The legend about the English King Arthur and his Round Table is known to many. But did all this really happen? And where was the mysterious island of Avalon, where the legendary king lived? Did it exist? After all, he is not on any map. It turns out that these issues are inextricably linked.
There are three Arthurian kings in the memory of mankind - Arthur from history, from legends and from knightly novels, and one image smoothly flows into another. Therefore, it is rather difficult to separate historical truth from fiction, given the antiquity of the legends that appeared in the 6th century.
By the beginning of the III century. the Romans conquered the British Isles and owned them until the beginning of the 5th century. Less than half a century later, the Germanic tribes fell upon Britain. Then the tribes of the Britons and the remnants of the descendants of the Romans united and began to fight the conquerors. However, by 1600 the conquest of the main part of the island was completed.
About these times, stories are told about Arthur, who became the hero who fought against the conquerors. Despite her failure, the legend sends the wounded king to the magical island of Avalon, the path to which is open to few.
Elves and fairies live on this island, time flows there so slowly that the heroes of legends may still live in a paradise, not knowing that fifteen hundred years have passed over the planet.
There were so many rumors around the legend of Arthur that it’s time to get completely confused. Some of the mystics of the Middle Ages believed that Avalon disappeared not in the physical, but in the sacred sense of the word. Like Russian Kitezh, he passed into another magical dimension and disappeared from the eyes of people.
Many historians of the XIX century. explained the disappearance of Avalon much more prosaically, believing that the cause of the death of the island was a banal flood. In support of their hypothesis, they cited the XI century. the true story of a very low island in the English Channel, protected by dams and sluices. Once, after some celebrations, the drunken guards forgot to close them, and unrestrained water covered the island. So Avalon could suffer the same fate.
Hans Christian Andersen spoke quite unexpectedly on this topic (albeit in a veiled form). In the rather eerie tale of Ven and Glen, he describes two twin islands. One day Ven was swallowed up in the abyss, and since then the inhabitants of Glen went to bed in horror, expecting that the sea would come for them tonight.
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And Glen really disappeared, but because it merged with the mainland, connected with it by bulk structures. This could have happened to Avalon if it was located close to the coast of Britain.
However, not only European scientists were interested in the history of Avalon. M. A. Orlov in his book "The History of the Relationship of Man with the Devil" (1904) writes that Avalon was often described by the ancient poets of France. In the poem about William Kurnos, it is said that Avalon was extremely wealthy.
Its walls were made of some special stone, the doors were ivory, the dwellings were lavishly decorated with precious stones, and the roofs were made of gold.
There flourished magic medicine, healed the most terrible diseases and wounds. In one of the old novels, this island is described as a place where all the inhabitants spend time in an eternal holiday, without worries or sorrows. The word "Avalon" itself was brought closer to the words of the ancient Breton language "Inis Afalon", which means "island of apple trees".
Modern writers also express different opinions about the mysterious island. But all these are hypotheses that make it impossible to reveal the secret of Avalon. However, the small Abbey of Glastonbury in the very west of Great Britain answers many questions: in it, English archaeologists discovered a grave with the bodies of Arthur and his wife Guenever.
Spread across the vast plains of Somerset, this complex now includes a city, an abbey and a huge volcanic rock that slopes down into terraces. The area surrounding the city used to resemble an island because of the countless swamps that did not drain until the 16th century.
It should be noted that people have lived here since the era of the Roman invasion of the islands. It is also believed that in the lands of Glastonbury there was a serpentine temple of Druidic priests for a long period.
In the Middle Ages, monks built the majestic monastery of St. Michael. When it was destroyed by an earthquake, a church grew in its place, the remains of which have survived to this day. According to legend, Glastonbury Mountain is the place where Arthur once lived, as well as the secret entrance to the underworld of the lord of the elves.
It is believed that in the VI century. Saint Collen entered here, seeking to end demonism. He performed a rite of exorcism, and from contact with holy water the elven palace disappeared with a crash, leaving the ascetic alone on an empty mountain.
Another legend is associated with the so-called. the well of the holy grail at the foot of the mountain. They say that at one time Saint Joseph threw the cup here, which Jesus used during the Last Supper.
Many tried to find a precious magic item, but no one succeeded. In folk legends, it is indicated that the Round Table of King Arthur broke up only because the Holy Grail disappeared from the world of people.
The well itself was built by the Druids from huge stone blocks, worked with the greatest care. Every day 113 thousand liters are poured out of it. red glandular water, which is believed to have magical properties.
In general, the rock in Glastonbury is a very strange place, even from the point of view of modern science. Very often at night, local residents witness an extraordinary sight.
Suddenly, pale bluish lights appear in the air, which rush for hours around the church ruins. Some attribute their appearance to UFOs, others - to the magnetic energy of rock.
The abbey is a unique historical site. At one time, ritual actions were performed here by Druids who worshiped snakes. Then they were replaced by the Romans, and after their departure, witch communities firmly settled here (living here today).
But the most significant mark was undoubtedly the Christians. According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea (who buried Christ) moved to Glastonbury and built the first church in Great Britain here.
Thorns bloom on the ruins of the abbey every Easter. People say that when Joseph, after his arrival, ascended the rock, he leaned on a staff during prayer. Once he forgot it there, and the staff turned into a tree.
It took root, and since then the Glastonbury Thorns has served as a local landmark. The most revered saint in Ireland - Patrick - also lived and died among the local monks.
The date of foundation of the monastery is considered to be 705. It was then that King Aine created the monastery by his decree, and in the 10th century. the Benedictines settled here.
Church ruins date back to the 13th century. They remain from the temple destroyed in the 16th century. by order of King Henry VIII during his struggle against English Catholicism.
As the final resting place of Arthur and his wife, Glastonbury became famous in the 12th century. Until that time, the authenticity of this was confirmed only by legends. So, Excalibur - the legendary sword of Arthur, thrown by Sir Beduir at the request of the king mortally wounded in the battle of Camelen into the water, could be drowned in the local lake Pomparles. Unfortunately, this once vast reservoir is now drained and it is no longer possible to verify the veracity of the legend.
A great misfortune (which, however, brought some benefit) happened in 1184. A terrible fire then destroyed the abbey almost to the ground, but during the reconstruction the monks began a large-scale search for Arthur's grave.
In 1190 she was found. Carefully tapping the stone slabs of the floor, the Benedictines discovered at a depth of three meters - below the modern masonry - an even older one with a hollow chamber in it. The amazed gaze of the monks saw two huge coffins impregnated with resins preserving the tree.
The archives of the abbey preserved a detailed account of the examination of the bodies of the deceased. The man's skeleton was striking in its high growth - 225 cm. His skull was damaged, but the cause of the injury could not be established. The woman's head is perfectly preserved with blond hair.
The leadership of the monastery ordered a solemn reburial and a large lead cross with the inscription: "Here, on the island of Avalon, the famous King Arthur rests underground." In 1278, the remains of the monarch were reburied in a special tomb made of fine black marble.
The first modern scientific research at Glastonbury began in 1907. The British scientist Frederick Bond led a historical and archaeological expedition and discovered the remains of an unknown chapel.
Having checked its geographical position with the general plan of the abbey, Bond came to the conclusion that it was built according to the laws of sacred geometry of the ancient Egyptians, and later the Freemasons.
However, Bond had the imprudence to publicly declare that he received all instructions on the search for antiquities with the help of mediums, communicating with the souls of deceased monks. A major scandal erupted, and Bond was fired.
Only many years later, the results of his research were rethought in the light of new scientific data. As it turned out, Bond showed in his report an energetic connection between Glastonbury and Stonehenge.
T. N. the line "lei" (a place of bursts of energy of unknown origin) connects these two places, passing parallel to the ancient road. This mystical track is popularly called Tod Line - literally "dead line", or "the path of dead people."
In English folklore, Tod Line designates the path of the spirits along which the dead follow to the afterlife. Arthur's burial place is located on this line.
The next attempt to solve the Glastonbury riddle was made in the 1920s. XX century. For London scientists, the ancient observatory (otherwise - the Star Temple), located south of the abbey, continued to remain a seven-sealed secret.
She represents 12 huge signs of the Zodiac, skillfully laid out on the ground. The description of this object was first encountered by John Dee (1527-1608), the famous astrologer and medium of Queen Elizabeth I.
And in 1929 the Star Temple was re-examined by the sculptor Catherine Melwood. She was known among the British intelligentsia primarily as an illustrator of The High History of the Holy Grail, a historical and mystical work written in 1199 in Glastonbury. Having carefully studied astrological figures, Melwood in her work "The Temple of the Stars at Glastonbury" tried to connect them with the characters of the Arthurian epic.
So, she compares the magical figure of Merlin with the constellation Capricorn; King Arthur - with Sagittarius, and Guenever - with Virgo. The very same Glastonbury Abbey is the sign of Aquarius, symbolizing the arrival of a new enlightened era.
At the end of the twentieth century. British scientists, having gathered together the accumulated knowledge, decided once and for all to give an answer to all the questions that Glastonbury put before them for more than a thousand years. Archaeologists reopened Arthur's grave, and the chronicles of the abbey were fully confirmed!
Scientists were engaged not only in the black tomb, but also studied the earliest burial chamber discovered by monks in 1190. The skeletons of Arthur and Guenever were sent for a medical examination, which dated the remains of the 5th-6th centuries, i.e. the time when the legendary king lived. There was no longer any doubt …
Based on materials from the magazine "Riddles of History"
