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Excalibur
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.
Description
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.
Primary Sources
“Arthur's sword, Caliburnus, was forged in the isle of Avalon.”
“The Lady of the Lake gave Arthur Excalibur, and the scabbard was worth more than the sword, for he would take no wound while he wore it.”
Powers & Abilities
Sovereign AuthorityUnbreakable EdgeWound Prevention (scabbard)Blinding Light