The Road to Avalon

Abstract

According to a legend from the Ottokars rhymed chronicle from the beginning of the 14th century, Carniolian knight Wilhelm von Scharfenberg (Svibno) died in a battle of Griffen (Grebinj), Carinthia, in 1293. His immense popularity was manifested in the birth of a legend, according to which the dying Wilhelm handed over to his winning opponent the magic ring which had so far made him invincible. Although the author of the chronicle does not mention what had happened to the corpse, it is possible to reconstruct the events after the death of this as well as other medieval knights with the help of the general customs of the time. The events revolving around Wilhelm 's corpse make it possible to reconstruct a model and to establish the main elements of the research of dying and after-death activities among the nobility and townspeople in late Middle Ages in the territory of today's Slovenia.