Glastonbury, a small town in Somerset, England, stands at the epicenter of a longstanding tradition placing the Holy Grail in Britain. Legend holds that Joseph of Arimathea traveled to Britain, bringing with him both a gathering of followers and the cup that Jesus used at the last supper. He is said to have buried the Grail at Glastonbury, where some claim he founded the first church in England. This volume chronicles one man’s personal quest to find historical evidence supporting the traditional beliefs surrounding Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail in southern England. Bolstered by an abundance of evidence supporting the presence of Joseph in 1st Century Britain, he separates his findings from the fantasy of the Grail Romances, answering questions about the Grail and the origins and progressions of its legend.

Justin E. Griffin is the author of two other books and maintains www.historicalgrail.com, a website dedicated to sharing his research. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he works in the Office of Information Technology at the University of Tennessee.

Justin E. Griffin

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 284
Bibliographic Info: 44 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6582-8
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9239-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Preface 1
Introduction 5

Part I: Glastonbury 11
1. The Legends of Glastonbury 12
2. History in a Timeless Place 22
3. The Second Golden Age 32

Part II: Key Players 53
4. Joseph—Nobilis Decurio 54
5. Recreating Joseph’s Wattle Church 67
6. The Prophecy of Melkin 86
7. The Mystery Tomb of “J.A.” 107

Part III: The Written Record 151
8. John Leland—The King’s Antiquarian 152
9. Glastonbury’s Warrior Monk 166
10. The Book of the Grail 188
11. England to France, Spain to Germany 200

Part IV: The Case for Glastonbury and the Historical Grail 225
12. Making a Case for Glastonbury 226
13. The Historical Grail 252

Bibliography 271
Index 273