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Legend states that following the Battle of Camlann in 538AD the mortally wounded Arthur (who was not necessarily a "king") was conveyed from the site of the battle by his sister Morgan (reputedly a sorceress and otherwise known as the "Lady of the Lake") to Avalon. Avalon has long been identified with Glastonbury in Somerset. Until the late Middle Ages, Glastonbury was an island surrounded by swamps. The traditions differ, but those that say Arthur died say he died at Avalon. Here, they say, he was buried alongside his wife Guinevere. Myth has it that he did not die but passed from Avalon to the Otherworld where he reigns immortal; this is not unlike other similar legends regarding many a fallen Welsh hero. In 1193, King Henry II of England is said to have been made aware of the location of Arthur's grave and ordered that the body be exhumed. The monks at Glastonbury Abbey obediently dug down at the alleged spot and there some 16 feet down found the body of an extraordinary man (alongside a second female body) in a huge coffin made from a hollowed oak trunk. It was accompanied by stone slab on which in Latin and face down was carved; HERE IN THE ISLE OF AVALON LIES BURIED THE RENOWNED King Arthur.

After the body was found the bones were placed in an ornate wooden chest which was kept at the Abbey for veneration by pilgrims. Later, in 1278 during the reign of Edward I, the bones were placed in a black stone sarcophagus and re-interred next to the High Altar. Glastonbury Abbey was destroyed during the reign of Henry VIII in 1541. What became of these bones thereafter is not known and it is quite possible that the beleaguered monks secretly reburied the body elsewhere to preserve it from desecration. The last Abbot of Glastonbury was hung drawn and quartered on account of alleged treason and took the Abbeys secrets with him to the grave.

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