Excalibur: the Sword in the Stone?

Two swords are presented in the Arthurian Legends: Excalibur (also called Caliburn) and the Sword in the Stone. Sometimes people think it’s the same, but more and more, it is believed that they are not.

The Sword in the Stone

The story of the Sword in the Stone is a story about Arthur’s claim to the throne of Britain. According to legend, the Sword was Uther’s sword, the sword of the High King of Britain.

After Uther’s death, there is no known heir, and the barons are fighting among each other who is to be the next High King of Britain.

Merlin, Uther’s counselor, has the solution: he takes Uther’s sword and runs it into a rock with his magic.

The man who can draw the sword from the stone again will be the rightful heir. Many have tried: Lot, Uriens, even Leodegrance, and many more, but no one could draw the sword.

Until one day Sir Ector and his sons Kay and Arthur (not knowing he is not Ector’s real son but fostered by him) come to the place where the sword is captured in the rock, they come for a tournament.

Being squirl to Ector and Kay, Arthur has to get Kay a new sword for his one is broken. He passes the rock and draws the sword, which he brings to Ector and Kay.

Next, confusion is great, for how could this boy draw the sword from the stone.

Then Merlin enters again and declares that Arthur is Uther’s son. To prove that, he places the sword back in the stone and dares anyone to draw it.

Again no one succeeds but Arthur. And so, he became the High King of Britain at a very young age.

Excalibur

Excalibur is the sword Arthur receives from the Lady of the Lake. She sometimes is a mythical figure – an ancient Welsh goddess of water, and sometimes she’s referred to as a high priestess of Avalon.

In both cases, she is a Lady with great power.
Her sword of magic (presumably made by an elven smith) is her acceptance as Arthur as protector of Britain.

The sword and scabbard are enchanted: the scabbard protects the owner from mortally wounded, and the sword is supposed to be unbreakable.

Names for Excalibur

The name’s mythology is somewhat confusing, for it is also said that the Welsh name for Excalibur was Caladvwlch, equating linguistically with Irish Caladbolg, the name of a sword borne by heroes in Irish legend, derived from CALAD (hard) and BOLG (lightning).

It goes with a story in which the sword is struck by lightning just as the (elven) smith takes it out of the water after its final heating.

Caladbolg is also known as the sword of the Welsh legend Cu Chullain (see ‘Morrigan’ and ‘Celtic literature’ in the Celtic section).

Caliburn is also the old Welsh name for the sword, which was later transformed to ‘Excalibur’ by French poets like Chretien de Troyes. It is supposed to mean ‘Cuts steal.’

Two different names and meanings to the same sword, or is it?

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