class="MsoNormal">In the year 470, the Romano-British king,
Riothamus, disappeared (and presumably died) in the neighborhood of Avallon
after being defeated by the Goths, against whom the Western Roman Emperor
Anthemius had hired him to fight. This, and other aspects of his reign, has
made him a candidate for the historical King Arthur, with Avallon becoming
Arthurian Avalon. Avallon (Aballo) was in the Middle Ages the seat of a
viscounty dependent on the duchy of Burgundy; on the death of Charles the Bold
in 1477, it passed under the royal authority. The castle, mentioned as early as
the seventh century, has utterly disappeared
