View source for Glastonbury Abbey

{{short description|Former Benedictine abbey at Somerset, England}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox monastery
| name = Glastonbury Abbey
| image = Abbey_view_(8107997664).jpg
| alt = Ruins of church choir and transept on grassy lawn, closely flanked by trees
| caption = Glastonbury Abbey church ruin seen from the east end of the apse
| order = [[Benedictine]]
| established = 712
| disestablished = 1539
| founder = King [[Ine of Wessex]]
| people = Saint [[Dunstan]], [[Henry of Blois]], [[Henry de Sully (died 1195)|Henry de Sully]], [[Savaric FitzGeldewin]], [[Richard Whiting (Abbot)|Richard Whiting]]
| location = [[Glastonbury]], [[Somerset]]
| map_type = Somerset
| coord = {{Coord|51|8|44|N|2|42|52|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| denomination = [[Roman Catholic]]
| country = {{flag|England}}
| embedded = {{Infobox designation list
|embed=yes
|designation1=Scheduled Monument
|designation1_offname=Glastonbury Abbey
|designation1_number=1021077
|designation1_date=9 October 1981
|designation2=UK Grade I
|designation2_offname=Glastonbury Abbey
|designation2_number=1345447
|designation2_date=21 June 1950
|designation2_type=Grade I}}
| status = Ruins
}}
'''Glastonbury Abbey''' was a [[monastery]] in [[Glastonbury]], [[Somerset]], England. Its ruins, a grade I [[listed building]] and [[scheduled ancient monument]], are open as a visitor attraction.

The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It was destroyed by a major fire in 1184, but subsequently rebuilt and by the 14th century was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries in England. The abbey controlled large tracts of the surrounding land and was instrumental in major drainage projects on the [[Somerset Levels]]. The abbey was suppressed during the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] under [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII of England]]. The last abbot, [[Richard Whiting (abbot)|Richard Whiting]] (Whyting), was [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] as a traitor on [[Glastonbury Tor]] in 1539.

From at least the 12th century, the Glastonbury area has been associated with the legend of [[King Arthur]], a connection promoted by medieval monks who asserted that Glastonbury was [[Avalon]]. Christian legends have claimed that the abbey was founded by [[Joseph of Arimathea]] in the 1st century.

==History==
[[File:Glastonbury Abbey c. 1860 Frank M Good.jpg|thumb|St. Edgar's and St. Mary's Chapels, Glastonbury Abbey, {{Circa|1860}}, by Frank M Good]]
Suggestions that Glastonbury may have been a site of religious importance in Celtic or pre-Celtic times are considered dubious by the historian [[Ronald Hutton]],<ref name=Hutton107>Hutton, 1991, p.107</ref> but archaeological investigations by the [[University of Reading]] have demonstrated Roman and Saxon occupation of the site.<ref>{{cite web|title=Glastonbury Abbey: the archaeological story |url=https://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/research/Projects/arch-RG-Glastonbury.aspx |publisher=Reading University |access-date=24 November 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125080451/https://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/research/Projects/arch-RG-Glastonbury.aspx |archive-date=25 November 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=619339|title=Glastonbury Abbey: Archaeological Investigations 1904–79|last1=Gilchrist|first1=Roberta|last2=Green|first2=Cheryl|date=2016-01-01|publisher=Society of Antiquaries of London|isbn=9780854313006|language=en}}</ref> In 1955 [[Ralegh Radford]]'s [[excavation (archaeology)|excavations]] uncovered [[Romano-British]] pottery at the west end of the cloister.<ref name="Gilchrist and Green">{{Cite book|url=http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=619339|title=Glastonbury Abbey: Archaeological Investigations 1904–79|last1=Gilchrist|first1=Roberta|last2=Green|first2=Cheryl|date=2016-01-01|publisher=Society of Antiquaries of London|isbn=9780854313006|language=en}}</ref> The abbey was founded by [[Britons (historical)|Britons]] and dates at least to the early-7th century. [[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Age]] occupation of the site is evidenced by pieces of ceramic wine jars that were imported from the Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite web|title=Medieval mythbusting - new research rewrites history of Glastonbury Abbey|url=http://www.glastonburyabbey.com/news_item.php?sid=cdd7c10677c7779e78287fc8444df8b5&id=1000659|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125053839/http://www.glastonburyabbey.com/news_item.php?sid=cdd7c10677c7779e78287fc8444df8b5&id=1000659|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 November 2015|publisher=Glastonbury Abbey|access-date=24 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=619339|title=Glastonbury Abbey: Archaeological Investigations 1904–79|last1=Gilchrist|first1=Roberta|last2=Green|first2=Cheryl|date=2016-01-01|publisher=Society of Antiquaries of London|isbn=9780854313006|language=en}}</ref> A medieval Christian legend claimed that the abbey was founded by [[Joseph of Arimathea]] in the 1st century. This legend is intimately tied to [[Robert de Boron]]'s version of the [[Holy Grail]] story and Glastonbury's connection with [[King Arthur]] from the early-12th century.<ref>Ashe pp.83–90 and p.279</ref> [[William of Malmesbury]] reports the terms of a grant of land made by King Gwrgan of [[Dumnonia|Damnonia]] to the "old church" at Glastonbury in AD 601 in the time of Abbot Worgret.<ref>Edward Huttom, London, 1919, ''Highways and Byways of Somerset'', p.156.</ref> 

Glastonbury fell into Saxon hands after the [[Battle of Peonnum]] in 658. Saxons under [[Cenwalh of Wessex]] conquered Somerset as far west as the [[River Parrett]], perhaps with the intention of gaining control of the abbey. Cenwalh allowed the British abbot, [[Bregored]], to remain in power, a move perhaps intended as a show of good [[faith]] to the defeated Britons.<ref name=Ashe279>Ashe, p.279</ref> After Bregored's death in 669, he was replaced by an Anglo-Saxon, [[Berhtwald]], but British monks remained for many years.<ref name=Ashe279/>

===Saxon era===
[[File:MS. Hatton 30 Expositio Augustini in Apocalypsin 73v.jpg|thumb|upright|One of the earliest surviving manuscripts, now at the [[Bodleian Library]] in [[Oxford]], telling that ''Dunstan the abbot gave orders for the writing of this book'']]

[[Ine of Wessex|King Ine]] of [[Wessex]] enriched the endowment of the community of [[monk]]s established at Glastonbury<ref name=pastscape/> and reputed to have directed that a stone church be built in 712,<ref name="monast">{{cite web|url=http://www.anglistik.rwth-aachen.de/de/lehrstuehle/anglistik2/projekte/middleages/articles/Religion/monasti.htm |title=Monasticism |publisher=England in the Middle Ages |access-date=19 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621064047/http://www.anglistik.rwth-aachen.de/de/lehrstuehle/anglistik2/projekte/middleages/articles/Religion/monasti.htm |archive-date=21 June 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref> the foundations of which form the west end of the nave. A glassworks was established at the site during the 7th century.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=619339|title=Glastonbury Abbey: Archaeological Investigations 1904–79|last1=Gilchrist|first1=Roberta|last2=Green|first2=Cheryl|date=2016-01-01|publisher=Society of Antiquaries of London|isbn=9780854313006|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Kennedy |first1=Maev |title=Glastonbury myths 'made up by 12th-century monks' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/23/glastonbury-myths-made-up-by-12th-century-monks |access-date=23 November 2015 |work=Guardian |date=23 November 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123160852/http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/23/glastonbury-myths-made-up-by-12th-century-monks |archive-date=23 November 2015 }}</ref> Glastonbury was affected by unrest due to the [[Viking|Danish]] incursions into the area in the 9th century and it may itself have been attacked during the wars (though this is not certain).<ref name=glasturbansurvey>{{cite web |last1=Gathercole |first1=Clare |title=Glastonbury |url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/eus/glastonbury_eus.htm |website=Somerset Urban Archaeological Surveys |publisher=Somerset County Council |access-date=20 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115111/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/eus/glastonbury_eus.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> The contemporary reformed soldier [[Saint Neot]] was [[sacristan]] at Glastonbury before he founded his own establishment in Somerset.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stneots-tc.gov.uk/content.php?page=history|title=History|publisher=St Neots Town Council|access-date=19 August 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070212204514/http://www.stneots-tc.gov.uk/content.php?page=history |archive-date = 12 February 2007}}</ref> The abbey church was enlarged in the 10th century by the abbot of Glastonbury, [[Dunstan]], the central figure in the 10th-century [[English Benedictine Reform|revival of English monastic life]], who instituted the [[Benedictine Rule]] at Glastonbury.<ref name="monast"/> He also built the cloisters. Dunstan became [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in 960. In 946, [[Edmund I of England|King Edmund]] was interred at Glastonbury.<ref name=glasturbansurvey/> In 1016 [[Edmund II of England|Edmund Ironside]], who had lost England to [[Cnut the Great|Canute]] but held onto the title of [[King of Wessex]], was also buried there. Cnut's charter of 1032 was "written and promulgated in the wooden church at Glastonbury, in the king's presence".<ref name="havinden">Havinden p.74</ref>

The [[Glastonbury Canal (medieval)|medieval Glastonbury Canal]] was built about the middle of the 10th century to link the abbey with the [[River Brue]], a distance of about {{convert|1.75|km|yd|-2}}. Its purpose is believed to have been to transport stone to build the abbey, but later it was used to transport produce, including grain, wine and fish, from the abbey's outlying properties.<ref name=Gathercole>{{Cite book|last=Gathercole |first=Clare |title=An archaeological assessment of Glastonbury |publisher=Somerset County Council |location=Taunton |year=2003 |series=English Heritage Extensive Urban Survey |pages=19–20 |url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/EUS_GlastonburyText.pdf |access-date=2 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715230717/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/EUS_GlastonburyText.pdf |archive-date=15 July 2011 }}</ref><ref name=Hollinrake>Hollinrake pp.235–239</ref> Much of the building stone came from the abbey's quarries at [[Doulting Stone Quarry|Doulting]],<ref name=searle100>Searle p.100</ref> accessed by way of the [[River Sheppey]] at [[Pilton, Somerset|Pilton]].<ref name="Rippon2004">{{cite journal|last=Rippon|first=Stephen|year=2004|title=Making the Most of a Bad Situation? Glastonbury Abbey, Meare, and the Medieval Exploitation of Wetland Resources in the Somerset Levels|journal=Medieval Archaeology|volume=48|page=93|issn=0076-6097|doi=10.1179/007660904225022816|hdl=10036/20952|s2cid=161985196|url=https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/10036/20952/1/Glastonbury%20Abbey.pdf|hdl-access=free}}</ref> From the 11th century, the abbey was the centre of a large water-borne transport network as further canalisations and new channels were made, including the diversion of the Brue to access to the estate at [[Meare]] and an easier route to the [[Bristol Channel]]. In the 13th century, the abbey's head boatman transported the abbot in an eight-oared boat on visits to the abbey's nearby manors.<ref name="Hollinrake" />
During the Middle Ages, bone fragments of Saint [[Caesarius of Terracina]] were translated to Glastonbury Abbey.<ref>Ex ossibus S. Caesarii: Ricomposizione delle reliquie di San Cesario diacono e martire di Terracina, testi ed illustrazioni di Giovanni Guida, [s.l.: s.n.], 2017</ref>

===Medieval era===
[[File:Glastonbury Abbey Lady Chapel c1900.jpg|thumb|[[Photochrom]] image taken around 1900, showing the unrestored interior of the Lady Chapel]]

====Norman conquest====
At the [[Norman Conquest]] in 1066, the wealth of Glastonbury made it a prime prize. [[William the Conqueror]] made Turstinus a Norman abbot there in 1086.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/monasticonanglic00dugd|title=Monasticon Anglicanum, or, The history of the ancient abbies, and other monasteries, hospitals, cathedral and collegiate churches in England and Wales. With divers French, Irish, and Scotch monasteries formerly relating to England|last=Dugdale|first=William|publisher=Sam Keble; Hen. Rhodes|year=1693|pages=3|translator-last=Wright|translator-first=James}}</ref> Turstinus added to the church, unusually building to the east of the older Saxon church and away from the ancient cemetery, thus shifting the sanctified site. This was later changed by Herlewin, the next abbot, who built a larger church.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rahtz|Watts|2003|p=46}}</ref> Not all the new Normans were suitable heads of religious communities. In 1086, when the [[Domesday Book]] was commissioned, Glastonbury Abbey was the richest monastery in the country.<ref>{{cite web|title=Glastonbury Abbey |url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/glastonbury-abbey |publisher=Sacred destinations |access-date=28 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907081137/http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/glastonbury-abbey |archive-date= 7 September 2011 }}</ref> About 1125, the abbot [[Henry of Blois]] commissioned a history of Glastonbury from the historian [[William of Malmesbury]], who was a guest of the monks. His work "On the Antiquity of the Glastonese Church"<ref name=dage>Gulielmus Malmesburiensis [William of Malmesbury]. [http://mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/xfromcc.php?tabelle=Willelmus_Malmesburiensis_cps2&rumpfid=Willelmus_Malmesburiensis_cps2,%20De%20antiquitate%20ecclesiae%20Glastoniensis,%20%20%20%20p46&id=Willelmus_Malmesburiensis_cps2,%20De%20antiquitate%20ecclesiae%20Glastoniensis,%20%20%20%20p46&level=&corpus=2&current_title=De%20antiquitate%20ecclesiae%20Glastoniensis ''De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiæ''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203140845/http://mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/xfromcc.php?tabelle=Willelmus_Malmesburiensis_cps2&rumpfid=Willelmus_Malmesburiensis_cps2%2C%20De%20antiquitate%20ecclesiae%20Glastoniensis%2C%20%20%20%20p46&id=Willelmus_Malmesburiensis_cps2%2C%20De%20antiquitate%20ecclesiae%20Glastoniensis%2C%20%20%20%20p46&level=&corpus=2&current_title=De%20antiquitate%20ecclesiae%20Glastoniensis |date= 3 February 2015 }} 1129–1139. Hosted at the University of Zurich's ''Corpus Corporum''. {{in lang|la}}</ref> was compiled sometime between 1129 and 1139 as part of a campaign to establish the abbey's primacy against [[Westminster Abbey|Westminster]].<ref name=joro>Robinson, Joseph Armitage. [[s:Somerset Historical Essays/William of Malmesbury 'On the Antiquity of Glastonbury'|"William of Malmesbury 'On the Antiquity of Glastonbury'"]] in ''[[s:Somerset Historical Essays|Somerset Historical Essays]]''. Oxford University Press (London), 1921. Hosted at [[s:Main Page|Wikisource]].</ref> It is the source for much of our knowledge of the abbey's early history<ref>{{cite web|title=Glastonbury Abbey |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06579a.htm |publisher=New advent |access-date=28 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828053807/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06579a.htm |archive-date=28 August 2011 }}</ref> but is far below William's generally excellent standards: his acceptance of the monks' [[pious forgeries|forged]] charters and unsubstantiated early legends is apparent and even his list of the community's abbots cannot be reconciled with 10th-century originals subsequently discovered.<ref name=joro/> These problems and the discrepancies between "On the Antiquity" and his own later histories has led many scholars to assume that William's original text was more careful and its accounts of "[[Saint Phagan|Phagan]]" and "[[Saint Deruvian|Deruvian]]", along with various passages about [[King Arthur|Arthur]], were later additions meant to bolster the monks' case.<ref name=joro/><ref name=newman>Newell, William Wells. [https://archive.org/stream/jstor-456546/456546#page/n1/mode/2up "William of Malmesbury on the Antiquity of Glastonbury, with Especial Reference to the Equation of Glastonbury and Avalon" in ''Publications of the Modern Language Association of America'', Vol.&nbsp;XVIII, No.&nbsp;4.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317043906/https://archive.org/stream/jstor-456546/456546 |date=17 March 2016 }} 1903.</ref><ref>Glastonbury in Norris J. Lacy, Editor, The Arthurian Encyclopedia (1986 Peter Bedrick Books, New York).</ref>

Early drainage work on the [[Somerset Levels]] was carried out in the later years of the 12th century, with the responsibility for maintaining all the watercourses between Glastonbury and the sea being placed on named individuals among whom were Ralph de Sancta Barbara of Brentmarsh.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15100 |title='Introduction', A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 8: The Poldens and the Levels |work=A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 8 |publisher=Victoria County History |pages=1–7 |access-date=4 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525233543/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15100 |archive-date=25 May 2011 }}</ref> In 1129, the abbot of Glastonbury was recorded as inspecting enclosed land at [[Lympsham]]. Efforts to control flooding on the [[River Parrett|Parrett]] were recorded around the same date. In 1234, {{convert|722|acre|km2|1}} were reclaimed near [[Westonzoyland]] and, from the accounts in the abbey's rent books, this had increased to {{convert|972|acre}} by 1240.<ref name="williams">Williams p.50</ref> In the 14th century a [[The Abbot's Fish House, Meare|Fish House]] was built at Meare for the chief fisherman of the abbot of Glastonbury that was also used for salting and preparing fish.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1345067 |desc=The Abbot's Fish House |access-date=3 November 2008}}</ref> It is the only surviving monastic fishery building in England.<ref>{{cite web | title=Meare Fish House | work=English Heritage website | url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.16217 | access-date=3 November 2008}}</ref> At the time of the Dissolution in 1540, [[Meare Pool]] was said to contain a great abundance of [[Esox|pike]], [[tench]], [[Common Roach|roach]] and [[eel]]s.<ref name=bulleid>{{cite book|last1=Bulleid |first1=Arthur |first2=Harold |last2=St. George Gray |title=The Meare Lake Village |publisher=pub. privately |date=1948 |location=Taunton |pages=1–14 |url=http://www.gallica.co.uk/meare/description.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217173900/http://www.gallica.co.uk/meare/description.htm |archive-date=17 February 2012 }}</ref> In 1638, it was owned by William Freake, who described it as "lately a fish pool".<ref name="havinden"/> The importance of this industry is illustrated by a series of acrimonious disputes between Glastonbury and the Dean and Chapter of [[Wells Cathedral]].<ref name="Rippon2004" /> The abbey required fish on [[Friday#Religious observances|Fridays]], [[Fasting#Anglicanism|fast days]] and during [[Lent#Fasting and abstinence|Lent]]. As many as 5000 eels were landed in a typical year.<ref name=searle100/>

====King Arthur's tomb====
{{see also|Avalon#Connection to Glastonbury}}
[[File:Former Gravesite King Arthur (GlastonburyAbbey).jpg|thumb|Site of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere's purported tomb beneath the high altar]]

In 1184, a great fire at Glastonbury destroyed the monastic buildings.<ref name="monast"/> Reconstruction began almost immediately and the [[Lady Chapel (Glastonbury)|Lady Chapel]], which includes the well, was consecrated in 1186.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cathedralsplus.org.uk/index.php/front_end/member/47/about.html |title=Glastonbury Abbey |work=Cathedrals Plus |publisher=The Pilgrims Association |access-date=19 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106074407/http://www.cathedralsplus.org.uk/index.php/front_end/member/47/about.html |archive-date= 6 January 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Lady Chapel |url=http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/glastonbury_abbey_2007/lady_chapel/ |work=Archaeology at Glastonbury Abbey on-line |publisher=Archeology Data Service |access-date=27 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129032009/http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/glastonbury_abbey_2007/lady_chapel/ |archive-date=29 November 2014 }}(Free registration required)</ref> There is evidence that, in the 12th century, the ruined nave was renovated enough for services while the great new church was being constructed. Parts of the walls of the aisle and crossing having been completed by 1189, progress then continued more slowly.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Great Church |url=http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/glastonbury_abbey_2007/report1/overview.cfm?CFID=7821 |work=Archaeology at Glastonbury Abbey on-line |publisher=Archeology Data Service |access-date=27 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129032117/http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/glastonbury_abbey_2007/report1/overview.cfm?CFID=7821 |archive-date=29 November 2014 }}(Free registration required)</ref>

Pilgrim visits had fallen and in 1191 the alleged discovery of King Arthur and Queen [[Guinevere]]'s tomb in the [[cemetery]] provided fresh impetus for visiting Glastonbury. A contemporaneous, though not an eyewitness, account was given by [[Giraldus Cambrensis]] in his ''De principis instructione'' ("Instruction of a Prince", c. 1193) and recollected in his ''Speculum Ecclesiae'', c. 1216<ref name="White 1997 517–523">{{Harv|White|1997|pp=517–523}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Sutton |first=John William |title=The Tomb of King Arthur |url=http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/gerald.htm |publisher=University of Rochester |access-date=27 August 2011 |quote=In his ''{{lang|la|Liber de Principis instructione}}'' ("Book of the instruction of princes"), of circa 1193, and his ''{{lang|la|Speculum Ecclesiae}}'' ("Mirror of the Church"), of circa 1216. He identified the abbot in charge as "Abbot Henry, who was later elected Bishop of Worcester". |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002222147/http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/gerald.htm |archive-date=2 October 2011 }}</ref> according to which the abbot, [[Henry de Sully (died 1195)|Henry de Sully]], commissioned a search, discovering at the depth of {{convert|16|ft|m|0}} a massive hollowed oak trunk containing two skeletons. Above it, under the covering stone, according to Giraldus, was a lead cross with the unmistakably specific inscription ''{{lang|la|Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arturius in insula Avalonia}}'' ("Here lies interred the famous King Arthur on the Isle of [[Avalon]]").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/debarri.html |title=Two Accounts of the Exhumation of Arthur's Body |publisher=Britania.com |access-date=19 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003182610/http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/debarri.html |archive-date=3 October 2013 }}</ref>

According to Giraldus, the digging for the tomb was prompted by the intelligence obtained by [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] from an "aged British (Welsh) bard" ({{langx|la|historico cantore Britone audierat antiquo}}).<ref>{{Harvnb|Carley|2001|p=48}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Brewer|editor-first=J.S.|title=Giraldi Cambrensis opera|volume=8|place=London|publisher=Longman|year=1891|pages=126–|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xmh3fK6DCqwC&pg=PA126}}</ref> On the other hand, [[Ralph of Coggeshall]] writing somewhat later, states more prosaically that they came upon the older tomb by chance while removing the earth to bury a certain monk who had expressed strong desire to be buried there.<ref name="White 1997 517–523"/><ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Stevenson |editor-first=Joseph |title=Radulphi de Coggeshall, Chronicon Anglicanum |place=London |publisher=Longmans |year=1875 |series=Rolls Series |pages=36– |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bsNCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101073918/http://books.google.com/books?id=bsNCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36 |archive-date= 1 January 2014 }}</ref> Both Giraldus and Ralph say that the spot lay in between two pyramids in the abbey. [[William of Malmesbury]] does not refer to Arthur's tomb but elaborates on the pyramids of varying height, upon which were statues with inscriptions "Her Sexi, and Bliserh&nbsp;... Pencrest, Bantomp, Pinepegn, etc."<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Giles|editor-first= John Allen|editor-link=John Allen Giles|title=Chronicle of the Kings of England: From the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen|place=London|publisher=Henry G. Bohn|year=1847|pages=23–|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fVVnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA23}}</ref>

Historians today generally dismiss the authenticity of the find, attributing it to a publicity stunt performed to raise funds to repair the Abbey, which was mostly burned in 1184.<ref>Modern scholarship views the Glastonbury cross as the result of a probably late 12th-century fraud. See {{Harvnb|Rahtz|Watts|2003}}, {{Harvnb|Carley|2001}} and {{Harvnb|Harris|2018}}.</ref> [[William of Malmesbury]]'s history of the English kings stated "Arthur's grave is nowhere seen, whence antiquity of fables still claims that he will return"<ref>[[O. J. Padel]], "The Nature of Arthur" in ''Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies'' 27 (1994), pp. 1–31 at p.10</ref> and his work "On the Antiquity of the Glastonese Church"<ref name=dage/>—larded as it is with known and suspected [[pious forgeries]]—nowhere mentions a connection between the abbey and either Arthur's grave or Avalon. The fact that the search for Arthur's body is connected to Henry II and Edward I, both kings who fought major Welsh wars, has had scholars suggest that propaganda may have played a part as well.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rahtz|Watts|2003}}</ref> Gerald, a constant supporter of royal authority, in his account of the discovery clearly aims to destroy the idea of the possibility of King Arthur's messianic return: "Many tales are told and many legends have been invented about King Arthur and his mysterious ending. In their stupidity the British [i.e. Welsh, Cornish and Bretons] people maintain that he is still alive. Now that the truth is known, I have taken the trouble to add a few more details in this present chapter. The fairy-tales have been snuffed out, and the true and indubitable facts are made known, so that what really happened must be made crystal clear to all and separated from the myths which have accumulated on the subject."<ref>[http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/debarri.html Gerald of Wales&nbsp;– Two Accounts of the Exhumation of Arthur's Body] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003182610/http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/debarri.html |date= 3 October 2013 }}</ref>

====Annexation to Bath and Wells====
In 1197, [[Savaric FitzGeldewin]], [[Bishop of Bath and Wells]], traded the city of Bath to the king in return for the monastery of Glastonbury. Savaric secured the support of [[Pope Celestine III]] for the takeover the abbey as the seat of his bishopric, replacing [[Diocese of Bath and Wells|Bath]]. The plan was that Savaric would be bishop of Bath as well as abbot of Glastonbury. In his support, Savaric obtained letters from various ecclesiastics, including the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], [[Hubert Walter]], that claimed that this arrangement would settle longstanding disputes between the abbey and the bishops. The monks of Glastonbury objected to Savaric's plan, and sent an appeal to Rome, which was dismissed in 1196. But King Richard, no longer imprisoned in Germany, sided with the monks, and allowed them to elect an abbot, William Pica, in place of Savaric, who responded by excommunicating the new abbot. With the succession of John as king in place of his brother Richard in 1199, Savaric managed to force his way into the monastery and set up his episcopal see within the abbey. The monks appealed to [[Pope Innocent III|Innocent III]], the new pope.<ref name=Monastic328>Knowles, 2004, p.328</ref>

At first, Innocent took the side of the monks, and lifted Pica's excommunication.<ref name=Monastic328/> While the newest appeal was taking place, Pica and a number of his supporters, who had travelled to Rome to appeal in person, died in Rome in 1200,<ref name=Monastic328/><ref name=Heads52>Knowles, et al., 2005, p.52</ref> and some of the monks alleged this was by poison administered on the orders of Savaric. Meanwhile, Innocent had changed his mind, and reinstalled Savaric as abbot, ordering some English clergy to judge the specifics of the case, and allot the revenues of the abbey between Savaric and the monks. Savaric then attempted to secure more control over other monasteries in his diocese, but died before he could set the plans in motion.<ref name=Monastic328/>

The bishops continued to use the title ''Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury'' until finally renouncing their claim to Glastonbury in 1219. Services in the reconsecrated Great Church had begun on Christmas Day, 1213, most likely before it was entirely completed. King [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] and [[Eleanor of Castile|Queen Eleanor]] attended the magnificent service at the reburial of King Arthur's remains to the foot of the High Altar in 1278.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/avalon-history.html |title=Glastonbury's History and Traditions |publisher=Isle of Avalon |access-date=19 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904095558/http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/avalon-history.html |archive-date=4 September 2012 }}</ref>

====14th and 15th centuries====
[[File:Glastonbury Abbey abbot's kitchen.jpg|thumb|upright|The Abbot's Kitchen]]

In the 14th century, only [[Westminster Abbey]] was more richly endowed and appointed than Glastonbury. The abbot of Glastonbury kept great estate, now attested to simply by the ruins of the [[Abbot's Kitchen, Glastonbury|Abbot's Kitchen]], with four huge fireplaces at its corners. The kitchen was part of the magnificent abbot's house begun under Abbot John de Breynton (1334–42). It is one of the best preserved medieval kitchens in Europe, and the only substantial monastic building surviving at Glastonbury.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1172820 |desc=Abbot's Kitchen, Glastonbury Abbey |access-date=19 August 2008}}</ref> Archaeological excavations have revealed a special apartment erected at the south end of the abbot's house for a visit from [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]], who visited the abbot in a royal progress, as he visited any other great territorial magnate. The conditions of life in England during the [[Wars of the Roses]] became so unsettled that a wall was built around the abbey's precincts.

The [[George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn, Glastonbury|George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn]] was built in the late 15th century to accommodate visitors to the abbey. It has been designated as a Grade I [[listed building]].<ref>{{NHLE |num=1345455 |desc=George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn |access-date=11 November 2006}}</ref> The abbey also held lands outside the town serving large parts of Somerset and including parts of neighbouring counties. [[Tithe barns in Europe#England|Tithe barns]] were built to hold the crops due to the abbey including those at [[Tithe Barn, Manor Farm, Doulting|Doulting]],<ref>{{NHLE |num=1221353 |desc=Tithe Barn in farmyard at Manor Farm |access-date=17 March 2008}}</ref> [[Mells Village Hall|Mells]]<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Mells Village Hall|num=1058313|access-date=20 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Atthill |first=Robin |title=Mendip: A new study |year=1976 |publisher=[[David & Charles]]  |isbn= 978-0715372975|page=84 }}</ref> and [[Tithe Barn, Pilton|Pilton]].<ref>{{NHLE |num=1058842 |desc=Former Tithe Barn in farmyard at Cumhill Farm |access-date=2 November 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.caroe.co.uk/uploads/download/pilton-barn.pdf |title=Case Study &#124; Pilton Barn |publisher=Caroe & Partners Architects |access-date=2 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719035426/http://www.caroe.co.uk/uploads/download/pilton-barn.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2011 }}</ref>

===Dissolution of the Monasteries===
At the start of the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in 1536, there were over 850 monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England. By 1541, there were none. More than 15,000 monks and nuns had been dispersed and the buildings had been seized by the Crown to be sold off or leased to new lay occupants. Glastonbury Abbey was reviewed as having significant amounts of silver and gold as well as its attached lands.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Suppression of Glastonbury Abbey 1539 |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/h8-glastonbury.asp |publisher=Medieval Sourcebook |access-date=27 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007205120/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/h8-glastonbury.asp |archive-date= 7 October 2012 }}</ref> In September 1539, the abbey was visited by [[Richard Layton]], Richard Pollard and [[Thomas Moyle]], who arrived there without warning on the orders of [[Thomas Cromwell]]. The abbey was stripped of its valuables<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/h8-glastonbury.html |title=The Suppression of Glastonbury Abbey |work=Medieval Sourcebook |publisher=Internet medieval Sourcebook |access-date=19 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601005656/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/h8-glastonbury.html |archive-date= 1 June 2008 }}</ref> and Abbot [[Richard Whiting (abbot)|Richard Whiting]] (Whyting), who had been a signatory to the [[Act of Supremacy]] that made [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] the head of the church, resisted and was hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor on [[Glastonbury Tor]] on 15 November 1539.<ref>Gasquet, p.90</ref>

===Decline===
After the Dissolution, two of the abbey's [[Manorialism|manors]] in [[Wiltshire]] were sold by [[the Crown]] to [[John Thynne]] and thereafter descended in his family, who much later became [[Marquess of Bath|Marquesses of Bath]]. The Thynnes have preserved many of the abbey's Wiltshire records at [[Longleat]] up to the present day.<ref>{{Harvnb|Harris|1992|p=83}}</ref> The ruins of the abbey itself was stripped of lead and dressed stones hauled away to be used in other buildings. The site was granted by [[Edward VI]] to [[Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset]] who established a colony of Protestant Dutch weavers on the site. When Seymour was [[Attainder|attainted]] in 1551, the abbey site reverted to the crown, but the weavers remained until they were removed in the reign of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]]. In 1559 [[Elizabeth I of England]] granted the site to [[Peter Carew]], and it remained in private ownership until the beginning of the 20th century. Further stones were removed in the 17th century, so that by the beginning of the 18th century the abbey was described as a ruin. The only building to survive intact is the [[Abbot's Kitchen, Glastonbury|Abbot's Kitchen]], which served as a [[Quaker]] meeting house. Early in the 19th century, gunpowder was used to dislodge further stones and the site became a quarry. The [[Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882]] stopped further damage to the site and led to the first historical and archaeological surveys.{{sfn|Carley|1988|pp=169–175}}

===Modern history===
The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey were purchased by the Bath and Wells Diocesan Trust in 1908. The ruins are now the property of and managed by the Glastonbury Abbey trust. On acquiring the site the trust appointed [[Frederick Bligh Bond]] to direct an archaeological investigation. Bond discovered the Edgar Chapel, North Porch and St Dunstan's Chapel, however relations with his employers turned sour when he revealed in his 1919 book, ''The Gates of Remembrance'', that he had made many of his interpretations in collaboration with a psychic [[Mediumship|medium]].<ref name="BBC">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/articles/2008/06/04/glastonbury_abbey_archeology_feature.shtml |title=Discovering Glastonbury Abbey&nbsp;— the psychic way |last=Anon |work=BBC Somerset: Historic places |publisher=BBC |access-date=12 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721011042/http://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/articles/2008/06/04/glastonbury_abbey_archeology_feature.shtml |archive-date=21 July 2012 }}</ref> He was dismissed by Bishop [[Armitage Robinson]] in 1921, because of his use of seances and psychic archaeology<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/articles/2008/06/04/glastonbury_abbey_archeology_feature.shtml |title=Discovering Glastonbury Abbey&nbsp;— the psychic way |work=BBC Somerset&nbsp;— Historic Places |publisher=BBC |access-date=19 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721011042/http://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/articles/2008/06/04/glastonbury_abbey_archeology_feature.shtml |archive-date=21 July 2012 }}</ref><ref name="fortean">{{Cite web| title=Glastonbury Enigma|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030727035211/http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/143_blighbond.shtml|archive-date=27 July 2003 |work=Fortean Times | url=http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/143_blighbond.shtml | access-date=10 May 2007}}</ref><ref>Hill, p.156</ref> but is remembered as the man who "galvanised our cultural understanding of Glastonbury".<ref name="BBC"/>

A pilgrimage to the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey was held by a few local churches in 1924.<ref name=services>{{cite web |url=http://glastonburyabbey.com/services.php?&rpn=info |title=Services & Pilgrimage |publisher=Glastonbury Abbey |access-date=29 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817072012/http://glastonburyabbey.com/services.php?&rpn=info |archive-date=17 August 2011 }}</ref> Pilgrimages continue today to be held; in the second half of June for the Anglicans and early in July for the Catholics and they attract visitors from all over Western Europe. Services are celebrated in the [[Anglican]], [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox]] traditions.<ref name=services/> The abbey site is visited by over 100,000 a year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Conservation Area Appraisal Glastonbury |url=http://www.mendip.gov.uk/Documents/Regeneration/Glastonbury%20Conservation%20Area%20Appraisal.pdf |page=43 |publisher=Mendip District Council |access-date=3 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327101924/http://www.mendip.gov.uk/Documents/Regeneration/Glastonbury%20Conservation%20Area%20Appraisal.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2012 }}</ref>

===Architecture===
{{wide image|Glastonbury - Panoràmica.jpg|1000px|A panoramic view from the south of the ruins showing, from left to right, extant sections of the Lady Chapel, nave wall, crossing tower, and choir wall}}

The ruins of the great church, along with the Lady Chapel, are grade I [[listed building]]s,<ref>{{NHLE |num=1345447 |desc=Glastonbury Abbey |access-date=11 November 2006}}</ref> and a [[Scheduled Ancient Monument]].<ref name=pastscape>{{PastScape|mname=Glastonbury Abbey|mnumber=196705|access-date=28 August 2011}}</ref> It is set in {{convert|36|acre|m2}} of parkland and open to the public. It is approached by the abbey gatehouse, which was built in the mid 14th century and completely restored in 1810.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1345446 |desc=Abbey Gatehouse, including the porters' lodge |access-date=19 August 2008}}</ref> The 14th century abbey barn is also open to the public, outside the walls, as part of the [[Somerset Rural Life Museum]].<ref>{{NHLE |num=1057953 |desc=Abbey Tithe Barn, including attached wall to east |access-date=29 September 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Glastonbury Abbey Lady Chapel.JPG|thumb|upright|Lady Chapel interior]]

The great church was {{convert|220|ft|m}} in length and {{convert|45|ft|m}} wide. The choir was {{convert|155|ft|m}} long and the transept was {{convert|160|ft|m}} long. St Joseph's chapel was {{convert|110|ft|m}} long and {{convert|24|ft|m}} wide.<ref>Dowling, 1845, pp.231–232</ref> The remaining portions are of the clerestory and triforium arcades, which were the supports of the central square tower.<ref>Bond, 1920, p.22</ref> Other fragments of structures which remain include portions of the outer walls of the chancel aisles and the 14th century [[retroquire]]. There is also surviving stonework from the south nave aisle wall, west front and the [[Galilee (church architecture)|Galilee]] along with its crypt linked to St Mary's Chapel.<ref name=pastscape/> The Lady Chapel, from which the walls survive, was described in 1478 as being {{convert|34|yd|m}} in length and {{convert|8|yd|m}} wide.<ref>Willis, 1866, p.77</ref>

The [[Abbot's Kitchen, Glastonbury|Abbot's Kitchen]] is described as "one of the best preserved medieval kitchens in Europe".<ref name=IoEkitchen>{{NHLE |num=1172820 |desc=Abbot's Kitchen, Glastonbury Abbey |access-date=3 September 2011}}</ref> The 14th century octagonal building is supported by curved buttresses on each side leading up to a cornice with grotesque gargoyles. Inside are four large arched fireplaces with smoke outlets above them, with another outlet in the centre of the pyramidal roof.<ref name=IoEkitchen/> The kitchen was attached to the {{convert|80|ft|m}} high abbot's hall, although only one small section of its wall remains.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dunning |first1=Robert W. |first2=M. C. |last2=Siraut |first3=A. T. |last3=Thacker |first4=Elizabeth |last4=Williamson |title=Glastonbury and Street |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=117174 |work=A History of the County of Somerset |volume=9 |publisher=British History Online |location=UK |access-date=3 September 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102041648/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=117174 |archive-date= 2 November 2012 }}</ref>

The analysis of the 20th-century archaeological investigations have recently been published along with the results of a new geophysical survey.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=619339|title=Glastonbury Abbey: Archaeological Investigations 1904–79|last1=Gilchrist|first1=Roberta|last2=Green|first2=Cheryl|date=2016-01-01|publisher=Society of Antiquaries of London|isbn=9780854313006|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Glastonbury Abbey Excavations |url=http://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/research/Projects/arch-RG-Glastonbury.aspx |publisher=University of Reading |access-date=3 September 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811070757/http://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/research/Projects/arch-RG-Glastonbury.aspx |archive-date=11 August 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Excavation Archive Project (2009–2012) |url=http://www.glastonburyabbeysymposium.com/background.php |publisher=Glastonbury Abbey |access-date=3 September 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331162503/http://www.glastonburyabbeysymposium.com/background.php |archive-date=31 March 2012 }}</ref>

===Library===
The abbey library was described by [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]], [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII's]] [[antiquary]] who visited it, as containing unique copies of ancient histories of England and unique early Christian documents. It seems to have been affected by the fire of 1184, but still housed a remarkable collection until 1539 when it was dispersed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.<ref name="brithist">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40921 |title=Houses of Benedictine monks: the abbey of Glastonbury |year=1911 |work=A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2 |publisher=British History Online |access-date=19 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505150739/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40921 |archive-date= 5 May 2011 }}</ref> Around 40 of the manuscripts from Glastonbury are known to have survived after the dissolution.{{sfn|Carley|1988|pp=143-144}}

===Abbey House===
[[File:Glastonbury Abbey Retreat House.JPG|thumb|Abbey House]]

Within the abbey wall is Abbey House, which was used by the [[Diocese of Bath and Wells]] as a retreat house from 1931 until 2018.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/28-july/news/uk/glastonbury-abbey-retreat-centre-to-close |title=Glastonbury Abbey retreat centre to close |date=28 July 2017 |publisher=[[Church Times]] |access-date=18 January 2019 |first1=Hattie |last1=Williams}}</ref> It is now occasionally open to the public for special events and provides additional administration space for the Abbey.

The Tudor Gothic house was built between 1829 and 1830 by [[John Buckler (artist)|John Buckler]] from the stones of the abbey ruins for [[John Fry Reeves]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=117176 |title=Glastonbury: Parish |first1=Robert W. |last1=Dunning |first2=M.C. |last2=Siraut |first3=A.T. |last3=Thacker |first4=Elizabeth |last4=Williamson |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=2006 |work=A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 9: Glastonbury and Street |access-date=11 October 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110133117/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=117176 |archive-date=10 November 2012 }}</ref> It was altered and extended between 1850 and 1860, with further alterations in 1957.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1167617 |desc=Abbey Retreat House |access-date=19 August 2008}}</ref>

==Other burials==
*[[Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia]]
*[[Indract of Glastonbury]] and his sister Saint Drusa
*[[Edgar the Peaceful]]
*[[Edmund I]]
*[[Ealdgyth (wife of Edmund Ironside)]]
*[[Edmund II]]
*[[Humphrey Stafford, 1st Earl of Devon]]
*[[Richard Beere]]
*[[Eosterwine]]
*[[Hwaetberht]]

[[William of Malmesbury]] suggested that relics relating to others, including the following, were deposited at Glastonbury:
*[[Oswald of Northumbria|St Oswald]], King of Northumbria c 604, r. 630/40
*[[Balthild of Chelles]], Queen consort of Burgundy c 626-680
*[[Aelfflaed]], second wife of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo Saxons (father of Edmund) early C10

==Glastonbury Thorn==
{{main|Glastonbury Thorn}}

A specimen of [[common hawthorn]] found at Glastonbury, first mentioned in an early 16th-century anonymous metrical ''Lyfe of Joseph of Arimathea,'' was unusual in that it flowered twice in a year, once as normal on "old wood" in spring, and once on "new wood" (the current season's matured new growth) in the winter.<ref name="independent">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/vandals-destroy-sacred-thorn-tree-2155627.html |title=Vandals destroy sacred thorn tree |date=9 December 2010 |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=10 December 2010 |location=London |first1=Emma |last1=Hallett |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210221004/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/vandals-destroy-sacred-thorn-tree-2155627.html |archive-date=10 December 2010 }}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-11957440 |date=9 December 2010 |title=Historic Holy Thorn tree cut down in Glastonbury |work=BBC News |access-date=10 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101212093438/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-11957440 |archive-date=12 December 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/dec/09/glastonbury-mourns-felling-thorn-tree |title=Glastonbury Thorn chopped down as town rages over attack on famous tree |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=9 December 2010 |access-date=10 December 2010 |location=London |first=Maev |last=Kennedy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920204455/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/dec/09/glastonbury-mourns-felling-thorn-tree |archive-date=20 September 2013 }}</ref> This tree has been widely propagated by grafting or cuttings, with the [[cultivar]] name 'Biflora' or 'Praecox'.<ref>Lance et al., p.15</ref> The custom of sending a budded branch of the Glastonbury thorn to the Queen at Christmas was initiated by [[James Montague (bishop)|James Montague]], Bishop of Bath and Wells during [[James I of England|James I's]] reign, who sent a branch to [[Anne of Denmark|Queen Anne]], King James I's consort.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9268000/9268731.stm |title=Sprig of Holy Thorn in Glastonbury is cut for the Queen |publisher=BBC |access-date=10 December 2010 |date=8 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101212205334/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9268000/9268731.stm |archive-date=12 December 2010 }}</ref> Trees survive from earlier grafts to perpetuate the Glastonbury legend, among them two other Holy Thorns in the grounds of [[Church of St John the Baptist, Glastonbury|St John's Church]] in Glastonbury. The blossom sent to the Queen now comes from one of these.<ref name="humph">{{cite web|url=http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=10632&amid=10632|title=Attempts to regrow the Glastonbury thorn after it died in 1991|last=Humphrys|first=Geoffrey|date=December 1998|work=History Today|access-date=19 March 2009}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{annotated link|Abbot's Kitchen, Glastonbury}}
* {{annotated link|Abbot of Glastonbury}}
* {{annotated link|Adam of Damerham}}
* {{annotated link|List of monastic houses in Somerset}}
* {{annotated link|History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last1=Abrams|first1=Lesley | last2=Carley|first2= James P. |author2-link=James Carley |title=The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey: Essays in Honour of the ninetieth birthday of C. A. Ralegh Radford|year=1991|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-0-85115-284-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Ashe|first=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Ashe|title=From Caesar to Arthur|year=1960|publisher=Collins}}
* {{cite book|last=Bond|first=Frederick Bligh|title=An Architectural Handbook of Glastonbury Abbey with a Historical Chronicle of the Building|year=1920|publisher=Kessinger |isbn=978-1-4179-7776-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBFENXKtu6wC}}
* {{cite book|last=Carley|first=James P. |author-link=James Carley |title=Glastonbury Abbey: The Holy House at the Head of the Moors Adventurous|year=1988|publisher=Guild Publishing|isbn=978-0-85115-460-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Carley|first1=James P. |author-link=James Carley | last2=Townsend|first2= David |title=Chronicle of Glastonbury Abbey An Edition, Translation and Study of John of Glastonbury's Cronica sive Antiquitates: An Edition, Translation and Study&nbsp;... Sive Antiquatates Glastoniensis Ecclesie|year=2009|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-0-85115-859-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Carley|first=James P. |author-link=James Carley |title=Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Tradition |year=2001 |publisher=D.S.Brewer |isbn=978-0-85991-572-4|format=preview|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UI93dKBwWdMC}}
* {{cite book|last=Crake|first=A. D.|author-link=Augustine David Crake|title=The Last Abbot of Glastonbury|year=1915|publisher=A R Mowbray}}
* {{cite book|last=Dowling|first=John|title=The History of Romanism: from the earliest corruptions of Christianity to the present time |year=1845 |edition=4th |publisher=Edward Walker |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aQIQAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA231}}
* {{cite book|last=Gasquet|first=Francis Aidan|title=Last Abbot of Glastonbury and Other Essays|year=1908|publisher=Kessinger Publishing Co|isbn=978-0-7661-6289-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Gilchrist |first1=Roberta |last2=Green |first2=Cheryl |year=2015 |title=Glastonbury Abbey: archaeological investigations 1904–79 |location=London |publisher=Society of Antiquaries of London |isbn=9780854313006 |url=http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=619339 }}
* {{cite book|last=Harris|first=Kate|title=Glastonbury Abbey Records at Longleat House: A Summary List|year=1992|publisher=Somerset Record Society|isbn=978-0-901732-29-3}}
* {{cite journal |first=Oliver D. |last=Harris |title='Which I have beholden with most curiouse eyes': the lead cross from Glastonbury Abbey |journal=Arthurian Literature |volume=34 |year=2018 |pages=88–129 |doi=10.1017/9781787442535.006 |isbn=978-1-84384-483-9 |s2cid=200168947 }}
* {{cite book|last=Havinden|first=Michael|title=The Somerset Landscape|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton|location=London|series=The making of the English landscape|isbn=978-0-340-20116-9|year=1981}}
* {{cite book|last=Hill|first=Rosemary|title=Stonehenge|year=2009|publisher=Profile Books|isbn=978-1-86197-880-6}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Hollinrake |first1= Charles|last2= Hollinrake |first2=Nancy|editor1-first=John |editor1-last=Blair |title=Waterways and Canal Building in Medieval England |year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-921715-1 |chapter=Glastonbury's Canal and Dunstan's Dyke}}
* {{cite book|last=Knowles|first=David|title=The Monastic Order in England: A History of its Development from the Times of St Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council 940–1216|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-54808-3}}
* {{cite book|last1=Knowles|first1=David|last2= Brooke|first2=C. N. L.|last3= London|first3=Vera C. M. |title=The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales, I 940–1216|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-511-02872-4}}
* {{cite book|last1=Lance|first1=Ron W.|last2=O'Kennon|first2=Robert J.|last3=Phipps|first3=James B.|title=Hawthorns and Medlars (Royal Horticultural Society Plant Collector Guide)|year=2003|publisher=Timber Press|isbn=978-0-88192-591-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/hawthornsmedlars00jame}}
* {{cite book|last1=Rahtz|first1=Philip | author-link=Philip Rahtz | last2=Watts|first2=Lorna|title=Glastonbury: Myth and Archaeology|year=2003|publisher=History Press |location=Stroud |isbn=978-0-7524-2548-1}}
* {{cite book|last1=Rouse|first1=Robert Allen | last2=Rushton|first2= Cory |title=The Medieval Quest for Arthur|year=2005|publisher=History Press |location=Stroud |isbn=978-0-7524-3343-1}}
* {{Cite book | last=Searle | first=Muriel V. | title=West Country History: Somerset | year=2002 | publisher=Venton Publications | location=Bristol | isbn=978-1-84150-802-3}}
* {{cite book|last=White|first=Richard|title=King Arthur in Legend and History|place=London|publisher=Dent|year=1997|isbn=978-0460879156|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/kingarthurinlege0000unse}}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Michael |title=The Draining of the Somerset Levels |year=1970 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-07486-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/drainingofsomers0000will }}
* {{cite book|last=Willis|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Willis (engineer)|title=The Architectural History of Glastonbury Abbey|year=1866|publisher=Deighton, Bell |location=Cambridge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GUsAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA29}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.glastonburyabbey.com/ Glastonbury Abbey official website]

{{Benedictine houses of England and Wales}}
{{Diocese of Bath and Wells}}

{{authority control}}

{{Good article}}

[[Category:Locations associated with Arthurian legend]]
[[Category:Benedictine monasteries in England]]
[[Category:Churches in Somerset]]
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Mendip District]]
[[Category:Grade I listed monasteries]]
[[Category:Monasteries in Somerset]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon monastic houses]]
[[Category:Ruins in Somerset]]
[[Category:Anglican pilgrimage sites]]
[[Category:Catholic pilgrimage sites]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Somerset]]
[[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 8th century]]
[[Category:Living museums in England]]
[[Category:Museums in Somerset]]
[[Category:Religious museums in England]]
[[Category:Scheduled monuments in Mendip District]]
[[Category:Glastonbury]]
[[Category:7th-century establishments in England]]
[[Category:1539 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Church ruins in England]]
[[Category:Ruined abbeys and monasteries]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip District]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed ruins]]
[[Category:Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation]]
[[Category:Joseph of Arimathea]]