Editing Avalon (section)

===Later medieval literature===
[[File:The Death of King Arthur.jpg|thumb|250px|''La Mort d'Arthur'' by [[James Archer (artist)|James Archer]] (1860)]]

In many versions of Arthurian legend, including [[Thomas Malory]]'s compilation ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', [[Morgan le Fay|Morgan the Fairy]] and several other magical queens (numbering either three, four, or "many"<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tanner |first1=William Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpcOAQAAMAAJ |title=The Arthurian Myth of Quest and Magic: A Festschrift in Honor of Lavon B. Fulwiler |last2=Fulwiler |first2=Lavon B. |date=1993 |publisher=Caxton's Modern Arts Press |isbn=978-0-9635769-0-3 |language=en}}</ref>) arrive after the battle to take the mortally wounded Arthur from the battlefield of Camlann ([[Salisbury Plain]] in 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 (mythology)|Wasteland]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUqpAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA237|title=Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology|first=Theresa|last=Bane|date=4 September 2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786471119 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In the [[Vulgate Cycle|Vulgate]] ''Queste'', Morgan tells Arthur of her intention to relocate to Avalon, "where 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ri0yAQAAMAAJ|title = The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances: Les aventures ou la queste del Saint Graal. La mort de roi Artus|last1 = Sommer|first1 = Heinrich Oskar|year = 1969|id={{Internet Archive|arthurian06sommuoft|The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances Volume 6}}|page=238<!--page 244 in the DJVU file-->}}</ref> Its Welsh version also claims, within its text, to be a translation of old Latin books from Avalon, as does the French ''[[Perlesvaus]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UI93dKBwWdMC&pg=PA165|title = Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Tradition|isbn = 9780859915724|last1 = Carley|first1 = James P.|last2 = Carley|first2 = James Patrick|year = 2001| publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NenKwH-6zg8C&pg=PA13|title=Arthurian Literature XXII|last1=Busby|first1=Keith|last2=Dalrymple|first2=Roger|date=2005|publisher=DS Brewer|isbn=9781843840626|language=en}}</ref> In Lope Garcia de Salazar's Spanish summary of the [[Post-Vulgate]] ''Roman du Graal'', Avalon is conflated with (and explicitly named as) the mythological [[Brasil (mythical island)|Island of Brasil]], said to be located west of Ireland and afterwards forever hidden in mist by Morgan's enchantment.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/roma_0035-8029_1971_num_92_365_2265|title=The Passing of King Arthur to the Island of Brasil in a Fifteenth-Century Spanish Version of the Post-Vulgate Roman du Grall|first=Harvey|last=Sharrer|date=May 25, 1971|journal=Romania|volume=92|issue=365|pages=65–74|via=www.persee.fr|doi=10.3406/roma.1971.2265}}</ref>

In some texts, Arthur's fate in Avalon is left untold or uncertain. In the ''[[Vera historia de morte Arthuri]]'' ("True story of the death of Arthur"), for instance, 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walmsley |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0CL_Z3Uchk8C&pg=PA239 |title=King Arthur's Battle for Britain |date=2013 |publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78088-400-4 |language=en}}</ref> ''[[Lanzelet]]'' tells of [[Loholt]] (''Loüt'') having left with Arthur to Avalon "whence the Bretons still expect both of them evermore."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tichelaar |first=Tyler R. |date=1999 |title=Creating King Arthur's Children: A Trend in Modern Fiction |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27869421 |journal=Arthuriana |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=39–56 |doi=10.1353/art.1999.0056 |jstor=27869421 }}</ref> Other times, Arthur's eventual death is explicitly confirmed, as it happens in the [[Stanzaic Morte Arthur|Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur'']], where the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] later receives the dead king's body from Morgan and buries it at [[Glastonbury]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/benson-and-foster-king-arthurs-death-stanzaic-morte-arthur-part-iii|title=Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Part 3|publisher=Robbins Library Digital Projects}}</ref> In the telling from [[Alliterative Morte Arthure|Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'']], relatively devoid of supernatural elements, it is not Morgan but the renowned [[Schola Medica Salernitana|physicians from Salerno]] who try, and fail, to save Arthur's life in Avalon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/alliterative-morte-arthur-part-iv|title=Alliterative Morte Arthure, Part IV {{!}} Robbins Library Digital Projects|website=d.lib.rochester.edu|access-date=2018-12-07}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RGEoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT219 |title=The Complete King Arthur: Many Faces, One Hero|first1=John|last1=Matthews|first2=Caitlín|last2=Matthews |year=2017|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781620556009|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 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.<ref name=blr>{{cite journal|author=Michael Twomey |url=https://www.academia.edu/11688947 |title='Morgan le Fay, Empress of the Wilderness': A Newly Recovered Arthurian Text in London, BL Royal 12.C.ix &#124; Michael Twomey |journal=Arthurian Literature |volume=25 |date=January 2008 |publisher=Academia.edu |access-date=2015-09-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IY-zIn5VHUC&pg=PT40|title=Morgan le Fay, Shapeshifter|first=Jill M.|last=Hebert|date=2013|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781137022653|via=Google Books}}</ref> This is reminiscent of the British tradition mentioned by [[Gervase of Tilbury]] as having Morgan still healing Arthur's wounds opening annually ever since on the Isle of Avalon (''Davalim'').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyWvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT239|title=Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance|first=Roger Sherman|last=Loomis|date=30 August 2005|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=9781613732106 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In the ''Didot-Perceval'', Arthur's sister Morgan is left to tends his mortal wounds in Avalon while the Britons wait for him (as told by him to do) for 40 years before electing another king. The author then adds that some people still hope that Arthur did not die and would return as he had promised, and tells of a legend according to which he has been [[Wild Hunt|seen since out hunting in the forests]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roach |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVErEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=The Didot "Perceval": According to the Manuscripts of Modena and Paris |date=2016-11-11 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-1-5128-0572-7 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=de Boron) |first=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Mz3sEURhiQC&pg=PA171 |title=Merlin and the Grail: Joseph of Arimathea, Merlin, Perceval : the Trilogy of Prose Romances Attributed to Robert de Boron |date=2001 |publisher=DS Brewer |isbn=978-0-85991-779-7 |language=en}}</ref>

Morgan features as an immortal ruler of a fantastic Avalon, sometimes alongside the still-alive Arthur, in some subsequent and otherwise non-Arthurian [[chivalric romance]]s such as ''[[Tirant lo Blanch]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repositori.udl.cat/handle/10459.1/59590|title=La desaparición de Morgana: de Tirant lo Blanch (1490) y Amadís de Gaula (1508) a Tyrant le Blanch (1737)|year=1998}}</ref> as well as the tales of [[Huon of Bordeaux]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8T0hy0wg0KEC&pg=PT836|title=The Spenser Encyclopedia|first=A. C.|last=Hamilton|date=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134934812|via=Google Books}}</ref> where the faery king [[Oberon]] is a son of either Morgan by name or "the Lady of the Secret Isle",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/25th-january-1896/6/huon-of-bordeaux|title=HUON OF BORDEAUX.* » 25 Jan 1896 » The Spectator Archive|website=The Spectator Archive}}</ref> and the legend of [[Ogier the Dane]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_15_e_vi|title=Digitised Manuscripts: BL Royal MS 15 E vi|website=The British Library|access-date=18 October 2017|archive-date=5 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705022636/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_15_E_VI|url-status=dead}}</ref> where Avalon can be described as an enchanted fairy castle (''chasteu d'Auallon''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOIjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA186|title = Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church|isbn = 9780812293166|last1 = Green|first1 = Richard Firth|date = 26 September 2016| publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press }}</ref>),<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ogier the Dane |volume=20 |page=23}}</ref> as it is also in ''Floriant et Florete''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/06/07/floriant-and-florete-arthurian-romance-mediterranean|title = Floriant et Florete: An Arthurian Romance of the Mediterranean}}</ref> 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 the [[Holy Grail]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.europeana.eu/portal/pl/record/2022701/oai_es_red_aracne_oai_sendebar_clarisel_es_7288.html|title=De l'illa de Mallorca a l'Illa Encantada: arrels artúriques de La Faula de Guillem de Torroella|website=Europeana Collections}}</ref> In the ''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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/n&q/return.htm|title='But Arthur's Grave is Nowhere Seen'|website=www.arthuriana.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.fcsh.unl.pt/iem/medievalista/MEDIEVALISTA10/carreto1005.html|title=MEDIEVALISTA|website=www2.fcsh.unl.pt|access-date=19 October 2017|archive-date=20 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420163143/http://www2.fcsh.unl.pt/iem/medievalista/MEDIEVALISTA10/carreto1005.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Such stories, which also include ''Lion de Bourges'', ''Mabrien'', ''Tristan de Nanteuil'', and others, typically take place centuries after the times of King Arthur. According to William W. Kibler,

{{quote box| align = center| quote = In the wake of ''Huon de Bordeaux'', the hero's adventure in fairyland became practically ''de rigueur'' in the later ''[[chansons de geste]]''. These adventures are all cut from the same mould and serve a common purpose: as qualifying experiences for the hero. They allow the author to confirm in the Other World what is already manifest in this one, and often to relaunch the hero on his quest. The Arthurian world evoked is that of Avalon after Arthur's disappearance, whether or not it is explicitly named. Except in ''Lion de Bourges'' it is located vaguely in the east and sometimes upon an island. The characters are invariably Arthur and his sister Morgan, with accompanying fairies, but, except in ''La Bataille Loquifer'' and ''Ogier'', no other Knights of the Round Table. Arthur himself assumes magical powers in these works, replacing in this sense Merlin, who is never explicitly evoked. Arthur is no longer the head of the [[Round Table]], but the master of an ethereal kingdom populated with fairies and spirits.<ref>William W. Kibler, "Arthurian Ornament: Arthurian Material in Later Epic". Glyn S. Burgess and Karen Pratt (ed.), ''The Arthur of the French'' (Cardiff University of Wales Press, 2006), p. 518.</ref>}}

[[File:First panel Frampton Door.JPG|thumb|upright|"Lady of the Isle of Avelyon", [[George Frampton]]'s low relief panel at [[2 Temple Place]] in London]]

In ''Perlesvaus'', the bodies of Guinevere and her young son [[Loholt]] are already buried in Avalon by Arthur himself during his reign.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lacy |first1=Norris J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9isAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |title=The Arthurian Handbook: Second Edition |last2=Ashe |first2=Geoffrey |last3=Mancoff |first3=Debra N. |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-77744-1 |language=en}}</ref> ''[[Erec and Enide]]'', an early Arthurian romance by [[Chrétien de Troyes]], mentions at the wedding of Arthur and Guinevere a "friend" (i.e. lover<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSmto0TQZBgC&pg=PA207 | title=The Romances of Chretien de Troyes | isbn=978-0-300-13370-7 | last1=Duggan | first1=Joseph J. | date=October 2008 | publisher=Yale University Press }}</ref>) of Morgan as the Lord of the Isle of Avalon, [[Guiomar (Arthurian legend)|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 the Welsh Arthurian tradition figures as the ruler of Avalon-like [[Celtic Otherworld]], [[Annwn]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0yeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT436 | title=The Mammoth Book of King Arthur | isbn=978-1-78033-355-7 | last1=Ashley | first1=Mike | date=September 2011 | publisher=Little, Brown Book }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZFbczeMtYcC&pg=PA167 | title=The Arthurian Name Dictionary | isbn=978-0-8153-2865-0 | last1=Bruce | first1=Christopher W. | date=1999 | publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aRAxAQAAMAAJ | title=The Fairies and the Water World of German Arthurian Romances | last1=Blum | first1=Kate Augusta | date=1918 }}</ref> In [[Gottfried von Strassburg]]'s ''Tristan'', [[Petitcrieu]] is a magical dog created by a goddess in Avalon.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=Aaron E. |date=1992 |title=Petitcreiu: A Text-Critical Note to the Tristan of Gottfried von Strassburg |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23980871 |journal=Colloquia Germanica |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=112–121 |jstor=23980871 |issn=0010-1338}}</ref> The Venician ''Les Prophéties de Merlin'' features 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0ABAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA217|title=King Arthur's Enchantresses: Morgan and Her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition|last=Larrington|first=Carolyne|date=2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857714060|language=en}}</ref> 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''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WaoqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA164|title=The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature|first=Edmund G.|last=Gardner|date=3 January 1930|publisher=J.M. Dent & Sons Limited|via=Google Books}}</ref>) is a fairy mother of the evil sorceress [[Annowre|Elergia]]. An unnamed Lady of 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 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 {{ill|Joseph d'Arimathie (poem)|fr|Joseph d'Arimathie (roman)|lt=''Joseph d'Arimathie''}} as a place located in western [[Roman Britain|Britannia]], to where a fellowship of early Christians started by [[Joseph of Arimathea]] brought the Grail after its long journey from the [[Holy Land]], finally delivered there by Bron, the first [[Fisher King]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lLbiZCNhlAC&pg=PA132|title = The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief|isbn = 9780674013902|last1 = Barber|first1 = Richard W.|year = 2004| publisher=Harvard University Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bpvg6LuXCycC&pg=PA18|title=The Grail Legend in Modern Literature|first=John Barry|last=Marino|date=17 February 2004|publisher=DS Brewer|isbn=9781843840220 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

====Escavalon====
[[File:Hb-chevalier-descalot.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Ship-themed attributed arms of the Knight of Escalot]]

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",<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x14oDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT105|title=Sir Gawain: Knight of the Goddess|first=John|last=Matthews|date=25 March 2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781620550588 |via=Google Books}}</ref> albeit some scholars proposed various other developments of 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<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSmto0TQZBgC&pg=PA258|title=The Romances of Chretien de Troyes|first=Joseph J.|last=Duggan|date=1 October 2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300133707 |via=Google Books}}</ref>), perhaps in connection with the Old French words for either Slav or [[Saracen]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z1RB5z6u_KsC&pg=PA40|title=Arthurian Literature X|first=Richard|last=Barber|date=17 February 1991|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=9780859913089 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Chretien's Escavalon was renamed as Askalon in ''[[Parzival]]'' by [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]], who might have been either confused or inspired by the real-life Middle Eastern coastal city of [[Ascalon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uXhYBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT232|title=Parzival A Knightly Epic Volume 1 (of 2) (English Edition)|first=Wolfram von|last=Eschenback|publisher=New York G. E. Stechert & Co|via=Google Books}}</ref>

It is possible that the Chrétien-era Escavalon has turned or split into the Grail realm of [[Astolat|Escalot]] in later prose romances.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjsWsH6tKwUC&pg=PA196|title=Paganism in Arthurian Romance|first=John|last=Darrah|date=17 February 1997|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9780859914260 |via=Google Books}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzxyQLoj3a8C&pg=PA94 | title=Sir Gawain: Knight of the Goddess | isbn=978-0-89281-970-6 | last1=Matthews | first1=John | date=25 March 2003 | publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co }}</ref>