60-482: Petty Harbour–Maddox Cove is a town of approximately 950 people located on the eastern shore of the Avalon Peninsula in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador , Canada. It is nestled deep in the heart of Motion Bay about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of St. John's . The present town is approximately 200 years old, though the site has been continuously occupied since at least 1598. During King William's War ,
120-483: A lead cross bearing the inscription: HIC hic IACET iacet SEPVLTVS sepultus INCLITVS inclitus REX rēx ARTVRIVS Arturius IN in INSVLA īnsula AVALONIA Avalonia. HIC IACET SEPVLTVS INCLITVS REX ARTVRIVS IN INSVLA AVALONIA hic iacet sepultus inclitus rēx Arturius in īnsula Avalonia. "Here lies entombed
180-456: A part as well. 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 : 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
240-464: A pleasing set of laws those who come to them from our country. In Layamon 's 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 Morgan: an elf queen of Avalon named Argante. Geoffrey's Merlin not only never visits Avalon but is not even aware of its existence. This would change to various degrees in
300-407: A population of 947 living in 381 of its 408 total private dwellings, a change of -1.4% from its 2016 population of 960 . With a land area of 4.4 km (1.7 sq mi), it had a population density of 215.2/km (557.4/sq mi) in 2021. Avalon Peninsula The Avalon Peninsula ( French : Péninsule d'Avalon ) is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of
360-551: A publicity stunt performed to raise funds to rebuild the Abbey after it had been destroyed by a 1184 fire. 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. In 1278,
420-553: A sea voyage was needed to get there. His description of Avalon here, which is heavily indebted to the early medieval Spanish scholar Isidore of Seville (being mostly derived from the section on famous islands in Isidore's work Etymologiae , XIV.6.8 " Fortunatae Insulae "), shows the magical nature of the island: The Isle of Fruit Trees which men call the Fortunate Isle ( Insula Pomorum quae Fortunata uocatur ) gets its name from
480-499: 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. This is similar to the British tradition mentioned by Gervase of Tilbury as having Morgan still healing Arthur's wounds opening annually ever since on
540-575: 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, the former Roman fort of Aballava (known as Avalana by the sixth century) in Cumbria, Bardsey Island off the coast of Gwynedd, the isle of Île Aval on the coast of Brittany, and Lady's Island in Ireland's Leinster. In
600-571: Is a mythical 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
660-496: Is by Gerald in Liber de Principis instructione c. 1193, who wrote that he viewed the cross in person and traced the lettering. His transcript reads: "Here lies buried the 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 ). He wrote that in the coffin were two bodies, whom Giraldus refers to as Arthur and "his queen";
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#1732852719800720-615: Is conflated with (and explicitly named as) the mythological Island of Brasil , said to be located west of Ireland and afterwards hidden in mist by Morgan's enchantment. In some texts, Arthur's fate in Avalon is left untold or uncertain. Other times, his eventual death is actually confirmed, as it happens in the Stanzaic Morte Arthur , where the Archbishop of Canterbury later receives Arthur's dead body and buries it at Glastonbury . In
780-526: Is generally considered to be of Welsh origin (a Cornish or 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)"). The tradition of an "apple" island among the ancient Britons may also be related to Irish legends of the otherworld island home of Manannán mac Lir and Lugh , Emain Ablach (also
840-548: 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. 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
900-487: Is related at the Indo-European level to English apple , Russian яблоко ( jabloko ), Latvian ābele , et al. 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. Gerald of Wales similarly derived the name of Avalon from its purported former ruler, Avallo. The name is also similar to "Avallus", described by Pliny
960-525: The East Indies . He is said to have reached what is now known as Bonavista . The English established their first permanent settlement at Cuper's Cove in 1610. Sir George Calvert was later given a large land holding on the peninsula in 1619 from William Vaughan , whose previous colony of Cambriol failed. The initial colony of Ferryland grew to a population of 100, becoming the first successful permanent settlement on Newfoundland island. In 1623 Calvert
1020-552: The French and Indian War . The Battle of Signal Hill was fought on the peninsula in 1762. In this engagement, British soldiers and artillery under the command of William Amherst drove the French occupants of St. John's from Signal Hill and into the town's fort , where they soon surrendered. 47°17′N 53°21′W / 47.29°N 53.35°W / 47.29; -53.35 Avalon Avalon ( / ˈ æ v ə l ɒ n / )
1080-558: The Holy Grail . In the chanson de geste 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 . Such stories typically take place centuries after the times of King Arthur. In Perlesvaus , Guinevere and her young son Loholt are buried in Avalon by Arthur during his reign. Conversely, Lanzelet has Loholt (Loüt) as having left with Arthur to Avalon "whence
1140-568: The Holy Land , finally delivered there by Bron, the first Fisher King . 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", albeit some scholars proposed various other developments of
1200-661: The Old Irish poetic name for Isle of Man ), where Ablach means "Having Apple Trees" — 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 Aballo/Aballone ) and are derived from Proto-Celtic * abal - "apple", which
1260-511: The Strait of Messina , located to the north of Etna and associated with the optical mirage phenomenon of Fata Morgana ("Morgan the Fairy"). 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. In modern times, similar to the search for Arthur's mythical capital Camelot,
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#17328527198001320-560: The 12th century, the high conical bulk of Glastonbury Tor in today's South-West England had been surrounded by marsh before the draining of fenland in the Somerset Levels . In ancient times, Ponter's Ball Dyke would have guarded the only entrance to the island. The Romans eventually built another road to the island. Glastonbury's earliest name in Welsh was the Isle of Glass, which suggests that
1380-507: The 1st Baron Baltimore . A series of crises and calamities led Lord Baltimore to quit the colony in 1629 for "some other warmer climate of this new world", which turned out to be Maryland , in the Chesapeake Bay Colony. His family maintained agents to govern Avalon until 1637, when the entire island of Newfoundland was granted by charter to Sir David Kirke and the 3rd Marquess of Hamilton . In 1696, during King William's War ,
1440-600: 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". Around 1190, monks at Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have discovered
1500-501: The Bretons still expect both of them evermore." In Erec and Enide , an early Arthurian romance by Chrétien de Troyes , a "friend" (i.e. lover ) of Morgan early during King Arthur's rule is the Lord of the Isle of Avalon, 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
1560-489: The Elder in his 1st-century Naturalis Historia as a mysterious island where amber could be found. 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 )
1620-511: The French attempted to besiege the fortified English port of St. John's , but were unsuccessful . They later returned and captured the town , burning it to the ground. In the late eighteenth century, the longstanding rivalry between Great Britain and France erupted again in the Seven Years' War . It was fought in the North American colonies as well, where it was known to British colonists as
1680-585: The French destroyed many English villages in the Avalon Peninsula Campaign . They had settled along the St. Lawrence River and from the Atlantic coast to Quebec and Montreal. During Queen Anne's War , Commodore John Leake of the Royal Navy led an expedition aimed at capturing French ships around the peninsula and burning French settlements. The expedition was largely successful. During this same conflict,
1740-561: The Isle of Avalon ( Davalim ). In the Vera historia de morte Arthuri ("True story of the death of Arthur"), 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. Morgan features as an immortal ruler of a fantastic Avalon, sometimes alongside the still-alive Arthur, in some subsequent and otherwise non-Arthurian chivalric romances such as Tirant lo Blanch , as well as
1800-476: 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
1860-573: 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
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1920-528: The Welsh Arthurian tradition figures as the ruler of Avalon-like Celtic Otherworld , Annwn . 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. In Gottfried von Strassburg 's Tristan , Petitcrieu is a magical dog created by a goddess in Avalon. The Venician Les Prophéties de Merlin features
1980-510: The annual Glastonbury Festival . Medieval settings for the location of Avalon ranged far beyond Glastonbury. Besides the mentioned examples of Gwynedd and Brasil, they included paradisal underworld realms equated with the other side of the Earth at the antipodes . Italian romances and folklore explicitly link Morgan's and sometimes Arthur's eternal domain with Mount Etna (Mongibel) in Sicily, and
2040-404: 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 's reign when the new abbot of Glastonbury, Henry de Sully , commissioned a search of the abbey grounds. At a depth of 5 m (16 feet), the monks were said to have discovered an unmarked tomb with a massive treetrunk coffin and, also buried,
2100-534: 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. 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 ) is a fairy mother of the evil sorceress Elergia . An unnamed Lady of
2160-531: The connection. 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 neo-Pagans and 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
2220-472: The diverse Ediacaran biota are found on the peninsula. Mistaken Point is the original location of the first documented Ediacaran , Aspidella terranovica (which gets its specific name from Newfoundland). The peninsula gives its name to the ancient micro-continent Avalonia of which it was part. In 1497, explorer John Cabot led an expedition from England in an attempt to reach the Spice Islands in
2280-427: 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
2340-502: The island of Newfoundland in Canada . It is 9,220.61 square kilometres (3,560.10 sq mi) in size. The peninsula is home to 270,348 people, about 52% of Newfoundland's population, according to the 2016 Canadian census. The peninsula is the location of St. John's , the provincial capital and largest city. It is connected to the main section of the island by the 5 km (3 mi) wide Isthmus of Avalon. The peninsula protrudes into
2400-527: 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. Its Welsh version was also claimed, within its text, to be a translation of old Latin books from Avalon, as was the French Perlesvaus . In Lope Garcia de Salazar's Spanish version of the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal , Avalon
2460-429: The later Arthurian prose romance tradition that expanded on Merlin's association with Arthur, as well on the subject of Avalon itself. In many later versions of Arthurian legend, including Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory , Morgan the Fairy and several other magical queens (either three, four or "many" ) arrive after the battle to take the mortally wounded Arthur from the battlefield of Camlann ( Salisbury Plain in
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2520-712: 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 . The popularity of Arthurian romances has meant this area of the Somerset Levels has today become popularly described as the Vale of Avalon. Modern writers such as Dion Fortune , John Michell , Nicholas Mann and Geoffrey Ashe have formed theories based on perceived links between Glastonbury and Celtic legends of
2580-461: 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 : 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
2640-438: 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. The story is today seen as an example of pseudoarchaeology . Historians generally dismiss the find's authenticity, attributing it to
2700-559: 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 ), perhaps in connection with the Old French words for either Slav or Saracen . Chretien's Escavalon was renamed as Askalon in Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach , who might have been either confused or inspired by
2760-608: The place in Sicily , and European folklore connected it with the phenomenon of Fata Morgana . 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"). The name
2820-619: The real-life Middle Eastern coastal city of Ascalon . It is possible that the Chrétien-era Escavalon has turned or split into the Grail realm of Escalot in later prose romances. 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. Though no longer an island in
2880-545: The remains were reburied with great ceremony, attended by King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castile , before the High Altar at Glastonbury Abbey. They were moved again in 1368 when the choir was extended. The site became the focus of pilgrimages until the dissolution of the abbey in 1539. The fact that the search for the body is connected to Henry II and Edward I, both kings who fought major Anglo-Welsh wars , has had scholars suggest that propaganda may have played
2940-403: 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 ), also known in the now-popular variant "the once and future king" ( rex quondam et futurus ). The earliest
3000-510: The rich fishing zones near the Grand Banks . Its four major bays ( Trinity Bay , Conception Bay , St. Mary's Bay and Placentia Bay ) have long been the centre of Newfoundland's fishing industry. The Avalon Peninsula is pinched into smaller peninsulas formed by St. Mary's Bay and Conception Bay. St. John's is located in the northeast of the peninsula. The Avalon Peninsula is a noted region for Precambrian fossils , and many Lagerstätten of
3060-623: 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 . In the Vulgate Queste , conversely, Morgan only tells Arthur of her intention to relocate to Avalon, "where
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#17328527198003120-457: 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 Joseph d'Arimathie [ fr ] as a place located in western Britannia , to where a fellowship of early Christians started by Joseph of Arimathea brought the Grail after its long journey from
3180-726: The tales of Huon of Bordeaux , where the faery king Oberon is a son of either Morgan by name or "the Lady of the Secret Isle", and the legend of Ogier the Dane , where Avalon can be described as an enchanted fairy castle ( chasteu d'Auallon ), as it is also in Floriant et Florete . 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
3240-470: The telling from Alliterative Morte Arthure , relatively devoid of supernatural elements, it is not Morgan but the renowned physicians from Salerno who try, and fail, to save Arthur's life in Avalon. 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." In
3300-619: The village was raided by French forces in the Avalon Peninsula Campaign . Petty Harbour–Maddox Cove is the site of the Petty Harbour Generating Station , the first hydroelectric generating station in Newfoundland and Labrador. The name Petty Harbour is the anglicized form of the French name Petit Havre , which means 'small harbour'. It was first settled by French colonists. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Petty Harbour–Maddox Cove had
3360-562: 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
3420-727: The works of William F. Warren , Avalon was compared to Hyperborea along with the Garden of Eden and theorized to be located in the Arctic. 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. Robert Graves identified Avalon with the Spanish island of Majorca ( Mallorca ), while Laurence Gardner suggested
3480-633: Was associated from an early date with mystical practices and magical figures such as King Arthur's sorceress sister 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 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
3540-454: 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 ( Morgen ) as the chief of nine sisters (including Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe and Thiten) who rule Avalon. Geoffrey's telling (in the in-story narration by the bard Taliesin ) indicates
3600-681: Was given a royal charter extending the royal lands and granting them the name Province of Avalon "in imitation of Old Avalon in Somersetshire wherein Glassenbury stands, the first fruits of Christianity in Britain as the other was in that party of America". Calvert wished to make the colony a refuge for Roman Catholics facing persecution in England. In 1625, Calvert was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as
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