Celtic Pantheonweapon
Excalibur
- Sovereign Authority
- Unbreakable Edge
- Wound Prevention (scabbard)
- Blinding Light
The legendary sword of King Arthur, symbol of rightful sovereignty over Britain. Its blade could cut through anything, and its scabbard protected the bearer from all wounds.
About Excalibur
Medieval British romance, not Irish saga
Excalibur is Geoffrey of Monmouth's Caliburnus, then French Escalibor, then Malory's Excalibur: a sword of medieval Latin, Old French, and English Arthurian romance. The sword in the stone (Robert de Boron and after) and the sword from the lake (Vulgate Cycle, Malory) are two gifts, sometimes fused. Welsh tradition knows Arthur; it does not give this Christian-chivalric named blade as a pagan Irish treasure. The Táin and Lebor Gabála do not know it. Filed with Celtic material because the romances are set in a legendary Britain, not because pre-Christian Irish saga authored the sword. The scabbard's wound-ward is romance magic. Honest date: twelfth to fifteenth centuries.
Origin
Given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, or in some tellings, drawn from a stone proving his rightful claim to the throne.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae
- Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
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