Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit
r apple
R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irela ...
trees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the
Arthurian legend
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
that first appeared in
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography ...
's influential 1136 ''
Historia Regum Britanniae
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
'' as a place of magic where
King Arthur's sword
Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...
was made and later where Arthur was taken to recover from being gravely wounded at the
Battle of Camlann. Since then, the island has become a symbol of Arthurian mythology, similar to Arthur's castle of
Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...
.
Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and magical figures such as King Arthur's half-sister
Morgan, cast as the island's ruler by Geoffrey and some of the later authors inspired by him. Certain Briton traditions maintain that Arthur is an eternal king who had never truly died but
would return, and the particular motif of his rest in Morgana's care in Avalon has become especially popular and can be found in various versions in many French and other medieval Arthurian works written in the wake of Geoffrey.
Avalon has been often identified as the former island of
Glastonbury Tor
Glastonbury Tor is a hill near Glastonbury in the English county of Somerset, topped by the roofless St Michael's Tower, a Grade I listed building. The entire site is managed by the National Trust and has been designated a scheduled monument. T ...
, an early and long-standing belief that notably involved the purported discovery of Arthur's remains and their later grand reburial in accordance with the medieval English tradition in which Arthur did not survive the fatal injuries from his final battle. Besides Glastonbury, several other alternative locations of Avalon have been claimed or proposed as well. Medieval sources also occasionally described the place as a valley.
Etymology
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography ...
calls it ''Insula Avallonis'' in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, in ''
Historia Regum Britanniae
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
'' ("The History of the Kings of Britain", c. 1136). In the later ''
Vita Merlini
''Vita Merlini'', or ''The Life of Merlin'', is a Latin poem in 1,529 hexameter lines written around the year 1150. Though doubts have in the past been raised about its authorship it is now widely believed to be by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It tel ...
'' ("The Life of Merlin", c. 1150), Geoffrey calls it ''Insula Pomorum'', the "Isle of Fruit Trees" (from Latin ''pōmus'' "fruit tree"). The name is generally considered to be of
Welsh origin (a
Cornish or
Breton origin is also possible), from
Old Welsh,
Old Cornish
Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a revived language, having become extinct as a living community language in Cornwall at the end of the 18th century. However, k ...
, or
Old Breton ''aball'' or ''avallen(n)'', "apple tree, fruit tree" (cf. Welsh ''afal'', from
Proto-Celtic
Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celti ...
*''abalnā'', literally "fruit-bearing (thing)").
[Koch, John. ''Celtic Culture: A historical encyclopedia'', ABC-CLIO 2006, p. 146.]
The tradition of an "apple" island among the Ancient British may also be related to
Irish legends
Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by C ...
of the
otherworld
The concept of an otherworld in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other Earth/world"), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherwor ...
island home of
Manannán mac Lir
Manannán or Manann, also known as Manannán mac Lir ("son of the sea"), is a warrior and king of the Otherworld in Irish mythology who is associated with the sea and often interpreted as a sea god, usually as a member of the Tuatha Dé Dana ...
and
Lugh
Lugh or Lug (; ga, label= Modern Irish, Lú ) is a figure in Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group of supernatural beings, Lugh is portrayed as a warrior, a king, a master craftsman and a savior.Olmsted, Garrett. ''The Go ...
,
Emain Ablach
Emain Ablach (also Emne; Middle Irish Emhain Abhlach or Eamhna; meaning "Emhain of the Apples") is a mythical island paradise in Irish mythology. It is often regarded as the realm of the sea god Manannán Mac Lir and identified with either the Is ...
(also the
Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...
poetic name for
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
),
where ''Ablach'' means "Having Apple Trees"— from Old Irish ''aball'' ("apple") — and is similar to the
Middle Welsh
Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen G ...
name ''
Afallach'', which was used to replace the name Avalon in medieval Welsh translations of French and Latin Arthurian tales. All are related to the Gaulish root *''aballo'' "fruit tree" (found in the place name
Aballo/Aballone) and are derived from Proto-Celtic *''abal''- "apple", which is related at the
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
level to English ''apple'', Russian ''яблоко'' (''jabloko''), Latvian ''ābele'', et al.
In the early 12th century,
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as " ...
claimed the name of Avalon came from a man called Avalloc, who once lived on this isle with his daughters.
Gerald of Wales
Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taugh ...
similarly derived the name of Avalon from its purported former ruler, Avallo.
The name is also similar to "Avallus", described by
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
in his 1st-century ''
Naturalis Historia
The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. ...
'' as a mysterious island where amber could be found.
Legend
Geoffrey of Monmouth
According to Geoffrey in the ''Historia'', and much subsequent literature which he inspired,
King Arthur was taken to Avalon in hope that he could be saved and recover from his mortal wounds following the tragic
Battle of Camlann.
Avalon is first mentioned by Geoffrey as the place where Arthur's sword
Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...
(''Caliburn'') was forged.
Geoffrey dealt with the subject in more detail in the ''Vita Merlini'', in which he describes for the first time in Arthurian legend the enchantress
Morgan (''Morgen'') as the chief of
nine sisters
The Nine Sisters or the Morros are a chain of twenty-three, although typically only nine are included, volcanic mountains and hills in western San Luis Obispo County, Southern California. They run between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.
Geography
...
(Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe, Thiten and Thiton) who rule Avalon. Geoffrey's telling (in the in-story narration by
Taliesin
Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the '' Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts ...
) indicates a sea voyage was needed to get there. His description of Avalon here, which is heavily indebted to the early medieval Spanish scholar
Isidore of Seville (being mostly derived from the section on famous islands in Isidore's famous work ''
Etymologiae
''Etymologiae'' (Latin for "The Etymologies"), also known as the ''Origines'' ("Origins") and usually abbreviated ''Orig.'', is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) towards the end of his life. Isidore was ...
'', XIV.6.8 "''
Fortunatae Insulae''"), shows the magical nature of the island:
Later medieval literature
![The Death of King Arthur](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/The_Death_of_King_Arthur.jpg)
In many later versions of Arthurian legend, including the popular ''
Le Morte d'Arthur'' by
Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'Ar ...
, Morgan and some other magical queens or enchantresses arrive after the battle to take the mortally wounded Arthur from the battlefield of Camlann (or Salisbury Plain in the romances) to Avalon in a black boat. Besides Morgan, who has become Arthur's sibling in prevailing narrative, they sometimes come with the
Lady of the Lake
The Lady of the Lake (french: Dame du Lac, Demoiselle du Lac, cy, Arglwyddes y Llyn, kw, Arloedhes an Lynn, br, Itron al Lenn, it, Dama del Lago) is a name or a title used by several either fairy or fairy-like but human enchantresses in the ...
among them; other times, they may include the Queens of Eastland, the Northgales, the Outer Isles, and the
Wasteland
Wasteland or waste land may refer to:
* Desert or barren area
* an uncultivated area of land, whether wooded or not, whether common land or not
Art, entertainment, and media Comics
* ''Wasteland'' (DC Comics), 1987–1989 anthology-style horror/ ...
. In the
Vulgate Cycle
The ''Lancelot-Grail'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance in Old French. The cycle of unknown author ...
, Morgan first tells Arthur of her intention to relocate to Avalon, "where the ladies who know all the magic in the world are" (''où les dames sont qui seiuent tous les enchantemens del monde''), shortly before his final battle. In Lope Garcia de Salazar's Spanish version of the
Post-Vulgate
The ''Post-Vulgate Cycle'', also known as the Post-Vulgate Arthuriad, the Post-Vulgate ''Roman du Graal'' (''Romance of the Grail'') or the Pseudo-Robert de Boron Cycle, is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature from the ...
''Roman du Graal'', Avalon is conflated with (and explicitly named as) the mythological
Island of Brasil, said to be located west of Ireland and afterwards hidden in mist by Morgan's enchantment.
Arthur's fate is sometimes left untold, or uncertain. Other times, his eventual death is actually confirmed, as it happens in the
Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur'', where the
Archbishop of Canterbury later receives Arthur's dead body and buries it at
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...
. In the telling of
Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'', relatively devoid of supernatural elements, it is not Morgan but the renowned
physicians from Salerno who try, and fail, to save Arthur's life in Avalon. Conversely, the ''
Gesta Regum Britanniae
The ''Gesta Regum Britanniae'' ( la, Deeds of the Kings of Britain) is a Latin epic written at some time between 1235 and 1254, and attributed to a Breton monk, William of Rennes.
The ''Gesta'' is fundamentally a versification of Geoffrey of Mo ...
'', an early rewrite of Geoffrey's ''Historia'', states in the present tense that Morgan "keeps his healed body for her very own and they now live together." In a similar narrative, the chronicle ''
Draco Normannicus'' contains a fictional letter from King Arthur to
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
, claiming Arthur having been healed of his wounds and made immortal by his "deathless (eternal)
nymph
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label= Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...
" sister Morgan in the holy island of Avalon (''Avallonis eas insula sacra'') through the island's miraculous herbs.
Avalon has been occasionally described as a valley. In ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', for instance, Avalon is called an isle twice and a vale once (the latter in the scene of Arthur's final voyage, oddly in spite of Malory's adoption of the boat travel motif). Notably, the vale of Avalon (''vaus d'Avaron'') is mentioned twice in
Robert de Boron's Arthurian prequel ''Joseph d'Arimathie'' as a place located in the western
Britannia
Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...
, to where an early Christian
Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea was, according to all four canonical gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion. The historical location of Arimathea is uncertain, although it has been identified with several ...
brought the
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracu ...
after his journey from the
Holy Land.
In ''
Erec and Enide
, original_title_lang = fro
, translator =
, written = c. 1170
, country =
, language = Old French
, subject = Arthurian legend
, genre = Chivalric romance
, form ...
'' by
Chrétien de Troyes, the consort of Morgan is the Lord of the Isle of Avalon, Arthur's nephew
Guinguemar (also appearing in the same or similar role under similar names in other works). In
Layamon
Layamon or Laghamon (, ; ) – spelled Laȝamon or Laȝamonn in his time, occasionally written Lawman – was an English poet of the late 12th/early 13th century and author of the ''Brut'', a notable work that was the first to present the legend ...
's
''Brut'', Arthur is taken to Avalon to be healed there through means of magic water by a distinctively
Anglo-Saxon version of Morgan: an
elf
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
queen of Avalon named Argante. ''
Diu Crône
''Diu Crône'' ( en, The Crown) is a Middle High German poem of about 30,000 lines treating of King Arthur and the Matter of Britain, dating from around the 1220s and attributed to the epic poet Heinrich von dem Türlin. Little is known of the ...
'' says the queen of Avalon is Enfeidas, Arthur's aunt and goddess. The Venician ''Les Prophéties de Merlin'' features the character of an enchantress known only as the Lady of Avalon (''Dame d'Avalon''),
Merlin's pupil who is not Morgan and is in fact a rival and enemy of her (as well as of
Sebile
Sebile, alternatively written as Sedile, Sebille, Sibilla, Sibyl, Sybilla, and other similar names, is a mythical medieval queen or princess who is frequently portrayed as a fairy or an enchantress in the Arthurian legends and Italian folklore. ...
). In the late Italian ''
Tavola Ritonda'', the lady of the island of Avalon (''dama dell'isola di Vallone'') is the fairy mother of the evil sorceress
Elergia. The tales of the half-fairy
Melusine
Mélusine () or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a lamia or a mermaid). She is als ...
have her grow up in the isle of Avalon.
Morgan also features as an immortal ruler of a fantastic Avalon, sometimes alongside the still-alive Arthur, in some subsequent and otherwise non-Arthurian
chivalric romance
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalri ...
s such as ''
Tirant lo Blanch'', as well as the tales of
Huon of Bordeaux
Huon of Bordeaux is the title character of a 13th-century French epic poem with romance elements.
''Huon of Bordeaux''
The poem tells of Huon, a knight who unwittingly kills Charlot, the son of Emperor Charlemagne. He is given a reprieve from d ...
, where the
faery king
Oberon
Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fairi ...
is a son of either Morgan by name or "the Lady of the Secret Isle", and the legend of
Ogier the Dane
Ogier the Dane (french: ; da, ) is a legendary paladin of Charlemagne who appears in many Old French '' chansons de geste''. In particular, he features as the protagonist in ''La Chevalerie Ogier'' (ca. 1220), which belongs to the ''Geste de D ...
, where Avalon can be described as an enchanted fairy castle (''chasteu d'Auallon''), as it is also in ''Floriant et Florete''. In his ''La Faula'',
Guillem de Torroella
Guillem de Torroella (also written Torroelha) was a Majorcan poet whose family came from Empordà. He was born in 1348. He wrote the ''Faula'' in Occitan (and a small part in French) around 1370. It was edited in 2007 in the ''Library of Majorcan ...
claims to have visited the Enchanted Island (''Illa Encantada'') and met Arthur who has been brought back to life by Morgan and they both of them are now forever young, sustained by the Grail. In the ''
chanson de geste
The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th c ...
'' ''La Bataille Loquifer'', Morgan and her sister Marsion (Marrion) bring the hero Renoart to Avalon, where Arthur now prepares his return alongside Morgan,
Gawain
Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
,
Ywain
Sir Ywain , also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings (''Ewaine'', ''Ivain'', ''Ivan'', ''Iwain'', ''Iwein'', ''Uwain'', ''Uwaine'', etc.), is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urie ...
,
Percival
Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the Gr ...
and
Guinevere. Such stories typically take place centuries after the times of King Arthur.
Connection to Glastonbury
Though no longer an island in the 12th century, the high conical bulk of
Glastonbury Tor
Glastonbury Tor is a hill near Glastonbury in the English county of Somerset, topped by the roofless St Michael's Tower, a Grade I listed building. The entire site is managed by the National Trust and has been designated a scheduled monument. T ...
in today's South-West England had been surrounded by marsh prior to the draining of
fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as ...
land in the
Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills.
The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south a ...
. In ancient times,
Ponter's Ball Dyke
Ponter's Ball Dyke is a linear earthwork located near Glastonbury in Somerset, England. It crosses, at right angles, an ancient road that continues on to the Isle of Avalon. It consists of an embankment with a ditch on the east side. It is built ...
would have guarded the only entrance to the island.
The Romans eventually built another road to the island.
Glastonbury's earliest name in Welsh was the Isle of Glass, which suggests that the location was at one point seen as an island. At the end of the 12th century, Gerald of Wales wrote in ''
De instructione principis'':
![Glastonbury cross-camden-1607edition-p166](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Glastonbury_cross-camden-1607edition-p166.jpg)
Around 1190, monks at
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.
The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It w ...
claimed to have discovered the bones of Arthur and his wife Guinevere. The discovery of the burial is described by chroniclers, notably Gerald, as being just after King
Henry II's reign when the new abbot of Glastonbury,
Henry de Sully, commissioned a search of the abbey grounds. At a depth of 5 m (16 feet), the monks were said to have discovered an unmarked tomb with a massive
treetrunk coffin
A treetrunk coffin is a coffin hollowed out of a single massive log. Used for burials since prehistoric times over a wide geographic range, including in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
History
Treetrunk coffins were a feature of some p ...
and, also buried, a lead cross bearing the inscription:
Accounts of the exact inscription vary, with five different versions existing. One popular today, made famous by Malory, claims "Here lies Arthur, the king that was and the king that shall be" (''Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus''), also known in the now-popular variant "the once and future king" (''rex quondam et futurus''). The earliest is by Gerald in ''Liber de Principis instructione'' c. 1193, who wrote that he viewed the cross in person and traced the lettering. His transcript reads: "Here lies buried the famous ''Arthurus'' with ''Wenneveria'' his second wife in the isle of Avalon" (''Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus cum Wenneveria uxore sua secunda in insula Avallonia''). He wrote that inside the coffin were two bodies, whom Giraldus refers to as Arthur and "his queen"; the bones of the male body were described as being gigantic. The account of the burial by the chronicle of
Margam Abbey
Margam Abbey ( cy, Abaty Margam) was a Cistercian monastery, located in the village of Margam, a suburb of modern Port Talbot in Wales.
History
The abbey was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Clairvaux by Robert, Earl of Gloucester ...
says three bodies were found, the other being that of
Mordred;
Richard Barber
Richard William Barber FRSL FSA FRHistS (born 30 October 1941) is a British historian who has published several books about medieval history and literature. His book ''The Knight and Chivalry'', about the interplay between history and literat ...
argues that Mordred's name was airbrushed out of the story once his reputation as a traitor was appreciated. The story is today seen as an example of
pseudoarchaeology
Pseudoarchaeology—also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, cult archaeology, and spooky archaeology—is the interpretation of the past from outside the archaeological science community, which rejects ...
. Historians generally dismiss the authenticity of the find, attributing it to a publicity stunt performed to raise funds to repair the Abbey, which had been mostly burned in 1184.
In 1278, the remains were reburied with great ceremony, attended by King
Edward I and Queen
Eleanor of Castile, before the High Altar at Glastonbury Abbey. They were moved again in 1368 when the
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
was extended. The site became the focus of pilgrimages until
the dissolution of the abbey in 1539. The fact that the search for the body is connected to Henry II and Edward I, both kings who fought major
Anglo-Welsh wars, has had scholars suggest that propaganda may have played a part as well. Gerald was a constant supporter of royal authority; in his account of the discovery clearly aims to quash the idea of the possibility of
King Arthur's messianic return
King Arthur's messianic return is a mythological motif in the legend of King Arthur, which claims that he will one day return in the role of a messiah to save his people. It is an example of the king asleep in mountain motif. King Arthur was a ...
:
![Gloomy Glastonbury Tor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Gloomy_Glastonbury_Tor.jpg)
The burial discovery ensured that in later romances, histories based on them and in the popular imagination Glastonbury became increasingly identified with Avalon, an identification that continues strongly today. The later development of the legends of the Holy Grail and Joseph of Arimathea interconnected these legends with Glastonbury and with Avalon, an identification which also seems to be made in ''
Perlesvaus
''Perlesvaus'', also called ''Li Hauz Livres du Graal'' (''The High Book of the Grail''), is an Old French Arthurian romance dating to the first decade of the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished ''Perc ...
''. The popularity of Arthurian romances has meant this area of the Somerset Levels has today become popularly described as the Vale of Avalon.
In more recent times, writers such as
Dion Fortune
Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 6 December 1890 – 6 January 1946) was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, novelist and author. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult organisation that promoted ph ...
,
John Michell
John Michell (; 25 December 1724 – 21 April 1793) was an English natural philosopher and clergyman who provided pioneering insights into a wide range of scientific fields including astronomy, geology, optics, and gravitation. Considered "o ...
,
Nicholas Mann and
Geoffrey Ashe
Geoffrey Thomas Leslie Ashe (29 March 1923 – 30 January 2022) was a British cultural historian and lecturer, known for his focus on King Arthur.
Early life
Born in London, Ashe was an only child who excelled all his classmates in academics ...
have formed theories based on perceived links between Glastonbury and Celtic legends of the
Otherworld
The concept of an otherworld in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other Earth/world"), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherwor ...
in attempts to link the location firmly with Avalon, drawing on the various legends based on Glastonbury Tor as well as drawing on ideas like
Earth mysteries
Earth mysteries are a wide range of spiritual, quasi-religious and pseudoscientific ideas focusing on cultural and religious beliefs about the Earth, generally with regard to particular geographical locations of historical significance. Believ ...
,
ley lines
Ley lines () are straight alignments drawn between various historic structures and prominent landmarks. The idea was developed in early 20th-century Europe, with ley line believers arguing that these alignments were recognised by ancient socie ...
and even the myth of
Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...
. Arthurian literature also continues to use Glastonbury as an important location as in ''
The Mists of Avalon
''The Mists of Avalon'' is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the author relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine (M ...
'', ''
A Glastonbury Romance
''A Glastonbury Romance'' was written by John Cowper Powys (1873–1963) in rural upstate New York and first published by Simon and Schuster in New York City in March 1932. An English edition published by John Lane followed in 1933. It has ...
'', and ''
The Bones of Avalon''. Even the fact that
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
has many apple orchards has been drawn in to support the connection.
["Glastonbury: Alternative Histories", in Ronald Hutton, ''Witches, Druids and King Arthur''.] Glastonbury's reputation as the real Avalon has made it a popular site of tourism. Having become one of the major
New Age communities
New Age communities are places where, intentionally or accidentally, communities have grown up to include significant numbers of people with New Age beliefs. An Intentional community may have specific aims but are varied and have a variety of str ...
in Europe, the area has great religious significance for
neo-Pagans and
modern Druids, as well as some Christians. Identification of Glastonbury with Avalon within
hippie subculture, as seen in the work of Michell and in the
Gandalf's Garden community, also helped inspire the annual
Glastonbury Festival that eventually became the largest musical and cultural event in the world.
Other proposed locations
![Etna acima das nuvens (2327861081)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Etna_acima_das_nuvens_%282327861081%29.jpg)
Medieval suggestions for the location of Avalon ranged far beyond Glastonbury. They included
paradisal underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...
realms equated with the other side of the Earth at the
antipodes, as well as Mongibel (
Mount Etna) in Sicily and other, unnamed locations in the Mediterranean.
[Avalon in Norris J. Lacy, Editor, ''The Arthurian Encyclopedia'' (1986 Peter Bedrick Books, New York).] Pompenius Mela's ancient Roman description of the island of
Île de Sein
The Île de Sein is a Breton island in the Atlantic Ocean, off Finistère, eight kilometres from the Pointe du Raz (''raz'' meaning "water current"), from which it is separated by the Raz de Sein. Its Breton name is ''Enez-Sun''. The island, ...
, off the coast of
Finistère
Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090. in Brittany, was notably one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's original inspirations for his Avalon.
![Bardsey from Braich y Pwll - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Bardsey_from_Braich_y_Pwll_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1103080.jpg)
More recently, just as in the quest for Arthur's mythical capital
Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...
, a large number of locations have been put forward as being the "real Avalon". They include
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
or other places in or across the Atlantic, the former Roman fort of
Aballava
Aballava or Aballaba (with the modern name of Burgh by Sands) was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, between Petriana (Stanwix) to the east and Coggabata (Drumburgh) to the west. It is about one and a half miles south of the Solway Firth, and its p ...
in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
,
Bardsey Island
Bardsey Island ( cy, Ynys Enlli), known as the legendary "Island of 20,000 Saints", is located off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The Welsh name means "The Island in the Currents", while its English name refers to the "Islan ...
off the coast of Wales,
the isle of
Île Aval near present-day
Lannion
Lannion ( ; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of Côtes-d'Armor, the capital of Trégor and the center of an urban area of almost 60,000 inhabitants.
Climate
Lannion ha ...
on the coast of
Pleumeur-Bodou in Brittany,
and
Lady's Island in Leinster.
In the works of
William F. Warren, Avalon was compared to
Hyperborea
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...
along with the
Garden of Eden and theorized to be located in the Arctic. Geoffrey Ashe championed an association of Avalon with the town of
Avallon
Avallon () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in central-eastern France.
Name
Avallon, Latin ''Aballō'', ablative ''Aballone'', is ultimately derived from Gaulish ''*Aballū'', oblique ''*Aballon-'' meaning "App ...
in Burgundy, as part of a theory connecting King Arthur to the
Romano-British
The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...
leader
Riothamus
Riothamus (also spelled Riutimus or Riotimus) was a Romano-British military leader, who was active circa AD 470. He fought against the Goths in alliance with the declining Western Roman Empire. He is called " King of the Britons" by the 6th-century ...
who was last seen in that area.
Robert Graves identified Avalon with the Spanish island of Majorca (
Mallorca),
while
Laurence Gardner suggested the
Isle of Arran off the coast of Scotland.
Graham Phillips claimed to have located the grave of the historical Arthur (
Owain Ddantgwyn) in the "true site of Avalon" on a former island at
Baschurch in Shropshire.
See also
*
Annwn
Annwn, Annwfn, or Annwfyn (in Middle Welsh, ''Annwvn'', ''Annwyn'', ''Annwyfn'', ''Annwvyn'', or ''Annwfyn'') is the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. Ruled by Arawn (or, in Arthurian literature, by Gwyn ap Nudd), it was essentially a world of de ...
– the Welsh otherworld
*
Avallónë
*
Baltia
Baltia, Basilia or Abalus is a mythic island in northern Europe mentioned in Greco-Roman geography in the connection of amber.
It presumably corresponds to a territory near either the Baltic Sea or the North Sea, perhaps the coast of Prussia, t ...
*
Brittia
Brittia (), according to Procopius, was an island known to the inhabitants of the Low Countries under Frankish rule (viz. the North Sea coast of Austrasia), corresponding both to a real island used for burial and a mythological Isle of the Bles ...
*
Hyperborea
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...
*
Thule
Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, northern Scotland, the island of Saar ...
*
Tír na nÓg
In Irish mythology Tír na nÓg (; "Land of the Young") or Tír na hÓige ("Land of Youth") is one of the names for the Celtic Otherworld, or perhaps for a part of it. Tír na nÓg is best known from the tale of Oisín and Niamh.
Other Old Ir ...
Notes
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
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External links
*
Avalonat The Camelot Project
{{Authority control
Glastonbury
Fiction about immortality
Fictional populated places
Fictional valleys
Locations associated with Arthurian legend
Locations in Celtic mythology
Mythological islands