View source for Excalibur

==Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone==
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| image2 = An island story; a child's history of England (1906) (14801002423).jpg
| image3 = CRANE King Arthur asks the lady of the lake for the sword Excalibur.jpg
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| caption2 = The drawing of the sword from the stone as depicted in [[Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall]]'s ''[[Our Island Story]]'' (1906)
| caption3 = "King Arthur asks the [[Lady of the Lake]] for the sword Excalibur." [[Walter Crane]]'s illustration for [[Henry Gilbert]]'s ''King Arthur's Knights: The Tales Retold for Boys and Girls'' (1911)
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In Arthurian romance, a number of explanations are given for Arthur's possession of Excalibur. In [[Robert de Boron]]'s ''[[Merlin (poem)|Merlin]]'', the first tale to mention the "sword in the stone" motif, Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve.<ref>Bryant, Nigel (ed, trans), Merlin and the Grail: Joseph of Arimathea, Merlin, Perceval : the Trilogy of Prose Romances Attributed to Robert de Boron, DS Brewer, 2001, p. 107ff.</ref> In this account, as foretold by [[Merlin]], the act could not be performed except by "the true king," meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of [[Uther Pendragon]]. As Malory writes: "''Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born.''"<ref>Sir Thomas Malory, William Caxton "Morte Darthur: Sir Thomas Malory's Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights of the Round Table". p. 28. J.B. Lippincott and Company, 1868.</ref><ref group=note>This version also appears in the 1938 Arthurian novel ''[[The Sword in the Stone (novel)|The Sword in the Stone]]'' by British author [[T. H. White]], and the [[The Sword in the Stone (1963 film)|Disney adaptation]]; they both quote the line from Thomas Malory in the 15th century.</ref> The identity of this sword as Excalibur is made explicit in the later Prose ''Merlin'', part of the [[Lancelot-Grail]] cycle (the Vulgate Cycle).<ref>Micha, Alexandre (ed.). ''Merlin: roman du XIIIe siècle'' (Geneva: Droz, 1979).</ref>

However, in the most famous English-language version of the Arthurian tales, Malory's 15th-century ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', early in his reign Arthur breaks the Sword from the Stone known as Caliburn while in combat against King [[Pellinore]], and is given Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake in exchange for a later boon. Similarly, in the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], Excalibur was given to Arthur by the [[Lady of the Lake]] sometime after he began to reign. In the [[Lancelot-Grail|Vulgate ''Mort Artu'']], Arthur is at the brink of death and so orders [[Griflet]] to throw the sword into the enchanted lake; after two failed attempts (as he felt such a great sword should not be thrown away), Griflet finally complies with the wounded king's request and a hand emerges from the lake to catch it. This tale becomes attached to [[Bedivere]] instead of Griflet in Malory and the English tradition.{{sfn|Lacy|1996}} Malory records both versions of the legend in his ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', naming both swords as Excalibur.{{sfn|Malory|1997|p=[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext 7]}}{{sfn|Malory|1997|p=[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:3.7?rgn=div2;view=fulltext 46]}}