- Astolat
Astolat is a legendary city of
Great Britain named in Arthurian legends. It is the home of Elaine, "the fair maiden of Astolat", and of her father Sir Bernard and her brothersLavaine and Tirre. The city is called Shallott in many cultural references, derived fromAlfred Lord Tennyson 's poem "The Lady of Shallott ".Chapter nine of
Sir Thomas Malory 's book "Le Morte d'Arthur " identifiesGuildford inSurrey with the legendary Astolat::And so upon the morn early Sir Launcelot heard mass and brake his fast, and so took his leave of the queen and departed. And then he rode so much until he came to Astolat, that is Guildford; and there it happed him in the eventide he came to an old baron’s place.
Some historians and speculators argue there could be a connection between the name "Astolat" and the
Atrebates tribe who existed in Britain andGaul before, and to a lesser degree after, the Roman occupation of Britain. In this case, "Astolat" could refer to a realm, not necessarily a city, or toCalleva Atrebatum , the "civitas" of the Atrebates tribe, which is known to have resisted the Anglo-Saxon advance in southeastern Britain long after the rest of the area had yielded. In other sources, Astolat is said to be located midway betweenLondon andColchester , which would place it nearChelmsford inEssex .Astolat has been used metaphorically in modern literature, even within the context of academically inclined socio-historical analysis, such as that of W. J. Cash's much lauded 1941 work, "The Mind of the South" (Book One, “Of an Ideal and Conflict”, Sec. 9, p. 89 of 1969 ed., Knopf, N.Y.):
She was the South's Palladium,this Southern woman--the shield-bearing Athena gleamingwhitely in the clouds, the standard for its rallying, the mystic symbol of its nationality in face of the foe. She was the lily-pure maid of Astolat and the hunting goddess of theBoeotian hill.
References
*http://www.arthurian-legend.com/le-morte-darthur/le-morte-darthur-18c.php
*Michael Fulford, "City of the Dead: the Roman Town of Calleva Atrebatum"
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