When was excalibur written

There was more to this sword than its name however, as can be send through the various Celtic and Welsh legends it evolved from. In Celtic legend, it was common for weapons and other objects to have mysterious origins. Nuada's sword, Lugh's spear, the sword of Fergus, and Cuchulain's gae bulga spear all had origins similar to Excalibur.

These weapons were forged by a smith with great skill and power. Similar characters, such as Wayland, appear as otherworldly smiths continuing the pattern, "The concept of an exceptionally skilled craftsman is a common theme in mythology.

Swords of such power are made so that only a few or one specific person can effectively wield them," Peterson Some argue Wayland evolved from the, "Roman god Vulcan, who was modeled on the Greek god Hephaestus, the master smith whose forge was beneath the volcano of Aetna Day Magical weapons forged by supernatural smiths were then wielded by great heroes. Commonly in Celtic legend though, the hero died at the end of his fight or quest.

The hero's weapon was usually thrown into a lake afterwards. This was both popular in legend and as a practice among the Celts Peterson There is historical evidence to support this, as archeologists continue to find weapons and armor in the lakes and ponds of Britain. Perhaps this act was to keep others from using their weapons Lacy "Handbook" It may have also been a symbolic act, an acknowledgement of defeat or, "a sacrifice or a votive offering made to fit a cult ritual," Day Celtic religion had a sacrificial element; therefore this assessment of throwing weapons into lakes may be based in religious beliefs and practices.

Like the Celts and their heroes, Arthur also returned his sword to the lake from whence it came, back to the Lady of the Lake. The origin of the name Excalibur can be traced through Celtic legends as well. Loomis writes, "The derivation of the famous brand Calibor, better known as Excalibur, from the sword Caledvwlch in The Mabinogion , and ultimately from the sword variously called Caladcolg or Caladbolg in the Irish sagas, is accepted by all scholars," Loomis In Kulhwch , Arthur has a sword called Caledvwlch.

The name is composed of two words, "calet" meaning hard and "bwlch" meaning notch Loomis also argues, "The origin of the name Calibor or Caliborc has long been known, and forms one of the most impressive arguments for the infiltration of Welsh and even Irish names into Arthurian romance," Loomis' argument can be best shown and supported in the following Celtic tales and their recognizable names, characters, and events.

He demands his sword from King Ailill. The king, "sends for it and presents it to Fergus, who greets it as 'Caladcolc'," Loomis In the Book of Leinster, a variation of the same story, the sword is called Caladbolg. This sword is said to have come from "faery palaces and to become as long as a rainbow when it is brandished," He does not realize this until he is in the middle of the battle.

In The Death of Fergus Mac Leite , Fergus is mortally wounded and, "he implored the Ulstermen to give his sword to one who would be worthy of it," The sword of Fergus is from a magical place and has magical attributes, as does Excalibur. He also gives a speech about the proper and worthy wielder of Excalibur as he lays dying The names Caladcolg and Caladbolg are very similar to Caledvwlch, which as previously discussed is the sword in The Mabinogion. This sword was also associated with battle prowess, as it is used to defeat the Ulstermen.

Arthur's sword is a symbol of battle prowess, as his victories and, "reputation on the battlefield helped make the sword legendary; it became seen as the sword of kings. The sword then became a more powerful symbol for his reign than any crown," Williams Excalibur has origins in Welsh stories as well. In a set of poems known as The Welsh Triads , the sword was mentioned by the name Caledfwlch, "Above all there was his magnificent sword — Caledfwlch , the 'Lightning Sword,' associated with the old Lightning Gods," Williams It belonged to Arthur, who was not called a king, but was a warrior with a great hall, a ship, many magical objects, and a wife named Gwenhwyfar.

Taliesin, a sixth century Welsh poet, wrote The Spoils of Annwfn In it, Arthur went on a mission to Annwfn in the otherworld to find a magic cauldron. On this trip he also found a, "flashing, deadly sword. As legend progressed, this theme continued as Avalon became the most common forging place of Excalibur.

As can be seen through similar names, events, and traits, Excalibur's origins clearly lie, at least partly in Celtic and Welsh legends. From these legends, the sword developed into its popular role as Arthur's sword. Over its evolution, Excalibur's tale picked up many commonalities usually repeated in each tale. Excalibur was given to Arthur through magical means, from Merlin or the Lady of the Lake.

It was not forged in this world. Sometimes it was the same as the sword in the stone, but more than often was not. If there was a sword in the stone, Arthur usually broke it and Merlin arranged for Arthur to have a magic one Lacy "Handbook" In the earlier stories, Excalibur did not solely belong to Arthur, in later stories it did.

Merlin warned Arthur not to lose the scabbard because of its magical protective powers. The scabbard was stolen by Morgaine or Morgan le Fay. In the end, before Arthur died, he told one of his knights, Bedivere or Girflet, to throw the sword back into the water. This request was denied twice and then completed upon the third request. The Lady of the Lake took the sword back, and Arthur died This is the basic outline of Excalibur's story.

However each author, Monmouth, Chretien, the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate authors, Malory, Tennyson, and Bradley, added his or her own events that have culminated in the sword's legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth is credited for first including Arthur's sword in the legend Warren Swords have made and broken kingdoms for thousands of years. Epee — Fig. New Prussian Epees. Epee Frederick the Great.

German epee of Duke Friedrich Heinrich of Nassau. Epee Napoleons I. Blade of the Colada of the Cid 16th century. They made love, where Mordred was conceived. The next day, Arthur revealed the truth to Morgawse. Morgawse, who had thought she was faithfully making love to her husband, was shock at the news, but they both made a pact to never reveal of her shame of committing adultery.

It was at the time, when Morgawse was about to give birth, when news that her brother was crowned king of Logres. It is not know how she knew that Arthur was her own brother, but this revelation of her kinship was not known until Gawain was old enough to become knight. But he was probably aware of both, later in his life.

Arthur also meets his mother, Igraine and his other sister, Morgan le Fay , for the first time [Book I, chapter 21]. Merlin had taken him away from his parents at birth, and was brought up by foster-father, Sir Anton or Ector.

Arthur had a dream where he sees the Questing Beast. Well, according to the theories I have gathered, the Questing Beast represent the mortal sin committed by Arthur, when he had unwittingly slept with his half-sister, Morgawse, wife of King Lot and mother of Gawain. King Pellenan, the Maimed King explained about its origin to the Grail hero, Galahad , after the Saracen knight, Palemedes , had slain the monster.

There was a daughter of King Hipomenus of Logres? The princess was the fairest in the land at that time, as well as being wise and intelligent. She had mastered the seven arts, including that of necromancy. The princess fell in desperate love with her own brother also unnamed , who was most handsome of men. Her brother was a devout Christian and he wanted to remain chaste. So when the brother found out about her secret desire for him, he rebuked her. But a demon visited her definitely a incubus, perhaps the Devil himself , who wanted to weave destruction upon the House of Hipomenus.

The moment the princess copulate with the demon, all love and desire vanished from her. The demon convinced her to destroy her brother, and she followed his plan as the incubus had given it. The brother became angry with his sister, beat her a few times before she screamed for help. Hipomenus and his guards found them in compromising position.

His daughter accused her brother of raping her weeks ago, because she suspected that she was already pregnant, so everyone would blame her brother. When Hipomenus heard this, the king had his own son thrown in dungeon.

The king ordered that his son would be maul to death in pit full of starving dogs. The king had the dogs fasted for seven days. Since his death would be from the hungry dogs, she would given birth to a monster, who would bark like these dogs, known as the Questing Beast.

The brother also foretold that beast will kill many men and women as it roamed throughout the kingdom of Logres. Only when the Good Knight joined the hunt could stop the evil creature. The hounds tore him to pieces and devoured him.

Hipomenus had his pregnant daughter cared for, by the ladies of the palace. It immediately killed and devoured many ladies, except for its mother and one of the ladies. The Questing Beast fled from the castle, visiting death and destruction on anyone the monster come across. When the king realised the truth that his son was innocent, he had his daughter seized and tortured until she revealed the whole truth. Then the king had his daughter die in a death worse than her brother.

The great knight, King Pellinor , father of the heroes Lamorat Lamorak and Perceval , was the first hunter of the Questing Beast, but he died before he could complete his quest. Then around the time of Grail quest, it was Palemedes, the Saracen hero, who would eventually slay the monster, with the help of Galahad.

See the New Sword , where Arthur encountered Pellinor. Malory described the creature as have a head like a snake, body of a leopard, buttocks of a lion and foot like a hart. The belly of the Questing Beast made sound like that of thirty couples of starving hounds.

Arthur tried to avert his fate, by imprisoning all child born on the month of May. Merlin told the king he could not possibly changed the future. That month, Arthur had ordered the children within Logres gathered at the tower, without revealing the true nature of his plan.

There were infants taken to the tower. Among them was the son of Arthur and Morgawse, that was christened Mordred. On the island of Orkney, Lot sent Mordred by ship to Arthur, with some ladies and his men. A storm broke out at sea, before it reached Logres, killing everyone on board, except for one infant in the cradle.

The cradle floated to the nearest shore, where it was found by a fisherman. The fisherman decided to give the child in the care of Duke Nabur the Unruly, because the cloth that covered the infant, was a sign of royalty.

Duke Nabur was already a father of Sagremor , who was born over a month ago. Nabur decided to raised the child with his own son. Back at the tower, Arthur was contemplating murdering the infants.

Arthur had a vision where a man rebuke the king for wanting to save his own skin by killing innocent children. Arthur decided to placed all the babies in an unmanned ship and set it adrift into the open sea.

Jesus taking pity on the children, sent the ship to the Amalvi, belonging to King Orians. Orians had a new castle built on the remote island to hide the children from Arthur. Merlin spoke of his prophecy that one of the children would destroy the kingdom. Merlin assured the barons that the children were all safe and they would be reunited with them ten years from now.

When King Lot found out, he decided to declare war on Arthur. Lot joined King Rion as ally against Arthur. Pellinor , Palemedes , Galahad. The sword that Arthur had drew from a stone, which indicated that he was the true king of Logres Britain , was not the true Excalibur.

They also saw a hand holding a beautiful sword, raised out of the water, in the middle of the lake. The lady informed Arthur that the sword belonged to her. She would give the sword to Arthur only if the young king grant her a gift or boon in return. Arthur promised the Lady of the Lake that he would. Arthur and Merlin took a boat to the middle of the lake. Arthur took the sword from the hand.

The hand immediately disappeared into the water. Merlin asked the king if he like the sword or the scabbard better. Arthur preferred the sword. The sheath was worth ten times that of Excalibur. Arthur gave a large portion of land to his half-sister, including the castle Taruc. Upon their wedding night, lay with her, who conceived Yvain. Rion had conquered 11 kingdoms, taking beard from each conquered ruler. Arthur rebuked the messenger, and beside that Arthur was still young enough to not have a beard.

Caliburn, Caliburnus. Sources Suite du Merlin from Post-Vulgate cycle c. It caused excitement in the hall, because no lady has a sword girded to her before. She was distressed, because she could not undo the clasps of the swordbelt, nor draw the sword from the sheath Sword of the Strange Clasps. The Lady told them that only a knight, who is pure of heart, could draw the sword, and thereby undoing the sword-belt. The knight must be the best; he must also be loyal and free of treachery.

She also told them that anyone, who unsheathes the sword, must return the sword to her. Arthur was the first to try to unsheathe the sword, but the king could not so much as draw a hairsbreadth of the blade out of the scabbard, no matter how much force he exerted. The Lady informed Arthur that he not use so much force, because the true knight will able to draw the sword without effort.

The king allowed all the other knights to try, but all had failed like their king. All except Balin le Savage , a poor and disinherited knight from Northumberland. Only Balin was worthy of performing this task, when he released the Lady from the sword-belt, and drew the sword from the scabbard. The Lady warned that if he take the sword away from her, then he would kill someone he loved most in the world. Balin was unfazed by her interdiction, and told her that he would not give up the sword, even if it were to cause his own death.

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 chimeras on the golden hilt; when the sword was unsheathed what was seen from the mouths of the two chimeras 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. It is unclear if the name was borrowed from the Welsh if so, it must have been an early loan, for phonological reasons , or represents an early, pan-Brittonic traditional name for Arthur's sword.

Geoffrey's Historia is the first non-Welsh source to speak of the sword. Geoffrey says the sword was forged in Avalon and Latinises the name "Caledfwlch" as Caliburnus. When his influential pseudo-history made it to Continental Europe, writers altered the name further until it finally took on the popular form Excalibur various spellings in the medieval Arthurian Romance and Chronicle tradition include: Calabrun, Calabrum, Calibourne, Callibourc, Calliborc, Calibourch, Escaliborc, and Escalibor.

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.

This is in contrast to later versions, where Excalibur belongs solely to the king. In many versions, Excalibur's blade was engraved with phrases on opposite sides: "Take me up" and "Cast me away" or similar.

In addition, when Excalibur was first drawn, in the first battle testing Arthur's sovereignty, its blade blinded his enemies. Thomas Malory writes: "thenne he drewe his swerd Excalibur, but it was so breyght in his enemyes eyen that it gaf light lyke thirty torchys. Excalibur's scabbard was said to have powers of its own.