The Celtic Messiah

The Abduction of Guinevere

Throughout Arthurian Romance  Guinevere is commonly portrayed with two weaknesses; her love affairs with Arthur's best knight, and very susceptible to being abducted.

• Part I: The Abduction of Guinevere in Medieval Arthurian Romance
• Part II: The Modena Archivolt 
• Part III: White, The Winter King
• Part IV: White Phantom
• Part V:  The Isle of Glass
• Part VI: The Isle of Glass (2) 
• Appendix I: The Celtic Messiah 
• Appendix II: The Legend of Arthur's Survival

Appendix I

The stillness of the dead world's winter dawn
Amazed him, and he groaned, 'The King is gone.' [1]

The Celtic Messiah
In his Deeds of the Kings of England  William of Malmesbury made a clear distinction between the Arthur of historical fact and the Arthur of legend. William clearly thought the king warranted a fuller history.

Just over a decade later Geoffrey of Monmouth provided William with his historical account and gave the world the first full chronicle account of King Arthur. Geoffrey's account in History of the Kings of Britain was a medieval literary masterpiece; an unprecedented coming together of historical fact, myth and poetic licence, and was accepted as historical fact by many and remained so for five hundred years.

But, in so doing Geoffrey had given the British a  champion, a saviour hero; he had created a Celtic Messiah

William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury is considered a competent and scholarly historian, first publishing his Gesta Regum Anglorum (Deeds of the Kings) of the English c.1125, publishing a revised edition before 1140.

Between these dates he spent a considerable amount of time at Glastonbury and produced the Antiquity of the Church of Glastonbury. This has survived only in a form heavily interpolated by later writers from the 13th century. However, the original text of the earlier part can be reconstituted from the later, revised edition of  Deeds of the Kings, which incorporates large sections from his work on Glastonbury. Whilst at Glastonbury he carried out a detailed examination of the archives there, his analysis of the records of the old church is considered as thorough as any medieval historical investigation.

Significantly, Arthur nowhere occurs in connection with Glastonbury in the genuine works of William of Malmesbury; the passages in which the King is brought into connection with the Abbey exist only in the later interpolations in the surviving text of the Antiquity of the Church of Glastonbury, William's original work rewritten by the monks of Glastonbury to accommodate later 'developments' at the Abbey, the monks making no claim whatsoever as editors or revisers of the historian's work from the previous century. [2]

In his original works William makes mention of Arthur only in his proper context along with the likes of Vortigern and Ambrosius, as such he writes:

“This is that Arthur of whom the trifling of the Britons talks such nonsense even today; a man clearly worthy not to be dreamed of in fallacious fables, but to be proclaimed in veracious histories.”

As we have seen above, Arthur's first connection with Glastonbury is recorded in the Life of Gildas by Caradoc of Llancarfan written in the first quarter of the 12th century. But, in essence, this is no more than a tale explaining the gift of lands to the Abbey using the backbone of a now lost Celtic Otherworld voyage similar to the surviving Irish echtrae.

Both  William of Malmesbury and Caradoc of Llancarfan were aware of 'Ynyswitrin' as the British name of Glastonbury, but this appears to be a backward etymology in an attempt to explain the Saxon name of the Somerset town. Both William and Caradoc were writing at the request of the ecclesiastical community of Glastonbury. Yet absent from the works of both men is the suggestion of any knowledge of Glastonbury equating with Avalon. Indeed, arguably the greatest author of the 12th century and creator of Arthurian history, Geoffrey of Monmouth fails to make the connection either. Geoffrey mentions 'Avallon' but twice in his Historia Regum Britanniae, (History of the Kings of Britain, c.1136); firstly as the place were Arthur's sword Caliburn was forged and secondly he merely states that, when mortally wounded Arthur was taken there:

“And even the renowned king Arthur himself was mortally wounded; and being carried thence to the isle of Avallon to be cured of his wounds,”

In his later Vita Merlini (Life of Merlin, c.1148) Geoffrey describes the last sojourn of the king in more detail, but avoids the name Avalon completely and refers simply to the Fortunate Isles, as a Celtic island paradise.

Significantly, three major writers of the first half of the 12th century fail to connect Glastonbury with Avalon. This equation first appears with the discovery of Arthur's tomb between two pyramids in the ancient cemetery at Glastonbury Abbey in 1190 or 1191. Prior to this date Glastonbury was evidently not aware of its Arthurian legacy. The inscription on the leaden burial cross read:

“Here lies the renowned King Arthur in the Isle of Avalon.”

The effect was two-fold: the lead cross confirmed this was Arthur's remains, the King was dead and Glastonbury was Avalon.

The wording on the cross had been chosen carefully; Geoffrey's first full chronicle history of the King had come to an end with the death of the “renowned king Arthur” and here were those exact words on his burial cross. A copy of Geoffrey's work is known to have existed at the Abbey.

Accounts of the discovery vary, as do records of the wording on the cross. The first account of the exhumation of Arthur's grave at Glastonbury is provided by Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) in Liber de Principis instructione (On the Instruction of Princes  c.1193):

“Although legends had fabricated something fantastical about his demise (that he had not suffered death, and was conveyed, as if by a spirit, to a distant place), his body was discovered at Glastonbury, in our own times, hidden very deep in the earth in an oak-hollow, between two stone pyramids that were erected long ago in that holy place. The tomb was sealed up with astonishing tokens, like some sort of miracle. The body was then conveyed into the church with honour, and properly committed to a marble tomb. A lead cross was placed under the stone, not above as is usual in our times, but instead fastened to the underside. I have seen this cross, and have traced the engraved letters -- not visible and facing outward, but rather turned inwardly toward the stone. It read: 'Here lies entombed King Arthur, with Guenevere his second wife, on the Isle of Avalon'.”

Gerald claims he was shown Arthur's tomb and relics by the Abbot Henry de Sully (Soilli), who was Abbot of Glastonbury from 1189 until being consecrated as bishop of Worcester in December 1193. Gerald's version is clearly not an eye-witness account, evidently he was not present at the exhumation, which, if it had taken place in 1191, Gerald must have visited the Abbey sometime between 1192 – 93. By the time of his visit Arthur's relics had been transferred to a new tomb within the church. [3]

In writing his second, and slightly different, account of the discovery of Arthur's grave in Speculum Ecclesiae (1216) Gerald states the wording on the cross read as:

“Here In The Isle of Avalon Lies Buried The Renowned King Arthur, With Guinevere, His Second Wife”.

In this later account Gerald explains that Geoffrey's account in the Vita Merlini is clearly at fault and provides the 'correct' version:

“Many tales are told and many legends have been invented about King Arthur and his mysterious ending. In their stupidity the British 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.

After the Battle of Camlann. . . the sequel was that the body of Arthur, who had been mortally wounded, was carried off by a certain noble matron, called Morgan, who was his cousin, to the Isle of Avalon, which is now known as Glastonbury. Under Morgan's supervision the corpse was buried in the churchyard there. As a result, the credulous Britons and their bards invented the legend that a fantastic sorceress called Morgan had removed Arthur's body to the Isle of Avalon, so that she might cure his wounds there. According to them, once he has recovered from his wounds this strong and all-powerful King will return to rule over the Britons in the normal way. The result of all this is that they really expect him to come back, just as the Jews, led astray by even greater stupidity, misfortune and misplaced faith, really expect their Messiah to return.”

In both accounts Gerald goes on to explain Glastonbury as the Isle of Avalon.

Writing the official history of the Abbey nearly one hundred years after the great discovery of 1191 in Historia de rebus gestis Glastoniensibus, Adam of Damerham, provides another account of the discovery of the remains of Arthur:

"The King [Richard I] ....elevated as Abbot, Henry de Sully, Prior of Bermondsey, a man born of royal stock...He, frequently urged to dispose more fittingly of the famous king Arthur (for he had lain for 648 years near the old church, between two pyramids, once magnificently carved, one day surrounded the place with curtains and ordered that digging should be carried out...The Abbot and convent, raising up the remains, joyfully translated them into the great church, placing them in a double tomb, magnificently carved. The King's body was set by itself at the head of the tomb, that of the queen at the foot or the eastern part, and there they remain to the present day."

Exhumation of Arthur and Guinivere by Judith Dobie

There are several other accounts of the discovery of Arthur's grave at Glastonbury, such as detailed in the Chronicle of Margam Abbey and Ralph of Coggeshall, all giving differing versions, indeed the Margam Abbey account claimed that three bodies were found, the third being that of Mordred. Of course, the treacherous and adulterous nature of Mordred portrayed in later Arthurian Romance meant this was unthinkable and consequently was not pursued by other writers.

Notable amongst these accounts of the discovery of Arthur's grave. According to the Margam and Ralph of Coggeshall accounts it was found when  a monk from the Abbey insisted on being buried between the pyramids in the ancient cemetery. But according to Gerald of Wales and the Glastonbury accounts king Henry II was told of the location of Arthur's grave by a Welsh bard; oddly, armed with this information, they made no attempt to exhume Arthur's bones until after Henry's death, some two years later. [4]

Gerald claimed to have handled the leaden burial cross and he alone makes reference to Guinevere as 'his second wife'. Later accounts clearly following Gerald also make the same claim, however, neither Ralph of Coggeshall nor  Adam of Damerham report this. The cross appears to have been real enough and was later seen by Henry VIII's antiquarian John Leland in the 16th century and William Camden who published a sketch in the 1607 edition of his 'Britannia'. The epigraphy of the cross has been dated to pre-12th or possibly the 11th  century. Ralegh Radord considered it to be at least prior to the Norman Conquest. [5] But there are no claims of the inscription dating from Arthur's flourit of the late 5th century. The cross has conveniently long since disappeared denying opportunity for further examination with modern techniques. The cross may well have been in existence in the 12th century at Glastonbury, but it has the reek of medieval copyists and forgers.

Archaeology of the Abbey Precinct
Excavations carried out at the Abbey in the 1960s, directed by Ralegh Radford set out to discover the earliest religious activity on the site. Radford uncovered an ancient cemetery of stone-lined graves where, nearby he found traces of a small timber structure thought to be the original church. The excavations also discovered several post-holes which Radford interpreted as traces of at least four early wattled oratories, characteristic of an early Celtic monastic settlement. However, there was no dating evidence found for these features and all lay beneath later Anglo-Saxon features. He also found two mausolea within the ancient cemetery. These rectangular tomb-shrines were designed to hold the bodies of saints or revered members of the community and probably marked by a standing cross. Mausolea of this type are relatively rare in Britain, being more common in Gaul and belonging to an early class of burial. One of the mausolea was found 50 feet south of the Lady Chapel and thought to have been marked by the southern of the two crosses, or pyramids as described by William Malmesbury in the early 12th century. According to Gerald of Wales this was the place Arthur's grave had been found by the monks of the Abbey in 1191.

During his excavations at this site Ralegh Radford found evidence of previous disturbance of a large hole dug between the pyramids which soon after was refilled with soil containing many mason's chippings of Doulting stone, a local stone which was first used at Glastonbury during the reconstruction of the Abbey immediately after the fire of 1184. Radford asserted that it was certain that the large hole he found between the site of the pyramids represents the excavation for the bodies of Arthur and Guinevere.

Ralegh Radford was co-founder with Geoffrey Ashe of the Camelot Research Project which later carried out large-scale excavations at South Cadbury, Somerset, in 1966-70 under the direction of Leslie Alcock in search of Arthur's Camelot. These three men have been largely responsible for promoting Arthur as an historical figure who was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. [6]

William of Malmesbury's original account describes how the first church was built by the disciples of Christ. He did however seem rather sceptical of this and whilst admitting that this was of course possible he added the comment, “I will leave such disputable matters and stick to solid facts”.  The later medieval interpolations to William's text claim that twelve disciples were sent over from Gaul with Joseph of Arimithea. They were each given land in portions identified as the 'Twelve Hides'. They built  a wattle church in honour of the Blessed Mary 31 years after the Passion, i.e. 63AD. The place was then deserted until King Lucius and the missionaries came over from Rome, as recounted in Bede and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, but these sources failed to mention Glastonbury. [7]

As we have seen above both William and Caradoc of Llancarfan were commissioned by by the Abbey to provide an explanation for the acquirement of lands by the Abbey. The motive of both Caradoc's account, stating that Arthur gave lands to the Abbey, and William's claims of a charter that he dated to 601AD listing an Abbot with an apparent British name is to provide a pre-Saxon foundation story for the Abbey. The existence of the charter is doubted by most historians.

Indeed, there seems to be very little evidence for a pre-Saxon presence at the Abbey. There is evidence of some minor Roman activity on the site, a small quantity of pottery sherds and one or more possible Roman wells, one of which was located outside the south-east corner of the site of the old church which may have been associated with something earlier in this area. But further than that we cannot venture with any confidence. However, it must be stressed that the Roman material, such as pottery sherds, found during excavations of the Abbey precinct were all in soil moved in medieval times. Thus, to date no Roman finds have been discovered that can be considered in a primary context. [8]

In his original text William refers to the wattle church having been covered over with wooden planks and roofed with lead by Paulinus, the English missionary who was Archbishop of York in 625 – 33AD. Bede relates a similar account of Paulinus. This is the old church which William called the vetusta ecclesia, and was the first to do so. This is the earliest church known to have been in existence at Glastonbury which was seen and was described by William in the 12th century and survived until the fire of 1184. [9] It is unlikely to be older than the 7th century. However, it seems unlikely that a wooden construction would survive 5 centuries and the original church must have been repaired or rebuilt on several occasions. 

Indeed, William describes the church of the Saxon king of Wessex, Ina, of the early 8th century as secondary to it, appended to the older building, implying that the vetusta ecclesia was directly west of this stone building. [10]

Ralegh Radford's excavation at the Abbey revealed evidence of a ditch and bank to the east of the early church thought to define the inner enclosure of the monastic settlement. The bank on the west side has been largely levelled by subsequent building on the site. [11] This common boundary feature was known as the vallum monasterii, a feature which can often be found in various saints' Lives. In the early days of the Church this boundary defined, and separated, the sacred from the profane. The ditch, internal bank and beneath it in the earlier ground surface failed to reveal any dating evidence, suggesting the vallum is part of the primary layout of the Abbey. However in other ditches on the site finds have been dated to the Saxon period. It is not known how far the vallum extended to the north or south or where the other sides lie. [12]

The enigmatic earthwork of Ponter's Ball may have been part of the smaller boundary and has the appearance of a Dark Age dyke but finds ranging from the Iron Age to the medieval period leave the date uncertain. The greater enclosure of the Abbey may well have been a vast monastic estate comprising the traditional 'Twelve Hides'.

Excavations carried out on Glastonbury Tor between 1964 -66 revealed evidence for a Dark Age settlement. Pottery sherds from amphorae, storage or transit vessels for wine, olive oil and other materials imported from the Mediterranean, dated to the 5th and 6th centuries. These imports are fundamental to the dating of Dark Age sites in the west of Britain. [See: Camelot Abandoned]  A number of animal bones, mainly cattle but also sheep and pig, along with evidence of several timber structures were uncovered on the summit of the Tor in the vicinity of the surviving medieval tower of St Michael's Church. On the north side of the later church two graves were found leading to suggestions of this being the site of a hermitage. The medieval forgery, 'the charter of St Patrick' makes mention of 'two lay brothers' on the Tor named Arnulph and Ogmar. This of course cannot be accepted as historical evidence by any means but it does point to a medieval tradition that there was possibly a secular foundation on the Tor during the time of St Patrick, the late 4th to early 5th centuries. [13]

However, these structures and Dark Age finds on the Tor are earlier than any structures found at the Abbey site, indeed Ralegh Radford's excavation at the Abbey reported a total absence of sub-Roman dating evidence. [14] Therefore it seems probable that the pre-Saxon presence on the Tor was developed into an early monastic site by the incoming rulers of Wessex, possibly one of the earliest in Britain. Anglo-Saxon control over the Church in the 7th and 8th century led to a major expansion of Christianity at Glastonbury which was expressed at the Abbey site. This corresponds with the earliest features at the Abbey which date to the 7th century. An Anglo-Saxon monastic settlement occupied the shoulder of the Tor, a flattish area to the west of the summit. As this site expanded it spilled over into the Abbey site with the Tor serving as a hermitage or retreat for monks from the Abbey with use continuing into the post-Conquest period with construction of the stone church, the tower of which survives today, after being rebuilt following damage by an earth tremor.

The construction of the crypt of the 12th century Lady Chapel at the Abbey destroyed the whole area of the site of the vetusta ecclesia and ruined any possibility of future archaeology finding any dating evidence from the early church.

Return of the King
In 1276 Edward I, King of England, had declared war on Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, the last prince of an independent Wales before conquest by the English. Llewelyn had been a constant thorn in the king's side and instrumental in the Welsh uprising. The threat of the return of Arthur to lead the Welsh to victory against Edward played a major part in events at Glastonbury.

As we have seen above, following the exhumation of Arthur and Guinevere in 1190 or 1191, the relics were transferred into the Church, the position of the tomb not specified. However, with the prospect of further Welsh rebellion they dug the King up again in 1278 just to make sure he was dead. Adam of Damerham, a monk at Glastonbury and probably an eye witness, describes the event:

“The lord Edward....with his consort, the lady Eleanor, came to Glastonbury.......to celebrate Easter....the following Tuesday....at dusk, the lord king had the tomb of the famous King Arthur opened. Wherein, in two caskets painted with their pictures and arms, were found separately the bones of the said king, which were of great size, and those of Queen Guinevere, which were of great beauty......On the following day.....the lord king replaced the bones of the king and queen ...each in their own casket, having wrapped them in costly silks. When they had been sealed they ordered the tomb to be placed forthwith in front of the high altar, after the removal of the skulls for the veneration of the people.” [15]

This was to be the ultimate act of dominion by the English king; handling the remains of the great hope of the Welsh. Edward's actions spelled out in no uncertain terms “here is your king, your saviour, I handle his bones. Your king is dead and your hopes with him.”

For the restless Welsh, their Messiah dead, proven by retrieval of his body, the political consequences were clear enough. The king was dead and could not return to lead them to victory.

The tomb was destroyed at the Reformation and the bones lost.

Conclusion
Scholarly opinion believes the exhumation at the Abbey to have been a hoax. The evidence presented above provides no reason to disagree with that. Indeed there is no evidence of a pre-Saxon religious presence at the Abbey site and this likely an overspill from early religious activities on the Tor. [16] Indeed, as we have seen above, the British name for Glastonbury (Ynyswitrin) appears to be an attempt to explain the Saxon name of the town, this being compatible with the town failing to possess a pre-Saxon existence.

The effects of the exhumation in 1191 proved a valuable source of  income for the Abbey by way of pilgrimage. Remarkably, since the fire on St Urban's day, 25 May, 1184, the relics of several saints had been found there in a very short time [17] and this at a time when, following the death of king Henry II, funding for the Abbey had been switched off with the new monarch, Richard the Lionheart diverting resources into funding the Crusades.


After the destruction of the Abbey in 1539 following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the relics housed at Glastonbury were scattered to the four winds and lost forever. Excluding the leaden burial cross, which apparently survived until the 18th century, how odd that not one relic exists claiming to be a remnant of Arthur or Guinevere. For such precious relics it is absolutely inconceivable that some local inhabitant did not retrieve just a small souvenir. There are not even any claimants from other religious establishments. Not one skull fragment, mandible or thigh bone exists. Not one item exists claiming to a relic of the Arthur found at Glastonbury in 1191.

Gerald of Wales liked a good story and cannot be considered a reliable historian by any account, and but for the inexorable denial of three successive kings would have become consecrated as Bishop of St Davids, and potentially the first Archbishop of Wales. [18] We can only assume that this medieval spin-doctor was deemed unsuitable for such a position in the church.

The discovery of Arthur's remains at Glastonbury must have come as somewhat a shock as William of Malmesbury had stated that “The sepulcher of Arthur is no where to be seen,” (Gesta Regum Anglorum, Book III). Notably, William had had access to the Glastonbury archive before much of it was destroyed in the fire of 1184 but failed to connect Arthur with Glastonbury.

The mystery of Arthur's grave persists:

“There is a grave for March, a grave for Gwythur,
a grave for Gwgawn Red-sword;
the world's wonder, a grave for Arthur” [19]

*

Appendix II: The Legend of Arthur's Survival


Notes:
1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Passing of Arthur from Idylls of the King
2. R F Treharne,The Glastonbury Legends, The Cresset Press, 1967.
3. Ibid.
4. Richard Barber, Was Mordred Buried at Glastonbury, in Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Tradition, ed, James P Carley, D S Brewer, 2001, pp.145-159,
4. C A Ralegh Radford, Glastonbury Abbey, in The Quest for Arthur's Britain, ed Geoffrey Ashe, Pall Mall Press, 1968, pp.100-1.
5. Ibid.
6.  Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, Glastonbury: Archaeology and Myth, The History Press, 2009, p.61
7.  Philip Rahtz, Pagan and Christian by the Severn Sea, in The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey,  ed. Lesley Abrams and James p Carley, The Boydell Press, 1991, pp.3-38, footnote p.22.
8. Rahtz and Watts, op cit. p.62.
9. Ibid. p.91-92.
10. Ralegh Radford, op cit. p.105.
11. Rahtz and Watts, op cit. pp.118 – 119.
12. Ibid. pp.71 – 73.
13. Ralegh Radford, op cit. p.103.
14. Ibid. p.100.
15. Rahtz and Watts, op cit.
16. Namely Saints Patrick, Indract, Brigit, Gildas and Dunstan, all of whom had stronger claimants to their relics elsewhere. Glastonbury's claims that they held the relics of St Dunstan led to vigorous dispute with Christ Church, Canterbury, where as Archbishop has been interred. Charles T Wood, Fraud and its Consequences, in The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey, ed. Lesley Abrams and James p Carley, The Boydell Press, 1991, pp.273-284.
17. Treharne, op cit.
18. "Stanzas of the Graves" (The Graves of the Warriors of Britain), from the Black Book of Carmarthen.

In Memory of Philip Rahtz (1921 - 2011)

While researching the Glastonbury excavations I came across the sad news that Philip Rahtz had passed away on 2nd June 2011 at the age of 90.

The obituary in The Times, 14th June, described Professor Rahtz as a ‘famously hands-on archaeologist and excavator whose innovative teaching at York inspired and challenged a generation of students’.

* * *

Isle of Glass (2)

The Abduction of Guinevere Part VI

Throughout Arthurian Romance  Guinevere is commonly portrayed with two weaknesses; her love affairs with Arthur's best knight, and very susceptible to being abducted.

• Part I: The Abduction of Guinevere in Medieval Arthurian Romance
• Part II: The Modena Archivolt 
• Part III: White, The Winter King
• Part IV: White Phantom
• Part V:  The Isle of Glass
• Part VI: The Isle of Glass (2) 
• Appendix I: The Celtic Messiah 
• Appendix II: The Legend of Arthur's Survival

Conclusion: City of Glass?

In a gloss at the end of  Caradoc of Llancarfan's Vita Gildae, the author attempts to explain the etymology of the British name for Glastonbury, Ynisgutrin as the City of Glass:

“Glastonia was of old called Ynisgutrin, and is still called so by the British inhabitants. Ynis in the British language is insula in Latin, and gutrin (made of glass). But after the coming of the English and the expulsion of the Britons, that is, the Welsh, it received a fresh name, Glastigberi, according to the formation of the first name, that is English glass, Latin vitrum, and beria a city; then Glastinberia, that is, the City of Glass.”  [7]

We find a similar reference in the Welsh poem the Spoils of Annwn which describes a raid on an Otherworld Isle, citing various names for the Otherworld as a supernatural stronghold, described as a poem providing an opportunity for Taliesin to provide a "glittering kaleidoscope view of the Otherworld." [8] In this poem we find the third name listed for the Celtic Otherworld as 'Caer Wydyr', the 'Fortress of Glass'. This is compatible with the accounts of Chrétien de Troyes and the Historia Brittonum we have seen above (Isle of Glass Part I) which refer to a glass tower on an island.

The association of Glastonbury with the Isle of Glass is based on a false etymology of  the name Ynisgutrin which looks suspiciously like an attempt to explain the English name in the British tongue. In fact there is very little evidence for a pre-Saxon presence at Glastonbury and we must bear in mind that Caradoc of Llancarfan was writing for the monks of Glastonbury, his prime objective in this passage is to explain why the Abbey acquired great estates in ancient times. [9] Indeed, the name of the Somerset town defies a satisfactory etymology and it was not until the 12th century that it became associated with the realm of the Celtic Otherworld of Avalon.

Fabulous Voyages

As we seen above (Isle of Glass Part I), all the accounts of a journey to the Otherworld that feature in Preiddeu Annfwn (Spoils of Annwn), the  Second Branch of the Mabinogi (Mabinogi of Branwen), Cuwlwch and Olwen, and the Vita Gildae (Life of Gildas) appear to possess remnants of a now lost common origin of an ancient Celtic voyage myth. This episode, prominent throughout Welsh Celtic mythology is reminiscent of the early Irish Immrama, the fabulous Voyages in which they literally go Island hoping through the Otherworld.  Indeed, many consider the Spoils of Annwn should be grouped in the same category as the Voyage of Bran, the Voyage of Mael Duin and the Christianised The Voyage of Saint Brendan.

The 10th century tale of the Voyage of Saint Brendan (Navigatio Brendani) commences with a Saint Barrind telling of his visit to the Island of Paradise, which prompts Brendan, a 6th century Saint, to set off on his legendary quest for the Isle of the Blessed (St. Brendan's Island). The tale introduces us to St Barrind, the Christian Saint remembered in Ynys y Barri (Barry Island), a peninsula in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. St Barri, is the 6th century disciple of Saint Cadoc who forgot to bring the Saint's reading matter with him on a journey from the island of Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel. He was sent back to retrieve it but he drowned on the return journey. He was buried on Ynys y Barri, the ruins of the chapel in Friars Road is dedicated to him.

This Saint Barrind is no less than the prototype of Barinthus, the pilot of Arthur's death barge who guides Myrddin and Taliesin on their voyage to 'The Fortunate Isle', introduced to the Arthurian cycle by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Vita Merlini, c.1150:

Julia Margaret Cameron
from Tennyson's Idylls of the King 1875

“The island of apples which men call 'The Fortunate Isle' 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. She who is first of them is more skilled in the healing art, and excels her sisters in the beauty of her person. Morgen is her name, and she has learned what useful properties all the herbs contain, so that she can cure sick bodies. ….......... And men say that she has taught mathematics to her sisters, Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe, Thitis; Thitis best known for her cither.

“Thither after the battle of Camlan we took the wounded Arthur, guided by Barinthus to whom the waters and the stars of heaven were well known. With him steering the ship we arrived there with the prince.... .. "[10]

It is often assumed that Geoffrey may have obtained his Barinthus from the Voyage of Saint Brendan, with his role that of the ferryman, a Celtic Charon. However, it has been argued that Geoffrey based his Barinthus on an earlier tradition in which he was god of the sea and the Otherworld. [11] The Life of St David reveals a pre-Geoffrey Celtic tradition of St Barri which cannot be a mere adaptation form the Latin legend of Brendan. The tale reveals how one day St Barri borrowed a horse from St David and rode it across the sea from Wales to Ireland, suggesting that Barri must have been riding a sort of fish or sea-horse. Rather an odd thing for a Christian saint to do.

We find similar accounts in Irish mythology in which Manannán mac Lír, is featured riding on a sea-horse across the ocean between Ireland and Wales, although what appears to be the sea to men is to Manannán the flowering plain of Mag Mell. [12] Surely the tale reveals that Barri was in all probability originally a Celtic sea god, like Manannán, who became Christianised as a Saint. This is a common trait of the early Saints Lives and other Celtic literature. Barintus may therefore be an epithet, such as the Irish Barrfind, or Finbarr, which means literally 'white-topped'. [13] As we have seen previously, the denotation of 'white' implies Otherworldly connotations, usually applied to a deity. [14]

Indeed, a more appropriate name for a god of the sea would be hard to find. It seems highly probable that Barintus, or Barri, was in origin a sea-deity and consequently an early Celtic god of the Land beyond the Waves. The Barintus episode fails to form an integral part of the Voyage of Saint Brendan, as is common in typical Celtic Otherworld voyage tales, he appears briefly at the beginning as an Otherworld messenger who suggests to the Hero the idea of the voyage. [15]

However, while the immrama, the name derived from Middle Irish literally 'rowing out', refer specifically to supernatural sea voyages, they tend to be Christianised accounts, which seems at odds with the accounts discussed above, the Spoils of Annwn, Voyage of Bran and so on, which are overtly pagan. The same must be said of the abduction of Guinevere from the Vita Gildae and the similar episode from the early works of Chrétien de Troyes.  This appears to be mainly due to the misnomer of Immram Brain (The Voyage of Bran).

Essentially the immrama are not strictly concerned with the Otherworld; although they contain supernatural elements, they are firmly set in the Christianised world with a Christian hero. The Voyage of Bran, although named as such, is not an immram but belongs to a group of older tales recounting an excursion to the Otherworld, collectively called 'echtrai'  in Old Irish. The story of Bran's voyage probably became confused with that of Brendan the Navigator (Navigatio Brendani), and the term immram became attached, incorrectly, to Bran's story. [16]

Saint Brendan

The echtrai then are specifically concerned with the adventure of a hero in the Otherworld. As we have seen above with Barrind, a god or goddesses often calls the hero to the voyage, which leads him to one of many Otherworld locations which are not always an island; within hills, beneath lakes or the sea, on islands in lakes or off the coast, or a hall chanced upon during the night but vanished the next day. Evidently they can only be attained by men at particular times. [17] Barrind, Barintus or Barri bears much in common with Manannán mac Lír, who in the echtrae is often the deity of the sea and patron of sea travellers, and the goddess of the tale typically one of his daughters, who are usually bearing a flowering silver branch of apples, as an indicator of their Otherworldy status.

The point of the echtrae is either to lure a hero to the Otherworld  for eternity as a husband for one of the goddesses or to impart some form of wisdom unto the hero. Only the chosen return from the echtrai, and those who return against the will of the gods usually perish, having found that they had been away for hundreds of years. [18] The echtrai are amongst the oldest Celtic tales of supernatural adventures, dating to at least the 8th century, the product of the Celtic imagination at it's most creative. Indeed, the Irish Otherworld adventure tale Baile in Scail (The Ectasy of the Phantom) has been considered a precursor to the episode of the Grail castle. [19] The heroes of the echtrai are typically sovereigns borrowed from other mythological cycles portraying the close relationship between ancient kings and magic; generally the greater the elements of magic, the older the tale.

Caradoc of Llancarfan's account of the abduction of Guinevere as contained in the Vita Gildae betrays traces of an Otherworld adventure, belonging, with the likes of the poem Spoils of Annwn, a Celtic supernatural excursion. As noted above, the Celtic Otherworld location does not necessarily have to lie over the sea, although this is compatible with the belief system of an island society. Indeed, in Middle Welsh, if the location of Annwn is mentioned at all, a place beneath the earth, the abyss, is often favoured, [20] but not exclusively so, for it can be over, or under, the sea. Essentially, the Welsh Annwn seems to be a single realm which can be entered from many places on earth and sea. [21] 'Caer Wydyr', the 'Fortress of Glass' is crucially part of that realm.

Whereas, we cannot rule out the possibility of influence from the Greek Persephone myth, in later medieval Arthurian Romance, carried by pilgrims returning into western Europe along the route of the First Crusade in the early 11th century, it is not necessary in the account of the abduction of Guinevere as all the elements were already in existence in the much earlier Celtic Otherworld adventures.

*

Postscript

Waters of Wisdom

The supernatural journeys possess the commonality of crossing water to attain the Otherworld, regardless of the location; a motif which we see echoed throughout Indo-European mythologies. On the way to the Otherworld, souls of the dead had to cross a river, the waters of which washed away all of their memories. But these memories were not destroyed, they were carried by the river's waters to a spring where they would bubble up and could be drunk by other, favoured individuals, initiates who would receive inspiration and become infused with supernatural wisdom as a result. [22]

The Isle of the Dead by Arnold Bocklin, 1883

We find the motif of drinking from the well of wisdom throughout North European mythologies, one of the best known is the Norse Mimir's Spring, which interprets as the 'Spring of Memory'. Typically, Mimir's Spring is located in the Otherworld, drinking it's waters imbibes supernatural wisdom, it is connected to a river that flows from the Otherworld. Odin sacrificed his eye to drink from these waters in order to gain wisdom.

There can be little doubt that these many voyages to the Otherworld were in origin a quest for such wisdom:

You will find a spring to the left of the house of Hades,

And standing beside that is a white cypress.

Do not approach close to the spring,

You will find another, flowing cold water

From the pool of Memory, before it there are guards,

Say: “I am a child of Earth and of Starry Heaven;

But my lineage is of Heavenly.

You must see this yourselves.

I perish and am withered with thirst. Give quickly

The cold water flowing from the pool of Memory.” 

And they themselves will give you to drink from the divine spring,

And thereafter you shall reign among the other heroes. [23]

*

Appendix: The Celtic Messiah 

Notes:

7.  The Life of Gildas by Caradoc of Llancarfan, from Two Lives of Gildas by a monk of Ruys and Caradoc of Llancarfan. Hugh Williams, translator. First published in the Cymmrodorion Record Series, 1899. Mary Jones Celtic Literature Collective.

8.  Marged Haycock, Taliesin: Legendary Poems, CMCS Publications, 2007, p.434.

9. James P Carley, Arthur in English History, in The Arthur of the English, ed. WRJ Barron, University of Wales Press, 2001, pp.47-57.

10. The Vita Merlini, Translated by John Jay Parry, 1925. Parry notes that the description of the Fortunate Isles comes largely from classical tradition such as can be found in Isidore, but adds that Geoffrey also seems to have been influenced by Celtic legends of the Otherworld, as a land of paradise. Parry quotes a significant passage in Pomponius Mela, De Situ Orbis, III, 6, which reflects the ancient Celtic tradition. Parry also notes the similarity to The Gesta Regum Britanniae (Deeds of the Kings of Britain), written at some time between 1235 and 1254, and attributed to a Breton monk, William of Rennes, which, although later in date than the Vita Merlini may represent an independent tradition. The Gesta is fundamentally an adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and retains Geoffrey's overall structure, but expands upon some elements, possibly were William had access to traditional Breton sources that Geoffrey omitted. Significantly, following Wace, in his account William omits the Prophecies of Merlin section of the Historia.

11.  Arthur C L Brown, Barintus, Revue Celtique, XXII, 1901.

12.  Francesco Benozzo, Landscape Perception Early Celtic Literature, Celtic Studies Publications, 2004, pp.3-18.

13.  Arthur C L Brown, op cit.

14.  The Abduction of Guinevere, Part IV: White Phantom, Arthur's Otherworld Possessions.

15.  Arthur C L Brown, op cit.

16. Mary Jones, 'echtrae', Jones Celtic Encyclopedia.

17. John Carey, The location of the Otherworld in Irish tradition, First published in The Otherworld voyage in early Irish literature, ed. J. Wooding, Four Courts, 2000, pp.113-119.

18.  Mary Jones, 'immrama', Jones Celtic Encyclopedia.

19. John Carey, Ireland and the Grail, Celtic Studies Publications, 2007, pp.15-26. Carey notes that the similarity between Baile in Scail and Chrétien de Troyes Story of the Graal was first suggested by Roger Sherman Loomis in Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance in 1926.

20. John Carey, The location of the Otherworld in Irish tradition, op cit.

21. Patrick Sims-Williams, Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 56-59.

22.  Bruce Lincoln, Death, War and Sacrifice, University of Chicago Press, 1991.2

23.  Ibid. Instructions for the post mortem journey found on an inscription on a gold plate discovered in a grave in Petelia, southern Italy, third century BC. The thin plate was rolled into a cylinder, inserted in a sheath and hung around the neck of the deceased.

* * *

The Isle of Glass

The Abduction of Guinevere Part V

Throughout Arthurian Romance  Guinevere is commonly portrayed with two weaknesses; her love affairs with Arthur's best knight, and very susceptible to being abducted.

• Part I: The Abduction of Guinevere in Medieval Arthurian Romance
• Part II: The Modena Archivolt 
• Part III: White, The Winter King
• Part IV: White Phantom
• Part V:  The Isle of Glass
• Part VI: The Isle of Glass (2) 
• Appendix I: The Celtic Messiah 
• Appendix II: The Legend of Arthur's Survival

Tales from the Otherworld
In Part I: The Abduction of Guinevere we saw how Chrétien de Troyes introduced Lancelot to the world of Arthurian Romance as both Guinevere's lover and rescuer in the late 12th century tale Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart, (Lancelot, ou Le Chevalier à la Charrette).

Lancelot receives nothing more than a passing mention in Chrétien's earlier and first Arthurian work Erec et Enide in which he appears as Lancelot of the Lake, third in a list of the knights of the Round Table. It is also in Erec et Enide that we first encounter Guinevere's abductor from the Otherworld where we find the figure appearing briefly as“Maheloas, a great baron, lord of the Isle de Voirre. In this island no thunder is heard, no lighting strikes, nor tempests rage, nor do toads or serpents exist there, nor is it ever too hot or too cold.” [1]

Lancelot crossing the Sword Bridge

In Lancelot Chrétien expands on the persona of Maheloas, Lord of the Isle of Voirre (glass) and we  encounter the figure of Meleagant, referred to as a huge and mighty knight, evil son of Bademagu the king of the land of Gorre, who has carried Guinevere off into the kingdom from which no one returns. The knights are told that it is only possible to enter this land by two extremely perilous ways; the Underwater Bridge or the Sword Bridge. They chose the latter. On arriving at the Sword Bridge they found it crossed treacherous, black water, roaring, swift and swirling, as horrifying and frightening as if it were the Devil's own stream. The bridge was unlike any other, it was as sharp as a gleaming sword, as long as two lances. On either side the sword was fixed to tree stumps and the knights were convinced that two lions or leopards were tethered to a large rock at the other end of the bridge. On crossing he immediately encountered king Bademagu in his tower. [2]

Chrétien seems to have pulled heavily from Celtic sources, and Meleagant, or Maheloas, is no less than later versions of the prototype Melwas as he appears in the first account of Gwenhwyfar's abduction in the early 12th century Life of Gildas (Vita Gildae c.1120) said to have been penned by Caradoc of Llancarvan (Caradog Llancarfan). Llancarfan is a small rural village near Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, and the site of Saint Cadoc's 6th century Abbey, whose foundation it usually assigned to with Dubricius, (St. Dubric) and the time of St. Germanus's visit to Britain in the mid-5th  century. On Dubricius' elevation to bishop, Cattwg (St Cadoc) succeeded as Abbot. The Abbey became a Celtic 'Clas' a college and monastery where many Welsh holy men studied. [3]

A few miles further along the Vale of Glamorgan is Llantwit Major and the site of “the oldest university in the world", Cor Tewdws, the divinity school.  Cor Tewdws, or Bangor Tewdws (College of Theodosius) was burnt down in the mid-5th century but was refounded by St Illtyd (Illtud) some sixty years later. Ss. Patrick, David, Gildas, Tudwal, Samson, and Maelgwn (later king of Gwynedd), amongst a host of others, including the heretic Pelagius, founder of the doctrine known as Pelagianism, are said to have studied at here.

Vale of Glamorgan

This veritable hotbed of religious schooling in the Vale of Glamorgan was responsible for producing many of the 'Saint's Lives' which contain some of the earliest reference to Arthur. He appears in the Lives of Padarn, Carannog, Illtud, Gildas, Cadog, Goueznou and Euflamm. [4]

Typically, in these Saint's tales Arthur is depicted as somewhat of a tyrant, usually at odds with the church. In this earliest stratum of the legend Arthur is portrayed as:


“....a defender of his country against every kind of danger, both internal and external: a slayer of giants and witches, a hunter of monstrous animals ........ giant boars, a savage cat monster, a winged serpent (or dragon) ….... and also, as it appears from Culhwch and Preiddeu Annwn, a releaser of prisoners. This concept is substantiated from all the early sources: the poems Pa Gur and Prieddeu Annwn, the Triads, the Saint's Lives, and the Miribilia attached to the Historia Brittonum...” [5]

Clearly, in the earliest Arthurian literature we are dealing with mythology rather than history. However, it is the Vita Gildae of Caradoc of Llancarfan, written in the first quarter of the 12th century, that concerns us here. In this tale we find a version of the early Welsh tale of the rescue of Gwenhwyfar from an Otherworld Isle of Glass of Melwas. This account may provide the background to Ymddiddan Melwas ac Gwenhwyfar (The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhyfer), dated on linguistic evidence to the 12th century, or both may independently refer to a common exemplar.

Caradoc recounts how Gwenhwyfar was kidnapped by Melwas, king of the "Summer Country" (Aestiva Regio), generally agreed as meaning Somerset, but this is based on an incorrect understanding of the term. Whereas we can agree that the Latin 'aestiva' means 'summer', 'regione'  is plural for 'regio' in a geographical sense meaning 'district, region', or 'lands'. Therefore a preferable etymology of 'aestiva regione' would be 'summer lands' or more correctly 'land of summer'. The Celtic Otherworld is often described as being a land of paradise, happiness, and eternal summer and this is exactly how Chrétien describes his Isle de Voirre in Eric et Enide.


Isles of the Dead
This Otherworld was thought to be similar to the Elysium of Greek mythology and believed to be located on an island in the Western Sea in the area of the setting sun. A place where there was no sickness, old age or death, a place of eternal happiness and in Irish mythology variously called Tír na mBeo ("Land of the Living"), Mag Mell ("Delightful Plain"), and Tír na nÓg ("Land of Youth").

Isles of the Blessed

We noted above in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart, that on immediately crossing the Sword Bridge to the Land of Gorre, the knight immediately encountered king Bademagu in his tower. In the Isle Of Glass this can be no less than the Tower of Glass. One of the earliest literary references we have to a glass tower in the ocean appears in the 9th century Historia Brittonum:

“Long after this, the Scots arrived in Ireland from Spain. The first that came was Partholomus, with a thousand men and women, these increased to four thousand; but a mortality coming suddenly upon them, they all perished in one week. The second was Nimech, the son of …..who, according to report, after having his ships shattered, arrived at a port in Ireland, and continuing there several years, returned at length with his followers to Spain. After these came three sons of a Spanish soldier with thirty ships, each of which contained thirty wives; and having remained there during the space of a year, there appeared to them, in the middle of the sea, a tower of glass, the summit of which seemed covered with men, to whom they often spoke, but received no answer. At length they determined to besiege the tower; and after a year's preparation, advanced towards it, with the whole number of their ships, and all the women, one ship only excepted, which had been wrecked, and in which were thirty men, and as many women; but when all had disembarked on the shore which surrounded the tower, the sea opened and swallowed them up.”

This episode immediately brings to mind the classic Celtic story of a raid on the Otherworld to retrieve the magic cauldron. Remnants of this tale appear in Preiddeu Annfwn (Spoils of Annwn), the  Second Branch of the Mabinogi and Cuwlwch and Olwen. The cauldron is wrested by the deity Bran, the Blessed, in The Second Branch, the Mabinogi of Branwen, substituting Arthur from Preiddeu Annfwn. But there is also a wrested Irish cauldron in Culhwch and Olwen. In the latter of these two accounts of the raid on the Otherworld has became on a raid on Ireland showing its similarity to the story of the glass tower from the Historia Brittonum passage on the peopling of Ireland.

It is possible that Ireland may have been perceived as a kind of "Otherworld" in Welsh lore, an island to the west, which would explain the Irish name given to the first mention of the fortress, Caer Siddi, in the Spoils of Annwn. Indeed, this Arthurian poem shares the episode of the of the difficulty of conversing with three score watchmen on the wall in the Historia Brittonum. These are clearly the souls of the dead; in Celtic mythology the supernatural cauldron has the power to bring the dead back to life but without the power of speech. The indications here seem quite clear; a raid on the Otherworld by Arthur and his retinue to retrieve a supernatural cauldron; the Celtic cauldron of plenty was never empty and supplied great quantities of food and the cauldron of rebirth brought slain warriors to life again. As we in Part IV: White Phantom, many of Arthur's possessions, including his wife Gwenhwyfar, came from the Otherworld.

The Historia Brittonum passage also states that only one ship survived; Spoils of Annwn recalls that none, save seven returned from three full shiploads of Arthur's ship Prydwen and the Mabinogi of Branwen reveals that only seven men survived with Bran. The abduction epsiode in Caradoc's Vita Gildae has the same Otherworldly adventure feel about it; a journey to the Isle of Glass. Indeed, in the Vita Gildae, Saint Gildas has come down to the Land of Summer from the Orcades in the North. Orcades is usually referred to as the Orkney Isles but Orcus is yet another name for the Otherworld.

Ancient geographers on the journey to Thule referred to passing by 'Orc Island,' or 'Innis Orc' to use the old Gaelic name. However, this name may have originated from the tales of superstitious mariners referring to Islands of the Dead at the far ends of the ocean rather than a physical place. Consider the account of the 6th century historian Procopius of Caesarea who recorded that many people had told him that the inhabitants of an island off the coast of Brittia was where the souls of the dead are ferried. Brittia is interpreted by many historians to mean Britain.

It is seemingly not of Celtic origin as 'Orca' is the Latin name for a sea creature, nowadays applied to the killer whale. The Latin  word 'Orc' has the literal meaning of 'the dead, death,' or the 'underworld.' In Roman mythology we find Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths. The Romans sometimes conflated Orcus with other gods such as Pluto, Hades, and Dis Pater, all deities of the land of the dead. Therefore, Orcus can mean both 'the underworld' or 'the god of the underworld.' Thus, Orcades may refer to the island abode of Orcus, god of the dead.

In some mythologies it is common to find the Otherworld is located in the north. Remnants of this belief seem to have perpetuated into Celtic mythology; in Cuhwhch and Olwen, Arthur went to the North to resolve the issue with Gwyn and Gwrythr; later in Cuhwhch Arthur travels to Uffern, in the north, to obtain the blood of the Very Black Witch. Gwyn is there also. Uffern is used as another name for the Otherworld in Spoils of Annwn.

“Said Arthur, "Is there any one of the marvels yet unobtained?" Said one of his men, "There is--the blood of the witch Orddu, the daughter of the witch Orwen, of Pen Nant Govid, on the confines of Hell." Arthur set forth towards the North, and came to the place where was the witch's cave. And Gwyn ab Nudd, and Gwythyr the son of Greidawl, counselled him to send Kacmwri, and Hygwyd his brother, to fight with the witch”. [6]

Gwyn ap Nudd's association with the Otherworld is beyond doubt. In Part III: White, The Winter King we saw that in abducting Creiddylad, Gwyn takes the place of Hades in the Greek Persephone myth. In the medieval tales this role has been passed on to Melwas, or his later namesakes.

In the poem The Dialogue of Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir from the Black Book of Carmarthen, Gwyn is described as “the hope of armies” and boasts how he has been where the soldiers of Britain were slain. This would appear to be  a reference to his role as psychopomp, escort of the souls of the dead. The poem also recalls how he witnessed a conflict before Caer Vandwy, yet another Otherworldy fortress named in the Spoils of Annwn.

• Conclusion: City of Glass? 
  

*

Notes:
1. Chrétien de Troyes: Arthurian Romances, Erec and Enide, trans. Carleton W Carroll, Penguin Books, 1991, pp.37-122.
2. Chrétien de Troyes: Arthurian Romances, The Knight of the Cart (Lancelot), trans. William W Kibler, Penguin Books, 1991, pp.215-246.
3. Constantius' Life of St. Germanus, written about fifty years after the death of the saint, makes no mention of any school founded by him or indeed his presence in Wales. As ever with these early Saints tales we must exercise caution in considering their historical value.
4. For translations see: John B. Coe and Simon Young (ed. and trans.), The Celtic Sources for the Arthurian Legend, Llanerch, 1995. For discussion of the Saints’ Lives see B.F. Roberts, ‘Culhwch ac Olwen, the Triads, Saints’ Lives’, in R. Bromwich et al, The Arthur of the Welsh, Welsh University Press 1991, and Oliver J Padel, Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature, University of Wales Press, 2000.
5. R. Bromwich and D. Simon Evans, editors, Culhwch and Olwen. An edition and study of the oldest Arthurian tale, Welsh University Press, 1992, pp. Xxviii-xxix.
6. Ibid.

* * *

Who Was The Real Arthur?

Poll Results
For the months of April/May Clas Merdin has been running a poll on the identity of the Real Arthur.
A select list of the most popular candidates was offered with the addition of a final category for those who doubt the King's historical existence.

Poll Results:

Lucius Castus Artorius   5%
Ambrosius  37%
Riothamus  37%
Vortigern  0%
Cerdic  1%
Cunegulasus  0%
Athwrys of Gwent  3%
Creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth  1%
Never existed  11%

Not surprisingly the two most likely candidates for an historical Arthur came joint top of the poll with 37% each:

Ambrosius Aurelius
According to Gildas the Last of the Romans who's family wore the purple, and led the beleaguered Britons to victory at the Battle of Badon Hill, c.495AD. Nennius claims Arthur was the leader of the Britons at Badon making Ambrosius a strong contender for the historical Dux Bellorum. Little is known of the historical Ambrosius outside of Gildas. Right time, right place, right result.

Riothamus 

The name Riothamus may actually have been a title meaning "high-king" which would agree with the chronicler Jordanes, who stated he was called "King of the Britons".  He was active in Gaul c.470 AD. In The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, Jordanes states that Riothamus supported the Romans and "came with twelve thousand men into the state of the Bituriges by the way of Ocean" against Euric's Visigoths. A letter from Sidonius Apollinaris implies that Riothamus was betrayed by the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, Arvandus who told Euric that "the Britons stationed beyond the Loire should be attacked". Consequently the Goths intercepted Riothamus' army and he was heavily defeated fighting against overwhelming odds. He was last seen heading toward Avallon in Burgundy. Could Riothamus have been healed at Avallon and returned to Britain to fight he Battle of Badon some twenty odd years later?

The theory of King Arthur as Riothamus who met his demise in France is not a new one and has been championed in recent years by Geoffrey Ashe in The Discovery of King Arthur, (1985) and more recently by Marilyn Floyde, King Arthur's French Odyssey (2009).

However, Léon Fleuriot has argued that Riothamus is identical to Ambrosius Aurelianus which is compatible with the Poll result.

The only other serious contender to these two most likely candidates was that Arthur never existed coming in at 11%. This is suggestive of a growing number that see Arthur, pre-Geoffrey of Monmouth, as a non-historical character, a mythical figure of early Welsh poetry who journeys to the Otherworld at will, fighting monsters and accompanied by deities from the Celtic pantheon.

* * * 

Rediscovering Glastonbury Abbey Excavations 1908 – 1979

One-Day Symposium 9th June 2011

This one-day symposium to be held at Glastonbury will focus on the archaeological analysis of the excavation archive from 1908 to 1979,  exploring the latest research into the historic excavations, with the aim to significantly improve understanding of Glastonbury Abbey and its central role in British monasticism. The current Glastonbury Abbey Excavation Archive Project, conducted by the Archaeology Department, University of Reading, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and supported by the Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society, is studying and analysing the records of archaeological excavations on the site since the beginning of the 20th century and will provide new information about the Abbey.

Excavations at Glastonbury Abbey began soon after the site was purchased for the Church of England in 1907, although a series of trenches had been dug by St John Hope three years earlier. Since then, 34 seasons of excavations up to 1979 has exposed most of the plan of the medieval church and evidence of earlier phases of the monastery. Yet very little of this evidence has been published. In 1981, C A Ralegh Radford, Director of excavations from 1951 to1964, published an interim report which suggested the site hosted a series of churches, a Saxon enclosure ditch, potentially the earliest cloister in Britain, and craft-working activities including unique glass furnaces. Full publication was never achieved and consequently details of these discoveries have remained unavailable.

In his excavations at the Abbey in the 1960s, Ralegh Radford set out to discover the earliest religious activity on the site. He uncovered an ancient cemetery of stone-lined graves where, nearby he found traces of a small timber structure thought to be the original church of St Mary. He also found several post-holes which he interpreted as traces of at least four early wattled oratories. However, there was no dating evidence found for these features, but all lay below later Anglo-Saxon features and were characteristic of an early Celtic monastic settlement. He also found two mausolea within the ancient cemetery. These rectangular tomb-shrines were designed to hold the bodies of saints or revered members of the community and probably marked by a standing cross. Mausolea of this type are relatively rare in Britain, being more common in France, and belong to a very early class of burial. One of the mausolea was found 50 feet south of the Lady Chapel and thought to have been marked by the southern of the two crosses, or pyramids as William Malmesbury called them in the early 12th century. According to Gerald of Wales this was the place Arthur's grave had been found by the monks of the Abbey in 1191. During his excavations at this site Ralegh Radford found evidence of previous disturbance of a large hole between the pyramids which was immediately refilled with soil containing many mason's chippings of Doulting stone, a local stone which was first used at Glastonbury during the reconstruction of the Abbey after the fire of 1184. Ralegh Radford asserted that it was certain that the large hole he found between the site of the pyramids in 1962 represents the excavation for the bodies of Arthur and Guinevere.

Ralegh Radford was co-founder with Geoffrey Ashe of the Camelot Research Project which later carried out large-scale excavations at South Cadbury, Somerset, in 1966-70 under the direction of Leslie Alcock in search of Arthur's Camelot. The three men have been largely responsible for promoting Arthur as an historical figure who was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. However, most scholarly opinion believes the exhumation at the Abbey to have been a hoax. *

Following Radford's death in 1999, his excavation archive was retrieved and deposited with the National Monuments Record at Swindon, making the publication of a full report a feasible proposition.

In 2007, a one-year pilot project, funded by the British Academy, demonstrated the enormous potential of the excavation material, in particular the Radford archive which was found to be almost complete. Radford's excavations carried out at the chapter house were selected for detailed analysis, and a geophysical survey of the Abbey Site was undertaken by the University of Reading. An interim report on the chapter house was published as a Fieldwork Highlight in Medieval Britain and Ireland 2007, Medieval Archaeology 52.

The current project involves full analysis of the excavation records, the results of which are now being entered into an Integrated Archaeological Database.

The Glastonbury Abbey Symposium programme begins with Registration in Glastonbury Town Hall at 10.00, followed by history and archaeology tours in the Abbey grounds with John Allan and Dr Jerry Sampson.

After lunch, Dr Cheryl Allum, University of Reading, Research Assistant for the Project, will deliver a talk entitled “Unravelling Radford; the 1951-1964 Excavations at Glastonbury Abbey”. Dr Allum will provide a summary based upon preliminary analysis of the 1951 to 1964 excavations conducted by Dr Ralegh Radford at the Abbey. The circumstances of Radford's appointment will be presented, followed by a summary of the developing archaeological techniques and methodologies employed during the 1950's and 1960's, a period that witnessed the emerging discipline of medieval archaeology.   

Claire Stephens, Senior Archaeological Geophysicist,  discusses the 2009 geophysical survey carried out in the Abbey grounds, which formed part of a wider research project with two main objectives: to identify previously known Abbey remains, and if, possible, any responses that might represent excavation trenches, thereby assisting in their accurate mapping; and to provide new information on the surviving buried deposits within the whole of the Abbey precinct.

Following a talk by John Allan on the Glastonbury Pottery Collection, the Symposium comes to its finale with "The Cloister of Henry of Blois at Glastonbury Abbey” by Dr Ron Baxter, Research Director of the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, in which the blue lias fragments associated with the mid-12th century cloister have long been recognised as important sculpture of the highest quality, but they have never, until now, been given the attention they deserve. Indeed their stone was long misidentified and the first to be discovered was for a time attributed to the wrong foundation. This project has provided the opportunity to rectify the situation, and to air some hypotheses about the form of the cloister as well as its decoration.
        
Finally, the Symposium is concluded by Professor Roberta Gilchrist, Director of the Archaeology Project.

What no Bligh Bond?
It is difficult for archaeologist to ignore the 12th century exhumation of Arthur and Ralegh Radford's subsequent identification of the site of the grave in 1962, but the use of controversial methods such as "psychic archaeology" is quite another.

In 1908 the Church of England appointed Frederick Bligh Bond as director of excavations at Glastonbury Abbey and quickly had remarkable success. It wasn't until he published The Gates of Remembrance in 1919 that he revealed that he had used psychic methods, such as automatic writing in dictated messages received from the monks of Glastonbury, “The Company of Avalon,” who guided his excavations of the Abbey. Consequently he was dismissed by Bishop Armitage Robinson in 1921.

For more information see the Glastonbury Abbey Symposium website.


Update May 2012: Excavation Records reveal Saxon glass-making at Glastonbury Abbey


* For more on King Arthur's exhumation at Glastonbury see The Celtic Messiah

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