Avalon

 Avalon  is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur (Caliburnus) was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann.

 Avalon and King Arthur

 Avalon is the place where King Arthur is taken after fighting Mordred at the Battle of Camlann to recover from his wounds. Other traditions claim that Arthur had never really died, but would return to lead his people against their enemies. It is also claimed that Avalon is where his sword Caliburn (Excalibur) was forged. The enchantress Morgan le Fay, the chief of nine sisters (Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe, Thiten and Thiton), lives on Avalon. Geoffrey's description of the island indicates a sea voyage was needed to get there.

Modern Identification

 Around 1190, Avalon became associated with Glastonbury, when monks at Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have discovered the bones of Arthur and his queen. It is in the work of Gerald of Wales that this connection was made for the first time and it clearly draws on Geoffrey: “What is now known as Glastonbury was, in ancient times, called the Isle of Avalon. It is virtually an island, for it is completely surrounded by marshlands. In Welsh it is called Ynys Afallach, which means the Island of Apples and this fruit once grew in great abundance. After the Battle of Camlann, a noblewoman called Morgan, later the ruler and patroness of these parts as well as being a close blood-relation of King Arthur, carried him off to the island, now known as Glastonbury, so that his wounds could be cared for. Years ago the district had also been called Ynys Gutrin in Welsh, that is the Island of Glass, and from these words the invading Saxons later coined the place-name 'Glastingebury'.”

 Though no longer an island in the twelfth century, the high conical bulk of Glastonbury Tor had been surrounded by marsh before the surrounding fenland in the Somerset Levels was drained. As Gerald says, Glastonbury's earliest name in Welsh was Ineswitrin (or Ynys Witrin), the Isle of glass, a name noted by earlier historians which shows that the location was at one point seen as an island.

Grave of King Arthur

 The discovery of the burial is described by chroniclers, notably Gerald of Wales, 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 discovered a massive treetrunk coffin and a leaden cross bearing the inscription: Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia. ("Here lies renowned King Arthur in the island of Avalon"). Accounts of the exact inscription vary, with five different versions existing. The earliest is by Gerald in "Liber de Principis instructione" c.1193, and he says he saw the cross, and it read: "Here lies buried the famous King Arthur with Guinevere his second wife in the isle of Avalon".

 Inside the coffin were two bodies, who 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 of Mordred. In 1278, the remains were reburied with great ceremony, attended by King Edward I and his queen, before the High Altar at Glastonbury Abbey.

Dispute

 The Glastonbury burial is tainted with the suggestion of forgery as an example of pseudoarchaeology. Historians today generally dismiss the authenticity of the find, attributing it to a publicity stunt performed to raise funds to repair the Abbey, which was mostly burned in 1184. Long before this William of Malmesbury, a historian interested in Arthur, said in his history of England "But Arthur’s grave is nowhere seen, whence antiquity of fables still claims that he will return." William wrote a comprehensive history of Glastonbury De antiquitae Glatoniensis ecclesie around 1130 which discussed many pious legends connected to the Abbey, but made no mention of either Arthur's grave or a connection of Glastonbury to the name Avalon, stating firmly it was previously known as Ineswitrin, raising further suspicions concerning the burial. It is known for certain the monks later added forged passages to William's history discussing Arthurian connections.

Other Locations

 In medieval times suggestions for the location of Avalon ranged far beyond Glastonbury. They included on the other side of the Earth at the antipodes, Sicily and other unnamed locations in the Mediterranean. In more recent times, 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’.

 These theories include l'Île d'Aval or Daval on the coast of Brittany and Burgh by Sands in Cumberland, which was in Roman times the fort of Aballava on Hadrian's Wall near Camboglanna. According to Welsh tradition, Arthur was killed in battle at a site named Camlann which may be derived from either a Brittonic Cambo-glanna "Crooked bank (of a river)" (compare the name of the Roman fort of Camboglanna) or Cambo-landa "Crooked-enclosure". Geoffrey Ashe suggests 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 campaigned in that area. Bardsey Island in Gwynedd, famous for its apples and also connected with Merlin and St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, near to other locations associated with the Arthurian legends have also been suggested. St Michael's Mount is an island which can be reached by a causeway at low tide.