Portal:King Arthur/Selected article/4

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Avalon (probably from the Celtic word abal: apple; see Etymology below) is a legendary island somewhere in the British Isles, famous for its beautiful apples. The concept of such an "Isle of the Blessed" has parallels in other Indo-European mythology, in particular Tír na nÓg and the Greek Hesperides, the latter also noted for its apples.

According to one theory the word is an anglicisation of the Brythonic "Annwyn", the realm of fairies, or netherworld, but this would be a major corruption. Geoffrey of Monmouth interpreted the name as the "isle of apples". This is more probable, since "apple" is still aval in Breton and Cornish, and afal in Welsh, in which the letter f is pronounced [v].

Avalon is also said to be the place where the body of King Arthur is buried. The corpse was supposedly brought on a boat to Avalon by Arthur's half sister, Morgan le Fay. According to some legends, Arthur sleeps there merely to awaken at some future time.

The tradition that Arthur was buried at Glastonbury Tor appears to have taken shape from as early as the beginning of the 11th century. Before the surrounding fenland in the Somerset Levels was drained, Glastonbury Tor's high round bulk rose out of the water-meadows like an island. According to several chroniclers (including Gerald of Wales), it was during the reign of Henry II that the abbot, Henry de Blois, commissioned a search of the Tor. It was at a depth of 5 m (16 feet) that a massive oak trunk or coffin with an inscription Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia. ("Here lies King Arthur in the island of Avalon") was apparently discovered. The remains were reburied with great ceremony, attended by King Edward I and his queen, before the High Altar at Glastonbury Abbey, where they were the focus of pilgrimages until the Reformation. (read more . . . )