Glastonbury Abbey, and King Arthur's grave
by Aisling D'Art, © 2001-4, all rights reserved

Glastonbury Abbey offers the most compelling evidence for King Arthur's grave.

History: Glastonbury Abbey Cemetery

Since the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea, Glastonbury has been a religious center.

The Abbey's cemetery was used for centuries before St. Dunstan became Glastonbury's abbot in the tenth century.

At that time, the cemetery was full.

St. Dunstan ordered the workmen to pile a very thick layer of soil on top of the existing graveyard. This created enough space for another layer of graves at the Abbey.

During this process, St. Dunstan created new markers for the most important graves. Inscriptions were carved on leaden crosses, which were set horizontally in the ground. (Similar markers were found in nearby Wells Cathedral.) These markers prevented workmen from disturbing older, deeper graves.

One of these lead crosses indicated the grave of King Arthur. This marker remained hidden until the early 12th century.

Prophecy

Before King Henry II died in France in July 1189, he sent a message to the monks of Glastonbury. He said that an old Welsh bard had provided instructions for the discovery of King Arthur's grave.

According to the King's Welsh source, the royal grave was between two pyramid-shaped stones in the cemetery at Glastonbury Abbey. Arthur's oak coffin--not stone--was at least 16 feet underground. King Arthur was buried that deeply, so that his enemies--the Saxons--would not desecrate the grave.

The bard also predicted that the monks would find a leaden cross about seven feet underground, marking the grave.

Prophecy fulfilled

The message from King Henry II reached the Abbey shortly after the King's death. Soon after that--in September 1189--the new king, Richard II, named Henry de Sully as Glastonbury's new abbot.

With new responsibilities and administrative changes, it was a year before the new Abbot could act upon Henry II's message about King Arthur's grave.

Late in 1190, the monks were digging in the cemetery.

According to some, they were looking for King Arthur's grave, correctly guessing that its discovery would mean additional revenue for the Abbey, which needed to be rebuilt after fire destroyed most of the buildings in 1184.

In other versions of the tale, the monks were simply digging a grave and accidentally uncovered the marker for King Arthur.

The stories are unanimous in the outcome:

At a depth of about seven feet, a leaden cross was found, attached--face down--to a stone slab. It said in Latin,

Hic iacet supultus inclitus rex Arturius in insula Avallonis

This means, "Here lies buried the famous King Arthur, buried on the Island of Avalon."

The cross may have had additional notes on the back, indicating that Guinevere was also interred there. Earliest records say that she was described as Arthur's second wife, in the inscription.

Continuing to dig, following Henry II's written message, the monks found an oak coffin about 16 feet underground.

Inside, they found the bones of a very tall man. His shin bone was estimated to rise about three inches about the height of a normal man's knee. His skull was enormous. In life, he was about seven feet tall.

According to the 12th-century eyewitness account of Gerald of Wales, the skeleton had ten wounds, all of which had healed. One fatal wound remained: a blow to the skull.

There was a second body in the grave. The bones belonged to a woman. The monks saw her blonde hair when they opened the grave, but as soon as one of them touched the yellow locks, the strands crumbled into dust.

The grave is removed, and--later--is lost

The skeletons were returned to their grave, and reburied. At the time, no one could prove the authenticity of the discovery.

In 1278, King Edward I had the bones moved to a marble coffin, and the lead cross was attached to it. The coffin was set in the main Abbey church, underneath the high altar. The cross remained visible for pilgrims to see, for over 250 years.

In 1539, King Henry VIII dissolved Glastonbury Abbey, along with every other Catholic Church in England. His zealous soldiers may not have realized that the founder of Camelot was buried within the Abbey.

No one knows what happened to the graves of King Arthur and Guinevere after that.

The leaden cross was seen and handled by John Leland around 1540, and later sketched for a 1607 engraving by William Camden.

The cross was last seen in the early 18th century, in the possession of the Chancellor of Wells, Mr. William Hughes.

Since then, although there have been hoaxes and false rumors, only its current owner knows the actual whereabouts of the cross.

Recent excavations and conclusions

In 1958, Raleigh Radford re-excavated the original site of King Arthur's grave. Since then, there have been other digs at this location.

All of them confirm that the grave was probably from King Arthur's era, and the site had been excavated in the 12th century.

Although the cross cannot be located, the engraving of it shows lettering consistent with the tenth century. This supports the story about St. Dunstan raising the level of the cemetery during the tenth century. This proves that the legend of King Arthur's grave--if it is merely legend--dates back nearly two centuries before the grave was discovered in the era of Richard II.

Today, a plaque marks the location where the bodies of King Arthur and Guinevere were originally found at Glastonbury Abbey.

But... was it Arthur?

Many people believe that the body found by the monks was King Arthur. It's impossible to resolve this question without additional evidence--such as the bones--for analysis.

It is noteworthy that while many sites claim to be Camelot, no other reasonable location (at the time of this writing) claims to be the burial place of King Arthur.

However, in most Arthurian tales, King Arthur did not die.

According to legend, Arthur was fully healed at Avalon, and he lives today.

In this story, he will return to our world as "the Once and Future King" when he is needed. When that happens, he will restore Camelot to a world that desperately needs it.

All that we can conclude from Glastonbury's folklore is: If King Arthur actually lived and died, his grave was probably at Glastonbury Abbey.

In the next page, Mystical Glastonbury, England - Trivia and Links, we'll discuss a few lingering questions about mystical Glastonbury, plus resources for additional study.

glastonbury pages - aisling's travel index