Is Bardsey Island the mystical Island of Avalon?
Excerpt:
The Island of Apples in Celtic Myth
Death of Arthur – James Archer
In Arthurian legend, first appearing in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regnum Britanniae (1136), the island of Avalon, from the Welsh Ynys Afallon (literally, Island of Apples) was said to be the place where King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover after the battle of Camlann.
In his later work (1150), Vita Merlini – the Life of Merlin – Geoffrey tells us that Morgan le Fay is one of nine sisters who live on Avalon and that:
The island of apples which men call “The Fortunate Isle” gets its name from the fact that it produces all things of itself; the fields there have no need of the ploughs of the farmers and all cultivation is lacking except what nature provides. Of its own accord it produces grain and grapes, and apple trees grow in its woods from the close-clipped grass. The ground of its own accord produces everything instead of merely grass, and people live there a hundred years or more. There nine sisters rule by a pleasing set of laws those who come to them from our country.
Fertility, agriculture and, in particular, Apples and the women who guarded them were essential ingredients to this mystical, otherworldly island. All of which make it an ideal possibility for the real-world location of Avalon.
Full story and a podcast at site
Excerpt:
The Island of Apples in Celtic Myth
Death of Arthur – James Archer
In Arthurian legend, first appearing in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regnum Britanniae (1136), the island of Avalon, from the Welsh Ynys Afallon (literally, Island of Apples) was said to be the place where King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover after the battle of Camlann.
In his later work (1150), Vita Merlini – the Life of Merlin – Geoffrey tells us that Morgan le Fay is one of nine sisters who live on Avalon and that:
The island of apples which men call “The Fortunate Isle” gets its name from the fact that it produces all things of itself; the fields there have no need of the ploughs of the farmers and all cultivation is lacking except what nature provides. Of its own accord it produces grain and grapes, and apple trees grow in its woods from the close-clipped grass. The ground of its own accord produces everything instead of merely grass, and people live there a hundred years or more. There nine sisters rule by a pleasing set of laws those who come to them from our country.
Fertility, agriculture and, in particular, Apples and the women who guarded them were essential ingredients to this mystical, otherworldly island. All of which make it an ideal possibility for the real-world location of Avalon.
Full story and a podcast at site
