Excalibur
Excalibur
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Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone (the proof of Arthur's lineage) are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was associated with the Arthurian legend very early. In Welsh, the sword is called Caledfwlch.
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[edit] Forms and etymologies
The name Excalibur came from Old French Excalibor, which came from Caliburn used in Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1140) (Latin Caliburnus). There are also variant spellings such as Escalibor and Excaliber (the latter used in Howard Pyle's books for younger readers). One theory holds that Caliburn[us] comes from Caledfwlch, the original Welsh name for the sword, which is first mentioned in the Mabinogion. This may be cognate with Caladbolg ("hard-belly", i.e. "voracious"), a legendary Irish sword (see below). Another theory (noted in The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, 1995) states that "Caliburnus" is ultimately derived from Latin chalybs "steel", which is in turn derived from Chalybes, the name of an Anatolian ironworking tribe. This is noted and used by the historian Valerio Massimo Manfredi in his novel The Last Legion (2002: the English translation has Calibian instead of the intended Chalybian). According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, Excalibur was originally derived from the Latin phrase Ex calce liberatus, "liberated from the stone". In Malory, Excalibur is said to mean "cut-steel", which some have interpreted to mean "steel-cutter".
[edit] Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone
In surviving accounts of Arthur, there are two originally separate legends about the sword's origin. The first is the "Sword in the Stone" legend, originally appearing in Robert de Boron's poem Merlin, in which Excalibur can only be drawn from the stone by Arthur, the rightful king. The second comes from the later Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin, which was taken up by Sir Thomas Malory. Here, Arthur receives Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake after breaking his first sword in a fight with King Pellinore. The Lady of the Lake calls the sword "Excalibur, that is as to say as Cut-steel," and Arthur takes it from a hand rising out of the lake.
As Arthur lies dying, he tells Sir Bedivere (Sir Griflet in some versions) to return his sword to the lake by throwing it into the water. Bedivere is reluctant to throw away such a precious sword, so twice he only pretends to do so. Each time, Arthur asks him to describe what he saw. When Bedivere tells him the sword simply fell into the water, Arthur scolds him harshly. Finally, Bedivere throws Excalibur into the lake. Before the sword strikes the water's surface, a hand reaches up to grasp it and pulls it under. Arthur leaves on a death barge with the three queens to Avalon, where as his legend says, he will one day return to rule in Britain's darkest hour.
Malory records both versions of the legend in his Le Morte d'Arthur, and confusingly calls both swords Excalibur. The film Excalibur attempts to rectify this by having only one sword, which Arthur inherits through his father and later breaks; the Lady of the Lake then repairs it.
[edit] History
[edit] Caledfwlch
In Welsh legend, Arthur's sword is known as Caledfwlch. In Culhwch and Olwen, it is one of Arthur's most valuable possessions and is used by Arthur's warrior Llenlleawg the Irishman to kill the Irish king Diwrnach while stealing his magical cauldron. Caledfwlch is thought to derive from the legendary Irish weapon Caladbolg, the lightning sword of Fergus mac Roich. Caladbolg was also known for its incredible power, and was carried by some of Ireland's greatest heroes.
Though not named as Caledfwlch, Arthur's sword is described vividly in The Dream of Rhonabwy one of the tales associated with the Mabinogion:
Then they heard Cadwr Earl of Cornwall being summoned, and saw him rise with Arthur's sword in his hand, with a design of two serpents on the golden hilt; when the sword was unsheathed what was seen from the mouths of the two serpents was like two flames of fire, so dreadful that it was not easy for anyone to look. At that the host settled and the commotion subsided, and the earl returned to his tent.
—From The Mabinogion, translated by Jeffrey Gantz.[1]
[edit] Caliburn to Excalibur
Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain is the first non-Welsh source to speak of the sword. Geoffrey says the sword was forged in Avalon and Latinizes the name "Caledfwlch" to Caliburn or Caliburnus. When his influential pseudo-history made it to Continental Europe, writers altered the name further until it became Excalibur. The legend was expanded upon in the Vulgate Cycle (c. 1230–1250), also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, and in the Post-Vulgate Cycle which emerged in its wake. Both included the work known as the Prose Merlin, but the Post-Vulgate authors left out the Merlin Continuation from the earlier cycle, choosing to add an original account of Arthur's early days including a new origin for Excalibur.
[edit] Other information
The story of the Sword in the Stone has an analogue in some versions of the story of Sigurd (the Norse proto-Siegfried), who draws his father Sigmund's sword out of a tree where it is embedded.
Interestingly, in several early French works such as Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail and the Vulgate Lancelot Proper section, Excalibur is used by Gawain, Arthur's nephew and one of his best knights. This is in contrast to later versions, where Excalibur belongs solely to the king. In the Alliterative Morte Arthure (ca. 1400), Arthur is said to have two legendary swords, the second one being Clarent, stolen by the evil Mordred. Arthur receives his fatal blow from Clarent.
[edit] Attributes
In many versions, Excalibur's blade was engraved with words on opposite sides. On one side were the words "take me up", and on the other side "cast me away" (or similar words). This prefigures its return into the water. In addition, when Excalibur was first drawn, Arthur's enemies were blinded by its blade, which was as bright as thirty torches. Excalibur's scabbard was said to have powers of its own. Injuries from losses of blood, for example, would not kill the bearer. In some tellings, wounds received by one wearing the scabbard did not bleed at all. The scabbard is stolen by Morgan le Fay and thrown into a lake, never to be found again.
The 19th century poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, described the sword in full Romantic detail in his poem "Morte d'Arthur", later rewritten as "The Passing of Arthur", one of the Idylls of the King:
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