Glastonbury, in addition to many other places, like Caerleon and
Tintagel, has been linked to King Arthur. This link though, at
Glastonbury, is in death rather than life. The connection of the
Isle of Apples or Avalloc, to Avalon was thought to have been
first made in about the 12th century and then reported by
William of Malmesbury the interpolator, in his De antiquitae
Glatoniensis ecclesie and Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia
regum Britanniae. Arthur was the legendary English King -
'Arthur of the Britons', before Saxon times. He was born out of
wedlock and raised by wizard Merlin. When only a boy, after many
men had tried and failed, Arthur gained the throne by
withdrawing the magic sword Excalibur from a stone. The nearby
Cadbury Castle, at North Cadbury supposedly became his
'Camelot'. After his many exploits and stories concerning his
Knights, the Round Table and the Holy Grail, he was wounded by
Mordred at the battle of Camlan. This was around the year 542
and he was then taken across the water to