The Glastonbury Legend
The
Glastonbury Legend - An Introduction
"And did these feet in ancient times / Walk upon England's
mountains green? /And was the holy Lamb of God /On England's pleasant
pastures seen?" begins William Blake's poem ‘Prelude
To Milton,’ the basis of England's "alternate national
anthem," Jerusalem. (See inset at right.) It is perhaps the
most familiar source referring to what is known as the Glastonbury
Legend or The Holy Legend, though the allusion is not always understood
by those singing it as a hymn.
In summary, the legend alluded to is this: Joseph of Arimatheia
was a rich man, a relative of Jesus (and one of his covert disciples),
who after the Crucifixion claimed the body of Jesus from Pilate.
He came to Britain with other disciples and founded the first British
church at Glastonbury, where he planted his staff, which flowered
into a tree, The Glastonbury Thorn, whose offshoots may still be
seen today, flowering every Christmas. (A sprig or cutting is sent
to Buckingham Palace every year from this tree, which analysis has
shown is a Palestinian variety.) Joseph also brought and kept there
certain sacred relics, perhaps the Chalice Cup or Grail. He knew
Britain from his trips as a tin merchant, and in fact, on one of
his trips he had brought his nephew, the boy Jesus. Joseph, and
some say the Virgin Mary, is said to be buried there, along with
the Grail featured in legends of Arthur – whose grave is still
to be seen there.
Although Blake's own source of inspiration may lie in the rumour
(perhaps begun by him) he was a Druid, the 'Holy legend' first surfaced
in print in the Grail romances of the early Middle Ages. There was
a Romance from around 1200 called Joseph Of Arimatheia,
depicting him and his followers (not the Church) as Keepers of the
Grail, never reaching Britain but founder of a secret Order whose
members in the "vale of Avaron" knew the "secret"
of the Grail -- the words which will end the "enchantment of
Britain." The High History Of The Holy Grail, alias
Perlesvaus, of c1225 AD, and later Romances, even imply
a dynasty from Joseph and Christ to Sir Galahad.
"Jerusalem"
The poem 'Prelude to Milton' by William Blake (1757-1827) is better-known
as the hymn Jerusalem, set to music by Sir Hubert Parry
and Sir Edward Elgar, and sung at national events since the First
World War, when it was adopted as an 'anthem' by the Women's Institute.
As well as being sung as a hymn in church, it is now a popular alternative
to the England's official God-Save-The-Queen anthem, to close national
cultural events.
And
did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And
did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring
me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O Clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire.
I
will not cease from Mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
Joseph of Arimatheia on (in Blake's words) 'Albion's Ancient Druid Rocky Shore'. The belief that Joseph of Arimatheia was buried at Glastonbury led to Edward III (who visited the Abbey in 1331) authorising a seer to search the abbey precincts for the grave. It was never found.
This
has become a part of British folklore and legend accepted in part
by some clerics, and the motif became an integral part of the Grail
legend. The legend is now recorded in various versions in many guidebooks,
as well as novels (eg Margaret Steedman's Refuge In Avalon),
and there are various local-folklore "Holy visit" traditions
throughout the West Country. The British Church itself historically
did not promote the legend, parts of which were somewhat heretical,
but which would have not only have promoted Glastonbury Abbey but
established historical precedence for the then Church of Britain
over all others. (It did make a few attempts at Ecclesiastical Councils
in the Middle Ages, but these were not accepted by the Vatican.)
It never became established church legend -- perhaps because such
a claim of precedence over the Roman Church became dangerous. It
remains regional folklore, with no definitive version - details
vary and conflict. Where, then, did these ideas come from?
In the Bible, Joseph of Arimatheia (ie from that village, to distinguish
him from other Josephs) was, in Matthew 27:57-8 and John 19:38-40,
a rich "man of means." The Vulgate Bible gives him as
nobilis decurio, a decurion being a term often used for
an official in charge of mines. (It is also said to be part of Cornish
tin-miners folklore that there is a saying and song that "Joseph
Was A Tin-Man and the miners loved him well.") The New Testament
also says he claimed the body from Pilate -- which implies legally
he was a relative, usually given as an uncle.
In the 1980s, the Folklore Society tried to trace
the legend back. A.W. Smith in the Folklore Society Journal
1989 outlined the details of the legends in its various manifestations.
He explores the idea of tin-workers as the credited source of the
folklore. He cites Henry Jenner, the old Chief Bard of Cornwall
writing an account for the Benedictine Journal Pax in 1916
describing metal workers as "a very old fraternity" with
a saying "Joseph was in the tin trade" which reflects
their tradition Joseph made his money as a tin merchant, and also
once brought "the child Christ and His Mother and landed
them at St Michael's Mount." (This is now a tidal islet
in Penzance Bay.) The tin-trade has long been associated with Phoenician
traders coming to Britain to buy raw ore, and Bournemouth vicar
and writer Stuart Jackman in a 1984 magazine article refers typically
to "those Phoenician sea-gypsies who came on a tin-buying
cruise to Cornwall with the teenager Jesus as a cabin boy."
Smith traced the popularisation of the legend back to the writings
of three clerics: the Rev. H.A. Lewis, Vicar of Talland in Cornwall
and author of Christ In Cornwall (1939); the Rev C.C. Dobson
of Hastings, author of Did Our Lord Visit Britain As They Say
In Cornwall And Somerset (1936), and the Rev. Lionel S. Lewis,
Vicar of St John's, Glastonbury, author of St Joseph Of Arimathea
At Glastonbury Or The Apostolic Church Of Britain (1922, revised
through 1955 and still in print in Glastonbury). These authors cited
older folk's sayings from around the turn of the century, but neither
they nor Smith could trace any earlier source, eg among Cornish
tin-miners' folklore. Smith found there were inconsistencies in
the details as to time and place, so no core legend could be identified.
Stymied, Smith decided the legend was simply a product of the then-active
British Israelite movement, though he offered no evidence. The legend
was also popularised near the turn of the century by being referred
to in Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson's influential Arthurian
verse cycle The Idylls Of The King.
Glastonbury
was a sea-port in the Roman era. Later it became an impassable marsh
which became a vast freshwater lake after rains. Since then, most
of the Somerset Levels have been reclaimed as farmland.
There
are few corroborative details in the West Country folklore that
he brought the boy Jesus with him on one or more of his tin-trading
trips. Supposedly the Thorn grew on Wearyall Hill originally where
Joseph planted his staff and asked to be shown where his nephew
had lived when he resided here during his missing years (ie sometime
between ages 12 to 30). This implies Jesus was here on his own and
would have been more than a boy. A variant tradition has him shipwrecked
or stormbound here for a winter. It is true that Glastonbury was
a port in Roman times (the sea flooded the Somerset Levels tidally
- see sketch map). However, dating the founding of the first Church
in Britain has proved impossible, though the monk St Gildas, himself
connected with the site, put the coming of Christianity to Britain
at the height of Tiberius's reign -- which would put it spectacularly
early, ie within five years of the Crucifixion itself, and before
the Roman Conquest. Even the reliable mediaeval historian William
Of Malmesbury, though he could not get any details, refers to the
discovery of "documents of no small credit, which have
been discovered in certain places to the following effect: "No
other hands than those of the disciples of Christ created the church
of Glastonbury."
The
Abbey's main surviving buildings.The 1st-century wattle-n-daub church
is thought to have stood on the site where the Lady Chapel [behind]
stands today.
The founding of the early Church here helped launch the Celtic Monastic Movement which would among other things educate the generally illiterate Saxon population, including Alfred the Great, via his Welsh tutor Asser.
Glastonbury grew to be the largest and richest monastery in the country - a factor which led to its annihilation in the Dissolution of The Monasteries in 1540.
An artist's impression of the thatched 1st-Century "wattle
'n daub" church (ie with walls made of intertwined withies
packed with clay mud and straw). One theory is it would have been
circular, in Celtic style.
This negative-reversal image from an illustration from Camden's
1608 Britannia shows the wrap-around inscription on the foot-long
lead cross reportedly found in the grave in 1191. It says 'Hic iacet sepultus
inclitus Rex Arturius in Insula Avalonia' - 'Here lies buried the
renowned King Arthur in the Isle of Avalon.'
The Abbey grounds, looking towards The Tor. The town's most
distinctive landmark - a 500' conical hill shaped like an upturned
boat, is barely visible from the Abbey. Just visible is the 15th-C.
tower of St Michael's Chapel, built where once stood a Dark Ages
monastery. Henry VII had the last Abbot hanged from the tower in
1539.
Glastonbury's
Old Church was built up after 700 AD with funds from King Ine, first
English king of the area. It became the seat of Christianity in
Britain, with many Saints buried there: Gildas, Columba, Bridget,
Patrick, David. The Grail was also thought to be hidden there, perhaps
down the Chalice Well alias the Blood Spring. The site also features
earlier mysteries like the giant Zodiac supposedly existing in the
surrounding landscape pattern, and the Celtic Maze pattern around
the Tor. Both the site and the Holy legend also became connected
with later Arthurian legend. According to the Life Of St Gildas,
written before the Romances, Guenevere was abducted and kept there
at 'Glastonia' by the local king, and Arthur could not capture it
"owing to the asylum offered by the invulnerable position
due to the fortifications of thickets of reed, river and marsh."
Glastonbury was then a natural retreat like the nearby Isle of Athelney
(where Alfred, in hiding, later burnt the cakes).
The Somerset Levels were then largely a tidal swamp, and it was
reached from inland by a causeway from Street. It was referred to
as Ynys-Witrin in a 601 AD charter: "Isle of Glass
(or Glaze)", a name which may refer to the way its shape was
reflected in the water, or may relate to an old word for amber,
a then-popular trade product, which could appear glazed. "Isle
Of Glass" became a place-name used in several Romances, and
the site may be an inspiration for the Grail Castle as well as the
Isle of Avalon, both of which can be reached by water at certain
times. Just before Henry II died, he told the Abbot that a Welsh
bard had told him that Arthur was buried there. During reconstruction
in 1191 after a fire the monks dug up a body there, identified by
a foot-high lead cross. According to 13th-century writer Gerald
of Wales, it was inscribed with the Mediaeval Latin for"Here
Lies The Renowned King Arthur And His Second Wife Guenevere In The
Isle Of Avalon." (The rather startling reference to Guenevere
as a second wife was edited out in later reproductions.) Along with
the cross, the bones recovered in 1191 were later lost, the modern
'grave-site' being the site of a tomb where the bones were relocated
in 1278. Some historians think the inscription was merely a fake
to help pay for rebuilding the burnt Abbey by promoting Glastonbury
as an early heritage-tourism destination. (The Mediaeval Latin in
which it is inscribed is anachronistic, and the added phrase "in
the Isle of Avalon" seems an unnecessary addition to secure
place-name identification with the Romances.) Henry's son, Richard
I, who had precipitated the Abbey's financial crisis by cutting
off their funding when he became king, claimed on his only visit
that he also found Excalibur there, giving it away on Crusade --
which would seem an unlikely act if he thought it genuine.)
Sign
marking the gravesite dug up in 1191, with the Tor behind
'Site
of King Arthur's Tomb' - not the gravesite found in 1191 but a black
marble tomb built before the high altar of the main Abbey church in
1278, destroyed in 1539, and rediscovered in 1934. Since the 1191 discovery of "King Arthur's Grave," the Glastonbury legend has become a key part of the Arthurian legends, with Joseph portrayed as first of a line of guardians of the Holy Grail. Thus, the Isle of Glastonbury became both the mysterious "Grail Castle" and the Isle or Vale of Avalon, where Arthur rests. Today, as well as a centre of the British "New Age" movement, it remains a Christian annual-pilgrimage site (Catholic and Anglican, both in June), and a year-round international tourism destination.
Further
Reading
Alcock, Leslie, Arthur's Britain (Penguin Press, 1971)
Ashe, Geoffrey, King Arthur's Avalon: The Story of Glastonbury
(Dutton 1958)
Barber & Pykett, Journey to Avalon (1993 Blorenge Books)
Benham, Patrick, The Avalonians (1993; rev. 2006 Gothic
Image,Glastonbury)
Fortune, Dion, Glastonbury: Avalon Of The Heart (1934;
repr 2000) Red Wheel/ Weiser Books
Treharne, R. F. The Glastonbury Legends: Joseph Of Arimathea,
The Holy Grail And King Arthur (Cresset 1967, Abacus 1975)
Historian RF Treharne's study, which made it into paperback, compiled details
of early legends from early sources not otherwise accessible. The
cover, a painting by Thomas Archer, illustrates the Tennyson version of Arthur's demise, with Arthur being
tended by three fays prior to being taken by boat to the Isle of Avalon.