I was super happy to be in the #avalon room @glastonburygoddesstemple room facilitating for 3 days during my time in #glastonbury last month
"Avalon, island to which Britain’s legendary king Arthur was conveyed for the healing of his wounds after his final battle. It is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae (c. 1136), while the same author’s Vita Merlini (c. 1150) described it as “the island of apples [‘Insula pomorum’], called fortunate.” It was ruled by the enchantress Morgan le Fay and her eight sisters, all of them skilled in the healing arts. Geoffrey may have been attempting to connect his “island of apples” with Celtic mythology’s traditions of an elysium; and the name Avalon is certainly close to the Welsh word for apple, afal. Sir John Rhys, however (Studies in the Arthurian Legend, 1891), preferred to link the name Avalon with that of Aballach, a (hypothetical) dark Celtic divinity. Avalon has been identified with Glastonbury in Somerset, and this may be connected with Celtic legends about an “isle of glass” inhabited by deceased heroes. It is equally likely to have been an attempt by the monks of Glastonbury to exploit the Arthurian legend for the benefit of their own community." https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arthurian-legend "The Isle of Avalon : Glastonbury has a long tradition of being ‘The Isle of Avalon’ where King Arthur went after his last battle. The monks of Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have found his grave in 1191. Jesus is said to have come to Glastonbury as a boy, travelling here with Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was a tin merchant and had travelled to England's south west for this valuable metal. Legends of the Tor : It's said that beneath the hill there's a hidden cave through which you can pass into the fairy realm of Annwn. There dwells Gwyn ab Nudd, the lord of the Celtic underworld, with the Cauldron of Rebirth. Later tradition has it that the Holy Grail lies here, brought by Jesus’ uncle, Joseph of Arimathea. The Cauldron and the Grail were both the object of quests for King Arthur and his knights."
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AuthorKay Louise Aldred MA, PGCE Archives
September 2024
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