© Gunnar Tómasson

3 January 2018

Background

(British Library)

The legend of the Holy Grail is one of the most enduring in Western European literature and art. The Grail was said to be the cup of the Last Supper and at the Crucifixion to have received blood flowing from Christ’s side. It was brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea, where it lay hidden for centuries.

The search for the vessel became the principal quest of the knights of King Arthur. It was believed to be kept in a mysterious castle surrounded by a wasteland and guarded by a custodian called the Fisher King, who suffered from a wound that would not heal. His recovery and the renewal of the blighted lands depended upon the successful completion of the quest. Equally, the self-realisation of the questing knight was assured by finding the Grail. The magical properties attributed to the Holy Grail have been plausibly traced to the magic vessels of Celtic myth that satisfied the tastes and needs of all who ate and drank from them.

The Holy Grail first appears in a written text in Chrétien de Troyes’s Old French verse romance, the Conte del Graal (‘Story of the Grail’), or Perceval, of c.1180. During the next 50 years several works, both in verse and prose, were written although the story, and the principal character, vary from one work to another. In France this process culminated in a cycle of five prose romances telling the history of the Grail from the Crucifixion to the death of Arthur. The Old French romances were translated into other European languages. Among these other versions two stand out: Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzifal (early 13th century) and Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur (late 15th century).

With the passing of the Middle Ages, the Grail disappears until the 19th century when medieval history and legend awoke the interest of writers such as Scott and Tennyson, of the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and of composers, notably Richard Wagner. The symbol of the Grail as a mysterious object of search and as the source of the ultimate mystical, or even physical, experience has persisted into the present century in the novels of Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis and John Cowper Powys. (http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/mythical/grail.html)

***

I. King’s Murder Most Foul, Strange and Unnatural

(Hamlet, Act I, Sc. v. First Folio, 1623)

1658168

 9462 = Enter Ghost and Hamlet.

Hamlet

22112 = Where wilt thou lead me? speak; Ile go no further.

Ghost

2883 = Marke me.

Hamlet

3756 = I will.

Ghost

11748 = My hower is almost come,

22142 = When I to sulphurous and tormenting Flames

10942 = Must render up my selfe.

Hamlet

7778 = Alas poore Ghost.

Ghost

19231 = Pitty me not, but lend thy serious hearing

10823 = To what I shall unfold.

Hamlet

9425 = Speake, I am bound to heare.

Ghost

21689 = So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt heare.

Hamlet

3270 = What?

Ghost

10539 = I am thy Fathers Spirit,

19489 = Doom’d for a certaine terme to walke the night;

15474 = And for the day confin’d to fast in Fiers,

19868 = Till the foule crimes done in my dayes of Nature

10839 = Are burnt and purg’d away?

7855 = But that I am forbid

18785 = To tell the secrets of my Prison-House,

20467 = I could a Tale unfold, whose lightest word

25179 = Would harrow up thy soule, freeze thy young blood,

27383 = Make thy two eyes like Starres, start from their Spheres,

16795 = Thy knotty and combined locks to part,

15570 = And each particular haire to stand an end,

20558 = Like Quilles upon the fretfull Porpentine:

17082 = But this eternall blason must not be

19562 = To eares of flesh and bloud; list Hamlet, oh list,

16884 = If thou didst ever thy deare Father love.

Hamlet

3459 = Oh Heaven!

Ghost

22153 = Revenge his foule and most unnaturall Murther.

Hamlet

4660 = Murther?

Ghost

18629 = Murther most foule, as in the best it is;

20891 = But this most foule, strange, and unnaturall.

Hamlet

11813 = Hast, hast me to know it,

15426 = That with wings as swift

17684 = As meditation, or the thoughts of Love,

11099 = May sweepe to my Revenge.

Ghost

5591 = I finde thee apt;

20490 = And duller should’st thou be then the fat weede

18672 = That rots it selfe in ease, on Lethe Wharfe,

18843 = Would’st thou not stirre in this.

 7499 = Now Hamlet heare:

19608 = It’s given out, that sleeping in mine Orchard,

21032 = A Serpent stung me: so the whole eare of Denmarke,

13077 = Is by a forged processe of my death

18982 = Rankly abus’d:  But know thou Noble youth,

18951 = The Serpent that did sting thy Fathers life,

13593 = Now weares his Crowne.

Hamlet

15252 = O my Propheticke soule: mine Uncle?

Ghost

19142 = I that incestuous, that adulterate Beast

29730 = With witchcraft of his wits, hath Traitorous guifts.

21415 = Oh wicked Wit, and Gifts, that have the power

22656 = So to seduce?  Won to to this shamefull Lust

22351 = The will of my most seeming vertuous Queene.

17021 = Oh Hamlet, what a falling oft was there,

18901 = From me, whose love was of that dignity,

21371 = That it went hand in hand, even with the Vow

13881 = I made to her in Marriage; and to decline

25184 = Upon a wretch, whose Naturall gifts were poore

24348 = To those of mine. But Vertue, as it never wil be moved,

21122 = Though Lewdnesse court it in a shape of Heaven:

17577 = So Lust, though to a radiant Angell link’d,

20657 = Will sate it selfe in a Celestiall bed & prey on Garbage.

20310 = But soft, me thinkes I sent the Mornings Ayre;

18535 = Briefe let me be:  Sleeping within mine Orchard,

17248 = My custome alwayes in the afternoone;

19016 = Upon my secure hower thy Uncle stole

17466 = With iuyce of cursed Hebenon in a Violl,

16672 = And in the Porches of mine eares did poure

18685 = The leaperous Distilment; whose effect

17290 = Holds such an enmity with bloud of Man,

25233 = That swift as Quick-silver, it courses through

15783 = The naturall Gates and Allies of the Body;

19585 = And with a sodaine vigour it doth posset

16801 = And curd, like aygre droppings into Milke,

18159 = The thin and wholsome blood: so did it mine;

15969 = And a most instant tetter bak’d about,

22687 = Most Lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,

7531 = All my smooth Body.

16992 = Thus was I, sleeping, by a Brothers hand,

19671 = Of Life, of Crowne, and Queene at once dispatcht;

18043 = Cut off even in the Blossomes of my Sinne,

16349 = Unhouzzled, disappointed, unnaneld,

18018 = No reckoning made, but sent to my account

15902 = With all my imperfections on my head;

16946 = Oh horrible, Oh horrible, most horrible;

17164 = If thou hast nature in thee beare it not;

13314 = Let not the Royall Bed of Denmarke be

15607 = A Couch for Luxury and damned Incest.

22022 = But howsoever thou pursuest this Act,

22240 = Taint not thy mind; nor let thy Soule contrive

19204 = Against thy Mother ought; leave her to heaven,

19764 = And to those Thornes that in her bosome lodge,

19266 = To pricke and sting her.  Fare thee well at once;

22305 = The Glow-worme showes the Matine to be neere,

15555 = And gins to pale his uneffectuall Fire:

12486 = Adue, adue, Hamlet; remember me.    Exit.

1658168

II + III + IV = 878864 + 659994 + 119310 = 1658168

II. To be, or not to be; that is The Quest, ION

(Act III, Sc. i, First Folio, 1623)

878864

  5415 = Enter Hamlet.

Hamlet

18050 = To be, or not to be, that is the Question:

19549 = Whether ’tis Nobler in the minde to suffer

23467 = The Slings and Arrowes of outragious Fortune,

17893 = Or to take Armes against a Sea of troubles,

16211 = And by opposing end them: to dye, to sleepe

13853 = No more; and by a sleepe, to say we end

20133 = The Heart-ake, and the thousand Naturall shockes

19800 = That Flesh is heyre too?  ‘Tis a consummation

17421 = Deuoutly to be wish’d. To dye to sleepe,

19236 = To sleepe, perchance to Dreame; I, there’s the rub,

19794 = For in that sleepe of death, what dreames may come,

21218 = When we haue shufflel’d off this mortall coile,

20087 = Must giue vs pawse. There’s the respect

13898 = That makes Calamity of so long life:

24656 = For who would beare the Whips and Scornes of time,

24952 = The Oppressors wrong, the poore mans Contumely,

18734 = The pangs of dispriz’d Loue, the Lawes delay,

16768 = The insolence of Office, and the Spurnes

20720 = That patient merit of the vnworthy takes,

17879 = When he himselfe might his Quietus make

21696 = With a bare Bodkin? Who would these Fardles beare

17807 = To grunt and sweat vnder a weary life,

17426 = But that the dread of something after death,

21935 = The vndiscouered Countrey, from whose Borne

20927 = No Traueller returnes, Puzels the will,

19000 = And makes vs rather beare those illes we haue,

20119 = Then flye to others that we know not of.

20260 = Thus Conscience does make Cowards of vs all,

18787 = And thus the Natiue hew of Resolution

21086 = Is sicklied o’re, with the pale cast of Thought,

17836 = And enterprizes of great pith and moment,

22968 = With this regard their Currants turne away,

18723 = And loose the name of Action.  Soft you now,

16746 = The faire Ophelia? Nimph, in thy Orizons

9726 = Be all my sinnes remembred.

Ophelia

5047 = Good my Lord,

17675 = How does your Honor for this many a day?

Hamlet

17391 = I humbly thanke you: well, well, well.

Ophelia

15437 = My Lord, I haue Remembrances of yours,

14927 = That I haue longed long to re-deliuer.

12985 = I pray you now, receiue them.

Hamlet

12520 = No, no, I neuer gaue you ought.

Ophelia

19402 = My honor’d Lord, I know right well you did,

24384 = And with them words of so sweet breath compos’d,

19172 = As made the things more rich, then perfume left:

14959 = Take these againe, for to the Noble minde

24436 = Rich gifts wax poore, when giuers proue vnkinde.

5753 = There my Lord.

878864

III. The Quest for the Holy Grail

(Construction G. T.)

659994

The Quest

 1796 = Graal – Archaic spelling

Alpha

(Venus and Adonis, 1593)

20165 = Vilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus Apollo

16408 = Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua.*

*Ovid’s Amores

Let base conceited wits admire vile things;

Fair Phoebus lead me to the Muses’ springs.

Omega

(Cæsar, Act V, Sc. i, First Folio)

Cassius

12879 = Now most Noble Brutus,

17568 = The gods today stand friendly, that we may,

15686 = Louers in peace, leade on our dayes to age!

23178 = But since the affayres of men rests still incertaine,

21190 = Let’s reason with the worst that may befall.

17931 = If we do lose this Battaile, then is this

19984 = The very last time we shall speake together:

15404 = What are you then determined to do?

Brutus

15472 = Euen by the rule of that Philosophy,

14051 = By which I did blame Cato, for the death

19501 = Which he did giue himselfe, I know not how:

14406 = But I do finde it Cowardly, and vile,

19113 = For feare of what might fall, so to preuent

19095 = The time of life, arming my selfe with patience,

20623 = To stay the prouidence of some high Powers,

11326 = That gouerne vs below.

Cassius

13765 = Then, if we loose this battaile,

16527 = You are contented to be led in Triumph

14976 = Thorow the streets of Rome.

Brutus

7042 = No, Cassius, no:

13000 = Thinke not thou Noble Romane,

19844 = That euer Brutus will go bound to Rome,

16711 = He beares too great a minde.  But this same day

19149 = Must end that work the Ides of March begun.

20191 = And whether we shall meete againe, I know not:

19155 = Therefore our euerlasting farewell take:

17976 = For euer, and for euer, farewell Cassius,

17336 = If we do meete againe, why we shall smile;

21165 = If not, why then, this parting was well made.

Cassius

18046 = For euer, and for euer, farewell, Brutus:

14916 = If we do meete againe, wee’l smile indeed;

21535 = If not, ‘tis true, this parting was well made.

Brutus

17661 = Why then leade on.  O that a man might know

17668 = The end of this dayes businesse, ere it come:

17050 = But it sufficeth, that the day will end,

20505 = And then the end is knowne.  Come ho, away.   Exeunt.

659994

IV. The End is Known at the Muses’ Springs

(Construction G. T.)

119310

Questing Knights and Lady

1654 = ION

4946 = Socrates

3412 = Platon

14209 = Quintus Horatius Flaccus

12337 = Publius Virgilius Maro

11999 = Sextus Propertius

11249 = Publius Ovidius Naso

11359 = Snorri Sturluson

9814 = Sturla Þórðarson

5385 = Francis Bacon

7936 = Edward Oxenford

8525 = Gunnar Tómasson

4000 = Flaming Sword – Cosmic Creative Power – Coming of Christ

12385 = Guðrún Ólafía Jónsdóttir

   100 = THE END

119310

V. This was the Noblest Roman of them all.

(Cæsar, Act V, Sc. v, First Folio)

543619

18291 = Alarum. Retreat. Enter Antony, Octauius,

13072 = Messala, Lucillius, and the Army.

Octauius

8070 = What man is that?

Messala

20905 = My Masters man. Strato, where is thy Master?

Strato

14955 = Free from the Bondage you are in Messala,

16841 = The Conquerors can but make a fire of him:

16240 = For Brutus onely ouercame himselfe,

14033 = And no man else hath Honor by his death.

Lucillius

22076 = So Brutus should be found. I thank thee Brutus

22048 = That thou hast prou’d Lucillius saying true.

Octauius

21961 = All that seru’d Brutus, I will entertaine them.

23692 = Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?

Strato

16180 = I, if Messala will preferre me to you.

Octauius

7523 = Do so, good Messala.

Messala

12783 = How dyed my Master Strato?

Strato

15047 = I held the Sword, and he did run on it.

Messala

18285 = Octauius, then take him to follow thee,

18273 = That did the latest seruice to my Master.

Antony

17670 = This was the Noblest Roman of them all:

15848 = All the Conspirators saue onely hee,

15017 = Did that they did, in enuy of great Cæsar:

15493 = He, onely in a generall honest thought,

14362 = And common good to all, made one of them.

15295 = His life was gentle, and the Elements

19568 = So mixt in him, that Nature might stand vp

17304 = And say to all the world; This was a man.

Octauius

18290 = According to his Vertue, let us use him,

17428 = Withall Respect, and Rites of Buriall.

19875 = Within my Tent his bones to night shall ly,

17769 = Most like a Souldier ordered Honourably:

16618 = So call the Field to rest; and let’s away,

15997 = To part the glories of this happy day.

6810 = Exeunt omnes.

543619

VI. The Glories of this Happy Day

(Cæsar, Act III, Sc. i)

100571

Cinna

12536 = Liberty,  Freedome,  Tyranny is dead,

20780 = Run hence, proclaime, cry it about the Streets.

Casca

19015 = Some to the common Pulpits, and cry out,

14707 = Liberty, Freedome, and Enfranchisement.

Brutus

15381 = People and Senators, be not affrighted:

18152 = Fly not, stand still: Ambition’s debt is paid.

100571           

VII. Curtains at The Globe Playhouse

(Frontispiece, First Folio, 1623)

262237

16746 = The Workes of William Shakespeare,

17935 = Containing all his Comedies, Histories, and

13106 = Tragedies: Truely set forth,

16008 = according to their first Originall.

22800 = The names of the principall actors in all these playes.

9322 = William Shakespeare

19171 = Samuel Gilburne, Richard Burbadge, Robert Armin,

24169 = John Hemmings, William Ostler, Augustine Phillips,

19711 = Nathan Field, William Kempt, John Underwood,

18327 = Thomas Poope, Nicholas Tooley, George Bryan,

21737 = William Ecclestone, Henry Condell, Joseph Taylor,

19699 = William Slye, Robert Benfield, Richard Cowly,

20652 = Robert Goughe, John Lowine, Richard Robinson,

22854 = Samuell Crosse, John Shancke, Alexander Cooke, John Rice.

262237

III + IV + V + VI + VII = 659994 + 119310 + 543619 + 100571 + 262237 = 1685731

I + VIII = 1658168 + 27563 = 1685731

VIII. Advent of Christianity

(Saga-Shakespeare Myth)

27563

King’s Murder – Sleep of Reason

    -1 = Monad

Sacred Triangle of Pagan Iceland

(Brennu-Njálssaga)

7196 = Bergþórshváll

6067 = Miðeyjarhólmr

3027 = Helgafell – Holy Mountain

Christianity Replaces Paganism

As Law of the Land

(Brennu-Njálssaga, Ch. 105)

11274 = Fara menn við þat heim af þingi.*

27563

*After that, people went home from the Althing.

***

Calculator for converting letters to cipher values is at:

http://www.light-of-truth.com/ciphersaga.htm