AVALLON

avallon, a town of central france, capital of an arrondissement in the department of yonne, 34 m. s.s.e. of auxerre on a branch of the paris-lyon railway. pop. (1906) 5197. the town, with wide streets and picturesque promenades, is finely situated on a promontory, the base of which is washed on the south by the cousin, on the east and west by small streams. its chief building, the church of st lazare, dates from the 12th century. the two western portals are adorned with sculpture in the ornate romanesque style; the tower on the left of the facade was rebuilt in the 17th century. the tour de l'horloge, pierced by a gateway through which passes the grande rue, is a 15th century structure containing a museum on its second floor. remains of the ancient fortifications, including seven of the flanking towers, are still to be seen. avallon has a statue of vauban, the military engineer. the public institutions include the subprefecture, a tribunal of first instance, and a communal college. the manufacture of biscuits and gingerbread, and of leather and farm implements is carried on, and there is considerable traffic in wood, wine, and the live-stock and agricultural produce of the surrounding country. avallon (_aballo_) was in the middle ages the seat of a viscounty dependent on the duchy of burgundy, and on the death of charles the bold passed under the royal authority. avalon (also written avallon, avollon, avilion and avelion), in welsh mythology the kingdom of the dead, afterwards an earthly paradise in the western seas, and finally, in the arthurian romances, the abode of heroes to which king arthur was conveyed after his last battle. in welsh the name is ynys yr afallon, usually interpreted "isle of apples," but possibly connected with the celtic tradition of a king over the dead named avalloc (in welsh afallach). if the traditional derivation is correct, the name is derived from the welsh _afal_, an apple, and, as no other large fruit was well known to the races of northern europe, is probably intended to symbolize the feasting and enjoyments of elysium. other forms of the name are ynysvitrin and ynysgutrin, "isle of glass"--which appear to be identical with glasberg, the teutonic kingdom of the dead. perhaps owing to a confusion between glasberg or ynysvitrin and the anglo-saxon glaestinga-burh, glastonbury, the name "isle of avalon" was given to the low ridge in central somersetshire which culminates in glastonbury tor, while glastonbury itself came to be called avalon. attempts have also been made to identify avalon with other places in england and wales. see _studies in the arthurian legend_, by j. rhys (oxford, 1891); also arthur (king); atlantis.