All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S03E06.720p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.chr00t

[dramatic music]

- Tonight, a treasure coveted

by everyone
from Roman emperors to Hitler.

Even Indiana Jones tried
to find it.

- It could be
the most precious sacred object

in history.

♪ ♪

- It possesses
miraculous healing powers.

- The key to immortality,

even supposedly
resurrecting the dead.

- If you could touch
the Holy Grail,

maybe you could possess
the power that Jesus had.

Fishburne: But where is
this miraculous vessel?

And is it even a cup at all?

♪ ♪

- I don't believe that it is
the cup of the Last Supper

that we should be seeking.

- Is it possible
it's not the cup of Christ,

but it's something
completely different?

Fishburne: Now we uncover
the top theories

surrounding the world's
most sought-after relic.

- A stone of the purest kind,
a stone with endless powers.

- It's not an object.

It's something else
more ephemeral.

It's royal blood.

Fishburne:
What is the Holy Grail?

And if it exists,
can it ever be found?

♪ ♪

[soft music]

England, 1995.

♪ ♪

After years
of intense investigation,

British researcher,

Graham Phillips,
believes he knows the answer

to a mystery that's long
fascinated the world.

- I found something
really astonishing,

the last known whereabouts
of the Holy Grail.

What we're talking about
is an actual relic.

Fishburne: Phillips is
convinced his discovery

upends 2,000 years
of speculation

about the Holy Grail...

♪ ♪

Speculation
that began long ago

in Jerusalem in 33 A.D.

[tense music]

In what is then Judea,

part of the all-powerful
Roman Empire,

Jesus of Nazareth
gathers his followers

for the Last Supper.

- Most scholars,
including atheists,

believe that Jesus
was a real person,

and they believe
he was executed by the Romans.

And the story of Jesus
having a Last Supper,

that is pretty much accepted
to be authentic.

At the center
of the Last Supper is a cup.

In fact, it's the only object
that's mentioned in the Bible.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: The cup
Jesus uses during that meal

will come to be known
as the Holy Grail.

♪ ♪

- Jesus drinks from it

and passes it around
to his disciples.

And he says, "This is the last
time we will drink together

before we see each other
in heaven."

And what has intrigued people,
believers and nonbelievers,

for centuries is the origin
of that cup

and what happened to it,
where it ends up.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: After his death,

Jesus' followers spread
his teachings abroad.

By 62 A.D.,
disciples Peter and Paul

are allegedly preaching
in Rome.

And according to one theory,
the Grail is with them.

[dramatic music]

- If you have a religion
that's based on an individual,

on Jesus, and he's gone,
how do you convince people

to join up
with this new religion?

You have to prove it to them.
You have to convince them.

And how do you do that?
You show them evidence.

And this evidence comes
in the form of relics.

♪ ♪

- If you want something
that Jesus has touched

to cultivate a sense
of loyalty to the church,

that cup is
a really good candidate.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: But in 64 A.D.
when the great fire of Rome

destroys 2/3 of the city,

emperor Nero blames
the disaster on Christians.

He crucifies Peter,

the new movement's leader
and its first pope.

Despite
continuing persecution,

a line of popes replace Peter,

an unbroken succession
for nearly 200 years.

These men hold many secrets,
among them the whereabouts

of holy relics
including the Grail.

- So we have this tradition
about a cup

that people revered
as the Holy Grail.

- And if you could
touch the Holy Grail,

maybe you could possess
the power that Jesus had

like healing powers,
resurrections, what have you.

The church continues
to grow in power,

and membership, and influence,

and these objects are
certainly contributing

to that mission.

Fishburne: Then in 258 A.D.,

Roman emperor Valerian tries

to destroy
the Christian movement.

- Valerian orders the execution
of anyone

who doesn't worship
the Roman gods.

Valerian's first execution
of a Christian

is Pope Sixtus II,
who happens to be,

according to tradition,
the keeper of the Holy Grail.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Before he's killed,

Sixtus entrusts the treasures
of the church

to one of his deacons,
Laurence.

- And to keep them
from being captured,

St. Laurence actually
hands them out.

The problem is now you've got
all of these sacred objects

spread out all over the place,

and it's gonna be
very difficult

to get them all back.

Whether or not you accept
the idea of a Holy Grail

beginning a journey
from Jerusalem to Rome,

what we can all agree on
is now it's lost.

- There's this object
that was regarded

as having incredible power,
but it got forgotten.

Fishburne: But it
won't be forgotten forever.

- The cup turns up again,

and this time we have an actual
date, December 14th, 1134.

Fishburne: At the monastery
of San Juan de la Peña

in Northeast Spain,

a monk named
Don Carreras Ramirez

is taking inventory.

- And on his list,
he writes that he has a chalice

in which Christ our Lord
consigned his blood.

So if you believe the lore,

the Holy Grail is back
on the map.

♪ ♪

- It's unclear
who brings it to Spain,

but the best part
of this is from 1134

when Don Ramirez
writes his list,

we know exactly what happens
to the cup.

The Grail is mentioned
again in 1399

when King Martin I of Aragon
acquires it from the monastery.

After his death,
King Alfonso V of Aragon

brings the cup to Valencia.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
This cup is made of red agate,

3.5 inches across.

Its base has
two curved handles

and a knobbed stem,

both thought
to be more recent additions.

- But the main part of the cup,
the central part,

is the simple kind of cup

that may have been present
at the Last Supper.

Fishburne: Researchers agree
the stone likely comes

from a Palestinian
or Egyptian workshop

sometime between
the fourth century B.C.

and the first century A.D.

♪ ♪

- The region is correct.
The timeline is correct.

The documentary evidence
is there

with a nearly complete chain
of custody.

If the cup
of Christ still exists,

there's a very good argument
that this is it.

Fishburne: Currently held
in the cathedral of Valencia,

the cup has even
been sanctified

by the highest authorities
of the Catholic Church.

According to them,
this cup is the Grail.

- It's been used by several
Popes to celebrate mass,

which makes a lot of sense
in Christian theory

because holy communion
comes from the idea

of the Last Supper
in the gospels.

- Pope John Paul II
certainly believed

it was the cup of Christ.

He actually called it a witness
to Christ's passage on Earth.

And he and Pope Benedict XVI
refer to the cup in Latin

as hunc praeclarum calicem,
this beautiful cup,

the term
that the early Popes used

to refer to the Holy Grail.

Fishburne: But not everyone
believes it's the Grail.

- Curiously,
the Valencia cup and other cups

like it have never been
associated with any miracles.

Most of the top Christian
relics have long histories

of being associated
with miraculous healings

or other kinds
of supernatural events.

And you would think
that this cup,

which Jesus himself blessed,
you'd think that this cup

would have a list
of miracles a mile long.

Fishburne:
If this alleged cup of Christ

lacks the power most expect,

could the Grail
be something else entirely?

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

Fishburne: According to many,
including Pope John Paul II,

this is the so-called
Holy Grail,

a cup used by Jesus
during the Last Supper.

But others have doubts.

- In the ancient legends,

the Grail possesses
miraculous healing powers,

even supposedly
resurrecting the dead.

- Now there are some who
believe that the Holy Grail,

this chalice,
made its way to Valencia.

We don't know.

The chalice is supposed to
possess power to do miracles,

but we don't see that chalice
doing many miracles today.

Fishburne:
If the cup in Valencia

doesn't demonstrate
such powers,

could the Grail be
something unexpected,

something ancient
and mysterious,

and indeed separate
from Jesus?

- So stories about the Grail
really predate Jesus' time.

And this is what's interesting
about it.

So we find the story
that there is a magical object

of some kind that can bring
healing and immortality.

It's a precious, sacred object
that belonged to the Celts.

There's no indication at all

that they had anything
like a sacred cup.

They do have something else.
They have sacred stones.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
The Celtic civilization begins

as early as 1200 B.C.

and spreads
to an area spanning England,

Ireland,
and most of central Europe.

♪ ♪

Their spiritual leaders
are powerful mystics

called druids.

- The druids are the most
respected of the classes

in Celtic society.

They're religious specialists.

They believe, supposedly,
in the immortality of the soul.

And they're practitioners
of healing arts.

♪ ♪

The Roman authors who write
about them are cowed by them.

They're really impressed
by them.

They don't know what's going on
with the druids.

They're a little bit
frightened, I think, of them

because they know that the
druids do these secret rites

that are out there
in the woods.

This is one
of the most un-Roman ways

of being religious
that they could think of.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Could the Holy Grail

be something
entirely unexpected,

not a cup but a sacred stone?

♪ ♪

- So for the people
who espoused

this particular theory,

the story of the Grail stone
comes directly

from these Celtic druidic
traditions of sacred stones.

So it's clear that there's
a pre-Christian tradition

of some kind
of a sacred stone.

And once Christianity
kind of grows and takes over,

that story gets incorporated

into another story
about Jesus' cup.

Fishburne: A sacred stone
infused with mysterious power

by the Celtic druids.

If this is
the true Holy Grail,

where did it go?

♪ ♪

- Now, Christians don't
worship sacred stones.

So after the Celts
are conquered,

there's no mention
of this sort of thing

for about a thousand years.

Fishburne: But the idea
of the Grail stone

and its mysterious powers
doesn't entirely vanish.

In the Middle Ages,
it emerges once more,

first in an unfinished
12th-century romance

by Chretien de Troyes.

A few decades later,
it resurfaces again.

- So it shows up
in a 25,000-line long poem

by a German poet knight
called Wolfram von Eschenbach.

- The poem is called
"Parzival."

He refers to the Grail stone
as Lapis Exilis.

- And just like
in the ancient stories,

this Lapis Exilis
brings youth and immortality.

He also says in the poem

that the stone itself
is so powerful

that if you approach it
and you're wounded

or you're sick,
you'll be healed,

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
But "Parzival" does more

than just
name the Grail stone.

- "Parzival" claims
to know what happened

to the Grail stone
after all these years.

Fishburne:
And according to the text,

this powerful relic may have
ended up in the hands

of one of history's
most legendary orders,

the Knights Templar.

Fishburne: By the Middle Ages,
there are multiple theories

surrounding
the mysterious Holy Grail.

According to one,

the Grail is an ancient
and powerful stone

once held by Celtic pagans.

- So the theory goes
that the stone was once

a precious sacred object
that belonged to the Celts.

But once the Celts
were Christianized,

that stone falls into
the hands of the Christians.

Fishburne:
From there, the trail is lost

until the stone reappears

in a 12th-century text
called "Parzival."

[dramatic music]

- It is an epic poem
that claims to know

what happened
to the Grail stone

after all these years.

Fishburne: Author
Wolfram von Eschenbach

traces the stone's
incredible journey.

- According
to von Eschenbach,

the Lapis Exilis,
the Holy Grail,

is captured by the Christians,

it's taken to the Temple Mount
in Jerusalem,

where it's guarded
by the Knights Templar.

♪ ♪

- The Knights Templar are
a Catholic military order

operating
under the command of the pope

during the Crusades.

- Their official name

is the Poor Fellow-Soldiers
of Christ

and of the Temple of Solomon.

But don't let
that name fool you.

The Templar Knights become
the wealthiest, most famous,

and most powerful
fighting force

that the church has ever had.

It doesn't matter
how many soldiers

are in the opposing army,

the Templar Knights' reputation

and their execution
of their reputation

is so fearsome that when
they're captured, for example,

the other side
rarely ransoms them.

They execute them.
They're that afraid of them.

Because of this reputation,
the popes give them wide reign

to conduct their business
the way they want to

in order to execute their job.

Pope Innocent II
gives them the responsibility

of policing pilgrim routes
in the Holy Land

to keep pilgrims
and other Christians safe.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: The Templars
set their headquarters

on Jerusalem's Temple Mount,
the source of their name.

- This is where the famed
King Solomon built his temple

nearly 2,000 years
before the Crusades.

But the Templars get a lot more
than a name

from being in that location.

It's a seat
of power and prestige.

It is reputed
to be a seat of wealth,

and Christian treasures
are supposedly stored there,

including, according
to the story, the Grail stone.

Membership in the Templars
eventually rises

to maybe around 20,000 people.

They formed their own
rudimentary bank system.

They have hundreds
of various buildings scattered

throughout Europe,
the Mediterranean,

the Holy Land.

They could be considered

to be the world's first
multinational corporation.

Fishburne: The Templars thrive
for nearly two centuries,

and von Eschenbach thinks

he knows the secret
to their success.

- This isn't a coincidence
according to von Eschenbach.

This is because
of divine power.

He says that the Templars live
by a stone of the purest kind.

- A stone with endless powers

that they possess
everlasting life,

wisdom, wealth,
the Grail stone.

♪ ♪

- Easy to think
that von Eschenbach

is making this whole thing up.

And of course, there's a lot
of creative license there,

but he is probably working
from a few facts.

Most poets in the Middle Ages
had a patron.

And von Eschenbach's patron
was a man

by the name of Count Hermann.

He was a German knight,

and he had fought
in the Crusades

alongside the Knights Templar.

Fishburne: Von Eschenbach
supplements Count Hermann's

firsthand accounts
with extensive research.

- Wolfram also goes
to a Morrish library

in Toledo
where he absorbs everything

that he can
about the Knights Templar.

Wolfram is writing poetry,
and he's creating fiction,

but he also wants to ground it

in some kind
of historical reality.

Fishburne: Unfortunately,

within a few decades
of "Parzival,"

the trail
of the stone goes cold.

On Friday, October 13th, 1307,

the Knights Templar are
brutally disbanded.

- The French King Philip IV,

who's actually in significant
debt to the Templars,

forces Pope Clement V
to remove their authority,

to seize their assets.

Some of them are
executed rather brutally.

Others are removed
from the Order of the Temple

and moved to other orders.

Fishburne:
And their great wealth,

including perhaps
the Grail stone,

ultimately disappears.

- If there was a Grail stone
in the Templar's treasures,

as Eschenbach says there was,

it could have gone
to the French kings,

it could have gone
to the Pope,

but it wouldn't be clear
where it had gone.

- So the stone disappears,

and the story
of the stone Lapis Exilis,

Holy Grail, also disappears.

People stop reading it.

And all that's left is
this other tradition

about the cup.

♪ ♪

- And in a way,
that's too bad

because who wouldn't
rather find the stone?

That's where
all this power lies.

Imagine the key
to immortality just sitting

in a storage room somewhere,
or in a landfill,

or who knows where,

all thanks to a case
of mistaken identity.

Fishburne: Two theories,
two different objects,

but which one is
the true Grail?

- For 200 years,

you have the cup,
and you have the stone,

and it basically
stays that way.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
That is, until 1982,

when a shocking new theory
on the Grail appears.

What if the Holy Grail isn't
a physical object at all?

♪ ♪

- After 2,000 years of debate

on what the Holy Grail is
and where it could be,

a new theory emerges in 1982,

and it's a bombshell.

A team of British
researchers published

the best-selling book,

"The Holy Blood
and the Holy Grail,"

which makes a bold claim,

the Holy Grail
isn't an object at all.

The author's theory dates
back to the Middle Ages,

and it begins with a word.

When medieval manuscripts
refer to the Holy Grail,

they call it San Gréal.

- The term appears in writings
beginning in the 12th century

with authors like
Chrétien de Troyes

and Robert de Boron.

- You've got a word
that's already a combination

in its etymology.

You have san
that comes from sanctus,

from the Latin for holy.

And you have gréal,
which is a Celtic word,

which means a vase
or a vessel of some kind.

Fishburne:
But could the term San Gréal

have been translated
by mistake?

- So a lot of the words
that we find

in our common modern English

come from older
linguistic traditions.

This is something that is part
of how we get our language.

Our language is made up
usually of elements

from a lot
of different language groups.

- What they argue
in this theory is

that there's
a mishearing here

of what the word actually was.

[dramatic music]

Fishburne: If correct,

the Grail is not
the San Gréal.

It is the Sang Réal,

which translates
to "royal blood."

- In this case,
it's not an object.

It's something else
more ephemeral.

It's royal blood.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: And the royal blood
in question is

that of Jesus of Nazareth
and his alleged descendants.

- The idea
of a bloodline of Jesus

goes against 2,000 years
of Christian teachings.

At the same time,

it's not completely out
of the range of possibilities

when you consider
that Jesus was a Jewish man

in the Roman empire
coming from a culture

that very much
valued family and marriage.

He was in his 30s,

and the idea
that he wasn't married at all

would have been quite unusual.

♪ ♪

[soft music]

Fishburne: Is it possible
the many authors of the Bible

have been trying
to hide the secret family

of Jesus for millennia?

- Jesus became for the church
a model for priesthood,

and so the church
had a vested interest

in presenting Jesus as chaste.

They want him to be divine.

- The theory goes like this,
that the historical Jesus

marries Mary Magdalene

and that the two of them
had one or more children.

- But Mary Magdalene
is definitely a character

that pops up
in the Jesus tradition.

And we see her not only
in the canonical gospels,

but she also pops up
as a follower of Jesus

in several
noncanonical gospels

written in the second century.

- She travels with Jesus.

She's financially
supporting his ministry.

She is there for his death,

and in some of the gospels,

is the first witness
to his resurrection.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
But their connection

might not end there.

- So the authors of
this theory continue on to say

that after Jesus' death,
Mary Magdalene,

possibly her family,
traveled to France,

and the bloodline
of Jesus continues.

Fishburne:
The authors of "The Holy Blood

and The Holy Grail"
insist they have proof.

- There are these documents

that have been
miraculously found in Paris

buried in the French
national library

that connect the bloodline
of Jesus

to something
called the Priory of Sion.

Fishburne:
According to the text,

the Priory of Sion
is a secret organization

that's existed
since at least 1099.

Its illustrious members
allegedly include

Leonardo da Vinci
and Sir Isaac Newton.

- The text even suggests
that the Priory of Sion

created the Knights Templar

as its military
and financial branch

and that their job,

their entire reason
for existence,

was to protect the bloodline
and the offspring.

- The Priory of Sion is
essentially at war

with the Catholic Church

because the Catholic Church
and its system of popes

want to hold onto their power
and discredit

or push away the story
of the bloodline of Jesus.

Fishburne:
But could this be true?

[tense music]

- As it turns out,
this is completely bogus,

100% false.

♪ ♪

- So there's one
major problem here.

I mean, there are a lot
of problems here,

but the biggest problem is that
the Priory of Sion is a hoax.

Fishburne: The Priory of Sion
isn't created in 1099 A.D.

It's created in 1956.

And despite the long list
of famed members it claims,

it's actually the work
of a French con artist

named Pierre Plantard.

- This guy Plantard wants
to be royalty.

I mean, he's not royalty,

but he really wants
to be royalty.

So he pulls off
what is still thought to be one

of the greatest hoaxes
in French literary history.

Fishburne: Plantard creates
a fake secret society

complete with
an imaginative backstory.

To add credibility,

he plants false documents
around France.

- He commissions a friend

to make two forged
medieval parchments,

and they hide those in
the French national library.

- Plantard and his pal
create a paper trail.

They say
that this Priory of Sion

originated in the Middle Ages,

that they produced a long line
of grandmasters,

and that they protected
this whole bloodline,

which, remarkably,
Plantard himself claimed

to be a descendant.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
And it's this document

that co-author Henry Lincoln
discovers

and uses to form the basis
of the bestselling book,

"The Holy Blood
and The Holy Grail,"

along with two colleagues.

- "Holy Blood, Holy Grail"
was published

by Michael Baigent,
Henry Lincoln,

and Richard Leigh.

It was
an immediate bestseller.

- You can just imagine
Henry Lincoln stumbling

upon this
and finding what he thinks

is the Holy Grail itself,

and it's all fake.

♪ ♪

To be fair,
when Lincoln writes his book,

Plantard hasn't
been caught yet.

It's not until 1993 that
French police raid his house

and find all kinds of documents

that Plantard used
to create this terrible hoax.

- Plantard eventually admits
under oath

that all of this was a lie,
all of this was a hoax.

- Now, some people have come
forward and said,

"No, wait, wait, wait.

"Just because
the Priory of Sion is a hoax

"doesn't mean
that Jesus and Mary Magdalene

couldn't have produced
a child."

Fishburne:
The bloodline theory continues

to inspire stories
of the Holy Grail today,

including
Dan Brown's bestseller,

"The Da Vinci Code."

But there's another
more recent theory

that also has Mary Magdalene
at its center,

and it puts the Grail
over 3,000 miles

from Jerusalem.

Fishburne: When it comes
to theories on the Holy Grail,

researcher Graham Phillips
has heard them all.

- I'm thinking to myself,

I know every story
about the Holy Grail,

the cup of the Last Supper,
the enchanted stone,

the bloodline
of Mary Magdalene, and more.

[dramatic music]

Fishburne:
So what does Phillips think

the Holy Grail is?

- It's a powerful cup, yes.
That much I believe.

But I don't believe
that it has anything to do

with the bloodline
of Mary Magdalene.

However, I do think
that Mary Magdalene

once possessed the cup.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
According to Phillips,

there is not one
but two sacred cups

used during the last days
of Jesus Christ,

and a majority
of Grail seekers

have been looking
for the wrong one.

- I don't believe
that it is the cup

of the Last Supper
that we should be seeking,

but a cup that belonged
to Jesus' follower,

Mary Magdalene.

The gospels describe how

she anointed Jesus' body
with oils,

and these came
in a small scent jar.

Fishburne: Early Christian
tradition states

that Mary Magdalene
visits the site

of Jesus' crucifixion.

There, she collects some
of his blood

in a sacred vessel.

That small jar becomes known
as the Marian Chalice,

the cup
Graham Phillips believes

is the true Holy Grail.

♪ ♪

- Forget
metaphorical bloodlines.

What we're talking about
is an actual relic

which contained Jesus' blood.

And if so, its value
would be immeasurable.

♪ ♪

The question is,
where does it go from there?

- That theory says
that Mary Magdalene

left the cup in Jesus' tomb

and that it remained there
undisturbed, undiscovered

for about 400 years

until the Roman Empire
finally becomes Christian,

and people start to search
for those kinds of things.

Fishburne:
Around 326 A.D.,

Roman emperor
Constantine orders

the excavation
of the Holy Sepulchre,

a potential site
of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem.

- So during the excavation,
a vessel is uncovered,

which is thought
to be this Marian Chalice,

or the Holy Grail.

And it's taken from there
in Jerusalem to Rome,

where the leaders
of the church believe

that it had special powers.

♪ ♪

- It remains in Rome
until 410 A.D.

when the city is sacked
by barbarians.

♪ ♪

But the chalice,
along with other treasures,

is taken out of Rome
in a convoy of armed carts

and eventually brought
to the safety

of one of the last outposts
of the Roman empire, Britain.

Fishburne: From there,
Mary Magdalene's chalice

becomes the inspiration
for one

of the most famous legends
in history.

- This idea
of the Marian Chalice

in England is
what inspires some

of the Arthurian tales.

In the story of King Arthur
and his knights,

the Holy Grail is kept
in a secret chapel

in a fortress
called the White Castle

in a place known
as the White Town.

Fishburne:
And as it turns out,

those locations
aren't entirely fictional.

- Actually, most
of the Arthurian stories

have a lot of historically
accurate detail.

They're mixed in with fantasy,

but some
of it is absolutely true.

- In the early 13th century,
a real-life Crusader knight

by the name
of Fulk Fitzwarin claimed

to have possessed the Chalice
of Magdalene.

And he kept it
in the chapel of his castle,

which was known
as the White Castle,

exactly the same
as where the Grail is kept

in the Arthurian romances.

It's in a town known
as Whittington,

which is old English
for White Town,

exactly, once again,
as in the Arthurian romances.

Fishburne: Unfortunately,
once Fitzwarin dies,

his White Castle
spends several centuries

falling into disrepair.

If the Marian Chalice
was once held here,

it's not likely it remains.

- Modern society has fallen out
with the idea of magic,

the hope of something powerful
and unexpected.

The Holy Grail wasn't
just gonna show up.

I was gonna have to go
and search for it.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

Fishburne:
For thousands of years,

the faithful have searched
for the Holy Grail,

a mysterious object believed

to grant healing
and eternal life.

- It pops up here.
It pops up there.

This person has it.
That person has it.

It's everywhere at once,
yet nowhere at all.

Fishburne: According
to English researcher

Graham Phillips,
the Grail is a small oil jar

that was used
by Mary Magdalene

to catch Jesus' blood.

- The last known whereabouts
of the Chalice of Magdalene

is with Fulk Fitzwarin
and his castle

at Whittington
in the early 1200s.

And where the trail ends
is where I begin.

The chalice resurfaces
in the mid-19th century

with one of Fulk Fitzwarin's
direct descendants,

Thomas Wright.

Thomas Wright actually claims

that the cup had been handed
down to him by his ancestors.

It is described
as a small stone cup

made from alabaster
or green onyx.

And Thomas Wright
is absolutely convinced

that this was the very cup
that Mary Magdalene used

to collect drops
of Christ's blood

during the crucifixion.

In 1855, with no children
to hand it on to,

Thomas Wright decides
to hide the cup

and leave a series of clues
as to where it is hidden

for some future generation
to follow.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: Wright hides
his clues in an 1855 poem

he publishes called

"Sir Gawain
and the Red Knight."

- It concerns Arthur's knight,
Gawain,

and his search
for the Marian Chalice.

And he finds it
at the end of the poem

and then hides it again,
but we're not told where.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: To figure it out,

Phillips analyzes the poem

as it was
originally published.

- There are two lines
of Roman numerals

on the title page
of the book.

They seem
to have absolutely no purpose.

And at the end of the poem
are the final lines,

"The shepherd's songs
to guide the way,

the horn was blown,
the treasure lay."

The only thing that comes
to mind about shepherd's songs

is the Psalms in the Bible.

They are said
to have been written

by the Israelite King David

when he was a young man
and just a shepherd.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: When Phillips
compares the Psalms

to the cryptic Roman numerals,

Thomas Wright's secret message
is finally revealed.

- 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 song.

Fishburne:
Based on his theory,

Phillips begins
with Psalm 31 verse 3.

"For thou art my rock
and my fortress:

Therefore for my name's sake,
lead me and guide me."

- A rock and a fortress,
but where?

At the end of the poem,
Sir Gawain,

when he has hidden
the Chalice of Magdalene,

he stands on the battlements

of a place
called the Red Castle.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Phillips visits the Red Castle

and from there follows
more clues left

by the Psalms
through a series of caves,

which lead to a small church
in the village of Hodnet.

♪ ♪

- And when I enter the church,
the next verse reads,

"I turn upon my right hand
and behold."

♪ ♪

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
by Thomas Wright in 1855,

exactly the year
he wrote the poem.

Fishburne: Unfortunately,
Phillips arrives

at the church too late.

- In the stained glass window,
we have a figure that looks

exactly like Mary Magdalene
holding a chalice.

And above her head is
the figure of an eagle.

And I discovered
that years ago,

when the eagle statue
at Hawkstone Park

in the caves is being moved,
it falls over, breaks,

and in the base, they discover
what is described

as an interesting curio,
a small stone cup.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: This cup is found
by a worker

named Walter Langham.

- He didn't know what it was,
but he found it interesting,

so he kept it.

I discover that his descendants
still have it,

and it's kept amongst a load
of junk in their attic.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Phillips then tracks down

Langham's descendants
and acquires the cup.

♪ ♪

- And here it is,

a small stone cup made
from green alabaster.

♪ ♪

It matches every description
I've read.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Next, he has it analyzed

by the British Museum.

- It's found to have been
a Roman scent jar

dating from the first century.

It's from the right time.

It's made
from the right material.

It is the long-lost chalice
of Mary Magdalene

once used
to collect a few drops

of Christ's blood.

A holy stone, a Grail stone.

This is the Holy Grail.

♪ ♪

- Although Phillips believes
his cup is the true Grail,

we may never know the answer.

If it turns out he's right,
imagine the implications.

The Holy Grail itself,

perhaps the most coveted object
in history,

one day simply falls
out of the base

of a broken statue
and is quietly purchased

from an English attic.

Or could it still be out there

hiding in plain sight?

I'm Lawrence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching
"History's Greatest Mysteries."

♪ ♪