| Avalon | |
|---|---|
| Matter of Britain location | |
 | |
| First appearance | Historia Regum Britanniae |
| Based on | Disputed origins |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Fairyland island (typically) |
| Ruled by | Morgan (usually) |
| Location | Varied or unspecified; sometimes anotherworld |
| Characters | King Arthur,Lady of the Lake,the nine sisters,Melusine |
Avalon (/ˈævəlɒn/)[note 1] is an island featured in theArthurian legend. It first appeared inGeoffrey of Monmouth's 1136Historia Regum Britanniae as a place of magic whereKing Arthur's swordExcalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recover from being gravely wounded at theBattle of Camlann. Since then, the island has become a symbol of Arthurian mythology, similar to Arthur's castle,Camelot.
Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and magical figures such as King Arthur's sorceress sisterMorgan, cast as the island's ruler by Geoffrey and many later authors. CertainCornish andWelsh traditions have maintained that Arthur is an eternal king who had never truly died butwould return as the "once and future" king. The particular motif of his rest in Morgan's care in Avalon has become especially popular. It can be found in various versions in many French and other medieval Arthurian and other works written in the wake of Geoffrey, some of them also linking Avalon with the legend of theHoly Grail.
Avalon has often been identified as the former island ofGlastonbury Tor. An early and long-standing belief involves 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 he suffered in his final battle. Besides Glastonbury, several other alternative locations of Avalon have also been claimed or proposed. Many medieval sources also localized the place inSicily, and European folklore connected it with the phenomenon ofFata Morgana.
The meaning and origin of the name Avalon have been long debated by Arthurian scholars as well as Celtic andRomance philologists.[1]Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudo-chronicleHistoria Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain", c. 1136) calls the placeInsula Avallonis, meaning the "Isle of Avallon" inLatin. In his laterVita Merlini ("The Life of Merlin", c. 1150), he calls itInsula Pomorum, the "Isle of Fruit Trees" (from Latinpōmus "fruit tree"). Today, the name is generally considered to be from theWelshafallen "apple tree, fruit tree" (fromProto-Celtic *abalnā, literally "fruit-bearing (thing)"). ACornish orBreton origin is also possible, deriving fromaball oravallen(n).[2][3][4][5][6]
The tradition of an "apple" island among the ancient Britons may also be related toIrish legends of theotherworld island home ofManannán mac Lir andLugh,Emain Ablach (also theOld Irish poetic name forIsle of Man),[3] whereAblach means "Having Apple Trees"[7]— from Old Irishaball ("apple tree") — and is similar to theMiddle Welsh nameAfallach, 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- "apple tree" (found in the place nameAballo/Aballone) and are derived from Proto-Celtic *abūl "apple", which is related at theIndo-European level to Englishapple, Russianяблоко (jabloko), Latvianābele, etc.[8][9][10]
In the early 12th century,William of Malmesbury claimed the name of Avalon came from a man called Avalloc, who once lived on this isle with his daughters.[11]Gerald of Wales similarly derived the name of Avalon from its purported former ruler, Avallo.[12] The name is also similar to "Avallus", described byPliny the Elder in his 1st-centuryNaturalis Historia as a mysterious island where amber could be found.[13]
According to Geoffrey in theHistoria, and much subsequent literature which he inspired,King Arthur was taken to Avalon (Avallon) in hope that he could be saved and recover from his mortal wounds following the tragicBattle of Camlann. Geoffrey first mentions Avalon as the place where Arthur's swordExcalibur (Caliburn) was forged.
Geoffrey dealt with the subject in more detail in theVita Merlini, in which he describes for the first time in Arthurian legend the fairy or fae-like enchantressMorgen (i.e. Morgan) as the chief ofnine sisters (including Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe and Thiten)[14] who together rule Avalon. Geoffrey's telling, in the in-story narration by the bardTaliesin toMerlin, indicates a sea voyage was needed to get there. The description of Avalon, which is heavily indebted to the early medieval Spanish scholarIsidore of Seville (having been mostly derived from the section on famous islands in Isidore's workEtymologiae, XIV.6.8 "Fortunatae Insulae"),[15][16][17][18] shows the magical nature of the island:
The Isle of Fruit Trees which men call the Fortunate Isle (Insula Pomorum quae Fortunata uocatur) gets its name from the fact that it produces all things of itself; the fields there have no need of the ploughs of the farmers and all cultivation is lacking except what nature provides. Of its own accord it produces grain and grapes, and apple trees grow in its woods from the close-clipped grass. The ground of its own accord produces everything instead of merely grass, and people live there a hundred years or more. There nine sisters rule by a pleasing set of laws those who come to them from our country.[19][note 2]
InLayamon'sBrut version of theHistoria, Arthur is taken to Avalon to be healed there through means of magic water by a distinctivelyAnglo-Saxon version of Morgen: anelf queen of Avalon named Argante.[28] In theDidot-Perceval,Perceval'sGrail Quest adventures include him fighting a flock of ravens that turn out to be fairy maidens from Avalon, sisters of the wife of one Urbain of the Black Thorn, in a story likely representing Geoffrey's shapeshifting Morgen and her sisters as inspired by the WelshModron (Urbain thus being Modron's husbandUrien) and possibly also influenced by the IrishMórrigan.[29][30] Geoffrey's Merlin not only never visits Avalon but is not even aware of its existence, until told about it after Arthur's delivery there by Taliesin. This would change to various degrees in the later Arthurian prose romance tradition that expanded on Merlin's association with Arthur, as well on the subject of Avalon itself.
In many versions of Arthurian legend, includingThomas Malory's compilationLe Morte d'Arthur,Morgan the Fairy and several other magical queens (numbering either three, four, or "many"[31]) arrive after the battle to take the mortally wounded Arthur from the battlefield of Camlann (Salisbury Plain in the romances) to Avalon in a black boat. Besides Morgan, who by this time had already become Arthur's supernatural sibling in the popular romance tradition, they sometimes come with theLady of the Lake among them. The others may include the Queen of Northgales (North Wales) and the Queen of theWasteland.[32] In theVulgateQueste, Morgan tells Arthur of her intention to relocate to Avalon, "where the ladies who know all the magic in the world are" (ou les dames sont qui seiuent tous les enchantemens del monde [sic]), not long before his final battle.[33] Its Welsh version also claims, within its text, to be a translation of old Latin books from Avalon, as does the FrenchPerlesvaus.[34][35] In Lope Garcia de Salazar's Spanish summary of thePost-VulgateRoman du Graal, Avalon is conflated with (and explicitly named as) the mythologicalIsland of Brasil, said to be located west of Ireland and afterwards forever hidden in mist by Morgan's enchantment.[36]
In some texts, Arthur's fate in Avalon is left untold or uncertain. In theVera historia de morte Arthuri ("True story of the death of Arthur"), for instance, Arthur is taken by four of his men to Avalon in the land ofGwynedd (north-west Wales), where he is about to die but then mysteriously disappears in a mist amongst sudden great storm.[37]Lanzelet tells ofLoholt (Loüt) having left with Arthur to Avalon "whence the Bretons still expect both of them evermore."[38] Other times, Arthur's eventual death is explicitly confirmed, as it happens in theStanzaicMorte Arthur, where theArchbishop of Canterbury later receives the dead king's body from Morgan and buries it atGlastonbury.[39] In the telling fromAlliterativeMorte Arthure, relatively devoid of supernatural elements, it is not Morgan but the renownedphysicians from Salerno who try, and fail, to save Arthur's life in Avalon.[40] Conversely, theGesta Regum Britanniae, an early rewrite of Geoffrey'sHistoria, states (in the present tense) that Morgan "keeps his healed body for her very own and they now live together."[41] In a similar narrative, the chronicleDraco Normannicus contains a fictional letter from King Arthur toHenry II of England, claiming Arthur having been healed of his wounds and made immortal by his "deathless (eternal)nymph" sister Morgan in the holy island of Avalon (Avallonis eas insula sacra) through the island's miraculous herbs.[42][43] This is reminiscent of the British tradition mentioned byGervase of Tilbury as having Morgan still healing Arthur's wounds opening annually ever since on the Isle of Avalon (Davalim).[44] In theDidot-Perceval, Arthur's sister Morgan is left to tends his mortal wounds in Avalon while the Britons wait for him (as told by him to do) for 40 years before electing another king. The author then adds that some people still hope that Arthur did not die and would return as he had promised, and tells of a legend according to which he has beenseen since out hunting in the forests.[45][46]
Morgan features as an immortal ruler of a fantastic Avalon, sometimes alongside the still-alive Arthur, in some subsequent and otherwise non-Arthurianchivalric romances such asTirant lo Blanch,[47] as well as the tales ofHuon of Bordeaux,[48] where the faery kingOberon is a son of either Morgan by name or "the Lady of the Secret Isle",[49] and the legend ofOgier the Dane,[50] where Avalon can be described as an enchanted fairy castle (chasteu d'Auallon[51]),[52] as it is also inFloriant et Florete.[53] In hisLa 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 theHoly Grail.[54] InLa Bataille Loquifer, Morgan and her sister Marsion bring the hero Renoart to Avalon, where Arthur now prepares his return alongside Morgan,Gawain,Ywain, Perceval andGuinevere.[55][56] Such stories, which also includeLion de Bourges,Mabrien,Tristan de Nanteuil, and others, typically take place centuries after the times of King Arthur. According to William W. Kibler,
In the wake ofHuon de Bordeaux, the hero's adventure infairyland became practicallyde rigueur in the laterchansons de geste. These adventures are all cut from the same mould and serve a common purpose: as qualifying experiences for the hero. They allow the author to confirm in theOther World what is already manifest in this one, and often to relaunch the hero on his quest. The Arthurian world evoked is that of Avalon after Arthur's disappearance, whether or not it is explicitly named. Except inLion de Bourges it is located vaguely in the east and sometimes upon an island. The characters are invariably Arthur and his sister Morgan, with accompanying fairies, but, except inLa Bataille Loquifer andOgier, no other Knights of theRound Table. Arthur himself assumes magical powers in these works, replacing in this sense Merlin, who is never explicitly evoked. Arthur is no longer the head of the Round Table, but the master of an ethereal kingdom populated with fairies and spirits.[57]
InPerlesvaus, the bodies of Guinevere and her young sonLoholt are already buried in Avalon by Arthur himself during his reign.[58]Erec and Enide, an early Arthurian romance byChrétien de Troyes, mentions at the wedding of Arthur and Guinevere a "friend" (i.e. lover[59]) of Morgan as the Lord of the Isle of Avalon,Guingomar (manuscript variantsGuinguemar,Guingamar,Guigomar,Guilemer,Gimoers). In this appearance, he might have been derived from the fairy kingGwyn ap Nudd, who in the Welsh Arthurian tradition figures as the ruler of Avalon-likeCeltic Otherworld,Annwn.[60] The GermanDiu Crône says the Queen of Avalon is the goddess (göttin) Enfeidas, Arthur's aunt (sister ofUther Pendragon) and one of the guardians of the Grail.[61][62] InGottfried von Strassburg'sTristan,Petitcrieu is a magical dog created by a goddess in Avalon.[63] The VenicianLes Prophéties de Merlin features the character of an enchantress known only as the Lady of Avalon (Dame d'Avalon), a Merlin's apprentice who is a fierce rival of Morgan as well as ofSebile, another of Merlin's female students.[64] In the late ItalianTavola Ritonda, the lady of the island of Avalon (dama dell'isola di Vallone, likely the same as the Lady of Avalon from thePropheties[65]) is a fairy mother of the evil sorceressElergia. An unnamed Lady of the Isle of Avalon (named as Lady Lyle of Avalon by Malory) appears indirectly in the Vulgate Cycle story ofSir Balin in which her damsel brings a cursed magic sword toCamelot. The tales of the half-fairyMelusine have her grow up in the isle of Avalon.
Avalon has been also occasionally described as a valley. InLe 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 despite Malory's adoption of the boat travel motif). Notably, the vale of Avalon (vaus d'Avaron) is mentioned twice inRobert de Boron's Arthurian prequelJoseph d'Arimathie [fr] as a place located in westernBritannia, to where a fellowship of early Christians started byJoseph of Arimathea brought the Grail after its long journey from theHoly Land, finally delivered there by Bron, the firstFisher King.[66][67]
In his final romance,Perceval, the Story of the Grail, Chrétien de Troyes featured the sea fortress of Escavalon, ruled by the unspecified King of Escavalon. The name Escavalon might be simply a corruption of the word Avalon that can be literally translated as "Water-Avalon",[68] albeit some scholars proposed various other developments of the name Escavalon from that of Avalon (withRoger Sherman Loomis noting the similarity of the evolution of Geoffrey's Caliburn into the Chrétien's Escalibur in the case of Excalibur[69]), perhaps in connection with the Old French words for either Slav orSaracen.[70] Chretien's Escavalon was renamed as Askalon inParzival byWolfram von Eschenbach, who might have been either confused or inspired by the real-life Middle Eastern coastal city ofAscalon.[71]
It is possible that the Chrétien-era Escavalon has turned or split into the Grail realm ofEscalot in later prose romances.[72] Nevertheless, the kingdoms of Escalot and Escavalon both appear concurrently in the Vulgate Cycle. There, Escavalon is ruled by King Alain, whose daughter Florée is rescued by Gawain and later gives birth to his sonGuinglain (and possibly two others). The character of Alain may have been derived from Afallach (Avallach) of Avalon.[73]
Though no longer an island in the 12th century, the high conical bulk ofGlastonbury Tor in today's South-West England. Today, it is a rock outcrop in the town ofGlastonbury, situated about 15 miles (25 kilometres) from the sea, but had been surrounded by marsh before the draining offenland in theSomerset Levels. 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.[74] 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 inDe instructione principis:
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 calledYnys 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 calledYnys Gutrin in Welsh, that is the Island of Glass, and from these words the invading Saxons later coined the place-name "Glastingebury".[75]
Around 1190, monks atGlastonbury 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 KingHenry 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 massivetreetrunk coffin and, also buried, a lead cross bearing the inscription:
HIC
IACET
SEPVLTVS
INCLITVS
REX
ARTVRIVS
Arturius
IN
INSVLA
AVALONIA
Avalonia.
HIC IACET SEPVLTVS INCLITVS REX ARTVRIVS IN INSVLA AVALONIA
hiciacetsepultusinclitusrēx Arturiusinīnsula Avalonia.
"Here lies entombed the renowned king Arthur in the island of Avalon."
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[76]), also known in the now-popular variant "the once and future king" (rex quondam et futurus). The earliest is by Gerald inLiber 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 famousArthurus withWenneveria his second wife in the isle of Avalon" (Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus cum Wenneveria uxore sua secunda in insula Avallonia[77]). He wrote that in the coffin were two bodies, whom Giraldus refers to as Arthur and "his queen"; the male body's bones were described as gigantic. The account of the burial by the chronicle ofMargam Abbey says three bodies were found, the other being that ofMordred;Richard Barber argues that Mordred's name was airbrushed out of the story once his reputation as a traitor was appreciated.[78]
The story is today seen as an example ofpseudoarchaeology. Historians generally dismiss the find's authenticity, attributing it to a publicity stunt performed to raise funds to rebuild the Abbey after it had been destroyed by a 1184 fire.[note 3]Leslie Alcock in hisArthur's Britain postulated a theory according to which the grave site had been originally discovered in an ancient mausoleum sometime after 945 byDunstan, the Abbot of Glastonbury, who reburied it along with the 10th-century stone cross; it would then become forgotten again until its rediscovery in 1190.[80]
In 1278, the remains were reburied with great ceremony, attended by KingEdward I and QueenEleanor of Castile, before the High Altar at Glastonbury Abbey.[81] They were moved again in 1368 when thechoir was extended.[82] The site became the focus of pilgrimages untilthe 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 majorAnglo-Welsh wars, has had scholars suggest that propaganda may have played a part as well.[83] Gerald was a constant supporter of royal authority; in his account of the discovery aims to quash the idea of the possibility ofKing Arthur's messianic return:[note 4]
Many tales are told and many legends have been invented about King Arthur and his mysterious ending. In their stupidity the British [i.e. Welsh, Cornish and Breton] people maintain that he is still alive. Now that the truth is known, I have taken the trouble to add a few more details in this present chapter. The fairy-tales have been snuffed out, and the true and indubitable facts are made known, so that what really happened must be made crystal clear to all and separated from the myths which have accumulated on the subject.[75]
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 inPerlesvaus.[85] The popularity of Arthurian romances has meant this area of the Somerset Levels has today become popularly described as the Vale of Avalon.[86]
Modern writers such asDion Fortune,John Michell,Nicholas Mann andGeoffrey Ashe have formed theories based on perceived links 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 likeEarth mysteries,ley lines and even the myth ofAtlantis. Arthurian literature also continues to use Glastonbury as an important location as inThe Mists of Avalon,A Glastonbury Romance, andThe Bones of Avalon. Even the fact thatSomerset has many apple orchards has been drawn in to support the connection.[87] Glastonbury's reputation as the real Avalon has made it a popular site of tourism. Having become one of the majorNew Age communities in Europe, the area has great religious significance forneo-Pagans andmodern Druids, as well as some Christians. Identification of Glastonbury with Avalon withinhippie subculture, as seen in the work of Michell and in theGandalf's Garden community, also helped inspire the annualGlastonbury Festival.[88]
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Medieval settings for the location of Avalon ranged far beyond Glastonbury. Besides the mentioned examples of Gwynedd and Brasil, they includedparadisalunderworld realms equated with the other side of the Earth at theantipodes.[89] Italian romances and folklore explicitly link Morgan's and sometimes Arthur's eternal domain withMount Etna (Mongibel) in Sicily,[90] and theStrait of Messina, located to the north of Etna and associated with the optical mirage phenomenon ofFata Morgana ("Morgan the Fairy").[91]Pomponius Mela's ancient Roman description of the island ofÎle de Sein, off the coast of Brittany, was also notably one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's original inspirations for his Avalon.[92]
In modern times, similar to the search for Arthur's mythical capital Camelot, a variety of sites across Britain, France and elsewhere have been put forward as being the "real Avalon". Such proposed locations includeGreenland or other places in or across the Atlantic,[93] the former Roman fort ofAballava (known as Avalana by the sixth century) in Cumbria,[94][95]Bardsey Island off the coast of Gwynedd,[11] the isle ofÎle Aval on the coast of Brittany,[96] andLady's Island in Ireland's Leinster.[92] In the works ofWilliam F. Warren, Avalon was compared toHyperborea along with theGarden of Eden and theorized to be located in the Arctic.[97] Geoffrey Ashe championed an association of Avalon with the town ofAvallon in Burgundy, as part of a theory connecting King Arthur to theRomano-British leaderRiothamus who was last seen in that area.[note 5]Robert Graves identified Avalon with the Spanish island of Majorca (Mallorca),[96] whileLaurence Gardner suggested theIsle of Arran off the coast of Scotland.[11]Graham Phillips claimed to have located the grave of the "historical Arthur" (Owain Ddantgwyn) in the "true site of Avalon" on a former island atBaschurch in Shropshire.[99]
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