Holy grail: Did you mean...?

A medieval manuscript illustration depicting the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI (r. 1191-1197 CE). (Codex Manesse, 1305-1315 CE)

Illustration of an enthroned Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 875-877 CE), King of West Francia (r. 843–877) and Italy (r. 875–877). Copied by G.W. Hutin, 1821, from a 9th-century manuscript of the Gospels. The British Museum, London...

A 1778 oil-on-canvas painting, Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, by Bernardo Bellotto. (Royal Castle, Warsaw)

Jerusalem, a holy city for the adherents of all three great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) was conquered by the armies of the First Crusade in 1099 CE. The Muslims failed to halt their advance, as they were themselves...

Enlil in the E-Kur (c. 2000 BCE) is a Sumerian hymn praising the sky god Enlil, his temple/ziggurat at Nippur, and his consort Ninlil, depicting all three in glowing terms and Enlil as a creator-god. The piece is highly regarded as an important...

Guinevere is the Queen of Britain, wife of King Arthur, and lover of Sir Lancelot in the Arthurian Legends best known in their standardized form from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur (1469 CE). She first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's...

Stained glass from St Etheldreda's church in Ely Place, London.

Shulgi and Ninlil's Barge is a Sumerian poem dated to the reign of Shulgi of Ur (2029-1982 BCE) celebrating the caulking of the barge of the goddess Ninlil, consort of the sky god Enlil, and the banquet held in the couple's honor by Shulgi...

The Debate Between Sheep and Grain (c. 2000 BCE) is one of the best-known Sumerian literary debates in a genre that was popular entertainment by the late 3rd millennium BCE. In this piece, personifications of grain and sheep argue which is...

Dr Thomas Asbridge presents a revelatory account of the Crusades, the 200-year war between Christians and Muslims for control of the Holy Land. The story of the Crusades is remembered as a tale of religious fanaticism and unspeakable violence...