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GLASTONBURY

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 114 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GLASTONBURY , a See also:

market See also:town and municipal See also:borough in the Eastern See also:parliamentary See also:division of See also:Somersetshire, See also:England, on the See also:main road from See also:London to See also:Exeter, 37 M. S.W. of See also:Bath by the See also:Somerset & See also:Dorset railway. Pop. (1901) 4016. The town lies in the midst of orchards and See also:water-meadows, reclaimed from the See also:fens which encircled Glastonbury Tor, a conical height once an See also:island, but now, with the surrounding flats, a See also:peninsula washed on three sides by the See also:river Brue. The town is famous for its See also:abbey, the ruins of which are fragmentary, and as the See also:work of destruction has in many places descended to the very See also:foundations it is impossible to make out the details of the See also:plan. Of the vast range of buildings for the See also:accommodation of the monks hardly any See also:part remains except the See also:abbot's See also:kitchen, noteworthy for its octagonal interior (the exterior plan being square, with the four corners filled in with See also:fire-places and chimneys), the See also:porter's See also:lodge and the abbey See also:barn. Considerable portions are See also:standing of the so-called See also:chapel of St See also:Joseph at the See also:west end, which has been identified with the See also:Lady chapel, occupying the site of the earliest See also:church. This chapel, which is the finest part of the ruins, is Transitional work of the 12th See also:century. It See also:measures about 66 ft. from See also:east to west and about 36 from See also:north to See also:south. Below the chapel is a See also:crypt of the 15th century inserted beneath a See also:building which had no previous crypt. Between the chapel and the See also:great church is an See also:Early See also:English building which appears to have served as a See also:Galilee See also:porch.

The church itself was a cruciform structure with a See also:

choir, See also:nave and transepts, and a See also:tower surmounting the centre of intersection. From east to west the length was 410 ft. and the breadth of the nave was about 8o ft. The nave had ten bays and the choir six. Of the nave three bays of the south See also:side are still standing, and the windows have pointed See also:arches externally and semicircular arches internally. Two of the tower piers and a part of one See also:arch give some indication of the grandeur of the building. The foundations of the See also:Edgar chapel, discovered in 1908, make the whole church the longest of See also:cathedral or monastic churches in the See also:country. The old See also:clock, presented to the abbey by See also:Adam de Sodbury (1322 1335), and noteworthy as an early example of a clock striking the See also:hours automatically with a See also:count-See also:wheel, was once in See also:Wells cathedral, but is now preserved in the See also:Victoria and See also:Albert Museum. The Glastonbury See also:thorn, planted, according to the See also:legend, by Joseph of Arimathea, has been the See also:object of considerable comment. It is said to be a distinct variety, flowering twice a See also:year. The actual thorn visited by the pilgrims was destroyed about the See also:Reformation See also:time, but specimens of the same variety are still extant in various parts of the country. The See also:chief buildings, apart from the abbey, are the church of St See also:John Baptist, Perpendicular in See also:style, with a See also:fine tower and some 15th-century monuments; St See also:Benedict's, dating from 1493-1524; St John's See also:hospital, founded 1246; and the See also:George See also:Inn, built in the time of See also:Henry VII. or VIII. The See also:present See also:stone See also:cross replaced a far finer one of great See also:age, which had fallen into decay.

The Antiquarian Museum contains an excellent collection, including remains from a prehistoric See also:

village of the marshes, discovered in 1892, and consisting of sixty mounds within a space of five acres. There is a See also:Roman See also:Catholic missionaries' See also:college. In the 16th century the woollen See also:industry was introduced by the See also:duke of Somerset; and See also:silk manufacture was carried on in the 18th century. Tanning and See also:tile-making, and the manufacture of boots and See also:sheep-skin rugs are practised. The town is governed by a See also:mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. See also:Area, 5000 acres. The See also:lake-village discovered in 1892 proves that there was a See also:Celtic See also:settlement about 300-200 B.C. on an island in the midst of swamps, and therefore easily defensible. See also:British earthworks and Roman roads and See also:relics prove later occupation. The name of Glastonbury, however, is of much later origin, being a corruption of the Saxon Glcestyngabyrig. By the Britons the spot seems to have been called Ynys yr Afalon (latinized as Avallonia) or Ynysvitrin (see See also:AVALON), and it became the See also:local habitation of various fragments of Celtic See also:romance. According to the legends which See also:grew up under the care of the monks, the first church of Glastonbury was a little wattled building erected by Joseph of Arimathea as the See also:leader of the twelve apostles sent over to See also:Britain from See also:Gaul by St See also:Philip. About a See also:hundred years later, according to the same authorities, the two missionaries, Phaganus and Deruvianus, who came to See also:king See also:Lucius from See also:Pope See also:Eleutherius, established a fraternity of anchorites on the spot, and after three hundred years more St See also:Patrick introduced among them a See also:regular monastic See also:life.

The British monastery founded about 6o1 was succeeded by a Saxon abbey built by See also:

Ine in 708. From the decadent See also:state into which Glastonbury was brought by the Danish invasions it was recovered by See also:Dunstan, who had been educated within its walls and was appointed its abbot about 946. The church and other buildings of his erection remained till the See also:installation, in 1082, of the first See also:Norman abbot, who inaugurated the new See also:epoch by commencing a new church. His successor Herlewin (1101-1120), however, pulled it down to make way for a finer structure. Henry of See also:Blois (1126-1172) added greatly to the extent of the monastery. In 1184 (on 25th May) the whole of the buildings were laid in ruins by fire; but Henry II. of England, in whose hands the monastery then was, entrusted his See also:chamberlain Rudolphus with the work of restoration, and caused it to be carried out with much magnificence. The great church of which the ruins still remain was then erected. In the end of the 12th century, and on into the following, Glastonbury was distracted by a See also:strange dispute, caused by the See also:attempt of Savaric, the ambitious See also:bishop of Bath, to make himself See also:master of the abbey. The conflict was closed by the decision of See also:Innocent III., that the abbacy °should be merged in the new see of Bath and Glastonbury, and that Savaric should have a See also:fourth of the See also:property. On Savaric's See also:death his successor gave up the See also:joint bishopric and allowed the monks to elect their own abbot. From this date to the Reformation the monastery, one of the chief See also:Benedictine abbeys in England, continued to flourish, the chief events in its See also:history being connected with the See also:maintenance of its claims to the See also:possession of the bodies or tombs of King See also:Arthur and St Dunstan. From early times through the See also:middle ages it was a See also:place of See also:pilgrimage.

As early at least as the beginning of the 11th century the tradition that Arthur was buried at Glastonbury appears to have taken shape; and in the reign of Henry II., according to Giraldus Cambrensis and others, the abbot Henry de Blois, causing See also:

search to be made, discovered at the See also:depth of 16ft. a massive See also:oak See also:trunk with an inscription " Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia." After the fire of 1184 the monks asserted that they were in possession of the remains of St Dunstan, which had been abstracted from See also:Canterbury after the Danish See also:sack of loll and kept in concealment ever since. The Canterbury monks naturally denied the assertion, and the contest continued for centuries. In r5o8 See also:Warham and Goldston having examined the Canterbury See also:shrine reported that it contained all the See also:principal bones of the See also:saint, but the abbot of Glastonbury in reply as stoutly maintained that this was impossible. The See also:day of such disputes was, however, See also:drawing to a See also:close. In 1539 the last and both abbot of Glastonbury, See also:Robert Whyting, was lodged in the Tower on See also:account of " See also:divers and sundry treasons." " The ` account' or ` See also:book' of his treasons . . . . seems to be lost, and the nature of the charges . . . . can only be a See also:matter of See also:speculation " (See also:Gairdner, Cal. Pap. on See also:Hen. VIII., xiv. ii. pref. xxxii). He was removed to Wells, where he was " arraigned and next day put to See also:execution for robbing of Glastonbury church." The execution took place on Glastonbury Tor.

His See also:

body was quartered and his See also:head fixed on the abbey See also:gate. A darker passage does not occur in the See also:annals of the English Reformation than this See also:murder of an able and high-spirited See also:man, whose worst offence was that he defended as best he could from the See also:hand of the spoiler the property in his See also:charge. In 1907, the site of the abbey with the remains of the buildings, which had been in private hands since the granting of the See also:estate to See also:Sir See also:Peter See also:Carew by See also:Elizabeth in 1559, was bought by Mr Ernest Jardine for the purpose of transferring it to the Church of England. Bishop Kennion of Bath and Wells entered into an agreement to raise a sum of X31,000, the cost of the See also:purchase; this was completed, and the site and buildings were formally transferred at a dedicatory service in 1909 to the Diocesan Trustees of Bath and Wells, who are to hold and See also:manage the property according to a See also:deed of See also:trust. This deed provided for the See also:appointment of an advisory See also:council, consisting of the arch-bishop of Canterbury, the bishop of Bath and Wells and four other bishops, each with See also:power to nominate one clerical and one See also:lay member. The council has the See also:duty of deciding the purpose for which the property is to be used " in connexion with and for the benefit of the Church of England." To give time for further collection of funds and deliberation, the property was re-let for five years to the See also:original purchaser. In the 8th century Glastonbury was already a borough owned by the abbey, which continued to be overlord till the See also:Dissolution. The abbey obtained charters in the 7th century, but the town received its first See also:charter from Henry II., who exempted the men of Glastonbury from the See also:jurisdiction of royal officials and freed them from certain tolls. This was confirmed by Henry III. in 1227, by See also:Edward I. in 1278, by Edward II. in 1313 and by Henry VI. in 1447. The borough was incorporated by See also:Anne in 1706, and the See also:corporation was reformed by the See also:act of 1835. In 1319 Glastonbury received a See also:writ of See also:summons to See also:parliament, but made no return, and has not since been represented. A See also:fair on the 8th of See also:September was granted in 1127; another on the 29th of May was held under a charter of 1282.

Fairs known as Torr fair and Michaelmas fair are now held on the second Mondays in September and See also:

October and are chiefly important for the See also:sale of horses and See also:cattle. The market day every other See also:Monday is noted for the sale of See also:cheese. Glastonbury owed its See also:medieval importance to its connexion with the abbey. At the Dissolution the introduction of woollen manufacture checked the decay of the town. The See also:cloth See also:trade flourished for a century and was replaced by silk-See also:weaving, See also:stocking-See also:knitting and See also:glove-making, all of which have died out. See AbbotGasquet,Henry VIII. and theEnglish Monasteries (1906), and The Last Abbot of Glastonbury (1895 and 1908); See also:William of See also:Malmesbury, " De antiq. Glastoniensis ecclesiae," in Rerum Anglicarum script. See also:vet, torn. i. (1684) (also printed by See also:Hearne and See also:Migne); John of Glastonbury, Chronica rive de hist. de See also:rebus Glast., ed. by Hearne (2 vols., See also:Oxford, 1726); Adam of Domerham, De rebus gestis Glast., ed. by Hearne (2 vols., Oxford, 1727) ; Hist. and Antiq. of Glast. (London, 1807) ; Avalonian See also:Guide to the Town of Glastonbury (8th ed., 1839); See also:Warner, Hist. of the Abbey and Town (Bath, 1826); Rev. F. Warre, " Glastonbury Abbey," in Proc. of Somersetshire Archaeol. and Nat. Hist.

See also:

Soc., 1849; Rev. F. Warre, " See also:Notice of Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey," ib. 1859; Rev. W. A. See also:Jones, " On the Reputed See also:Discovery of King Arthur's Remains at Glastonbury," ib. 1859; Rev. J. R. See also:Green, " Dunstan at Glastonbury " and " Giso and Savaric," ib. 1863 ; Rev.

See also:

Canon See also:Jackson, " Savaric, Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury," ib. 1862, 1863; E. A. See also:Free-man, " King Ine," ib. 1872 and 1874; Dr W. See also:Beattie, in Journ. of Brit. Archaeol. See also:Ass. vol. xii., 1856; Rev. R. See also:Willis, Architectural History of Glastonbury Abbey (1866); W. H. P.

Greswell, Chapters on the Early History of Glastonbury Abbey (19o9). Views and plans of the abbey building will be found in See also:

Dugdale's Monasticon (1655); See also:Stevens's Monasticon (172o) ; See also:Stukeley, Ilinerarium curiosum (1724) ; See also:Grose, Antiquities (1754) ; See also:Carter, See also:Ancient See also:Architecture (1800) ; Storer, Antiq. and Topogr. See also:Cabinet, ii., iv., v. (1807), &c.; See also:Britton's Arc)zitectural Antiquities, iv. (1813) ; Vetusta monumenta, iv. (1815) ; and New Monasticon, i. (1817).

End of Article: GLASTONBURY

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