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EXCALIBUR & THE SWORD IN THE STONE

Detail from Kappes's "How Arthur Gat His Sword Excalibur"
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Background
Texts
Images

Background

The Sword in the Stone, sometimes a sword in an anvil, is drawn by Arthur as proof of his birthright and of his nobility. It is both a test and a miraculous sign of his royalty. The sword drawn from the stone is different from the one given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. The latter is always referred to as Excalibur; the former is called by that name only once, when Arthur draws the sword at a crucial moment in the first battle to test his sovereignty (Vinaver I, 19): "thenne he drewe his swerd Excalibur, but it was so breyght in his enemyes eyen that it gaf light lyke thirty torchys."

TEXTS AND IMAGES
Texts:

Bridges, Sally, "Excalibur" (1864)
Cram, Ralph Adams (1863-1942), Excalibur: An Arthurian Drama (1893; published 1909)
Westwood, Thomas (1814?-1888), "The Sword of Kingship" (1866)
John Grosvenor Wilson (b. 1866), "Excalibur" (1886)

Images:

Beard, Dan (1850-1941), "Sir Arthur Took It up by the Handles" (1889)
Beardsley, Aubrey (1872-1898), "How Sir Bedivere Cast the Sword Excalibur into the Water" (1894)
Beardsley, Aubrey (1872-1898), "The Lady of the Lake Telleth Arthur of the Sword Excalibur" (1893)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "All the People Marvelled at the Stone" (1921)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "She Snatched the Empty Sheath From Its Place" (1921)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "The Youth Pulled it Out Easily" (1921)
Ford, H. J. (1860-1941), Excalibur Returns to the Mere" (1902)
Ford, H. J. (1860-1941), How Arthur Drew the Sword" (1902)
Ford, H. J. (1860-1941), Morgan le Fay Casts away the Scabbard" (1902)
Garrett, Edmund H. (1853-1929), "Sir Bedivere Throws Excalibur into the Mere" (1901)
Harrison, Florence (1884-19--), "Excalibur (1912)
Kappes, Alfred (1850-1894), "How Arthur Gat His Sword Excalibur" (1880)
Maclise, Daniel (1806-1870), "Arthur Receives Excalibur" (1857)
Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "Excalibur the Sword" (1903)
Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "How Arthur Drew Forth the Sword" (1903)
Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "Queen Morgana Loses Excalibur His Sheath" (1903)
Rackham, Arthur (1867-1939), "How Arthur Drew His Sword Excalibur for the First Time" (1917)
Sangorski, Alberto (1862-1932), "Arthur Receives Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake" (1912)
Smith, John Moyr, "Excalibur" (c. 1875)