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Robbins Library Digital Projects > Camelot Project > Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone

Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone

Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone

Symbol or Motif Background Essay Author: Alan Lupack
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."
CreatorWork
CreatorWork
Dan Beard (1850 - 1941)
"Sir Arthur Took It up by the Handles"
Aubrey Beardsley (1872 - 1898)
How Sir Bedivere Cast the Sword Excalibur into the Water
The Lady of the Lake Telleth Arthur of the Sword Excalibur
William Ernest Chapman (1858 - 1947)
Of How Arthur was Chosen King of England - Chapter Heading
Walter Crane (1845 - 1915)
King Arthur Asks the Lady of the Lake for the Sword Excalibur
Sir Bedevere Casts the Sword Excalibur into the Lake
Arthur Dixon (1872 - 1959)
All the People Marvelled at the Stone
She Snatched the Empty Sheath from its Place
There Appeared Before Me a Dwarf
The Youth Pulled it out Easily
Walter F. Enright
"He hardly more than touched the sword"
H. J. Ford (1860 - 1941)
Excalibur Returns to the Mere
How Arthur Drew the Sword
Edmund H. Garrett (1853 - 1929)
Sir Bedivere Throws Excalibur into the Mere
Florence Harrison (1877 - 1955)
How I Row'd Across and Took It
Alfred Kappes (1850 - 1894)
How Arthur Gat His Sword Excalibur
Thomas Mackenzie (1887 - 1944)
They Hailed Him as the King of England
Daniel Maclise (1806 - 1870)
Arthur Receives Excalibur
W. H. Margetson (1861 - 1940)
(Frontispiece) There, before all the people, Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone
Arthur seized the sword by the handle and pulled it lightly out of the anvil
Excalibur
King Arthur took the sword and the scabbard
Queen Morgan le Fay took the scabbard
Eric Pape (1870 - 1938)
"It shall go hard with him through thee, unconquerable blade"
Howard Pyle (1853 - 1911)
Excalibur the Sword
How Arthur Drew Forth ye Sword
Queen Morgana Loses Excalibur His Sheath
Sir Kay Showeth the Mystic Sword unto Sir Ector
Arthur Rackham (1867 - 1939)
How Arthur drew his sword Excalibur for the first time
How Queen Morgan le Fay stole away the scabbard from Arthur
Alberto Sangorski (1862 - 1932)
Arthur Receives Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake
The Lady of the Lake
John Moyr Smith (1839 - 1912)
Excalibur
Lancelot Speed (1860 - 1931)
Then fell Sir Ector down upon his knees upon the ground before young Arthur, and Sir Key also with him
G.H. Thomas (1824 - 1868)
The Miracle of the Sword
N. C. Wyeth (1882 - October 19, 1945)
And when they came to the sword that the hand held, King Arthur took it up