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                 The Sword in the Stone
                        and Excalibur

                                        The legend of King Arthur grew considerably as the years passed after his death.
                                        Most historians can agree that a leader called Arthur did live in the west of England
                                        about 1400 years ago.  He won a series of battles against the Saxon invaders.
                                        Arthur seems to have been a very clever leader who brought fifty years of peace to
                                        his people.

 
                                       When the Romans withdrew their legions from Britain their heavy cavalry remained.
                                        They were stationed in Yorkshire and were the only really heavy cavalry in Europe
                                        at that time.  It is plausable that a Celtic leader such as Arthur could have gained
                                        their support.  It could explain his victories against the Saxons.  The horsemen who
                                        made up this heavy cavalry came from aa area in what today is Russia.  These
                                        horsemen had a custom of placing a sword upright in a stone as part of their religious
                                        ceremonies.  This ritual may be the source of the legend of Arthur drawing a sword
                                        from a stone to become King of Britain.
 

                                        There are many tales of King Arthur, and they often involve a magician called Merlin.
                                        When Arthur was born, Merlin placed him in the home of Sir Ector who was to become

                                        his mentor.  He taught Arthur how knights and kings should behave and fight.  When
                                        Artrhur's father, Uther Pendragon, died, many knights wanted to become king.  Merlin
                                        arranged a test for the knights.  Using magic, he placed the blade of a sword into a
                                        large stone.  On the stone was a message which said, "He who pulls this sword from
                                        the stone shall become king."
 
 
                                       The Sword in the Stone, sometimes a sword in an anvil, is drawn by Arthur as
                                        proof of his birthright and of his nobility. It is both a test and a miraculous sign of his
                                        royalty. The sword drawn from the stone is different from the one given to Arthur by
                                        the Lady of the Lake. The latter is always referred to as Excalibur; the former is called
                                        by that name only once, when Arthur draws the sword at a crucial moment in the first
                                        battle to test his sovereignty (Vinaver I, 19): "thenne he drewe his swerd Excalibur, but
                                        it was so breyght in his enemyes eyen that it gaf light lyke thirty torchys."

                                        The most powerful of knights could not pull the sword from the stone.  It was
                                        suggested that a tournament of knightly skills and strength be held, with the

                                        winner becoming king.   At that time, Arthur was then fifteen years old.  He was
                                        a page for Sir Kay who was the son of Sir Ector.  Sir Kay decided to enter the great
                                        tournament but absentmindedly, he forgot his sword, and asked Arthur to fetch
                                        a sword for him.  And so, Arthur in search for a sword.

                                        Acting according to Sir Kay's request, Arthur hurried away to find a sword for his

                                        master, but he could not find one.  When he saw the sword in the stone,  Arthur
                                        had not heard how all the great knights had tried and failed at pulling the sword
                                        out of the stone.  Arthur walked up to the sword, took hold of it by the hilt with
                                        two hands and pulled.  The sword slid easily from the stone, and Arthur carried it
                                        away for Sir Kay to use in the tournament.  When Sir Kay and the other knights
                                        saw the sword, they realized what it was.

                                        Sir Kay recognized the familiar sword as the one in the stone and tried to claim it.
                                        When told to replace it and draw it out again, he couldn't.  Twelve other knights
                                        tried, but with the same result.  Arthur then took his turn, and easily withdrew the
                                        sword from the stone, assuring his place in the royal family, and in history.
 

                                        The new King gathered around him the best and most noble knights in the land.

                                        Then King Arthur built a huge round table. When the knights sat around the table,
                                        none of them could sit at the head of the table. In this way , all of the knights were
                                        made to feel equal.  From his castle named Camelot, Arthur ruled wisely for five
                                        decades.

                                        The "Excalibur" was King Arthur's sword. It was not the "Sword in the Stone"
                                        (which broke in battle), but a second sword which Merlin helped him get.  With
                                        Arthur often being in battle, (the sword from the stone broken in battle), Merlin led
                                        Arthur to a lake, from the middle of which an arm protruded holding a sword.  The
                                        sword, Excalibur, belonged to the Lady of the Lake, who gave it to Arthur.

                                        It was the Lady of the Lake offering Arthur a magic unbreakable blade, fashioned
                                        by an Avalonian elf smith, along with a scabbard which would protect him as long
                                        as he wore it.  Towards the end of his reign, during the troubled times of Medrod's
                                        rebellion, Excalibur was stolen by Arthur's wicked half-sister Morgan le Fay.  The
                                        great sword was recovered, the scabbard was lost forever.

                                        When Arthur was mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann, the King instructed
                                        Bedwyr (Bedevere) to return Excalibur to the lake from whence it came.  When
                                        Bedwyr was questioned about the circumstances of Excalibur's  return, Bedwyr
                                        claimed to have seen nothing unusual.  Upon hearing this, Arthur knew that Bedwyr
                                        had kept Excalibur for himself, and sent him back to the Lake once more.  When
                                        Bedwyr hurled the sword into the misty waters, he saw a mystic hand appear to
                                        catch Excalibur and draw it beneath the rippling waters for the last time.
 

Bedevere returning Excalibur to the Lake

                                       The Name "Excalibur" was first used for King Arthur's sword by the French writers.
                                        It was not the famous "Sword in the Stone", but a second sword acquired by the King
                                        through the intercession of his druidic advisor, Merddyn (Merlin).  Worried that Arthur
                                        would fall in battle, Merlin took the King to a magical lake where a mysterious hand
                                        thrust itself up from the water, holding aloft a magnificent sword.  It was the Lady
                                        of the Lake offering Arthur a magic unbreakable blade, fashioned by an Avalonian elf
                                        smith, along with a scabbard which would protect him as long as he wore it.

                                      The earliest Arthurian stories refer to Arthur's sword as Caladfwlch, a Welsh word
                                        taken from Calad-Bolg meaning "Hard Lightning".   Later it came to be known as the
                                        Caliburn of Geoffrey and Monmouth and finally the French translation,  Excalibur that
                                        we recognize today.
 

Excalibur

Sites from which this Page was Developed,
and Good Research Sources

                                   Excalibur & The Sword in The Stone: Texts, Images,  ...  Return to Main
                                    Menu of The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester  ...
 

                                   The sword from the stone  ... Often confused with Excalibur, the sword from the stone
                                    broke during combat, and was replaced by the magical weapon given to Arthur by the
                                    Lady of the Lake.
 

                                   Heroic Legends - The Sword in the Stone (Legend of Arthur)  ... The Sword in the
                                    Stone (The Legend of Arthur and Excalibur).  The King was worse, was like to die. ...
 

                                   King Arthur: A Man for the Ages--The Sword in the Stone ... drawing the sword from
                                    the stone could have had its ... which they threw the sword turned red as blood ...
                                    version of Griflet throwing Excalibur into the waiting arms ...
 

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