Does the Holy Grail sit on a shelf in the treasury at Lincoln Cathedral?
June 11th 2010
Does the Holy Grail sit on a shelf in the treasury at Lincoln Cathedral?
THE quest for the Holy Grail has fascinated people for centuries – but a new book claims it has been in Lincoln all along.
In a startling new book on the quest for the chalice, local author Ernest Coleman states the object came to Lincoln hundreds of years ago – and now sits unacknowledged on a shelf at Lincoln Cathedral.
Theories about whereabouts of the chalice possibly used in the Last Supper and to catch Christ's blood during the crucifixion have abounded for centuries.
Dozens of sites across the globe lay claim to the holy relic.
Now, Mr Coleman's theory aims to shatter conceptions about where the artefact really is.
His argument is that the grail – in reality, he says, a plain-looking chalice – came to Lincoln when it was handed to Bishop Sutton by a cash-strapped Edward I in the 13th century.
His book, The Grail Chronicles, claims it was buried with the Bishop about 700 years ago, unearthed in the 19th century – and has been here ever since.
He said: "The people who own it don't know what it is.
"Most people who have heard my theory have been extremely interested in it.
"It's a rattling good yarn – a good old story of heroes and villains.
"It was put into the tomb with the Bishop when he died and it was only when they opened it up in about 1888 that they found it still there."
Mr Coleman believes it has remained here to this day and now sits in the cathedral's treasury.
He rejects one line of theory that says the grail was lost with the crown jewels as King John travelled past The Wash to head north on a journey during his reign in the 1200s.
Before he made that trip, Mr Coleman believes the Knights Templar got hold of the chalice – and later pressured a cash-strapped Edward I to give it to Bishop Sutton to look after it.
His story goes back as far as Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of Henry II in the 12th century – and its plot has as many twists and turns as a Dan Brown novel.
The Dean of Lincoln Cathedral, the Very Reverend Philip Buckler, said the conclusions came to him as a surprise – but he welcomed the publication of the book.
He said: "They are ideas that seem to contain a lot of leaps of the imagination. But he tells a good story and we need to look at this in careful detail."
The book is available now on the Amazon website and in bookshops from June 28.
