1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,960 Tonight, a treasure coveted by everyone from Roman emperors to Hitler, even Indiana Jones 2 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,180 tried to find it. 3 00:00:14,180 --> 00:00:21,080 It could be the most precious sacred object in history. 4 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:23,680 It possesses miraculous healing powers. 5 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:25,480 Key to immortality. 6 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,480 Even supposedly resurrecting the dead. 7 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:35,080 If you could touch the holy grail, maybe you could possess the power that Jesus had. 8 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:37,520 But where is this miraculous vessel? 9 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:43,200 And is it even a cup at all? 10 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:48,040 I don't believe that it is the cup of the Last Supper that we should be seeking. 11 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:49,040 Was it possible? 12 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:55,120 It's not the cup of Christ, but it's something completely different. 13 00:00:55,120 --> 00:01:00,280 Now we uncover the top theory surrounding the world's most sought after relic. 14 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,880 A stone of the purest kind. 15 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:04,960 A stone with endless powers. 16 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:05,960 It's not an object. 17 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:10,160 It's something else more ephemeral as royal blood. 18 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,000 What is the holy grail? 19 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,000 And if it exists, can it ever be found? 20 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:40,560 England, 1995. 21 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,440 After years of intense investigation, British researcher Graham Phillips believes he knows 22 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:51,080 the answer to a mystery that's long fascinated the world. 23 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,640 I found something really astonishing. 24 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,280 The last known whereabouts of the holy grail. 25 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:00,280 What we're talking about is an actual relic. 26 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:06,280 Phillips is convinced his discovery upends 2,000 years of speculation about the holy 27 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:12,080 grail. 28 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,640 Speculation that began long ago. 29 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:16,120 In Jerusalem. 30 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,120 In 33 AD. 31 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:27,120 In what is then Judea, part of the all-powerful Roman Empire, Jesus of Nazareth gathers his 32 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,360 followers for the Last Supper. 33 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,640 Most scholars, including atheists, believe that Jesus was a real person, and they believe 34 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:39,640 he was executed by the Romans. 35 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:48,480 And the story of Jesus having a Last Supper, that is pretty much accepted to be authentic. 36 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,680 At the center of the Last Supper is a cup. 37 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:55,720 In fact, it's the only object that's mentioned in the Bible. 38 00:02:55,720 --> 00:03:05,280 The cup Jesus uses during that meal will come to be known as the holy grail. 39 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,760 Jesus drinks from it and passes it around to his disciples, and he says, this is the 40 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:12,720 last time we will drink together before we see each other in heaven. 41 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:20,400 What has intrigued people, believers and non-believers for centuries, is the origin of that cup and 42 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,120 what happened to it, where it ends up. 43 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,920 After his death, Jesus' followers spread his teachings abroad. 44 00:03:28,920 --> 00:03:35,440 By 62 AD, disciples Peter and Paul are allegedly preaching in Rome. 45 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,080 And according to one theory, the grail is with them. 46 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:48,120 If you have a religion that's based on an individual, on Jesus, and he's gone, how do 47 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,680 you convince people to join up with this new religion? 48 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:54,040 You have to prove it to them. 49 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:55,720 You have to convince them. 50 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:56,800 How do you do that? 51 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,280 You show them evidence. 52 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:05,520 And this evidence comes in the form of relics. 53 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:13,000 If you want something that Jesus has touched to cultivate a sense of loyalty to the church, 54 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,960 that cup is a really good candidate. 55 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:25,200 But in 64 AD, when the great fire of Rome destroys two-thirds of the city, Emperor Nero 56 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,640 blames the disaster on Christians. 57 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:34,960 He crucifies Peter, the new movement's leader, and its first pope. 58 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:41,480 Despite continuing persecution, a line of popes replaced Peter, an unbroken succession 59 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,880 for nearly 200 years. 60 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:50,720 These men hold many secrets, among them the whereabouts of holy relics, including the 61 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:51,720 grail. 62 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:57,640 So you have this tradition about a cup that people revered as the holy grail. 63 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:04,480 And if you could touch the holy grail, maybe you could possess the power that Jesus had. 64 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,640 Like healing powers, resurrections, what have you. 65 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:12,040 The church continues to grow in power, in membership, in influence. 66 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:18,400 And these objects are certainly contributing to that mission. 67 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:27,760 Then in 258 AD, Roman Emperor Valyrian tries to destroy the Christian movement. 68 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:34,080 Valyrian orders the execution of anyone who doesn't worship the Roman gods. 69 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:42,640 Valyrian's first execution of a Christian is Pope Sixtus II, who happens to be, according 70 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:49,280 to tradition, the keeper of the holy grail. 71 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:57,000 Before he's killed, Sixtus entrusts the treasures of the church to one of his deacons, Lawrence. 72 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:03,440 And to keep them from being captured, St. Lawrence actually hands them out. 73 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:08,280 The problem is, now you've got all of these sacred objects spread out all over the place, 74 00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:11,880 and it's going to be very difficult to get them all back. 75 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:18,680 Whether or not you accept the idea of a holy grail beginning a journey from Jerusalem to 76 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:25,600 Rome, what we can all agree on is now it's lost. 77 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:32,040 There's this object that was regarded as having incredible power, but it got forgotten. 78 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,560 But it won't be forgotten forever. 79 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:42,720 The cup turns up again, and this time we have an actual date, December 14th, 1134. 80 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:50,040 At the monastery of San Juan de la Pena in northeast Spain, a monk named Don Carreras-Ramirez 81 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:52,440 is taking inventory. 82 00:06:52,440 --> 00:07:03,320 And on his list, he writes that he has a chalice in which Christ our Lord consigned his blood. 83 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:10,640 So if you believe the Lord, the holy grail is back on the map. 84 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,440 It's unclear who brings it to Spain, but the best part of this is, from 1134, when Don 85 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,880 Ramirez writes his list, we know exactly what happens to the cup. 86 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:25,880 The grail is mentioned again in 1399 when King Martin I of Aragon acquires it from the monastery. 87 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:35,920 After his death, King Alfonso V of Aragon brings the cup to Valencia. 88 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:41,440 This cup is made of red agate, 3.5 inches across. 89 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:48,160 Its base has two curved handles and a knobbed stem, both thought to be more recent additions. 90 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:54,680 But the main part of the cup, the central part, is the simple kind of cup that may have 91 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,760 been present at the Last Supper. 92 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:04,400 Researchers agree the stone likely comes from a Palestinian or Egyptian workshop, sometime 93 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:11,280 between the 4th century BC and the 1st century AD. 94 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:12,780 Region is correct. 95 00:08:12,780 --> 00:08:14,480 The timeline is correct. 96 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:19,280 The documentary evidence is there with a nearly complete chain of custody. 97 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:25,120 If the cup of Christ still exists, there's a very good argument that this is it. 98 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:30,480 Currently held in the Cathedral of Valencia, the cup has even been sanctified by the highest 99 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,680 authorities of the Catholic Church. 100 00:08:33,680 --> 00:08:37,080 According to them, this cup is the grail. 101 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:42,680 It's been used by several popes to celebrate mass, which makes a lot of sense in Christian 102 00:08:42,680 --> 00:08:49,480 theory because Holy Communion comes from the idea of the Last Supper in the Gospels. 103 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,840 Pope John Paul II certainly believed it was the cup of Christ. 104 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:57,880 He actually called it a witness to Christ's passage on earth. 105 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:04,960 And he and Pope Benedict XVI refer to the cup in Latin as un criclarum calitum, this 106 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:12,800 beautiful cup, the term that the early popes used to refer to the Holy Grail. 107 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,200 But not everyone believes it's the grail. 108 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:21,280 Curiously, the Valencia cup and other cups like it have never been associated with any 109 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:22,280 miracles. 110 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:27,040 Most of the top Christian relics have long histories of being associated with miraculous 111 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,280 healings or other kinds of supernatural events. 112 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:34,200 And you would think that this cup, which Jesus himself blessed, you'd think that this cup 113 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,720 would have a list of miracles a mile long. 114 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:42,520 If this alleged cup of Christ lacks the power most expect, could the grail be something 115 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:50,840 else entirely? 116 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:58,240 According to many, including Pope John Paul II, this is the so-called Holy Grail. 117 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,360 A cup used by Jesus during the Last Supper. 118 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:03,840 But others have doubts. 119 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:09,680 In the ancient legends, the grail possesses miraculous healing powers, even supposedly 120 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:12,320 resurrecting the dead. 121 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:20,720 Now there are some who believe that the Holy Grail, this chalice, made its way to Valencia. 122 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:21,720 We don't know. 123 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:26,400 The chalice is supposed to possess power to do miracles. 124 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:31,720 But we don't see that chalice doing many miracles today. 125 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:36,680 If the cup in Valencia doesn't demonstrate such powers, could the grail be something 126 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:38,560 unexpected? 127 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:44,360 Something ancient and mysterious and indeed separate from Jesus? 128 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:48,720 So stories about the grail really predate Jesus' time. 129 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:50,400 And this is what's interesting about it. 130 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:55,280 We find the story that there is a magical object of some kind that can bring healing 131 00:10:55,280 --> 00:11:00,560 and immortality is a precious, sacred object that belonged to the Celts. 132 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:03,960 There's no indication at all that they had anything like a sacred cup. 133 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:06,600 But they do have something else. 134 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:14,520 They have sacred stones. 135 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:21,160 The Celtic civilization begins as early as 1200 BC and spreads to an area spanning England, 136 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:26,280 Ireland and most of central Europe. 137 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:31,600 Their spiritual leaders are powerful mystics called druids. 138 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:37,240 The druids are the most respected of the classes in Celtic society. 139 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:39,000 They're religious specialists. 140 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:44,640 They believe supposedly in the immortality of the soul and they're practitioners in healing 141 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,160 arts. 142 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:52,560 The Roman authors who write about them are cowed by them. 143 00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:53,640 They're really impressed by them. 144 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:55,440 They don't know what's going on with the druids. 145 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:58,080 They're a little bit frightened, I think, with them because they know that the druids 146 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,320 do these secret rites that are out there in the woods. 147 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:09,480 This is one of the most un-Roman ways of being religious that you could think of. 148 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:14,120 Could the Holy Grail be something entirely unexpected? 149 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:20,520 Not a cup, but a sacred stone. 150 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:26,000 So for the people who espouse this particular theory, the story of the grail stone comes 151 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:31,800 directly from these Celtic druidic traditions of sacred stones. 152 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:36,240 So it's clear that there's a pre-Christian tradition of some kind of a sacred stone. 153 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:41,760 And once Christianity kind of grows and takes over, that story gets incorporated into another 154 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,000 story about Jesus' cup. 155 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:50,680 A sacred stone infused with mysterious power by the Celtic druids. 156 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,240 This is the true Holy Grail. 157 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,240 Where did it go? 158 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:02,320 Now, Christians don't worship sacred stones. 159 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:06,680 So after the Celts are conquered, there's no mention of this sort of thing for about 160 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:09,200 a thousand years. 161 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:15,280 But the idea of the grail stone and its mysterious powers doesn't entirely vanish. 162 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,280 In the Middle Ages, it emerges once more. 163 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:23,560 First in an unfinished 12th century romance by Cretien de Troyes. 164 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:28,040 A few decades later, it resurfaces again. 165 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:36,960 So it shows up in a 25,000 line-long poem by a German poet knight called Wulfren von 166 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,040 Eschenbach. 167 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:42,520 The poem is called Parcival. 168 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:46,880 He refers to the grail stone as Lapis exilis. 169 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:53,440 And just like in the ancient stories, this Lapis exilis brings youth and immortality. 170 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:58,080 He also says in the poem that the stone itself is so powerful that if you approach it and 171 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:05,280 you're wounded or you're sick, you'll be healed. 172 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:10,000 But Parcival does more than just name the grail stone. 173 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,080 Parcival claims to know what happened to the grail stone after all these years. 174 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:21,560 And according to the text, this powerful relic may have ended up in the hands of one of history's 175 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:31,000 most legendary orders, the Knights Templar. 176 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:38,000 By the Middle Ages, there are multiple theories surrounding the mysterious holy grail. 177 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:45,040 According to one, the grail is an ancient and powerful stone, once held by Celtic pagans. 178 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:51,360 So the theory goes that the stone was once a precious sacred object that belonged to 179 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:53,280 the Celts. 180 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:59,040 But once the Celts are Christianized, that stone falls into the hands of the Christians. 181 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:08,440 From there, the trail is lost until the stone reappears in a 12th century text called Parcival. 182 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:12,440 It is an epic poem that claims to know what happened to the grail stone after all these 183 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:14,480 years. 184 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:20,400 Elder Wolfram von Eschenbach traces the stone's incredible journey. 185 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:25,320 According to von Eschenbach, the Lapis exilis, the holy grail, is captured by the Christians 186 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:33,040 that's taken to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where it's guarded by the Knights Templar. 187 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:38,560 The Knights Templar are a Catholic military order operating under the command of the Pope 188 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:40,240 during the Crusades. 189 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:45,760 Their official name is the poor fellow soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. 190 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:47,640 But don't let that name fool you. 191 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,440 The Templar Knights become the wealthiest, most famous, and most powerful fighting force 192 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:53,480 that the Church has ever had. 193 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:57,080 It doesn't matter how many soldiers are in the opposing army. 194 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,720 The Templar Knights' reputation and their execution of the reputation is so fearsome 195 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:06,160 that when they're captured, for example, the other side rarely ransoms them. 196 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:07,160 They execute them. 197 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,440 They're that afraid of them. 198 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,720 Because of this reputation, the Popes give them wide reign to conduct their business 199 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,360 the way they want to in order to execute their job. 200 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:22,080 Pope Innocent II gives them the responsibility of policing the pilgrim routes in the Holy 201 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:27,560 Land to keep pilgrims and other Christians safe. 202 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:35,760 The Templars set their headquarters on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the source of their name. 203 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:41,400 This is where the famed King Solomon built his temple nearly 2000 years before the Crusades. 204 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,280 But the Templars get a lot more than a name from being in that location. 205 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:48,640 It's a seat of power and prestige. 206 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,540 It is reputed to be a seat of wealth. 207 00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:55,480 And Christian treasures are supposedly stored there, including, according to the story, 208 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,760 the grailstone. 209 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:02,400 Membership in the Templars eventually rises to maybe around 20,000 people. 210 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:06,080 They form their own rudimentary bank system. 211 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:10,160 They have hundreds of various buildings scattered throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, the 212 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:11,360 Holy Land. 213 00:17:11,360 --> 00:17:15,680 They could be considered to be the world's first multinational corporation. 214 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,440 The Templars thrive for nearly two centuries. 215 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,880 And von Eschenbach thinks he knows the secret to their success. 216 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:27,160 This isn't a coincidence, according to von Eschenbach. 217 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,120 This is because of divine power. 218 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:36,000 He says that the Templars live by a stone of the purest kind. 219 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:46,200 A stone with endless powers that they possess, everlasting life, wisdom, wealth, the grailstone. 220 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,920 Easy to think that von Eschenbach is making this whole thing up. 221 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,640 And of course there's a lot of creative license there. 222 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:58,280 But he is probably working from a few facts. 223 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,840 von Eschenbach's poets in the Middle Ages had a patron. 224 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:05,200 And von Eschenbach's patron was a man by the name of Count Hermann. 225 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:11,160 He was a German knight, and he had fought in the Crusades alongside the Knights Templar. 226 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:17,920 Von Eschenbach supplements Count Hermann's first-hand accounts with extensive research. 227 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,840 Wolfram also goes to a Moorish library in Toledo, where he absorbs everything that he 228 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:25,600 can about the Knights Templar. 229 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:30,280 Wolfram is writing poetry, and he's creating fiction, but he also wants to ground it in 230 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:32,960 some kind of historical reality. 231 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:40,360 Unfortunately, within a few decades of parisable, the trail of the stone goes cold. 232 00:18:40,360 --> 00:18:47,480 On Friday, October 13th, 1307, the Knights Templar are brutally disbanded. 233 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:52,320 The French King Philip IV, who's actually in significant debt to the Templars, forces 234 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:57,600 Pope Clement V to remove their authority, to seize their assets. 235 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,560 Some of them are executed rather brutally. 236 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:06,240 Others are removed from the order of the temple and moved to other orders. 237 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:14,480 And their great wealth, including perhaps the grail stone, ultimately disappears. 238 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:19,920 If there was a grail stone in the Templar's treasures, as Eschenbach says there was, it 239 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,240 could have gone to the French Kings, could have gone to the Pope, but it wouldn't be 240 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,880 clear where it had gone. 241 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:33,880 So the stone disappears, and the story of the stone, Lapis exilis, holy grail, also disappears, 242 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:42,680 people stop reading it, and all that's left is this other tradition about the cup. 243 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:45,640 And in a way, that's too bad, because who wouldn't rather find the stone? 244 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:47,640 That's where all this power lies. 245 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:53,560 And the key to immortality, just sitting in a storage room somewhere, or in a landfill, 246 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:58,720 or who knows where, all thanks to a case of mistaken identity. 247 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,360 Two theories, two different objects. 248 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:05,320 But which one is the true grail? 249 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:13,720 For 200 years, you have the cup, and you have the stone, and it basically stays that way. 250 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:21,080 That is, until 1982, when a shocking new theory on the grail appears. 251 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:31,440 What if the holy grail isn't a physical object at all? 252 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:38,600 After 2,000 years of debate on what the holy grail is and where it could be, a new theory 253 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:43,320 emerges in 1982, and it's a bombshell. 254 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:48,640 A team of British researchers publish the best-selling book, The Holy Blood and the 255 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,800 Holy Grail, which makes a bold claim. 256 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,400 The holy grail isn't an object at all. 257 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:04,480 The author's theory dates back to the Middle Ages, and it begins with a word. 258 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:11,320 When medieval manuscripts refer to the holy grail, they call it sangriail. 259 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:16,800 The term appears in writings beginning in the 12th century, with authors like Cretin 260 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,440 de Troyes and Robert de Gordón. 261 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,240 You've got a word that's already a combination in its etymology. 262 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,800 You have sang that comes from Sanctus, from the Latin for holy, and you have grail, which 263 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:32,680 is a Celtic word, which means a vase or a vessel of some kind. 264 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:37,920 What could the term sangriail have been translated by mistake? 265 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:43,880 So a lot of the words that we find in our common modern English come from older linguistic 266 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:45,240 traditions. 267 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,160 This is something that is part of how we get our language. 268 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,920 Our language is made up usually of elements from a lot of different language groups. 269 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:59,320 What they argue in this theory is that there's a mishearing here of what the word actually 270 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,640 was. 271 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:09,400 If correct, the grail is not the sangriail, it is the sangriail, which translates to royal 272 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:10,480 blood. 273 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,400 In this case, it's not an object. 274 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:14,320 It's something else more ephemeral. 275 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:21,880 It's royal blood. 276 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:28,080 And the royal blood in question is that of Jesus of Nazareth and his alleged descendants. 277 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:37,160 The idea of a bloodline of Jesus goes against 2,000 years of Christian teachings. 278 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:41,480 At the same time, it's not completely out of the range of possibilities. 279 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:47,320 When you consider that Jesus was a Jewish man in the Roman Empire, coming from a culture 280 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:53,520 that very much valued family and marriage, he was in his 30s, and the idea that he wasn't 281 00:22:53,520 --> 00:23:01,400 married at all would have been quite unusual. 282 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:06,000 Is it possible the many authors of the Bible have been trying to hide the secret family 283 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,880 of Jesus for millennia? 284 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:15,440 Jesus became for the church a model for priesthood, and so the church had a vested interest in 285 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,400 presenting Jesus as chaste. 286 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:20,200 They want him to be divine. 287 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:25,760 The theory goes like this, that the historical Jesus marries Mary Magdalene and that the 288 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,200 two of them had one or more children. 289 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:32,560 Mary Magdalene is definitely a character that pops up in the Jesus tradition, and we see 290 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:38,360 her not only in the canonical gospels, but she also pops up as a follower of Jesus in 291 00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:42,280 several non-canonical gospels written in the second century. 292 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,840 She travels with Jesus. 293 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,120 She's financially supporting his ministry. 294 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:57,480 She is there for his death, and in some of the gospels is the first witness to his resurrection. 295 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,920 But their connection might not end there. 296 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:08,040 So the authors of this theory continue on to say that after Jesus' death, Mary Magdalene, 297 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:13,760 possibly her family, traveled to France, and the bloodline of Jesus continues. 298 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:19,880 The authors of The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail insist they have proof. 299 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:26,840 There are these documents that have been miraculously found in Paris, buried in the French National 300 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:35,400 Library, that connect the bloodline of Jesus to something called the Priory of Sion. 301 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:40,840 According to the text, the Priory of Sion is a secret organization that's existed since 302 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,280 at least 1099. 303 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:51,360 Its illustrious members allegedly include Leonardo da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton. 304 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:58,120 That text even suggests that the Priory of Sion created the Knights Templar as its military 305 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:04,280 and financial branch, and that their job, their entire reason for existence, was to protect 306 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,640 the bloodline and the offspring. 307 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:11,160 The Priory of Sion is essentially at war with the Catholic Church, because the Catholic 308 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:18,080 Church and its system of popes want to hold onto their power and discredit or push away 309 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,040 the story of the bloodline of Jesus. 310 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,920 But could this be true? 311 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,760 As it turns out, this is completely bogus. 312 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:33,040 100% false. 313 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:34,760 So there's one major problem here. 314 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,200 I mean, there are a lot of problems here. 315 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:42,720 But the biggest problem is that the Priory of Sion is a hoax. 316 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:47,360 The Priory of Sion isn't created in 1099 AD. 317 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:50,120 It's created in 1956. 318 00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:55,960 And despite the long list of famed members it claims, it's actually the work of a French 319 00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:00,160 con artist named Pierre Plantard. 320 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,480 This guy, Plantard, wants to be royalty. 321 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,120 I mean, he's not royalty, but he really wants to be royalty. 322 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:12,360 So he pulls off what is still thought to be one of the greatest hoaxes in French literary 323 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:13,520 history. 324 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:20,640 Plantard creates a fake secret society, complete with an imaginative backstory. 325 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:25,120 To add credibility, he plants false documents around France. 326 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:29,880 He commissions a friend to make two forged medieval parchments, and they hide those 327 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,680 in the French National Library. 328 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,320 Plantard and his pal create a paper trail. 329 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:42,640 They say that this Priory of Sion originated in the Middle Ages, that they produced a long 330 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:53,360 line of grandmasters, and that they protected this whole bloodline, which remarkably, Plantard 331 00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:57,880 himself claimed to be a descendant. 332 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:03,480 And it's this document that co-author Henry Lincoln discovers and uses to form the basis 333 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:10,280 of the bestselling book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, along with two colleagues. 334 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:17,240 Holy Blood, Holy Grail was published by Michael Bajant, Henry Lincoln, and Richard Leigh. 335 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,880 It was an immediate bestseller. 336 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:25,360 You can just imagine Henry Lincoln stumbling upon this and finding what he thinks is the 337 00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:31,440 Holy Grail itself, and it's all fake. 338 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,760 To be fair, when Lincoln writes his book, Plantard hasn't been caught yet. 339 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:43,280 It's not until 1993 that French police raid his house and find all kinds of documents that 340 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,760 Plantard used to create this terrible hoax. 341 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,560 Plantard eventually admits under oath that all of this was a lie. 342 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,080 All of this was a hoax. 343 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,040 Now some people have come forward and said, no, wait, wait, wait. 344 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:02,760 Just because the Priory of Sion is a hoax doesn't mean that Jesus and Mary Magdalene couldn't 345 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,480 have produced a child. 346 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:11,200 The bloodline theory continues to inspire stories of the Holy Grail today, including 347 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,560 Dan Brown's bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. 348 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:21,040 But there's another more recent theory that also has Mary Magdalene at its center, and 349 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:30,720 it puts the Grail over 3,000 miles from Jerusalem. 350 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,800 When it comes to theories on the Holy Grail, researcher Graham Phillips has heard them 351 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:36,800 all. 352 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:42,680 I'm thinking to myself, I know every story about the Holy Grail, the cup of the Last 353 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:54,080 Supper, the enchanted stone, the bloodline of Mary Magdalene, and more. 354 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,680 So what does Phillips think the Holy Grail is? 355 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:04,360 It's a powerful cup, yes, that much I believe, but I don't believe that it has anything to 356 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,160 do with the bloodline of Mary Magdalene. 357 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:14,280 However, I do think that Mary Magdalene once possessed the cup. 358 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:19,600 According to Phillips, there is not one but two sacred cups used during the last days 359 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:26,560 of Jesus Christ, and a majority of Grail seekers have been looking for the wrong one. 360 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:32,640 I don't believe that it is the cup of the Last Supper that we should be seeking, but 361 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,880 the cup that belonged to Jesus' follower Mary Magdalene. 362 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:45,880 The Gospels describe how she anointed Jesus' body with oils, and these came in a small 363 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,800 scent jar. 364 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:54,560 Early Christian tradition states that Mary Magdalene visits the site of Jesus' crucifixion. 365 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:59,160 There she collects some of his blood in a sacred vessel. 366 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:03,520 That small jar becomes known as the Marian Chalice. 367 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:11,520 The cup Graham Phillips believes is the true Holy Grail. 368 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:15,400 Forget metaphorical bloodlines. 369 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:21,680 What we're talking about is an actual relic which contained Jesus' blood, and if so, 370 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,200 its value would be immeasurable. 371 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,560 The question is, where does it go from there? 372 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:35,400 That theory says that Mary Magdalene left the cup in Jesus' tomb, and that it remained 373 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:40,480 there undisturbed, undiscovered for about 400 years, until the Roman Empire finally becomes 374 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,960 Christian and people start to search for those kinds of things. 375 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:53,720 Around 326 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine orders the excavation of the Holy Sepulchre, a potential 376 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:58,280 site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem. 377 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:03,720 So during the excavation, a vessel is uncovered, which is thought to be this Marian Chalice 378 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:09,240 or the Holy Grail, and it's taken from there in Jerusalem to Rome, where the leaders of 379 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:14,720 the church believe that it had special powers. 380 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:22,760 It remains in Rome until 410 AD, when the city is sacked by barbarians. 381 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:27,800 But the Chalice, along with other treasures, is taken out of Rome in a convoy of armed 382 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:33,680 carts and eventually brought to the safety of one of the last outposts of the Roman 383 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:36,960 Empire, Britain. 384 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:43,000 From there, Mary Magdalene's Chalice becomes the inspiration for one of the most famous 385 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,760 legends in history. 386 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:52,480 This idea of the Marian Chalice in England is what inspires some of the Arthurian tales. 387 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:57,000 In the story of King Arthur and his knights, the Holy Grail is kept in a secret chapel 388 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,720 in a fortress called the White Castle, in a place known as the White Town. 389 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:06,080 And as it turns out, those locations aren't entirely fictional. 390 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:11,680 Actually, most of the Arthurian stories have a lot of historically accurate detail. 391 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:16,640 They're mixed in with fantasy, but some of it is absolutely true. 392 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:24,080 In the early 13th century, a real-life crusader knight by the name of Fouk Fitzwarri claimed 393 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:27,760 to have possessed the Chalice of Magdalene. 394 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:36,400 And he kept it in the chapel of his castle, which was known as the White Castle. 395 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:40,640 Exactly the same as where the Grail is kept in the Arthurian romances. 396 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:47,360 It's in a town known as Whittington, which is Old English for White Town. 397 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:52,000 Exactly, once again, as in the Arthurian romances. 398 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:58,760 Unfortunately, once Fitzwarri dies, his White Castle spends several centuries falling into 399 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:00,400 disrepair. 400 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:05,320 If the Marian Chalice was once held here, it's not likely it remains. 401 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:11,640 Once society has fallen out with the idea of magic, the hope of something powerful and 402 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:16,680 unexpected, the Holy Grail wasn't just going to show up. 403 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:27,200 I was going to have to go and search for it. 404 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:31,680 For thousands of years, the faithful have searched for the Holy Grail. 405 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:36,440 A mysterious object believed to grant healing and eternal life. 406 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,640 It pops up here, it pops up there. 407 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,160 This person has it, that person has it. 408 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:47,520 It's everywhere at once, yet nowhere at all. 409 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:54,160 According to English researcher Graham Phillips, the Grail is a small oil jar that was used 410 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:58,640 by Mary Magdalene to catch Jesus' blood. 411 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:05,120 The last known whereabouts of the Chalice of Magdalene is with Falk Fitzwarine and his 412 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:10,520 castle at Whittington in the early 1200s. 413 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:15,280 And where the trail ends is where I begin. 414 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:24,080 The Chalice resurfaces in the mid-19th century with one of Falk Fitzwarine's direct descendants, 415 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,200 Thomas Wright. 416 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:32,600 Thomas Wright actually claims that the cup had been handed down to him by his ancestors. 417 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:39,400 It is described as a small stone cup made from alabaster or green onyx. 418 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:45,960 And Thomas Wright is absolutely convinced that this was the very cup that Mary Magdalene 419 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:51,320 used to collect drops of Christ's blood during the crucifixion. 420 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:59,160 In 1855, with no children to hand it on to, Thomas Wright decides to hide the cup and 421 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:08,880 leave a series of clues as to where it is hidden for some future generation to follow. 422 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:17,560 Wright hides his clues in an 1855 poem he publishes called Sir Gawain and the Red Knight. 423 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:23,240 It concerns Arthur's knight Gawain and his search for the Marian Chalice. 424 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:31,280 And he finds it at the end of the poem and then hides it again, but we're not told where. 425 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:36,920 To figure it out, Phillips analyses the poem as it was originally published. 426 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:42,000 There are two lines of Roman numerals on the title page of the book. 427 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:49,720 They seem to have absolutely no purpose and at the end of the poem are the final lines. 428 00:35:49,720 --> 00:35:52,720 The shepherd's songs to guide the way. 429 00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:55,960 The horn was blown, the treasure lay. 430 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:01,640 The only thing that comes to mind about shepherd's songs is the Psalms in the Bible. 431 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:10,320 They are said to have been written by the Israelite King David when he was a young man and just a shepherd. 432 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:18,320 When Phillips compares the Psalms to the cryptic Roman numerals, Thomas Wright's secret message is finally revealed. 433 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:29,800 I think perhaps the top line refers to the number of the Psalm and the second line might refer to the verse of that particular Psalm. 434 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:35,520 Based on his theory, Phillips begins with Psalm 31 verse 3. 435 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:43,320 For thou art my rock and my fortress, therefore for my name's sake lead me and guide me. 436 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,640 A rock and a fortress, but where? 437 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:51,480 At the end of the poem, Sir Gawain, when he is hidden the chalice of Magdalene, 438 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:56,360 he stands on the battlements of a place called the Red Castle. 439 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:07,200 Phillips visits the Red Castle and from there follows more clues left by the Psalms 440 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:15,200 through a series of caves, which lead to a small church in the village of Hodnett. 441 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:30,040 And when I enter the church, the next verse reads, I turn upon my right hand and behold. 442 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:43,040 And when I look up, I see I am staring at a stained glass window and the window was designed and paid to be installed 443 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:51,880 by Thomas Wright in 1855, exactly the year he wrote the poem. 444 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:55,880 Unfortunately, Phillips arrives at the church too late. 445 00:37:55,880 --> 00:38:01,880 In the stained glass window, we have a figure that looks exactly like Mary Magdalene holding a chalice. 446 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:05,880 And above her head is the figure of an eagle. 447 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:13,880 And I discover that years ago, when the eagle statue at Hawke Stone Park in the caves is being moved, 448 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:25,880 it falls over, breaks and in the base they discover what is described as an interesting curio, a small stone cup. 449 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:31,880 This cup is found by a worker named Walter Langham. 450 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,880 He didn't know what it was, but he found it interesting. 451 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:46,880 So he kept it. I discover that his descendants still have it and it's kept amongst a load of junk in their attic. 452 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:53,880 Phillips then tracks down Langham's descendants and acquires the cup. 453 00:38:54,880 --> 00:39:03,880 And here it is, a small stone cup made from green alabaster. 454 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,880 It matches every description I've read. 455 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:21,880 Next he has it analysed by the British Museum. 456 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:29,880 It's found to have been a Roman cent jar dating from the first century. 457 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:33,880 It's from the right time. It's made from the right material. 458 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:43,880 It is the long lost chalice of Mary Magdalene once used to collect a few drops of Christ's blood. 459 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:47,880 A holy stone, a grail stone. 460 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,880 This is the holy grail. 461 00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:01,880 Although Phillips believes his cup is the true grail, we may never know the answer. 462 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:05,880 If it turns out he's right, imagine the implications. 463 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:10,880 The holy grail itself, perhaps the most coveted object in history, 464 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:19,880 one day simply falls out of the base of a broken statue and is quietly purchased from an English attic. 465 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:24,880 Or could it still be out there hiding in plain sight? 466 00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:27,880 I'm Lawrence Fishburne. 467 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:31,880 Thank you for watching History's Greatest Mysteries.