Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey is a former abbey of Benedictine at Glastonbury in the county of Somerset , England south of Wells .
history
There is no reliable information about the foundation of the monastery. According to traditional tradition, the founding is said to have already taken place by disciples of Jesus , an associated Christian settlement already existed in the 2nd century, the saints Patrick and David visited the monastery and the tombs discovered in 1191 are those of Arthur and Guinevere . It was only in a later tradition that the name of Joseph of Arimathea was introduced.
Knowles considers the 6th century to be the likely founding period. Around 705 the monastery was re-established by Ine , King of Wessex . Beginning with Abbot Dunstan , who introduced the Rule of Benedict into the monastery in 940 and remained in Glastonbury until his exile in 957, the abbey flourished. The very high number of 72 monks has been handed down from the year 1172. In 1184, however, almost the entire monastery complex was destroyed by a major fire. The number of monks decreased after the disaster. In 1199 only 49 monks are reported, 45 are recorded for the year 1377. 1203 Glastonbury was after a legal dispute with Savaric FitzGeldewin , the Bishop of Bath after an arbitration ruling by Pope Innocent III. affiliated to the Diocese of Bath.
The abbey fell victim to the dissolution of the English monasteries under Henry VIII. The abbot and 51 of his monks accepted the Supreme Act in 1534 . Nevertheless, after the abolition of the monastery in September on November 15, 1539, the last abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Whyting, and two of his monks were executed.
From 1908, excavations were carried out at Glastonbury Abbey under the archaeologist Frederick Bligh Bond . In May 1922, he was released after editing a book in which he wrote that he obtained his historical knowledge of Glastonbury Abbey paranormally from the spirits of the abbey's deceased monks.
Glastonbury Subsidiaries:
Legends
Joseph of Arimathea
According to legend, Jesus visited Glastonbury with Joseph of Arimathea as a child . William Blake inspired this legend for the poem Jerusalem , with the most patriotic content of all English songs: And did those feet in ancient time . Joseph of Arimathea is said to have reached Glastonbury by ship about 30 years after the death of Jesus during a flood of the Somerset Levels . When he went ashore, he drove a stick into the ground, which drove to the holy thorn bush of Glastonbury . This hawthorn blooms twice a year, once in spring, the second time at Christmas time. Every year a priest from the local Church of England cuts off a branch of the bush and sends it to the Queen to decorate her Christmas table.
The thorn bush was the destination of many pilgrims in the Middle Ages , but it was chopped off during the English Civil War (1642–1649). According to the legend, the soldier in question went blind from a flying splinter. A replacement bush was planted on Wearyall Hill in the 20th century , but many other specimens of the same species grow throughout Glastonbury, including Glastonbury Abbey.
The first British church is said to have been built at Glastonbury at the behest of Joseph of Arimathea to house the Grail.
Arthur
In 1191 monks of Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have discovered the burial place of Arthur and Guinevere. At a depth of around 2 meters they came across a stone grave slab and a lead cross. Tradition has it that Ginevra's blonde hair fell apart when touched by a greedy monk. The remaining remains were reburied in a new crypt in 1278. This was destroyed during the Reformation and the bones were lost. The antiquarian John Leland describes the cross that was found with the remains. It bore the inscription:
“Hic iacet sepultus inclitus rex Arturius in insula Avalonia”
"The famous King Arthur is buried here on the island of Avalon ."
A coffin was found about 2.70 meters below the plate, made from a hollow tree trunk with the bones of a tall man whose skull was injured. Next to it was a smaller skeleton, which was believed to have been identified as Guinevere's by its blond hair. In 1962, the British archaeologist Ralegh Radford confirmed the find of this grave, but could not prove whose resting place it is.
literature
- David Knowles and R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses, England & Wales . Longman, 2nd edition, 1971, ISBN 0-582-11230-3 .
- Philip A. Rahtz: English Heritage book of Glastonbury . London: Batsford / English Heritage 1993.
- William A. Nitze: Glastonbury and the Holy Grail . Modern Philology 1/2, 1903, 247-257.
- James P. Carley: The Chronicle of Glastonbury (1985) .
- James P. Carley: Glastonbury Abbey: History and Legends . Revised edition from 1996.
- James P. Carley (Ed.): The Archeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey . 1991.
- Lesley Abrams and James Carley (Eds.): The Archeology and history of Glastonbury Abbey: essays in honor of the ninetieth birthday of CA Ralegh Radford . Woodbridge, Suffolk / Rochester: Boydell Press 1991.
- Ruth Prince, David Riches: The New Age in Glastonbury, the construction of religious movements. New York / Oxford, Berghahn Books, 2000.
- Lesley Abrams: Anglo-Saxon Glastonbury: Church and Endowment , Boydell, 1996, ISBN 978-0-85115-369-8 .
swell
- James P. Carley (Ed.): John of Glastonbury : Cronica sive Antiquitates Glastoniensis Ecclesie, text with introduction, notes and commentary . Oxford, British Archaeological Reports 47, 1978.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 8 ′ 46 " N , 2 ° 42 ′ 56" W.