Avalon

Avalon (; , ; literally meaning "the isle of fruit [or apple] trees"), sometimes written Avallon or Avilion, is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudo-historical account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and figures such as Morgan le Fay. It is traditionally identified as the former island of Glastonbury Tor.

Etymology
Geoffrey of Monmouth referred to it in Latin as  Insula Avallonis in Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136). In the later Vita Merlini (c. 1150) he called it Insula Pomorum the "isle of fruit trees" (from Latin pōmus "fruit tree"). The name is generally considered to be of Welsh origin (though an Old Cornish or Old Breton origin is also possible), derived from Old Welsh, Old Cornish, or Old Breton aball or avallen(n), "apple tree, fruit tree" (cf. afal in Modern Welsh, derived from Common Celtic *abalnā, literally "fruit-bearing (thing)"). It is also possible that the tradition of an "apple" island among the British was related to Irish legends concerning the otherworld island home of Manannán mac Lir and Lugh, Emain Ablach (also the Old Irish poetic name for the Isle of Man), where Ablach means "Having Apple Trees"—derived from Old Irish aball ("apple")—and is similar to the Middle Welsh name Afallach, which was used to replace the name Avalon in medieval Welsh translations of French and Latin Arthurian tales. All are etymologically related to the Gaulish root *aballo "fruit tree"—(as found in the place name Aballo/Aballone) and are derived from a Common Celtic *abal- "apple", which is related at the Proto-Indo-European level to English apple, Russian яблоко (jabloko), Latvian ābele, et al. Writing in early 12th century, William of Malmesbury claimed the name of Avalon came from a man called Avalloc, who once lived on this island with his daughters.

Legend

Geoffrey of Monmouth

According to Geoffrey in the Historia, and much subsequent literature which he inspired, Avalon is the place where King Arthur is taken after fighting Mordred at the Battle of Camlann to recover from his wounds. Welsh, Cornish and Breton tradition claimed that Arthur had never really died, but would return to lead his people against their enemies. Historia also states that Avalon is where his sword Excalibur was forged.

Geoffrey dealt with Avalon 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 (Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe, Thiten and Thiton) who rule Avalon. Geoffrey's description of the island 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, XIV.6.8 "Fortunatae Insulae"), shows the magical nature of the island:

Later medieval literature

Many later versions of the Arthurian legend (including the best-known, Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory) have Morgan (who by this time has become Arthur's sister in popular narrative) and some other magical queens or enchantresses (sometimes with the Lady of the Lake among them; other may include the Queens of Eastland, the Northgales, the Outer Isles, and the Wasteland) arrive after the battle to take the mortally wounded Arthur from the battlefield of Camlann to Avalon in a black boat. In the Vulgate Cycle, Morgan also tells Arthur of her intention to relocate to the isle of Avalon, the place where "the ladies live who know all the magic in the world" (ou les dames sont qui seiuent tous les enchantemens del monde), shortly before Camlann. In Lope Garcia de Salazar's Spanish summary of the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal, Morgan then uses her magic to hide Avalon in mist.

Arthur's fate is often left untold; in the Stanzaic Morte Arthur, the Archbishop of Canterbury later receives Arthur's dead body and buries it at Glastonbury. Conversely, Stephen of Rouen's chronicle Draco Normannicus contains a fictional letter from King Arthur to Henry II of England, in which Arthur claims that he has been healed of his wounds and made immortal by his "deathless/eternal nymph" sister Morgan on Avalon, using the island's restorative herbs. 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 romances such as Tirant lo Blanch, as well as the tales of Huon of Bordeaux, where Oberon is a son of either Morgan by name or "the Lady of the Secret Isle", and the legend of Ogier the Dane, where Avalon can be described as a castle. In his La Faula, Guillem de Torroella 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 La Bataille Loquifer, Morgan and her sister Marsion (Marrion) bring the hero Renoart to Avalon, where Arthur now prepares his return alongside Morgan, Gawain, Ywain, Percival and Guinevere. Such stories take place centuries after the times of King Arthur.

In Erec and Enide by Chrétien de Troyes, the consort of Morgan is the Lord of the Isle of Avalon, Arthur's nephew named Guinguemar (also appearing in the same or similar role under similar names in other works). In Layamon's Brut, Arthur is taken to Avalon to be healed there through means of magic water by a distinctively Anglo-Saxon redefinition of Geoffrey's Morgen: an elf queen of Avalon named Argante. 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 (and of Sebile). In the narrative of Alliterative Morte Arthure, relatively devoid of supernatural elements, it is physicians from Salerno who try, and fail, to save Arthur's life in Avalon.

Connection to Glastonbury 
Though no longer an island in the 12th century, the high conical bulk of Glastonbury Tor had been surrounded by marsh before the surrounding fenland in the Somerset Levels was drained. In ancient times, Ponter's Ball Dyke 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 12th century, Gerald of Wales wrote:

Around 1190, monks at Glastonbury Abbey 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 a massive treetrunk coffin and a lead cross bearing the inscription:

Accounts of the exact inscription vary, with five different versions existing. 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." 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 says three bodies were found, the other being that of Mordred; Richard Barber 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. 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 his queen, before the High Altar at Glastonbury Abbey. They were moved again in 1368 when the choir 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 destroy the idea of the possibility of King Arthur's messianic return: 

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 by Robert de Boron interconnected these legends with Glastonbury and with Avalon, an identification which also seems to be made in Perlesvaus. 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, John Michell, Nicholas Mann and Geoffrey Ashe have formed theories based on perceived connections between Glastonbury and Celtic legends of the Otherworld 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, Ley lines and even the myth of Atlantis. Arthurian literature also continues to use Glastonbury as an important location as in The Mists of Avalon, A Glastonbury Romance, and The Bones of Avalon. Even the fact that Somerset has many apple orchards has been drawn in to support the connection. Glastonbury's connection to Avalon continues to make it a site of tourism and the area has great religious significance for neo-Pagans, neo-Druids and as a New Age community, as well as Christians. Hippy identification of Glastonbury with Avalon seen in the work of Michell and in Gandalf's Garden also helped inspire the Glastonbury Festival.

Other proposed locations

In medieval times, suggestions for the location of Avalon ranged far beyond Glastonbury. They included paradisal underworld 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. Pompenius Mela's ancient Roman description of the island of Île de Sein, off the coast of Finistère in Brittany, was notably one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's original inspirations for his Avalon.

More recently, just like in the quest for Arthur's mythical capital Camelot, a large number of locations have been put forward as being the "real Avalon". They include Greenland or other places in or across the Atlantic, the former Roman fort of Aballava in Cumbria, Bardsey Island off the coast of Wales, the isle of Île Aval on the coast of Pleumeur-Bodou in Brittany, and Lady's Island in Leinster. Geoffrey Ashe championed an association of Avalon with the town of Avallon in Burgundy, as part of a theory connecting King Arthur to the Romano-British leader Riothamus 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.

See also

 Annwn – the Welsh otherworld
 Baltia
 Brittia
 Hyperborea	
 Thule
 Tír na nÓg
 Avallónë

Notes

References
Citations

Bibliography

External links

Avalon at The Camelot Project

Category:Fictional populated places
Category:Glastonbury
Category:Fiction about immortality
Category:Locations associated with Arthurian legend
Category:Locations in Celtic mythology
Category:Mythological islands