The Grail is the best known of all Christian iconic objects after the cross itself, and is an even greater symbol in the modern imagination than it was in the medieval one. None the less, it has never been recognised by any actual Church. This lecture is intended to answer the question of why this should be so; where the story of it first originated; whether there is or was any real object behind it; and whether a quest to find it has any remaining meaning

For more lectures, see the full Minerva programme.

Speaker profiles

Professor Ronald Hutton

Ronald Hutton is Professor of History and Associate Dean of Arts in the University of Bristol, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries, the Learned Society of Wales, and the British Academy. He represents both history and archaeology on the Board of Trustees which runs English Heritage, and chair of the Blue Plaques Panel. He has published fifteen books on aspects of political, social, cultural and religious history, including a monograph on the English Civil War, a narrative history of the Stuart Restoration, a biography of Charles II, two surveys of what is thought about the pagan religions of ancient Britain and two surveys of the treatment of Druids in British culture over the centuries. He was formerly a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and has been at Bristol since 1981.