ÃŽle Aval
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Isle of Aval, known as Enez-Aval in
Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...
and Ile d'Aval in
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
, is an
island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
in
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
, situated east of ÃŽle-Grande, in the commune of
Pleumeur-Bodou Pleumeur-Bodou (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Pleumeur-Bodou are called ''pleumeurois'' in French. Sister town Pleuveur-Bodoù is twinned with Crosshaven, a ...
and the wider Canton of Tréguier.


History

The charm of the island of Aval with its woods and fine white sands, attracts those who either see it from the mainland, sail around it or even walk or ride around it when the tide is low. A celtic cross, wells, fountains, low stall walls…the ever present traces of its past highlight its history. Known for its natural deposits of
pink granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
, monks built a monastery on the island in the 6th century in the name of Saint-Marc and later stone carriers and agricultural farmers lived on the island until an abrupt end in 1942. Nazis evicted the farmers and blew up their home. In the 1950s the island was owned by the Varine family, the owners of the nearby castle of Kerduel. In 1960 the Island was then sold to Jacques Moisan who moved there from Versailles with his entire family. For quite a while they lived in tents on the island while they built it up and cleared it of all the brambles, ferns and gorse. Eventually the family then managed to rebuild the only
longère A ''longère'' is a type of longhouse typical of the regions of Brittany and Normandy in northwestern France. It is a long, narrow dwelling, developing along the axis of its peak, typically inhabited by farmers and artisans. ''Longère'' also mea ...
on the island and planted 1500 pine trees. In 2020 the island was purchased for Euro 2.5 million by Jean-Marie Tassy-Simeoni, founder of advertising agency Uzik and co-founder of the Calvi on the Rocks Festival in Corsica. Jean-Marie now aims to renovate and convert the
longère A ''longère'' is a type of longhouse typical of the regions of Brittany and Normandy in northwestern France. It is a long, narrow dwelling, developing along the axis of its peak, typically inhabited by farmers and artisans. ''Longère'' also mea ...
into a beautiful luxury B&B.


Legend

The island is mostly famous today for the tomb of
King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
at the foot of a large
menhir A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...
as well as the many legends of
Morgan le Fay Morgan le Fay (; Welsh language, Welsh and Cornish language, Cornish: Morgen; with ''le Fay'' being garbled French language, French ''la Fée'', thus meaning 'Morgan the Fairy'), alternatively known as Morgan , Morgain /e Morgant Mor ...
, the fairy queen of
Avalon Avalon () is an island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recove ...
. According to
legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...
, King Arthur was mortally wounded after the
Battle of Camlann The Battle of Camlann ( or ''Brwydr Camlan'') is the legendary final battle of King Arthur, in which Arthur either died or was mortally wounded while fighting either alongside or against Mordred, who also perished. The original legend of Caml ...
. As King Arthur is dying, the lone survivor
Bedivere Bedivere ( or ; ; ; , also Bedevere and other spellings) is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-handed great warrior named Bedwyr Bedrydant. Arthurian ...
returns
Excalibur Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur that may possess magical powers or be associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Its first reliably datable appearance is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. E ...
to the
Lady of the Lake The Lady of the Lake (, , , , ) is a title used by multiple characters in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. As either actually fairy or fairy-like yet human enchantres ...
, and Morgan and Nimue come to take Arthur to Avalon.


Archeology

In a letter, the late 19th century explorer Lieutenant Rene Robert mentioned coming across the island of Aval as he was traveling by Lannion. In 1878, the father of Félix Le Dantec, claimed (
Society of Anthropology of Paris The Society of Anthropology of Paris () is a French learned society for anthropology founded by Paul Broca in 1859. Broca served as the Secrétaire-général of SAP, and in that capacity responded to a letter from James Hunt welcoming the news th ...
) to have found the remains of the mythical King Arthur at the foot of a menhir in the Merovingian cemetery behind a monastery. By the time Robert got to the site, raiders eager to find treasure had discarded the thirty or so human skeletons and all associated artefacts rendering them difficult, at best, to work with. Not to mention that the religious authorities laid claim to all that remained making it impossible for Robert to send anything back to the labs for further research. Nevertheless, Robert did manage to get hold of one female skull from a nearby site and drew a sketch of a serpentine stone axe that the local priest showed him. After investigation both the skull and weapon were deemed to be from the very ancient Neolithic era. Eye witness accounts from the same period including the father of Félix Le Dantec, confirmed that they had seen 30 or so human skeletons with just as many horse skeletons. Some claimed that the human remains were placed in a circle around the
menhir A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...
while others claimed that the human remains were laid in two columns before it. Archaeologists then didn’t have the same tools as today. What had initially made Robert think that the site was from the Neolithic era was mainly the dolichocephalic shape of the skull he had sent back. However, it was later deemed that this shape meant that the skull belonged to a person of Nordic descent. A further investigation of the horse shoes also seemed to confirm the Nordic theory, placing the death of these people anywhere between the 6th to the 14th centuries. The bones have since been transferred to the cemetery of the Île-Grande. Alternative theories to the Arthurian legend include: (1) Victims of a 14th century shipwreck at the time of the
Black Prince Edward of Woodstock (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), known as the Black Prince, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the throne instead. Edward n ...
. Probably English knights. (2) Victims of a 10th century battle at the time of Alan Barbetorte. Probably Norman vikings.


References

{{reflist


Sources


''The island of Aval''

''The island of Aval and King Arthur''



''Database of articles on the island of Aval''
Islands of Brittany Counts of Tréguier Landforms of Côtes-d'Armor Locations associated with Arthurian legend