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{{Short description|Legendary island featured in Arthurian legend}}
{{About|the legendary island|other uses|Avalon (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox fictional location
| name       = Avalon
| image      = Burne-Jones Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon v2.jpg
| caption    = ''[[The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon]]'' by [[Edward Burne-Jones]]
| source     = [[Matter of Britain]]
| first      = ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]''
| type       = [[Fairyland]] island (typically)
| based_on   = Disputed origins
| ruler      = [[Morgan le Fay|Morgan]] (usually)
| people     = [[King Arthur]], [[Lady of the Lake]], [[nine sorceresses|the nine sisters]], [[Melusine]]
| located_in = Varied or unspecified
}}

'''Avalon''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|v|ə|l|ɒ|n}}){{#tag:ref|{{langx|la|Insula Avallonis}}; {{langx|cy|Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach}} ("the isle of apple [or fruit] trees"). Sometimes also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings.|group="note"}} 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 recover from being gravely wounded at the [[Battle of Camlann]]. Since then, the island has become a symbol of Arthurian mythology, similar to Arthur's castle of [[Camelot]].

Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and magical figures such as King Arthur's sorceress sister [[Morgan le Fay|Morgan]], cast as the island's ruler by Geoffrey and many later authors. Certain Briton traditions have maintained that Arthur is an eternal king who had never truly died but [[King Arthur's messianic return|would 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 the [[Holy Grail]].

Avalon has often been identified as the former island of [[Glastonbury 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 in [[Sicily]], and European folklore connected it with the phenomenon of [[Fata Morgana (mirage)|Fata Morgana]].

==Etymology==
The meaning and origin of the name Avalon have been long debated by Arthurian scholars as well as Celtic and [[Romance languages|Romance]] philologists.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/433529 | jstor=433529 | last1=Slover | first1=C. H. | title=Avalon | journal=Modern Philology | date=1931 | volume=28 | issue=4 | pages=395–399 | doi=10.1086/387919 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] in his pseudo-chronicle ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' ("The History of the Kings of Britain", c. 1136) calls the place ''Insula Avallonis'', meaning the "Isle of Avallon" in [[Latin]]. In his later ''[[Vita Merlini]]'' ("The Life of Merlin", c. 1150), he calls it ''Insula Pomorum'', the "Isle of Fruit Trees" (from Latin ''pōmus'' "fruit tree"). Today, the name is generally considered to be of [[Welsh language|Welsh]] origin (a [[Cornish language|Cornish]] or [[Breton language|Breton]] origin is also possible), from [[Old Welsh]], [[Old Cornish]], or [[Old Breton]] ''aball'' or ''avallen(n)'', "apple tree, fruit tree" (cf. Welsh ''afal'', from [[Proto-Celtic]] *''abalnā'', literally "fruit-bearing (thing)").<ref>Matasović, Ranko, ''Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic'', Brill, 2008, p. 23.</ref><ref name="Koch, John 2006, p. 146">Koch, John. ''Celtic Culture: A historical encyclopedia'', ABC-CLIO 2006, p. 146.</ref><ref>Savage, John J. H. "Insula Avallonia", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'', Vol. 73, (1942), pp. 405–415.</ref><ref>Nitze, William Albert, Jenkins, Thomas Atkinson. ''Le Haut Livre du Graal'', Phaeton Press, 1972, p. 55.</ref><ref>Zimmer, Heinrich. "Bretonische Elemente in der Artursage des Gottfried von Monmouth", ''Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur'', Volume 12, 1890, pp. 246–248.</ref>

The tradition of an "apple" island among the ancient Britons may also be related to [[Irish legends]] of the [[Celtic Otherworld|otherworld]] island home of [[Manannán mac Lir]] and [[Lugh]], [[Emain Ablach]] (also the [[Old Irish]] poetic name for [[Isle of Man]]),<ref name="Koch, John 2006, p. 146"/> where ''Ablach'' means "Having Apple Trees"<ref>Marstrander, Carl Johan Sverdrup (ed.), ''Dictionary of the Irish Language'', Royal Irish Academy, 1976, letter A, column 11, line 026.</ref>— 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 related to the Gaulish root *''aballo'' "fruit tree" (found in the place name [[Avallon|Aballo/Aballone]]) and are derived from Proto-Celtic *''abal''- "apple", which is related at the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] level to English ''apple'', Russian ''яблоко'' (''jabloko''), Latvian ''ābele'', et al.<ref>Hamp, Eric P. The north European word for 'apple', ''Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie'', 37, 1979, pp. 158–166.</ref><ref>Adams, Douglas Q. The Indo-European Word for 'Apple'. ''Indogermanische Forschungen'', 90, 1985, pp. 79–82.</ref>

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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvSGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58|title=Finding Arthur: The True Origins of the Once and Future King|last=Ardrey|first=Adam|date=2014|publisher=Abrams|isbn=9781468308433|language=en}}</ref> [[Gerald of Wales]] similarly derived the name of Avalon from its purported former ruler, Avallo.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UI93dKBwWdMC&pg=PA16 | title=Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Tradition | isbn=9780859915724 | last1=Carley | first1=James P. | last2=Carley | first2=James Patrick | year=2001 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref> The name is also similar to "Avallus", described by [[Pliny the Elder]] in his 1st-century ''[[Naturalis Historia]]'' as a mysterious island where amber could be found.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BxMAQAAIAAJ | title=Histoire de l'art: Bulletin d'information de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art publié en collaboration avec l'Association des professeurs d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art des universités | year=2008 | publisher=Editions C.D.U.-S.E.D.E.S | isbn=9782757202104 }}</ref>

== Legend ==
===Geoffrey of Monmouth===
{{See also|Land of Maidens}}

According to Geoffrey in the ''Historia'', 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 tragic [[Battle of Camlann]]. Geoffrey first mentions Avalon as the place where Arthur's sword [[Excalibur]] (''Caliburn'') was forged.

Geoffrey dealt with the subject in more detail in the ''Vita Merlini'', in which he describes for the first time in Arthurian legend the fairy or fae-like enchantress [[Morgan le Fay|Morgen]] (i.e. Morgan) as the chief of [[Nine sorceresses|nine sisters]] (including Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe and Thiten)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biQ6iC_ua9AC&pg=PA263|title=The History of the Kings of Britain|first=Geoffrey of|last=Monmouth|date=11 December 2007|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=9781770481428 |via=Google Books}}</ref> who together rule Avalon. Geoffrey's telling, in the in-story narration by the bard [[Taliesin]] to Merlin, indicates a sea voyage was needed to get there. The description of Avalon, which is heavily indebted to the early medieval Spanish scholar [[Isidore of Seville]] (having been mostly derived from the section on famous islands in Isidore's work ''[[Etymologiae]]'', XIV.6.8 "''[[Fortunate Isles|Fortunatae Insulae]]''"),<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Walter |editor1-first=Philippe |editor2-last=Berthet |editor2-first=Jean-Charles |editor3-last=Stalmans |editor3-first=Nathalie |title=Le devin maudit: Merlin, Lailoken, Suibhne: textes et étude |publisher=ELLUG |location=Grenoble |year=1999 |page=125 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Lot |first=Ferdinand |title=Nouvelles études sur le cycle arthurien |journal=Romania |volume=45 |year=1918 |issue=177 |pages=1–22 (14) |doi=10.3406/roma.1918.5142 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Faral |first=Edmond |title=La Légende arthurienne, études et documents: Premiere partie: Les plus anciens textes |volume=2 |publisher=H. Champion|year=1993 |edition=reprint |pages=382–383 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Cons |first=Louis |title=Avallo |journal=Modern Philology |volume=28 |issue=4 |year=1931 |pages=385–394 |doi=10.1086/387918 |s2cid=224836843 }}</ref> shows the magical nature of the island:

{{quote box|align=center|quote=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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/vm/index.htm|title=Vita Merlini Index|work=sacred-texts.com|access-date=1 April 2016}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|By comparison, Isidore's description of the [[Fortunate Isles]] reads: "The Fortunate Isles ''(Fortunatarum insulae)'' signify by their name that they produce all kinds of good things, as if they were happy and blessed with an abundance of fruit. Indeed, well-suited by their nature, they produce fruit from very precious trees [''Sua enim aptae natura pretiosarum poma silvarum parturiunt'']; the ridges of their hills are spontaneously covered with grapevines; instead of weeds, harvest crops, and garden herbs are common there. Hence the mistake of pagans and the poems by worldly poets, who believed that these isles were Paradise because of the fertility of their soil. They are situated in the Ocean, against the left side of [[Mauretania]], closest to where the sun sets, and they are separated from each other by the intervening sea."<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Barney |editor1-first=S. |editor2-last=Lewis |editor2-first=W. J. |editor3-last=Beach |editor3-first=J. A. |editor4-last=Berghof |editor4-first=O. |title=The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville |url=https://archive.org/details/etymologiesisido00barn |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2006 |isbn=9780521837491 |page=[https://archive.org/details/etymologiesisido00barn/page/n307 294] }}</ref> In ancient and medieval geographies and maps, the Fortunate Isles were typically identified with the [[Canary Islands]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Tilley |first=Arthur Augustus |title=Medieval France: A Companion to French Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2010 |page=176 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sobecki |first=Sebastian I. |title=The Sea and Medieval English Literature |url=https://archive.org/details/seamedievalengli00sobe |url-access=limited |publisher=D. S. Brewer |location=Cambridge |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84615-591-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/seamedievalengli00sobe/page/n93 81] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Kagay |editor1-first=Donald J. |editor2-last=Vann |editor2-first=Theresa M. |title=On the Social Origins of Medieval Institutions: Essays in Honor of Joseph F. O'Callaghan |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |year=1998 |isbn=9004110968 |page=61 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=McClure |first=Julia |title=The Franciscan Invention of the New World |location=Basingstoke |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2016 |isbn=9783319430225 |page=66 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Aseguinolaza |editor1-first=Fernando Cabo |editor2-last=González |editor2-first=Anxo Abuín |editor3-last=Domínguez |editor3-first=César |title=A Comparative History of Literatures in the Iberian Peninsula |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins |volume=1 |year=2010 |isbn=9789027234575 |page=294 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Beaulieu |first=Marie-Claire |title=The Sea in the Greek Imagination |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |year=2016 |isbn=9780812247657 |page=12 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Honti |first=John T. |title=Vinland and Ultima Thule |journal=Modern Language Notes |volume=54 |issue=3 |year=1939 |pages=159–172 (168) |doi=10.2307/2911893 |jstor=2911893 }}</ref>|group="note"}}}}

In [[Layamon]]'s [[Layamon's Brut|''Brut'']] version of the ''Historia'', Arthur is taken to Avalon to be healed there through means of magic water by a distinctively [[Anglo-Saxon]] version of Morgen: an [[elf]] queen of Avalon named Argante.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/document/get/ohiou1307121254/inline|title=Argante of Areley Kings: Regional Definitions of National Identity in Layamon's Brut|publisher=Ohio State University|access-date=17 October 2017|archive-date=18 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018133629/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/document/get/ohiou1307121254/inline|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the ''Didot-Perceval'', [[Perceval]]'s [[Grail 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 Welsh [[Modron]] (Urbain thus being Modron's husband [[Urien]]) and possibly also influenced by the Irish [[The Morrígan|Mórrigan]].<ref>Roger Sherman Loomis, "More Celtic Elements in Gawain and the Green Knight." ''The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'' 42 (1943), pp. 173-174.</ref><ref>Roger Sherman Loomis, "The Combat at the Ford in the Didot Perceval." ''Modern Philology'' 43 (1945), pp. 65-71.</ref> 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.

===Later medieval literature===
[[File:The Death of King Arthur.jpg|thumb|250px|''La Mort d'Arthur'' by [[James Archer (artist)|James Archer]] (1860)]]

In many versions of Arthurian legend, including [[Thomas Malory]]'s compilation ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', [[Morgan le Fay|Morgan the Fairy]] and several other magical queens (numbering either three, four, or "many"<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tanner |first1=William Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpcOAQAAMAAJ |title=The Arthurian Myth of Quest and Magic: A Festschrift in Honor of Lavon B. Fulwiler |last2=Fulwiler |first2=Lavon B. |date=1993 |publisher=Caxton's Modern Arts Press |isbn=978-0-9635769-0-3 |language=en}}</ref>) 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 the [[Lady of the Lake]] among them. The others may include the Queen of Northgales (North Wales) and the Queen of the [[Wasteland (mythology)|Wasteland]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUqpAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA237|title=Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology|first=Theresa|last=Bane|date=4 September 2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786471119 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In the [[Vulgate Cycle|Vulgate]] ''Queste'', 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ri0yAQAAMAAJ|title = The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances: Les aventures ou la queste del Saint Graal. La mort de roi Artus|last1 = Sommer|first1 = Heinrich Oskar|year = 1969|id={{Internet Archive|arthurian06sommuoft|The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances Volume 6}}|page=238<!--page 244 in the DJVU file-->}}</ref> Its Welsh version also claims, within its text, to be a translation of old Latin books from Avalon, as does the French ''[[Perlesvaus]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UI93dKBwWdMC&pg=PA165|title = Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Tradition|isbn = 9780859915724|last1 = Carley|first1 = James P.|last2 = Carley|first2 = James Patrick|year = 2001| publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NenKwH-6zg8C&pg=PA13|title=Arthurian Literature XXII|last1=Busby|first1=Keith|last2=Dalrymple|first2=Roger|date=2005|publisher=DS Brewer|isbn=9781843840626|language=en}}</ref> In Lope Garcia de Salazar's Spanish summary of the [[Post-Vulgate]] ''Roman du Graal'', Avalon is conflated with (and explicitly named as) the mythological [[Brasil (mythical island)|Island of Brasil]], said to be located west of Ireland and afterwards forever hidden in mist by Morgan's enchantment.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/roma_0035-8029_1971_num_92_365_2265|title=The Passing of King Arthur to the Island of Brasil in a Fifteenth-Century Spanish Version of the Post-Vulgate Roman du Grall|first=Harvey|last=Sharrer|date=May 25, 1971|journal=Romania|volume=92|issue=365|pages=65–74|via=www.persee.fr|doi=10.3406/roma.1971.2265}}</ref>

In some texts, Arthur's fate in Avalon is left untold or uncertain. In the ''[[Vera 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 of [[Gwynedd]] (north-west Wales), where he is about to die but then mysteriously disappears in a mist amongst sudden great storm.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walmsley |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0CL_Z3Uchk8C&pg=PA239 |title=King Arthur's Battle for Britain |date=2013 |publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78088-400-4 |language=en}}</ref> ''[[Lanzelet]]'' tells of [[Loholt]] (''Loüt'') having left with Arthur to Avalon "whence the Bretons still expect both of them evermore."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tichelaar |first=Tyler R. |date=1999 |title=Creating King Arthur's Children: A Trend in Modern Fiction |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27869421 |journal=Arthuriana |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=39–56 |doi=10.1353/art.1999.0056 |jstor=27869421 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other times, Arthur's eventual death is explicitly confirmed, as it happens in the [[Stanzaic Morte Arthur|Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur'']], where the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] later receives the dead king's body from Morgan and buries it at [[Glastonbury]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/benson-and-foster-king-arthurs-death-stanzaic-morte-arthur-part-iii|title=Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Part 3|publisher=Robbins Library Digital Projects}}</ref> In the telling from [[Alliterative Morte Arthure|Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'']], relatively devoid of supernatural elements, it is not Morgan but the renowned [[Schola Medica Salernitana|physicians from Salerno]] who try, and fail, to save Arthur's life in Avalon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/alliterative-morte-arthur-part-iv|title=Alliterative Morte Arthure, Part IV {{!}} Robbins Library Digital Projects|website=d.lib.rochester.edu|access-date=2018-12-07}}</ref> Conversely, the ''[[Gesta Regum Britanniae]]'', an early rewrite of Geoffrey's ''Historia'', states (in the present tense) that Morgan "keeps his healed body for her very own and they now live together."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RGEoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT219 |title=The Complete King Arthur: Many Faces, One Hero|first1=John|last1=Matthews|first2=Caitlín|last2=Matthews |year=2017|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781620556009|via=Google Books}}</ref> In a similar narrative, the chronicle ''[[Draco Normannicus]]'' contains a fictional letter from King Arthur to [[Henry 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.<ref name=blr>{{cite journal|author=Michael Twomey |url=https://www.academia.edu/11688947 |title='Morgan le Fay, Empress of the Wilderness': A Newly Recovered Arthurian Text in London, BL Royal 12.C.ix &#124; Michael Twomey |journal=Arthurian Literature |volume=25 |date=January 2008 |publisher=Academia.edu |access-date=2015-09-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IY-zIn5VHUC&pg=PT40|title=Morgan le Fay, Shapeshifter|first=Jill M.|last=Hebert|date=2013|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781137022653|via=Google Books}}</ref> This is reminiscent of the British tradition mentioned by [[Gervase of Tilbury]] as having Morgan still healing Arthur's wounds opening annually ever since on the Isle of Avalon (''Davalim'').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyWvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT239|title=Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance|first=Roger Sherman|last=Loomis|date=30 August 2005|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=9781613732106 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In the ''Didot-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 been [[Wild Hunt|seen since out hunting in the forests]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roach |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVErEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=The Didot "Perceval": According to the Manuscripts of Modena and Paris |date=2016-11-11 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-1-5128-0572-7 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=de Boron) |first=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Mz3sEURhiQC&pg=PA171 |title=Merlin and the Grail: Joseph of Arimathea, Merlin, Perceval : the Trilogy of Prose Romances Attributed to Robert de Boron |date=2001 |publisher=DS Brewer |isbn=978-0-85991-779-7 |language=en}}</ref>

Morgan features as an immortal ruler of a fantastic Avalon, sometimes alongside the still-alive Arthur, in some subsequent and otherwise non-Arthurian [[chivalric romance]]s such as ''[[Tirant lo Blanch]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repositori.udl.cat/handle/10459.1/59590|title=La desaparición de Morgana: de Tirant lo Blanch (1490) y Amadís de Gaula (1508) a Tyrant le Blanch (1737)|year=1998}}</ref> as well as the tales of [[Huon of Bordeaux]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8T0hy0wg0KEC&pg=PT836|title=The Spenser Encyclopedia|first=A. C.|last=Hamilton|date=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134934812|via=Google Books}}</ref> where the faery king [[Oberon]] is a son of either Morgan by name or "the Lady of the Secret Isle",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/25th-january-1896/6/huon-of-bordeaux|title=HUON OF BORDEAUX.* » 25 Jan 1896 » The Spectator Archive|website=The Spectator Archive}}</ref> and the legend of [[Ogier the Dane]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_15_e_vi|title=Digitised Manuscripts: BL Royal MS 15 E vi|website=The British Library|access-date=18 October 2017|archive-date=5 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705022636/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_15_E_VI|url-status=dead}}</ref> where Avalon can be described as an enchanted fairy castle (''chasteu d'Auallon''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOIjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA186|title = Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church|isbn = 9780812293166|last1 = Green|first1 = Richard Firth|date = 26 September 2016| publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press }}</ref>),<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ogier the Dane |volume=20 |page=23}}</ref> as it is also in ''Floriant et Florete''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/06/07/floriant-and-florete-arthurian-romance-mediterranean|title = Floriant et Florete: An Arthurian Romance of the Mediterranean}}</ref> 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 [[Holy Grail]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.europeana.eu/portal/pl/record/2022701/oai_es_red_aracne_oai_sendebar_clarisel_es_7288.html|title=De l'illa de Mallorca a l'Illa Encantada: arrels artúriques de La Faula de Guillem de Torroella|website=Europeana Collections}}</ref> In ''La Bataille Loquifer'', Morgan and her sister Marsion bring the hero Renoart to Avalon, where Arthur now prepares his return alongside Morgan, [[Gawain]], [[Ywain]], Perceval and [[Guinevere]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/n&q/return.htm|title='But Arthur's Grave is Nowhere Seen'|website=www.arthuriana.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.fcsh.unl.pt/iem/medievalista/MEDIEVALISTA10/carreto1005.html|title=MEDIEVALISTA|website=www2.fcsh.unl.pt|access-date=19 October 2017|archive-date=20 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420163143/http://www2.fcsh.unl.pt/iem/medievalista/MEDIEVALISTA10/carreto1005.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Such stories, which also include ''Lion de Bourges'', ''Mabrien'', ''Tristan de Nanteuil'', and others, typically take place centuries after the times of King Arthur. According to William W. Kibler,

{{quote box| align = center| quote = In the wake of ''Huon de Bordeaux'', the hero's adventure in fairyland became practically ''de rigueur'' in the later ''[[chansons 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 the Other 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 in ''Lion 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 in ''La Bataille Loquifer'' and ''Ogier'', no other Knights of the Round 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.<ref>William W. Kibler, "Arthurian Ornament: Arthurian Material in Later Epic". Glyn S. Burgess and Karen Pratt (ed.), ''The Arthur of the French'' (Cardiff University of Wales Press, 2006), p. 518.</ref>}}

[[File:First panel Frampton Door.JPG|thumb|upright|"Lady of the Isle of Avelyon", [[George Frampton]]'s low relief panel at [[2 Temple Place]] in London]]

In ''Perlesvaus'', the bodies of Guinevere and her young son [[Loholt]] are already buried in Avalon by Arthur himself during his reign.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lacy |first1=Norris J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9isAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |title=The Arthurian Handbook: Second Edition |last2=Ashe |first2=Geoffrey |last3=Mancoff |first3=Debra N. |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-77744-1 |language=en}}</ref> ''[[Erec and Enide]]'', an early Arthurian romance by [[Chrétien de Troyes]], mentions at the wedding of Arthur and Guinevere a "friend" (i.e. lover<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSmto0TQZBgC&pg=PA207 | title=The Romances of Chretien de Troyes | isbn=978-0-300-13370-7 | last1=Duggan | first1=Joseph J. | date=October 2008 | publisher=Yale University Press }}</ref>) of Morgan as the Lord of the Isle of Avalon, [[Guiomar (Arthurian legend)|Guingomar]] (manuscript variants ''Guinguemar'', ''Guingamar'', ''Guigomar'', ''Guilemer'', ''Gimoers''). In this appearance, he might have been derived from the fairy king [[Gwyn ap Nudd]], who in the Welsh Arthurian tradition figures as the ruler of Avalon-like [[Celtic Otherworld]], [[Annwn]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0yeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT436 | title=The Mammoth Book of King Arthur | isbn=978-1-78033-355-7 | last1=Ashley | first1=Mike | date=September 2011 | publisher=Little, Brown Book }}</ref> The German ''[[Diu Crône]]'' says the Queen of Avalon is the goddess (''göttin'') Enfeidas, Arthur's aunt (sister of [[Uther Pendragon]]) and one of the guardians of the Grail.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZFbczeMtYcC&pg=PA167 | title=The Arthurian Name Dictionary | isbn=978-0-8153-2865-0 | last1=Bruce | first1=Christopher W. | date=1999 | publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aRAxAQAAMAAJ | title=The Fairies and the Water World of German Arthurian Romances | last1=Blum | first1=Kate Augusta | date=1918 }}</ref> In [[Gottfried von Strassburg]]'s ''Tristan'', [[Petitcrieu]] is a magical dog created by a goddess in Avalon.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=Aaron E. |date=1992 |title=Petitcreiu: A Text-Critical Note to the Tristan of Gottfried von Strassburg |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23980871 |journal=Colloquia Germanica |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=112–121 |jstor=23980871 |issn=0010-1338}}</ref> The Venician ''Les 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 of [[Sebile]], another of Merlin's female students.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0ABAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA217|title=King Arthur's Enchantresses: Morgan and Her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition|last=Larrington|first=Carolyne|date=2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857714060|language=en}}</ref> In the late Italian ''[[Tavola Ritonda]]'', the lady of the island of Avalon (''dama dell'isola di Vallone'', likely the same as the Lady of Avalon from the ''Propheties''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WaoqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA164|title=The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature|first=Edmund G.|last=Gardner|date=3 January 1930|publisher=J.M. Dent & Sons Limited|via=Google Books}}</ref>) is a fairy mother of the evil sorceress [[Annowre|Elergia]]. An unnamed Lady of the Isle of Avalon (named as Lady Lyle of Avalon by Malory) appears indirectly in the Vulgate Cycle story of [[Sir Balin]] in which her damsel brings a cursed magic sword to [[Camelot]]. The tales of the half-fairy [[Melusine]] have her grow up in the isle of Avalon.

Avalon has been also occasionally described as a valley. In ''Le 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 in [[Robert de Boron]]'s Arthurian prequel {{ill|Joseph d'Arimathie (poem)|fr|Joseph d'Arimathie (roman)|lt=''Joseph d'Arimathie''}} as a place located in western [[Roman Britain|Britannia]], to where a fellowship of early Christians started by [[Joseph of Arimathea]] brought the Grail after its long journey from the [[Holy Land]], finally delivered there by Bron, the first [[Fisher King]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lLbiZCNhlAC&pg=PA132|title = The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief|isbn = 9780674013902|last1 = Barber|first1 = Richard W.|year = 2004| publisher=Harvard University Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bpvg6LuXCycC&pg=PA18|title=The Grail Legend in Modern Literature|first=John Barry|last=Marino|date=17 February 2004|publisher=DS Brewer|isbn=9781843840220 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

====Escavalon====
[[File:Hb-chevalier-descalot.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Ship-themed attributed arms of the Knight of Escalot]]

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",<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x14oDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT105|title=Sir Gawain: Knight of the Goddess|first=John|last=Matthews|date=25 March 2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781620550588 |via=Google Books}}</ref> albeit some scholars proposed various other developments of the name Escavalon from that of Avalon (with [[Roger Sherman Loomis]] noting the similarity of the evolution of Geoffrey's Caliburn into the Chrétien's Escalibur in the case of Excalibur<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSmto0TQZBgC&pg=PA258|title=The Romances of Chretien de Troyes|first=Joseph J.|last=Duggan|date=1 October 2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300133707 |via=Google Books}}</ref>), perhaps in connection with the Old French words for either Slav or [[Saracen]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z1RB5z6u_KsC&pg=PA40|title=Arthurian Literature X|first=Richard|last=Barber|date=17 February 1991|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=9780859913089 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Chretien's Escavalon was renamed as Askalon in ''[[Parzival]]'' by [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]], who might have been either confused or inspired by the real-life Middle Eastern coastal city of [[Ascalon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uXhYBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT232|title=Parzival A Knightly Epic Volume 1 (of 2) (English Edition)|first=Wolfram von|last=Eschenback|publisher=New York G. E. Stechert & Co|via=Google Books}}</ref>

It is possible that the Chrétien-era Escavalon has turned or split into the Grail realm of [[Astolat|Escalot]] in later prose romances.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjsWsH6tKwUC&pg=PA196|title=Paganism in Arthurian Romance|first=John|last=Darrah|date=17 February 1997|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9780859914260 |via=Google Books}}</ref> 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 son [[Guinglain]] (and possibly two others). The character of Alain may have been derived from Afallach (Avallach) of Avalon.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzxyQLoj3a8C&pg=PA94 | title=Sir Gawain: Knight of the Goddess | isbn=978-0-89281-970-6 | last1=Matthews | first1=John | date=25 March 2003 | publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co }}</ref>

=== Connection to Glastonbury ===
Though no longer an island in the 12th century, the high conical bulk of [[Glastonbury Tor]] in today's South-West England. Today, it is a rock outcrop in the town of [[Glastonbury]], situated about 15&nbsp;miles (25&nbsp;kilometres) from the sea, but had been surrounded by marsh before the draining of [[fen]]land in the [[Somerset Levels]]. In ancient times, [[Ponter's Ball Dyke]] would have guarded the only entrance to the island. [[Roman Britain|The Romans]] eventually built another road to the island.<ref name="eoe-69">{{Citation|last=Allcroft|first=Arthur Hadrian|title=Earthwork of England: Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon, Danish, Norman and Mediæval|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X14TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA69|pages=69–70|year=1908|publisher=Nabu Press|isbn=978-1-178-13643-2|access-date=12 April 2011}}</ref> 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 in ''[[De instructione principis]]'':

{{quote box|align=center|quote=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".<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/debarri.html|title=Two Accounts of the Exhumation of Arthur's Body: Gerald of Wales|work=britannia.com|access-date=1 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003182610/http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/debarri.html|archive-date=3 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

[[File:Glastonbury cross-camden-1607edition-p166.jpg|thumb|upright|Lead cross inscribed with Arthur's epitaph, published in [[William Camden]]'s ''Britannia'' (1607)]]

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 of England|Henry II]]'s reign when the new abbot of Glastonbury, [[Henry de Sully (died 1195)|Henry de Sully]], commissioned a search of the abbey grounds. At a depth of 5&nbsp;m (16&nbsp;feet), the monks were said to have discovered an unmarked tomb with a massive [[treetrunk coffin]] and, also buried, a lead cross bearing the inscription:

{{fs interlinear|lang=la|indent=2
|HIC IACET SEPVLTVS INCLITVS REX ARTVRIVS IN INSVLA AVALONIA
|{{wikt-lang|la|hic}} {{wikt-lang|la|iacet}} {{wikt-lang|la|sepultus}} {{wikt-lang|la|inclitus}} {{wikt-lang|la|rex|rēx}} Arturius {{wikt-lang|la|in}} {{wikt-lang|la|insula|īnsula}} 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''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U6t5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA136|title=Le Morte Darthur: The Seventh and Eighth Tales|first=Thomas|last=Malory|date=15 September 2008|publisher=Hackett Publishing|isbn=9781603840484 |via=Google Books}}</ref>), also known in the now-popular variant "the once and future king" (''rex quondam et futurus''). The earliest is by Gerald in ''Liber de Principis instructione'' c.&nbsp;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" (''Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus cum Wenneveria uxore sua secunda in insula Avallonia''<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1258608|title=King Arthur in History and Legend|author=Williams, Mary|year=1962|journal=Folklore|volume=73|issue=2|pages=73–88|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1962.9717319 |jstor=1258608 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>). 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 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.<ref>[[Richard Barber]], "Was Mordred buried at Glastonbury?: Arthurian tradition at Glastonbury in the middle ages", in {{Harvnb|Carley|2001|pp=145–59, 316}}</ref>

The story is today seen as an example of [[pseudoarchaeology]]. 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.{{#tag:ref|Modern scholarship views the Glastonbury cross as the result of a late 12th-century fraud. See {{Harvnb|Rahtz|1993}}; {{Harvnb|Carey|1999}}; {{Harvnb|Harris|2018}}. It is known for certain the monks later added forged passages discussing Arthurian connections to the comprehensive history of Glastonbury ''De antiquitae Glatoniensis ecclesie'' (''On Antiquity of Glastonbury Church''), written around 1130.<ref>"Glastonbury", in Norris J. Lacy (ed.) (1986). ''The Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Peter Bedrick Books.</ref>|group="note"}} [[Leslie Alcock]] in his ''Arthur's Britain'' postulated a theory according to which the grave site had been originally discovered in an ancient mausoleum sometime after 945 by [[Dunstan]], 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0o1NX1VoO4cC&pg=PA72|title=Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition|first=Siân|last=Echard|date=10 September 1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521621267 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1278, the remains were reburied with great ceremony, attended by King [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] and Queen [[Eleanor of Castile]], before the High Altar at Glastonbury Abbey.<ref>J. C. Parsons, "The second exhumation of King Arthur's remains at Glastonbury, 19 April 1278", in {{Harvnb|Carley|2001|pp=179–83}}</ref> They were moved again in 1368 when the [[Choir (architecture)|choir]] was extended.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Julian |last=Luxford |title=King Arthur's tomb at Glastonbury: the relocation of 1368 in context |journal=Arthurian Literature |volume=29 |year=2012 |pages=41–51|doi=10.1017/9781782040637.003 |isbn=9781782040637 }}</ref> The site became the focus of pilgrimages until [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|the dissolution]] of the abbey in 1539. The fact that the search for the body is connected to Henry&nbsp;II and Edward&nbsp;I, both kings who fought major [[List of Anglo-Welsh wars|Anglo-Welsh wars]], has had scholars suggest that propaganda may have played a part as well.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rahtz|1993}}</ref> Gerald was a constant supporter of royal authority; in his account of the discovery aims to quash the idea of the possibility of [[King Arthur's messianic return]]:{{#tag:ref|Long before this [[William of Malmesbury]], a 12th-century historian interested in Arthur, wrote in his history of England: "But Arthur's grave is nowhere seen, whence antiquity of fables still claims that he will return."<ref>[[O. J. Padel]]. (1994). "The Nature of Arthur" in ''Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies'', ''27'', pp.&nbsp;1–31, at p.&nbsp;10.</ref>|group="note"}}

{{quote box|align=center|quote=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.<ref name="auto"/>}}

[[File:Gloomy Glastonbury Tor.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|[[Glastonbury Tor]] in 2014]]

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 in ''Perlesvaus''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lLbiZCNhlAC&pg=PA132|title=The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief|first=Richard W.|last=Barber|date=3 January 2004|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674013902 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The popularity of Arthurian romances has meant this area of the Somerset Levels has today become popularly described as the Vale of Avalon.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/1990/jun/25/glastonbury2003.glastonbury |title=Treadmill in the Vale of Avalon |author=John Ezard |work=The Guardian|date=25 June 1990 |access-date=1 April 2016}}</ref>

Modern writers such as [[Dion Fortune]], [[John Michell (writer)|John Michell]], [[Nicholas Mann (occult writer)|Nicholas Mann]] and [[Geoffrey 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 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.<ref name="Hutton">"Glastonbury: Alternative Histories", in Ronald Hutton, ''Witches, Druids and King Arthur''.</ref> Glastonbury's reputation as the real Avalon has made it a popular site of tourism. Having become one of the major [[New Age communities]] in Europe, the area has great religious significance for [[Modern Paganism|neo-Pagans]] and [[Neo-Druidism|modern Druids]], as well as some Christians. Identification of Glastonbury with Avalon within [[hippie]] subculture, as seen in the work of Michell and in the [[Gandalf's Garden]] community, also helped inspire the annual [[Glastonbury Festival]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ingram |first=Simon |date=2019-06-26 |title=What makes Glastonbury so mystical? |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2019/06/what-makes-glastonbury-so-mystical |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=National Geographic |language=en-gb}}</ref>

===Sicily and other locations===
{{See also|Locations associated with Arthurian legend}}
[[File:Etna acima das nuvens (2327861081).jpg|thumb|[[Mount Etna|Etna]] peak above clouds in 2008]]

Medieval settings for the location of Avalon ranged far beyond Glastonbury. Besides the mentioned examples of Gwynedd and Brasil, they included [[Paradise|paradisal]] [[underworld]] realms equated with the other side of the Earth at the [[antipodes]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0o1NX1VoO4cC&pg=PA86 | title=Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition | isbn=978-0-521-62126-7 | last1=Echard | first1=Siân | date=10 September 1998 | publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> Italian romances and folklore explicitly link Morgan's and sometimes Arthur's eternal domain with [[Mount Etna]] (Mongibel) in Sicily,<ref>Loomis, Roger Sherman ''Wales and the Arthurian Legend'', pub. University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1956 and reprinted by Folcroft Press 1973, Chapter 5 ''King Arthur and the Antipodes'', pp. 70–71.</ref> and the [[Strait of Messina]], located to the north of Etna and associated with the optical mirage phenomenon of [[Fata Morgana (mirage)|Fata Morgana]] ("Morgan the Fairy").<ref name="Lacy">Avalon in Norris J. Lacy, Editor, ''The Arthurian Encyclopedia'' (1986 Peter Bedrick Books, New York).</ref> [[Pomponius Mela]]'s ancient Roman description of the island of [[Île de Sein]], off the coast of Brittany, was also notably one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's original inspirations for his Avalon.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E0bdCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT189|title=King Arthur's Battle for Britain|last=Walmsley|first=Eric|date=2013|publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd|isbn=9781780887173|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Bardsey from Braich y Pwll - geograph.org.uk - 1103080.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bardsey Island]] (Ynys Enlli) seen from [[Aberdaron]] (Braich y Pwll) in 2009]]

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 include [[Greenland]] or other places in or across the Atlantic,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/galeencyclopedia0000stei|url-access=registration|title=The Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained|last1=Steiger|first1=Brad|last2=Steiger|first2=Sherry Hansen|date=2003|publisher=Thomson/Gale|isbn=9780787653842|language=en}}</ref> the former Roman fort of [[Aballava]] (known as Avalana by the sixth century) in Cumbria,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RjTemgeEUs0C&pg=PA33|title=A Companion to Marie de France|last=Whalen|first=Logan|date=2011|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004202177|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nBWeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT108|title=A Brief History of King Arthur|first=Mike|last=Ashley|date=7 February 2013|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=9781472107657 |via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Bardsey Island]] off the coast of Gwynedd,<ref name=":1" /> the isle of [[Île Aval]] on the coast of Brittany,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.faena.com/aleph/articles/avalon-a-place-between-mythology-and-the-utopia-of-a-lost-kingdom/|title=Avalon, a place between mythology and the utopia of a lost kingdom|website=Aleph|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-11}}</ref> and [[Lady's Island Lake|Lady's Island]] in Ireland's Leinster.<ref name="auto1"/> In the works of [[William Fairfield Warren|William F. Warren]], Avalon was compared to [[Hyperborea]] along with the [[Garden of Eden]] and theorized to be located in the Arctic.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Warren|title=Paradise Found: The Cradle of the Human Race at the North Pole, a Study of the Prehistoric World|year=1885|chapter=VI, part 5}}</ref> 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.{{#tag:ref|According to Ashe, "In Welsh it is ''Ynys Avallach''. Geoffrey's Latin equivalent is ''Insula Avallonis''. It has been influenced by the spelling of a real place called Avallon. Avallon is a Gaulish name with the same meaning, and the real Avalon is in Burgundy—where Arthur's Gallic career ends. Again, we glimpse an earlier and different passing of Arthur, on the Continent and not in Britain. Riothamus too led an army of Britons into Gaul, and was the only British King who did. He too advanced to the neighbourhood of Burgundy. He too was betrayed by a deputy ruler who treated with barbarian enemies. He, too, is last located in Gaul among the pro-Roman Burgundians. He, too, disappears after a fatal battle, without any recorded death. The line of his retreat, prolonged on a map, shows that he was going in the direction of the real Avalon."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Discovery of King Arthur|author=Geoffrey Ashe|pages=95–96|publisher=Guild Publishing|location=London|year=1985}}</ref>|group="note"}} [[Robert Graves]] identified Avalon with the Spanish island of Majorca ([[Mallorca]]),<ref name=":0" /> while [[Laurence Gardner]] suggested the [[Isle of Arran]] off the coast of Scotland.<ref name=":1" /> [[Graham Phillips (writer)|Graham Phillips]] claimed to have located the grave of the "historical Arthur" ([[Owain Ddantgwyn]]) in the "true site of Avalon" on a former island at [[Baschurch]] in Shropshire.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.grahamphillips.net/arthur_tomb/arthur_tomb6.html | title=The Lost Tomb of King Arthur 6 }}</ref> {{clear}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Mythology}}
{{Div col}}
* [[Avalon, California|Avalon]] – city in [[Santa Catalina Island (California)]]
* [[Brittia]]
* [[Tír na nÓg]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}} {{clear}}

==References==
;Citations
{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography

{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |first=Richard |last=Barber |author-link=Richard Barber |title=King Arthur: Hero and Legend |edition=3rd |location=Woodbridge |publisher=Boydell |year=1986 }}
* {{cite book |last=Carey |first=John |chapter=The finding of Arthur's grave: a story from Clonmacnoise? |editor1-first=John |editor1-last=Carey |editor2-first=John T. |editor2-last=Koch |editor3-last=Lambert |editor3-first=Pierre-Yves |title=Ildánach Ildírech: A Festschrift for Proinsias Mac Cana |place=Andover |publisher=Celtic Studies Publications |year=1999 |pages=1–14 |isbn=978-1-891271-01-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Carley |first=James P. |author-link=James Carley |title=Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Tradition |year=2001 |publisher=D. S. Brewer |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-85991-572-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-YZYTTST1YkC&pg=PA316 }}
* {{cite journal |first=Oliver D. |last=Harris |title='Which I have beholden with most curiouse eyes': the lead cross from Glastonbury Abbey |journal=Arthurian Literature |volume=34 |year=2018 |pages=88–129 |doi=10.1017/9781787442535.006 |isbn=978-1-84384-483-9 |s2cid=200168947 }}
* {{cite book |last=Rahtz |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Rahtz |title=English Heritage Book of Glastonbury |place=London |publisher=Batsford |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-7134-6865-6}}
* {{cite book |first=J. Armitage |last=Robinson |author-link=Armitage Robinson |title=Two Glastonbury Legends: King Arthur and St Joseph of Arimathea |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1926 }}
* {{cite book |first=J. S. P. |last=Tatlock |author-link=John Strong Perry Tatlock |title=The Legendary History of Britain: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and its early vernacular versions |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |year=1950 }}
* {{cite journal |first=Adam |last=Stout |title=Savaric, Glastonbury and the making of myths: a reappraisal |journal=Antiquaries Journal |volume=96 |year=2016 |pages=101–15 |doi=10.1017/S0003581516000196 |s2cid=163825822 }}

{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Avalon (legendary island)}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Avalon |volume=3 |page=51 |short=x}}
* [http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/theme/avalon.html Avalon] at The Camelot Project

{{Arthurian Legend}}
{{Geoffrey of Monmouth}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fiction about immortality]]
[[Category:Fictional populated places]]
[[Category:Fictional valleys]]
[[Category:Glastonbury]]
[[Category:Joseph of Arimathea]]
[[Category:Locations associated with Arthurian legend]]
[[Category:Places in Celtic mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological islands]]