erary evidence is concerned, we have no trace of the
story before the late twelfth century, but when we do
meet with it, it is already in complete, and crystallized,
form. More, there is already evidence of competing ver-
sions; thus, we have no existing Grail romance, which
we can claim to be free from contamination, and rep-
resenting in all respects the original form.

Wesson admits:

180
 There is no need here to go over old, and well-trod-
den, ground; in my studies of the Perceval legend, and
in the later popular résumé of the evidence, the Quest
of the Holy Grail, I have analyzed the texts, and shown
that, while the poem of Chrétien de Troyes is our earli-
est surviving version, there is the strongest possible
evidence that Chrétien, as he himself admits, was not
inventing, but re-telling, an already popular tale.

181
 Evans Vs. Nitze
S
ebastian Evans makes few errors in translation, for
which we deeply thank him, but he claims he was
forced to go to the Welsh edition of the Perlesvaus, be-
cause the Belgian manuscript is missing the section on the
Castle of the Golden Circlet: Branch XVIII Title: 1-viii. This
section, by the way, immediately follows the section on the
Castle of the Turning Isle and mentions that Virgil and the
other philosophers were there, (Glastonbury) seeking the
Earthly Paradise. 1
In addition to its cosmic implications, comments by the
author of the Perlesvaus would confirm that the library at
Glastonbury held books by and about Virgil in its confines.
This tells us we should be comparing some of the material to
Virgil. It also implies that whoever wrote the Perlesvaus
thought of Glastonbury as a model of an earthly paradise, a
New Jerusalem. Further it implies that whoever wrote the
book thought of the library at Glastonbury as a repository for
the living works of great philosophers, somewhat like the de-
scription of the Alexandrian Library before its destruction.
This section of the book also mentions that the return of the
good soldier who took the body of the savior down from the
cross, is awaited, but does not mention him by name as
Joseph Abarimacie.
How could Evans not have known that the Golden Circlet
lacuna was to be found in an intact version, at Oxford, loc-
ated a short train ride from Victoria Station? One wonders
why he did not simply begin with the Oxford version.
Dr. Evans’ explanation for his use of the Welsh version as
a replacement for the original Golden Circlet chapter, al-
though not harmful, is a bit mysterious. Not only did an in-
tact copy exist at Oxford, but Evans claims there were only
three versions extant in Europe, the one he used, one in
Berne (Berne ms #113) and the Welsh translation of the ro-
mance, which is undated. In fact, there were more than five
other copies known to exist in Europe in 1895 (in various
stages of intactness) when he was working on his transla-
tion, making eight versions in all. More importantly none of
the copies, regardless of completeness, are identical, all
have been modified in some way, indicating that all of them
are, "copies,” from a missing original. A full list of the
manuscripts, and their condition, was given by Professor
1 Suetonius: The Life of Virgil. Loeb Trans, Oxford, 1913

182
Wechssler in a remarkable paper titled, de Saga vom Graal
and an up to date list is provided in Appendix D. 1
For his idea on the dating sequence, Evans rightly rejects
the word of the French author Ch. Potvin, who produced a
scholarly work on the Perlesvaus at Mons in 1866, without
much explanation. Potvin was wrong about the dates, but for
different reasons. He rightly assumed the Brussels version
was a 13th century example, (of a copy?) but places its ori-
ginal in a contemporaneous niche. Potvin also, rightly sees
the handwriting as decidedly from the 13th century, but per-
sists in classing the Perlesvaus authorship later in the se-
quence because; to him the book seems to portray certain
Cistercian roots. In fact, it has Benedictine /Cluniac roots, it
is linked to the Celtic church, and seems to have been writ-
ten in the middle 12th century.
Evans sees that his book is bound with mid-13th century
materials and ignores both Potvin and the calligraphy. Both
men completely ignore the Catharist, Troubadourial, and
Cluniac possibilities and therefore ignore the 12th century al-
together.
Yes, the book does have Christian elements. Both Blois
and his mentor Peter the Venerable, were Christian Cabal-
ists. Like the Essenes and Gnostics, who understood the
secrets of San Jaques de Compostella? They saw the vision
of the New Jerusalem on earth. We also know that Peter the
Venerable spoke out against Herodian Judaism, thus possibly
marking the Perlesvaus in his lifetime, probably before 1152.
2

Allow me to expand on this. Because the handwriting was

continental Potvin, and later Nitze, argued that the Perles-
vaus had to be more recent than Chrétien. This seems ri-
diculous since all of the 13th and 14th century Grail texts, by
several authors have some Christian content-direct or im-
plied, and all of the copies are, by definition, transcriptions,
I.e., not original documents. Furthermore, both Gaston Paris
and Potvin knew they were dealing with handwritten copies,
not originals, and that the manuscript that came through
Potvin could have been transcribed any time after the origin-
al was produced. Even if we used modern technology, we
would still only have a date for the copied version. In mod-
ern terms, no chemical testing was done on the ink or parch-
ment, but if it had been done, we would find that the date
for this COPY is in the mid 13th century. We still have no idea

1 Zeitschrift fuer romanische Philologie. Vol. 1 1815

2 Pick, Lucy K. “Peter the Venerable and the New World Order. ” In: Early
Medieval Europe Volume 13, Issue 4 November 2005. p. 405

183
what book Chrétien refers to as being given to him by his
patrons.
More specifically, the version used by Evans and Potvin
was not all-in-all Christian. For one thing, it is based on Tem-
plar images of Glastonbury, ships with white sails and Red
Crosses, a white female mule with a red cross on her fore-
head, the sword that killed John the Baptist and so forth.
Some of this may be Christian, but it is preemptively Tem-
plar iconography, early Templar material of a non-celibate
life-style, Templar imagery of a kind dedicated to nature, the
mounds, and the Fairy Faith, Templar imagery practiced by
the original Templars and disallowed by Abbe’ Bernard's sto-
ic mandate. Thus, a good deal of the imagery in the Perles-
vaus harkens back to a period before 1138 and before the
catastrophic adventure of the Second Crusade, certainly be-
fore the Glastonbury fire of 1184.
For one more example, of a misplaced chronology let me
repeat that throughout the Perlesvaus, the library at Gla-
stonbury is mentioned and it is intact, full of books, and bur-
geoning. More manuscripts and their writers, travelers and
new scholars are arriving every week by ship and overland.
Thus, the book must have been written sometime before the
fire of 1184 and could not have been produced in the 13th
century.
Dr. Evans contradicts himself further when he says:

In very truth the story of the Holy Grail told here is

not only the most coherent and poetic of all the many
versions of the legend, but is also the first and most au-
thentic. 1

Looking back 100 years to view their opposing argu-

ments, neither Sebastian Evans, nor William Nitze his Amer-
ican contemporary Grail expert, had it figured out.
Evans is confused and yet his assessment is correct. The
Perlesvaus is superior, but his assumption that it was written
by a continuer of Chrétien is deeply problematic. How can it
be both? If the Perlesvaus were the first and most profound
version of the story (according to Evans) then it would have
to be written before Chrétien. Why? Because, I repeat, yet
again, Chrétien, by his own admission, had the superior ver-
sion of the story at his bedside!
In spite of this unresolved debate, most historians persist
in crowning Chrétien the greatest writer of all time. That
may be true for Victorian style standards, but it is not true

1 Op cit. Evans, S. Introduction.

184
historically. If Chrétien isn’t lying, then the Opus that in-
spired him, must have been written before 1180, Boron’s
solid date, the year before the death of Henry the Liberal
and the widowhood of Marie at Troyes.
I hate to sound like a parrot, but Boron also had a secret
book, like the one mentioned in the Elucidation. Could this
have been one of the copies of the Perlesvaus? See Ap-
pendix A
Ironically, we can agree with Evans that the Perlesvaus is
the first and most beautiful version of all of the books on the
Grail quest, but we can only agree for the wrong reasons.
Likewise, I am sorry to disagree with the famed Dr, Nitze,
but he too made a mistake of catastrophic proportions. He
rarely allowed debate. 1
I am sure; the Perlesvaus is the first version, although
even that version had influences. It was mangled and mani-
cured, played with and plagiarized, but it was, as the evid-
ence shows, written long before Chrétien was born.
Moreover, it was handed to Chrétien and his continuers by a
publishing distribution system that extended through the
Thebaudian royal line of Champagne, Aquitaine, and Blois in-
corporating every known Benedictine house from Monte-
cassino to Glastonbury and Monasterboice.
We can never be sure exactly how the book given to
Chrétien by Phillip of Flanders wound up on Chrétien’s desk.
Nevertheless, some simple reasoning might shed light on
the subject. First, we know that Phillip was at Troyes for at
least one season after Henry the Liberal died, because he
was courting the widow Marie. The fact that Chrétien tells us
the book of the quest was given to him by Phillip tells us
nothing of how Phillip received his copy, but we can guess it
was from Marie or even Marie’s mother.
We can be reasonable certain the book did not come from
the huge library amassed by Henry I (the Liberal) because,
although he was from a Troubadour house, Henry’s library is
well documented, as being far less radical than one would
expect.
In his library, there was no indication of curiosity for
works written in the vernacular, nor any penchant for the
courtly literature of the day. Henri, being eighteen years
older than his wife, collected history books, and moral treat-
ises and was especially fond of Valarius Maximus, the first
century redactor who wrote anecdotes under the offices of
Sextus Pompeius.
1 Weston, Jessie. The Legend of Sir Perceval: Studies upon Its Origin, De-
velopment, and Position in the Arthurian Cycle. 2 vols. ) London: 1906.

185
 Of slightly more interest were works of the obscure
Claudian historian Quintus Curtius Rufus, who wrote a ten
book set on the lives and times of Alexander the Great.
Henry’s library at Troyes also contained some Neo-
platonic and Stoic tracts by Macrobius who wrote an elabor-
ate commentary on Cicero’s, Dream of Scipio, an early essay
which although, geocentric in nature, hints at heliocentrism
and the reckoning of eclipses.
Oddly and of some direct interest to the Glastonbury lib-
rary Henry’s grand, but somewhat pious library, more or less
devoid of Troubadour themed books, contains a commentary
on the similarities between Latin and Greek verbs by the 9th
century Irish philosopher Erigena written when he was dean
at the school of Paris at St. Denis. These books were cata-
loged with hundreds of bible commentaries, and an illus-
trated edition of Saint Augustine. 1
Meanwhile, away from Champagne and Troyes, news of
the death of Bishop Henry of Blois in England sent shivers
through the entire Norman-Thebaudian universe. Bishop
Blois was not a party to excessive politicks and yet he rep-
resented the last of the old guard, the last link in the Nor-
man Thebaudian strong chain in England, the blood line, that
gave rationalization to the holdings of William the Conqueror
and his grandchildren.
Prompted by her husband’s absence from the immediate
throne of England—Henry was in Ireland attempting to
quash, yet another Irish rebellion—Eleanor left for Poitiers
and set up an amazing and powerful court. There she sur-
rounded herself with her home dwellers and country folk.
She was happy there without doubt, but dark clouds were
forming.
Eleanor’s school of Courtesy and Love, aided by the occa-
sional presence of Princesses Alix and Marie, took hold and
became the fashion center of France. This lavish and volup-
tuous environment lasted two years, one of which was the
year Henry Blois died. With the loss of Bishop Henry Eleanor
lost an important alley. True, Theobald tried to kidnap her
and force her to marry him 20 years earlier, but Eleanor was
on decent terms with Henry Blois.
During most of that time the King was more or less out of
touch, but when he heard through dispatches that Blois had
died and that moreover, Eleanor might be fomenting another
rebellion, he took immediate action. His sources in France
told him that the court in Poitiers was more than a debating
1 Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, trans. W. H. Stahl,
(New York: Columbia Univ. Pr., 1952), chaps. v-vii, (pp. 200-212).

186
society and school for courtly love, poetry, music, dance,
fashion and new shoe styles. Rumors went out that this
court was a maelstrom of social as well as political plots, a
kind of last gasp upheaval amongst Capets and Thebaudi-
ans, all promoting a new kind of courtesy toward the queen
and women in general.
In March 1173, aggrieved at his lack of power and egged
on by his father's enemies, and not at all discouraged by his
mother’s attitude in Poitiers, the younger Henry launched
the Revolt of 1173.
He fled to the Aquitaine where his two youthful brothers,
Richard and Geoffrey, were living with their mother, and with
her connivance, so it is said, he incited them to join in the
overthrow. Through her thriving grapevines, Eleanor encour-
aged the lords of the south to rise up and support her sons.
Sometime between the end of March and the beginning
of May, Eleanor left Poitiers to follow her sons to Paris but
was arrested on the way and sent to the King in Rouen. For
several months, all went silent, Geoffrey and Henry were
worried that the Queen was being held for ransom, but to
this day no one knows exactly were she was held or what in-
dignities were heaped upon her.
All that is known for certain is that on July 8, 1174; Henry
Plantagenet took ship for England from Barfleur, and Eleanor
was on that ship. As soon as they disembarked at Southamp-
ton, Eleanor was taken away at first to Winchester Castle
and then to Salisbury.
Eleanor was imprisoned under house arrest for sixteen
years. For at least two of the first years she was held at Old
Sarum Castle, a Norman keep residing amidst a Bronze Age
ring fort about 5 miles adjacent to Salisbury cathedral. After
two dreary years there she was allowed to travel under
guard to Winchester to visit her youngest daughter Leonora
who was on her way to marry Alfonso VIII in Spain.
During this imprisonment Marie remained in France, re-
turned to Champagne and occasionally traveled to Poitiers
to teach in the school her mother established for young wo-
men and men of noble families.
After Henry the Liberal’s death in 1181, Marie acted as re-
gent until 1187, when her son, Henry, known as “the
Troubadour” came of age. However, this son also left to go
on Crusade, and contracted a disease or was wounded or
both. He did return to Troyes, but remained ill. Therefore,
again, Marie served as regent until her son’s death in 1197.
Eleanor was released immediately upon the king’s death
and immediately traveled to Spain to shore up relations with

187
the Iberian royal families, but on her return she was again
kidnapped after which she decided to retire from public life.
Distraught and world weary; She retired to the nunnery
of Fontevrault (Fontevraud) convent, a “double house,”
meaning it was a monastery for both men and women loc-
ated on the exact border between Anjou and Poitou near
Chinon.
With the saddening death of Henry the Troubadour, one
of the last of the Thebaudian line in France, Marie retired to
Fontaines-les-Nones convent near Mieaux, and died there in
1198. Oddly Marie died five years before Eleanor whose
shrine and that of Henry Plantagenet, her second husband
and that of Richard Lionheart her famed son, reside at Fon-
tevrault.
Also remember that Eleanor was not without reading ma-
terials during her imprisonment, and that until he died in
1143, Malmsbury was close to Henry Blois, both as a scribe
and as an observer of all things Glastonbury. We known he
traveled back and forth between Glastonbury and Malms-
bury on many occasions. Thus—assuming the book was in
the possession of Malmsbury before he died, or was even
possibly edited by Malmsbury—it is highly possible, even
likely, that a copy of the Perlesvaus could have been located
at Winchester Castle or at Old Sarum Castle long before
Eleanor’s period of captivity and that she could have simply
donated the book to Marie upon her release. Then too,
Malmsbury was originally from Salisbury and was very fam-
ous during his life, making his works, and his collected
manuscripts, available in many collections decades after he
died.
We know now that several great writers were working on
Arthurian themes before or around the time Eleanor died
(1204) and that her daughters and their courts were re-
sponsible for assuring a further development of the legend.
Eleanor was the Queen of the Troubadours and married her
daughters off to Thebaudian Trouvéres, making it ridiculous
to assume that Eleanor, a widely educated woman, would ig-
nore even a small library of Troubadour content during her
forced exile.
Moreover, she could have passed the Perlesvaus—or
more than one copy—to her daughters, by her own hand,
either in Troyes or in Poitiers. To repeat, although Blois was
dead, Eleanor was undoubtedly still alive when Chrétien re-
ceived his commission from Phillip.
Finally, the deposition of Eleanor’s estate before she
entered Fontevrault, would naturally, transfer books like the

188
Perlesvaus and exotic Psalters, from one generation to the
next.
Equally, we can assume, that Marie visited with her moth-
er at Poitiers, before Eleanor’s sixteen-year incarceration, to
proctor at the courtesy school there. However, this does not
rule out the possibility that Eleanor passed the Perlesvaus at
an earlier date, perhaps during the Becket affair or even
earlier when Blois was negotiating and standing as council at
Westminster.
We know there was more than one copy of the Perles-
vaus at Glastonbury for at least a century, after Blois died,
because John of Glastonbury mentions it and may have ad-
ded marginalia. 1
Finally, although all of this is speculative, we can see that
several occasions rose up to pass the book on and to keep it
in royal hands.

1 Kelley, Amy, Eleanor and the Four Kings. Harvard, 1950, p. 328

189
 Jessie Weston
J essie Weston (1850-1928), was probably the most diligent
and incisive of the British Grail scholars from the Blooms-
bury era. William Nitze, her American contemporary, be-
came the dean of American Arthurian studies, and the two
engaged in several heated debates across the Atlantic.
However, Weston was a mythograpaher and made good ef-
forts to combine disciplines whereas Nitze and his school at
the university of Chicago emphasized linguistics and literat-
ure. These are important distinctions, as we shall see.
According to Miss Weston, the theory of a Christian origin
for the Perlesvaus must be dismissed not merely as 'not
proven,' but 'as thoroughly and completely discredited,' and
most modern scholars would agree, but perhaps again, for
the wrong reasons.
According to Weston, arguing in her best selling opus,
From Ritual to Romance, there is no biblical or even apo-
cryphal basis for a Christian source. Christian symbolism
abounds in the Perlesvaus but there at least as many pre-
Christian elements.
The latest rage theory that the womb of Mary Magdalene
is the embodiment of the San Graal, which connects us to
the spirit of the risen Christ, was not at all in vogue when
Weston was writing. The arrival of Mary Magdalene in France
with the Grail was known, of course, because that fact is
probably true, but again, at that time, everyone thought the
story meant the Magdalene brought the golden or silver cup
with her. Weston has two chances to see a more metaphor-
ical explanation demonstrated, but misses both. She is cor-
rect however, when she argues that the Grail has no biblical
link to Arthur and Glastonbury until after the author of the
Perlesvaus and Robert De Boron write about it in the 12th
century.
Weston's second chance to place the Grail and the Druid-
ic Cauldron squarely at the feet of the Celts and the mound
builders is passed-over for an interesting coalitional idea, ar-
guing that the Celts or Druids and the Tamuz-Adonni cult
somehow merged in France in the Iron Age. She mentions
the Roman legions linked to Mithraism, but she skips over
Hermetic cults and the Dionysian rites, by stirring them all
together as arising from Indo-European influences. She com-
pletely ignores the idea that the cauldron-chalice ikon prob-
ably traces back to the Ice Ages and the megalithic Star

190
temples.
Weston is both right and wrong simultaneously. Like Sir
John Frazer, and his ubiquitous Golden Bough-a somewhat
misleading book that is required reading for anyone chasing
the proverbial White Rabbit down the Victorian (viz, racist)
pathway, she never considers the Troubadours, but she does
make a link to the Cathars.
Weston also took a stab at unmasking the anonymous au-
thor of the Perlesvaus, which is more than we can say for
Evans. Nitze tried to ascribe the work to pseudo-Gautier, but
Weston, although she could not find the answer, did not
agree with the French origin theory. However, she did come
close. She knew who she was looking for. In From Ritual to
Romance, she defines the writer without knowing his name:

The problem then is to find a Welshman who, living

at the end of the eleventh and commencement of the
twelfth centuries, was well versed in the legendary lore
of Britain; was of sufficiently good social status to be
well received at court, possessed a good knowledge of
the French tongue; and can be shown to have been on
friendly terms with the Norman nobles. 1

Interestingly, Weston places the author ahead of Chrétien

by 100 years, and in the correct period. Sadly, if any good
scholar began with Weston’s exact definition, he or she
would also fail, because there are three misleading premises
in her foundation.
As mentioned earlier, Weston is both right and wrong
simultaneously, a state of research that defies logic, but con-
forms to the unspoken caveat, of Victorian pseudo aca-
demia: ”Above all, justify the Raj.”
First, had she set out to look for a Frenchman with know-
ledge of Welsh and Latin she would have faired better? Bish-
op Blois spoke all three languages fluently. Secondly, had
she paid more attention to her own date parameters, per-
haps setting the date about 20 years closer to our present
era, I.e., mid 12th century instead of early 12th century, she
would have had a solid bet.
To extend this idea, her dating was courageous. All of her
contemporaries were looking for someone in the 13th cen-
tury, but she wavers. In other writings, Weston rejects the
Perlesvaus as 'early' or ‘primary,’ because it seems to be
Christian, but of course it isn’t. If she had seen the Christian
element in the Perlesvaus, for what it was, a Troubadour

1 Weston, Jessie. From Ritual to Romance, Chapter IX.

191
apostasy, she would have begun looking for a radical
churchman, with Trouvère roots, but her apriori assumption
that no monastic power broker could be a Troubadour, Cath-
ar or Hermetic sympathizer, blinds her to the paradox that
was Henry Blois.
Withal, references to Christianity are scattered
throughout all of the Grail manuscripts, thus they are all, by
her definition, “Christian,” and yet the Perlesvaus, with its
dependency on mounds, Hermetic trees, rivers, pagan fairy
tales and the Celtic spirit world, can hardly be seen as origin-
ating from a true Christian root.
Finally, had she assumed the authors name was not
Welsh but French and that the author was living in or around
Glastonbury, not darkest Wales, she would have found Blois,
because some of her other search criteria are correct. We
now realize he was, like his fellow Cluniacs, a clever fellow
with an amazing sense of humor, and a very high IQ.
Weston was also correct in assuming the author was well
placed at court, and that he was on good terms with the Nor-
man nobility because Blois was, perhaps, the wealthiest,
member of that class and arguably the most respected, if
not feared, churchman in England during his brother’s reign.
Finally, had she looked closely at the residents of Glaston-
bury Abbey itself, she would have seen that Blois met all of
these criteria.
Weston also makes smaller mistakes that tend to accu-
mulate to skew the data. First, she contradicts herself with
profound regularity. She spends more than half of her re-
search, exploring the Tammuz-Adonis cult and then, at the
very end, stipulates that the source of the Grail is predomin-
ately Celtic, which by the way is correct. Thus we have an in-
valid syllogism because she draws a correct conclusion from
invalid premises.
Can we forgive her and Evans? I argue we must. The Vic-
torian weltanschauung felt the history of western civilization
worked from East to West, that the Phoenicians, Egyptians,
and Babylonians came first and that everything that came
later was built upon an Indo-European foundation. The now
well established idea that that the Atlantic maritime culture
drifted eastward and even stretched across the Atlantic,
would seem insane to a well-educated Victorian.
In sum, Weston got it just correct enough to make it ex-
citing, but not enough to pin down the right man or upset
the Hapsburg party line. In other words, she did her job as
best she could, with the tools she had to work with.
Weston and her confers did not have the Internet, high-

192
speed computers or even exact archaeological dates to go
by. In her era, not so long ago, people thought of Stone-
henge as the construction of the Druids. We now realize,
thanks to carbon dating technology that Stonehenge pred-
ates the Druids by thousands of years. If she possessed our
present knowledge she might have known that Arthur of the
Bear Clan, the Fairy Mounds, the Green Knight, and the
Great Mother Goddess are Ice Age ikons, not just preceltic,
but Aurignacian, an era that ended 35,000 years ago.
We now realize, that the shamanism of the Ice Ages
evolved around 50,000 BCE into the Mesolithic hunter-gather-
er culture (c. 10,000 BCE) and then into the astronomy cult
of the mound builders, who invented the corbelled arch and
solar beams long before Bronze came to Europe. 1
What next needs to be explored in more depth is the in-
fluence, if any, of these eastward migrating Druids in Mosaic
and Aramaic times. Did they influence Davidic Judaism and
did they branch out in situ, into the Essenes of the Dead Sea
Scrolls? We have now analyzed the Dead Sea Scrolls enough
to realize that the Essenes, with help from Gnostics, Neo-Pla-
tonists and other mystic sects, franchised the westward mi-
gration of alternative Christianity.
Bronze was probably developed in the east, but the bear
cult star legends, (aruthars) were in place in and around Gla-
stonbury and Ireland, Scotland, Wales and especially Brit-
tany, thousands of years before the green mounds were
built and the stone circles and mounds were invented in the
west. In other words, there is no evidence of eastern inter-
vention in Welsh and Irish culture until the Bell Beaker
people arrived over land and until the Phoenicians arrived by
sea, in search of tin and gold, about 1800 BCE.
Sadly, the Victorians did not look further because, they
thought they were at the end of the journey. To them, any-
thing before the age or writing and metallurgy, was so prim-
itive as to be ape-like, almost as if the Aurignacian tool-
makers were Gorillas. There was very little differentiation
between Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal until the 1930's.
Putting it more succinctly, the astronomy underlying
Stonehenge is older than the oldest rhomboid pyramid at
Saquarra, by at least five centuries. For an even more pre-
cise picture try to grasp the newest findings from Ireland
that the inner chamber of Newgrange, which admits a beam
of light every year at Winter Solstice, has done so for more
than 5000 years and that the light beams in the nearby

1 Op cit Eisenman, Robert, James the Brother of Jesus. New York, 1977

193
chambers at Knowth and Dowth have been operating for
6000 years.
The Jungians and the Victorians echoed the mistake made
by all racist theorists, including the current Sangrael/DNA
faddists. Its quite easy to cruise the European map plugging
in any Phoenician or Egyptian deity you please, especially if
you believe there was no civilization of any kind in western
Europe before the arrival of the mysterious, Sea Faring
people. But, if you have the modern archaeological record at
your finger tips, as I do, you will see that the people who
built the mounds long before the arrival of the Phoenicians,
were capable sea and land navigators and probably mapped
the Atlantic rim, spreading an advanced maritime techno-
logy and astronomy everywhere they went. 1
These navigators used stars and planets, moon and tides
to sail the Celtic seas. It is thus, entirely possible that they
saw the sun standing still as the planets revolved around it,
and moreover, found a way to express that insight in stone.
Evans and Jesse Weston both erred in the use of the Potv-
in manuscript for a translation source when the manuscript
at Oxford was more complete and less misleading. It seems
the Potvin copy contains material redacted in a Christian
monastic hand, that first, makes the Perlesvaus seem Chris-
tian and second, makes it seem to be younger—closer to us,
by sixty years or a century.
Weston also assumes that the author wrote himself into
the book as Bliheris. In this, she is probably correct, but in
the same assumption, she makes Bliheris into Gawain, which
is a more difficult point to prove. She may be right, the au-
thor does seem to identify with Gawain, he makes the entire
quest spin off from Gawain's earthly abilities and inabilities,
but in the Elucidation, wherein he identifies himself by
name, he tells us that Gawain brought the whole story into
action when he was aware of the hiding place of the fairy
women.
The author has Gawain spare the life of the storyteller Bli-
hos Bliheris, without whom we would have no story. This, to
me, is a hilarious and brilliant, pun. In other words, the au-
thor was clever enough to make the story autobiographical
while maintaining a fuzzy line between fact and fiction. He
had to remain alive in the plot in order to continue the nar-
rative.
I repeat, Weston's mistakes are entirely forgivable. Until
the Internet and World Wide Web came along, no scholar
1 Tuck J. A. . "Prehistoric Archaeology in Atlantic Canada, Canadian Journ-
al of Archaeology No. 6 (1982), p 203.

194
had enough material or speed to cross check all the connec-
tions necessary and I am sure, even now, I have made simil-
ar omissions. Even so, it does not take the Internet to read
what Chrétien himself tells us.
Weston never assumes that Chrétien’s continuers, such
as Manessier, might have also had access to the original Gla-
stonbury Perlesvaus or a fragment. All of this stems from a
persistent Victorian stupefaction with being right, and never
reversing ones self. In the Victorian Age, historians did not
feel peer pressure to be scientific as we define the word
today. Their sense of objectivity came from a presupposed
value system. Witness the following didactic comment when
Weston speaks of the Grail arising from a fertility cult:

The explanation of so curious a fact, for it is a fact,

and not a mere hypothesis, that at one time a ritual ex-
isted that was universal (global) and held within it the
power to revitalize nature.

Weston is right of course, but to say it is a proven fact

without the smallest peer review is vainglorious.
Other issues are less inhibiting, but still worthy of men-
tion. Weston and her contemporaries tend to fog over sexual
innuendos, due to prevalent Victorian values. Blatant refer-
ences to servicing the knights-errant, arguments for a kind
of Vestal prostitution and a polemic against rape are all
mentioned in the Elucidation.
This may be why both she, and Sebastian Evans remain
mute on the point of the Virgins of the Mounds being raped.
This could easily be skipped if it was extraneous to the story,
but, instead, it is of critical importance. The rapine is the
very dastardly act that puts the land to waste, a condition
that must be remedied by the quest itself. Weston, like most
other Grail writers of her age, simply skips over the caveat
written by Chrétien in his own words and repeated by de
Boron to paraphrase: ”I had a BOOK before me that was the
TRUE Grail.” 1
Thus, the Perlesvaus was probably the book on Chrétien’s
desk as well as the one cited by Robert. All of the Grail au-
thors claim they received a preexisting book and yet no
modern scholar has bothered to find that book or its author.
In spite of fishing in the wrong river, Evans and Weston
1 See Appendix A. For a full analysis of the existence of prostitution and
midwifery in Celtic lands and the meaning of the Sheela na Gig see:
McMahon, Joanne & Jack Roberts, The Sheela-na-Gigs of Ireland and Bri-
tain: The Divine Hag of the Christian Celts – An Illustrated Guide Mercier
Press Ltd. 2000.

195
had no problem analyzing each other. Weston, while not cri-
ticizing Evans directly, scolds him for his Anglican (Episco-
palian) mindset:

For an instance of the extravagances to which a

strictly Christian interpretation can lead, Dr. Sebastian
Evans', theories set forth in his translation of the Perles-
vaus and in his Quest of the Holy Grail. The author
places the origin of the cycle in the first quarter of the
thirteenth century, and treats it as an allegory of the
position in England during the Interdict pronounced
against king John, and the consequent withholding of
the Sacraments. His identification of the characters
with historical originals is most ingenious, an ex-
traordinary example of misapplied leaning. 1

There is a problem of omission here. In fact, Blois did in-

clude a few real people in his writing, albeit as double en-
tendre. From this we get the impression that Evans, accord-
ing to Weston, was too conservative. Evans himself, never
criticizes Weston either, but made it known, though his
newspaper cronies, that Weston was stigmatized by her
need to be in vogue.
In spite of this pre-Raphaelite shadow boxing, Weston
comes closer than anyone because, at least she attempts to
identify the author of the Perlesvaus. Unfortunately, she as-
sumes, wrongly, that the author would never use a pseud-
onym that was close in sound or spelling to his own. As we
shall soon see, the author did just that. He used a phonically
resonant name, demonstrating, once again, his marvelous
sense of humor. 2

1 Weston,L. Jessie, “King Arthur and His Knights. A Survey of Arthurian

Romance.” # 4 Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore.
2 See Appendix A

196
 Robert de Boron
T
hree great writers, by their own admission, wrote
books based on earlier books, which I argue, might
have included the Perlesvaus. They are, in rough chro-
nological order, Robert de Boron, Chrétien de Troyes, and
Wolfram Von Eschenbach. Most literary scholars claim
Robert wrote after Chrétien, but Robert says, in his own
words, that he wrote his book before 1180, meaning he
wrote his book, defining the Grail as a chalice and emphasiz-
ing the involvement of Joseph of Arimathea, around the time
Chrétien was writing Eric and Enide, long before he wrote
Percival. However since Eric and Enide contains descriptions
of England, and possibly Glastonbury, we may be able to ar-
gue that Chrétien and Robert were writing on the same or
similar topics at the same time. 1
The dates for Robert de Boron and Chrétien are not set in
cement, but the two men probably never met and 1180
seems to be a good nexus.
Boron was a contemplative, Chrétien was a court dandy,
but they must have been contemporaries, at least for part of
their lives. More importantly, the primacy argument is more
or less moot, since, I repeat, both Robert and Chrétien claim
they were guided by a preexisting, ”Great book.” Boron
claims to have seen the Graal manuscript from Avalon be-
fore he wrote his work on Merlin, and, he was one of the
first, if we assume he came before Chrétien, to connect bib-
lical characters to the Celtic and Bardic legends being circu-
lated in oral tradition.
Moreover, It seems plausible that the book that inspired
both writers could have been the Perlesvaus. If so, the Per-
lesvaus was in circulation before both Chrétien and Robert.
However, Robert tells us much more about the book he used
for inspiration and that the book he used was,” secret.” Writ-
ing in July of 1180, Robert, tells us he had a highly clandes-
tine document to guide him:

I dare not and could not tell at the time of writing

but that I had the secret book before me wherein the
histories are written by the great clerks of all time.
Therein are the great mysteries, which are called the
Graal. 2

1 Nutt, Alfred. The Legends of The Holy Grail, London 1902. 23ff
2 De Boron, Robert, Le liuro d Josep de Arimthea, translation from Por-

197
 Parsing Boron’s comment into separate ideas takes us
deeper. First, he says the book was “before him” this means
it was on his desk, in his hands and also that it existed be-
fore his time. Secondly he is talking about ‘the’ secret book
not ‘a’ secret book. Thus, we are looking for a specific
volume, a singular book, known to Boron as the one and only
book of importance on the topic, not a genre or species, but
a highly impressive masterwork. What happened to it and
why doesn’t he mention its title?
As a further point, it appears Boron is referring to two
kinds of suppression. First, he, ”dare not,” implying he was
confronted with caveats from specific individuals and held
fears of reprisals from certain agencies. This would mean
that the book he quotes, a cult surrounding the text or sym-
pathizers who were heretics—were clearly linked to the Be-
nedictines and their underground stream. But, he also says,
in what seems like a redundancy, that he “could not” reveal,
meaning he was incapable of revealing anything as he prob-
ably no longer had the actual book before him. Had Boron
reveled this publicly, at the time he wrote his Joseph of Ar-
imathea, he might have been defrocked and possibly burned
at the stake. If this assumption is valid we can further date
Robert’s writing to around the time of the highly repressive
3rd Lateran Council (1179) which, among other things, reined
in the Hospitalier and the Templars, yet again, and forbade
all tournaments outright. Canon 27, was particularly fright-
ening because of its vagueness and because it simply en-
joined all royalty to prosecute any heresy.
Secondly again, Robert says he, ”could not” say anything,
implying he took an oath or that he did not know anything
secret at first process. This sends a plain message that the
book on Robert’s desk, the book with links to Glastonbury,
included forbidden material, and that Boron, was sworn to
secrecy, probably to the Templars. In any case, he surely
knew how contentious and problematic life could become if
he revealed his sources.
In his preface, Boron hints that others knew of the prior
work, that it was very secret, very revered, and that its con-
tent derived from historical legends and mysterious cere-
monies. Boron also carefully points out that these themes
were placed by,” the great clerks of all time,” not simply
writers, but great and famous scribes. Now if he was refer-
ring to the Perlesvaus Boron is telling us were to look for the
author. We need to look for a name, not as humble as a

tuguese. University of North Carolina Press, 1962.

198
simple scribe, not as august as a leading Templar knight, but
beyond that to Royalty itself. Again, Henry Blois fits that de-
scription.
Boron, a Benedictine monk probably at Frodmont, a sister
house of Cluny, is traditionally responsible for inserting the
Joseph of Arimathea narrative into the Grail legend, around
1180, about 8 years after Blois was aid to rest. Even so,
there is evidence, on frescoes in the crypts of Chartres,
which Gildas knew about Joseph’s role in the Grail ceremony
at least 20 years earlier, before the great fire at Chartres.
Does that make the Perlesvaus antecedent to Boron’s book?
Not really. The only reason people give Boron credit for the
first Christianization of the Grail legend is because they
thought the Perlesvaus came after Boron. 1
Like Gildas, Boron seems to have some knowledge of Gla-
stonbury through the official, albeit esoteric, phalanx of the
Benedictine order. He has also been described as a Cister-
cian, but he was not a Cistercian in league with Abbe’ Bern-
ard or the latter Templars. In any case, it is doubtful Boron
ever visited Glastonbury.
Robert’s subject matter is rich but stoic. His monastic
style is overly practiced, possibly even copied several times
by different authors and editors. Yet, he is readable and
valuable because he documents many events, accepts the
bloodline hypothesis, and he is, above all, honest. Only
Boron tells us that he was sworn to secrecy, probably in a
cult of some kind, and that he too had the greatest of all
Grail books in his possession. Moreover Boron, like the au-
thor of the Elucidation, elaborates on Gawain’s’ quest and
makes Gawain, the common hero, equal to the pure knight,
lending a deep note of democratization to the initiation. 2
Robert d’ Boron is a Catholic apologist, with mystical
leanings, writing during the influence of Bernard of Clair-
vaux. He is equating the Gradalis initiation ceremony with
the basin from which Christ ate the Passover Lamb and the
same (ironically) basin in which Pontius Pilate washed his
hands and then gave to Joseph of Arimathea to catch the
drops of blood of the wounded Christ. This is mentioned in
Robert’s Estoire du Saint-Graal or, “History of the Blood.” It
may also be the basin from which Jesus received the hyssop
and gall while crucified. This basin is depicted on the North

1 Sommer, H. O. ed. Robert de Boron, Lestoire de Saint Graal. The Vul-

gate Version of the Arthurian Romances, Washington 1909, v. I, p. xxvii-
xviii, and pp. 181-82.
2 A. E. Knight. ”A Previously Unknown Prose Joseph d'Arimathie, Ro-
mance Philology, 21, Nov. , 1967) pp. 174-183

199
Portal at Chartres held by John the Baptist along with a flag
banner and the Pascal lamb. 1
Gawain, although secondary in Boron, is the pivotal and
primary character in the Perlesvaus, and the Elucidation. He
seems to have been demoted by the later authors. Gawain
as champion also sets the Perlesvaus earlier in a position of
primacy, and in league with the Cluniac typology. In this
sense, Gawain is more like a Celtic messiah or Troubadour
savior than Arthur or Christ. In some parts of the narrative,
one gets the impression that Gawain’s experience is very
close to that of the author.
Boron goes on to say that the book facing him contains
the great mysteries called, ”the Graal” and he spells the
word with a double ‘A. ’ This refers to the Sanc Graal or the
DNA lines stemming from David, to Jesus and James Joseph
of Arimathea.
Thus, to Boron, the mysteries were laid out in steps or
grades I.e., chapters or branches, and they held secret in-
formation about a certain strain of DNA. By using the re-
dundant term ”therein,” Boron tells us to look deeper for the
true mysteries. This sounds a great deal like the Perlesvaus,
which is set out in Branches, and Boron tells us he had such
a book before him. Therefore, Boron can be ruled out as the
compositor of the original book and the book he used, (he
says it was a singular book, not books). Thus, at least for
Robert De Boron, the Perlesvaus may have been the grand
Graal book from the Isle of Avalon, a book that could have
been written while Henry Blois was abbot.
Robert’s epigram also hints that the book he saw was
somewhat old when he obtained it, this could be a book as
old as two hundred years or as young as twenty could.
Twenty is more likely since 200-year-old books did not travel
well in that era. Robert’s copy may have been getting pretty
crunchable by the time he received it, since so many
courtiers probably read it before it got to Robert’s desk.
Boron additionally, infers that he obtained his source
book through esoteric contacts, a cult or through Templar
channels, possibly someone linked to the knights of the First
Crusade, then based at Gisors. He does not mention his pat-
ron Philip of Alancon or Walter, Count of Montbéliard, a fam-
ous Crusader, the great man to which he dedicated his book.
Both Phillip and Walter died in the holy land, Walter being
the regent of Cyprus and constable of Jerusalem until 1212.
Thus, it is safe to assume that Robert’s benefactor was a

1 Gall may have been opium mixed with ergot.

200
royal member of a knighthood that may have included Boron
himself. 1
By the way, the town of Alancon, near Lemans in the
Loire region, lies on an ancient salt trade route equidistant
between Chartres and the Normandy coast, an area fully un-
der the control of the Count Palatine of Champagne, Henry’s
father, before 1102 and his mother Adella after 1104. This
means Phillip, Robert’s patron (like the first Templars) was
probably a vassal of the Count and Countess of Champagne.
Here again the circle folds back onto the Blois clan.
Marie, the next countess of Champagne, the daughter of
Eleanor is seen, with her husband, giving a similar work, dir-
ectly or indirectly, to two writers, Chrétien and Boron. Thus,
all roads lead to Troyes and the royal family of Champagne—
all of them owned or built by relatives of Abbot Blois. In oth-
er words, he had access, both as recipient and distributor, to
and from all of these sources.
As a footnote, Boron must have been frightened about af-
fairs of state. He provides a specific date, July of 1180. Why?
Louis Capet, the Fair, Eleanor’s first husband, and Marie of
Champagne’s estranged father, known to historians as Louis
the VII, was ill and would die in September of that year.
Louis was still the King of France, he was remarried, had
children, was hardly penniless, and seemed to be moder-
ately happy, in spite of the fact that he was stricken with
paralysis throughout the year and could not attend ceremon-
ies or carry on other duties. He knew he would leave his
throne to a male heir, Phillip Augustus, by his third wife Ad-
ele. However, the politicians in Paris were not happy with a
simple inheritance. The church would be consulted and
might just select someone else to occupy the throne. Fear-
ing the consequences if Louis were to die without a desig-
nated successor, the teenage Phillip was crowned at Rheims
in 1179, even as Louis lived. Predictably, the king died on 18
September 1180. The year mentioned by Boron.
Troubadours and writers like Boron must have assumed
the teenage king would not have much concern for the writ-
ing of books or that the new king would not continue his pat-
ronage. In an era where most prose writing is not dated at
all, Boron wants any future readers to be aware of an exact
date. To Boron, events were changing monthly, even daily.
Eleanor’s plot would soon be threatened by the loss of her
first husband, albeit a weak part of the coalition, and all of
this must have been stirring in Robert’s mind as he wrote his

1 A great Templar treasure is said to be stored at one time at Gisors.

201
classic book. Meanwhile the Plantagenet Henry II took over
in England. He was inwardly sympathetic to the Crusade
against the Albigensians, while outwardly showing distaste
for so much slaughter. Thus, if Boron was an Albigensian
sympathizer, who knows what horrors, he might be facing.
In order to frustrate the plot and cancel her ”witchcraft,"
Henry II had his wife, locked up in various locations. Tit for
tat, she tried to poison him just as she claimed Abbot Seguré
poisoned her younger brother as a child. In any case, as
soon as Henry Plantagenet died, Eleanor of Aquitaine be-
came, arguably, the most powerful monarch in Western
Europe.
Thus, we see some of Boron’s motives for giving an exact
date. As to the author of the book he used to inspire his
great work, Boron gives us no specific name, or does he?
Let us examine Boron’s introductory comment more
closely. By, ”time of writing,” Boron means: ”the date I
began to write.” Based" on his known body of work, this
would have occupied a decade or so. Even with modern
equipment, it takes a good writer about ten years to write
three 'good' books. Judging Robert’s lack of originality and
based on the speed it took to hand publish a book a millenni-
um ago, it would be safe to give him ten years. Now if we
deduct this same 10 years from 1180 we get 1170. What
was so important to Boron in 1170, especially at Glaston-
bury? 1

1 Weinberg, Bernard. The Magic Chessboard in the Perlesvaus: An Ex-

ample of Medieval Literary Borrowing. PMLA, Vol. 50, No. 1 Mar., 1935,
pp. 25-35.

202
 1170
O
ne major event of import to any scribe connected to
Glastonbury or the Benedictines, Robert de Boron for
example, did take place in 1170—Thomas Becket was
assassinated and, in less than two years, his friend and con-
fidant, Abbot Henry of Blois, died. The Abbot who enflamed
the entire alternative revolution, the man who virtually re-
built, Glastonbury, could no longer support his family’s pub-
lishing dynasty.
Before Bishop Blois died, Bernard of Clairvaux did all he
could to suppress the freedom of speech so dear to the Clu-
niac monks, but as long as Bishop Henry was alive the quest
for the New Jerusalem could go on, the fascination with
Enoch and the angels could continue. Now he was dead,
these ten years, and the world was polluted with the stench
of burning heretics. The nascent Inquisition was not only
killing off the Albigensians; they were suppressing any al-
ternative doctrine, which might be thought of as a heresy.
Anyone who supported the Celtic church, any Cathar, any
Jew, or any atheist would be excommunicated. In that same
vein, anyone preaching alternative religions could be forced
to property forfeiture, and probably also executed. Only the
Courts of Love and the Troubadours under Eleanor’s daugh-
ters, Marie and Alix, had the power to continue in the open
after the Cathar pogroms of 1210 began, but remember
these pogroms and the Inquisition were hinted at well in ad-
vance at the first three Lateran Councils.
Eleanor helped to elevate her son Richard Lionheart, a
known Templar and Troubadour to the English throne, and
then retired to Fontevrault, after 1201, but the Champagne
courts continued in the north, now thoroughly mixed with
both Trouvère and Troubadour DNA.
To prove it, in 1210, Marie’s namesake, the acting Count-
ess of Champagne, led a revolt against the Bishop of
Chartres for preaching against the southern Cathars. This
took place one year after the first phases of the Albigensian
massacre. I repeat, Marie of Champagne—the second Marie,
who was obviously as feisty as her mother—led a riot to de-
fend to defend the Cathars who were being slaughtered in
Languedoc shortly after her celestial mother died at Fontev-
rault. Theobald V, known as Le Bon, approved, of Maries ac-
tions, but played no direct role. 1
1 Medieval Sourcebook: Chartres; Riot of 1210.

203
 Boron must have been influenced by these events. By in-
cluding the Joseph element, or perhaps by rewriting it to ex-
clude James Bonarges by name, Boron avoids association
with the Cathars and at the same time manages to include
everything needed to identify Joseph of Arimathea as James
Bonarges. James, as the brother of Christ, places the so-
called, ”Sangrael” what might now be called the, 'DNA cult,
in France and Spain, and by extension to Glastonbury, with
or without the proof of Mary Magdalene's presence. 1
Esoteric tradition places James Bonarges, in the forefront
of a first century western outreach program. This included
envoys to the remnant Visigoths, the Cathars, the Basques
(Spanish) and the Gaelic speaking tribes in France and Eng-
land. 2
We know this because we have a growing body of evid-
ence that Christian settlements were established in the mid-
first century from Alexandria to Arles and Narbonne, thence
to Compostella and to Cornwall and Wales. No less than
Saint Austin, tells us that when he first arrived in Glaston-
bury he was amazed to find people worshipping the cross. 3
Following an encyclical from Pope Gregory, Austin of Can-
terbury adapted a gradual course of conversion. The pope
asked him not to destroy pagan temples and allowed that in-
nocent ancient rites could be incorporated into Christian
feasts, operating under the strategy that, he who would
climb to a lofty height must go ala gradual, by steps, not
leaps.
Other, less reliable sources, hint that this western reach-
ing evangelical process, was driven by representatives of
the Zadok priesthood, I.e., those who came from the line of
Melchizedek, first mentioned in Genesis. In Genesis, Melch-
izedek helps Abraham win a battle. This implies this mysteri-
ous advisor may have been a Druid, or influenced by them,
since that is exactly what the Druids did in wars against the
Romans. 4
By including the Melchizedek priesthood in his Grail text,
Boron reveals that the quest for the Grail has something to
do with the bloodline, the first century arrival of this abstract
form of Christianity and places the focus on the direct relat-
ives of Christ and the rites they practiced. For this reason

1 Picknett, L. & Clive Prince. The Sion Revelation, Touchs York, 2006, p.
298
2 Op cit. Eisenman, Robert, James the Brother of Jesus.
3 Hurst, William. Tran. Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum: The His-
tory of the Primitive Church of England. Book Two, Chapter Four. 1814
4 Ellis, Peter Berresford,The Druids. Eerdmans, 1994 p. 51

204
Boron coins the term, "Sanc Graal,” or the Sacred Cup of the
Holy Blood. 1
Boron then makes up a literal translation, saying the cup
was used to collect the blood of Christ, but this is an al-
legory. In his story, we are told to look deeper for the secret
of the Grail. Boron is telling us to forget material cups and
sacred objects and, instead, look for a supernal meaning
beyond the family connections behind the legend. In other
words, there is no cup, there is no actual blood, but there is
a mating of the sun and moon, there are lunar tears and
there is a solar blood (eclipse) implying a celestial wedding.
There may be children and they are connected to the teach-
er of righteousness by tears and sweat as well as DNA, but
the true secret of the Grail lies far beyond the Holy Blood ar-
gument. The true secret lies in the fertilization of the human
mind.
In all probability the Melchizedek order, was made-up of
Druids, or rather those who carried with them the aboriginal
science of the Megaliths and the fertility of the heterogam-
ous. In other words they believed in the Heterosexual Cos-
mology, the idea that the Great Mother and the Invisible
Father created the universe. For the medieval Christians—
seeking a way of understanding the deeper mysteries—this
insight is more important than the idea that Christ may have
sired a daughter. It is more important because it leads to
democracy, to a natural reality and it doesn’t require blind
faith or rote memory to understand. 2
When the Merovingian royalty died out in France, it sim-
ply found a home in the monastic system. Places like Cluny
for example, were founded in the Dark Ages exactly when
the line of Pippin and Charlemagne came to power.
Boron writes well and without much courtly embellish-
ment. His audience consists of friars and nuns. In his mon-
astic style, he reveals that the Grail has something to do
with kinship, the Arimathean being linked to the avuncular
genetic line. 'DNA cult.' By linking Jesus to the expanded Ar-
imathea story, he melds the hermetic, heliocentric, and
Megalithic conception of the universe to the Christian genes-
is. In so doing, he seriously animates the influences of the
Celts, Hermetic writers, Neoplatonism, women’s rights and
the meaning of the ancient stones of Western Europe. Boron
is alternative thinker, probably influenced by Erigena, and
the Cathars in that he uses paganism to prove the essence
1 Baigent et al. Holy Blood Holy Grail.
2 Harrison, Hank The Heterosexual Universe. Arkives Press, San Fran-
cisco, 2009

205
of Christian magic.
We know that Gildas did the same thing many centuries
earlier. Gildas was aware of the Joseph legend and, in the
fresco at Chartres, he is linked to the apocryphal Nicodemus,
the clandestine night messenger who appears after the cru-
cifixion. Moreover, Saint Nicholas appears as the symbol of
Winter Solstice. If each of the characters depicted in the
fresco are plotted according to their birth date they can be
seen as a full year marked by the passing of the seasons,
the same diorama, in a more esoteric manner, as can be
seen on the tympanum of the main Portal of Chartres.
So here, we have Chartres, with its occult fresco on dis-
play on the walls of a kind of labyrinth, a maze hidden be-
neath a more obvious maze on the main cathedral floor. This
fresco located just outside a grotto used by the Knights Tem-
plars after 1130. It is also located in a hall that leads to a
sacred well. While walking through these halls, the onlooker
sees various icons located in the exact center of what used
to be a megalithic stone circle and writers like Boron, Chré-
tien, and the author of the Perlesvaus play all of this out as a
quest. As we shall see, Chartres was of special concern to
the author, since it had been in his father’s line of control
since 860.
Above, below, and in every measurement Chartres ex-
udes magic. On a porch column, several knights are seen
bringing holy relics to the site. Chartres with its grotto cham-
ber dedicated to the Verge Noir seems to be reflecting the
true religion of its builders. Whoever owned the land be-
neath the cathedral, a cathedral built during the foundation
of the Knights Hospitalier was not in absolute conformity to
Vatican dogma.
The land around Chartres belonged to the hereditary
Counts of Champagne, namely the Blois family, and the
cathedrals and abbeys on those lands were built, originally,
under the auspices of this particular family. The grotto at
Chartres also links ancient stone circles to this hereditary
family and to Gildas and Joseph who, conveniently appear at
Glastonbury. 1
Adding Joseph of Arimathea to the legend hints that one
source of power came from tin mining. It also brings in the
recently proven fact that the Phoenicians frequently sailed
beyond the Gates of Hercules, implying again that this
Joseph fellow (or his consortium) conducted trade with the
Tyrians and Sidonese from Lebanon.
1 Norgate, Kate. ‘Odo of Champagne, Count of Blois and 'Tyrant of Bur-
gundy’ English Historical Review, Vol. 5, No. 19 (Jul. , 1890), pp. 486-496

206
 Finally by writing about the man who begged to receive
the body of Jesus from the cross, Boron links Joseph to the
crucifixion, symbolized by having Joseph arrive in Avalon
with two vials, one filled with blood the other with a clear li-
quid said to be tears of the savior.
There is continuity here. In the bible, Joseph begs for the
body of Jesus, as yet unrisen, and one thousand years later,
we read that this same Joseph, continued to have charge of
the body in its post crucified state, carrying vials still in a flu-
id state. The staff and the two cruets of liquid, by the way,
seem to be hinting that there are three paths in the Grail
stream, and that all three are necessary. This is also true of
the three knights. One comes by initiation, the other by intu-
ition or Gnostic learning, and the third by divine interven-
tion. Gawain and Lancelot on one hand forming Baphomet or
Janus, and Perceval portraying the transcendent state of
grace produced by the Grail. We can also relate the trinity to
this paradigm. In this case, the pure knight’s vision becomes
the fulfillment of the first two. The tricephalic Goddess of the
Greeks and Druids and the triple nature of Hecate and her
Charites come into play here, but that connection requires a
much longer explanation. 1
To go further we need to look into the design of
Winchester and the geography around Glastonbury itself. We
know that the Templars maintained several fleets capable of
sailing from the Thames Estuary and the Severn Channel in
Wales, to the Gates of Hercules and on to Mediterranean
ports. We know that the Severn tides, even today, come and
go at Glastonbury when the lower lands around the fens are
flooded. Until a few centuries ago, the sea-lanes ran right up
to the shore. In the last chapter of the Perlesvaus Percival is
delivered to Glastonbury in the footsteps of Joseph of Ar-
imathea:

So soon, as the ship [Argo Navis] had taken haven

under the castle, the sea withdraweth itself back, so
that the ship is left on dry land. None were therein save
Perceval, his horse, and the pilot. They issued forth of
the ship and went by the side of the sea toward the
castle, and therein were the fairest halls and the fairest
mansions that any might see. 2

Next, Percival meets two hermits. They tell him that

Joseph converted them from paganism to Christianity. They

1 Markale, Jean The xxx Chartres xxx enoch Uriels Machine xxx
2 Op Cit. Evans, S. Perlesvaus, Percival.

207
knew this because he changed the heraldry on his shield to
a cross. They do not describe the cross but it could be a
Templar device.
To understand this in more detail we will have to under-
stand the origins and the mission of the Knights Templars,
since the ship described here seems to fly a Templar ensign.
Boron did not write the Perlesvaus, the styles are too dis-
similar. He embellished the story, but he did not originate it.
So who did? It must have been someone who knew about
the symbols carved into the land near Glastonbury, someone
who understood Hermetism, Scotus Erigena and the Druids.
It must have been someone with enough courtly power to
have access to the most accurate maps available, perhaps a
Templar builder, or someone who was conducting a survey.
Again, Henry Blois fills all of these roles.
Chrétien’s most ardent supporters, freely admit he was a
redactor, and not wholly original. Virtually every book he
wrote came inspired from a Troubadour source. Likewise,
each of the famed writers we now venerate, worked from a
prior manuscript, not necessarily the same work, but
something written earlier, something important. In addition,
each writer seems to have received a set of guidelines either
arising from folk legend and oral tradition or based on specif-
ic suggestions from a mentor or patron. Chrétien’s
guidelines seem to arise from the Blois-Anjou intellectual
scene, with its roots in Neoplatonism and Hermetism. Some
of his jump-starts came from Marie others came from Phillip
of Flanders, but there is hardly a millimeter of difference in
the beliefs of those two patrons. Boron’s may have come
through the Templars and the Benedictines, a stream of free
thinking Christians, influenced by Cluny and the Gnostics.

208
 Wolfram
M
ore than a century after Glastonbury’s great fire, ele-
ments of the sacred book pop up in Germany in the
hands of the previously mentioned Wolfram von Es-
chenbach. Wolfram was probably a Teutonic knight; a well
trained and well educated man. He was either a Hospitalier
or a Templar sympathizer with very high-ranking privileges
and he seems to have attended at least one crusade. His
awareness of the earlier Grail book sequence, and his entrée
to the royal bloodline, comes through in his writing.
Wolfram’s style and presentation is stunning, but it
comes after many erasures and improvements. It is, without
doubt, the most majestic of the works based on the quest for
the Grail by Percieval, the purest knight imaginable, but it is
not the first book focusing on the pure knight.
Working in the very first days of the fourteenth century,
around the time of the downfall of the Templars and De-
Molay, Wolfram claims he inherited a book, which he calls,
lapsit excellis, the philosophers stone, the purest stone, the
stone that exceeds all others.
It is easy to be confused by this terminology. Try to re-
member that Wolfram inherited a book, not a stone. Perhaps
he thought of it poetically, and as Jung suggests, alchemic-
ally, but in the final analysis, we are talking about books. 1
Books of sacred rituals were considered precious objects
to the crusaders. Many soldiers lost their lives in search of
them. Some came back broken, as men and women do from
any war, but a small number returned from the crusades
wealthier than when they left. In the century and a half
between the death of Blois and the publication of Wolfram’s
book, hundreds of books were written, edited, published,
burned and banished.
Although Wolfram reached his zenith more than a century
after Blois, the basic Perlesvaus ceremony is clear. In this
book Knights begin a quest to support the Mother Goddess,
the old religion. They have adventures, see many wonders
and yet, only one, Percieval, sees the Grail, the others either
glimpse it and see it as wanting or they are blinded by it and
do not grasp its full value.
Wolfram, speaking through a Bard, refers to Mont-
salvaesche (the mount of salvation) only as a mound and

1 Op Cit., Brennan, Martin. Also see. Shee-Twohig, Elizabeth. Megalithic

Art in Western Europe, London, 1981. pp. Intro.

209
speaks more about a stone, than the mound itself. The nar-
rative, spoken by the hermit Trevrezent to Parzifal, is reveal-
ing:

The hosts of the mound (Montsalvaesche) live upon

a stone of the purest kind. It is called Lapsit Exillis. The
stone has the power to both kill and revive the Phoenix
from the ashes; the stone is also called the Grail. On
the Grail, around the edge are engraved the Names of
each man or woman who shall make the journey. 1

This passage from Wolfram’s Parzifal, hints that the Grail

is based on a Stone Age language used by the inhabitants of
a mysterious place called, Montsalvaesche. Scholars may
not immediately see the connection, but anyone who has
spent any time on Glastonbury Tor, or around Newgrange in
Ireland or Kercado and Barnenez in Bretagne will see it. To
Wolfram, the Grail is as old as the mounds.
The true source of this comment comes from the earliest
Gnostic church. Here Clement of Alexandria, c. AD 180, re-
veals:

Men and women share equally in perfection, and are

to receive the same instruction and the same discipline.
For the word ‘humanity’ (Democracy) applies equally to
both men and women and for us, in Christ, there is
neither male nor female. 2

Denert traces Wolfram’s sources to earlier books, which

contained astrology. He also claims Wolfram derived his
great Parsifal, at least in part, from a source earlier than that
of Chrétien, confirming a prior source for Chrétien. Gener-
ally, it is accepted that Chrétien invented the Quest out of
whole cloth, but we know the story is at least as old as the
Welsh literature of the Eighth century and was probably
hoary even then. Chrétien admits he had a source book. 3
Traditional scholars ascribe Wolfram’s Grail and the
mountain to the Manicheans, but Catharism was not local-
ized to a single place. There is no proof Montsegur was the
intended mountain in Wolfram’s text. In fact, Wolfram claims
his source was linked to the Troubadours. Modern archae-
ology reveals that the stone language (the astral writing on
the megaliths) was located all over the Atlantic rim and no
writing has ever been found around the base of Montsegur.
1 Jung, Emma, The Grail legend, New York, G. P. Putnams , p149-150
2 Clement of Alexandira Stromata 4-5 in Layton 1987: (427-44)
3 Denert, Wilhelm, Astrology in Wolfram von Eschenbach, 1960.

210
Furthermore, the initiation of the neophyte in all cases re-
quires an upward and difficult quest, a strenuous ordeal that
could be carried out almost anywhere as long as the right
conditions, the right temple atmosphere came available.
Thus, the mount of salvation is a euphemism referring to the
hard climb, uphill, to the Grail realization, which includes the
secrets of the old stone temples and of course the deepest
secrets of Hermes and heliocentrism.
For the Normans and Troubadours in Britain, the mount of
inspiration could have easily been found at Glastonbury.
There, a labyrinth winds up the side of Saint Michael’s Tor, a
man modified mound, with water sources near its base. This
could be a simile for the quest, often described as the tread-
ing of a maze, not unlike the quest of Theseus, the octagonal
maze at Amiens. I cannot resist including the observation
that the round labyrinth at Chartres has now been copied
many times and has become an ikon for the quest. In Sacra-
mento, California, the maze was replicated in the courtyard
of the Episcopalian cathedral and in 2006; it was copied as a
rotating stage for the unconventional entertainment troop
known as Cirque du Soliel.
In the Perlesvaus, which is undoubtedly set in and around
Glastonbury, we find the Hermit at the well as part of the
quest. Here then is another story, one that seems fictional
until we look closely at Glastonbury.
Chalice Well is located at the foot of Chalice Hill in the
shadow of Saint Michael’s Tor and at the exact start and end
point of a giant labyrinth. Its water comes from underground
sources. The red oxide, simulating blood, is formed from
mineral deposits in the Mendip and Quantock hills. There is,
however one other fountain at the foot of the Tor. During
WW I the town council decided to have the grotto, opening
to its main water source, sealed off. This is probably the le-
gendary cave of the Tor.
However, the Perlesvaus might be referring to any of sev-
eral light-beam mounds found in Celtic territories. In Ireland,
adjacent to the Boyne River, around the edge of several
huge stone mounds, archeologists have found light beams
entering through long shafts. Each of these mounds displays
patterns and markings, carved in stone, which reveal astro-
nomical measurements and alignments with the Pleiades,
the Moon, Sirius, as well as solstice and equinox dates.
Newgrange is the most famous of the mounds in the
Boyne Valley World Heritage complex, but there are two oth-
er huge mounds. One of the mounds, known as Knowth, dis-
plays thousands of tattoo-like markings each aligned with a

211
lunar, solar, or stellar event. One of the stones in the west
chamber has been shown to depict the craters of the moon
as seen with the naked eye. 1
A third mound, Dowth, possibly the oldest of the three, is
the only mound in the complex that provides a view of the
other two sites and the snake like roads that connect them.
Dowth, dating to before 4000 BCE, remains largely unexcav-
ated. However, in the chambers so far exposed, the same
zigzag and curvilinear motifs show up making these mark-
ings far older than Babylonian cuneiform
If the Boyne markings prove to be astronomical and pos-
sibly linguistic or musical, they would represent the oldest
form of writing yet discovered, anywhere on earth. Indicat-
ing that civilization based on astronomy and writing, rose
spontaneously in the west. One of the main and most fam-
ous markings at Newgrange is a triple spiral, which simu-
lates a labyrinth. It hints that all three mounds, when viewed
as a system, could be formed into a huge initiation maze.
This idea also appears in many of the Gothic Cathedrals.
Whoever built Chartres and Amiens included a labyrinth to
direct the neophyte to the guiding light and to a higher un-
derstanding. 2
In addition to the Grail itself, Wolfram seems to be speak-
ing about a specific secret society wherein men and women
hold equal rank. He also speaks of a drinking cup, but im-
plies it is as old as the stones, an excellent stone, a stone
that has been worked by artistry, not a gemstone necessar-
ily, but a carved stone. He further hints that this lapsit excel-
lis could reveal a ceremony associated with rebirth. All of
these items can be found at or near Glastonbury, but it is
likely that to Wolfram, the sacred mount was any ancient
place of salvation, and high peak representing a place of
transition between this life and the heaven promised in the
hermetic mysteries. 3
The idea that the hosts, live upon a stone, also points to a
book other than the bible. In this case, Wolfram refers to an
esoteric book, not the book he is writing, but a book he is in-
spired by. Thus to Wolfram, the Graal is an alchemical text, a
training guide, ‘the Grail,’ one that teaches a certain initi-
ation. Here the Graal ritual, as a published book, is a direct
connection to the writing on the stones in the Megalithic

1 Stooke, P.J. "Neolithic Lunar Maps at Knowth and Baltinglass, Ireland".

Journal for the History of Astronomy, XXV: 39-55, 1994.
2 ibid.
3 Wasson R. Gordon & Albert Hofmann, The Road to Eleusis. Hermes,
New York, 2004.

212
temples. In other words, the book reveals how the universe
progresses, just as the ancient stones are laid out to reveal
astronomy. 1
The Jungians thought of this clue as a lead-in to a discus-
sion of alchemy. To them the Lapsit Excellis was the Philo-
sopher’s Stone. This may be the case, especially in the
Teutonic context, but be reminded again, that anything writ-
ten by Bards or Troubadours can be thought of as holding
multiple meanings. In this case, the Lapsit or Lapis may be
the foundation stone of a cathedral, especially if it was a
stone surrounding a temple mound 5000 years earlier. It
could also be the keystone found in every Gothic arch.

1 Brennan, Martin. The Stones of Time: Calendars, Sundials and

Stone Chambers of Ancient Ireland. Inner Traditions. 1994

213
 Primum Mobilis
T
he Perlesvaus is a book. It is not a man's name. It is
not a book strictly about Parsifal or Percival, nor is it
about any single knight. By simple count, Gawain is
mentioned more often than Lancelot or Percival and plays a
more pivotal role, especially in the Elucidation. See Appendix
A.
Something is askew here. The word is only used in the
Evans text twice, and then it is spelled, “Perlesvaux.”
Moreover the titular word is used only in the beginning of
the book and never appears again. The name Percival ap-
pears countless times through the text, but never in con-
junction with the spelling using the letter x, so the two terms
must refer to different things. Perhaps Perlesvaus denotes a
knight on a quest and “Perlesvaux,” is a reference to a state
of consciousness achieved when one goes through an initi-
ation ritual. Nitze completely ignores this odd state of af-
fairs. It amazes me how quickly most readers, even modern
readers with access to the Internet, accept this association
without challenge.
Although there are common themes and motifs, the
strange plot twists in the Perlesvaus are frequently at vari-
ance with the standard Arthurian outline, and with Chrétien
and the continuations, which would indicate that, the Perles-
vaus was the primary book, or one of them, used by the
13th century Trouvère authors. Thus, the book must have
been written in the 12th century.
In addition, many of the themes were censored or chosen
by the patrons themselves. Thus, if a patroness wished the
scribe to redact the theme of the missing child, her desire
would be implemented before any others. Also, remember
that most of these stories were told aloud at court.
Reading though the Perlesvaus does not give us the idea
that it was designed exclusively to appease high-ranking
courtiers. Instead, we get the distinct impression that the
book is an entire process, like a ritual designed to be en-
acted in gradual stages for knights or young men and wo-
men embarking on a quest of an adventure.
Based on internal evidence, the Perlesvaus is probably
the first, or at least, one of the earliest, Arthurian source
books. In it Arthur's traditional enemies, King Claudas, Brian
of the Isles and Meliant appear for the first time, as does the

214
Questing Beast. 1
The fact that some of these themes have been excluded
from later texts does not mean that the Perlesvaus was writ-
ten in the 13th century, but rather that the 13th century au-
thors simply did not have access to this extremely esoteric
book, or, rather, had access only to parts of it.
In Perlesvaus, Guinevere dies of grief after the death of
her son Lohot, who was missing and presumed on a quest
before he died in challenge to Sir Kay. In some later texts,
she does not die at all. This implies that the Goddess never
dies.
The Perlesvaus also features Lancelot's beheading game
at the Waste City and this theme appears nowhere else in
13th century prose, even though it is a common Celtic and
pagan theme. We see something similar also with Gawain
jousting with the Green Knight at the sidh or fairy mound a
theme first mentioned in the Elucidation, a performance
piece probably written by the same author.
The violent death of the woman in the pool at the hands
of her husband Marin is also found nowhere else and yet we
do find a woman in the lake in several later versions. Again, I
would say this is the original version.
Unlike the other Grail romances, Arthur himself goes on
the Grail Quest in the Perlesvaus. He is a figurehead in all
other variants, but in the Perlesvaus the Fisherking has the
overall role of supremacy, even above Arthur.
In later versions, especially Mallory, Arthur’s thigh wound
is a painful blow, which brings about the Waste Laund (Dead
Earth) until it is healed.
In the Elucidation the Fairy Maidens, inhabitants of the
mounds, are raped and the land goes fallow from their lack
of attendance. Here we see a masculine dominance, follow-
ing a feminist theme in historical time, but in the Perlesvaus,
the Fisher King is killed in a battle and the land is relatively
unaffected. In the Perlesvaus, Perceval inherits the Grail
Castle, even though he does not answer the "Mystic Ques-
tion.” He does not answer it incorrectly; he simply does not
deal with it. This implies the inheritance is along some royal
genetic line and this is implied and even specified by William
of Malmsbury as he describes the lineage of Abbots etched
upon the pyramids in the monks graveyard at Glastonbury,
each Abbot appearing to have ascended from King Arthur
buried below the obelisks and the Fisherking, residing on top
of the column in the guise of the Fisherking.

1 King Claudas & Brian next appear in the non-cyclic Lancelot du Lac.

215
 At the end of the story, Perceval leaves the Grail Castle
on one final quest to fight the last evil in the world - the
Black Hermit.
The tale ends on an enigmatic note, with three knights
setting off on a quest to find it. When they return, they reject
all worldliness, and when asked why, they say: "Set out on
the path we have trod, and go where we have been, and you
will understand." This implies that some sort of rebirth
concept is at work in the initiation.
In summation, the author of Perlesvaus was an originator,
who took old themes, probably from Welsh and Irish
manuscripts stored at Glastonbury from before the time of
Saint Dunstan, and added Greek, Orphic, Mithraic, Hermetic
and Gnostic themes to make the Perlesvaus primary and
unique among the earliest Arthurian literature.
This is exactly what the Troubadours were doing in their
songs and poetry, in the 12th century so it should not seem
too odd to find the idea of Celtic and Attic, even Egyptian
mythic streams appearing in a 12th century work at Glaston-
bury.
Whoever he was the author of the Perlesvaus first intro-
duced Glastonbury as Avalon and by other names. He also
introduced Gaelic (Welsh and Irish) sub-plots that were ad-
opted later by Chrétien, Wace, the author of the non-cyclic
Prose Lancelot and scores of others.
One major theme in Perlesvaus that may have its roots in
Welsh literature is that of the violation of trespass.”
In the Tale of Branwen, the birds of Rhiannon sang to the
company of Bran the Blessed on the island of Gwales. They
sang so sweetly that the men forgot the passage of time,
and felt neither sorrow nor fear, keeping the mortals in a
state of "suspended life."
In Perlesvaus, the knights see two white-haired young
men seated by a fountain under a tree. Entering a great hall,
they see rich tables of gold & silver. A gong sounds three
times as if they are embarking on an initiation ritual, and
into the hall came 33 men, each representing one of the
Templar/Masonic degrees. Each man dressed in white, each
in the prime of his life, at 32 years old..." This is also signific-
ant of the age at which Christ was crucified.
A golden crown on a chain descends from above. A pit
opens in the centre of the hall, and from the pit arises pain-
ful cries. The voices are those of lamenting souls, symboliz-
ing the state of fallen humanity, the rape of the Sidh, as
reveled in the Elucidation.
The eighth century Welsh poem, Branwen shows us simil-

216
ar tableaux, so similar, in fact, as to allow speculation that
the two may be linked through Glastonbury's libraries and
texts. All is well with Bran's company, until one of the
Knights opens a forbidden door. After this trespass, a state
of abject sorrow overcomes them.
The tale of Manawydan, son of Llyr, again from the eight
century or before, mentions another Trespass and Waste-
land theme, which we find in the Perlesvaus. In this variation
we see a Grail in the form of a censer and a mortal being
saved by a Goddess. In this case, when the Goddess touches
the sacred object the dream state fades.
Pryderi goes into a castle where he sees a fountain in the
centre of a hall. Near it, a Golden bowl hangs suspended by
four chains. He senses he should not touch the sacred ob-
ject, but he touches the golden bowl and he becomes mes-
merized. Here, the bowl probably contains esoteric wisdom.
Rhiannon tries to rescue him but when she touches the
bowl, thunder is heard, a mist falls and the castle vanishes.
Even a Goddess is trespassing here. The spell is not lifted.
When Manawydan tries to plant his crops the next season
he finds his estate has become a barren wasteland.
This tale seems to be a version of the Greek legend of
Pandora's box, which was tied up with a golden chain in a
golden knot. It was Mercurius (Hermes) who enticed Pandora
into opening the box. This forbidden object motif is suggest-
ive of both an Ovidian and an alchemical influence on the
writer of Perlesvaus. It also emphasizes the idea that he had
access to Greek and Welsh sources and we know many of
these books were easily found at Glastonbury.

217
 Judgment
S
ince Avalon (Glastonbury)—according to the expla-
nation given in the Perlesvaus—is the mis en scene of
most Round Table and Grail revelation, any book based
on Glastonbury Abbey, must have been written by a
someone with direct knowledge of the place, perhaps a high
ranking monk, abbot or Bishop, or someone working under
supervision at Glastonbury.
The Perlesvaus in particular, must have been finished be-
fore the discovery of the grave of Arthur and Guenevere
(1191). The grave, as mentioned in the rear matter of the
Evans translation known as the Hatton copy, hints that the
monks knew about it long before it was discovered, why else
would they go looking for it in the first place? The appendix
also tells us the first copy was in Latin, not French. We can
also assume it was in France before the fire of 1184, since
Chrétien has a copy of a certain,” very great book,” which
we presume is similar to the book in the possession of
Robert de Boron in the same decade. Boron gives us the ex-
act date of 1180 to hold on to. Thus, at least some great
book was available to these great writers before the Grave
was discovered and long before the fire. 1
Remember also the Eleanor was an active matchmaker
working toward marriages for her Plantagenet sons, her Ca-
petian daughters, her stepdaughters, and her nieces, includ-
ing several links to Spain. In one prominent case, she was in-
strumental in arranging for a second marriage for her wid-
owed first child Marie of Champagne after the death of
Henry the Liberal and to that end, we find that Phillip of
Flanders was one probable suitor. This is the same crusader
who gave Chrétien the mystery book.
The books that were set before Chrétien, and Boron were
handed to them by important people linked to the
Troubadours and to the esoteric teachings of the
Manicheans, so the books they were given must have been,
in the eyes of their benefactors,” very important,” and un-
doubtedly old. These same books were considered heretical
by Abbe’ Bernard and his followers, so there would be a nat-
ural need for secrecy surrounding them.
Wolfram von Eschenbach also had Troubadourial sources,

1 Le Gentil, Pierre ”The Work of Robert de Boron & the Didot

Perceval,”Arthurian Literature a Collaborative History, ed. R. S. Loomis).
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959.

218
which places his 'bootstrap' books, closer to Poitiers than to
Toledo, but he claims the Provencal poet, Kyot (Guiot or
Gyot), gave him his source material, but it does not infer
that this mysterious gypsy wrote the book. Many scholars
feel Kyot is a fictional character or a monk who dictated the
story to Wolfram in the manner of the Bards, thus we can
only say with confidence that Wolfram did receive some ma-
terial from somewhere.
It makes sense to assume Wolfram had at least one eso-
teric secondary source, because his writings cover much
that is not included in Chrétien. Even so, Wolfram is known
to have drawn from folk tales belonging to the Arthurian
cycle, specifically stories redacted in Toledo, implying that
someone in the Spanish court, a monk or a cabalist, gave it
to him, perhaps a Troubadour or Templar. Remember also
that for several decades preceding the Albigensian pogrom,
(c.1210-1240) and in the ensuing centuries dominated by
the Inquisition, every Cabalist was considered a heretic re-
gardless of their true orientation. Morenos (Jews passing for
Christians), for example, were suspect and were routinely
striped of wealth and status even after their conversion.
We agree then that Wolfram, in Thuringia, had a book or
leafs from a manuscript given to him by a wandering min-
strel or Troubadour or Jew, or Gypsy the aforementioned
Kyot, Giot or Gyot, who may be a fictional character. If we
trace it to the Dark Ages, the name Gyot is a name common
to gypsies, who were, in Septemania, hybrid Gnostics.
Wolfram scholars attach this book to Toledo, in Spain, which
was one of the strongholds of Cabalism at that time, but
there is no indication it came from there either place. These
manuscripts were as traveled as the poets themselves.
Thus, the book Wolfram received in the early 13th cen-
tury may have been part of a manuscript originally distrib-
uted and copied by the Manicheans, more specifically some
Manichean’s in exile, and bear in mind, this germinal text
was not written by Gyot it was only distributed by him and
even that is doubtful as Wolfram speaks in parables. In other
words, Wolfram might have meant,” the Gyots,” or more
specifically, the Gypsies, as a plural body, rather than as a
specific person. More than likely, he derived his sources from
family connections tracing to the Troubadour courts of
Province and Eleanor’s court in Poitiers, one or even two,
generations earlier. No question, the Troubadours had
strong influence in Troyes, Poitiers, and Toledo. 1
1 Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades: Volume 1, The First Cru-
sade, and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem Oxford University

219
 In another example of root sources as inspiration for later
scribes, Chrétien’s source book, for the Knight of the Cart,
came directly from the Countess Marie of Champagne, the
daughter of queen Eleanor and Louis VII; least we forget
Eleanor was the great grand daughter of the greatest
Troubadour of all time. Here the chain of possession seems
almost obvious. However, a more specific sequence of
events is relevant here. Like her mother in England, Marie
acted as regent for Champagne when Henry the Liberal took
a pilgrimage to Acre. Her father died the next year and her
half-brother Philippe became king.
Marie’s first regency was marred by arguments with Phil-
ippe over dower lands. The argument toned down when her
husband, Henry the Liberal, returned gravely ill from the
Holy Land in 1181 and died within the year. We know Phillip
of Flanders gave Chrétien the source book for Percival Le
Galois, because Chrétien tells us this in his introduction, but
where did Phillip get the book?
It turns out; he probably got it from the Countess Marie as
a dower gift and the two of them might have conspired to
put Chrétien to work on the project that made him famous.
If this is true, and, I repeat, the entire scenario is wholly
speculative, and then the book could have been sitting
around in Eleanor’s locker since her exile in Winchester in
1174, four years after the death of Bishop Blois of that same
house. Alternatively, it might have been given to Eleanor
when she named Blois, Bishop of London during her regency.
This could make the manuscript roughly twenty-seven years
old or older by the time it reached Chrétien.
Marie, now a widow with four young children, considered
marrying Philip of Flanders, but the engagement was broken
off suddenly for unknown reasons. Note here that there was
an engagement, which implies there was a courtship. If Mar-
ie waited the expected full year in mourning the date of the
engagement and courtship would be 1182. We know Count
Phillip also known as Phillip of Burgundy, was connected in
literature with the icon of the Bleeding Lance and that he
was required to do business in Bruges and Holland.
After her son’s death in the Holy land in 1197, Marie re-
tired to the nunnery of Fontaines-les-Nones near Mieaux,
and died there in 1198 leaving behind her fabulous library in
Troyes. Thus, it is possible that Marie gave the manuscript to
Phillip during their brief courtship, which would place the
date that Chrétien received the manuscript between

Press (3 Vol. Vol. ). 1951)

220
1181-1183, assuming Phillip gave the commission to Chré-
tien immediately.
Boron may have also received his material from a source
close to Marie. He claims he received his working materials
from the Count of Crete who was married to a Blois daughter
who frequented Marie’s court in Troyes. Thus, the loop re-
turns, even in this case, to Henry Blois, Eleanor and finally
Marie. 1
To simplify, let me repeat, Wolfram, Chrétien and Boron,
all had source books to guide them. For his Percieval Chré-
tien was given a source book, written by a man named Mas-
ter Blihis. Phillip of Flanders, who provided Chrétien the
source books for the Perceval le Galois, was once engaged
to Marie of Champagne before Marie married Abbot Henry’s
nephew at Chartres in 1181. Not only was this Master Blihis
a real person, he writes himself into the Elucidation which
appears as a prologue to Chrétien’s Perceval, but the name
Blihis sounds like Blois in Occitan. In addition, as we shall
see in Appendix A, Blessenis and Blessenis is the Latin for
the district known as Blois. Moreover, the family name,
“Blois,” has several historical spellings, such as Bloss,
Bloyce; Bleys; Bley; Bligh; Bloy, Blehis; and so forth. These
variations all seem to have cropped up after the name came
to reside in Warwickshire and other parts of England in the
13th century. 2
While Chrétien is apologetic and almost fawning, Boron is
not ashamed to show his fear. His source was so significant
he writes a disclaimer saying that the book he used to guide
him was, ”written by the great clerks of all time.” Obviously,
he was fantasizing, since one man in a singular style wrote
the book, but he is also implying that even the grand master
had influences.
Can we assume Chrétien knew who wrote the book given
to him by Phillip or Marie? If it was Blois, he had Plato, Ovid,
Avicenna, Origen, Erigena, and even Abelard to guide him.
The library at Troyes might have been magnificent but, by
comparison, Glastonbury’s library, before the fire, did hold
copies of the great masters of all time, and for more than 40
years, Henry Blois was the head librarian, the overlord, of
many great master copyists and scribes.
Thus, all three great writers received fabulous books from
great rulers and, with the exception of Wolfram; all of them
1 Benton, John F. ”The Court of Champagne as a Literary Center,”Specu-
lum, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Oct. , 1961), pp. 551-591.
2 Laux, Christian. Pronunciation guide, Dictionnaire Occitan (OC) Langue-
docien (Broch’) Institute Etudes Occitanes, 2001.

221
were indirectly related to Henry Blois, Bishop of Winchester,
Legate to Rome and Abbot of Glastonbury. That said, it is
even possible that Wolfram’s source manuscript eventually
traces back to the Trouvère’ schools of Poitiers and Troyes.
There are other identifying markers too. The Perlesvaus,
with its free verse, its mystical sense of equality—serving
the widow, hermetic maidens with magical power, knights,
championing the rights of women whose land was taken by
force—all of these things link the Grail initiation story to the
Blois-Champagne courts. Moreover, the Perlesvaus takes on
a fairy tale aura, something extracted from the Paleolithic
Fairy Faith. 1
Unlike any other Grail theme tract, The Perlesvaus, in
keeping with the ars naturae of Duns Scotus Erigena, builds
on layers of organic and natural science. It is almost as if the
author was deeply familiar with Erigena.
This makes sense since. In 847, Erigena was the head
master of the School of Paris at St. Denis after which he was
invited by Charles II, (later Holy Roman emperor) to take
charge of the court school. At Charles’ request, Erigena
translated the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius, thus centering
himself for the Abelard versus Bernard controversy, which
would boil over centuries later. 2
The Perlesvaus version of the legend, unfolds in a magical
landscape, in and around Avalon (Glastonbury) and, above
all, it contains elements that could not have been known to a
citizen of modest birth. The author speaks of details of royal
bloodlines. He also mentions that Arthur and Guenevere had
a son named Lohot, who was lost.
Could the author have been referring to an actual lost
heir to the throne? Was he referencing the fact that all mon-
archs of that era were approved by the papacy and were not
allowed to become heir by consanguinity? Were the mon-
archy and the plan for the New Jerusalem crumbling as he
wrote? Could he see the eminent arrival of the Inquisition
and the purge of the Albigensians? Was his family next?
The reference to the missing child might also be a refer-
ence to the vandalism and lost innocence of the mounds as
mentioned in the Elucidation. 3
Although it cannot be proven absolutely, one could argue
that Chrétien’s inspiration came from a book written by
Henry Blois, monk and abbot of Glastonbury, Bishop of

1 Op Cit. Evans Wentz, W. Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries.

2 Sheldon-Williams, P. Johannes Scotti Eriugenae Periphyseon, Volumes I-
III, Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies. 1981
3 Op cit. Jung, Emma, pp. 149-150

222
Winchester, an architect, and someone who could inherit the
throne by both blood and papal approval.
Blois was a contemplative man, Benedictine, raised and
educated at Cluny, but he was also a natural leader and a
wizard from childhood. He may have taken some of his ideas
from Welsh sources such as The Mabinogion and he spoke
Welsh with William of Malmsbury, but above all he was a
Troubadour. By the way, Malmsbury wrote Historia Novella
(New History) (1128-1142), under a commission from Abbot
Blois. This work gives a somewhat biased account of events
at Glastonbury since 1125, including important accounts of
King Stephen's reign. Malmsbury’s book breaks off abruptly
at the end of 1142, the year William of Malmsbury died.
We also know that the author, like the Troubadours of
Eleanor’s court in Poitiers, was influenced, by Ovid and the
Neo-Platonist, but, Gnostic influences notwithstanding, none
of the books, written, edited, or copied at Glastonbury in the
mid-12th century could have been created without the
knowledge of Abbot Blois, because Blois was the head pub-
lisher. 1
Aside from being written in the Isle of Avalon by a monk
in a learned Christian house at the head of the moors, how,
you may ask, does the Perlesvaus, belong to the Blois fam-
ily? One clue may be hidden in the form of the puzzling
name associated with the Elucidation prefixed to Chrétien’s
Conte Del Graal manuscript. The name of the author the—
fabulator famosus—attached to Chrétien’s Percieval le Gal-
lois is ”Master Blihos,” not far from Blois in spelling or sound.
The only monk of record associated with Glastonbury, with a
name even close to Blihos, from A. D. 1000-1300 was Henry
Blois.
It is highly likely that Eleanor knew Henry Blois directly.
She recommended him for the vacancy of Bishop of London
while she was regent. In France, his older brother Theobald
was the leader of the honor guard at Eleanor’s betrothal to
Louis VII, when she was sixteen. Moreover, the families must
have been close, because her daughters married Henry’s
nephews and Eleanor vowed to be buried at Fontevrault, the
controversial double convent and monastery founded by the
equally controversial, Robert d’ Arbrissel (c. 1045-1116). 2
Depending on which text you read, Arbrissel was either a
saint or a devil. He was a confessor to the Benedictine order
and yet he was guilty of heresy in the eyes of the Cister-
1 King, Edmund Ed. William of Malmesbury:Historia Nove lla, K. R. Potter,
trans. Oxford University Press, 1999.
2 Venarde, B. Robert of Arbrissel: A Medieval Religious Life, 2004

223
cians. He may have been one of the founders of the ideal of
courtly love, along with Countess Adela Blois and Eleanor,
but he was definitely not a libertine. To prove his piety he
was accused of advocating fee sex, and was called before
Pope Urban II to defend his views, which he did with remark-
able clarity.
Notably, Fontevrault was designed as a needed social in-
stitution for both men and women who had lost a spouse or
who were normally not celibate. It was a comfortable place
situated in Anjou and became a prosperous foundation for at
least one hundred similar houses. More importantly, for
modern historians and tourists alike, a very large number of
high-ranking figures are buried there, as if to say they all, in
final terms, agreed with this kind of institution and what it
stood for.
Like everything she did in life, Eleanor believed in person-
al freedom and for that reason she and her daughters must
have been sympathetic to Abbot Blois and his writing. 1
Henry's death in 1171 did not cleave the relationship,
between the House of Blois and the Duchess of Aquitaine.
From 1174 onward and for sixteen years thereafter, Eleanor,
in captivity, had many opportunities to discover and read
Henry’s books at Winchester and Old Sarum, which, as men-
tioned earlier, may offer one explanation as to how the Per-
lesvaus came to the possession of Countess Marie, in
Troyes. 2

1 Pages’ Amadeau, ed. Andreas Capellanus, De Amore, de la Plana,

1930.
2 Parry J. J. Trans. The Art of Courtly Love (De Amore) Andreas Capel-
lanus, 1941.

224
 The Fairy Cup
E
ventually, Gawain achieves the sword and toward the
end of the book, we find it being used for healing. In
addition the sword passes into the hands of Perceval,
so without doubt, this sword is defined as one of the, ”Grail
Hallows.” If this book contains elements of an initiation, or
several such rituals, it is necessary to ask just what secret
society, club, or membership it serves. Beyond that we
might also wonder how and why the author, whoever he
was, felt the need to organize his material the way he did.
The answer seems to emerge when we focus on the four
sacred objects, the cup, the lance, the sword and the serving
platter.
Gawain glimpses the Grail, but his initiation is quite differ-
ent from that of Percival or Lancelot and each knight has a
different relationship with King Fisherman, the Master of the
Temple. Since King Arthur is a solar being and has already
achieved glory in the cosmos, he does not play a major role
in the Perlesvaus. Here Arthur is a passive chess piece act-
ing as a figurehead. He is literally a titular King used as a
plot device to set various scenes. Often he is little more than
a companion, guide, or observer.
The quest is not about Arthur. It is about achieving en-
lightenment—a kind of Celtic Nirvana—and the process one
should undergo to achieve that enlightenment. The real ac-
tion of this drama is in the quest itself and the triad of power
between the three knights, the triple spiral of energy rotat-
ing around King Fisherman, for it is King Fisherman who
holds the final Grail secret. Bear in mind also, that
everything in the Perlesvaus should be taken on at least two
levels at once, probably three. As in Taoism, there is a celes-
tial level an earthly level, and a level of merger, ”Heaven
above—Earth below,” as with all hermetic teachings. 1
The two kingly figures are somewhat more defined if we
see Arthur as the solar king while King Fisherman acts out
the role of the celestial or cosmic king. Here Arthur is the
sun, while King Fisherman might be seen as Cepheus, the
husband of Cassiopeia, both rulers of the Milky Way, both
constellations used by sailors for navigation.
In this scheme, Arthur is merely Sol Invictus, not the cos-
mos per se. King Fisherman represents the entire Universe

1 Hauck, Dennis William. Trans. The Secret of the Emerald Tablet,

Holmes Publishing 1993

225
viz, the cosmological God, the Platonic Tekton and the Ma-
sonic GAOTU or Grand Architect. In the classic shamanic and
Hermetic paradigm, both heavenly and earthly aspects are
needed to understand the contents of the Krater Hermetis.
Again, the process of branching and gradual enlight-
enment, as seen in the structure of the Perlesvaus, points to
an early knowledge of heliocentricity, a secret so harrowing
that the initiate must be brought to it in gradual, ladder-like
steps.
At Branch V, Chapter XI a dwarf mocks Gawain. Later the
dwarf is beheaded, but at this point, the small man (repres-
enting the lesser folk) is not dealt with. Here the initiate’s
path parallels the traditional peregrination of Jesus to Gol-
gotha in that Gawain stifles his anger and trudges on. He
must complete the labyrinth. He is a Christian, but he does
not yet achieve the final ecstasy, he does not become one
with Christ indicating that he is not a Roman Catholic.
This testing of the hero-warrior sequence is a cardinal
Celtic motif and the author is well schooled in all phases of
the Celto-Christian mindset. This alone tells us that a vestigi-
al warrior culture was alive, at least in legends, in the scrip-
toria at Glastonbury in the twelfth century and that it was
probably linked to the earliest version of the Templars. Thus,
we are probably looking at a Templar initiation book, one
that existed before Bernard's servile Roman Catholicism
took over the Templars. 1
In the next tableaux, Gawain drinks from a golden cup at
a fabulous fountain. He thinks this cup may be the Graal he
seeks, still laboring under the assumption that the Grail is a
material object. At this point Gawain is completely unaware
that the cup symbolizes the womb of the old goddess. Per-
ceval sees this later, but Gawain does not.
Our author, portraying himself as the hermit of the well,
corrects the erroneous assumption. As Gawain drinks, the
hermit reveals that the Graal is not a golden cup, as some
would believe. He does not reveal what, exactly; the Grail is,
only that it is not a Golden chalice, not a material object.
The fact that Gawain finds, at least some, spiritual gain
from the Golden Cup, offers a glimpse into the secret mon-
astic ceremony probably enacted at Solstice and Equinox at
Glastonbury and the well therein. Remember that, in an ar-
chaeological sense, all water consumed from the Chalice
Well was sanctified because the original cup used by Jesus
(perhaps a clay or wooden goblet) was supposedly kept
1 The Golden Cup episode warns the reader away from a material defini-
tion.

226
moist in an underground well, known as Chalice Well at the
foot of the Tor. Thus, the hermit of the Fountain would be
the hermit of Chalice Well, a metaphor for the fountain of
knowledge. 1
Finally, the Hermit of the Fountain relates the disparaging
news that Gawain is not the knight who shall finally win the
Graal even though he may be blessed to catch a glimpse of
it. Gawain is rustic and confused by the riddle. He has not
yet transcended his own ego. He thinks the Hermit’s teach-
ing is a rebuff rather than a prophecy and presses on to the
camp of Gurgalain, where he seeks hand-to-hand combat
with the giant of the Castle Green, the Green Knight in other
versions. This symbolizes the constant struggle all seekers
have with the self and with the Green Man, hidden in nature.
To the author and his original audience, the Graal was,
most probably, an initiation ceremony. This rite—a series of
ceremonies performed on auspicious days—took place over
several years, moving though several steps, or grades, pos-
sibly as many as twenty-two (Kabalistic) or thirty-three (Ma-
sonic) stages. The Revelations of John has twenty-two
chapters, by the way, one for each letter in the Hebrew, Lat-
in and Greek alphabets.
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. (Chalice Well)
And:
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner
of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves
of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations. (Isle of
Avalon) 2
In the Perlesvaus, these lessons seem to be set out as
chapters called, 'titles' and 'branches,' as if the book were a
mystical tree—this is an obvious Kabalistic mnemonic device
as seen in Revelations.
In addition to Gnostic Christianity the Perlesvaus, more
than any other Arthurian text, links us to the Megalithic cul-
ture. Gawain battles with the Giant of Castle Green, who is
Orion or Hermes or Bootes, a sky deity as seen from a cer-
tain mound or stone.
There is direct proof of this in literature. William of New-
burgh, who died in 1198, a younger contemporary of Henry
Blois, one of the most respected historians of the medieval
era, in his scholarly work on pre-Christian survivals in Eng-
1 Exploring Chalice Well, Pamphlet, Glastonbury
2 Rev 22:1 & 2 KJV

227
land, relates a tale, linking Henry Beauclerc—and his neph-
ew Henry Blois, by association—directly to the mound cul-
ture and the shamanic magic of the Neolithic mound build-
ers. The story goes as follows:

Variation 1

A farmer, walking (riding) home from market, passes

an ancient fairy mound. From inside he hears people
celebrating and singing. He decides to peek in, finds a
tunnel in one side of the mound, and follows the noise
and flickering lights. Inside he finds a modest cavern
brightly lit with lamps and candles where men and wo-
men are sitting in the round as if at banquet.

The man, who seemed to be the leader, asked the

farmer to come in and offers him a cup of (cider)
scrumpy. The farmer takes the cup, but does not drink
from it. Instead, he gradually pours the liquid out and
secrets the cup in his jacket.

By the next light of day, the squire sees that the cup
was of exquisite artistry, with many mysterious designs
wrought upon its edges.

Since the king was known to be fair in such matters,

the farmer made his way to the royal court and begged
the King’s council. To the farmers delight the king took
the cup in exchange for a very large reward. 1

A more rustic version of the ‘stolen fairy cup’ legend is

localized at Willy Howe, a large megalithic barrow, now a
clump of trees by the roadside, near Wold-Newton in Hum-
berside, formerly East Yorkshire. The name of the legend
even took on the name of the mound in this case. Here
again we run into William of Newburgh who was born nearby
and must have heard the tale as a child.

Variation 2

1 Stevenson, Joseph. Trans. The History of 'William of New-

burgh' (1066-1194), LLanerch Press, 1996. p. 448

228
 A village man, riding home drunk late one night,
heard singing and laughter coming from the fairy
mound; then he saw an open door, and people feasting
inside. When a servant came out and offered him a
cup, ‘he wisely forebore to drink, but, pouring out the
contents, and retaining the vessel, he quickly
departed,’ pursued by the furious guests.

It was a vessel of an unknown material, unusual col-

our, and strange form. The cup was later offered as a
great present to Henry the Elder, King of England, and
then handed over to the Queen's brother, David, King
of Scotland, and deposited for many years among the
treasures of his kingdom; and, a few years since, as we
have heard from authentic relation, it was given up by
William, king of the Scots, to Henry the Second, on his
desiring to see it.

Gervase of Tilbury knew a similar story about a mound in

the Forest of Dean where thirsty travelers were offered drink
in a jeweled horn ‘such as was used among the old English’,
by a silent servant; eventually, a knight stole the horn and
gave it to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who then gave it to
Henry I.1

Variation 3

There is yet a third version allegedly attached to Rillaton

Barrow in Cornwall, and purporting to explain a prehistoric
gold goblet found in 1837. This goblet is now in the British
Museum but no story about it was offered until 1899. A Vic-
torian antiquarian claimed it was used by King George V as a
shaving mug. However, the goblet is obviously a Celtic ves-
sel looted then lied about to cover up the theft making the
Georgian provenance dubious. Even so, we see the same
pattern, to wit, a fairy cup (Grail) is associated with a mound
or well or fountain. It is stolen then given to a king. 2

Variation 4

The Victoria and Albert Museum displays a gilded glass

beaker, dated from the first crusade. How and when it
reached England is unknown, but some Georgian reports
claim it was donated by the Musgrave family of Edenhall in

1 Westwood, 1985: 25-6, pp. 350-2 .

2 Baring-Gould, Sabine. Stories of the West. Cornwall, 1899

229
Cumbria. In 1791, an article in The Gentleman's Magazine
tells a tale with echoes of the Elucidation and the Willy-Howe
legend:

Tradition … says, that a party of Fairies were drink-

ing and making merry round a well near St, Cuthbert's
well; but, being interrupted by the intrusion of some
curious people, they were frightened, and made a hasty
retreat, leaving the cup in question. As they ran one of
the fairy folk shouted out:

If this cup should break or fall.

Farewell the Luck of Edenhall!

Two other families in Cumbria keep heirlooms called

‘Lucks’: a glass bowl at Muncaster, said to have been given
by the saintly Henry VI; a brass dish at Burrel-Green with a
Latin inscription, allegedly given to the family by a fairy
witch.
Notice that all of these variations, and the Gawain adven-
ture in the Perlesvaus, all have one theme in common, the
drinking vessel once belonged to fairies or pagans who used
it in a libation ritual of some kind. The cup then falls into the
hands of Christians who are afraid of it and give it to a King.
These stories all take on the guise of what we now refer
to as an urban legend, or rather a migratory tale, somehow
archetypical and appealing to all people who hear it. In this
case a precious cup or drinking horn was stolen from fairies
and then given to a church, or to a great lord. This would
serve to explain its origins, however whimsical they may be,
and would also cover up any culpability on the part of the
current owners. The superstitious nature of the pagan story
must go back to Neolithic times.
These tales could have credibility throughout England or
Scotland or even Ireland, in fact anywhere the megaliths re-
mained visible.
It is thus not ironical that the Willy-Howe mound and Sil-
bury Hill near Avebury on Marlborough Downs are linked by
both legend and archaeology. Neither Willy-Howe nor Silbury
Hill was ever hollow enough to hold a cavern of any remark-
able size. Early dig results from Willy-Howe report the same
thing and yet they are supposedly linked to the same origin-
al builders (Windmill Hill Culture) and share very similar ra-
diocarbon dates. 1

1 Dames, Michael. Silbury Hill. Thames and Hudson, London, 1985. Origi-

230
 Newburgh's story is about a tumulus, a large one, with an
internal chamber, probably of stone, big enough to hold sev-
eral people comfortably and it must run close to a road. In all
probability, the story points to Saint Michael’s Tor at Gla-
stonbury. Although no cavern was ever excavated there, ru-
mors persist that a large cavern did exist close to the road.
Anyone passing by the base of the mound on the Fosse Way,
a Neolithic road, one of the oldest in England, will see the
modern water pipes popping out. Furthermore, as regards
Gawain’s adventure with the Golden Chalice, there is, to this
day a sacred fountain at the base of the Tor, it is known as
Chalice Well.
Then again, the exact location of the mound may not be
pertinent. The whole story is probably an allegory. The idea
that a group engaged in a cup ritual in the interior of a
mound is proof enough that the Grail ceremony, as depicted
in the Perlesvaus, derives from the mound culture, and that
the legend was known during the time Blois was in charge.
The story also tells us that Beauclerc, apart from being a
generous king, thought the cup, important enough to reward
it finder. In essence, the Cauldron-Cup motif was still alive in
folk legend in 1128, when Blois took over at Glastonbury.

nally, Silbury may have been a chalk white spiral labyrinth visible for
miles in all directions.

231
 Lancelot & Gawain
L
ancelot brings in Bretagne, (Brittany) for he comes
from Lioness, the ancient name of Bretagne, and from
Bretagne also comes the poetry and diatribe of Peter
Abelard, and the prose of Marie de France, the fabled female
poet of the era, a Trouvère in her own right—possibly Marie
of Champagne herself. 1
The lore of Bretagne links the mystery to the legend of
King Mark of Cornwall, the suggested foundation hero for
Tristan and Isolde, who is linked in folklore to Conomorus of
Vannes, home of the giant megaliths of Carnac and Kercado.
In this way, the initiate is receiving legendary material as
well as Hermetic understanding. John Morris first suggested
this idea in his colossal book on the Arthurian era. Many
have rejected his ideas as tainted by his politics, Morris was
an avowed socialist, but he was also a renowned Warburg
Scholar and friend of Frances Yates. 2
The author, of the Perlesvaus, like his inspiration, Ovid,
using his characters as vehicles, brings the reader directly
into the Trouvère world by placing Lancelot in a dilemma.
When Gawain’s story ends, the narration immediately
turns to Lancelot, a second stage of initiation, almost as if
Lancelot is Gawain from another angle.
In Branch VI chapter XXVI Gawain and Lancelot confess
they failed in asking the question. Here the bicephalic Bap-
homet of the Templars appears in conjunction with the
secret oath. The exchange lifts Gawain’s spirits. He is not
alone, but Gawain does not explain that he has seen the
Hermit with the Golden Cup at the fountain. It also implies
that these two tableaux were considered part of the lower
orders and prerequisite for the higher, more developed initi-
ation. The personas of the two knights merge as they sleep,
but Lancelot is determined to push on because his mission
remains undefined.
It bears repeating that Lancelot, the Breton knight, was
able to glimpse the Grail, but forgot the phrase: ”Whereof
serves the Graal?”
The next morning each knight leaves in an opposite direc-
tion without speaking. The eclipse is finished. The amnesia is
gone and the new, more integrated persona is moving on in

1 Warnke, M. Ed. Lais de Marie de France. Oxford, 1944. Vol. II.

2 Morris, John. The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350
to 650. Scribner's. 1973.

232
silence. This, almost existential, silence hints that another
secret has just been told and that a third secret or level of
initiation is yet to come.
The secret, revealed later in the story, a classical tension
producing plot device, will be achieved, after many adven-
tures, by a third knight, Perceval. All three knights run the
gauntlet, all three go on quests, (possibly even the same
quest from different angles) but only Perceval sees the full
radiance of the Grail.
The tricephalic nature of the protagonists representing
the pre Celtic tricephalic God would indicate that the quest
ultimately centers on Perceval (Parzifal in Wolfram’s version)
and that Perceval is an amalgam of the first two knights. In
other words, he is a projection of what might happen if the
two knights Lancelot and Gawain had known the higher
secret, the password. Perceval then guards and leads the
way to what the Freemasons later called the Royal Arch
path, the final realization. 1
In summation the real Grail initiation, is hidden within the
Perceval quest, yet he is engaging in the quest as proxy for
the other knights and the Queen (Circe), for Arthur (Apollo)
and for humankind. Thus we all, eventually, share in Per-
ceval’s transformation or his author’s Ovidian metamorphos-
is, if you prefer. 2
Since Gawain is admitted only to the outer secrets,
however beautiful they may be, and since Lancelot has
chosen an enigmatic course, it is safe to assume that
Lancelot’s melancholia is not depression, as we known it
today, but rather an exalted form of spiritual loneliness,
spoken of by Dame Yates as one of the highest forms of in-
tellectual development. 3
The Perlesvaus concludes with the quest of Perceval. He
sees the Grail more fully, but none of the Knights, fail ut-
terly. They cannot fail in an existential sense because they
are working in a troika for the Fisher King, the alternative
Christ. In Perceval, we see that the trio is really three as-
pects of the same process, and that the Grail cannot be truly
understood without the intertwining of all three quests. The
combination of the three gives us our first insight into the
depth of psychoanalytic inquiry and the savant like abilities
of the author. The three knights represent the trilateral mind
of the enlightened initiate. To fathom this, the author must

1 Jones, Bernard. Freemasons Guide. London: 1950

2 Ovid. (Publius Ovidius Naso) Metamorphoses. Derby, 1857
3 Yates, Frances. The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age. RKP, p.
51

233
have been a student of the doctrine of Hermes Trismagistus
with his esoteric triple crown of stars.
On the first page of the Perlesvaus, the author tells us,
directly, to be aware of the triadic nature of the self, refer-
ring to the trinity as three persons:

The High Book of the Graal beginneth in the name of

the father, of the son, and of the Holy Ghost. These
three Persons are one substance, which is God and of
God moveth the Story of the Graal.

Branch I Title I

Note the author refers to the traditional Trinity almost as

if they were characters in his book and that the three play-
ers are really one. This is correlates to the three knights, and
represents a deep psychoanalytic and theological insight,
stated in writing 750 years before Freud. This epigram is a
key and a warning of what might lie ahead. This is not to im-
ply that the author knew the terms Id, Ego, and Superego,
but the simile is clear.
In the medieval era, the book was probably read aloud
and was available only to initiates, but now the modern
reader is walking the path with each knight. Thanks to the
author’s brilliant style and structure, the journey of each
knight, is as real as life. Gawain is the Green Osiris, Lancelot
is the blue Son, and Percival is the Holy Ghost, the fulfilled
human being.
Naturally, the spiral varies slightly and is recursive, some
times the path is orbital, but usually the path through the
text takes the shape of a spinning triangle or pyramid, as it
does in life’s true quest. As in Psychoanalysis, the human
condition itself is being retraced and examined. The scenes
and dreams scroll by and we interpret them.
It would be fair to suspect that Gawain is innocent and
yet very ancient, hero. His meeting with the Green Knight—
another manifestation of his self—proves this, as we shall
soon see, but he is also a knight of the Emerald Tablets and
Osiris (also green). Furthermore, he seems directly related
to the Irish Setanta, the child warrior born of the ancient
stones, or even the Knight of Wands in the Tarot, but he is
definitely grounded to Earth.
By contrast, Lancelot is a Troubadour representing the
royal Grail stream: as Le Chevalier de la Charrette. Lancelot
works to enrich the Mother Goddess, he too worships the At-
lantic ingredient, the moon and Venus and Cassiopeia, he

234
even falls in love with her, a common occurrence in the ro-
mance of Troubadour courtship. 1
Perceval is the synthesis of the two earlier knights. He is
Perseus in the Metamorphos in the Ovidian manner. This
would lead us to further speculate that Gawain is the Celtic
Knight while Lancelot is the more Greco-Celtic or even
Trouvère version. This means, finally that Perceval is the fi-
nal synthesis of the two archaic folk traditions stretching
back to the Mesolithic period in the west and the pre-attic
period in the Aegean.
Perceval, the only knight who truly sees and understands
the Grail, is the hope of the future, the bloodline knight of
the Sangrael, the messiah to come. He is anything but Ro-
man Catholic and anyone, such as Sebastian Evans or even
Jesse Weston, who thought this book was the work of a strict
Christian, missed the mark entirely. Labeling the work as
Christian is erroneous.
In the Perlesvaus, the Perceval story is more integrated
than Gawain’s, more mature, as one would suspect if he
were intended as a metaphor for a mature mind, but only in
the Perlesvaus do we truly see this maturational process at
work.
Chrétien’s character for Perceval is derived from Peredur
in the Welsh Mabinogi or teaching stories, similar to the
Conte du Fees or fairy tales in the language of the
Troubadours. Although Chrétien and Boron were not psycho-
logists they seem to be portraying the three knights as as-
pects of the same soul. They took inspiration from a book
acting as a common denominator to both, and they may
have been initiated into its cult. Conversely I believe the au-
thor of the Perlesvaus was acting psychologically, a point I
hope to demonstrate in the final chapter.
None of these versions were translated into English until
Evans prodigious work, but the stories are pre-Christian and
amazingly localized to areas around the megaliths, which
Evans never mentions. If Perceval was intended to be the
three-headed hero in an integrated and mature state, as we
presume Baphomet was to the earliest Templars. By seeing
the Grail, he becomes aware of the old stone mounds and
the carvings within them.
The mood then becomes somber. Perceval’s view of the
Grail is as a spectator not as part of the ceremony. It is a
processional, but the true Grail only appears to him when he
is remorseful. Thus Perceval, the perceiver of all things, the
1 This scene represents an alchemical rebirth and is steeped in Dionysi-
an and Neoplatonic symbolism.

235
all seeing eye of the Dagda, similar to the Egyptian Horus, is
really the Atlantic Neolithic architect, the Masonic Hiram
Abiff. 1
Like Gawain, Perceval is a Christian, who probably has
the blood of David coursing through his veins, and he is a
Cathar because he is also a son of the widow, a well-known
Cathar allusion. However, this is not strict fiction either. In
real life, Countess Adela Blois, Abbots Henry’s mother, be-
came a widow in a very odd sequence of events.
Her husband Count Stephen returned to the Middle East
under a cloud of controversy and died at Ramelah, almost as
if he was sacrificed. One year later Henry was born.
By 1104, the original Templars, precursors to the group
formed in 1118 and 1134 by Abbe’ Bernard, were in the pro-
cess of establishing the initiation rituals for their lodge and
expanding their power base from Jerusalem to Scotland and
the Scandinavian countries.
The new popes were powerless to stop the growth of the
Templar and Norman power base, especially in Troubadour
territories. This stimulated the growth of several develop-
ments such as the further rise of the Cathars, the advance-
ment of the Troubadour families and the intermarriage of
certain families, who were more or less opposed to the Pau-
line doctrine in Rome.
Henry Blois grew up at Cluny and eventually learned
everything about Neoplatonism from Ovidian drama and or-
ganic architecture, known as the teachings of the Green
man. It was in this magical era, that the Perlesvaus was un-
doubtedly conceived. 2
In the Perlesvaus, only Perceval, of the three fictional
knights, learns the magical word needed to unlock the entire
initiation. He alone, experiences the radiant green vision of
the Grail rite. When asked, ”Whom doth the Grail serve?” He
answers rightly, ”The Widow.” By this, he means the great
mother, Bo or Boinne, the cow goddess of the mound culture
as well as the Widow of the Cathars. If Blois did, in fact, write
the book, then this is also a reference to his own mother. But
of equal fascination is the fact that every modern Freemason
must swear an oath and dedicate himself to the “widow,” in
that all masons are sons of the widow. Could we be looking
at an early initiation—one that led, eventually to Freema-
sonry?
The Green Man is arguably the oldest and most persistent
1 deHoyos, Arturo and Morris, Brent S. Freemasonry in Context: History,
Ritual, Controversy, Lexington Books, 2004
2 Op cit. Evans, S. Perlesvaus Gawain: Verse 87

236
earth spirit known. At root, the symbol of a face or mask sur-
rounded by vegetation is Paleolithic and derivative from
shamanic folk legend. It was then adopted by the Celtic
tribes all over Western Europe and known by many names,
but most importantly, the green man figure is included in the
initiation structure of the Perlesvaus ostensibly to remind the
supplicants that they serve the old Gods as well as the
Christ. 1
Here then, we are peeking in on a ritual that certain
priests of the Celtic church or Benedictines of the Cluniac
sect, and the earliest warrior knights of the Templars and
Hospitalier probably underwent, even as they took the oath
of devotion to Christ.

1 Anderson, William, The Green Man. Harper, San Francisco. 1990 p. 61ff

237
 The Green Man
J esse Weston suggests the Green Knight as he appears in
the Perlesvaus is a vegetation god, but whenever he is
called, he is, without question, a derivative of the Paleo-
lithic clan shaman. He can be dressed as a tree or, in other
forms, as a stag or even a Bear. The Green Man is also
linked to the severed head cult and is representative of Her-
mes and the Anglo-Saxon, Herne the Hunter. As a knight on
horseback he is a merger between the ancient vegetation
spirit and the Epona Goddess cult, the cult of the Horse.
There can be little doubt that the prehistoric figure of the
Green Man came to England and Ireland, originally from the
Atlantic maritime and Aurignacian era. 1
However the Ice Age legends are not the only source.
Wesson suggests and I agree, that idols like that of the
Green Man, and the green Knight as portrayed in the Perles-
vaus, came to us from several directions. Recent DNA stud-
ies reveal a 4000-year-old protoceltic migratory pattern from
the Iberian Peninsula to Scotland and Ireland that may be
linked to the Phoenicians—the source of Baal worship. Ap-
parently, the Melesians or Sons of Mil arrived looking for tin
and copper, the two main ingredients in the smelting of
bronze. Oddly this took place precisely when the Phoenicians
were cutoff from their homeland in Sidon and Tyre. Thus
several Indo-European vegetation heroes like Gilgamesh,
Tamuz, Adoni, Vishnu, the Sanskrit fish man, and Baal–sun
god of the Phoenicians arrived in Europe in the late Bronze
Age.2
Traditionally the Green Man is a forest spirit, or zeitgeist,
very much a part of the so called, “Fairy Faith,” who roams
through the woods. Like the Greek Pan he is often seen as a
horned man peering out of foliage or hidden in the oak. In
England he is known by other names such as "Green Jack,
"Jack-in-the-Green" and "Green George." Some cultures at-
tribute rainmaking powers to him and he seems to be some-
times linked to the benefit of cows.
During spring festivals in Celtic areas, he comes dressed
in a green leafy costume and he often leads the parade.
Known as Schwart Peet or Black Peter, in Holland he appears
at Christmas tide in the processional with Santa Claus, but in

1 Bradley, Daniel, G. et al. Genetic Marker Systems and Celtic Origins on

the Atlantic Facade of Europe. ”Am. J. Hum. Genet. Aug 2004.
2 McManus, Seumas Leabhar Gabhála, Dublin, 1974

238
that case his face is black, like Osiris, and his garb remains
green and leafy. In the Perlesvaus, the Green Knight repres-
ents this old tradition dressed in crusaders garb and on
horseback.

The name Baal, meaning high place, is found throughout

Celtic areas and is prominent in place names such as, the
Baalsbridge, neighborhood in Dublin, Baltonsburough, in the
center of the Somerset farmland, or Baltinglass Hill, a mega-
lithic site in Ireland. 1
Glastonbury had a great deal of direct contact with mon-
asteries in Ireland. In Neolithic Ireland—long before the fed-
eration of tribes, which we now call ‘Celts,’ the Green Man
appears as Setanta, the hero of the lightbeam associated
with Newgrange and the other Boyne Valley monuments, but
even Setanta is born of an invisible God and an earthly
mother. In this case, Setanta arises from the union of Bolg
and Dectine who represent light and dark.
In the Paleolithic scenario, the parents would be Og and
Magog. The French variation of the male deity would be Oc,
from which an ancient language grew, the language of Oc,
Occitan is the language of “yes” or if we trace it back far
enough the language of the God who gives permission. This
appears to the French as the basis of the place name
Languedoc, or as Occitan, the language of the Troubadours.
2

The teachings of Neolithic astronomy spread with Bardic

influence, and continued through the Roman Era into the
Dark Ages, especially in areas that had not adopted Roman
Catholicism. The Green Man or Shaman King was further
defined as a heroic God who suffered for humanity, as did Je-
sus of Nazareth. Here the cults of Qumran, Nazareth, and
Jerusalem begin to merge the old Gods, which include,
Tamuz, Mithras, and Adonis with the Druidic conception of
the cosmic mother and father. Thus the high druid or sham-
an of the Perlesvaus emerges as The Fisher King. 3
In the Grail literature the Green Man is a symbol derived
from several ancient shamanic cults. Here then, the Mihtraic
Orion forms the basis for the Templars Baphomet. Likewise,

1 Joyce, P. W. Irish Place Names, Dublin Longmans, 1902

2 Faraday, L. Winifred. The Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bo Cuailgne) From
Yellow Book of Lecan. Grimm Library, Vol. XVI. London, 1904.
3 Weston, Jesse L. ”The Grail and the Rites of Adonis,”Folklore, Vol. 16,
#3 Sept 1907, pp 283-305

239
the Dagda—the zeitgeist of the tribes of the Goddess Dannu,
(Tuatha de Dannan)—was often depicted as a god of vegeta-
tion who guarded the mysteries of a giant cauldron dishing
out mercy, and justice. Many scholars agree this cauldron le-
gend was one of the prototypes for the later Grail story. 1
In Wales, before the rise of the Roman Empire, the Green
Man appears as part of the spirit world ruled by Hu Gadran
whose spirit consort Aanwyn has a marvelous cauldron. In
Wessex, he is Nodens of the West Saxons. In various other
parts of Western Europe, he is the Wicker Man, and Cernu-
ous or Herne the fertility stag, who appears in Shakespeare’s
Merry Wives of Windsor when Falstaff dons the shaman’s
cloak and antlers. 2
In that play, which may have been extracted from an oral
original, Falstaff is told to visit Hearne’s (Hermes) oak in the
Windsor forest by night. It is suggested he disguise himself
as the witches God, Herne wearing horns and a stags mask'.
According to Bonser, Herne is, a parallel to Hermes, who
was, according to Ovid, Hecate’s messenger and lover.
Without doubt, all of this came to the monks of Glastonbury
before it ever came to Shakespeare because; the monks had
access to hundreds of archaic books. 3
The Greek Pan and Bacchus cults, both seen as green fig-
ures, exerted a profound influence on the Roman Empire
and through a wider lens as Hermes, on early Christianity.
When the Romans receded from Western Europe, around AD
450, the Green Man remained grounded in the folk dances
and music of what would eventually become the
Troubadours.
Thus, the Green God—in this case Gawain and the Green
Knight— is the surviving totem of the hybridized aboriginal
religion, the organic male force, and the seed provider in the
heterosexual universe.
In a direct link to the Sadducees, the Melchizedek form of
Christianity—the ideal that saw Christ as a Fisher King—
spread along the routes from Alexandria to Western Spain
and France and then on to Glastonbury. In France it became
an integral part of the Troubadour mysteries.
Here we see how the Green God of the Western Ice Age
merged with his own eastern variant. Somewhere in the
Greek and Alexandrian mysteries, Bolg/OG, of the Atlantic

1 Bonser, Wilfrid. Survivals of Paganism in Anglo-Saxon England. London.

1934.
2 Shakespeare, William. Merry Wives of Windsor, Oxford Press, 2000. Act
V, V.
3 Op Cit. Bonser.

240
merged with Tamuz/Adonis of the Mediterranean, both ve-
getation gods, both dedicated to the birth and death cycle,
two wings of the same legend separated by thousands of
years.
The Green Man did not simply pop forward in the middle
Ages just to adorn cathedral columns. During the crusades, a
Green Man was occasional seen as an emblem on the shields
of the Knights Templars. Since the Green Man probably
arose with Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon and with Adoni-
Tamuz or the Baal cult, we can see how he played a vital
role in the Perlesvaus and the Grail legends.
In a compendium of celebrations of fourteenth century
England, we still find the Green Man as a companion of Jack-
O Green, a dancing tree who accompanies the hobbyhorse,
the Morris Dancers and the May Pole during Whitsuntide ce-
remonies. The Green Man as liberator from repression may
be a theme at the core of the medieval Robin Hood legend. 1
In Holland, the Green Man appears as Schwart Peet (Black
Peter) a dark faced groom— the original Santa’s helper—
dressed in a green tunic and jerkins. In many old depictions,
Santa Claus himself is seen dressed in emerald and gold
robes. Dutch children are taught that Klaus, and his Osiris
like shadow, come each year from Spain which is, located
Southeast from Holland as the crow flies. Children in Gronin-
gen, meaning ”Green Town,” are taught that Klaus and
Black Peter come from the ”direction” of Spain. This makes
more sense. Groningen is the modern capital of the Hun-
nebeden culture, an ancient society of mound builders who
built temples, oriented toward Winter Solstice. 2
There are other legendary examples associated with the
colors green and gold appearing at almost every joyful event
—elves and leprechauns leap to mind. Examples of the
Green Man can be seen in wood carvings, stone friezes,
paintings and other works of art left to us throughout Europe
and each example is almost always associated with the Mid-
winter Solstice sunrise and sunset. The Lady Chapel at Gla-
stonbury is also associated with Winter Solstice and rebirth.
Is Gawain the Green Man? Is he the green giant, the em-
erald knight? In other words, are Gawain and the other
knight’s masks for the authors desire to take the reader
deeper into his Neoplatonic (Troubadour) world?
Gawain’s quest begins in the Perlesvaus at Branch II

1 Op Cit Anderson, W. Green Man (ill. ) p. 9

2 Bom, Fritz. The Mystery of the Hunebedden. Deventer: Ankh-Hermes,
1978. See also: East Netherlands Hunnebeden Maps. Deventer: Ankh-
Hermes, 1979.

241
chapter II. He seeks the Grail, for many reasons not only to
chasten himself and achieve the promised vision, but also to
avenge his mother, the widow who has had her lands
stripped by the King of Castle Mortal.
One of the most remarkable aspects of Catharist doctrine
was the worship of the widow, and the idea that the Goddess
had been abandoned. Here, a glimpse of Celtic Bardism sur-
viving into the middle Ages peeks through. Both the Celts
and the later Troubadours were adamant about allowing wo-
men to own and inherit property and to permit women to as-
cend in political terms, equally with men, Eleanor, being the
prime example of this. 1
Gawain is an apprentice, the first of three who quests for
the Grail in the name of the Goddess. He represents a trans-
ition between the old and the new. Gawain is the Atlantic
Stone Age human being in conflict with the complexities of
Indo-European invasion; a Bronze Age man in conflict with
the Greco-Roman world—a Hermetic in conflict with Chris-
tianity. Our anonymous author draws this parallel because
he and his family are plainly in the same conflict, more spe-
cifically the Templar-Celtic church in conflict with the Vatic-
an.
Gawain strives to remain in touch with antiquity, but he is
in constant conflict with an unenlightened power, a patri-
archy that condemns women and hopes to eradicate all
vestiges of natural magic. Thus, Gawain is both himself and
his worst enemy. He is the Green Knight and yet he must kill
the Green Knight. The Green Knight is the Tarot Fool waltz-
ing to the precipice and yet he is the purveyor of the emer-
ald wisdom of Hermes. He quests for the Grail, but doubts
his motives. He is driven by both revenge and curiosity. Like
all humans, he must eventually face himself in mortal com-
bat.
In verse 20 we read:

Arthur and Gawain at the Green Man laughed, yet

two men had appeared ‘twas plain, a marvel beyond
denial. In addition, the Green Knight sayeth: ‘To the
Green Chapel go thou to receive your blows. ’ and upon
his horse all in green he vanished.

If the Chapel Green can be understood as the hermetic

doctrine symbolized by a megalithic grotto, we can interpret
this as an instruction to proceed to an initiation ceremony
that reveals an ancient secret, probably something to do

1 Webb, G. “Fontevraullt,” In: Life of the Spirit, Jan 1962

242
with straight tracks and the megaliths as measurements, as-
tronomical temples and so forth. The next level in the gradu-
al—the Grail rite, must then have something to do with the
old stones.
As seen in the previous discussion, we soon learn that the
Chapel Green is a fairy mound, what archaeologists, at one
time, referred to as a Passage Tomb, and now refer to more
cautiously as a Passage mound. In my earlier work, I took
the liberty of referring to the so called, Passage Tombs, as
Star Temples. 1
At Verse 87 Gawain peer into the protoceltic mounds:

Gawain then went to the barrow and about it he

walked, debating in his mind what might the thing be. It
had a hole at the end and at either side, and with grass
in green patches was grown all over and was all hollow
within: Can this be the Chapel Green, O Lord? Said the
gentle knight.

This is an unmistakable reference to a megalithic mound,

or perhaps Glastonbury Tor itself. By the mid-twelfth cen-
tury, ideas about natural magic were commonplace. Once
hidden in Bardic memory, and first articulated by Erigena,
ideas about living trees and animals with souls played
against ideas, which fundamentalists, even today, reject, as,
‘humanistic. ’ Perhaps this is a hint that Erigena’s ‘Natural-
ism’ was a thorn in the side of Abbe’ Bernard’s Cistercian
movement even before the Perlesvaus was written.
As we have already seen, the quest for transcendence in
the Perlesvaus takes three paths. Each path is portrayed by
one of three apprentice knights as they quest for the sacred
knowledge. Now we see the old tricephalic god in Gawain,
Lancelot, and Perceval, but since we know that the Green
Knight lives inside a cave within a verdant hill—like New-
grange or Glastonbury Tor, we can assume that Gawain is
closer to the Atlantic Paleolithic prototype than the others,
this also means he is furthest from the Christian method. To
assume, as Nitze does, that the three knights represent the
Christian trinity and nothing else, is preposterous.
Gawain is also the most introspective of the three be-
cause he seeks insight into himself as he rides out to meet
the Green Knight. We also know that the Green Knight is an
earthly manifestation of the old Celtic god, Hearn the
Hunter, or Hu Gadran or the invisible Ceridwynn Aanwyn.
This is remarkably similar to Mithras and Orion. From this we

1 Op Cit. Harrison. Cauldron and Grail p. 12

243
can conclude that Gawain is seeking insights into himself so
that he may eventually meet the grand architect of the uni-
verse, or the Green Mother that is the Templar and Platonic
mystery goddess. 1
Gawain’s mother, undoubtedly the old Goddess, in the
Benedictine view, would be the Virge Noir, the Magdalene,
but she could also be the Countess Blois, the actual mother
of Count Thibaut, Bishop Henry and King Stephen. She has
been stripped of her power, while the Graal itself, and the re-
ligion of the Great Mother from which it grew, is in jeopardy.
On his first mission toward the Grail Gawain discovers that
the King of Castle Mortal is covetousness of the political
power surrounding the quest initiation and the Grail myster-
ies. It is implied that he who possess the Grail soon grows
comfortable in a world full of conflict generated by the para-
dox between Roman Christianity and the old religions.
By way of applying yet another proof for the time line of
the writing of Perlesvaux, one could ascribe real names to
the fictional characters. With Castle Mortal defined as the
Vatican, the reader realizes the politics of the Norman-
Thebaudian era and how deeply it was buried under layers
of metaphor. Our original literary genius, (not the later edit-
ors) seems to sense the impending downfall of the Celtic
church and Atlantic civilization that, for him and his family, is
embedded in the Thebaudian-Trouvère tradition. Our anony-
mous author, writing in the first penumbra of the second cru-
sade (c. 1147) has used Gawain’s meeting with the Green
Knight as a plot device to offer a documentary track. 2
If we look at this material as historical truth, it seems pos-
sible enough to fill in the blanks.

Lady,”saith he, ”He is my uncle, albeit I knew it not

of a long time, nor of the good King Fisherman either,
and the good King Hermit is my uncle also. But I tell
you of a very truth, the King of Castle Mortal is the
most fell and cruel that liveth, wherefore ought none to
love him for the felony that is in him, for he hath begun
to war upon King Fisherman my uncle, and challengeth
him his castle, and would fain have the Lance and the
Graal. 3

The idea is speculative, possibly even folly on my part,

but the more I study the Blois family tree the more I sense

1 Neumann, Erich Ed. The Great Mother, Bollingen, Princeton, 1955

2 Stone, B. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight London: Penguin, 1961
3 Op Cit. Perlesvaus, Branch XI, Title II p. 142.

244
parallels in the text. King Fisherman may be the grand mas-
ter, the abbot of Glastonbury, the Pope of the Celtic church.
This could be the author himself, whose uncle might also be
Hughes of Champagne, the Count Palatine, who had the
power of a king and who sponsored and financed the early
expedition to Jerusalem. This same Hugh was forced to grant
Bernard land on which to build Clairvaux.
Good King Hermit might be Peter the Venerable, the
monk and head of Cluny, a virtual king ruling over 2000
monasteries and houses of worship from Jerusalem, to Italy
across France and Spain and in England, virtually an altern-
ative Pope. 1
The King of Castle Mortal could easily, in this context, be
Abbe’ Bernard, who spent a great deal of his energy on at-
tacking the Blois clan, as well as all Cluniac holdings. By ex-
tension, the King of Castle Mortal could be any one of sever-
al puppet popes operating as extensions of Bernard’s doc-
trine, even after Bernard died. 2
The final line then falls into place, since we know that
Bernard did challenge Hughes and the Cluniacs, and did
threaten to dilute their power. Thus, the Lance and the Grail
—in addition to being fertility symbols—could easily repres-
ent the conjoined royal houses of Champagne and Flanders.
There is however much more to discover in the book it-
self. Gawain’s quest not only plays out most themes, but
also tends to link them together. It seems as if the author of
the Perlesvaus, and also the Elucidation, wanted us to see
Gawain as everyman, and ultimately as the author himself.
See Appendix A.

1 Demi-Muid, Pierre le Venerable et la vie monastique. Paris, 1895

2 Jaffe, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, Leipzig, 1885, pp. 823-39.

245
 Gawain’s Quest
G
awain’s quest is not simply one of salvation for him-
self, he must also save the New Jerusalem and the
prehistoric Western religion that he champions. The
old language and religion of the Celts is dying out. The keen-
ing and laments of the fairy maidens and banshee (ban sidh)
are nerve-wracking voices from the shamanic past.
Something more than faith and prayer is required in order
to prevail against massive opposition, but Gawain is stalled
in any course, direct or magical. He quests for the chapel of
the Fisher King, the start and end point of his journey, pos-
sibly the mosaic floor maze at Glastonbury, the hall in the
domain of the Templar Grand Master, but in Branch XI, IX
and XX he is intercepted and is taken aside by another her-
mit who instructs him that he can not be initiated further,
until he masters the secret of the sword used to behead John
the Baptist. In strict Arthurian terms, this is a prototype of
Ex Caliber, but the entire symbolic mirage tells us we are
nearing a deeper level of initiation.
Now, since this sequence appears nowhere else in
Troubadour literature, and certainly not in any of the con-
tinuations of Chrétien, we could leap to the conclusion that
the Perlesvaus came last in the sequence, but there is an-
other reason for its exclusion.
One link appears in the book of Mark:
“And immediately the king sent an executioner, and com-
manded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded
him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, (Plat-
ter) and gave it to the damsel (Herodias) and the damsel
gave it to her mother. In the apocrypha, the sword itself is
brought forth and used to sever the head of Herodias. This,
in turn is presented to her mother, who, upon touching the
head, went deaf, dumb, blind and lame, after which she had
to be bound up with fetters, implying she went mad.
Here we see an interesting lesson being played out. The
sword has magical properties and the head that it has
severed can cause egregious harm. This magical association
takes on a far more mystical, initiatory, component than one
would normally associate with a simple biblical story. It
sounds Masonic, or like something, the Templars would link
to the head of Baphomet in later versions.
Note that Orion has no star defining his head, and that in
fact, he too is headless. This is inherited from first century

246
Gnostic tradition, most notably to the legend of Saint Denise
and his headless wanderings. But, beyond this, the concept
of headlessness, skull worship, and spiritual decapitation is
like the spiral ritual, traceable to archaic shamanism. In this
way, headlessness means the loss of egocentricism.
In Wolfram, the hermit Trevrezent says the names of the
initiates are carved around the edge of the Krater or the
Philosopher’s Stone, and that both men and women can be
admitted. In other words, the true secret of the Grail, the
sword, and the severed head is 'democracy,' a fundamental
Greek concept, which, like Pelagianism, or seeking God by
searching ones own soul, was forbidden by the Roman
church and championed by the Troubadours. The Herodias
story blatantly argues for secrecy.
Thus, the form of Christianity operating at the foundation
of the Perlesvaus is secret, Hermetic, and even Ovidian but
not Roman Catholic. In addition, it seems like seeking revela-
tion through prayer without official intervention is exactly
what Hermits do. One can only ask if this is why we find so
many hermits in the Grail quest fables.
I do not mean to imply that we are looking precisely at
Freemasonry, but the lesson taught in the assembly of ma-
sons as the third degree, the murder of Hiram Abiff, seems
similar to this tableau, which may be a precursor of later
Freemasonry. I am certain, that many Masonic guilds in
Europe, namely those in Holland, do admit women to the or-
der, not just as Eastern Star auxiliaries, but also as master
masons. In fact, the Queen of Holland is a Mason. Thus, this
legend may serve, at least in 12th century Troubadour
terms, to warn men and women equally. 1
This dual practicum points directly to the cult of Mithras
and to the severed head of the Lioncephalic God. It is also a
lesson in something we would now call, “ego death,” and it
appears everywhere the Templars set up shop.
In I Kings V: 1-6. In addition, Vii: 13-15. Hiram is the son
of a Phoenician father and a mother from the Celtic tribe of
Dan (Dannu, Tuatha de Dannan) who was widowed. In the
Perlesvaus under the Old Law, Gawain is Hiram Abiff, the son
of the widow. He is the builder and the blacksmith or Ferrier.
He is green like the forest and foliage, like Tammuz and he
is also the color of oxidized copper. In this way, he is a mer-
ger of the Aurignacian Shaman God of fertility and the Medi-
terranean bronze smelter. Thus, in the visionary mind of the
1 Lidner, Erich J. The Royal Art Illustrated: The Ikonography of Freema-
sonry. Akademische Druck Verlagsanstal, Graz, Austria, 1976. p. 259 Illus
117

247
author of the Perlesvaus, a man who is trying to combine all
contradictions into a working amalgam, Gawain arises from
both the Tuatha de Dannan, I.e., the Bell Beaker Culture (the
mound builders) and the Phoenicians, the most daring of the
Mediterranean cultures.
Hiram is also the maker of the Ark of the Covenant and
the 12-sided bronze cauldron. However, Gawain is depicted
in Perlesvaus, as a wandering hero, deeply influenced by the
heterosexual Atlantic cosmology. Not just the Goddess cul-
ture, but also the fertility cult. He is fair to both men and wo-
men. He, like the Troubadour poets, stands for democracy it-
self.
Saint John the Baptist, the patron saint of the Knights of
Saint John, is consecrated at Glastonbury, likewise the Green
Man is often depicted as a severed head in the form of the
Mandylion, a painted head of Christ used as an icon by the
Templars. 1
For reference, it is important to note that Mithras was of-
ten shown as a disembodied lions head in a blazing sun, as
stone carvings on the hot pools at Bath, England for in-
stance. There the Roman influences are heavily displayed
and yet the solar mask remains one depicting Lugh, the sol-
ar God of the Celts. The referential myth of Saint Dionysus
carrying his head is well established at St. Denis in Paris, and
in Spain, along the route of Saint John, several similar be-
headed characters show up in frescos. More importantly, the
cult of the severed head shows up in full flower at Amiens.
Four severed heads of Green Men hold up an entire spire at
Freiberg Cathedral. 2
In the ambulatory at Amiens Cathedral, the third of the
first four Gothic style temples, along with St. Denis. Chartres
and Durham in England, a frieze reveals the same severed
head motif. Amiens is a Templar design, based on octagons.
Amazingly, the head of a lion stares down on the frieze and
illuminates an octagonal labyrinth from the center of a huge
stained glass window. This window is framed by an inverted
pentacle in the south nave transept. The best time and place
to see this phenomenon is at Winter Solstice sunrise from
the center of the maze, but the center is also illuminated on
Saint John’s Day and by the full moon on certain other days.
Since 2001, Laser lights have illuminated the main entrance
to the cathedral during a forty-minute show, which is held
each night during summer. The south tower also displays
1 Currer-Briggs, Noel. The Shroud and the Grail. Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
1987.
2 Op Cit Anderson, William. Green Man, p 17-19.

248
two sets of Yin and Yang symbols above an empty niche,
and the aforementioned zodiac in quatrefoils on the west
porch. 1
Remember also, that the author of the Perlesvaus was
capable of writing on several levels at once and that he
would have known about this ritual long before Amiens was
built. Any reference in the book could have both contempor-
ary and antique meanings. To heighten the tension, our an-
onymous narrator has the hermit tell Gawain that the sword
is in the possession of a violent king, one Gurgalain, and that
many knights have tried for it without return.
In the next paragraph the hermit, a druid or Bard living in
nature, tells Gawain that the sword is encrusted with jewels
and has a pommel of Enax set by an emperor of ancient
Rome. This brings us again to Mithra and the Mandylion. The
fact that the Bard is informing us provides an insight into the
narrator’s bias.
Mithras is often posed as a lion headed figure with a
crown of stars that, like Saint Michael, holds a sword before
him, a sword pointed down. This analogy could easily date to
the era of Marcus Aurelius, who championed Neoplatonic
ideas, the promotion of women and the Republic.
From these images we can have little doubt that Gawain
is a young Templar or Hospitalier initiate on a pilgrimage
and that he represents the hopes of his family. The emperor
of ancient Rome, the purveyor of the sacred sword, is a
guise for the Pope. The implication is that the sacred sword
should not be allowed to fall into the hands of the papacy,
since, from the Troubadourial perspective; the church is
simply an extension of the old, fascist, and Herodian order. 2
Using another triad, the Hermit of the Fountain tells
Gawain there are three stages of initiation: the external
quest, which can only be achieved by a vow of poverty, the
internal quest which can only be achieved by introspection
(prayer) and the visionary quest which results in a state of
divine bliss, implying that perhaps a mushroom concoction
may be involved. This is almost identical to the lesser and
greater Mysteries of Eleusis. The hermit also reminds the
hero that even if he should return the sword to King Fisher-
man he will only be allowed to witness the true ceremony if
he whispers a secret phrase.

1 I have searched Amiens and Bib Nat. for details on the Mithraic window
and have found none. I hesitate to say that I discovered this. Thus, I in-
vite others to visit the place and check on it. Photos of the window are
very scarce.
2 Op cit. Kahane, Henry and Rene Kahane.

249
 Here the Bardic triads seem mixed with the orders of si-
lence of Saint Benedict, again leading to stages of initiation.
This triadic evolution points the way to modern Freema-
sonry. These three stages of quest could easily have evolved
into the three basic degrees of the Masonic Blue Lodge,
guarded by a secret word, handshake, and signs, leading to
the Fellowcrafts award.
Obviously, Gawain is confused. He can never see the
Grail if he does not fight for the sword, meaning he must kill
his hubris with the power of the Hermetic doctrine, and yet
he is not sure he will have a chance. He has a timid streak if
not an innate fear of death, a sense of original sin that must
be overcome. Reducing anxiety about death is one of the de-
sired results of Freemasonry and is one of the aims of mod-
ern psychoanalysis, so perhaps both cathartic forms are
rooted in this tradition.
As mentioned earlier, Gawain drinks from a golden cup at
a fabulous fountain. Thinking this cup may be the Graal he
seeks an answer within it, but it is blank. The hermit of the
well tells him that the Graal is not a golden cup, as some
would believe, but is rather a book of ceremonial magic, or
the ceremony itself. The hermit also relates the disparaging
news that Gawain is not the knight who shall finally win the
Graal even though he may be blessed to catch a glimpse of
it.
Gawain is confused even further by this information. He
assumes it is a rebuff rather than a prophesy or compliment
and presses on to the camp of Gurgalain, where he engages
in a battle with the Green Knight, referred to also as the gi-
ant of the Castle Green, here we encounter yet another
manifestation of the Green Man. The overwhelming power of
the Stone Age religion, the humiliating thought that the an-
cients figured things out long ago, that the church is sup-
pressive, that the church is wrong in many cases and it is up
to those who would seek enlightenment to stand up to the
church and provide information to the God hungry congrega-
tion. 1
In this one sequence we encounter two beheadings within
a quest for a sword also used in a beheading, more than
hinting at a very ancient origin for the Green Man and
Gawain’s particular quest cycle. Of course, modern critics
disguise this as a Muslim ritual, but the Picts and Gauls—who
worshipped Bran the Blessed—used the severed head
concept long before Mohammed. As stated earlier the giant
1 Maltwood, K. E. A Guide to Glastonbury’s Temple of the Stars. James
Clarke, 1964.

250
with the severed head is really the constellation Orion but it
is also a symbol of rebirth, the ability to rebuild ones own
ego. Here then we have another indication that the author
was a Hospitalier, as much as a Templar, since the Hospitali-
er idolized the head of John the Baptist from their inception
in 1080. 1
The sword revealed in the Perlesvaus is an Emerald sword
an allusion to the Emerald Tablets of Hermes Trismagistus
and here again we encounter the Celtic cult of the severed
head. However, beyond self-transcendence, the sword
relates the reader to the beheading of John the Baptist, an
important aspect in the sequence of initiation leading to the
mysteries of the Fisher King. Here the story reveals that oth-
ers were sacrificed before the Fisher King received his
wounds.
In the ensuing battle, Gawain beheads the Green Knight.
He has thus won the prize that will allow him access to the
higher levels of initiation. Unfortunately, there are dire con-
sequences to Gawain’s achievement. During the skirmish,
the Green Knight strangles the son of Gurgalain, who sym-
bolizes innocence, and kills him. Gawain is illuminated, but
he is also filled with melancholia. With misgivings, Gawain
quits the field of battle, the dead child on his back, the head
of the Green Man in his hand. Here he is the Gaelic Herakles,
carrying the Aion across the sky, another star myth extrac-
ted from the Mithras-Dionysian cultus. He returns the child’s
body and the head of the Green Man to the king, who, al-
though sorrowed by the loss of his child, rewards Gawain
with the sword, bloody at noon (denoting an eclipse) green
as emerald otherwise.
This identical sequence is seen in the bible when David,
on his way to becoming King himself, slays Goliath and
presents the head to King Solomon.
Through his quest Gawain, like David, becomes an initiate
into the cult of the severed head, an ancient Judaic and Celt-
ic institution, but also a reference to sacred geometry and
the astral mechanics of eclipse cycles, all part of the Her-
metic ceremonies and the story of the beheading of Saint Di-
onysus of Paris. It is also Kabalistic in that the story of David
deals with the beheading of a giant with a name hinting at
the image of a skull, as in Goliath and Golgotha, the place of
the skull in Jerusalem, was Christ was crucified.
I could not conclude this topic without also mentioning
1 Smith, L. Toulmin. Trans;”Cartulaire General de l'Ordre des Hospitaliers
de S. Jean de Jerusalem (1100-1310)”by J. Delaville le Roulx. The English
Historical Review, Vol. 15, # 59 July 1900 pp. 567-570

251
the Hebrew parable of Judith’s assault on the evil general
Holofernes, which tells of the beautiful Judith seducing the
General who has just massacred her people, and, by stealth,
cutting his head off with a sword and the assistance of her
maid. 1
This is odd. We have a purely oral folk legend blended
with a scriptural parallel and both stories have to do with the
transfer of power between kings. In the Hebrew book of
Samuel we read:
So David triumphed over the Philistine … without a sword
in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
Further parallels follow next:
David ran and stood over the giant. He took hold of the
Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he
killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. 2
Likewise, after Gawain slays the Green Giant (knight) he
is sworn to secrecy and takes an oath, which, as defined in
the first paragraph of the Elucidation,” takes the form of a
warning as: “the secret no man should tell.” See Appendix A.
3

In the Druidic, sense the inner cult secret has to do with

the solar eclipse cycle and a belief that the sun is standing
still at the center of the planetary system, a truth unbeliev-
able at that time. By realizing that the sun does not move,
the initiate (Gawain) transcends the earthly plane. In the
Kabalistic model, David becomes a King and likewise tran-
scends his boyhood. 4
For both men there are consequences. During the skir-
mish, the Green Knight chokes the son of Gurgalain— sym-
bolizing innocence— and kills him. Like David, Gawain is no
longer innocent.
Again, the deeds of the Perlesvaus tend to echo the Torah
at the time when the first Kings of Israel emerged from rule
by Judges:
As soon as David returned from killing Goliath, Abner
brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Phil-
istine's head. 5
This gives us a hint that the sword is really a shadow
stick, club or a gnomon, or rather a measuring rod used for
building square and true temples, east and west. In Masonic
lore, this sword is used as a theodolite when building

1 Noncannonical book of Judith IV:7ff VIII:21-24

2 I Samuel 50-51
3 Elucidation See Appendix A
4 Op cit. Evans, Branch VI, Title CC
5 I Samuel 57

252
temples like the structures Henry Blois built at Glastonbury
and Winchester.
At Branch V, Chapter XI Gawain sets out for the castle of
the Fisher King. He is mocked like Jesus on the path to Gol-
gotha, but his trail diverges from the traditional peregrina-
tion of Jesus in that Gawain, like a predictable Celt, does not
turn the other cheek. He is a mounted warrior of the horse
worshipping Epona cult—a Templar. This again tells us that a
warrior culture was alive at Glastonbury in the 12th century.
Now that Gawain has achieved the sword, he is allowed to
see the promised ceremony at the castle of the Fisher King.
He is shown the floating chalice and a bleeding lance and
sees an image of a child in the interior of the chalice. This is
a birth-rebirth, death-rebirth vision. It is also a repeat of the
distribution of King Gurgalain’s son in the cauldron, and
again echoes the Irish story of Setanta in the Dindsenchas
translated as the Book of Places.
In another, more visionary context, the image of the child
(DNA) floating in the chalice or cauldron represents the war-
rior overcoming the guilt of battle and the fear of death, a
simile for emotional and psychological rebirth—the alchemic-
al reconstruction of the soul.
That this ritual resides at the core of a secret society is
undeniable. Once he sees the child in the cup, Gawain is
again admonished to keep what he sees secret, but he feels
unworthy, and he disappears. But, does he disappear or
does he transform, as Ovid would have written it? Gawain is
not heard of again by name, but Perceval and Lancelot con-
tinue the quest, as if they are acting as Gawain’s proxies, al-
most as if Gawain’s passion is the quintessential element,
synonymous with the 'process' of the quest.
Scholastic interpretation varies on this point. Some say
Gawain fails and fades other say he succeeds and moves on
to higher challenges in the form of the other two knights, his
other personas. One could also say that. In Templar terms,
he merely splits in two and becomes the Baphomet.
Gawain is thus, the aboriginal warrior hunter, the raw ma-
terial of a future Templar. He does not view the illuminated
Chalice itself, but he can extrapolate its meaning. He sees all
of the Grail Hallows at different points along the way. He
uses the spear, he sees the hermit’s cup, in a dross state,
his sword arises from his family, and he is told about the
crown. Through seeing the icons of the Grail ceremony,
Gawain can now merge with the astral, but to do so he will
need to evolve into a higher being.
Through the process revealed in the Perlesvaus, which we

253
can now identify as the secret book of Glastonbury, Gawain
becomes the shaman dancing in the cave before the
gathered clan. He is in an ecstatic trance. He is close to
madness and enlightenment simultaneously. He exists for
the fertility of the newborn and for the success of the hunt,
but an invisible force also drives him away from ego con-
sciousness. Like Saint George, he frees the damsel of the old
religion from the destruction of the papal dragon who hides
in the shadows. Thus the cave dancer, through his divine
madness, quests for the salvation of his tribe. Through his
initiation, Gawain communicates with the higher world. 1
Thus, no matter how ancient the dance of the Green Man,
it can only be as old as the dance of the Bear Mother. This,
in turn, traces back to the Stone Age, to the dance of Dect-
ine around the stones at Brug Na Boinne an even earlier to
the Ice Age. 2
The monasteries, both in Ireland and throughout Europe,
could not have been erected without knowledge of the an-
cient mounds since some of the stones from the mounds
were used in their construction. In Ireland several of the
huge crosses at Monasterboice were originally curbstones at
Dowth while others were simply built up from the foundation
stones left to us by the megalithic people. This includes Gla-
stonbury and all of the monasteries touched by the Celtic
belief system and all of the priories inspired by Erigena and
the Bardic philosophers.
The Green Man, who is also the embodiment of the Gothic
style, plays a vital role in the philosophy of the Medieval
Renaissance, which is rooted in the Dark Ages, but comes to
full fortune in the 13th century. As mentioned in the intro-
duction, Sebastian Evans, a highly respected British scholar,
translated a manuscript in the Victorian era, then housed in
Brussels. It was called the Perlesvaus, but he renamed it The
High History of the Holy Grail. As mentioned in the intro-
duction, very little is known about the Brussels manuscript
except that it is a copy of an earlier book written by
someone who can only be described as a great literary geni-
us—a genius, who chose to remain anonymous. Again, this
genius was probably Henry Blois, Abbot of Glastonbury, and
nephew of King Henry I, brother of King Stephen and young-
er brother to Theobald, count of Champagne.
Remember, Blois was the grandson of William the Con-
queror and his mother was very much alive at Marcigny con-
vent, in 1136, when Stephen took the throne. She died a
1 Neumann, Eric. The Great Mother, Bollingen, Princton, p. 73.
2 Op Cit. Tain Bo Cullange

254
year later. The advocacy of the crusaders in the first crusade
and the avowal to quest for perfection indicates that who-
ever wrote the Perlesvaus was probably a Norman by decent
and possibly a Benedictine, (not a Cistercian) by training. All
of these criteria apply to Henry Blois. 1
Because of its invalid authorship sequence, the Perles-
vaus is thought, by many authorities, to be an unimportant
redaction or extension of Chrétien d Troyes work, but I as-
sert that the body of the Perlesvaus is very old indeed and
may prove to be the oldest 12th century Grail source. 2
The deeper we penetrate into the book the further we
move away from Roman Christianity and toward Celtic and
Troubadour sensitivity and the more we research the roots
of the book the more we realize it is structured not just in
branches but in layers, that it is the manifestation of a deep
and complex mind making it far more grand than anything
written by a 13th century court scribe. Again, there is only
one person privileged to all the details and sources, who
could have written it.

1 Op Cit. Lo Prete, Kimberly

2 Owen, D. D. R Trans. :”Chrétien DeTroyes: Arthurian Romances”Every-
man Library, London, 1987

255
 The Book in Arthur’s
Grave
O
n the last page of the Perlesvaus, an editor, not the
author, tells us exactly where the book was written,
but for some reason Nitze, and other modern schol-
ars, persisted in thinking it was written on the continent in
Troyes or Paris.

The Latin from whence this history was drawn into

romance was taken in the Isle of Avalon in a holy house
at the head of the Moors Adventurous there were King
Arthur and Queen Guenevere lie.

This comment, seemingly written after the discovery of

Arthur’s grave in 1180 tends to give the book an erroneous
date. It is true that the book was written at Glastonbury, but
it was written long before the gravesite was found, or might
we say, “invented.” Nitze, and his followers, assume that
this editor’s comment somehow pinpoints the date, but the
reference could have been written by a much later redactor
at any of several patronage courts in France. More import-
antly, we now know that the whole process of discovering
Arthur’s grave and the grave itself was a medieval debacle,
a hoax.
Here we are told it is a history, as if it is true and yet we
know it contains a great deal of mythology. This, to me,
sounds like the author is hiding true elements within the le-
gendary prose. It also hints that the original 'language' came
from Latin and was translated to French later. Although no
copy of the Latin book has ever been found, it remains ap-
parent that if such a book did exist it would have been con-
nected to an ecclesiastical source, probably Benedictine
Furthermore, the editor implies, the book was not written
with a pen per se. He implies a scribe ”took” the Latin. He
does not say he wrote or scripted it, rather he says it was
”taken,” meaning it was copied or more precisely, dictated.
He also makes it obvious that this dictation was conducted
at Avalon, at a “Holy House.” Glastonbury is the only place
that fits this exact description.
The editor here, whoever he is, wants us to know that this
entire process: the writing, the story source, and the distri-
bution, were done at and from Glastonbury. Why go to all
that trouble just to be sure the readers would notice Glaston-

256
bury? In other words, in the mind of the original author, Gla-
stonbury was the castle of the Grail secret, but also his
private chapel. Again, there can only be one man who could
realistically harbor this vision, but what is it about Glaston-
bury that binds the secret of the Grail to him?
By defining the Isle of Avalon as the repository of the
Grail, the birth place of Arthur’s legend and Guinevere’s leg-
acy, he implies it is also the place were the Alchemical Wed-
ding takes place, the place were the merger of sun and
moon occurs. To him, and his brethren, Mary Magdalene and
Jesus lie here disguised as Arthur and Guenevere. He reiter-
ates the Grail theme mentioning that the graves of the God-
dess and the Fisher King, two halves of the same principle,
lie at the holy house at the head of the moors adventurous.
However, by mentioning this burial site, the editor dates the
inclusion of his commentary and its final insertion, to a date
twenty years after the death of Blois, I.e., circa 1192. The
added paragraph does not however, mention ‘when’ the
book was written.
Gerald of Wales tells us:

It was above all, King Henry II of England that most

clearly informed the monks, as he himself had heard
from an ancient Welsh Bard, that they would find the
body (of Arthur) at least sixteen feet beneath the earth
not in a tomb, but in a hollow oak. 1

Here we can again link the tradition of the Grail to a

Welsh Bard (Druid) one still operative in the 12th century
and a Bard powerful enough to sell the king on a fairy tale.
Not only did this so called, “Bard,” know were to dig for the
grave, he knew how deep to dig and he knew the treasure
would be encased, appropriately enough, in Oak. Does this
not indicate recent information? Does it not indicate that the
Bard had some direct and inner knowledge? Was not the oak
hollow a Druidic touch?
Moreover, the whole issue surrounding Arthur’s grave
sounds like a concoction, what we would now refer to as an,
“Urban Legend.” Why did the Bard tell only King Henry? How
long did the Bard possess the information? How did the Bard
know about the gravesite and was he the only one who knew
the location? Finally we must ask rhetorically, was there ever
even a messenger? Perhaps the Bard was a simple gloss to
justify King Henry’s ambitions. And finally, may we enquire

1 Gerald of Wales. Liber de Principis instructione “c. 1193. Also: Specu-

lum Ecclesiæ, dist. ii, cap. ix

257
politely if the king himself might have been duped?
Again, it sounds like Blois was part of the plot, if not the
mastermind, at least twenty years earlier. One of the most
recent theories, presented by Karen Han in Arthur the God,
indicates Blois took his information from notes left behind by
prior abbots including—possibly even originating with—Saint
Dunstan. This would make sense since the lead cross, in-
cluded with the coffin, was engraved in 10th century Anglo-
Saxon letterforms. Perhaps the bodies were authentically Ar-
thurian, perhaps not, but it seems likely they were, excav-
ated, at least tentatively, and reburied, for reasons we may
never understand.
It also seems odd, that no one has seriously challenged
these events even up to modern times. We have several
writers who called it a hoax, but no one who ever did the
due diligence to expose it and the motives behind it. There
may be deeper reasons for pulling off such a fable; reasons
that rise above money… perhaps someone wanted the
ghosts of Arthur and Guinevere to perpetuate themselves.
Then there is the thought that the Troubadours and mystics
at Glastonbury, in that era, agreed to keep the pagan issues
alive in the face of church tyranny. The other shrines at Gla-
stonbury are prima facia Christian, although Saint Bridget
was often coupled with the Triple Goddess, but Arthur, with
no sainthood to link him to the church in Rome, actually rep-
resents a god traceable to the Ice Ages. 1
That Blois left his stamp on the whole gravesite scenario
is indicated by events that occurred after his death, It was
almost as if Bishop Blois was orchestrating the events of Ar-
thur’s Grave from within his own grave.
I sense that the wardenship of the gravesite and the man-
date to dig it up was left by Blois to his nephew, Bishop
Henry de Sully. Henry de Sulley was the abbot of Fecamp
and made a failed attempt to repeat his uncle’s success at
becoming a Bishop and Abbot at the same time. This politic-
al maneuvering, however flawed, indicates that the
Thebaudians were setting up a subversive dynasty even un-
der the Anjevin regime. Then too, we must look to Queen
Eleanor in exile.
Oddly, no architects seriously took the helm at Glaston-
bury for the 19 years between Blois and de Sully. The monks
who came after Blois were appointed, but were not daredev-
ils. De Sulley, on the other hand, as a friend and cousin of
Richard Lionheart, may have enjoyed the king’s largesse.
1 Harrison, Hank, K. Han: Arthur the God, Arkives Press, San Francisco,
p158, 2009

258
 William Dugdale, in his usually accurate history of the
monasteries of England, reveals how closely the coconspirat-
ors worked:

Henry Sully was the abbot who worked secretly with

Henry II Plantagenet to "discover" the spurious remains
of King Arthur and Queen Guenevere on the grounds of
Glastonbury. 1

Most recently, the highly praised historian, Norma Lorre

Goodrich distorts the story. She claims three monks dis-
covered Arthur’s grave in 1190 and that they asked William
of Malmsbury to witness their find. The only problem here is
that Malmsbury (d. 1143) had been dead for several decades
by that time.
I believe Ms. Goodrich made a common error by confus-
ing Malmsbury with Gerald of Wales (Geraldus Cambrensis).
If so our point is proven once again. We know Gerald was a
friend of Bishop Blois’ and that he was alive when the grave
was opened. In fact he was called, by de Sulley as a witness
and wrote extensively about what he saw, or rather, what he
was shown by de Sulley who was, by that date acting as a
de facto docent and flack man. 2
So then, de Sulley, using Geraldus as a mouthpiece, tells
us what his dead uncle, the old Bishop, wants us to know. To
wit, a British hermit, sometimes described as a Druid,
traveled to France to tell King Henry II about the discovery
and that upon hearing about Arthur’s grave, the King
jumped on his horse, took to the sea and crossed the chan-
nel as fast as humanly possible. This sounds apocryphal and
leaves out the possibility that Queen Eleanor, recently re-
leased from captivity in the fall of 1190, had a hand in the
process.
In all probability, the king’s surprised reaction is pure in-
vented story, and stands as yet another example of historic-
al gloss applied anonymously to every legend surrounding
Glastonbury and the Arthurian stream. Henry, no matter how
drunk, and being a practical man, would not have run off
alone on a white stallion, on the word of a Druid, and he
would have taken counsel before debarking across the chan-
nel. Moreover the Kings cross channel journey of 1190,
would have been fairly well impossible since Henry Planta-

1 Dugdale, Sir William, Monasticon Anglicanum (3 vol. , 1655–73).

2 Goodrich, Norma Lorre. King Arthur. Harper and Row, NewYork, 1986. .
p122

259
genet died 6 July 1189!
Further, we cannot rule out the probability that the grave
discovery scenario was a boon to the spiritual souls and a
sacred swindle to attract royal travelers and the donations of
pilgrims. It may also be a late fusillade in the battles
between the Cluniacs and the Cistercians, since, by 1190 the
Cistercians were raking in most of the pilgrimage money
available, leaving very little for the Cluniacs in their denoue-
ment.
Almost a century later, to further his own goals, King Ed-
ward I (1278) resuscitated the story and had “Arthur's
Bones” reburied in a marble tomb inside the now rebuilt
Gothic abbey. Unfortunately, Edward’s historians, who claim
the King was drawn to action by a vision, further obfuscate
the story.
From all of this we can see that the Perlesvaus was prob-
ably written sometime before the discovery of King Arthur’s
ersatz grave, and sometime before the death of Blois. Thus
it is entirely possible that Abbot Blois had the last laugh. I
speculate that our shy monk envisioned a time when a disin-
terment would be necessary, if for nothing else then for rev-
enue, and set out a plan, articulated through his nephew, for
the digging up of the bones originally placed by Dunstan's
men several centuries earlier.
Geraldus also tells us that the two obelisks (Pyramids)
located near the Arthurian grave held clues, but he does not
go into detail. Other sources tell us that the clues were prob-
ably cryptograms built from the names of saints and abbots
buried in the yard. This might also be a list of bloodlines of
Abbots who held the post for, by all means, and quite pos-
sibly, the head Abbot of Glastonbury would naturally become
the Pope of the outlawed Celtic Church…the king of the New
Jerusalem in the west, the “Fisher King.” That is the Fish-
erking featured prominently in the Perlesvaus.
As deep as this sounds there is an even more mysterious
aspect to the story, because, suddenly, in 1188, only one
year before he died, perhaps to atone for the murder of
Thomas Beckett, Henry Plantagenet, who, loved Trouvère
entertainments, but feared the power of the Thebaudians,
spent a fortune rebuilding Glastonbury using maps and plans
left by Henry Blois, plans which miraculously escaped the
fire.
We can speculate why he did this. First, although he was
estranged from Eleanor he feared and respected her even
while she was incarcerated. Thus, one could easily assume
he was operating at the urging of his wife and her sons—

260
Eleanor was, least we forget, a mother-in-law to two Blois
lords, the wife of two kings and the mother of two more. She
also developed marriage liaisons for her relatives and grand-
children as far away as Spain and Po
Arguably, the king was a good executive and needed to
recoup his expenses. One doubts he was really trying to se-
cure a place in heaven for his immortal soul, since he could
have done that quite easily by sparing Thomas a Becket.
There is, of course, the possibility that the Becket affair
came back to haunt him, emotionally and politically for his
entire life. For the remainder of his reign, his wife and his
sons paid him little respect.
More than likely, the reconstruction of Glastonbury was a
scheme to make everybody happy. Wealthy nobles rushed
to follow the King’s subscription and a long list of spectacles
came back to Avalon. Money flooded in and much of it went
to Rome, a tithing that had dried up significantly under
Stephen and the Blois administration. In addition, the shrine
of Saint Dunstan, came from its centuries long repose at
Canterbury to be installed at Glastonbury and other relics
followed to draw pilgrims.
Unfortunately, only a few weeks after the dedication of
the Lady Chapel, which is essentially the Grail chapel, King
Henry II died and the funds began to dry up.
The medieval author of the Perlesvaus brings up another
irony. If Arthur and Guenevere were real people, why were
they, and only they, buried in the center of the nave of mon-
astery church the size of a cathedral, one of the largest and
first of its kind ever built? Were they symbolic of an astro-
nomical merger? Was the center point at Glastonbury a
labyrinth—sacred spiral leading to the top of the Tor itself?
We know there was once a radial mosaic at Glastonbury,
one with zoomorphic figures inlaid in it. At Amiens, this same
location does display an octagonal mosaic and at Chartres,
this location displays a labyrinth built in a perfect circle. In
both cases, the light from the windows shines down on the
labyrinth. Could this spot have been reserved for Arthur’s fi-
nal resting place? Were the bones found in the monks grave-
yard moved to this spot for a specific purpose?
The Brussels manuscript, bound with the Didot
manuscript (named after the famed Parisian publishers of
the 18th century) also known as La petit saint Graal, was ori-
ginally penned in Latin and is at least two writers removed
from the original script. We know this because the editor,
writing on the penultimate page, tells us that the original
work (the source book for the Perlesvaus) was, Drawn in

261
Avalon. This means the book was sketched, rendered, or dic-
tated into Romance in Glastonbury. In other words, it was
both “taken “and “drawn “ meaning redacted from a Latin
source in Glastonbury—let us not quibble now about the ex-
act location of Avalon—and constructed into “French Roman
a clef,“ a fictional style based on real characters and events.
This means Boron’s version and the Didot text were made
less prolix than the original. However, this very wordiness
distinguishes the Perlesvaus as an earlier version. Why? Be-
cause after its greatest patron died, the scriptorium went un-
funded. 1
We have seen that Boron used a source book, written in
monastic Latin and probably slightly before his time. This
would mean before 1180. Blois died in 1171 and his Perles-
vaus, I assert was finished around 1165. We can assume the
original book was composed before the discovery of he
grave of Arthur and Guenevere, bogus or otherwise. This
places the publication of the book used by Boron toward the
end of the Blois regime at Glastonbury, although the actual
writing of the book must have been completed earlier.
We can thus conclude from internal evidence and schol-
astic pursuit, that the Perlesvaus was probably a monastic
initiation manual, designed to indoctrinate monks or knights
or both, a book handed down (distributed) within powerful
Templar-Trouvère families and possibly throughout the Clu-
niac system.

T
here is one other hint that may prove the Perlesvaus
as the work of Henry Etudes Blois. Forty years after
Blois died, after the slaughter of innocent families in
the precincts of Toulouse and Albi in Southern France, c.
1210, public demonstrations of Hermetic pageants disap-
peared, but not entirely.
The text of the inquisition gives hints that the rituals of
the Manicheans, the Cathars and the Albigensians, (different
names for the same sect) were similar to the ceremonies
conducted, thousands of years earlier, in the grottos of Her-
mes and Eleusis near Athens and in the Star Temples of Ire-
land and Bretagne, and that all of these were well docu-
mented in the libraries of Cluny and its far flung extensions.
We can assume at least some of these books came to the

1 Skiles, Dell, Trans. In: The Romance of Perceval in Prose: Didot Percival,
(petit saint Graal) Seattle: 1961, pp. 43-48, and pp. 66-69

262
abbey through the bequeaths of the sainted abbot, Hughes
Semur. 1
It now remains only to answer how the interwoven Grail
story arrived at Glastonbury from Cluny. We thus need to
ask what political wavelength arose from Cluny that could
broadcast such an awe inspiring global tradition and why is
Henry Blois enshrined there laying next to Peter the Vener-
able. Moreover, why is Blois enshrined at both Cluny and
Winchester? Moreover why is Blois enshrined also at Iving-
hoe village church?
Cluny Abbey was located, both in time and place, at the
crossroads of the Troubadour and crusader world. A place so
situated might hold many of the answers to the riddles left
to us by Henry Blois at Glastonbury, but unfortunately, like
Glastonbury, the once magnificent edifice exists only as a
shell. Over the centuries, it has been attacked, torn down,
and ruined to the point of abject sorrow. If you were to visit
Cluny today, you could never imagine that it was once the
most magnificent abbey in Europe. 2
It seems obvious to me that someone was systematically
trying to do away with the Troubadour revolution and all of
its reminders. Most of the cathedrals, based on the
Troubadour variants of Christianity, even Chartres, in its
Romanesque form, were burned down, or reduced to mere
shadows. However, it seems apparent that Abbe’ Blois saw
this denouement coming, was deeply saddened by it, and
set out to do counter the coming destruction.
Blois returned to Cluny shortly after King Stephen died
and after Henry II took away most of his estates. He stayed
at Cluny for at least two years; presumably to be with his ail-
ing mentor, Peter the Venerable.
Pierre Maurice de Montboisier was born in Auvergne,
France, between 1092 and 1093 and died on Christmas Day,
1156, at Cluny. He must have been a child prodigy because
he came to Cluny to enter his apprenticeship at seventeen
(c. 1110) under Pope Paschal II and, in less than twelve
years (1122), he was elected Abbot with the approval of
Pope Callixtus II, the same Pope who sanctified Saint David
of Wales.
Callixtus only held power for six years after which, Hon-
orius, II, promoted by Bernard, took over. According to Bern-
ard, the Cluniac system, under Abbot Pontius, had grown lax
and wanton, especially in serving the poor.
1 Lorain, M. Hist. de l'abbaye de Cluny , Paris, 1845. BN
2 Conant, K, Mediaeval Excavations at Cluny, Speculum, Vol. 17, No. 4
(Oct. , 1942), pp. 563-565

263
 As the debate continued, Peter, accepting of some criti-
cism, made cleaning up the order a priority. He published
strict rules of conduct, still not as strict as Bernard’s, but
more specific than the earlier rules of Cluny. Silence would
be kept at meals, but the pursuit of art and music would con-
tinue.
In the midst of these reforms, Pontius, (the previous ab-
bot, also known as Pons) saw an opportunity to sue for rein-
statement by force. According to most historians, Pons was a
self-serving “slacker“ who had been banished to Jerusalem. 1
After a bitter period, which included a few military skir-
mishes, Peter emerged victorious and reinstated his rules of
conduct. Pons died the next year. However, this monastic
militarism hints that more than a few monks of Cluny pos-
sessed military training and may have been linked to the
Hospitaliers at an earlier period. This is a point to consider
when evaluating Bernard’s involvement with the Templars.
Bernard was, for example, convinced that the famous
sculptures of Ghislebertus and other masters at Vezelay
were too distracting. He made special mention against the
wearing of rings and jewelry and found the pillars at Vezelay,
dedicated to musical tones, sacrilegious. 2
Abbe’ Bernard felt monks should not embrace art as sac-
red; a plain reliance on geometry without decoration was all
he could tolerate. Everything else was too lavish, too volup-
tuous. He begrudgingly admired the artistic splendor of the
Romanesque order, but eschewed the old school when de-
veloping Clairvaux, with its low colonnades in the Italianate
style. There was never any attempt to gain an interior heav-
en on earth. The only luxury in the Cistercian style might be
a fountain in a garden.
Of course, Henry Blois, and his extended entire family,
sided with Cluny, with Peter and with the organic Gothic or
“French style,“ the essential aesthetic sung about by the
ubiquitous Jongleurs at the hub of the Troubadour Revolu-
tion. This manifested itself in writing and prose in many
ways and eventually evolved, into the 13th century as L’ En-
terlace style of prose. 3
Montboisier, Bernard of Cluny—Bernard of Morlaix, not

1 Cowdrey, H. E. J. “Two Studies in Cluniac History, “1049-1126 In: Spec-

ulum, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Oct. , 1980), pp. 786-787
2 Constable, Giles, Letter of Peter the Venerable to St. Bernard of Clair-
vaux, #111, from, Letters of Peter the Venerable, 2 vols. Harvard Press,
1967.
3 Baldwin, John W. “The Image of the Jongleur in Northern France. “Spec-
ulum, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Jul. , 1997), pp. 635-663

264
Bernard of Clairvaux—and Peter Abelard were direct influ-
ences on Blois and all four, at different times, expressed
skepticism toward Abbe’ Bernard and his political intrigues.
Undoubtedly, Peter learned about the searing fires of
politics early in life, and remained aloof thereafter. In 1130,
just as Blois was being elevated to the Bishophric of
Winchester, Peter, already Abbot of Cluny for eight years,
took the first steps to acknowledge Gregorio Papareschi (In-
nocent II) against Anacletus, Cardinal Pietro Pierleone, his
rival claimant.
In the end this foray might have been a mistake since the
elevated Innocent became a marionette for Abbe’ Bernard
all of the power he could ever wield. In other words, Abbe’
Montboisier loaded the canon that eventually killed him and
everything he believed in.
Here we see a bizarre conflict of interests. Peter was a ra-
bid anti-Semite and was probably attracted to Islam and Ar-
abic customs, by the latent anti-Semitism expressed by the
Imams he met in Spain. Sadly, from a modern perspective,
he undoubtedly influenced Blois in that direction. It turns
out, the Pierleoni were one of the wealthiest and most
powerful families of Rome, and had steadfastly supported all
of the Popes throughout the fifty years' war. In spite of this,
and the further fact that Anacletus came from Cluny, Peter
pointed out that he was of Jewish extraction, and that his
family had gained its wealth though, what was then defined
as,“ usury.” 1
Montboisier was an imposing man, standing at least six
foot tall, but with a kind face, a reputation for charitable
works, and a pleasing demeanor, thus his nickname, “the
Venerable.” However, his rapid ascent did not come easily.
Peter’s commitment to quiet justice in keeping with the ori-
ginal, rule of Saint Benedict, is in strong contrast to that of
Bernard of Clairvaux, who often attacked Peter and his mon-
astic order for laxity and hiring serfs to do monastic work.
One example stands out.
Abbe’ Bernard composed his Apologia of 1125 at the re-
quest of Abbot William of St-Thierry. This was supposed to
counter claims that the Cluniacs were being condemned and
attacked by Bernard and his Cistercian reformers. Neverthe-
less, as clever as he was, his Apologia reveals a deep-
seeded mental deformity, which we can now see as tan-
tamount to a pre-psychotic condition. As you read Bernard's
descriptions of the fabulous beauty of Cluny and Vezelay, es-
1 McLaughlin, T. P. “The Teaching of the Canonists on Usury, “in: Medi-
aeval Studies 2, 1940, p. 1.

265
pecially its sculpture, frieze and columns, try to envision his
inner psychology. Yes, he was able to use logic and rhetoric
to shore up his arguments, but his magical thinking peeks
through. 1
Bernard’s aim was to make himself and his order look
good to the powers in Rome while at the same time con-
demning Cluny. His ulterior motive could not have been
strictly based on monsters and gargoyles; he must have
been power-mad and keen to destroying all opposition. It
seems obvious, when we count the extent of his frequent
rampages, that the wealth and power of Cluny was the real
force motivating his ire.
I doubt Bernard was truly mortified. The Cluniacs' over-
indulgence in food, luxurious personal attire, ostentatious
art, and architecture were anathema to Bernard, but the
Vatican was full of similar profligacy. No, something else was
bothering him. I think he was comparing the images at Cluny
to the gargoyles and snakes he saw in his own sensory de-
prived hallucinations.
Bernard uses the carvings on the cloister columns and
plinths to bolster his debate. However, in his condemnation
he is careful to side step the trap of calling all religious art
absurd. He is condemning the presence of gargoyles and
birds as distracting, not necessarily ugly, although he does
call them monstrous.
Throughout his diatribe, Bernard condemns Cluniac aes-
thetics:
…in the cloisters, before the eyes of the brothers while
they read, what is that ridiculous monstrosity doing, an
amazing kind of deformed beauty and yet a beautiful de-
formity? What are the filthy apes doing there? The fierce
lions? The monstrous centaurs? The creatures, part man and
part beast? The striped tigers? The fighting soldiers? The
hunters blowing horns?
He then refers to the symbolism of the severed head; but
he does not understand its symbolism and is repulsed by it.
He is not an initiate:

You may see many bodies under one head, and con-
versely many heads on one body. On one side the tail
of a serpent is seen on a quadruped, on the other side,
the head of a quadruped is on the body of a fish.

1 Brundage, James. Trans. De Consideratione Libri Quinque, II, in Patrolo-

gia Latina 182,: 741-45, The Crusades: A Documentary History, Mar-
quette University Press, 1962, pp. 115-121

266
 Bernard then misinterprets the Minotaur and Centaur
symbols, as if he never heard of such things before:
Over there an animal has a horse for the front half and a
goat for the back; here a creature which is horned in front is
equine behind.
Bernard concludes that these images are distractions, not
mentioning that the very books that explain these oddities
are housed in stacks within paces of the columns and
frieze’s he condemns. He goes on to conclude:
In short, everywhere so plentiful and astonishing a vari-
ety of contradictory forms is seen that one would rather
read in the marble than in books, and spend the whole day
wondering at every single one of them than in meditating on
the law of God.
Here Bernard misses the essence of esoteric architecture.
The onlooker is supposed to look at the symbols, read them,
understand them, and realize that they link man with god in
a very direct manner. In his sarcastically titled, Apologia,
Bernard fails to mention that the Cluniac animals are really
depictions of the constellations and represent the constant
merging and overlapping of animal forms in the night sky.
The venerable Bede dabbled in Star Lore naming the con-
stellation Aquarius as represented by John the Baptist. This
may confuse the layman, but make the reader of the Perles-
vaus, so much more enlightened. These animals, or their
saintly equivalents, as seen in the four evangelic gospels,
were not simple absurdities, but rather esoteric teaching
tools aimed at extending the monks memory, so that they
may better understand astronomy and the Greek, Roman
and Arabic names for the stars and planets. 1
To counter Bernard’s insinuations against laxity of discip-
line, Peter called a general meeting of all Benedictines, at-
tended by two hundred priors and a thousand ecclesiastics—
a virtual army—who unanimously adopted Peter’s enforce-
ment of the Benedictine rule, but this wasn’t enough for
Abbe Bernard, he wanted the whole army, and, with the ad-
vent of the Templars, he got it.
In 1143, a few years after Abbe Bernard’s triumph at
Troyes, Peter took a long dreamt of pilgrimage to Spain and
Compostella, stopping at dozens of Cluniac sister houses
and monasteries along the way. His main goal was to ac-
quire knowledge of Arabic with the intent of translating the
Koran, which he did, again adding to his admiral reputation. 2
1 Allen, R. Hinkley, Star Names, Dover rev. ed. 2004 p. 6
2 Giles Constable, ed. , “The Letters of Peter the Venerable “Cambridge,
1967; Harvard Historical Studies, LXVIII), v II, p. 262

267
 Like Abelard’s admirers in Champagne Peter was also ad-
mired for his kind treatment of the famous poet and
firebrand Peter Abelard, who was as well known, in his era,
as a modern rock star.
Abelard’s star was already crashing by the time Henry
Blois began the ghostly management of his brother's mon-
archy in England, but Abelard's mistreatment surely sent out
warnings to any intellectual who might transgress against
the tyrannical forces building behind Bernard.
Two years before Peter's historical journey to Muslim,
Spain, Bernard of Clairvaux escalated his decidedly anti-in-
tellectual persecutions and saw Abelard as a threat to his
grandiose plans. During a lynch mob trial in 1141—known as
the Council of Sens—Abelard was labeled a heretic a priori
and was not allowed to defend himself or his ideas. His
books were ordered burned and Abelard was forbidden to
write anything else under pain of death. There is some dis-
cussion, that he was severely tortured, castrated and so
forth, but this has never been proven, still he was in sickly
condition when he arrived at Cluny to spend his last days. 1
Fortunately, for modern scholars, the tribunal could not
burn the copies Abelard had secreted at Cluny and the other
Cluniac houses, especially Glastonbury.
In a romantic gesture, one with far reaching overtones,
Peter took Abelard’s body to the Paraclete near Troyes, to be
enshrined by Heloise. This was probably done in preparation
for Abbe’ Peter’s momentous trip to Spain in 1142-1143. 2
By the way, and for those who care to pursue this re-
search further, the Paraclete is located five miles SE of No-
gent-sur-Seine, on the road from Paris to Troyes, close to the
village of Quincey and the River Ardusson. Once there, you
will see that, even in death Abelard and Heloise stir contro-
versy.
Heloise lived on for 20 years (d. 1163) and was buried
alongside Abelard. In 1497, in an act of exhalation, the bod-
ies were moved to an oratory and placed on either side of
the high altar, a position apropos of the founders of any such
institution. In 1621, in an act of demotion they were moved
to the crypt. In 1780, in yet another move, and for further
degradation, the unmarried lovers were moved to an even
lesser position in the crypt. This move was not to last long.
Eight years later, approximately 1789, the now infamous
remains were sent to a small priory in Nogent-sur Seine
1 Clanchy, M. , Abelard, a Medieval Life, Blackwell 1999, p. 245
2 Duffield, S, “Peter the Venerable. A Religious Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. p.
1819.

268
where they were hidden in a secret vault. This penultimate
move was carried out to protect the relics from the revolu-
tionaries, who saw all such interments as reminders of the
old order. This is ironical because, if Abelard and Heloise had
been alive they would have been manning the barricades. 1
That the two were moved again to Paris remains conten-
tious. The curate’ at the Paraclete insists the remains are
still enshrined there, but many tourists still visit the monu-
ment in Mont Louis, which is now known as Père Lachaise.

1 Wadell, Helen, J. Peter Abelard Penguin, London 1987 p. 277

269
 The Trouvère Mind
T
o understand Henry Blois, and his need for anonymity,
one must grasp the tidal changes going on in his family
and in the Thebaudian world in the mid 12th century.
His family and his beloved Benedictines were caught in the
middle of a dangerous social upheaval.
Although fully Norman on his mothers side and partially
Gaulish on his fathers, Henry rose out of an aristocracy that
had been ruling France since before Charlemagne. Both roy-
al lines met in Henry’s heart and almost everyone agreed, at
least at the end of the first Crusade, that the European world
would find equilibrium in this pairing. It would be a melding
of the voluptuous Celt with the serious Viking. It would be a
reminiscent coupling of the old Bardic system with the new-
est science and astronomy.
Benedictine Cluny, which represented the new direction
as much as the heart of Henry Blois, was founded in 909
near Macon in central Burgundy. The house and its order
grew independent with strong leanings toward Troubadour
and Trouvère sensibilities. Donations from Guilluime IX
(Queen Eleanor’s Grandfather) in the late eleventh century
expanded Cluny’s sphere of influence deeply into the soul of
Western Europe.
More than one thousand sister houses sprang up in less
than a century, and every house large and small, was repre-
sented in a kind of dynamic Democritus.
This worked, even when Rome had no influence, because
the Benedictine system was homeostatic, it worked, like
checks and balances, to adjudicate problems on local and
distant stages. Moreover, like Zen Buddhism, the Benedict-
ines were easily understood and their form of Christianity
was practicable. Monks were devout, and yet gentle. They
were contemplative and austere and yet well groomed and
poetic.
Donations from Troubadour and Cathar sympathizers, al-
lowed rapid growth throughout the Cluniac network. The first
Templars, the Templars sponsored in Champagne by Theo-
bald Blois, Henry’s older brother, and Hughes d Champagne
further endowed Cluny and expanded its architectural scope
upon their return from Jerusalem.
Eventually the overall ambiance of the Abbey evolved
from Romanesque to a more eclectic plan. The main sanctu-
ary took on a mosque like look, as if it had been greatly in-

270
fluenced by Arabic architecture.
Cluny’s beauty fueled its rapid expansion and drew world
attention to the nonconformist ways of the abbey and to its
great commitment to art and symbolism. However, the
evolved Cluniac orders of prayer and daily life were not al-
ways acceptable to the Papacy. Under Bernard—and the
popes he controlled—envy and political conflicts brought a
great deal of pain to the monks and nuns of Cluny, who
were, by the time of the second crusade, spread all over
Europe.
When Henry Blois was born, c. 1101, the main buildings
at Cluny were the largest structures on earth with the excep-
tion of the Pyramids. In addition, Cluny was the largest insti-
tution in Europe and comprised more than 60% of the Cath-
olic Church. Not only was it huge, it was benevolent and ad-
optive of the many odd religions it saw at the village level. In
other words, Cluny, in its day, embraced everything from
Druidism in Bretagne to Viking paganism in Denmark.
This tolerance was not acceptable to Bernard, who was,
leading up to the second crusade, on a declared Jihad to
wipe out all laxity. Gregorian Christianity began to reel under
the pressure of permanent and irreversible schisms. By the
time Blois died in 1172, terror squads were replacing the Be-
nedictine sense of compassion. Eventually the Inquisition
emerged with a license to kill-off any competition.
The papacy itself varied from year to year depending
upon the bias of the elected officials. Some were inept, oth-
ers enlightened and still others militant or any combination
of these, but a general sense of corruption was common. To
prevent an overall failure and to better preserve local cul-
tures, certain monasteries, like our modern museums, began
to accumulate private libraries and treasuries, fueled by en-
dowments from local patrons and royal families. Cluny was
perhaps the largest recipient of these bequeaths.
At first, under Abbot Berno, Cluny observed a strict Bene-
dictine rule. Its Troubadour benefactors rarely placed strings
on donations, but song and sport were allowed and encour-
aged. By treaty, places like Glastonbury and Cluny remained
dependent on papal jurisdiction, but, at Cluny, the Abbot
held most of the power. This power base made control from
the Vatican almost impossible and any changes had to be
mitigated under negotiation.
The history of Cluny abbey and the history of the Mer-
ovingian survival are intertwined. It is important to remem-
ber that Henry Blois was educated, and virtually raised at
Cluny, first because Henry proved to be gifted and because

271
its founders were probably blood relatives. Like Chartres, the
hereditary Counts of Champagne also patronized Cluny.
Blois, as a prince of Champagne and as a leading light
trained at Cluny, seems to have arrived in England as a
young man with a mandate to build things. For this he would
have had to train as an architect at or near Cluny. Un-
doubtedly he saw Clairvaux in the planning stages and must
have known about Chartres since his family owned the land
usurped by Bernard, in the name of the Vatican.
His uncle, Henry I Beauclerc, who must have seen
Henry’s giftedness first hand, first defined Blois’ mission in
England. Later, when Beauclerc adopted Stephen to assure a
male successor, Henry’s mandate went even further and,
upon Beauclerc’s death, a seemingly bottomless treasury
came online.
By the time Stephen took the throne, Henry was adminis-
trator, architect of, and land manager for, more property
than all other Bishops in England combined. In other words,
he collected rents from hundreds of farms and sat in judg-
ment over dozens of manors as well as several baronies.
Many of his holdings and taxable properties are listed. This
vast and moneyed empire explains just how Blois acquired
the wealth for so many building projects many of them built
to his design and at his discretion. It also explains how this
humble monk became so familiar with every road and
stream around Glastonbury.
Before Chartres and Clairvaux, Cluny was the largest
monastery in the world, extending its influence far beyond
France, and it was most assuredly Troubadourial and Bo-
hemian in nature. The Cluniac system grew, in less than two
hundred years, to embrace at least two thousand monaster-
ies, nunneries, and abbeys all over Europe. These monaster-
ies followed the high standards of monastic observance, the
Order of Cluny, created by Cluny’s first abbot, Berno of
Baume. The monks and nuns under the jurisdiction of Cluny
followed the Rule of St. Benedict, but they were often
thought of as troublesome to other branches of the church,
because their observance was too jolly, often effusive and
the monks were known for breaking into ecstatic song as
they worked. This joyous kind of observance was not at all
appealing to those dark monks who spent time doing pen-
ance for the wounds of Christ.
In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Cluniacs became
known as rebels. They encouraged the reform of church ab-
uses, and appealed to the Vatican to clean up its act. Most
offensive to the Cluniacs was the lack of democracy seen in

272
such offenses as simony—the holding of multiple church of-
fices or what we would call conflict of interest today—and
the demotion of women. Remember, this is also a key to un-
derstanding the Troubadours. Women, to them, always had
as much power as men. Moreover, the Vatican often ignored
sexual abuses of all kinds and the lax observance of clerical
celibacy, whereas the Cluniacs, like the Cathars, held true to
their celibate status. 1
In architecture, the Cluniacs adopted the Gnostic Basilica
model, a Romanesque, and Vitruvian concept also seen at
St. Denis in Paris. This represented a clear and natural step
between old Romanesque and true Gothic expression. 2
At Glastonbury Blois went beyond the simple barrel vault
and added a second transept and several scissor arches
(which can be seen duplicated at Wells) and side aisles in
the main cathedral. Later architects included a pointed arch
in the vault construction, allowing the nave to elevate to 99
feet. It is thus no coincidence that Blois hired Burgundian
builders and architects, probably from Cluny, to work at Gla-
stonbury. If you will look carefully at the proportions of the
main façade still standing you can see how large it was. 3
This has been confirmed in modern times. While digging
at Glastonbury around 1924, Fredrick Bligh Bond pointed out
that the arches at Glastonbury were Gothic in shape and
size, meaning they were some of the earliest examples of
that form. This is not really as surprising as it sounds. Gla-
stonbury, under Blois, began its major reconstruction just as
Cluny reached its completion in 1130. In a kind of poetic
irony, like Abelard and Heloise, mated over a thousand miles
and many centuries, Glastonbury was an extension, of
Cluny. This may be one reason why both structures are now
in ruins.
It bears repeating that Cluniacs like Henry Blois were avid
supporters of the arts. Sculpture, old and new, along with
friezes, tapestries and frescos (like the fresco of Gildas at
Chartres) adorned many surfaces. Terrazzo and mosaic
floors were common, and some of the monks were allowed
to adorn themselves in the name of God.
The Cluniacs also revolutionized manuscript illumination
and engaged in song and music throughout the hours of the
working day. In fact, so many monks were occupied with
music and the arts that they were forced to hire villagers

1 Doyle, M. The Teaching of St. Benedict, London, 1887

2 Sheed, M. The Glories of Glastonbury, London, 1926
3 Armi, C. Edison. Masons & Sculptors in Romanesque Burgundy The
New Aesthetic of Cluny III. U. Pennsylvania Press,1984

273
who worked alongside the novices, to complete everyday
tasks. These included cooking, maintenance, building, and
farming. By hiring the villagers the Abbey was able to build
upon an inclusive economy, thus to enrich and make loyal,
most of the surrounding hamlets. 1
Henry Blois carried out a similar regime at Glastonbury,
extending the workload to hundreds of farms surrounding
the abbey. Unfortunately, the practice of hiring workers
angered Bernard and he made sure his Templars did back
breaking labor everyday. Blois must have seen the end of
the dream in the antagonism between Cluny and Bernard of
Clairvaux. 2
As stated earlier, the Cluniac order began its downward
spiral when Bernard founded the Abbey of Clairvaux, built on
land donated by Henry’s uncle the Count of Champagne.
Bernard used this development to form his army of Templars
and he insisted that the Cluniacs were too opulent, loved the
arts too much, worshipped God in a manner far too splendid,
spent too much time affixing jewels to thinks and had far too
much time for animal husbandry, gardening and other activ-
ities. His reasoning was simple, 'the lord suffered on the
cross and so should his servants. '
Abbe’ Bernard’s sermons were not simply pointed at art
lovers. Bernard feared and hated free acting women and
with that the Troubadour sense of sexual liberation. In the
process, he often directed his wrath at those who refused to
sublimate their sexual impulses.
Abbe’ Bernard, like the asexual Protestants to come, was
opposed to any activity that took the monks away from
godly devotions. He preached revulsion for the seeming
frivolousness of Gothic design, and castigated the papacy for
excessive expenditures on art. He and Henry Blois would be
in a heated conflict as Blois had, in his own estate, a full me-
nagerie, and a large collection of art and jewels, including
marble busts purchased in Rome during his trips to the Vat-
ican.
Bernard became the cheerleader for the ill-fated Second
Crusade, and his speeches at Vezelay recruited thousands to
march to their death for a cause few understood. The Cister-
cian standard also attracted many tribute houses whose
wealth rivaled that of Cluny, marking the end for Glaston-

1 Lawrence, C. H. Medieval Monasticism: Forms of religious life in West-

ern Europe in the middle Ages. New York : Longman, 1984
2 Migne, J. P. , ed. , Patrologiae Cursus Completus, (Paris, 1854), Vol.
CLXXXIX, p. 116; In: Roy C. Cave, A Source Book for Medieval Economic
History, New York: 1965), pp. 299-301.

274
bury and other opulent Abbeys. There can be no doubt
Henry Blois was caught up in these world-shaking changes.
The Vatican realized it was losing territory even as it was
losing the Holy War, so the Holy War came home. Bernard’s
stoicism was not sparse enough and, as the Inquisition in-
creased in force and influence, the Dominican’s took over
and began torturing people to set examples. Without ques-
tion the Troubadour, ideals held at Cluny continued into Gla-
stonbury. Saint Francis himself was known as a Troubadour
throughout his life. 1

1 Op cit. Gorres, J. Der Heilige Francisckus Assisi, ein Troubadour. Stras-

bourg,1826

275
 A Secret World
F
or a man virtually forgotten by history, Henry Blois had
several profound experiences that may have motivated
him to write the Perlesvaus. By looking at his family
and direct influences, a new understanding of his contribu-
tion becomes clear, especially when we add Cluny to the for-
mula.
First, Bishop Blois of Winchester was possibly the wealthi-
est man in England. He used his own income and that of his
inherited estates in France to build roads and donate to
charities. He built hospitals and palaces with equal merit and
above all, he virtually planned the reconstruction of Glaston-
bury before it was burned down in 1184, almost as if jealous
factions might attack that fabulous house old church, after
he died.
In addition he modified the landscape around Glaston-
bury, controlled aqua culture, built fish ponds in Butleigh,
and flood plains in Mere and planted orchards all around the
twelve hides of Glaston donated by king Ine. He also set-up
villages and farms in Somerset and Buckinghamshire and
built castles, paces and manors as far away as London, Sur-
rey, and the Isle of Wight.
Almost everyone who met Henry Blois held him in awe,
and made remarks about his charismatic demeanor. How did
he become so grand eloquent? The answer is, he was raised
at Cluny, the most beautiful and largest church in the world,
and he knew, from his first days as a cognate child, that his
ancestors had a hand in its construction.
Although the influences absorbed by Blois at Cluny prob-
ably extend to the very first days of the institution, we need
not cover all of that ground.
Odo, probably a direct antecedent of the Blois clan, was
the earliest Blois linked strongman at Cluny. Born in 879 at
Tours, an area of land controlled by the Blois family for cen-
turies, Odo, in retrospect, stands out as a spiritual pioneer.
Odo I was, like Henry Blois, almost a king and definitely
linked to the earliest Trouvère stream. He ruled his fiefdom
fairly, but eventually gave up his land for the contemplative
life at Cluny. He was promoted to abbot in 927, but made
few assertions, other than enforcing his papal and royal
charters, which guaranteed the monastery freedom from
outside interference, including direct papal interference. Un-
der his guidance, Cluny attracted many foreigners, most of

276
high rank and station. Thereafter Cluny became well known
as a place where royal families could send their more preco-
cious children. Abbot Odo was also instrumental in introdu-
cing the Cluniac observances into many Italian monasteries
while at the same time promoting the Troubadour-Hermetic
cause. For this reason his collections and libraries found
their way eventually to Florence and to the Medici, avoiding
Rome altogether.
Odo was a devout Christian, but to him the Hermetic or
Gnostic doctrine was not a heresy. He insisted on Benedict-
ine solitude, simplicity of diet, and strict observance of
chastity for his monks, but he was not rigid of temperament
and allowed song and sport, art and creative expression. He
encouraged all of the knightly skills, archery, equestrian
training, and swordplay, in defense of the Abbey. In a sense,
these, more militant monks, paved the way for the Knights
Hospitalier and Templars, especially the first cabal known as
the Poor Knights of Jerusalem.
Odo’s generosity to the poor and to prisoners is reflected
in Henry Blois’ treatment of the poor and construction of
Hospitals like Winchester’s Saint Cross, circa 1150. Because
he had no worldly ambitions, Odo was often called to medi-
ate disputes between men in power and even between cer-
tain barons and the Vatican. Not coincidentally, Henry Blois
fulfilled this exact same function two centuries later.
Odo was eventually canonized and is, even now, known
as one of the great abbots who spread Cluniac reforms
throughout the Benedictine Order. Doubtless, he was a
troubadour or at least held political sympathies with the
Troubadour Revolution and social movement. It bears re-
peating that Saint Odo was a profound musician and poet.
Several stories from his life indicate his ability to enforce
strictest discipline while maintaining a compassionate soul.
Odilo, the fifth abbot, also probably a Blois antecedent,
was born around 962; he too became a monk as a young
man, and became head abbot at Cluny in 994. He held office
for 55 years, during which time thirty older and more remote
abbeys accepted Cluny as their motherhouse. This extended
Cluniac song and observances as well as art and values,
through the secular world, again fomenting what can only be
called a Troubadour Revolution via Burgundy, Province,
Auvergne, Poitou, and much of Italy and eventually, after
Peter the Venerable, eastern Spain.
Although I am not arguing causality here it does seem
odd, that Troubadour value system seemed to flourish
everywhere the Cluniac observance took hold. In England,

277
enclaves were well documented at Lewes, Glastonbury,
Salisbury, and York. Thus, there can be no doubt that Gla-
stonbury was linked to Cluny long before Henry Blois arrived.
After Odilo, most abbots from Cluny took it upon them-
selves to appoint priors for the daughter houses, which were
thus permanently under a central jurisdiction, making the
Cluniac monasteries the first monastic order to unofficially
adopt the old Bardic and Troubadour laws. In abbot Odilo’s
lifetime, minor wars, raids, and skirmishes between feudal
lords and strong farmers, whose lands were virtual baronies,
became common events. Odilo reduced the effect of this
garrulousness by persuading the combatants to sign a
”Hands-Off” policy when it came to monastic holdings.
Hugh d’ Semur, known as Hugh The Great, and Saint
Hugh, the sixth abbot of Cluny, holds specific moment for
later literature and for Abbe’ Blois, because his personal lib-
rary, which he donated to Cluny, was impressive, and his ar-
chitectural skills were almost beyond belief.
Hugh set an example for the neophytes in his public and
personal life and, although the two never met, Henry Blois,
to name only one, was profoundly impressed at a young age.
Like Henry Blois, Hugh was precocious. He entered Cluny
at age fourteen, and became abbot nine years later. This is
an astonishing advancement for such a young monk and one
can only assume his royal background paved the way for his
rapid political advance.
Once installed, Hugh immediately continued to carry out
the projects begun by Odo, but he also increased activities
at Cluny carrying out reforms and refining rules that would
later enable great events to develop at Glastonbury, and,
throughout the Benedictine world.
Born in 1024, Hugh was the eldest son of a Burgundian
nobleman, the hereditary Count of Semur, an office estab-
lished by the first Franks. Hugh was a strong ruler with links
to the first Troubadours, most especially Guilluime IX. He
was also a brilliant architect, and was instrumental in con-
structing Cluny III, which made Cluny the largest and most
influential church in Christendom. 1
Hugh, who was beatified shortly after his death, was also
a good administrator and remained abbot for 60 years, dur-
ing which time the number of monastic houses tied to Cluny
grew from sixty to more than two thousand. Under Hugh’s
abbacy, the Cluniac reform was made stronger in England,
even as the Hospitalier and the Poor Knights of the Temple

1 Cross, F. L. Ed. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford. 1957

278
were establishing themselves, in Jerusalem. It is in this con-
text that anyone contemplating the so called, Priory of Sion,
must take note.
Abbot Hugh established Lewes in Sussex, England, as a
westward looking Cluniac outpost, proving the orders and
artistic lifestyle, practiced at Cluny, could be extended into
remote areas to the west. This pioneering effort took place
in 1077, 34 years before Henry Blois was born. This estab-
lishment in England is also significant because it came at the
exact time the Hospitaliers, many also from Cluny, were es-
tablishing themselves in Jerusalem to the east.
Expanding Cluniac values in all directions and as part of
the, ”Troubadour Enlightenment” was equivalent to the pur-
poseful expansion of an empire and carried with it a sense of
longevity and permanence. The Troubadour value, including
the natural love of God and beauty and the natural power of
the feminine, came with it. Again, the Troubadour value sys-
tem links Cluny to Eleanor’s courts of love and the concept
of the Grail as an extension of the Goddess cosmology.
An obvious inspiration to Henry Blois, Hugh was an ac-
complished diplomat sent at various times by nine different
popes to conduct delicate negotiations in Budapest,
Toulouse, and Paris. Like Odilio, his successor, he often me-
diated between pope and emperor. The Blois family must
have known of his work and Henry’s father may have met
him.
In the final analysis, Hugh d’ Semur must be reckoned as
one of the most influential figures of his day because, in ad-
dition to his other achievements, he built and collected a
massive library filled with Gnostic and esoteric books num-
bering in the thousands. These books were willed, to Cluny
upon his death. This bequeath would be equivalent to sever-
al million dollars or Euros today. No doubt, Abbot Blois had
access to that library while studying at Cluny.
As we shall see in detail in the next chapter, Blois was
also directly influenced by Peter the Venerable, who, in
1122, (around the time Blois arrived at the court of Henry
Beauclerc, became the eighth and penultimate Abbot of
Cluny. It would have been almost impossible for Blois operat-
ing in Glastonbury and Winchester, to be unaware of Peter’s
appointments or his correspondence with the young Eleanor.
Conversely, it is doubtful Peter was ignorant of Blois and his
activities in England.
Peter’s tenure at Cluny was full of history and not a small
amount of violence. Like the school of architecture and mu-
sical forms known to be Cluniacs, Peter came from the area

279
around Vezelay, a central Troubadour bastion, and hotbed of
Manichean activity. He wrote religious tracts, poems, hymns,
and many letters, and, he was a paradox. Like most intellec-
tuals of his day, he condemned Herodian Judaism and yet
defended Cabbalists against persecution and false imprison-
ment. He was especially keen on defending the families of
Septemania, a Jewish colony, predominantly Sephardic,
which took up the full compass of the Languedoc in Southern
France, at that time.
During his many preaching tours, Peter managed to of-
fend several barons and churchmen by suggesting, yet
again, that women should have the freedom to speak freely
and own land. This so infuriated the papacy that in 1125,
when Peter was away, Pons, a radical monk from a wealthy
family, attacked Cluny with a band of armed men and seized
control. He stayed at the post unofficially for several years
until the Vatican took control of Cluny and arrested Pons.
Pons died in prison, not for his attack, but for his brashness
and his inability to recant his violent methods.
While Henry Blois was still alive, Peter engaged in contro-
versial correspondence with Queen Eleanor and came to her
final court in England, to hold mass and exchange ideas. He
gave Abelard shelter at Cluny, and persuaded the Pope to
deal mildly with his controversial guest. Blois most assuredly
knew about this controversy and Eleanor’s involvement.
During this time, the Knights Templars were officially
formed, or, it could be said, “coopted,” by Bernard’s zeal. Al-
though Eleanor and Louis VII made an elaborate pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, Peter and Abelard, refused to have anything do
with Bernard’s crusade and may have warned Eleanor of
their potential for disaster.
They knew how the prophet Mohammed supported active
discourse and understood the Sufis, who had already spread
doctrine as far as Spain. The proof of this comes n the fact
that Peter the Venerable spent a full year (1143-1144) in
Spain seeking out imams and Muslim teachers who helped
him translate the Koran to Latin. Abelard, Peter, and their as-
sociates, presumably Henry Blois, argued that war with the
Moslem world was unnecessary. Generally, they argued that
any animosity with the Islamic leadership in Jerusalem could
be resolved diplomatically and through the exchange of
books, culture, letters, and ambassadors. This tendency to
solve problems with books and oral argument points again
to the existence of a massive and mostly secretive, publish-
ing network. It also indicates that the House of Blois, at least
as early as the tenure of Henry’s father, (c. 1088) under-

280
stood Sufi and Gnostic ideas. Nor were these ideas wasted
on Henry Beauclerc.
That Peter was involved with publishing cannot be
denied, because, in addition to administering the largest dis-
tribution network in Europe, he sponsored the first transla-
tion of the Koran into Latin. He also set Cluny’s scribes to the
production of hundreds of other Arabic books. This would be
a perfect moneymaker for the monks at Cluny and, if a copy
of a medical treatise such as that of Avicenna, managed to
wend its way to Glastonbury one should not be overly sur-
prised.
The subscription list for any popular book would bring
prestige and money into the Cluny sister houses, but beyond
that several thousand copies of bibles and other books were
sold to pilgrims to Jerusalem, keeping the libraries at all of
the locations busy for decades.
Abbot Peter agreed, with Morlaix and Abelard, that the
Vatican was corrupt and abusing its power. He was accusat-
ory of the Pope and Bishops in Rome and paid dearly for his
comments. Moreover, he took a proactive view of
Troubadour values, and soon became embroiled in a direct
dispute with Bernard of Clairvaux.
Blois knew of this schism and made decisions in England
that reflect his desire to follow the Cluniac line in defiance of
Bernard. One of these actions may have been the production
of the Perlesvaus, which, as precursors to the later Lullian
tracts, acted as a guide for Knights who may disagree with
the new rules laid out by Bernard. 1
That Bernard had influences on Raymon Lull, a full cen-
tury later is demonstrated in two tracts. De Laudibus Novae
Militiae, which correlates with Lulls later treatise on Knightly
behavior is addressed to Abbe’ Blois’ uncle, Hughes de Pay-
ens, the first Grand Master and Prior of Jerusalem in 1129.
This is a eulogy of the military order instituted in 1118, and
an exhortation to the knights to conduct themselves with
courage in their several stations.
The second root influence donated by Bernard and un-
doubtedly seen by Lull is the exhortation to Love God with
all ones heart and soul and to place that love, manifested in
prayer without exception. This later came into since Lull has
fully fleshed out doctrine of the Digntes Dei.
The point is that the Cluniac system was more epicurean
than stoic. They had no guilt over their beliefs and had no
concept of slacking away from prayer.
1 Price, Brian. Trans. Raymon Lull, the Book of Knighthood and Chivalry.
Oxbow, Books, London. 1994.

281
 Bernard was decidedly paranoid, probably from limiting
himself to an acetic life. His extreme fear of art, music, and
recreation as disastrous activities seemed to have maimed
him. In the end, his residency in a crooked garret in the el-
bow of a stairwell caused him to suffer sleep deprivation,
with attendant hallucinations. His comment that he would
rather bleed to death than offend God is all part of his mar-
tyrdom syndrome. 1
Bernard’s psychosis, and those infected by it, began an
epidemic, which would eventually provide the needed ration-
alization for the inquisition and the killing of hundreds of in-
tellectuals, Cathars, pagans, alternative thinkers, Jews, and
monks.
Ironically and sadly, Lull himself tried to merge Jews,
Christians, and Arabs in his later works but failed miserably.
He could undoubtedly see, in his own lifetime, that the
church was deploying torture techniques to suppress free-
thinkers, a an ugly and dehumanizing system that continued
into the Counter Reformation where suppression of ideas be-
came a pastime for Protestants as well as Catholics.
Peter too fell from power and retired around that time. He
was not violent and was not imprisoned, but he was cen-
sured and almost excommunicated. His problems were
softened by appeals from the Champagne courts that made
several deals to grant land to the church so that the new
monastery of Clairvaux could be built.
It was about that same time that Abbe’ Bernard was beg-
ging—some say extorting—land from the Count of Cham-
pagne and making plans to construct Clairvaux to replace
Cluny. Things changed radically from that point on and wo-
men in power, especially those with links to the Albigensians
were soon to lose it. The Troubadour Revolution would soon
be forced underground. 2
Bernard, to the contrary, held himself as the redefinition
of the old manners. Although he did everything with a hypo-
critical smile, he wanted an end to Cluny’s global influence. I
repeat, Bernard was waging a Jihad against heretics, defined
as anyone who would worship God through the intellect. To
Bernard only blind faith would be sufficient to find God.
He accused the Cluniac houses of being too liberal in their
monastic observances and far too supportive of occult and

1 Stahlman, Sandra. The Relationship Between Schizophrenia & Mysti-

cism: A Bibliographic Essay. 1992 also Feuerstein, Georg. Holy Madness.
Hohm Press, 2006
2 Belperron, Pierre. Crusade against the Albigensians & the Union of
Languedoc in France (1209-1249). Paris: 1942. pp. 24-56

282
esoteric practices. This meant the monks were too full of
myth and mirth, too Hermetic, too bohemian, and too in-
volved with birds, trees, and nature worship and with the
wearing of jewelry and other finery. He, and his Vatican co-
horts, did not like the populist and humanitarian manners
championed by the traditional Cluniacs. As the new high
guru of the Cistercian order he hated anything voluptuous or
hedonic, even nature itself. This put him at odds with Erigen-
a’s ars naturae, which became a foundation for the Celtic or-
der.
Although retired from Cluny, Peter worked for Eleanor
serving as papal envoy to Aquitaine, England, and various
states in Italy and, in this capacity, he visited Glastonbury
several times. This means he and Blois probably knew each
other directly. Peter was abbot of Cluny for thirty-four years,
during which time Cluny remained the most influential abbey
in Europe. He died on Christmas day in 1156 with Abbot
Blois at his side.
With Peter’s death, the golden age of Cluny was over,
but, as we see from events at Glastonbury, the Abbey and
grounds in Central Somerset soon took its place, at least for
several decades, at least until the same anti-Cluniac forces
burned down the work of Blois at Glastonbury in 1184.
During the French Revolution, the order was suppressed,
and the abbey at Cluny, was reduced to its present dross
status. 1
From these fragments, we can more or less, reconstruct
what Glastonbury, under Blois, must have looked like. To be
more precise, it was probably tall like Chartres, but long like
Vesseley using the idea of a barrel vault as its most impress-
ive element. Current foundations at Glastonbury bear this
out. It was just too impressive for some people and rivaled
the Vatican as a place of pilgrimage.

1 Cowdrey, H. E. J. ”Two Studies in Cluniac History,”1049-1126 Spec-

ulum, Vol. 55, No. 4. Oct. , 1980, pp. 786-787

283
 The Goddess Cult
T
he slaughter of the Manicheans and Southern
Troubadours and the near fatal attack on Trouvère
sensibilities in Thebaudian territories, marks the end of
the true Gothic Renaissance in France and England. One
might say it ended with the death of Blois, in 1170 and that
the books on the Graal initiation were swan songs, final at-
tempts to launch the Goddess and Arthurian Hermetism into
the future. It writhed in its death throes less frightfully in
England, but still shamanism and the old religion came at a
premium.
The theme of women’s rights and word pictures of liber-
ated women can be found throughout the Perlesvaus again
pointing to its having been created at a time when women
were making major decisions that would influence European
cultural history for many centuries to come. The Elucidation,
to be found in Appendix A, is, amongst other things, a
diatribe against rape. Thus, the author, whoever he was,
must have been a pioneering fighter for women’s rights.
As we saw earlier, the Empress Matilda, also known as
Maud, was the granddaughter of William the Conqueror. She
retained the title Empress from her marriage to the German
Emperor Henry V, who subsequently died. She decided to
stake a claim for the English throne and wage war against
her cousin Stephen Blois. Plantagenet historians claim she
personally commanded her own army, but to what degree is
debatable, but the idea of female warriors came to a head in
London when an opposing army commanded by Stephen's
wife—also named Matilda—and Bishop Blois, routed the er-
satz empress.
The Blois dynasty did a great deal to assure the survival
of women’s rights and, I believe, saw it as the core of the
New Jerusalem, a utopian vision for a future egalitarian
state. At the same time, the elevation of women as sisters of
the Old Goddess lived on through Eleanor and her daugh-
ters. The movement in familia, focused on the Dark Lady the
Virge Noir, and the protection of women became a critical is-
sue in all types of knighthood. This element, in the form of
polemics against rape, comes out in a slightly veiled form, as
expressed in the Elucidation, which may also have been writ-
ten by Abbot Blois. 1
Adela, Countess of Champagne, Henry’s mother, was also
1 Appendix A

284
a zealous fighter for female lordship. Through her charitable
works, she greatly influenced public opinion toward women,
especially when acting as regent for her husband Count
Stephen. More plainly, around the mid-12th century, the
amorphous feminist movement, a key part of Thebaudian
consciousness, was, as stated earlier, vilified by Bernard and
his puppet Army, disguised as Cistercians. In fact, nothing,
but good was ever intended by feminist thinkers like Adela
Blois. Men, who were awash in hatred, men who were deeply
threatened by any form of democracy, sold this hatred to
their parishioners, but the women, most of them widowed an
high born, were motivated by a sense of liberation, and their
values were displayed in the convents they built. This spirit
of the Black Goddess carried over to the Thebaudians on the
throne in England, the two sons of Adela Blois and it was
made most manifest at Glastonbury, and Winchester, espe-
cially after Adella died at Marcigny. 1
The seeds of the anti-feminist order were already sown by
the time Bernard of Clairvaux began to suppress the God-
dess cult. He held power over the underground Templars,
and was attempting to overpower the Grail cultus. The death
of Jaques DeMolay may have marked a low point in the
movement, but conversely the rise of Joan of Arc, who first
rode out from Castle Blois a century later, was an appeal to
the old knightly order. The beliefs of men like DeMolay could
not be burned with their bodies.
In addition, the Protestant reformation was already visible
from the towers of Chartres and Cluny. Luther’s rebellion
was hundreds of years in the future and yet the seeds were
already sewn. Antipopes and schisms shot through church
politics in every country. The Rosicrucian movement of the
Elizabethan Age can trace its roots to the medieval theolo-
gical rebellion started here. The humanist or naturalist ideo-
logy, with its attached knightly respect for women’s rights,
lived on from these places.
As a vitriolic reaction to the rise in feminism as perceived
by the Vatican, an entire lineage of rabid anti-feminist popes
came to power. The laws they passed and the tyrannical ter-
ror they evoked took place on many fronts and in the same
decade as the penning of Chrétien’s first works and Borron’s
Joseph, literature. The Hermetic movement naturally went
underground. The Crusades, from then on, were conducted
for profit and for the manipulation of political affairs at
home. Eventually, only families who paid fealty to the In-

1 Op Cit. LoPrete K Adella Countess and Lord. Female Lordship p. 419 ff

285
quisition would be allowed to thrive. Once the rebellious
Troubadour clans were put to sleep, the Vatican could rule
Europe, simply by placing another tier on the system, the old
Roman Empire could be brought back. The position of Em-
peror was reinstated as the Papacy.
There may be no causal link, but the Gothic Renaissance
more or less faded out with the death of Bishop Blois. The in-
formation and beliefs of the old cult were held sacred in re-
mote locations, such as in parts of Bretagne, Germany and
Holland, until the Crusades ended, but they were increas-
ingly weak until the rise of world exploration.
While in their keeping the Teutonic knights had the op-
portunity to observe the Grail rite in regions once dominated
by the early Merovingian Franks. Places like the Saar region
and seaport cities, much removed from Catholic Bavaria,
places where the Pfingst festivals and shamanic straw men
of Christmas, still survive.
Germany also developed the Meistersingers to carry on
the Troubadour traditions. Predictably, the Green Man,
Tamuz, Adoni, Hermes, the man of sacrifice, and other vari-
ants of the mystery religions, appeared linked to religious
services in all of these areas.
In the final analysis, the Trouvéres became the repository
of most esoteric wisdom available in the Middle Ages. Vic-
torian and Napoleonic scholars tend to paint Western
Europe, prior to the Roman Empire, as a wasteland, but now,
everyone knows the Celts, (Gauls) had a rich culture with a
profound tradition of collecting knowledge in oral form. This
Bardic process was transferred to the Troubadours whose
trend toward oral history points to an ancient undercurrent
that survived the Inquisition. 1
Modern science, especially Astroarchaeology, show the
Celts and their distant ancestors to be astronomers with an
amazingly accurate view of the cosmos and creation. It is
thus possible that the Troubadour secret societies, linked to
groups like the Knights Templars and active royal families
such as the Blois and the Anjevins did everything they could
to preserve the old megalithic culture, including its under-
standing of the divine feminine principle in nature.
The Troubadours and Trouvère, although disguised as
priests, abbots, poets and entertainers, were often Knights
and members of royal families. In almost every case, they
were also pledged to live and teach the hidden lessons of
the Grail, qua mystery school, mixed with the deepest mys-
1 op cit. Belperron, Pierre. The Crusade against the Albigensians and the
Union of Languedoc in France (1209-1249). Paris: Plon, 1942. pp. 24-56

286
teries of Christianity. This evolved form of worship pro-
gressed from the Greek mysteries, (worship of the Kykion at
Eleusis) and the Cauldron of Aanwyn, which was part of the
Fairy Faith.
Generally, the word 'Grail,' derived from the word 'Gradu-
al,' implying that this material was taught in gradual steps,
with prerequisites and sequences. This was also true of the
early Christian mysteries and the Dionysian mystery schools,
which revealed its data in small steps, grades or degrees.
As San Graal or Sanc Graal the term refers to the DNA
driven aspects of the cult, but in general, to again para-
phrase Wolfram,” any maid or boy can be initiated.”
Further, it is almost certain that this material was collec-
ted in the Celtic church, the Romanesque abbey system, and
eventually the Gothic Cathedrals. Organized in this manner
the old material—including an awareness of heliocentrism,
the transient nature of time and the ancient metrology of
places like Stonehenge—was available to anyone who ap-
plied for the initiation. In other words, the Troubadours at-
tempted to institute a form of Democracy in the church. This
process went on in the open, more or less for hundreds of
years. Only when it became illegal to be educated in this
manner, was it perilous to defy the church. 1
Any group dedicated to teaching and preserving ancient,
information, especially any group dedicated to the unseen
and raw truth about Christianity, was threatening to the
power base in Rome. Any individual educated enough to un-
derstand, astronomy, and the genealogy of the old tribes of
Israel, was a danger. Anyone who taught that Christianity
evolved from the Hermetic mysteries was under warrant.
Anyone who believed Jesus was a man-god from a mystery
school was suspect. Anyone who wrote books or preached
sermons depicting Mary as a high priestess of an esoteric
cult traceable to primordial roots was labeled ”heretic," and
anyone who whispered that Mary Magdalene might be linked
to the line of Benjamin, a family line where women were al-
lowed to rule and own property, was potentially excommu-
nicate.
Jews were also singled out, as we well know. Any truth
seeker or student could be marked as an outcast. Any
Gnostic or anyone who did not worship Jesus as God, but
rather saw the Godhead as the cosmos, from which they
could formulate their own ideas about God, architecture, sci-
ence, and the nature of reality itself, might be arrested on

1 Ibid.

287
the spot.
For this reason, the history of Kaballah in Southern France
is of great interest to Grail scholars. Many Popes were offen-
ded by the competition offered by Judaism, even though the
disciples and apostles emerged from Judaism. In other
words, Judaism, especially the mystical variety, was fine, in
theory, as long as it stayed out of Europe. This became a
problem from the seventh century on when Kaballah and
Gnosticism enjoyed an entrenched circulation among the
educated classes. First, because it was authentically Jewish
and because it contains the wisdom of the Sofia, the same
wisdom brought to Islam by the Sufis. Thus, the real fear for
Rome, politically speaking, was the potential coalition or uni-
fication of all known antagonists. This would include the
Troubadours (with their latent Bardism) acting as consolidat-
ors. 1
To repeat, the role of women in the Troubadour sphere
was anathema in Catholic Rome. Nowhere else were women,
so immodest, so brilliant, so powerful, bold and garrulous.
This bright light, coupled with Hermetic-Druidism, as blen-
ded with Christian magia, typified the Troubadours and their
arts.
In the milieu of medieval France, women were commonly
in charge, not just from the kitchen, but also from the
throne. It took the church 1200 years to grow powerful
enough to identify and excommunicate the offending famil-
ies. Even then, they did not eradicate the threat, because
most of them transformed themselves into new orders.
To the Trouvère, the art of courtly love was a serious, s
process having to do with mate selection, courtship, unre-
quited love, and the future of the race. The women, who
fought for a new process, were undoubtedly doing so for hu-
manity and the human race. One should not assume that be-
cause the Troubadour values preferred input for both
genders that they were or should be homosexual as has
been suggested by critics of movement. 2
Even after the gutting of the Languedoc, and the burning
of hundreds of so called, ”heretics,” the Northern Trouvère
branches steadfastly gave voice to a kind of medieval social-
ism, run by empathic and benevolent autocrats. This inform-
al politick, derived from the Silurian Belgae and other Celtic

1 Matthews, John and Caitlin Matthews Taliesin : the Last Celtic Shaman.
Inner Traditions, Vermont, 2002. pp. 211-213
2 Brownlee, Kevin and Sylvia Huot,”Rethinking the Rose,”in: Rethinking
the Romance of the Rose. U of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1992:
2-3

288
tribes, the Neo-Platonist and the probably also the defeated
Trojans—who may have founded the enclave of Troyes in the
distant past—nurtured a democratic system. Thus,
throughout the Celtic and Troubadourial lore we find a curi-
ous form of Christianity, a theology loaded with magical rel-
ics and miraculous legends merged and melded into a
fantasy world unlike anything in the Bible. These stories ap-
pear in the Perlesvaus, as vividly as if they were everyday
events.
I cannot be sure Blois was a Templar, but more than likely
he was either a Templar or a Hospitalier or both. A full dis-
cussion of the Templar paradox and its transition from liber-
ating force to an army of highway patrol bankers, lies bey-
ond the scope of this book, but one wonders how, if Bernard
was truly as puritanical as his charter indicates, could the
Vatican condemn his beloved Knights Templar less than two
hundred years after its foundation?
Did the Templars become corrupt over time or where
they practicing a kind of heresy all along? The Inquisition
naturally found them to be men who had been corrupted by
stealth, but we know they were Pagans all along and their
condemnation was designed to save face for the church. The
council that tried them concluded thusly:

When the examination was closed, the inquisitors

drew up a memorandum, showing that, from the
apostolic letters, and the depositions and attestations
of the witnesses, it was to be collected that certain
practices had crept into the order of the Temple, which
were not consistent with the orthodox faith. 1

From this it seems obvious that Bernard’s beloved reli-

gious fascism did not survive to become the central prin-
ciples of the church.

1 Addison, C. History of the Templar, Hatcher, 1997. p. 19.

289
 The Sapphire Altar
U
ntil we have a carbon dating survey and the exact ori-
ginal copy, if indeed there is only one, no one can pin-
point the exact date for the first penning of the Perles-
vaus. If Henry Blois did write the original then the date or
origin would fall close to 1151, with a median date of 1162
with a terminus date of 1170. These dates roughly overlap
the two decades in which the Blois Psalter and the great
Winchester Bible were being created. If we locate the person
who was the overlord of book production at Winchester, in
that era, we will probably find the author of the Perlesvaus.
If Blois can be tied to the authorship, we have some excit-
ing new avenues to explore. Did he, for instance, write or
edit the Perlesvaus when he was on his final sabbatical to
Cluny? If so his mentor and friend Peter the Venerable may
have been on hand to make suggestions even on his sick
bed.
Furthermore, the Perlesvaus can be seen as a book of ini-
tiation tableaux, targeted to the highest level of knightly and
Trouvère avowal. Any initiation manuscript used at Glaston-
bury and perhaps throughout the Cluniac system, would ne-
cessarily be written by someone who had been through a
similar, process.
Moreover, a book of initiation in stages would need to be
written by a man with a vision, someone privileged and
powerful enough to construct educational ceremonies that
could be trusted by his peers and fellow initiates. This author
would perforce, be someone who was able to memorize the
entire indoctrination process, someone already initiated into
secrets linked to the Troubadours and the Holy Grail and fi-
nally a man who could act as priest or grandmaster in a
secret society. Here again, the arrows point to Henry Blois.
Although he was a wunderkind, the contributions of Abbot
Blois have been marginalized by later propaganda. He may
have begun the Perlesvaus when he first arrived at Glaston-
bury and writing such a book may have been one of his life
long missions. Therefore, we are looking for a monk who was
in his prime between 1140-1160, a well-placed monk at Gla-
stonbury who had enough time to write an extremely com-
plex book.
Moreover, the monk could not have been a neophyte. He
would have been someone with the ability to assure the
work’s distribution to an adept audience, I.e., Knights,

290
Troubadours, and Courtiers, bath in France and England and
even Jerusalem.
Blois was a busy man, so when did he have time to write?
If Blois was the author in the penumbra of the Perlesvaus,
we have an exact birthdates. We also have exact dates for
other events in his life. His trip to Rome, took place in 1129.
The coronation of his brother Stephen is well documented in
1135. His pilgrimage to meet Peter the Venerable in Com-
postella c. 1143 is not as well known but highly probable.
We also know the dates for William of Malmsbury, whom,
we should recall, made glowing praise of the Bishop’s writing
skills and blushing shyness. I doubt William would have
praised his benefactor without seeing something he wrote so
there must have been some specie available before 1143. In
other words, Blois must have written something significant
before Malmsbury died. 1
Unfortunately, Henry Blois was a victim of envy and later
historians labeled his brother a usurper, they also blamed
the troubles of the era on King Stephen, so that very few
comments about the period have been recorded without
bias. This is further complicated by the fact that nothing in
the Grail, literature is free of church or anti-church politics.
Like all conquerors, the church spent a great deal of energy
creating a favorable history for itself while disgracing the
Troubadours.
Almost immediately upon the death of Henry Blois, sever-
al writers took the opportunity to pen works designed to
slant future opinion against the Thebaudians. Around 1173,
Peter of Blois, (Petrus Blesensis) (c. 1135 – c. 1203) a French
poet and diplomat and no relation to Henry or Stephen, ex-
perienced a meteoric rise to power. Once secretary to the
murdered Thomas Becket, and an obvious prodigy, Blesensis
was hired to translate Latin for Henry II. This would be some-
what like a Communist writer being hired to work for a right
wing newspaper, but stranger things have happened. He
later served as Latin secretary to Eleanor of Aquitaine; al-
though indications are that he remained loyal to Henry II
when he was at Eleanor’s court and may well have been a
spy. Peter was born the year Stephen took the throne, and
could not have had any first hand knowledge of what went
on before his birth. Even so, he took commissions to write
several sycophantic pro-Plantagenet commentaries. His truly
anti-Blois work is now lost, but it is said to have been scath-
ing and condemnatory. 2
1 See time line Appendix B.
2 Norgate, J. England under the Anjevin Kings, II (London, 1887

291
 William of Newburg, who many modern historians view as
objective, damned King Stephen by faint praise although he
did describe Bishop Henry as, ”opulent.” This is an important
observation even if it was meant in a sarcastic manner. 1
Historian’s aside, the Troubadour power base and the Al-
bigensian alternative religion, did continue as an under-
ground movement, even after horrendous pogroms and op-
position amounting to genocide. I think, whoever wrote the
Perlesvaus, could see these repressions coming. Bernard
was already, well on his way to acting like a one-man inquisi-
tion and Henry II got away with murder after the death of
Thomas Beckett. With this in mind, the Perlesvaus becomes
a cautionary tale, warning against any open criticism of the
church and yet honoring a lifestyle which may pass quickly if
not carried on to the next generation and all of this comes to
focus when we consider the mysterious Sapphire Altar.
The events surrounding the dedication and origins of the
Sapphire relic at Glastonbury can act as a summation for the
entire life of Henry Blois, although the facts are dimly lit, but
later historians, some elements hold up under scrutiny.
The document that contains much of the traditional tales
about David is Buchedd Dewi, a hagiography written by the
Welsh Bard Rhygyfarch, just before the first crusade, thus,
many centuries went by before anything was written down.
This text tells us that Saint David was buried in 569 at the
monastery he founded in Pembrokeshire, Wales, now known
as St David's Cathedral. His shrine there became a popular
place of pilgrimage throughout the middle Ages, but he was
also active at Glastonbury during his life. 2
Much of what we know about Glastonbury during the so-
called, “anarchy,” comes from William of Malmsbury, writ-
ing under a commission from Blois, and under his direct su-
pervision. This must have been before 1143 when Malms-
bury died.
Moreover, we have no other source for details of David’s
visit to Glastonbury except Malmsbury who claims his broth-
er monks told him the details from rote memory. His retell-
ing of the legend, therefore, must have been at least slightly
skewed by politics and the monks desire to make the shrine
look good to travelers.
According to Malmsbury, David visited Glastonbury in-
tending to donate a portable altar, which contained a great

1 Howlett, Richard. Ed. Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and

Richard I. Rolls Series #82. Chaps. 4,9 & 10 London, 1884-9.
2 Evans, D. Simon. Ed. Rhygyfarch . Buchedd Dewi gyda Rhagymad-
rodd a Nodiadau, University of Wales Press, 2005

292
sapphire. During his sojourn the patron, supposedly had a
visitation from Jesus, who told him that the main church had
been dedicated long ago in honor of Mary, and it was not
proper to dedicate it again. 1
This story became ever more complex when David, to
solve the dilemma, drew up plans to have a small chapel
built to enshrine the sapphire relic. This was built to the east
of the main church and it must have been true because, the
floor plan and map given by Malmsbury helped archaeolo-
gists find the site in a dig commissioned by the British Gov-
ernment in 1921. Everyone, then living in the Somerset re-
gion, including Frederick Bligh-Bond and Katherine Malt-
wood, knew about the dig and visited that site on many oc-
casions.
An anonymous manuscript in the British Museum verifies
that an altarpiece containing a large sapphire was among
the items confiscated by Henry VIII during the dissolution of
the monasteries in the mid-16th century. The gold leafed
wooden portion remains, but the sapphire is missing. Ru-
mors circulate that this sapphire may now be included with
the crown jewels on display in the Tower of London. 2
Material treasures aside, it is the other contents and di-
mensions, and above all the inscriptions on this artifact that
will interest any true student of the Grail.
As it turns out Saint David went unrecognized as a saint
until Henry Blois took power at Glastonbury—David was only
canonized by Pope Callixtus II in 1123, so one is again led to
wonder, is this a coincidence or was Blois acting to elevate
Glastonbury as soon as he arrived?
The sapphire altar object itself has an appended legend.
First, the jewel was supposedly derived from the treasury of
the Herodian Temple, which may turn out to be true, if we
believe the Templars may have brought it back. However,
the Glastonbury story, as told to Malmsbury, portrays the
huge blue stone coming from the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
supposedly donated to Saint David, and his companions in
the sixth century.
As stated above, upon arrival at Glastonbury, c. 550, the
jewel and its reliquary, were made part of the Mary chapel at
Glastonbury. This frame consisted of two half-plaques. On
one portion, we find a carving of the complete altar, on the
other, and here comes the odd part; we find vines and green

1 Op cit. Malmsbury, W. Antiquities of Glastonbury

2 Eamon Duffy. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in Eng-
land, 1400–1580. Yale University Press. 1992. See also: J. Youings, The
Dissolution of the Monasteries, 1971

293
branches surrounding a carving of Henry Blois holding a
book. Here then, Blois is the Green Man.
Malmsbury continues the story, which is now as inscrut-
able and hair-raising as any modern mystery. Unfortunately,
as the story goes, the Sapphire went missing sometime
between its arrival in the mid-sixth century and the time it
was recovered by, none other than Abbot Blois himself, who
magically found it hidden away behind a stone arch in a
doorway of the Church of Saint Mary.
Malmsbury tells us that after rediscovering the relic,
”Henry adorned it magnificently with gold and silver and
precious stones. Henry also had the plaque inscribed with re-
vealing comments. Now we see Abbot Henry operating at
the center of things. Saint David is canonized in Rome
shortly after Abbot Henry’s arrival at Glastonbury and his
Sapphire relic is relocated and rededicated by that same Ab-
bot, to the astonishment of the congregation and to the
amazement of the thousands of pilgrims who came to Gla-
stonbury to see it. 1
This Sapphire artifact also gives us a close view of Henry
Blois. We have almost no transcripts or anything written or
spoken by Henry Blois, except one telling oration left to us
by his friend William of Malmsbury.
In the Antiquities of Glastonbury, which I repeat is a book
dedicated to, and written under, a direct commission from
Blois, we hear the voice of the great man dedicating the re-
stored Sapphire Altar in two parts.
The first part is a dedication of his altar to God and at the
same time, he asks God for salvation for his own soul:

Art is above gold and gems: The Creator is above all

things. Henry, while living, gives gifts of brass to God:
whom, equal to the muses in intellect, and superior to
Marcus () in oratory, his renown makes acceptable to
men, his morals to the God above.

The, “Marcus” referred to here is, probably, the emperor

Marcus Aurelius, whom Blois admired greatly.
[The second stanza of this dedication will be seen in the
next chapter.]
Malmsbury’s comment that Blois, 'adorned' the altar,
leads to the possibility that Blois replaced the original sap-
phire with one of his own; as we know, he had a large collec-
tion of jewels and wore them often. Where Abbot Henry ac-
quired his rings, pendants, and overt displays of wealth, can
1 Op cit. Malmsbury, W. Antiquities of Glastonbury

294
only be guessed at, but my conjecture is they came to him
from his father and from Jerusalem. Ironically, one of the
only facial images we have of the Bishop is from a portrait
found as marginalia in the Winchester Bible. This inset
shows Henry holding a large gold ring while pointing to
heaven.

295
 Blois at Chartres
A
t Chartres a set of small steps lead downward to the
chamber known as the Crypt of St. Lubin, which is ac-
tually part of the Romanesque church of Saint Fulbert
left behind by fire before the construction began on the
Gothic foundations. In this dark basement we see a blue and
dusty chapel decorated with Fleur de Lys and a tribute to the
Virgin in childbirth, Virgo Paritura, or Virge Paturaie. This is
the Chapel of Notre-Dame de Sous-Terre, Our Lady of the
Crypt. It was once, long ago used by Knights on the way to
the first Crusade and became disused as time went on, only
to be revisited and reanimated by the 12th century Marianist
cult. There is also a series of frescos near the crypt depicting
Saint Gildas, Nicodemus, Saint Nicolas and Joseph of Ar-
imathea. One gets the impression that somehow these fres-
cos and the crypt link us to Glastonbury, but how could there
be such a link; the church docent who leads us around the
cathedral knows nothing about it?
The foundation walls here are very old, and beneath them
we may find larger pre-Roman stones upon which the Ro-
mans built their walls. Julius Caesar or whoever edited his
books, claims the Druids practiced here before the Christians
came.
In his account in Bello Gallico, he reports:

At a certain season, the Druids meet at a sacred

spot in the country of the Carnutes, the reputed center
of all Gaul. The whole Gallic race is addicted to religious
ritual; consequently, those suffering from serious mal-
adies or subject to the perils of battle sacrifice human
victims or vow to do so.

According to Jean Markale, Chartres derives its name

from its earliest Celtic inhabitants, the Carnutes, who used
the mound beneath the cathedral for centuries even though
the site was used by megalithic astronomers before the
Bronze Age. 1
This was so because it was always a location for a pure
well, known locally as, les Puits des Saints-Forts. This well
was expanded over the centuries and incorporated into a
chapel, as was the case at Glastonbury. By the 17 th century

1 Op cit. Markale, Jean. Cathedral of the Black Madonna. 2004 Trans. p.

210

296
the well located beneath Chartres grew to be equal to the
length of the spire on the North Tower (the solar tower)
above the altar of the Virgin. Ingeniously, the water from it
was forced up through capillary action to the baptismal font.
1

The scholar Peter Ellis, claims the Celts put up triune

statues of votive goddesses, as was the case in Ireland when
the entire Island was dedicated to Eire, Banba and Fotla, but
most commonly, in Gaul, one would encounter a solitary
goddess seated with an infant on her knees just as we see
the Black Virgin posed with the Christ child at Chartres to
this day. In any case, there's no record of a statue in the
crypt until the 12th century when the Templars placed one
they’re to correspond to the spiral labyrinth on the main
floor. 2
In AD 876, Charles the Bald, the grandson of Charle-
magne, gave Charters the Sancta Camisia a piece of cloth
from Syria. This is supposed to be the blouse worn by Mary
while Christ was born.
By the year 1000 the cult grew to almost unnamable pro-
portions prompting Bishop Fulbert to erect a large
Romanesque cathedral, on the spot. This incorporated the
subterranean crypt built to accommodate tourists who would
shuffle through, light a votive candle, say a prayer and make
a donation. This is the identical pattern seen to this day at
shrines like Fatima and Lourdes. However, as it turns out,
the Chartres shrine was placed directly over the altar used
by the druids, which recent excavations point out is also the
location of the megalithic stone circle, a ring of stones that
have been in that same location for at least 5000 years.
The Romanesque cathedral burned down and yet the
crypt survived and the Chemise was credited with saving the
church, this occurred again, in the late 12th century. But in
1144, precisely when Blois was at his zenith as the Bishop of
Winchester, the crypt was made into a wider and longer hos-
pital, in keeping with Hospitalier doctrine. This was done also
to match the dimensions of the South tower, said to be ded-
icated to the moon, already under way and consecrated by
Adela Blois and the Newer more magnificent and gothic
North tower said to be dedicated to the sun.
Here we see someone like Blois at work, making the rich
humble and the powerful less so, in a work ethic and meth-
odology used by Blois at Glastonbury, a methodology akin to
that used by the first Knights Templars, the Benedictine
1 ibid.. pp. 221-223
2 Ellis, Peter B. The Druids. Erdmans, Grand Rapids, 1994 p. 112

297
monks from Cluny and, in more recent times, as practiced in
Freemasonic lodge work.
Haimon, the Abbot of St.-Pierre-sur-Dives, asks the rhet-
orical question:

Has anyone ever seen or heard of powerful lords

and mighty princes . . . and even women of noble birth
bowing their necks to the yoke and harnessing them-
selves to carts?

The answer here is yes, at Winchester and Glastonbury

under Henry Blois. Robert de Turing, the Abbot of Mont-St.-
Michel, added that men and women dragged wagons loaded
with wood, stone and grain ''through deep swamps on their
knees, beating themselves with whips, numerous wonders
occurring everywhere, canticles and hymns being offered to
God. One might say that the prophecy was being fulfilled:
'The breath of life was in the wheels.' (Ezekiel 1:20)''
As with the grave of King Arthur found at Glastonbury,
Henry Blois continued to return after death. On June 10,
1194, 23 years after he was moved to Ivinghoe and
Winchester, a fire broke out at Chartres that destroyed most
of the town as well the cathedral. Almost all was lost except
the consecrated towers with the portal between. The sacred
cloth was presumed burned up and lost forever. Now, with
no reliquary; especially one of such high merits, there would
be no cash flow, no tithes, no more fairs and flea markets.
Miraculously the beloved object reappeared a few months
later, in the hands of the Bishop of Pisa, who claimed it was
hidden from the conflagration, in a safe place under the
crypt. Needless to say, just as was the case at Glastonbury
when Arthur and Guenevere were discovered, contributions
began pouring, pilgrims began flocking to the grotto again
and everyone was overjoyed. Moreover the cathedral build-
ing program went on as never before.
Abbot Henry must have known about the school of
Chartres and how famous it had become. When he was
about 17, a massive funeral ceremony was held for the pas-
sage of the beloved Saint Yves de Chartres. Both of these
men were raised under the old Carolingian system and saw
the Romanesque cathedral burned down. Blois must have
also been aware of a similar ceremony, featuring
Troubadours and Jongleurs from the court of Eleanor of
Aquitaine at Poitiers. This was held at Chartres for Gilbert de
la Porree, who died in 1154 as Blois approached middle age.
Gilbertus was a Bishop of Poitiers, a philosopher, theologian

298
and general scholar. In a most illuminating career Gilbertus
studied under Saint Hilary in Poitiers, and finally under Saint
Anselm at Laon, where he probably first met Peter Abelard.
Beyond these men, arguably, the most illustrious teacher
at Chartres was John of Salisbury who was 10 years younger
than Henry Blois and whom Henry knew directly since, Salis-
bury was the faithful secretary of Thomas Becket. In his life-
time Salisbury excelled most teachers in France and England
in mystical understanding and became the Bishop of
Chartres for four years before his death in 1180. In sum,
Henry could not have carried on without direct knowledge of
Chartres, on his familial lands and the scholars who taught
at its cathedral school. 1
Let us be reminded that Henry Blois held several official
titles. We know him as Henricus Episcopi, Bishop of
Winchester and Abbot Henry of Glastonbury, but through his
familial inheritances, he was also a Count of Chartres. In oth-
er words, Henry was not only a power behind the throne of
England; he was also, through his parents and his brother
Thibaud, a landowner at Chartres. In other words, Henry was
one of the landlords of the sacred crypt beneath Chartres.
This made him extraordinarily aware of what a grave for
someone like King Arthur could do. It also made him fully
aware of the function of labyrinth’s and turf mazes as sur-
rogates for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem—labyrinths like the
one at Chartres, used as a model for the mazes he built all
over the English country side. Thus, directly or indirectly,
Chartres was very much in his domain and Chartres, coincid-
entally or by plan, grew as a focal point for pilgrims during
Henry’s most active decade. This is not to assert that Blois
had anything to do with the day-to-day administration of
Chartres, but one can not imagine this brilliant monk cross-
ing through one of his mother’s most important properties, a
sacred temple that had been in his family since it was ac-
quired by his paternal great grandfathers, without dropping
in for a visit. 2
One other point needs mentioning here. Henry Blois built
several labyrinths in and around Winchester. One, in particu-
lar, located near a megalithic mound, still functions in the
village of Wing, and it is identical in shape, pattern and size,
to the maze at Chartres. Was Henry leaving us a clue? Was
he leaving his mark on the land?

1 Op cit. Markale, Jean. Black Madonna. p. 87

2 Odo the cheat??? xxx

299
 Omega
M
odern tourists hear an interesting story as they take
the tour of Winchester. Early historians assumed the
sarcophagus was the resting place of William Rufus,
but, all along, a separate faction claimed it was the tomb of
an unknown king.
Henry Blois was an intellectual. He must have known
about the plight of Abelard and obviously knew about the
translation of the Koran, by Peter the Venerable. Moreover
he must have understood the polemic writings of the great
Cluniac, Bernard of Morlaix, who spent a great deal of time
in England and derived more than sixty percent of his
sources from pre-Christian writers. Yet, little is said about
Bishop Blois’ early education at Cluny. Most of the records
about his work at Glastonbury were lost in the fire of 1184. 1
If Abbot Blois did write the Perlesvaus, we now under-
stand why he did so anonymously. Anyone in power in the
mid-12th century, who also believed in the right of each soul
to seek God in a natural way, would have been harried to
the point of madness by the fomenting hatreds of the Ro-
man See, a state of affairs that lead to the Inquisition less
than a century later.
Henry’s sarcophagus at Winchester holds a further mys-
tery. First, it is plain, with no decorations, no death mask or
raiment, no heraldry, not even a crosier. This seems strange
for the resting place of a man with such a magnificent back-
ground. Yet, oddly, it is much like one of the stone caskets at
the shrine of the Templar Church in London. The unmarked
sarcophagus of the grand master can be seen there silently
resting among the other well-documented knights laid in a
circle inside an octagonal building.
Remember that Blois, although originally enshrined at
Glastonbury, was still and all, the Bishop of Winchester for
more than four decades. He was its principle architect in
Norman times and he had tunnels excavated beneath the
Cathedral so that pilgrims could crawl to touch the relics of
Saint Swithen, a local monk (c.800) whose only recorded
miracle was to restore an old woman's dropped basket of
eggs. Blois also constructed what is euphemistically called
the Holy Hole, which housed the relics of several other
saints. Obviously, at Winchester, as at Glastonbury Blois
knew how to attract pilgrims and bring in money. For this
1 Archbold, L. D. Somerset Religious Houses, Cambridge, 1892;

300
reason and others, I think it is feasible to contemplate Henry
Blois as the chief mason of the grave of King Arthur, at least
the leader of the Arthurian movement in the 12th century.
Bishop Henry knew from observing his mother’s charitable
work with the pilgrims at Chartres that the display of relics
brought in more money than almost any other source.
Blois earned his place of honor, but why does his tomb
stand at the crossroads of the cathedral, just as Arthur’s
Grave, stands alone in the exact same location at Glaston-
bury?
There are other tombs at Winchester. Kings and Bishops
lie in state there, but not in the center of the choir under the
exact center of the cruciform structure. What is so exclusive
about this unmarked coffin with the triangular lid? It signifies
that a mystery lies within, and if nothing else, I have estab-
lished Blois as a man of mystery.
Only in the latter years the 20th century did Henry Blois
emerge as the true occupant of the casket, and this is the
source of great irony. On several occasions, Blois did func-
tion as a king. One could say, Henry Blois was, for a brief
moment in history, the uncrowned King of England. His body
was buried at Glastonbury and finally moved to Winchester.
His relics can be seen on display in France at Cluny, next to
his mentor Peter the Venerable, but Henry’s true heart may
well be hidden in the British Museum in the form of the Sap-
phire Altar, sans the huge Sapphire stone, an artifact carried
off by the shrine wreckers hired by Henry VIII during the dis-
solution of the monasteries.
Finally, did Bishop Blois think of himself as a shadow
king? Nothing can be proven, but the words he uttered, and
engraved, around the time of his successful prosecution of
the Empress Matilda affair, do ring true. We have already
seen part of Bishop Henry’s dedication Latin. William of
Malmsbury copied a second stanza, read aloud, like a pray-
er, by Bishop Blois to the congregation of monks, one that
gives us a further insight into the abbot’s paradoxical sense
of power tempered by humility:

The servant sent before him, fashions gifts accept-

able to God: may an angel carry up to heaven the giver
after his gifts. Let not England, however, hasten this
event, or excite grief: England to whom peace or war,
movement or quiet, come through him.

Blois may well have been both arrogant and shy simultan-
eously, many gifted human beings wrestle with this conflict.

301
Many creative people live under paradoxical circumstances
and no where in literature has this point been stressed more
eloquently than by Henry of Huntington, who, writing for the
Anjevin coin, said of Blois:
…the supporters of the legate (Bishop Blois) threw
firebrands (grenades) during the siege at Winchester.
The obviously biased Huntington goes on to describe
Blois as a Templar,
(He is) A new kind of monster compounded of purity and
corruption, a monk and a knight. 1

1 Huntington, Henry. “Epistola de Contemptu Mundi,” In: Historia

Anglorum, 1139. p.315

302
 A Final Argument
F
inally who wrote the Perlesvaus? I claim Bishop Blois
was the original author, but there are other claimants.
Emma Jung’s arguments as to the primacy of Wolfram’s
source material, notwithstanding, most scholars remain
biased to Chrétien’s continuers. I hope that I have cast
doubt, if not wonder, on that assumption. We can be sure
whoever wrote the Perlesvaus was deeply familiar with the
events; roads, streams and legends of the Isle of Avalon, but
Chrétien did not possess that degree of knowledge. Yes, it is
remotely possible Chrétien went to Glastonbury when he
traveled to England for a short vacation. Perhaps he met the
great master Blois there when Blois was very old, but I truly
doubt Chrétien or any of his continuers could have written
the Perlesvaus.
Moreover, Chrétien admits that, in almost everything he
did, someone gave him a guidebook. Oddly, no scholar has
as yet brought forward the guidebook or books used by
Chrétien. I argue the book he used, as inspiration was an
early copy of the Perlesvaus. It might take another century
to prove this assumption in scientific terms, so for now, let
us just agree that, Chrétien was a Trouvère and, although he
admits to having precursors, his writing represents a bright
flash of literary light, coinciding, almost perfectly, with the fi-
nal years of Bishop Henry Blois.

303
Appendices

304
 Appendix A: The Elu-
cidation
“In such sort was the kingdom laid waste that there-
fore was no tree leafy. The meadows and the flowers
were dried up and the waters were shrunken, nor as
there might no man find the Court of the Rich Fisher-
man.” The Elucidation

The brief document that follows is one of the important

keys to understanding the Perlesvaus and its author. The
Elucidation was probably written as a performance piece, to
be read at a royal entertainment, perhaps before the
gathered Court of Eleanor of Aquitaine or Marie of Cham-
pagne. I suggest Eleanor because first, she and Henry Blois
were together on occasions during the Thomas Beckett affair
and at other times in London and Winchester.
I also suggest Eleanor because the piece is, definably, a
feminist discourse, a warning against rape, and a paean to
Troubadour values and to the old Goddess cult.
It was bound in 13th or 14th century with Chrétien’s Per-
ceval # BN. 12576, in Paris but, like the Perlesvaus, the Elu-
cidation is a 12th century document and seems to have been
intended as a forward or preamble to the Perlesvaus as it
was originally written.
Like the Perlesvaus, Sebastian Evans originally translated
the Elucidation. He says nothing about this choice. Again, we
are stuck with Evans’ turgid Victorian style, but we do not
have general access to the copy he used from French, so we
must rely on his work. It is not known how the two parts
were separated or even if they were, ever, parts of the same
piece, but he must have had some hint that the two were in-
timately related.
In any case, the Elucidation brings us full circle to the ar-
chaic nature of the Graal and its connective role as part of
the Neolithic mound culture and the Fairy Faith still operat-
ive in the Trouvère world in the 12 th century. Although Evans
says nothing about this, it is an obvious fact to anyone look-
ing for the connection and completely ambiguous to anyone
who has no idea there is a link, which seems to be the case
with many of William Nitze’s followers. In fact almost
nowhere in the typical fin d cycle analysis of this work, is it
mentioned that the megaliths and the ancient pre-Celtic reli-

305
gion seeps deeply into the roots of the Trouvère model. I as-
sume this is because, at the turn of the 20 th century, that is
when both Nitze and Evans produced their translations,
hardly anyone knew the mound culture was at least 5000
years old. This aging issue didn’t even come up until the
postwar era in the mid fifties.
I am convinced, few modern readers will be able to un-
derstand the Elucidation in its Victorian form, thus I have
taken the liberty of translating the essence of the document
into modern English.
If the reader wishes to check my algebra, the Evans ver-
sion is listed on the Internet in several locations.
Opening:
The narrator speaks to a royal gathering. He tells us his
name and that the story to follow is about the Graal, (not the
Holy Grail) but the, ’Graal’ as an initiation ritual. He evokes
and cautions secrecy five times in the first paragraph, al-
most as if he is addressing a tiled meeting of master Free-
masons.
By way of a noble gathering, here worshipfully begins
one of the most delightful legends ever told, that is the
story of the Graal which contains a secret that no man or
woman should ever retell in prose nor rhyme, for if the
secret is told, especially if told too soon and to the wrong
audience, the teller might come to grief even if the teller
did not reveal the secret purposefully. It is therefore, im-
portant that the wise person leaves the secret aside and
moves on after hearing it. (I) Master Blihos is not lying
about this warning. This is important.
Secrecy is implied twice more later when the Seven War-
dens are mentioned, but never defined, as if the audience
already knew they arose from the Book of Enoch. This is a
reference to the setting up and operation of an early craft
Masonic lodge as is the reference to Nobles in the first line.
This is astonishing because masonry was thought to be un-
known before the 17th century, so here we may be glimpsing
a ritual at the roots of operative masonry.1
Now listen to me, all my friends, and hear me set forth
the sweet and entertaining story. Pay attention (he re-
peats) because hidden within this story is the secret to
understanding the nature of the Seven Wardens who gov-
ern all human nature.
1 Enochion. Here find Wardens=Planets, directions, gates and so forth. In
Masonic terms. 7 is always the Star of Soloman + 1 were one is invisible.
At Chartres, the seven-rayed star is part of the construction. See also:
Charpentier, Chartres RILKO.

306
 He again alludes to secrecy:
With this knowledge, you can set up a lodge to pass on
this knowledge to others. This short story and the greater
book to come (the Perlesvaus?) contains within it all the
good stories that exist anywhere and it will explain what
kind of human beings the seven Wardens (keepers of the
secret) should be, and how they should elect a leader.
Comment:
One hesitates to diverge from an analysis of the Perles-
vaus and its author, but it is necessary to make a few salient
observations on the Seven Wardens.
The idea of the seven Guardian Knights is easily inked to
the very first Templar lore. In many ways we can see it at
work in the way Templars are buried. In London, at Temple
Church, we find ten anonymous knights laid out in an inter-
esting array. But, the church is not round, as many have
wrongly observed, it is octagonal, identical to the original
Temple on the dome of the rock in Jerusalem, not the mod-
ern building, operated by the Muslim faith, but the original
temple, built along the lines suggested by Solomon. Eight,
and even nine, forms can be counted, as this sequence is
the Seven being the number of Templars necessary to oper-
ate a county. Eight being the number needed to design and
build the structure, also for the eight major directions of the
compass, the eight seasons of the ancient calendar and
eight plus one to remember the original nine knights organ-
ized in Champagne by Hugh de Payens. This idea has contin-
ued into masonry in modern times.
In Canada, the ritual of the Iron Ring (designated for Ca-
nadian engineers only) calls for the oath taker to ‘lay his/her
hand on cold iron’ and to adhere solemnly to the highest
ideals of the engineering profession. It is not a call for engin-
eers to show the world what can be done with their know-
ledge, but rather to be humble and to use that knowledge to
serve humanity.
An iron finger ring is given to the oath taker and newly
obligated engineer as a reminder their promise to strive for
perfection. Does not this sound like a bunch of Fellow Craft
masons getting ready to bring back the harmony and bal-
ance of the universe by constructing a cathedral with perfect
measurements out of stone and iron? Does this not resonate
with the image of Arthur pulling the sword (Ex Calibre or Old
Measurement) from the stone? The storyteller is telling us
that these legends came from the Iron Age, at a time when
the stones were still worshipped and understood.
This symbolism is far deeper than a fraternal handshake.

307
As it happens, the ceremony was designed for the Canadian
Engineering Guild in the 19th century by none other that
Rudyard Kipling, an exalted grand master and 33º Freema-
son. In an even more mysterious light, we find that, in
Canada, a private body, not affiliated with any university or
governmental agency, administers the Iron Ring ceremony.
This regulatory body is known as: "The Corporation of the
Seven Wardens/Société des Sept Gardiens."
The Seven Wardens ritual is found all over the Globe. The
Canadian rite is not the only example.
The reference made by Master Blihos in the Elucidation
points to the Seven Golden candles or lights of the West
which may find its roots in medieval craft masonry, the sev-
enth degree being that of Judgment, teaching the lesson of
judgmental return or the laws of Karma. This image also
crops up in the Book of Revelations.
In that ceremony, at least as far back as records have
been kept, the worshipful master reads from Matthew: 7:1,
”Judge not least ye be judged.” Which directly links to the
Seven Seals of the Apocalypse, the seven candles men-
tioned in Revelations, and finally to the rising of the seven
stars in the Pleiades as a foretelling of the coming of the
Beast, which is, in this case, a coalition of seven major con-
stellations, rising in the following sequence: Pleiades, Taur-
us, Cassiopeia, Orion, and the Dog Stars, Castor and Pollex.
When all of these constellations appear at dawn between
Lugnasad and Samhain, the Beast appears looming over the
earth and stretching from the stellar maximum to the hori-
zon.
Here we find, yet another warning in the Internal struc-
ture of the Elucidation, a warning submitted to a gathering
of nobles who should be reminded that every soul should be
judged by Saint Michael or another archangel as it fades into
the sunset.

Continuation:
The narrator of the Elucidation refers to the “wasteland,”
implying the fall of an earlier paradise. Here we see an allu-
sion to Old Testament material dealing with the fall from
grace as experienced by Adam and Eve, who are, we now
realize, parallels to Isis and Osiris. He also tells us that the
story has been told before, but not correctly, and that he,
somehow, knows the correct version, which again alludes to
the times when humans memorized everything and had no
need for writing:
This story has never been correctly told before in writ-

308
 ing because it begins at a time when the people are at a
low point and when the great country that was once a
paradise and a democracy (Logres) was destroyed in an-
cient times.1
A Dire Tale Comes to Light:
The kingdom turned to loss; the land was dead and
deserted in such wise as that it was scarce worth a few
hazelnuts. For the people lost the voices of the mounds
and the fairy damsels (spirits) that lived in them. 2
The mounds played an important role for any person
who wandered by in the evening or daylight because any
man or woman of good character could find sustenance
there.
If one came to the mound and called out with rever-
ence, a beautiful woman of the fairy faith would come out
of the mound carrying a cup of gold containing meat,
pastries, and bread and something to drink. Another wo-
man would bring out a white napkin and a dish of gold or
silver upon which to eat the food. The mound tenders of
the Fairy Faith always had a fire burning so that any trav-
eler who came to the side could be warmed. Also if they
were asked respectfully the fair maids would also provide
comfort in other ways. 3

A Dark King: An evil king named Amangons, a black-

hearted man with no respect for women, came into power.
He raped and kidnapped one of the damsels and took away
her maidenhead, and stole her cup of gold and made her
sleep with him every day and every night. He was the first to
break the custom or being polite and respectful to the Sidhi
(Mound Women). It was, since ancient times, the king’s duty
to protect the mounds and provide for them so that they
could extend this gesture out to the whole world. However,
Amangons (probably an outsider) abandoned his responsibil-
ities and set a bad example. Other travelers, following the
Kings example, also became rude and rough with the fairy
servants of the mounds and wells, causing the women to
cease feeding and comforting travelers. Thenceforth never
did the damsels serve anyone nor answer the call to come
out of the mounds to serve. And all the other damsels only
served those who were of the faith and could actually speak
1 Logres is here defined as the ancient era when the Mound Builders
knew how to live in an earthly paradise.
2 Hazelnuts refer to the Irish and Welsh Salmon of Knowledge legend.
3 This implies a kind of free love spirit and is without doubt a sexual ref-
erence. It is more Ovidian than Christian.

309
to them in the old language (Gaelic) and see them.
His Actions are Pandemic: The other vassals saw
what the king had done and began carrying off treasures
and molesting the mound women without restriction and the
people made a curse that whosoever should do such a thing
would rightfully meet with disaster.
The Fall From Grace:
This is why, eventually, the land turned to its downfall,
and why both good and bad came to a violent death.
Moreover, all other kings and knights who had wronged
the damsels were plagued with bad events. Thus, the en-
tire kingdom grew barren. No trees grew, no leafy
branches came out. The meadows and the flowers dried
up and the waters receded, and, after a long time of suf-
fering no one could find the court of the Rich Fisherman
(Hopefulness) who would, if he could be found, heal the
land and return it to a glittering glory of gold and silver, of
rich incense, of meats and vegetables, of Merlins and Ter-
cels and Sparrow Hawks and Falcons. 1
The Path to Redemption:
Eventually, some faithful people found the Court of the
Fisherking and made it known throughout the country that
it was rich and everyone marveled both rich and poor.
This was truly a miracle because now the kingdom gained
more than the loss caused by the evil king, but still the
mounds and the fairy inhabitants were not recovered.
Wealth had returned but the spirit was lost.
Enter the Hero:
The Peers of the Table Round came in the time of King
Arthur. The Knights were so wonderful, so strong, so
proud, so puissant, and so hardy, that when they had
heard the story of the Rich Fisherman, they could not stop
themselves from launching an attempt to replace the
Fairy maidens into their mounds and recover the wells.
A Druidic Oath: The knights, with one accord, swore
an oath to find and return the damsels that had been put
out of their natural dwellings and to bring back the ritual
treasures and cups that had been carried away, and to des-
troy root and branch, the men and the families that contin-
ued to harass and disrespect the fairy women.
The Task is not Easy: Nevertheless, the damsels
could not easily be found and if the Knights could catch any
of the earth goddess killers, they would be slain by the
1 Merlin is the Gaelic word for Hawk or any of a class of raptors. It is a
symbol of omniscience.

310
sword or hanged. Alms made they and prayed to God that
He would give back the fairy mounds and wells, and that, in
exchange for this miracle, each knight would do whatever
God willed. However, in spite of their prayers, none of the
Fairy Damsels were located and no voices came from the
mounds and wells.
Hope: As time went on they did eventually locate the
damsels hiding in the forest, still with their beauty intact,
and the knights circled with their horses to protect the dam-
sels. 1
The Cost of Revenge: Together the knights fought
the men who kidnapped the damsels and many a good
knight died in the struggle. Many battles occurred for many
years. King Arthur thereby lost knights without recovery, but
he also gained loyal soldiers thereby, as the following (Per-
lesvaus?) story will tell you.
The Author Stands Revealed:
The first man conquered by the knight known as
Gauwain, was named Blihos Bliheris. Finally, when he could
fight no more, Gauwain spared him, but only if he promised
to devote his life to the service of restoring the kingdom of
the Fisherking. He agreed and came to the Court where he
gave himself up even though he did not know the king or
anyone else at Court. The master knew many good stories
and he was such a good storyteller that no one ever grew
bored with his entertainments.
The members of the Court asked him about the damsels
that rode by the forest albeit it were not yet summer, and
they had the right to ask and demand an answer. He knew
how to speak with diplomacy so the courtiers trusted him.
Thereafter the storyteller spent many a night together
with the damsels and the knights telling his stories and an-
swering questions about the old ways, as if he were a Druid.
He said: "Much marvel have you of the damsels that you
see riding and walking in these great forests, and you never
seem to tire of asking in what country (we) they are born.
This is another protomasonic allusion.
I will tell ye the truth hereof. All of us are born of the
damsels, (the DNA line that extends back to the beginning
of time) and never in the world were fairer, whom King
Amangons raped and kidnapped.
This is sad because those wrongs he did can never be
truly undone, but there is hope.

1 Individual stones within a stone circle, are often referred to as, ”Sleep-
ing Knights,” Giants and guardians.

311
 A Suggestion: The Peers of the Table Round, through
their good deeds, their courtesy and honor, and through
their prowess and bravery at arms, can do much to recover
the paradise of ancient times because we are all, including
squires and knights and nobles, dependant on them and the
magical ways of nature.
Summation: I will tell you now the sum of the matter.
We all shall journey in common, and the fairy damsels in
likewise that wander at large through this country by forest
and field until God shall give them to find the Court from
whence shall come the joy whereby the land shall again be
made bright. To them that shall seek the Court, shall befall
adventures such as where never found nor told in this land
afore."
Much to their liking was this tale that he said and sung,
to them and they were very pleased.

Notes:
Two notes require comment because two 19th century ed-
itors appended them. First, while it is anonymous, there is
some argument (mainly from Jessie Weston) that the Elucid-
ation was composed by Blihos Bliheris himself, who may be
a man known as Bledericus or Blesiness mentioned by Ger-
ald of Wales as a storyteller in the court of Eleanor of
Aquitaine.
In my opinion, Weston is correct in this assumption, but
goes off track. Miss Weston rightly places Blihos in the Court
of Eleanor, but cites the court at Poitiers instead of
Winchester or London, before 1170. In any case, this mat-
ters little since Henry Blois could have easily visited both
places and was in France during the apex of Eleanor’s court
at Poitiers. 1
There is also a strange paradox in logic here. Evans never
tells us why he bothered to translate the Elucidation, except
that it was appended to the Perlesvaus copy he was using. I
assume, he thought, the author of the Elucidation and the
author of the Perlesvaus are the same person. Again, I agree
with his conclusion, if that was the case, but my assumption
is based on the Blihos anagram, shown earlier, and its inclu-
sion with many stylistic elements, not because it happened
to appear in a folio in the Bibliothèque National along with a
pseudo-Chrétien manuscript. 2

1 Op Cit Weston Jesse.

2 Albert W. Thompson, "The Additions to Chrétien's Perceval" in Arthuri-
an Literature in the Middle Ages, Roger S. Loomis (ed.). Clarendon Press:

312
 Secondly, Emma Jung points out that the word here
translated as "wells" can also mean "temple mounds.” As
such, these, “women of the wells,” may indeed be women of
the mounds I.e. the Sidhi of Irish mythology. I used that
definition in my modifications. 1
Jung’s comment is fitting, of course, as the Irish tales are
full of such fairy folk legends. But in Ireland, and in all Gaelic
speaking regions, water springs, river sources, natural water
wells and temple mounds, both Neolithic and Bronze Age,
are, even in the 21st century, thought to be sacred and pop-
ulated by fairies. 2

Oxford University. 1959

1 Op cit Jung Emma. The Legend of the Grail, 2nd ed. Sago Press 1988
2 Matthews, John. Ed. Sources of the Grail. Herndon, VA: Lindisfarne
Books, 1997.

313
 Appendix B: Time Line
A Brief Timeline of the Thebaudian reign in England, start-
ing from the death of Henry I Beauclerc and including politic-
al and literary advances of Bishop and Abbot Henri Blois.

1060 (circa)
Hospitalier formed.
1099
Jerusalem Taken by Christian Crusaders
First Templars formed.
Priory of Sion, primarily made up of Benedictine monks
from Cluny and knights from Troyes and Champagne, forms
first Templar cell
1101
Birth of Henri Etudes Blois
1102
Death of Henry’s father and King Stephen’s namesake
Stephen Etienne Comte de Champagne born. c. 1063. Died
Ramelah—Jerusalem engages in a secret mission and dies in
battle. Controversy about shameful cowardice on the battle-
field contradicted by eyewitness accounts. An unfulfilled ob-
ligation to the church is cited Mortuary records contradict
church records.
1103
Henry’s Mother, Adella of England and Normandy b.
1068-1069, daughter of William the Conqueror, takes over
family holdings, does not remarry.
1104
Henry Blois given over as oblate child to Cluniac Bene-
dictine's at Charite sur Loire
1105
Theobald Blois groomed to take over as Count of Blois
and Champagne
1106
Stephen Blois sent to England unofficially adopted by his
uncle King Henry I Beauclerc.
1118
White Ship Disaster many members of the Norman and
Thebaudian royalty killed.
Beauclerc’s younger sister Matilda was very beautiful, but

314
married to a man six years younger than her, Richard d’ Av-
ranches, the 2nd Earl of Chester. Some observers describe
him as a popinjay, who gave her no children. Both died in
the White Ship disaster.
November 25th White Ship disaster kills more than half of
Norman royalty and heirs. Setting the stage for the anarchy
that was soon to come.
1119
Mathilda of Anjou declared heir to English throne
1122
Blois begins building program in Montacute Abbey
Henry Blois appointed Abbot of Glastonbury
Eleanor of Aquitaine Born in Poitiers
1125
Stephen Blois accepts estates at Mortain from the king
1128
Stephen proves himself an able administrator
1130
Blois begins building program in Winchester
1132
Work begins at Wolvesey Palace. Blois residence.
1134
Work begins on Saint Cross Hospice for indigent men.
The pastoral care center has an octagonal tower and is ded-
icated to Saint John of Jerusalem with 13 Hospitalier in-
stalled. These monks don black robes with white crosses em-
blazoned.
1135
King Henry Beauclerc (Henry I) while visiting his grand-
children, and in the midst of a dispute with the future
empress Mathilda, dies of toxic fish or eel, possibly an over-
dose or “surfeit” of eel. In at Saint-Denis-en-Lyons (now Ly-
ons-la-Forêt) France (1 Dec).
Stephen rushes to England to take the crown before
Mathilda of Anjou. He is crowned King of England (22 Dec.)
William of Malmsbury finishes, (Gestus Regnum Anglorum).
Second Crusade Begins.
1136
Eleanor inherits Aquitaine
Beauclerc buried at Reading (Jan. 4)
Stephen repeals forest laws, provides for immediate elec-
tions of bishops, and abolishes Danegeld.
King David of Scotland invades the north

315
 Stephen forces David to submit (5 Feb)
Stephen grants Carlisle to David
Stephen revives the Easter court tradition and his wife
Matilda Atheling of Scotland is crowned Queen of England on
the Spring Equinox. (22 March).
Pope Innocent II recognizes Stephen as King and Robert,
Earl of Gloucester returns to England (12 April)
Stephen falls ill and rumors of his death cause some to
rebel, but he recovers quickly and has good doctors from his
mother’s court in France. (26-29 April)
Stephen takes Bampton and exiles Earl of Bampton (1
May)
Stephen lays siege to Exeter and exiles Baldwin (12 Jul)
Henri Blois brings foreign monks from Cluny and Fecamp
to Glastonbury and Winchester (Saint Cross).
Geoffrey of Anjou raids Normandy (mid-Sep) Archbishop
of Canterbury William dies (21 Nov)
1137
Stephen lands in Normandy (March) David of Scotland,
Stephen’s brother-in-law, threatens Invasion of Northumber-
land (Spring) Henri Blois intercedes and negotiates a settle-
ment. Truce made between Stephen and Geoffrey (Jun)
Stephen lays siege to Miles of Beauchamp at Bedford
(Christmas-time) Geoffrey of Monmouth writes Historia
regnum Brittanicum at Glastonbury
1138 David invades Northumberland (10 Jan)
Stephen reaches Northumberland with his army (2 Feb)
Geoffrey Talbot seizes Hereford Castle (late Mar)
Stephen destroys Hereford Castle (Apr)
David of Scotland invades Northumberland, and ravages
East coast (8 Apr)
Robert, Earl of Gloucester formally renounces allegiance
to Stephen (22 May)
Hereford burned by Geoffrey Talbot (15 June)
Dudley Castle, near Shrewsbury, captured by Stephen
(August)
Battle of the Standard. Archbishop of York
Thurston gathers forces to repel Scots.
David breaks agreements. (22 Aug)
Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald of Bec, elected.

1139
Eleanor of Aquitaine married to Louis VII in Paris. Pope In-
nocent II hears charge of Stephen’s usurpation of the crown,
and confirms the legitimacy of Stephen’s rule (Jan) Formal

316
peace treaties between English and Scots are signed at
Durham (Apr 9)
Henri Blois complains to his brother about Bishops Roger
of Salisbury, Alexander, and Roger the chancellor being ar-
rested for “offense against the majesty of the King.” (Jun)
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and Empress Matilda land at
Arundel (30 Sep)
Matilda is later escorted to Bristol. A garrison remains at
Wallingford (Fall)
South Carney captured by Stephen (Fall)
Town of Malmsbury burned by Robert fitzHubert (7 Oct)
Malmsbury Castle captured by Stephen (Oct)
Stephen leaves a garrison of Templars at Devizes to
check Trowbridge (All Saints)
Garrison at Wallingford defeated by Miles of Gloucester
Miles sacks Worcester (7 Nov)
Bishop Robert of Salisbury dies.
Bishop Blois says mass at Robert's funeral and makes
threatening sermon. (Dec 11)
Hereford, Winchcomb, and South Cerney captured by
Miles.

1140
Archbishop Thurstan dies (6 Feb) Stephen allies with King
Louis VII Possible involvement of Henri Blois in negotiations
via the young Eleanor. (Early)
Bishop Nigel of Ely rebels
Isle of Ely is captured by Stephen
Reginald of Dunstanville harasses Stephen’s forces from
Cornwall and is defeated
Robert fitzHubert recaptures Malmsbury (26 Mar) begins
devastating the countryside.
Robert declares himself an independent force intending
to seize Winchester and London.
Robert FitzHubert captured by John FitzGilbert (loyal to
Robert of Gloucester). After a contest of wills, (not arms)
Robert is arrested and hung for not releasing Devizes to Earl
Robert and Miles.
Stephen bribes the submission of Devizes with ‘very large
sums of money. Possibly from the Hospitalier and Templar
banks.
Negotiations for peace made between claimant Matilda
and Stephen (May)
Bishop Blois discusses issues with King Louis VII, (his seni-
or brother in France-Count Theobald, and ‘Many ecclesiast-

317
ics’ (Sep)
Robert of Gloucester captures Nottingham (Sep)
Stephen ‘confers distinctions’ on Ranulf, Earl of Chester
and William of Roumare (Dec)
Ranulf and William seize Lincoln Castle by trickery
Stephen besieges Lincoln (after Christmas) but Ranulf es-
capes to enlist the aid of Robert and Miles

1141
Robert and Ranulf’s forces arrive at Lincoln (1 Feb)
Stephen captured by rebel forces when his earls ‘shame-
fully desert him’ (2 Feb).
Townspeople of Lincoln slaughtered by Ranulf and Rober-
t’s men
Stephen brought to Bristol under heavy guard. (9 Feb)
Matilda accepts submission of Cirencester (17 Feb)
Bishop Henry recognizes Matilda as ‘lady of the people’ at
Winchester. She is not invested as Queen. (3 Mar)
Oxford Castle and then Oxford gives homage to Matilda.
(30 Mar)
Bishop Henry convenes an ecclesiastic council to ‘elect’
Matilda as queen of England, but may have been a sham
and stall for time. (8 Apr)
Matilda arrives in London to prepare for her coronation
but immediately adds taxations. (24 Jun)
Citizens of London appeal to Matilda to moderate her de-
mands. Matilda, in a fury, devastates the outskirts of London
with a small army. She demands the villagers’ bend to her
will and begins t levy higher taxes. Londoners see what is
next for them and band together to rebel. They rise up and
Matilda is forced to flee to Oxford, then Gloucester. (Jun)
Bishop Henry renews his loyalty to Stephen after seeing
Matilda ‘in action. He devises a cunning plot to co-opt the
disconsolate Queen to be. Bishop Henri offers Matilda com-
fort at Winchester and installs her at Winchester castle and
Wolvesey. Matilda is offended and commands her forces to
march on Winchester. Bishop Blois escapes to rally Steph-
en’s forces and leaves Matilda to fend for herself. Huge as-
semblies of people clamor to Winchester to protest. They
sack and burn along the way, effectively cutting Matilda off.
Ranulf attempts to side with first Stephen, then Matilda
and is turned away by both (Jul)

318
 Stephen’s Queen, Matilda, using Scots forces under the
Atheling and St. Clair banner, lays siege to Empress Matilda
at Winchester (Jul)
Empress Matilda and Robert’s forces attempt to break
free from Winchester. Earl Robert captured by Queen Mat-
ilda’s (Stephen’s Queen Consort)
Scots highlanders and bagpipes are heard for weeks in
Winchester. King David is also captured, but bribes his
captors for his freedom. He probably bribed his sister’s cap-
tains. (14 September).
The beaten Matilda flees to Ludgershall, and finally ‘more
dead than alive’ is placed in a litter and carried to
Gloucester.
At Rochester, Robert is kept under house arrest by the
Queen (King Stephen’s wife). Negotiations for an exchange
ensue, and Robert demands a high price. Finally, Robert
agrees to a one-for-one exchange.
Stephen is freed from his prison at Bristol (1 Nov)
Bishop Henry attempts to justify his changes in allegi-
ance. (7 Dec)
Stephen re-performs the coronation ceremony in Canter-
bury to emphasize his position as king, restored to all power
and dignity by his younger brother Henry Blois (25 Dec)

1142
Stephen goes north to stop a projected tournament, a
full-fledged joust with political implications. This tourney was
potentially dangerous and several advisors warned that war
might break out. Barons and treaties are involved. Stephen
officially claims this is no time for ‘knightly sports,’ saying
the last thing he needed was a tournament turning into a
small-scale war. Knights Templars and Hospitalier in attend-
ance.
Stephen again falls ill on the way back from the north and
rumors of his death Fly to London. (Easter)
Matilda Plantagenet, still attempting to exercise her claim
to be queen, attempts to bring her husband Geoffrey of An-
jou to England to join the fight. (June)
Earl Robert sails to Normandy from Wareham to request
aid in person (Midsummer) but stays for the remainder of
the summer helping Geoffrey capture 10 Norman castles
Stephen’s health improves and he seizes Wareham (Jun)
Stephen destroys strategic castles at Cirencester, Bamp-
ton, and Radcot on his way to Oxford
Stephen attacks Matilda’s headquarters and lays siege to

319
Oxford (26 Sep)
Geoffrey refuses to aid his wife, instead sends his 9-year
old son Henry, with Earl Robert to inspire the nobles to fight
for the rightful male heir. The church is not aligned with
these activities because it smacks of an archaic and forbid-
den genetic selection process. (Oct)
Earl Robert, with the future Henry II in tow, lays siege to
Wareham (Oct) and captures it after 3 weeks
Earl Robert seizes Isle of Portland and Lulworth as stra-
tegic bases for future troop movements. (Nov?)
Earl Robert summons forces to meet at Cirencester (Dec)
Matilda, “of the people,” at Oxford, now calls herself
empress, but loses confidence and is forced to escape Ox-
ford in the snow—wearing white as camouflage. (Shortly be-
fore Christmas).
Peter Abelard dies at Cluny and is enshrined. His body will
be moved to be with Heloise near Troyes.

1143
William Malmsbury dies after finishing his New History.
Peter Venerable remains in Spain studying the Koran until
1144
Stephen fires and salts the countryside around Wareham
Stephen gathers troops at Wilton—amassed for a future
attack on Bristol by land and sea.
Earl Robert meets Stephen and Bishop Henry at Wilton,
and Stephen and Henry are forced to retreat. William Martel,
the king’s steward and castellan of Sherbourne, prevents
Stephen’s capture, but is himself captured.
Bishop Henry returns to Winchester. William of Pont de
l’Arche held Winchester Castle for Matilda, and summons her
forces to help him challenge Blois control of the city.
Robert son of Hildebrand is dispatched to William’s aid,
but rather than helping Bishop Henri, he seduces William’s
wife, and then imprisons his host.
In possession of William’s wife, castle, and wealth, Robert
changes his allegiance to Stephen. One chronicler notes
Robert’s just demise.
King Stephen arrests Geoffrey de Mandeville for treason
(autumn). Geoffrey surrenders the Tower of London, and
several castles to Stephen.
Pope Innocent II dies (24 Sep) Celestine II (also a Cluniac)
becomes pope. He is pro-Anjevin, an intellectual and
Troubadour sympathizer and opposed to Bernard.

320
 1144
Geoffrey of Anjou captures Rouen in Normandy and as-
sumes title of Duke of Normandy (20 Jan)
Pope Celestine II dies (8 Mar)
Lucius II becomes pope (also pro-Stephen)
Geoffrey de Mandeville is set free and then embarks on a
career of plunder and devastation unparalleled in that age.
Geoffrey de Mandeville sacks and seizes Ramsey
Geoffrey uses mercenaries to siege Burwell Castle (Aug)
and is gravely wounded.
Geoffrey de Mandeville dies excommunicate.
Templars take Geoffrey’s body to London.
Ranulf, Earl of Chester ravages the north, seizing Steph-
en’s baronial castles.
Stephen captures castle at Winchcomb
Hugh Bigod attempts to ‘plunder East Anglia.
Miles of Gloucester lays heavy exactions on Robert, bish-
op of Hereford.
Robert refuses levies and Miles has bishops lands rav-
aged (he is excommunicated).
Henry Blois’ land is not salted as payment to him for his
wise council.
Miles of Gloucester dies in a hunting accident (24 Dec)
1145-1146
Adella Blois, Stephen’s mother dies in France.
Henri travels to her funeral at Marcigny Convent.
Pope Lucius II dies (15 Feb) and Eugenius III becomes
pope (he too is pro-Anjevin, but opposed to Blois
Geoffrey of Anjou conquers Arques and becomes master
of the entire duchy of Normandy
Stephen scatters Hugh Bigod’s forces in East Anglia and
builds 3 castles in the area.
Hugh raids Turgis of Avranches rebels and Stephen cap-
tures him and retakes the castle of Saffron-Walden
Philip, son of Earl Robert is installed at Cricklade and be-
gins his role in the general plunder and disorder
Stephen’s forces storm and capture Faringdon (summer)
Ranulf, who has seized about one third of the country,
comes to Stephen to make a humble submission.
Philip changes allegiance to Stephen
Ranulf captures Bedford and turns control over to Steph-
en
Stephen and Matilda meet to establish peace—with no
result
Ranulf is imprisoned for his treachery, and gives Lincoln

321
Castle for his freedom
Ranulf revolts ‘wildly’
Stephen stations troops in Lincoln (Dec 1146)

1147
Ranulf attempts and fails to recapture Lincoln (early)
14-year old Henry Plantagenet lands in England with a
company of highly trained knights (early)
Ranulf attempts and fails to capture Coventry. Stephen
begins campaign to besiege Ranulf.
Young Henry Plantagenet attempts and fails to capture
Cricklade and Burtuna.
His knights begin to desert him.
Possible Templar intrigues and spies involved.
Henry Plantagenet sends messengers to Stephen to ‘pity
the poverty that weighed upon him’. Stephen is moved
enough to give the boy the funds he asked for, but only if he
will withdraw.
Using the money Stephen gave him and more to bank,
Henry Plantagenet returns to Normandy (May)
Robert, Earl of Gloucester dies (31 Oct)
Henri Blois is outraged that the Pope should consecrate
Henry Murdac as archbishop of York (7 Dec).
This move overturns the precedent that the king ap-
proves the selection of all bishops and archbishops and
blocks Stephen from appointing his brother archbishop of
Canterbury.
Murdac refuses to swear fealty to the king, insulting
Stephen

1148
Stephen seizes the properties surrounding the See of
York.
Bishop Blois excommunicates Hugh de Puiset and all his
opponents in York.
York is placed under an interdict.
Hugh retaliates by excommunicating Bishop Henri
Largely ignored and irrelevant, Matilda leaves England
under duress
Stephen attempts to prevent Archbishop Theobald (and
other English ecclesiastics) from attending a council
summoned by the pope. (Bishop Henri attempting to dis-
credit or depose Theobald)
Theobald escapes and attends council (21 Mar).
The Pope issues general excommunication on all English

322
bishops, and reserves absolution of Bishop Henri for himself.
Bernard of Clairvaux is probably the instigator.
Bishop Henri goes to Rome and receives absolution
The Pope begins excommunication of Stephen, but Arch-
bishop Theobald pleads for mercy and Stephen is allowed
three months to ‘make satisfaction’ for his actions.
On Theobald’s return, Stephen demands explanation for
the disobedience, and not receiving a good explanation, or-
ders Theobald out of the country. Ignores potential sentence
of excommunication.
English bishops, lead by Henri Blois, side with Stephen
over the election of bishops and the expanded power of Ab-
bots. They ignore the papal excommunication in general.
Theobald places interdiction on England (12 Sep). It too is
ignored except in Canterbury, but the monks of St. Au-
gustine continue to celebrate mass.
Theobald returns to England and goes to Suffolk to find
Hugh Bigod in charge.
Bishops Robert of London, Hilary of Chichester, William of
Norwich, and a number of laymen go to Framingham and
make peace between the king and Theobald.

1149
King David of Scotland, made Grand Master of the Tem-
plars, and knights his great-nephew, Henry II Plantagenet
(22 May)
Ranulf joins Angevin cause—receives Lancaster in ex-
change for his claim to Carlisle
David and Henry II plan to attack York.
Stephen gathers forces but attack is disbanded.
Stephen’s son Eustace attempts to intercept Henry on his
way to Bristol.
Stephen lays waste to the environs of Salisbury
Ranulf assaults Lincoln
Eustace goes to East Anglia to deal with Hugh Bigod
Henry captures Bridport
Henry and Eustace battle at Devizes—Henry drives off Eu-
stace marking the beginning of the downfall for Stephen.

1150
Henry II returns to Normandy (Jan) Stephen attempts to
secure the throne for Eustace. A scheme involving recogni-
tion of Henry Murdac as Archbishop of York is hatched.
The Pope is supposed to crown Eustace on appeal of his
uncle, Henri Blois, but the plan fails.

323
 1151
Henry Murdac takes possession of the See of York (25
Jan)
The Pope refuses to crown Eustace while Stephen is alive,
and issues orders to this effect to Theobald. Here the archaic
practice of consanguinity (the blood right of kings to inherit
the throne with or without church ordination) conflicts with
the papal control of monarchies that had been in place, in
Europe since before Charlemagne.
Stephen forces monks of St. Augustine to pay £500 to
elect their prior. This is a huge sum.
Louis VII accepts homage of Henry Plantagenet and re-
cognizes him as Duke of Normandy (Aug)
Geoffrey of Anjou dies (7 Sep).
Henry Plantagenet spends remainder of year in France,
consolidating his hold on Anjou.

1152
Bishop Henry summons meeting in London to demand
that the archbishop and his colleagues anoint and crown Eu-
stace as king. Pope’s letter prevents this. In a rage, Stephen
confiscates church property and locks up the council. He
later ‘cools off’, restores the men, and offers reparations for
his seizure.
Stephen forces the chapter of St. Paul’s to pay £500 to
elect Stubbs as Bishop of London
Stephen lays siege to Roger, earl of Hereford, at Walling-
ford.
Roger makes peace and changes allegiance to Stephen
Roger sends word to Henry Plantagenet to return to Eng-
land.
Henry plans return to England (6 Apr)
Queen Maud Atheling dies leaving Stephen bereft and al-
most beyond consolation. (3 May)
Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry Plantagenet (18 May)
Louis VII begins campaign to win Normandy, Aquitaine,
and Anjou from Henry and plots with Eleanor.

1153
Henry Plantagenet lands in England (6 Jan)
Henry captures Malmsbury.
Mercenaries commit atrocities.
Henry sends them back.
Shipwreck kills 500.
Stephen, still depressed and in mourning declines battle

324
at
Malmsbury knowing his barons are slack.
Robert, earl of Leicester defects to Henry.
King David of Scotland dies (24 May)
Warwick surrenders to Henry II
Countess Gundrea, turns out her garrison and defeats
Earl Roger who dies of shame.
Derby falls to Henry II
Bedford sacked and burned by Henry II but castle does
not fall
(Jun)
Henry lays siege to Wallingford (Crowmarsh), and Steph-
en sets up a base at Oxford
Henry, Stephen and Eustace meet for battle at Walling-
ford, but parlay a truce.
Eustace leaves in a fury and goes to Cambridgeshire
ravaging as he goes.
Bury St. Edmunds receives Eustace with much honor and
a dinner, but refuses his demand for money.
Eustace (unwisely) destroys their crops and devastates
their lands (10 Aug)
Hugh Bigod seizes Ipswich, and Stephen goes to retrieve
it.
Stephen does nothing to harness Eustace, but Eustace
suddenly dies (17 Aug) from poisoning and is assumed as-
sassinated.
Henry II lays siege to Stamford (31 Aug)
Henry II attempts to capture Nottingham
Henry of Blois helps to write the Treaty of Winchester (6
Nov) recognizes Henry Plantagenet as Stephen’s heir, desig-
nates what Stephen’s remaining son and daughter will re-
ceive, but in so doing, he paves the way for Stephen’s pos-
sible assassination or abdication. Stephen is under the im-
pression that he will rule for life, meaning several more dec-
ades. It appears he had no sense of precaution at all. His
continuing rule lasted less than one year more.
1154
Henri Blois prepares to leave for the continent and a re-
turn trip to Cluny.
Barons pay homage to Henry II (13 Jan)
Henry II returns to Normandy after a plot by William to kill
him is discovered (4 Apr)
Stephen dies (25 Oct) of ‘chronic flux of hemorrhoids’. An
alternative version claims he died of a heart attack or was
poisoned based on Williams actions.

325
 Henry Plantagenet is crowned King (19 Dec)
Blois is ignored but remains active.
Blois turns attention to the production of the Winchester
bible and other book projects and builds villages and
labyrinths in the countryside around Winchester.
Finishes reconstruction at Winchester,
Blois brings the pseudo round table from Glastonbury to
Winchester castle and finishes excavation on Saint Swithens
tomb, also repairs the “Holy Hole” beneath Winchester.
Blois sits on council and corresponds with Eleanor as she
is acting as regent for Henry in abstentia. Blois returns to
running day-today activities of Glastonbury Abbey and
Winchester and also travels to London. He stays at various
places in the countryside and near Bermondsey in London
when in residence.
Bishop Henri weighs in on Thomas Becket debate.
Blois stays neutral, but offers Beckett and his and else-
where.
Henry II begins to confiscate lands and chattels belong-
ing to
Stephen and Bishop Henry.
1155
Abbot Blois stays on at Cluny to attend to Peter the Ven-
erable. He stays abroad for two years, but is never out of
touch with Glastonbury or Troyes. Saint Cross Hospice is ex-
panded in Blois’ absence. Work is suspended on the
Winchester Bible for lack of funds. Winchester Psalter is
completed.
Presumably the Abbot takes a copy of the Perlesvaus with
him.

1157
Blois returns to Winchester.
Sponsors the reenactment of ‘Blowing of the Stag’, as
done at Saint Paul’s in London, a shamanic ceremony. He
also allows Whitsun festivities including the Green Man,
Mummers plays, passion plays, Morris Dances, maze tread-
ing and Maypole spirals.
Blois begins a meditative phase and writes poetry, songs,
and longer works, probably including or adding to the Perles-
vaux. Rumors begin to circulate that Blois had sacred books
sealed in lead and buried around Glastonbury and
Winchester.

1160

326
 Arthur’s grave is first rumored to be located at Glaston-
bury. Building program at Glastonbury continues including
extensive retrenching of waterways and roads, fishponds
and tithe barns.

1172
Henri Blois dies at Winchester. Enshrined at Glastonbury
moved to Ivinghoe after the fire of 1184 and finally moved to
Winchester in the 19th century.

End

327
 Appendix C: Manuscripts
The extant Perlesvaus manuscripts are listed here. The
most complete and unredacted copy is the Hatton Ms. #O at
Oxford. None of these manuscripts have even been scrutin-
ized by modern infrared, x-ray or radiocarbon techniques,
and most of their criticism took place before WW II. Ra-
diocarbon dating was developed around 1949 by Willard
Libby at, the University of Chicago of all places. I find it odd
that William Nitze, of that same university, with all of his
academic power, never bothered to have any of these
manuscripts scrutinized by Libby or his students. It is now
assumed, that an original may have existed prior to the 13th
century but that it is untraceable at this time and that all of
the copies we see listed here are mid 13th century. I think we
have been looking in the wrong century.

Partial Versions:
I. # C Chantilly, France, Institut de France, MS 626 of
the Collection of the Duc d'Aumale, folios
213v-243v; 88v (Perlesvaus MS C).
II. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS fonds française
120, folios 520r-522v (Perlesvaus MS OAc).
III. Bern, Switzerland, Stadtbibliothek MS 113, folios
283v-290v (Perlesvaus MS Be)
IV. Chicago, University Library 1523 printed edition of
the Perlesvaus, folios 123-212 (Perlesvaus MS BL)

Full Versions (designations in quotes):

I. “W” Aberystwth, Wales, National Library of Wales,
MS Peniarth 11, entire MS (folios 110-end=Perles-
vaus MS W)
II. “BR” Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale des Ducs de
Bourgogne, MS #11145, entire MS. It is missing
only the branch on the Golden Circlet. (Perlesvaus
MS Br) Evans translation source.
III. “P” Paris, Biblio. Nationale MS fonds française 1428
entire MS (Perlesvaus MS P)
IV. “O” Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 82, entire MS
(Perlesvaus MS O) Nitze Translation source.

328
 Appendix D: Blois Ar-
chitecture
The following list details the construction and architectur-
al projects attributable to Henry Blois arranged in chronolo-
gical order. The list is by no means complete and some pro-
jects are still under study. Moreover many of these projects
cannot be seen without resort to spade and wheelbarrow, or
aerial survey. The overall intention here is to demonstrate
the extent of the prelate’s skills and projects. For the most
part these contributions have been destroyed or are in
shambles due to the vicissitudes of war, and politics. But the
sheer number of projects should prove the significance of
the case and the Bishop’s wealth, largess and abilities.

1082-1124
Some records indicate the young Henry Blois was made
Abbot of Bermondsey when he first arrived in England. We
know Blois expanded Bermondsey Abbey and made addi-
tions to Saint Saviours, Southwark London. Later in his ca-
reer he built the Bishop’s Palace at Southwark whose walls
and window casings still stand. He established a jail on the
site and also in Winchester and made suggestions for Saint
Mary Magdalene chapel and hospital. Bermondsey Abbey
was consecrated in 1082 and foundations laid in 1119 by
eight monks from Charite-sur-Loire, where Henry grew up. It
is remotely possible that Blois was one of these early monks
at age 19 although we have no formal records of that ap-
pointment. Several documents making Bermondsey the
overseer to a Somerset chapel at King Weston, began as
grants from Queen Maude in 1114. 1

1125
Blois was appointed Abbot of Montacute in Somerset, by
his uncle Henry I. He rebuilt the Abbey walls in places and
reconstructed abandoned Taunton Castle, originally a mote
and bailey built in 1068, and used it as his own residence for
two years.

1126-1129
The King next appointed Blois Abbot of Glastonbury due
1 Knowles, Dom David. Monastc Orders in England, Cambridge Press

329
to the promotion of Abbot Seffrid to the Bishophric of
Chichester. Blois continued construction of Taunton Castle
as Glastonbury is in a primitive state.
Blois appointed Robert of Lewes to the Bishophric of Bath
and relies on Robert to carry out details at Glastonbury. Blois
then laid out plans and financing for a brewery, new grinding
mills, an expanded library, populated by books and monks
imported from Cluny. He also added a new rectory, the Ab-
bot’s Kitchen, Fish Ponds and repairs to the Elde Kirk and
built a small priory at Chilton-Polden on the Roman ridge
road to Street, plus many other projects.

1129
Winchester Cathedral
King Henry I promotes Blois to the Bishophric of
Winchester and allows him to stay on as Abbot of Glaston-
bury. This is unprecedented and difficult to accept for the
majority of prelates operating in England, but nepotism was
ever the case with the Thebaudians and Normans and it was
to be expected. In spite of his envestitutre, Blois sponsored
continuing works at Glastonbury and laborers continued at a
feverish pace although Blois rarely lived there.
Blois begins to build Wolvesey Palace adjacent to
Winchester for himself and makes improvements to
Winchester Castle. He also began plans for Saint Cross Hos-
pital.
Blois travels to France and stops in Tournai (Now Belgi-
um) to order eight octagonal black stone baptismal fonts
that he distributes to Lincoln, East Meon Village church and
Winchester as well as other places, probably Glastonbury,
but no trace remains of the Glastonbury font.
Blois rebuilds the west tower and wall that collapsed in
1107.
He builds a tidal clock in the crypt area as well as a treas-
ury in the south transept designed for storage of relics that
he provided from far away lands. Blois has frescoes painted
by artisans from Monte Cassino and other Cluniac locations
and brings in classical statues from Rome and elsewhere.
Blois begins construction of the Holy Hole, in the ret-
rochoir. This doorway allows the pilgrim to lay down, crawl
under and come almost directly into contact with the relics
of the local saint whose shrine took on miraculous and curat-
ive powers almost from the time of the his burial in 862. At
first he was entered in the graveyard of the Old Minster, but
the droves of pilgrims became so vociferous that his bones
were encased in a shrine of gold filigree and transferred to

330
the present Cathedral. Blois’ contribution and construction of
the special souterrain for pilgrims functioned throughout the
middle Ages. Originally the shrine stood above the high altar
on a raised 'feretory platform' which still exists behind the
great screen. Here we see that Blois was no stranger to
moving shrines and preparing access for pilgrims as was the
case with King Arthur’s shrine at Glastonbury. 1

1129-1132
Ivinghoe, Wing and Environs
The area of Buckinghamshire about 15 miles southeast of
Winchester features several projects built by Bishop Blois in
one of his earliest periods. Inspired by the great maze on
Saint Michael’s Tor at Glastonbury and the Sufi inspired
maze at Chartres, Blois grew fascinated with outdoor natural
labyrinths, sometimes called Fairy Walks, and erected sever-
al at significant sites. One—on the crest of Saint Catherine’s
Hill overlooking Saint Cross hospice—is square in shape and
is designed to be almost identical to the maze at Rheims
cathedral, a labyrinth visited by Bishop Henry on several oc-
casions during visits to his ancestral homeland and Cham-
pagne.
The Town of Wing, features a fabulous labyrinth, built by
Bishop Blois, still in perfect condition and maintained by the
town, which is located at the foot of a very large Megalithic
mound.
In a similar vein, the town of Ivinghoe boasts an even
greater link to Bishop Blois because, as mentioned in the
main text, Ivinghoe church features at least one of his burial
shrines.
In 1135 Blois established a convent near Ivinghoe known
variously as the Priory of Saint Margaret’s in the Wood, also
St. Margaret’s de Bosco. Blois often visited this area and
lived nearby in a more-or less-humble house known as
Berrystead or Becrysted house. This is a very mysterious
situation because the first prioress of the convent there may
have been the mistress of Bishop Blois, although this theory
remains entirely speculative.
In the same area Blois built houses and roads in
Nettleden, Pitstone, and another farmstead now vanished
without a trace, known as St. Margaret’s Farm. He also laid
out the village and established a fair to the benefit of the
convent and priory. 2
1 Sargeant, Phillip Wallsingham. Bell’s Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church
of Winchester George Bell & Sons, Edinburgh, 1899
2 Dugdale, Monaticon Anglorum, IV p. 268-272

331
 1130
Saint Cross
For the next 28 years Blois went on a building spree of as-
tonishing proportions. It was as if building was his hobby. He
built topiary labyrinths, chapels, cathedrals and whole
towns. He also constructed harbors and dug out canals,
keeping thousands of workers
His most important and lasting contribution in this period
was the construction of the Hospital of Saint Cross along the
River Itchen from Winchester, in the shadow of Saint Cather-
ine’s Hill. This complex was begun and remains a hospice
dedicated to poor working class men and is operated by
Knights of Saint John also known as the Knights Hospitalier,
of which Blois was a member.
Set in open meadow to the south of Winchester, the Hos-
pital of St Cross was founded in the 1130s by Bishop Blois
for, “Thirteen poor men, feeble and so reduced in strength
that they can scarcely or not at all support themselves
without other aid.” The thirteen brothers of this foundation
still wear black gowns and a badge depicting the Jerusalem
Cross.
Apart from providing for themselves, the brethren still
practice the “Wayfarers Dole.” In this very ancient ritual, a
piece of white bread and a cup of good beer or Ale may be
obtained by knocking at the door of the Porters Lodge, and
making a simple request. A few nights lodging is also rarely
turned down in exchange for light work. To the present day
this ritual is practiced as part of Freemasonry.

1133-1135
Wolvesey Palace
Formerly the principle residence of the Bishops of
Winchester, Wolvesey Castle, located immediately behind
Winchester cathedral, was an extensive keep and bailey
castle built about 1100 on a site in use during the Anglo-Sax-
on period. Blois expanded the castle into a sumptuous
palace and lived there himself for several years, during the
Civil War between Queen Matilda and King Stephen
(1135-48).
Henry, had to take refuge within Wolvesey at one point in
the conflict, and was forced to withstand a short siege there.
Like so many of Blois’ buildings, the Puritans finally pulled
down Wolvesey in the 16th century and it was never rebuilt.

Saint Paul’s London 1134

332
 The Rev. William Benham, in his deeply inspired work on
Saint Paul’s relates the following:
King Henry I. died nearly at the same time Wolvesey was
underway, and as there was a contest for the throne ensuing
on his death, so was there for the bishopric of London. In the
interval, Henry de Blois, the famous Bishop of Winchester,
was appointed to administer the affairs of St. Paul's, and al-
most immediately he had to deal with a calamity. Another
great fire broke out at London Bridge in 1135, and did dam-
age more or less all the way to St. Clement Danes. Matthew
Paris speaks of St. Paul's as having been destroyed. This was
certainly not the case, but serious injury was done, and the
progress of the building was greatly delayed. Bishop Henry
called on his people of Winchester to help in the rebuilding,
putting forward the plea that though St. Paul was the great
Apostle of the West, and had planted so many churches, this
was the only cathedral dedicated to him.1

1135-1138
Bishops Waltham Palace
Stephen Blois ran to England from Mortain to seize the
English throne in 1135 and Bishop Henry was needed at
court more so than ever before and yet he did not cease his
building efforts.
As soon as Wolvesey and Saint Cross were nearing com-
pletion and no longer needed the Bishop’s keen and proxim-
al supervision, he began work on several more projects. At
Waltham in Buckinghamshire he enlarged a massive old
farmhouse at the head of the River Hamble and turned it
into a palatial residence. This project was necessary when it
became apparent he would need to travel through his dio-
cese as often as twice each year. Blois was fascinated by
river travel and knew it as a natural and ancient method of
commerce. To Blois, who first saw these developments in
France, flat-bottomed riverboats were a way of moving large
stones and groups of workmen. For this reason most of his
building projects were built on or near canals, river tributar-
ies or tidal plains. This included Bermondsey, which is loc-
ated in Central London, as the Thames flows through.
The Waltham palace was long and narrow and situated so
that sun would enter the premises at every possible season.
The Bishop decorated it with rich tapestries and lived there
himself as often as he could. It was a solid stop on his way to
Southampton when he debarked for France or when he
1 Benham. Rev. William. Old Saint Paul’s. Seeley & Co.Ltd, London,
1902. p. 6

333
sailed up the Bristol Channel through the Severn and up the
River Parratt to visit Glastonbury on the tides.
Waltham palace survived, more or less intact, until it was
destroyed by Cromwell’s roundheads during the civil war.
However a typical sequence of vandalism and destruction in-
volving first the Cistercians under Bernard, then the troops
of Henry II did as much damage as they could, predomin-
antly carrying away and destroying in heaps, Bishop Henry’s
princely collection. The final damage was done in the terse
nine years of the repressive reign of Oliver Cromwell,
1649-1658, whose troops often used cannons, gunpowder
and oxen to tear down the Gothic walls erected by men like
Blois.
The area around Waltham has been occupied since the
Mesolithic era and has been the locale of several productive
flint mines. An Iron Age round barrow remains prominently
on the landscape near the palace. This proximity to ancient
features is a common theme with Blois projects.

1136-1139
Farnham castle
It is not entirely true to say that Bishop Henry built
Farnham Castle in Surrey, from the ground up, during the
first years of his brother’s reign. Excavations since1960
prove that a preexisting 11th century structure already occu-
pied the site. It makes no sense to deny that the good Bish-
op expanded and improved on the construction at Farnham
and several other locations including the aforementioned
Bermondsey, Saint Saviour, Montacute and probably Mer-
den, least we forget both Taunton and Glastonbury preexis-
ted Blois’ improvements.
The castle at Farnham consists of a number of structures
and included royal apartments and other residential housing.
It was the scene of battles during the Anarchy between
Stephen Blois and Mathilda and was also a participant in the
English Civil War.
Farnham castle's motte and bailey construction are still
intact under the newer foundations. Little is known about the
early castle other than it had a tower, possibly made of
stone, on top of a large motte. Recent archaeological excav-
ations have revealed the large basement and foundations of
the original tower. The space between the wall of the shell
and the slopes of the motte were in-filled with sand and
small riprap sometime in the 13th century.
Remember also that Bishop Blois thought it wise to visit
Cluny for several reasons, first to administer to his dying

334
mentor Peter the Venerable, secondly to visit his mother’s
estates, and to avoid persecution by Henry II who went on a
destructive rampage and unceremoniously destroyed many
of the Bishops buildings and properties. Blois also went on a
buying spree and brought back all manner of art objects
from hi travels. In an odd turn of events, Blois rebuilt many
of the ruined sites—with his own funds—when he returned in
1158 under treaty with Henry.
However, for nearly two decades between 1136 and his
exile, the beloved Abbot was busy building England’s first in-
frastructure since the fall of the Roman Empire, in this con-
text he built, not only castles and dwellings, but whole vil-
lages; ports, mills farmsteads and roads as well as canals.
Sadly, almost all of the private papers and letters belong-
ing to Bishop Blois were spitefully burned and specifically
destroyed when Farnham and his many great residences,
most specifically Wolvesey, were raised. Thus we have scant
few plans; drawings, bills or cartulary’s to consult. Even so,
we do have a pattern to follow, a pattern on a very large
map.
Blois also built Morden and Downton castles along the
same lines simultaneously with Farnham and paid for the
construction of whole villages. This indicates at least two so-
cial elements at work. First, Blois had massive amounts of
money at his disposal. This came from his church holdings
as well as his secular enterprises, and if we had to guess,
one could argue for income from his own lands in France and
inheritances. In the second instance he enjoyed the respect
of his wok force, since the builders followed his orders with
utmost accuracy and efficiency. Only an avowed sense of
loyalty and the proper degree of payment could motivate
craftsmen and laborers to execute tasks this large in such a
short time.
In the opinion of many, the dates of the building projects
attributed to Blois were not accurately reported and have
been extrapolated from the works of biased chroniclers,
some sympathetic to Blois others, antagonistic to the
Thebaudians in general. For example, as we have seen, Willi-
am of Malmsbury’s one of the Bishops closest associates,
sings his praises in Historia Novella, at one point almost
mimicking the famous legate. 1
Conversely, Appleby’s Annals of 1138 hints that Blois
wasn’t to be praised anymore than several other landowners
acting on King Stephen’s suggestion to fortify all critical
1 Malsmbury, William . Ed. Edmund, King. Historia Novella, Oxford Press.
1998 p. xxiv

335
properties:

In this year Bishop Henry built a palatial house in

Winchester 1 with a forbidding tower, and also the
castles at Merdon, Farnham, Waltham, Downton, and
Taunton. Bishop Roger of Salisbury built castles at
Salisbury (Old Sarum), Sherburne, Devizcs and Malms-
bury; the Earl of Gloucester strengthened the castles at
Gloucester, Bath, Bristol, Dorchester, Exeter, Wim-
bourne,Worfe and Wareham; Brian [fitzCourit] those at
Oxford and Wallingford; Bishop Alexander that at Lin-
coln; John Marshall fitzGilbert, those at Marlborough
and Ludgcrshall; Geoffrey de Mandeville strengthened
the Towers of London and Rochester. And there was no
one of any worth or influence in England who did not
either build or enforce the their castles. 2

Appleby could not have known that the order to fortify

probably came from Bishop Blois as an advisory suggestion
to his brother in the first place.

1140 and Beyond

Bishop Blois continued to build and exercise power by
promoting his half-nephew and protégé, William FitzHerbert,
as Archbishop of York. He further attempted to have
Winchester made an archdiocese to compete with Canter-
bury, but these ambitions naturally met with resistance. In
1148, Henry failed to attend a Papal council and was sub-
sequently suspended from office. Several political intrigues
ensued, money for building programs was spent lavishly, in
a time of public need, and by 1150 Archbishop Theobald
launched an official complaint to the Pope. Henry pled his
case personally before Pope Eugenius III in Rome and was so
eloquent that his position was reinstated. He survived long
enough thereafter, to play a considerable role in peace ne-
gotiations with the future Henry II at Winchester and West-
minster.
Master Gregory, in his account of the marvels of Rome, c.,
1150. Tells us that Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, was
observed during a visit to Pope Eugenius III in the late 1140s
haggling for ancient statues in the marketplaces. These
treasures were not well cataloged, but were presumably
brought back and installed in the Bishops various mansions
and palaces, possibly Southwark, Glastonbury and

1 Master Gregory. In Medieval Pilgrimage an Outline, p 25

2 Appleby, The Annals of Winchester, Vol. 11. 30 (I 963), pp. 70-7.

336
Winchester, but no trace remains.

337
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 Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank the following people and
institutions for their unstinting support in the preparation of
the Grail series: Don Skirving and Beth Grossman; Candida
Denadio; Maude Elizabeth Johnson; Dr. Lloyd Saxton; Nelson
Algren; Tom Constanten; Geraldine Ganter, Christopher Rud-
man, Marylin and Patty Kitchell; Rodney Albin; Peter Albin;
Peter Rowan; Ichiro Kodaka; Elizabeth Leader; Janette Jack-
son; Shirley Abicair; Jim and Lynn Gillam; Dan Aeyelts; Crys-
tal Aeyelts; Helene Kopejean; David Leiberman; Bill Franklin;
Wolfgang Bielefeld; Sandy Bazett-Cox; Dolly Dutra; Dan
Mcleod and all the folks at the Georgia Straight; Kay Hoff-
man; Dan Rossett; Ekhardt and Persis Gerdes; Anata Riddle;
Abbey Johnston; Paul Kluwer; Simon Vinkenoog; Joffra
Boschart; Diana Van den Berg; Dr. M. Sickez; Phil Lesh; John
Michelle; Jerry Garcia; Robert Hunter; Alan Triste; Joan O’Sul-
livan; Karen Melquist-High; Nancy Cummings—Clark and
Washo Nevada-County Libraries; Dan Poynter; Danny Moses;
Randy Flemming, Charles Winton, Mike Winton, Bill Hearst,
and all the people at PGW; Dave Hinds and Celestial Arts;
Randy Beek; Montalvo Center; Martin Brennan; Jack Roberts;
Ron McKernan and family; Catriona Watson; and Frances
Bean Cobain.

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