The truth behind the legend of the 'sword in the stone' - BBC REEL
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 เม.ย. 2022
- An Italian knight turned saint is said to have stabbed his sword into a rock in the 12th Century.
Today, the sword can still be seen in Tuscany, but is it real? And was it the inspiration for Excalibur and King Arthur’s saga?
Video by: Next Stop Stories
#bbcreel #bbc #bbcnews
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The 'King' Arthur story ,as we know it today, is a Norman French tale set in Britain based on the old Welsh legend of half forgotten historical events that were embellished to portray Romano-British opposition to the Anglo-Saxons incomers. It probably got better with every retelling.
Arthur was a lowlands Scottish chief
Myrddin was a Dumbarton medic who got beaten in a battle in 573ad in Cumbria and ran to the woods to become a hermit but the lad was scottish
@@sanderson9338 The name Ar THur like Ben Hur hints a more Scythian-Scothian origins which would have developed in the region between of Ural Mountains and city of Ur in Mesopotamia.
The sword or bow is Biblical theme where David gets in the sword of Galiath and Bow of Jonathan .
It also appears in the narrative of ETEL commonly called as Attila the Hun who when receives the Sword it’s a sign of power …
@@hondacbrification What ? Arthur is a British name it's pure Brythonic
@@sanderson9338 Ar THur like Ben Hur is not one word as for pure British thing we’ll rethink that for I’m a Hungarian who country and people are called as MaCAr ,WanGer,ManGalic but some did used the word Hurian and according to genetics we do have a genetic connection to Irish and Scottish where in my case to various Irish and Scottish royals and clan leaders including some English,Swedish,Deutsch,AusTriJan,Polish even Lombard,Greek and MonteNegrain alongside of course house of ÁrPad which is not a matter of belief but a fact.
The sword Excalibur was said to have been "drawn from a stone." Miraculous weapons of legend and history are often said to have been forged from a star, a piece of a fallen star, etc. Meteoric iron with high nickel content makes a better weapon that anything up to the late 1700's. A smith is said to "draw out" a sword from a lump of iron or steel. One name assigned to Arthur was "the Hammer." Excalibur has been translated to mean "hard lightning. The sword was forged from a good-sized chunk of meteoric iron, "drawn from a stone."
The sword Excalibur was gifted to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. The sword drawn from the stone was a different one, some sources name it Caliburn, if a name is present at all. Though the sources are unreliable at best, given both names are sometimes used interchangeably by many of them. But I may be mistaken. Otherwise, valid points and interesting tidbit about early blacksmithing terminology.
It’s the real deal I love it I bet it’s razor sharp
Excalibur came from a lake goddess these stories are confused halifurn was the sword in stone but that's nothing to do with Arthur
EXCALIBUR BELONGED TO CUCHULAInn but it wasnt a sword ... the bellyripper is waht the original meaning of excalibur was - and Calad Bolg ..became a roman curse - ex calib bur .. bolg being the orc .. its an entymologygous journey through ancient irish christian scriptures and raiding the sacred templar tombs of our healing men from the land of saints and scholars ... british nazi oxbridge nonsense the arthurian legends are occult - fruitcakes on adtrenachrome the lot of them .
It’s just how they used to make swords back in the day - from stone casts... one had to pull or draw the sword from the stone casing while the blade was still hot...
Thank you much BBC Reel for keeping us informed about a lot of unknown and unheard stories, legends, and histories across all corners of the world....! Love from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
Heating the iron stone in a furnace to extract the metal. Few would have the skill or understanding. Would appear almost miraculous knowledge. Hence, ' The Sword in The Stone'.... The potential for what could be fashioned into a sword lay hidden in a lump of rock. Even before the weapons were produced
god i hate the archaeologists of the past who just broke priceless artifacts. Could have waited for technology to be available to scan the sword instead of breaking it, chiseling away the rock and pouring lead into it. what a sham
Watch the video again. It was vandals who broke it.
Beautiful ending message!
It really bothers me that they broke the sword that had been there for 900 years and act like it was no big deal. They should have left it alone.
If you listen, it was broken a long time in the past when someone tried to steal it. It was then replaced and the crack (which formerly allowed the sword to be removed easily) was filled with lead, which meant it could no longer be removed.
Wow! Love it. Thank you, BBC
BBC Reel is so so good! Reminds me of Great Big Story youtube channel! ✨
Unfortunately the legend of "King" Arthur was originally written by the monk Nennius around 828 AD.
He didn't come up with the story, though. It dates way back before he was even born. He fought against the Anglo-Saxons. Think about it. How many English kings had a wizard as their wise man? He was either Cornish or Welsh.
True, but the legend developed over time. I do not think that the sword in the stone was mentioned in the first versions. Different old stories and legends may have merged into this.
@@v1760side those facts you mentioned are not in dispute here, merely the origin of his legend that was more or less written down haphazardly by Nennius. "Taken from a heap". I never made mention of an Angle or Saxon origin. Nor did I say that it originated from him, merely written about. If you think about it "Historia Brittonum" actually implies the "Britons", a loose confederation of Celts. And logically would not imply external, or the invading culture.
@@haganegenkotsu Idk why, but I was thinking you meant that one Englishman who pops up normally when you google who wrote the book. My comment was more out of a place of frustration (most in the US don't even know my ancestors existed in the UK; I am Cornish), and I apologize for misunderstanding your intent.
But the sword in the stone first appears in Robert de Boron's Merlin, around 1200 AD.
There were older tales depicting this tale. Essentially, it's a common theme throughout the world. It likely reinforces the fact that we are all human and therefore our brains will think in similar ways.
BBC, you teach us about so much; swords in stones, nature things, chilli jam in egg fried rice. I'm constantly amazed and appreciative!
wow, so it was an italian legend, i didn't know that. thanks bbc
the first mention of king arthur was in a book by nennius, a monk born in 769 AD, this sword is from 1100 ad roughly
@@edmundprice5276 correct, Nennius penned the legend in the Historia Brittonum circa 828. Although he doesn't mention him as a king, but a great warrior.
@@haganegenkotsu or possibly a warlord of some kind, either way, a man of great power, of the dumnonian people driving off the hoards of saxons.
Little has changed
@@edmundprice5276 exactly: the man inspiring King Arthur was a late Roman Briton chieftain, but the structure of the poem, Excalibur and the round table was written by French troubadours an was contemporary to San Galgano.
The idea of worshipping a sword stuck in the ground is ancient, being very common at the times of the Scythians, about 700bc, and probably dating back to the first swords in the early bronze age, as an offering to the god of a precious item, but there is no link to the Celtic or Roman civilization s as far as we know.
As the historian says, it was common for the crusaders to associate the sword with the straight hilt, to a cross, which resounds loudly in the medieval depiction of king Arthur.
@@Leptospirosi what i meant by little has changed was that since king arthur was devonian-cornish the saxons, i.e. grockles invade every year on our beaches, fields and forests
Very interesting!
Another inspiration might have been the story of the sword Durandal, stuck in the rock at Rocamadour in the south of France after an Arab invasion in 778. It has influenced the troubadours at the court of queen Alienor of Aquitaine and, therefore, those who wrote down the Arthurian legends.
"Self love is not so great a sin as self neglect." -- Wm. Shakespeare, Henry V.
Wouldn't both be.
@@museluvr Apologies for the lack of context, these lines are from a very old play that tells a story about noble virtue, and chivalry which were popular at the time of it's writing. The comparison is somewhat metaphorical therefore, with an allusion of self-facing philosophical rhetoric which is sorely lacking in todays society. My opinion.
Pulling a sword from a stone is real and goes back to the bronze age. Bronze tools were cast in molds. There are one use only sand molds and multi-use stone molds, stones carved into mold blocks. I have such a blade and other bronze tools made in that manner.
From my own studies, I think this could well have been the genesis of the notion of "The Sword in the Stone". However, the meaning of the tale in Arthurian myth is quite different to St Gagliano's. The Arthurian myth was an allegorical tale, designed to demonstrate that he was not chosen by any earthly council, spiritual or secular, to become King - for one very special reason. But chosen by DIVINITY itself, which, of course, countermands all earthly laws and traditions.
Mallory has the legend as;
"Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England."
I think the anvil part is significant as it makes much more sense metaphorically. The stone is the iron ore hammered on the anvil to make the sword. So who ever can make weapons becomes King. For all the priest's pious observations about the stupidity of war, government, all government is based on force, and force is based on weapons.
I'd love hearing that upon Christ' return, He pulls out the blade embedded as if a knife through butter. Through Him, all things are possible. King of Kings.
To get metal from a stone, first take the right stone to crush
heat till molten skim and pour into ingots, mix ingots in right quantities you have metal, im sure all blacksmiths must have known that
What a great saint for these times!
Ah another reason to be parading my Italian heritage around some more despite not knowing the language, knowing no one there and having never been there. Thanks BBC!
it is never too late to learn the language and reconnect with your heritage
"Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing." (J.C.) But I am half Italian, and "The Holy Grail is Found" - by me - and I authored a 2013 book on the subject. A ceremonial sword from the late 1800's (that has a knight's head on the end of its handle) came into my possession through a miracle of sorts when I was 8 years old. And through this and other means my discovery of THE Holy Grail was prophesied.
As it turns, I am a prophet of GOD, the prophesied return of the biblical prophet Elijah. And yes, we are in the "end times." But people don't realize what that means. It's not the end of the world, but the end of a cycle of time. But there will indeed be great disasters, both manmade and natural, that will reduce the world's population drastically. However, all is GOD's plan, and all works for the good of absolutely everyone. ("God our Savior will have all men to be saved and come unto knowledge of the truth." 1Timothy 2:3-4) And, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." (FDR) Because, again, "Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing." Want to know more? Click and ye shall find...
Used to hate history. Now i love it. Weird how its like that huh
Grazie Monitor
I think a much more convincing forerunner, and a ‘nicer image’ too, is that of Bronze Age smiths casting into stone moulds.
Having seen the Galgano sword (which is remarkable in itself), I tend to agree, especially as the sword is "returned" to the Lady of the Lake. There are plenty of examples where offerings have been cast into water (a habit still retained - money in springs, fountains, etc.)
@@alexanderperry1844 There are two swords in the Cretien story. One pulled from the stone and never mentioned again. And the sword Excalibur being a gift from the lady of the lake - with the clause that it be returned after Arthurs death. Lakes and mires are a very old element. In Denmark springs very often are holy and attributed to holy persons (most not formally saints). This could be an attempt to absorb pre-christian local religion into church authority.
Who knows what the truth really is. The story has a nice spiritual feel to it
He traveled with St. Michael... heaven with him. I believe Galgano would've had no problem placing that sword into stone, accident or not.
Bro... you broke it! What the heck!
where is the translation
the sword in the stone is bronze age - when swords were poured into stone moulds. That was when swords gleamed like gold... and the most powerful kings were metal smiths. Like the Amesbury Archer who was found near Stonehenge.
Though there was cetainly all kinds of cultural cross-polination in the story we have inherited
I find it interesting that the lead roof of the church was sold, mayhap to be fashioned into bullets or shells.
In this time of war the meaning 9f Galgano and his sainthood should be embraced...
For 900 years, that sword was in the rock until some stupid "scientist" put his hands to it and broke it.
A critical moment in English myth and legend spoken in Italian. Yeah, that just makes perfect sense.
lol Its great though! My jaw dropped when I first learned of this, because I love the animated Sword and the Stone.. a rare liking from something Disney made. This was like Awesome!
Pleased!
Both Arthur 1 & Arthur 2 were real kings of S Wales. Their history & lineages are well known to the Welsh and their battle sites can be traced and found. Their real story has been romanticised but they were real.
Well that's not true both Arthur and Myrddin were from southern Scotland. Myrddin fought at Cumbria in 573ad lost and ran to the Caledonia forest where he grew renowned as a mystic and holy man he hailed from Dumbarton
bello e profondo
evil only wants to hurt
others all
at all costs
Oh... it's in Italy....nice
1000 years later
The truth behind the legend of the sword "Light Saber"
Sucks this guy broke it off like come on
So can i pull it out and make myself a demigod
The real sword of king Arthur is made in italy. wow
And the blade that was broken shall be made anew and the man without a crown shall become king. To paraphrase JRR Tolkien.
..this is so kool to learn...totally opposite of "king authur's story...education is a virtue..:)
King Arthur 5-6 century, this sword 11th century..how could it influence the King Arthur legend?
The legend of King Arthur takes place in the 5-6th century but the first actual mention of a King Arthur don't reliably show up in Welsh stories and poems until the 9-10th century. The stories of Arthur wielding a sword named Caledfwlch, which gradually evolved into Excalibur in French sources, don't show up until the 12th century. It looks like a case of the Arthurian legend evolving and having new atributes added to it over the years.
The story of the sword in the stone first appears in Robert de Boron's "Merlin", around 1200 AD.
Much of the Arthurian legend had been written between 1136 (historia regum britanniae) and the post vulgate cycle (early 13th century), with additions until the 15th century. Before that We have only scant references to Arthur as a warlord and the character (often a secondary one, as the main character is described as being the cousin, a nepew or a friend of Arthur) of fairy tales.
Take out that sword you will be king
Only Zelda and Link matter
my sword always erects towards tommow we never seen😢
Can i pulled the sword
"Truth behind the legend"......the BBC wouldnt know truth if it slapped them!
the bbc is truth. come on bend over at the mason lodge.
Ahem…..
KING BOB!!! 😃
They broke the sword 🤦♂
& now it disappeared. .! 😄
You cant both read and watch the video!
Well I don't know about THAT... I heard a completely different origin!! Basically that the idea of "the sword in the stone" was basically to do with *metal casting* : specifically, the tin trade, and ingots of tin, which were cast in stone, in the shape of a cross/sword. Look at the design of the *Cornish flag* for what I mean.
(The Arthurian legend is Celtic, and goes back a lot further than your medieval knight!)
Although I suppose it's quite.cool, to have a cult of a pacifist knight! ,🙂👍
And a nice little earner in those times.
Hi. Interesting background information, thanks. King Arthur withdrawing the sword from the stone was very likely a real account because its "I'm stronger than you Barons" boast can be replicated easily using nothing more than a sword, High School science, and a large rock with a narrow crack in it. Castles were made of stone, rock quarries were everywhere, so getting a suitably cracked rock was no problem.
Iron and steel expand slightly when hot, and contract when cooled. This knowledge was used by wheelwrights to shrink iron tyres onto wooden spoked wheels. Under the direction of Merlin, (supposedly a wizard but more likely a military engineer working for Arthur just as Leonardo da Vinci worked for the Medici's), a "political spin" deception was planned between them to make strongman Arthur look like "the right man for the job".
During winter, the rock had water put into the crack, where it froze and expanded the crack slightly. The sword blade was super-cooled using icepacks, and when nicely contracted in thickness, it was rammed into the widened crack, but not so much it couldn't be extracted. All during spring as the water melted and the blade expanded, it was gripped ever tighter by the rock's narrowing crack.
Come summer, on blisteringly hot days, Arthur offered the competing Barons an opportunity to test their strength by withdrawing the sword from the rock. They couldn't do it of course, because the rock now gripped the sword tighter than a miser grips a 100 dollar bill. Under Merlin's technical direction, Arthur allowed the competition to continue through the autumn, but only until the first frosts came. Competition then ceased, because Merlin knew the rock would lose its grip in the cold.
During a blisteringly cold week, during which water was trickled into the crack, Arthur announced he would pull the sword from the frozen stone. With the rock-crack now wider and the sword colder and narrower, it popped out like a champagne cork at a King's coronation party. Mission accomplished, not by magic, but by High School science. Notice this wonderful old story is left intact, it is not reduced to mysterious metaphor, myth, or pallid symbolism.
The same method is used today by engineers to permanently join metal pieces without using screws, bolts, welding or rivets. It's called "the interference fit" method, whereby a round peg is inserted into a hole very slightly smaller than the peg, by first cooling the peg and heating the hole. At some temperature their dimensions coincide, and it falls into place. As they cool together and their temperatures coincide, it's gripped with incredible force. Two stroke engine crankshafts are made this way, and it's also used to fix ball-race bearings into gearbox and engine casings.
Students, study mythology thoughtfully, but study science for all you're worth. It explains a lot about mythology, but mythology explains nothing about science. Cheers, P.R.
You seem really confident for something with no evidence actually backing up, also 'Baron' as a title wouldn't have existed at the time the King Arthur would have lived.
@@Mrblob100 Hi Mr. Blob. Language change over the last 1100 years means their actual title doesn't matter, instead of "Baron" read "local rulers lesser than the king". There's no physical evidence, but the story's substance and result can be replicated exactly using simple science. My confidence is in the science, the same "wizardry" that allows you and I to have this online discussion. Cheers, PR.
There are multiple different claims on the sword Excalibur. For a claim of the one sword that started it all, I don't believe any of them are true.
The magical Arthurian swords name was latinized by Geoffrey of Monnmouth ad Caliburnus , which ultimately comes from a Greek word meaning "steel".
However, there are stories about this sword by the Welsh before Jeffrey ever wrote his book.
Is it possible the sword in this video had some influence to later authors? I don't see why not.
But the meaning of these two swords and the stones are very different.
Yes, Arthur's acsent to the throne did mean peace to a degree, but there were still wars.
Also, although our first written mention of the sword in the stone "Merlin", by Robert de Boron, is believed to have been written sometime between 1195 to 1210 ad, not only are we unsure as to when it was actually written down, it is not unlikely that the author garnered this idea from earlier sources, including spoken tales.
The promised Messiah / Mahdi has come
*Love for all hatred for none*
Humanity First
Preach *Empathy*
Terrible destructive archaeology. 😒
Religious people will believe anything, and religious movements will make up anything to ensure money flow. The christian appropriation of older stories is well known, and the overlaying of this 12th Century story onto earlier post-Romanic history is hardly surprising.
"Truth" !!!!! LMAO hahahahahahah
This is not archeology, it's vandalism.
Or it could be that Arthur actually pulled the sword from the stone.
If I was there to be able to pull the sword out of the stone and become queen everyone I knew would kneel/bow and respect me
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.
Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
Arthur: Shut up!
Dennis: I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d put me away!
@@neutronalchemist3241 huh?
So casually talking about breaking a 900-year-old sword that half the world sees as a relic! Typical archaeologists!
Jesus Saves. Satan slaves.
The once and future poser. Donnt be enamored with your stonehenge, and you definitely won't be
😂😂😂 the fact that it broke so easily tells me it wasnt a real sword. Look at the handle alone, its small. The whole thing looks far too crude to have been a real sword. Cool story but c'mon its fake and phoney. It was just another way the church fooled people in drawing more people and money into the congregation.
A ceremonial sword from the late 1800's (that has a knight's head on the end of its handle) came into my possession through a miracle of sorts when I was 8 years old. And through this and other means my discovery of the Holy Grail was prophesied. For, "The Holy Grail is Found," and I authored the 2013 book with that title.
As it turns, I am a prophet of GOD, the prophesied return of the biblical prophet Elijah. And yes, we are in the "end times." But people don't realize what that means. It's not the end of the world, but the end of a cycle of time. But there will indeed be great disasters, both manmade and natural, that will reduce the world's population drastically. However, all is GOD's plan, and all works for the good of absolutely everyone. ("God our Savior will have all men to be saved and come unto knowledge of the truth." 1Timothy 2:3-4) And, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." (FDR) Because, "Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing." Want to know more? Click and ye shall find...
Get back on your meds before you hurt someone
Someone stole the sword...