Emmanuelle Geb a ajouté 3 photos.
Créé pour vous présenter mon dernier livre,je vous présente 4500 articles sur le thème de mon livre :les Templiers,des sujets ésotériques,des textes rosicrusiens,les mérovingiens, saint-Graal,Nostradamus,Mary Magdalene.Le Baphomet et le Tau, Château de Saumur,la femme dans l'histoire templière. Trésor templier.Histoires, légendes de Belgique,de France et d'Europe et Celtiques. La spiritualité. Développement personnel.
vendredi 28 juin 2013
mercredi 26 juin 2013
mardi 25 juin 2013
Peut-on éliminer la peur?
LA SCIENCE DE LA PEUR
La peur nous protège du danger, mais elle peut aussi nous gâcher la vie lorsqu’elle prend le dessus sur la raison! D'où vient-elle? Peut-on éliminer la peur? Si oui, quelles sont les conséquences? Ce documentaire analyse cette grande émotion humaine.
La peur nous protège du danger, mais elle peut aussi nous gâcher la vie lorsqu’elle prend le dessus sur la raison! D'où vient-elle? Peut-on éliminer la peur? Si oui, quelles sont les conséquences? Ce documentaire analyse cette grande émotion humaine.
SAVIEZ-VOUS QUE..?
SAVIEZ-VOUS
QUE..? — Dans les prochaines semaines, le soleil perturbera les
téléphones intelligents et les GPS à cause d’un trou coronal repéré par
la Nasa. Ce trou est une zone froide autour du soleil causant des vents
solaires très puissants, mais aussi de belles aurores boréales sur
Terre!
(suite) La fin des Templiers par Rudy Cambier.
Scène 8
***
Julien est planté là à attendre on ne sait pas quoi. Le Philosophe arrive et regarde longuement Julien qui voudrait se fourrer dans un trou de taupe.
Le Philosophe
Je savais que je vous trouverais ici.
Julien
Ah ?
Le Philosophe
Ça va ?
Julien hésitant
Euh…, oui Monsieur…, ça va …
Le Philosophe
Ça va comme vous voulez ?
Julien
Euh… oui Monsieur, ça va …
Le Philosophe
Eh bien tant mieux ! Et votre papa ? Il va bien ?
Julien
Euh…Ououi Monsieur. Il va bien.
Le Philosophe
Eh bien tant mieux ! Et vot' maman ? elle va bien aussi ?
Julien qui commence à s'amuser
Oui Monsieur. Elle va bien …
Le Philosophe
Eh bien tant mieux ! Et vot' frère, ça va ?
Julien qui prend une belle assurance
Oui Monsieur, ça va.
Le Philosophe
Eh bien tant mieux ! Et ses amours, ça va ?
Julien qui tout d'un coup commence à sentir le vinaigre
Euheuheuh, je ne sais pas, peut-être …
Le Philosophe
Et vous, vos amours, ça va ?
Julien plein de confusion ne sait pas répondre et Le Philosophe s'en amuse
Le Philosophe
C'est une affaire embêtante, hein !
Voyez-vous, ce n’est jamais bon d'aller pêcher ailleurs que dans son étang et c’est ce que vous avez fait en allant draguer hors de votre classe.
Ma fille s'est éprise de vous et je considère ça comme un très grand malheur. Notez que ça ne me dérangerait pas d'élever un bâtard, mais pour l'enfant, la bâtardise est toujours un désastre. Dans mon idée voyez-vous, s'il ne pense pas à l'union perpétuelle, l'homme n'est qu'un bestiau sauteur et la femme une sotte sautée.
Julien
Mais je veux épouser Éliabel. Je l'aime. Je l'aime !
Le Philosophe
Admettons que vous croyez ce que vous dites, et admettons même que vous l'épousiez, mais aimer un jour ne suffit pas, il faut aimer toujours.
Julien
C’est ce que je ferai.
Le Philosophe
J’en doute.
Julien
Et pourquoi ?
Le Philosophe, silence puis
Parce que vous ne résisterez pas toujours aux insinuations venimeuses des jaloux. Les propos insidieux nous atteignent à la manière d'un aspic : une fois les crochets dans la chair, le poison nous tue, toujours. Or tôt ou tard, quelqu'un ou quelqu'une arrivera à vous persuader que vous méritiez mieux que "ça". Pour ma fille, ce jour-là sera le premier jour du malheur.
Julien
Sûrement pas !
Le Philosophe
Si ! Parce que vous allez déchoir, c'est-à-dire que désormais vous serez méprisé par ceux qui aujourd'hui sont au-dessus de vous, par ceux qui sont vos égaux et par ceux qui sont en dessous de vous, et un jour, vous penserez, puis vous direz, que c’est à cause d’elle.
Julien
Certainement pas ! Mais vous, vous en personne, pourquoi vous acharnez-vous contre moi ? Qu'est-ce que j'ai fait de mal à part être moi ?
Le Philosophe
Ah mais je ne parle pas ainsi parce que vous êtes Julien le fils d'Albert d'Athensis. Vous me faites bonne impression et je pense que le départ sera bon. Ce qui me tracasse avec vous, c'est qu'il n'est pas facile de déchoir et de rester bon. Je me dois donc de mettre ma fille en garde, et vous un peu aussi, tout en sachant qu’aucune précaution ne sert à rien car le mariage est une loterie.
Mais sait-on jamais ? Peut-être que ma fille aura de la chance.
(à suivre).
lundi 24 juin 2013
dimanche 23 juin 2013
CADBURY CASTLE: King Arthur's Camelot?
CADBURY CASTLE: King Arthur's Camelot?
Excerpted from "The Traveller's Guide To Arthurian Britain" by Geoffrey Ashe
Cadbury Castle is the best known and most interesting of the reputed sites of Camelot. A hill-fort
beside South Cadbury, down a small road which leaves the A303 at Chapel
Cross, 1 1/2 miles east of Sparkford.
The road passes through South Cadbury village and, a short distance beyond
the church, comes to the foot of the only path up the hill. This is marked by
a notice-board. There is a small parking space, and a much larger one farther
on. The path climbs gently to a gate in a wall, and then more steeply through
woods, till it emerges in she enclosure on top. After rain it is apt to be muddy
and slippery.
Cadbury is an isolated hill of limestone and sandstone. The summit is
about 500 feet above sea-level, with a wide view of central Somerset,
including the Tor at Glastonbury 12 miles away, and, in clear weather,
Brent Knoll beyond. It has four lines of bank-and-ditch defence. For most
of the way round they are densely wooded, and, in spring, full of
bluebells and primroses. Wherever the trees have grown, as they have in
the place where the path goes up, the banks have crumbled and lost shape.
But towards their south-east bend - reached by turning left when you
enter the enclosure - they come out into the open, and you can look down
and see them as they once were all round the hill, a formidable system.
They surround a defended area of l 8 acres, rising to a long, level
central plateau. A break at the south-west above another village, Sutton
Montis, is the original gateway.The first known author to refer to Cadbury as Camelot is John Leland in 1542. He says: "At the very south end of the church of South-Cadbyri standeth Camallate, sometime a famous town or castle . . . The people can tell nothing there but that they have heard Arthur much resorted to Camalat." Skeptics have argued that there was no real local tradition, or perhaps a vague tradition of Arthur only, and that the evocative name is a guess of Leland's prompted by the villages of Queen Camel and West Camel not far away. Yet he speaks of Camelot without any discussion as a recognized fact, and his spelling with an a instead of o in the last syllable may echo a local pronunciation. This can be heard today; the a is sounded as in "father". It may have some bearing on the case that the first printed edition of a work by the classical geographer Ptolemy, which Leland could have read, notes a place called "Camuludanum" in this part of Britain. Whatever the people of the neighbourhood were saying in 1542, they have certainly cherished Arthurian lore since then. Cadbury hill has its version of the cave-legend, which, in fact, can be documented earlier than any other, as far back as the sixteenth century. Arthur lies asleep in a cavern closed by iron gates, or maybe golden ones. Sometimes they open so that the fortunate wanderer can glimpse him inside. A party of Victorian archaeologists were asked by an old man if they meant to dig up the king. A well on the left of the path as you go up it is Arthur's Well, and the highest part of the hill is Arthur's Palace, a phrase on record as early as 1586. On Midsummer Eve, or Midsummer Night, or Christmas Eve (opinions differ, and some say it is only every seventh year), Arthur and his knights ride over the hilltop and down through the ancient gateway, and their horses drink at a spring beside Sutton Montis church. Whether or not they can be seen, their hoof beats can be heard. Below the hill are traces of an old track running towards Glastonbury, called Arthur's Lane or Hunting Causeway, where a noise of spectral riders and hounds goes past on winter nights. One theory about the name "Cadbury" is that this itself is a link with Arthur, because it means "Cadwy's Fort", and we find Arthur as the colleague, perhaps early in his career, of a prince named Cadwy at Dunster. He could have taken over Cadbury through some arrangement with its owner. But the derivation is dubious, and so is the argument, if only because there are other Cadburys. The word "castle" suggests a medieval fortress with towers and battlements. The same warning applies here as at Liddington and elsewhere: Cadbury never had a castle like that. The fortified hill itself was the castle. Since nothing was ever here like the Camelot of romance (which, moreover, has no real geography), in what sense could Cadbury deserve the name? Solely in the sense of having been Arthur's headquarters and principal citadel, the far-off reality underlying the fiction. But that in itself is an impressive thing to be, and the nearby "Camel" place names suggest how traditions of the Cadbury area might have helped to shape a name for the dream-city remotely recalling it. Antiquarian writers from Leland on simply call Cadbury "Camelot" (variously spelled) without drawing such distinctions, and speak of Roman coins and fragments of buildings. No such fragments were left when the Rev. James Bennett, Rector of South Cadbury, carried out the first small excavation. In a paper published in 1890 he told how he had cut a trench through the top rampart, and judged that it was built up in layers over a long time. We now know that this was correct. On the plateau he dug down to a pit in the bedrock with scraps of pottery in it, and half a quern. The pit had a large flat stone at the bottom. A workman who was helping thought this covered a manhole leading down to the cave, but when they lifted it they found only another large flat stone. In 1913, H. St. George Gray excavated again, chiefly near the south-west entrance, finding objects which showed that people were on the hill in the late Iron Age just before the Roman conquest. The crucial step from an Arthurian point of view did not come till the middle 1950s. Part of the enclosure was ploughed, and a local archaeologist, Mrs. Mary Harfield, picked up the flints and potsherds which appeared on the surface in the upturned soil. Among these Dr Ralegh Radford recognized pottery of the type he had found at Tintagel, which proved that somebody had lived here at about the time of Arthur, and most likely a "somebody" of wealth and standing who could import luxury goods. The interest thus aroused led to the formation of the Camelot Research Committee, which carried out large-scale excavations in 1966 - 70 under the direction of Leslie Alcock. The results were copious. It became clear that British Celts of the Iron Age had not only built the earthwork defenses, but reconstructed the top bank several times, as Bennett suspected. A village flourished on the plateau for hundreds of years. Then the Romans stormed Cadbury and evicted the survivors, resettling them at the foot of the hill so that they could not make it a strong point in any future rebellion. During most of the Roman period the enclosure was empty. However, a temple may have been built during a pagan revival which is known to have spread through Britain in the fourth century AD. After that comes a phase of total obscurity, and after that, the Arthurian period. For this the archaeological haul was richer than anyone had expected, or dared to predict. In a central and commanding position, on the high part of the hill called Arthur's Palace, the foundations of a timber hall came to light. It was 63 feet by 34. Its walls were marked by post-holes cut in the bedrock. A trench running across it, closer to one end than the other, showed where a partition had divided it into large and small rooms. In outline it resembled the hall at Castle Dore, but there were grounds for inferring more skillful workmanship, quality rather than size. In this building the chief warriors would have assembled, feasted, listened to minstrels, planned campaigns. A smaller building close by could have been the kitchen, and others may also have belonged to an Arthurian complex, though it was only with the hall that dating was certain. At the south-west entry were the remains of a gatehouse of the same period. A cobbled road ten feet wide climbed into the enclosure. It passed through double doors into a nearly square wooden tower, and out through similar doors the other side. All this, of course, has now been buried again and only the gap in the bank is visible, far shallower than it was. Most important of all was the discovery which was made in that bank, the three-quarter-mile perimeter of the hill. Cuts through it in several places, now refilled like the entrance, revealed a cross-section like a layer cake, with strata one above another showing how the ram art had been rebuilt at various times over the centuries. In Arthurian times it had been rebuilt grandiosely. On top of the earth at that level was a dry stone bank or wall 16 feet thick. Gaps where ancient timber had rotted marked the places where massive posts had upheld a breastwork on the outside, protecting men who stood on the wall. Beams had run across, binding the structure together and supporting a platform, and perhaps, at intervals, wooden watch towers. This defensive system surrounding the hill made an impression in keeping with the period. The wall itself, with its timber bracing and superstructure, was very like what the British Celts were building before the Roman conquest. It incorporated fragments of Roman masonry, salvaged from derelict buildings, but it was strictly a national piece of work. On the other hand the gatehouse had Roman touches. When Arthurian Cadbury was formed, Britain's heritage of Roman architecture was seemingly almost forgotten, but not quite. By the later fifth century that might well have been the state of affairs. Cadbury Castle: artist's reconstruction of the Arthurian timber hall, with roof cut away to show the internal framework. Nothing was found with Arthur's name on it, and it would have been foolish to hope for that. What the project did prove was that Cadbury was reoccupied by the right sort of person, at approximately the right time. A leader with uncommon resources took possession of this vacant hill-fort and refortified it on a colossal scale. He was (as somebody phrased it during the excavations) an Arthur-type figure, if no more. At the centre he set up at least one fair-sized building and probably several smaller ones. He may have had others; even in 1970 after five seasons of digging, only a fraction of the site had been opened up. But quite possibly his soldiers used tents or huts leaving no lasting traces. When they were at Cadbury, their encampment held fully 1,000 men, plus ancillary staff, followers and families. During the campaign season the base may have been looked after by a garrison only. But it may have been a regional centre of government with a permanent civilian establishment. The point about Cadbury-Camelot is not only that this hill-fort was converted into a vast citadel at the right time, but that there is no other known instance in ex-Roman Britain of such a thing having happened. A number of hill-forts were reoccupied, but simply as protected places of residence for a household. The areas resettled within their ramparts were much smaller; none became a base for substantial forces; and while, in a few, a little feeble wall- building was carried out, none acquired a new fortification remotely like the stone-and-timber rampart of Cadbury, with its gatehouse and implied use of the whole 18-acre enclosure. It is hard to believe that when Leland called this place "Camelot" he was merely guessing, rather than drawing on a valid tradition. A mere guess would have been most unlikely to pick on the one known place throughout Britain with the right characteristics. Even a modern archaeologist could not have made such a guess, simply by looking at the hill, with any confidence of being correct. The Camelot Research Committee, of course, turned up material of value and interest covering a far longer stretch of time than the brief Arthurian period. Some of it still had an indirect bearing on the Arthurian Legend itself, or on stories related to it. For instance, at the south-east bend of the uppermost rampart, a human skeleton was found. It was the skeleton of a young man rammed head-down into a pit, his knees drawn up to his chin. Fresh rampart-building had been done on top of him. The bones showed no physical defect, and the likeliest explanation is that this was a human sacrifice, performed for divine strengthening of the wall in a pre-Roman phase of its reconstruction. That calls to mind the tale of Vortigern's stronghold and the Druids' advice about sprinkling its foundation with a boy's blood. Whoever first told that story knew something of pagan Celtic customs, and rituals which might have survived on the wild fringes of fifth-century Britain. Again, one surprising outcome of the excavations was the discovery of evidence that the Iron Age village was not stormed by the Romans, its people were not deported, till a considerable time after this part of Britain was officially conquered. It was a centre for some last stand,'some unchronicled resistance. Historians have nothing to say about this. But the Roman poet Juvenal speaks briefly of a British leader named Arviragus who would have been known or at least remembered in about AD 80 - 90 for causing trouble. Now in accounts of the Grail-bearer Joseph of Arimathea and his coming to Glastonbury, he and his companions are said to have been granted land there in AD 63 by a local king not subject to Rome. In some versions this king is named, and his name is Arviragus . Could that detail show a hazy awareness of traditions about a real person, a British Hereward the Wake who maintained a miniature kingdom in the hills and marshes of central Somerset, till the conquerors moved in on his strongest hill and dispersed its inhabitants? 
While the archaeologists left the cave-legend alone, their project may
have shed accidental light on it. There is no cave now. In such cases
there seldom is. But a visitor who knew the hill well pointed out a place
in the scarp on the south side of the central plateau, where a metal rod
could be thrust horizontally far into the soil without hitting bedrock.
Possibly a recess once existed there, and was filled in by crumbling,
leaving a folk-memory which exaggerated its size and depth.Lastly - though this was no part of the project - an amateur group which took an interest in it tested the "beacon" theory by building a large fire on the summit and posting observers on Glastonbury Tor, who reported that when the fire was lit after dark, they could easily see it across the low-lying country between. | |
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samedi 22 juin 2013
vendredi 21 juin 2013
THIS is a mysterious part of the adventures of King Arthur's Knights.
The Quest of the Holy Graal
THIS is a mysterious part of the adventures of King Arthur's Knights. We must remember that parts of these stories are very old; they were invented by the heathen Welsh, or by the ancient Britons, from whom the Welsh are descended, and by the old pagan Irish, who spoke Gaelic, a language not very unlike Welsh. Then these ancient stories were translated by French and other foreign writers, and Christian beliefs and chivalrous customs were added in the French romances, and, finally, the French was translated into English about the time of Edward IV. by Sir Thomas Malory, who altered as he pleased. The Story of the Holy Graal, in this book, is mostly taken from Malory, but partly from 'The High History of the Holy Graal,' translated by Dr. Sebastian Evans from an old French book.
What was the Holy Graal? In the stories it is the holy vessel used by our Lord, and brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea. But in the older heathen Irish stories there is a mysterious vessel of a magical sort, full of miraculous food, and probably the French writers of the romances confused this with the sacred vessel brought from the Holy Land. On account of the sins of men this relic was made invisible, but now and then it appeared, borne by angels or floating in a heavenly light. The Knights, against King Arthur's wish, made a vow to find it, and gave up their duties of redressing wrongs and keeping order, to pursue the beautiful vision. But most of them, for their sins, were unsuccessful, like Sir
p. 65
[paragraph continues] Lancelot, and the Round Table was scattered and the kingdom was weakened by the neglect of ordinary duties in the search for what could never be gained by mortal men, This appears to be the moral of the story, if it has any moral. But the stories are confused almost like a dream, though it is a beautiful dream.
Next: I: How The King Went on Pilgrimage, and his Squire was Slain in a Dream
The Tomb of King Arthur
Return to the Home Page of The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester
Return to the Avalon Menu of The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester
The Tomb of King Arthur
Gerald of Wales on the Finding of King Arthur's Tomb
Translated by John William Sutton
Introduction
This page contains a translation of the writings of Gerald of Wales (1146-1223) on the discovery of King Arthur's tomb and remains. Arthur was the national hero of the Welsh, who spent many centuries struggling against the incursion of England. In the early 1060s, Harold of Wessex (later King of England in 1066) became the first English ruler to subjugate Wales. The Welsh rose up periodically throughout the High Middle Ages, often raiding the Marches (the English territories on the Welsh border), even after Wales was officially incorporated into England in 1284 under King Edward I.
King Arthur was a symbol of Welsh resistance to English oppression, for according to tradition Arthur had fought against invading Germanic tribes on behalf of the Romano-Celtic ancestors of the Welsh. Arthur, said to have been slain at the Battle of Camlann, was supposedly taken to the enchanted Isle of Avalon for the healing of his wounds, so that one day he could return and rally his countrymen to repel the English once and for all. The alleged discovery of Arthur's tomb, then, was propaganda that the English could use against the Welsh, proving to them definitively that their savior was permanently deceased and would never return to liberate them.
Gerald's life
Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis in Latin) was born in Manorbier, in southern Wales, to an aristocratic family primarily of Anglo-Norman descent, but with some local Welsh blood as well. He spent his adult life as a cleric, and from his writings we learn that he had a passion for ecclesiastical reform that was matched only by his passion for personal advancement in Church offices. Ultimately he grew bitter that he was never promoted as far as he would have liked, which he believed was the result of prejudice against his Welsh heritage.
Gerald's writing on the discovery of Arthur's tomb
Gerald was a prolific writer throughout his career. Today he is best known for his historical and ethnographic writings, in works such as Topographia Hibernica (The Topography of Ireland), Expugnatio Hibernica (The Conquest of Ireland), and Descriptio Kambriae (The Description of Wales). In two of his lesser-known works we find his accounts of the discovery of King Arthur's tomb. A brief description of each is given below:
On the Instruction of Princes -- This work exists in only one manuscript, Cotton MS Julius B. xiii. Although it is chiefly a didactic treatise about the virtues required in a good prince, it is also a vehicle for political commentary; for instance, Gerald uses the work to criticize King Henry II and his sons, an indication of his growing hostility toward the English kings.1
Mirror of the Church -- This text also exists in one manuscript, the highly damaged Cotton MS Tiberius B. xiii. Here Gerald rails against the excesses of monasteries: ambition, wealth, departure from the observance of their rules, etc.2 Essentially, in this work Gerald "scathe[s] with no sparing hand the monastic degeneracy of his times."3
A note on the translations
Brackets in the translation represent my own editorial interjections. I use parentheses to help render some of Gerald's complicated Latin syntax into readable English. See the Bibliography for the editions I have used for this translation.
The Discovery of the Tomb of King Arthur
from
Liber de Principis Instructione
[On the Instruction of Princes]
The memory of Arthur, the celebrated king of the Britons, should not be concealed. In his age, he was a distinguished patron, generous donor, and a splendid supporter of the renowned monastery of Glastonbury; they praise him greatly in their annals. Indeed, more than all other churches of his realm he prized the Glastonbury church of Holy Mary, mother of God, and sponsored it with greater devotion by far than he did for the rest. When that man went forth for war, depicted on the inside part of his shield was the image of the Blessed Virgin, so that he would always have her before his eyes in battle, and whenever he found himself in a dangerous encounter he was accustomed to kiss her feet with the greatest devotion.
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 honor, 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."
Many remarkable things come to mind regarding this. For instance, he had two wives, of whom the last was buried with him. Her bones were discovered with her husband's, though separated in such a way that two-thirds of the sepulcher, namely the part nearer the top, was believed to contain the bones of the husband, and then one-third, toward the bottom, separately contained the bones of his wife -- wherein was also discovered a yellow lock of feminine hair, entirely intact and pristine in color, which a certain monk eagerly seized in hand and lifted out; immediately the whole thing crumbled to dust.
Indeed, there had been some evidence from the records that the body might be found there, and some from the lettering carved on the pyramids (although that was mostly obliterated by excessive antiquity), and also some that came from the visions and revelations made by good men and the devout. But the clearest evidence came when King Henry II of England explained the whole matter to the monks (as he had heard it from an aged British poet): how they would find the body deep down, namely more than 16 feet into the earth, and not in a stone tomb but in an oak-hollow. The body had been placed so deep, and was so well concealed, that it could not be found by the Saxons who conquered the island after the king's death -- those whom he had battled with so much exertion while he was alive, and whom he had nearly annihilated. And so because of this the lettering on the cross -- the confirmation of the truth -- had been inscribed on the reverse side, turned toward the stone, so that it would conceal the tomb at that time and yet at some moment or occasion could ultimately divulge what it contained.
What is now called Glastonbury was, in antiquity, called the Isle of Avalon; it is like an island because it is entirely hemmed in by swamps. In British4 it is called Inis Avallon, that is, insula pomifera [Latin: "The Island of Apples"5]. This is because the apple, which is called aval in the British tongue, was once abundant in that place. Morgan, a noble matron, mistress and patroness of those regions, and also King Arthur's kinswoman by blood, brought Arthur to the island now called Glastonbury for the healing of his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Moreover, the island had once been called in British Inis Gutrin, that is, insula vitrea [Latin: "The Island of Glass"]; from this name, the invading Saxons afterwards called this place Glastingeburi, for glas in their language means vitrum [Latin: "glass"], and buri stands for castrum [Latin: "castle"] or civitas [Latin: "city"].
It should be noted also that the bones of Arthur's body that they discovered were so large that the poet's verse seems to ring true: "Bones excavated from tombs are reckoned enormous."6 Indeed, his shin-bone, which the abbot showed to us, was placed near the shin of the tallest man of the region; then it was fixed to the ground against the man's foot, and it extended substantially more than three inches above his knee. And the skull was broad and huge, as if he were a monster or prodigy, to the extent that the space between the eyebrows and the eye-sockets amply encompassed the breadth of one's palm. Moreover, ten or more wounds were visible on that skull, all of which had healed into scars except one, greater than the rest, which had made a large cleft -- this seems to have been the lethal one.
The Discovery of the Tomb of King Arthur
from
Speculum Ecclesiae
[Mirror of the Church]
Cap. VIII.
Regarding the monk who, at the discovery of the tomb of Arthur, pulled out a lock of women's hair with his hand, and quite shamelessly accelerated its ruin.
Furthermore, in our times, while Henry II was ruling England, the tomb of the renowned Arthur was searched for meticulously in Glastonbury Abbey; this was done at the instruction of the king and under the supervision of the abbot of that place, Henry, who was later transferred to Worcester Cathedral. With much effort the tomb was excavated in the holy burial-ground that had been dedicated by Saint Dunstan; it was found between two tall, emblazoned pyramids, erected long ago in memory of Arthur. Though his body and bones had been reduced to dust, they were conveyed from below into the air, and to a more dignified place.
A lock of female hair -- blond and beautiful, twisted and braided with astonishing skill -- was discovered in the same tomb, evidently from Arthur's wife, who was buried in the same place as her husband.7 [Standing among the crowd is a monk who sees the lock of hair.] So that he could seize the lock before all others, he hurled himself headlong into the lowest depths of the cavity. Then the aforementioned monk, that insolent spectator, no less impudent than imprudent, descended into the depths -- the depths symbolize the infernal realm, which cannot be sated. Thus the monk thought to pull it out with his hand, to take hold of the lock of hair before all others -- evidence of his shameless mind, for women's hair entangles the weak-willed, while strong souls avoid it. Hair, of course, is said to be incorruptible, for it has no flesh in it, nor any moisture mixed with it. Nevertheless, as he held it in his hand, having raised it up in order to inspect it (many watched intently and in amazement), it crumbled into the thinnest dust; miraculously it disintegrated, as if reduced to granules. [There are a few words missing here.] For it demonstrated that all things are transitory, and all worldly beauty is for our vain eyes to gaze upon, for performing illicit sensual acts, or for our moments that are susceptible to vanity -- indeed, as the philosopher said, "the spendor of beauty is swift, passing, changeable, and more fleeting than the flowers of spring."8
Cap. IX.
Regarding the bones lying intact in the tomb of King Arthur, discovered at Glastonbury in our times, and about the many things relating to these remarkable circumstances.
Furthermore, tales are regularly reported and fabricated about King Arthur and his uncertain end, with the British peoples even now contending foolishly that he is still alive. True and accurate information has been sought out, so the legends have finally been extinguished; the truth about this matter should be revealed plainly, so here I have endeavored to add something to the indisputable facts that have been disclosed.
After the Battle of Camlann . . . [A number of words are missing.] And so, after Arthur had been mortally wounded there, his body was taken to the Isle of Avalon, which is now called Glastonbury, by a noble matron and kinswoman named Morgan; afterwards the remains were buried, according to her direction, in the holy burial-ground. As a result of this, the Britons and their poets have been concocting legends that a certain fantastic goddess, also called Morgan, carried off the body of Arthur to the Isle of Avalon for the healing of his wounds. When his wounds have healed, the strong and powerful king will return to rule the Britons (or so the Britons suppose), as he did before. Thus they still await him, just as the Jews, deceived by even greater stupidity, misfortune, and faithlessness, likewise await their Messiah.
It is significant . . . [Two sentences or so are highly damaged.] Truly it is called Avalon, either from the British word aval9 , which means pomum [Latin: "apple"10], because apples and apple trees abound in that place; or, from the name Vallo, once the ruler of of that territory.11 Likewise, long ago the place was usually called in British Inis Gutrin, that is, insula vitrea [Latin: "The Island of Glass"], evidently on account of the river, most like glass in color, that flows around the marshes. Because of this, it was later called Glastonia in the language of the Saxons who seized this land, since glas in English or in Saxon means vitrum [Latin: "glass"]. It is clear from this, therefore, why it was called an island, why it was called Avalon, and why it was called Glastonia; it is also clear how the fantastic goddess Morgan was contrived by poets.
It is also notable that . . . [Several words are missing, obscuring the meaning of the first part of the sentence.] from the letters inscribed on it, yet nearly all, however, was destroyed by antiquity. The abbot had the best evidence from the aforementioned King Henry, for the king had said many times, as he had heard from the historical tales of the Britons and from their poets, that Arthur was buried between two pyramids that were erected in the holy burial-ground. These were very deep, on account of the Saxons (whom he had subdued often and expelled from the Island of Britain, and whom his evil nephew Mordred had later called back against him), who endeavored to occupy the whole island again after his death; so their fear was that Saxons might despoil him in death through the wickedness of their vengeful spirit.
A broad stone was unearthed during the excavating at the tomb, about seven feet . . . [A couple of words are missing.] a lead cross was fastened -- not to the outer part of the stone, but rather to the underside (no doubt as a result of their fears about the Saxons). It had these words inscribed on it: "Here lies entombed King Arthur, on the Isle of Avalon, with Guenevere his second wife." Now when they had extracted this cross from the stone, the aforementioned Abbot Henry showed it to me; I examined it, and read the words. The cross was fastened to the underside the stone, and, moreover, the engraved part of the cross was turned toward the stone, so that it would be better concealed. Remarkable indeed was the industry and exquisite prudence of the men of that era, who, by all their exertions, wished to hide forever the body of so great a man, their lord, and the patron of that region, from the danger of sudden disturbance. Moreover, they took care that -- at some time in the future when their tribulations had ceased -- the evidence of the letters inscribed on the cross could be made public.
Cap. X.
The renowned King Arthur was a patron of Glastonbury Abbey. [Enough words are missing that the rest of this chapter heading is indecipherable.]
[The beginning of the sentence is lost.] . . . had proposed, thus Arthur's body was discovered not in a marble tomb, not cut from rock or Parian stone, as was fitting for so distinguished a king, but rather in wood, in oak that was hollowed out for this purpose, and 16 feet or more deep in the earth; this was certainly on account of haste rather than proper ceremony for the burial of so great a prince, driven as they were by a time of urgent distress.
When the body was discovered according to the directions indicated by King Henry, the aforementioned abbot had an extraordinary marble tomb made for the remains, as was fitting for an excellent patron of that place, for indeed, he had prized that church more than all the rest in his kingdom, and had enriched it with large and numerous lands. And for that reason it was not undeserved, but just and by the judgment of God, who rewards all good deeds not only in heaven, but also on earth and in this life. [The end is very defective.] . . . and the authentic body of Arthur . . . to be buried properly . . .
Footnotes
Introduction
1 Warner, pp. x-xi.
2 Brewer, p. xiv.
3 Brewer, p. viii.
Liber de Principis Instructione
4 By "British" he means a very early form of Welsh. This was the native language of the Romanized Celtic peoples who inhabited the island before the coming of the Germanic tribes; these Celtic peoples were displaced and driven west into what is now called Wales.
5 The Latin words pomum ("fruit") and pomifer ("fruit-bearing") refer to fruit in general, but here they are translating the Welsh word that specifically means "apple."
6 Thorpe, p. 283 (n. 637), notes that this line is from Virgil's Georgics, I.497.
Speculum Ecclesiae
7 There is only one manuscript for this text (Cotton MS Tiberius B. xiii, on which Brewer's edition is based), and it is very defective; consequently, some words and even some entire sentences are lost. I have attempted to give a sense of what is missing, using brackets for my textual commentary; parentheses, again, are reserved for sorting out some of Gerald's convoluted Latin syntax.
8 This quotation has not been identified.
9 By "British" he means a very early form of Welsh. This was the native language of the Romanized Celtic peoples who inhabited the island before the coming of the Germanic tribes; these Celtic peoples were displaced and driven west into what is now called Wales.
10 The Latin words pomum ("fruit") and pomifer ("fruit-bearing") refer to fruit in general, but here they are translating the Welsh word that specifically means "apple."
11 Thorpe, p. 286 (n. 649), writes that "[n]othing is known of this Vallo, although folklorists have taken him up."
Bibliography
Brewer, J.S., ed. Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, scilicet, Speculum Ecclesiae. Rolls Series, no. 21, vol. 4. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1873. Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964. Pp. 47-51.
Thorpe, Lewis, trans. The Journey through Wales and The Description of Wales. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, United Kingdom: Penguin Books Ltd, 1978.
Warner, George F., ed. Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, Vol. VIII, De Principis Instructione Liber. Rolls Series, no. 21, vol. 8. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1891. Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964. Pp. 126-29.
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