King Arthur

by Christopher Hibbert

But the idea to search for King Arthur’s tomb had taken hold at the abbey, and the monks went to work in earnest. In 1191, they claimed to have discovered Arthur’s grave. The story of the discovery is related by Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales), a historian who visited the abbey soon afterward and met the abbot. Giraldus may be a reliable authority because he refused to accept much of the Arthurian legend and condemned Geoffrey of Monmouth for propagating the fancies that had appeared in the History of the Kings of Britain. According to Giraldus, the monks at Glastonbury were given an indication of where to search by Henry II, who had been told by “an ancient Welsh bard, a singer of the past, that they would find the body at least sixteen feet beneath the earth, not in a tomb of stone, but in a hollow oak.” It had been buried at such a depth “that it might not by any means be discovered by the Saxons, who occupied the island after his death, whom he had so often in his life defeated and almost utterly destroyed.” The monks roped off an area in the abbey grounds, erected a fence around it, and began to excavate. They had dug only a foot or two when a spade struck a slab of stone. Beneath the stone was a lead cross engraved with the Latin words: HIC IACET SEPULTUS INCLYTUS REX ARTHURUS CUM WEN-NEVERIA UXORE SUA SECUNDA IN INSULA AVALLONIA Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur with Guinevere his second wife in the Isle of Avalon