Pages

Friday, October 7, 2011

Amazing Excalibur - King Arthur Sword

Army and Weapons | Amazing Excalibur - King Arthur Sword | Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed magical powers or associated with the legitimate sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone (the proof of the lineage of Arthur) are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered distinct. The sword was associated with the Arthurian legend very early. In Welsh, the sword is called Caledfwlch.

The Excalibur name derives from the apparently Caledfwlch Wales which combines elements caled ("battle, hard") and Bwlch ("breach, gap, notch"). Latinized Geoffrey of Monmouth Caliburnus this (probably influenced by the calib medieval Latin spelling Latin Chalybes classic "steel"), the name of Arthur's sword in his works of the 12th century Historia Regum Britanniae. Caliburnus Excalibur or Caliburn become, Escalibor, and other variants in which the Arthurian legend in literature came French.
Caledfwlch appears in several early works Welsh, whose poetry and storytelling Preiddeu Annwfn Kulhwch prose and Olwen, a work associated with the Mabinogion and perhaps written around 1100. The name was later used in the Welsh adaptations of foreign matter such as the Rough, which were based on Geoffrey. It is often considered to be related to the Caladbolg phonetically similar, a sword borne by several figures from Irish mythology, although a borrowing from Irish Caledfwlch Caladbolg was considered unlikely by Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans. They suggest instead that both names "may have arisen from the same a very early date as generic names for a sword", this sword then became the exclusive property of Arthur in the British tradition. Most consider Celticists Caliburnus Geoffrey be derived from a text lost ancient Welsh Bwlch which had yet to lenited fwlch. In Old French sources this then became Escalibor, and finally the familiar Excalibor Excalibur.
In Perceval of Chretien de Troyes, Sir Gawain is Escalibor and it is said, "to Excalibor hanging from his belt, the finest sword he had, which decided by the iron-wood" ("he had Cainta Escalibor, The Who MEILLOR Espée Fust Fust iron Trenche it coming. "). This statement was probably taken by the author of the Vulgate Merlin or Merlin Estoire, where the author (who was fond of whimsical folk etymology) states Escalibor that "is a Hebrew name meaning iron French" cut, steel and wood "(" Who is not Ebrieu dist Franchois Trenche Iron Ashi and Fust ", note that the word" steel "here, Achi, means also "lame" or "sword" and comes from medieval Latin aciarium, a derivative of acies "sharp", so there is no direct link to this etymology in Latin Chalybes). In this fanciful dream that Malory has etymological Excalibur got the notion that meant "cut steel" ("the name of it, said the lady, is Excalibur, which is also ugly to say, as cut stone.").
In Arthurian romance, a number of explanations are given for the possession of Arthur's Excalibur. In Robert de Boron's Merlin, Arthur obtained the throne by pulling a sword from a stone. In this story, the act can not be achieved by "the true king," meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon. This sword is considered by many to be the famous Excalibur, and its identity is made explicit in the sequel later, the so-called Vulgate Merlin, which is part of the Lancelot-Graal cycle. However, in what is sometimes called the Post-Vulgate Merlin, Excalibur was given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake after he began to reign. It calls the sword "Excalibur, that is, cut steel." In the Vulgate Mort Artu, Arthur Girflet orders to throw the sword into the enchanted lake. After two unsuccessful attempts (as he felt like a great sword should not be thrown), he finally complies with the request of the wounded king and a hand out to catch the lake, a tale that becomes attached to Bedivere instead of Malory and English tradition.

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 a single sword. Lady of the Lake gave the sword to Merlin, who introduces him to Uther Pendragon ("The sword! You promised me the sword!") So the request of Uther's throne is undeniable. Later , Uther drives Excalibur into a rock after being mortally wounded by the men of Cornwall. Arthur is, of course, the only one who can draw and become king. In his first encounter with Lancelot, Arthur Excalibur breaks in their duel but the Lady of the Lake of the repairs it.


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 the Latinized name "Caledfwlch" as Caliburnus. When his influence pseudo-history that is for Continental Europe, writers altered the name further until it finally took the popular form, Excalibur (different spellings in medieval romance and tradition Arthurian Chronicle include Calabrun, Calabrum, Calibourne, Callibourc, Calliborc, Calibourch, and Escaliborc Escalibor). The legend was developed in the Vulgate Cycle, also known as the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and in the post-Vulgate Cycle which emerged in its wake. Both included the work known as Merlin's prose, but the Post-Vulgate authors, ignored the continuing cycle of Merlin earlier, by choosing to add an original account of the early days of Arthur, including including a new origin for Excalibur.


The history of the sword in the stone has an analogue in some versions of the story of Sigurd (the Norse proto-Siegfried), whose father, Sigmund, draws his sword Gram Barnstokkr the tree where it is shipped by the Norse god Odin.

In several of the early works in French, as Perceval of Chretien de Troyes, 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 with later versions, where Excalibur belongs solely to the king.

Excalibur is not the only weapon associated with Arthur, or the sword alone. Welsh tradition also knew of a dagger and a spear called Carnwennan named Rhongomyniad that belonged to him. Carnwennan ("Little White-Hilt") first appears in Kulhwch and Olwen, where it was used by Arthur to decide the Witch Very dark in the half. Rhongomyniad ("spear" + "attacker Slayer") is also the first time in Kulhwch, although only in passing, it is just like Ron ("spear") in Historia de Geoffrey. In the alliterative Morte Arthure, a Middle English poem, mention is made of Clarent, a sword of peace for knighting and ceremonies, as opposed to the battle, what is stolen and then used to kill Arthur by Mordred .