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Tennyson, Alfred Lord - Morte d’Arthur - Lyonesse
Identifier
007139
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Lyonesse is identified as a sunken land lying off to the west. It is mythological, but has come to be associated with Cornwall and the Trevelyan family of Cornwall, who takes its coat of arms from the local legend; "when Lyonesse sank beneath the waves only a man named Trevelyan escaped by riding a white horse." To this day the family's shield bears a white horse rising from the waves.
Lyonnesse is also mentionned in Arthurian legend, and is the site of the final battle between Arthur and Mordred
The legend of a sunken kingdom appears in both Cornish and Breton mythology.
There is a Breton parallel in the tale of the Cité d'Ys, similarly drowned as a result of its debauchery with a single virtuous survivor escaping on a horse, in this case King Gradlon [see Cities]. The Welsh equivalent to Lyonesse and Ker Ys is Cantre'r Gwaelod, another legendary drowned kingdom.
The story of Lyonnesse bears almost the same hallmarks as the legends of Atlantis and Númenor. The word Lyonesse is speculated to be derived from the Celtic corruption of the word Atlantis. J. R. R. Tolkien drew some of his inspiration for the lost kingdom of Númenor from the legends of Lyonesse.
A description of the experience
Alfred, Lord Tennyson - Morte d’Arthur
Then rose the King and moved his host by night
And ever pushed Sir Mordred, league by league,
Back to the sunset bound of Lyonesse--
A land of old upheaven from the abyss
By fire, to sink into the abyss again;
Where fragments of forgotten peoples dwelt,
And the long mountains ended in a coast
Of ever-shifting sand, and far away
The phantom circle of a moaning sea