Part of
Latin Literatures of Medieval and Early Modern Times in Europe and Beyond: A millennium heritageEdited by Francesco Stella
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXIV] 2024
► pp. 596–605
Edited by Francesco Stella
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXIV] 2024
► pp. 596–605
Chapter 37Geoffrey of Monmouth and the evolution of Excalibur
King Arthur’s legendary sword – Caliburnus in Latin, Caledfwlch
in Welsh, Escalibor in Old French, and Excalibur in Middle and Modern English –
evolves in its cultural meaning from its earliest depictions in quasi-historical Latin texts through twentieth-century
films and novels. As evidenced in a range of sources, including Culhwch ac Olwen, Geoffrey of
Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae, Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, Lord
Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, Marion
Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, and John Boorman’s Excalibur, Excalibur
symbolically confers political and spiritual legitimacy as it assists in defining Arthurian values, with its meaning
shifting with the times and the cultural moment in which it (re)appears.
References (17)
Bradley, Marion Zimmer. 1987. The Mists of
Avalon. New York: Ballantine.
Camelot. 1967. Dir. Joshua Logan. Burbank, CA: Warner Bros.
Chambers, Edmund Kerchever 1964. Arthur of
Britain. Cambridge: Speculum Historiale.
Excalibur. 1981. Dir. John Boorman. Los Angeles, CA: Orion Pictures.
Finke, Laurie A., and Martin B. Shichtman. 2013. “Arthur
Pendragon:
Eco-Warrior.” Arthuriana 23.1: 5–19.
Ford, Patrick K. (trans and
ed). 1977. The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh
Tales. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Giles, John Allen (ed and
trans). 1848. Six Old English
Chronicles. London: Bohn.
Griscom, Acton, and Robert Ellis Jones (eds.). 1929. The
Historia regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of
Monmouth. London: Longmans, Green.
Higham, Nicholas J. 2002. King Arthur:
Myth-Making and
History. London: Routledge.
Malory, Sir Thomas. 1900. Le Morte Darthur:
Sir Thomas Malory’s Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights of the Round
Table. New York: Macmillan.
Monty Python and the Holy
Grail. 1975. Dir. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. United Kingdom: Python [Monty] Pictures.
Pendragon, Arthur, and Christopher James Stone. 2003. The
Trials of King Arthur: The Life and Times of a Modern-Day
King. London: Harper Collins Elements.
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. 1896. Idylls
of the King. Ed. William Rolfe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
The Sword in the
Stone. 1963. Dir. Wolfgang Reitherman. Burbank, CA: Disney Studios.
Thorpe, Lewis (trans.). 1966. Geoffrey
of Monmouth: The History of the Kings of
Britain. London: Penguin.
Warren, Michelle. 2000. History
on the Edge: Excalibur and the Borders of Britain,
1100–1300. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
White, Terence Hanbury 1987. The Once and
Future King. New York: Ace Books.