E X T E N S I O N WHERE DID EXCALIBUR COME FROM? Excalibur, Arthur s magical sword, was originally called Caliburn, from the Latin word for steel1. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote (in his Historia Regum Britanniae, 1138) that Caliburn was made in Avalon and it became an excellent arm in the hands of King Arthur. The tale of Arthur drawing the sword out of the stone appeared for the first time in Merlin, a French verse tale2 (1235 ca3). But the English author, Sir Thomas Malory (in his Le Morte D Arthur, 1485) wrote that the sword in the stone (the sword that Arthur drew from the stone and which indicated him as the true King of Britain) was not the real Excalibur. In fact Thomas Malory tells that Arthur s first sword was broken during a battle, so Merlin took Arthur to a lake, where a hand holding4 a beautiful sword came out of the water. It was the hand of the Lady of the Lake; she gave Arthur the sword called Excalibur. The Lady also informed Arthur that the sword belonged to her5 and that Arthur had to give it back to her. Arthur did so before dying, throwing6 the sword back into the lake. Archaeology has shown that this tale reflects the ancient tradition of throwing a warrior s sword into the water after his death. In fact people believed that a warrior s sword contained his spirit, so it had to disappear with its owner. During the Middle Ages, Excalibur was already so famous that, when King Richard I (1189-1199) gave Tancred of Sicily a sword as a present, he said that it was the legendary sword of King Arthur. 1. steel: a strong metal which is a mixture of iron and carbon. 2. verse tale: a story written in verse like a poem. 3. ca (circa): more or less. 4. holding: keeping, having. 5. belonged to her: was her property. 6. throwing: sending (the sword) through the air with force. 25