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What do you call Excalibur when he cuts down a tree?


Eldnacpeek
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 In the medieval legends there is no account of Excalibur/Escalibor/Caliburn/Caledfwch breaking. 

The Post-Vulgate Arthurian Cycle, followed by Sir Thomas Malory in his “Le Morte d’Arthur”, relates that Arthur’s sword (unnamed) broke in a single battle between King Arthur and King Pellinor. Thereupon Merlin obtained a new sword for Artthur from a lake. See http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mar... and http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mar... and http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mar... for Malory’s version. The new sword is named Excalibur at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart029.htm

According to another account, that of the “Vulgate Merlin'', Excalibur was the same sword that the young Arthur pulled from the sword before he was made king. One might try to reconcile the discrepant accounts by saying that both swords were named Excalibur and that Excalibur from the stone was the sword which broke when Arthur fought King Pellinor. That seems rather forced to me. Malory includes both stories, but this inconsistency is only one of many inconsistencies in Malory. 

The “Vulgate Merlin'' and the “Post-Vulgate Merlin” are both accounts of the early reign of Arthur but disagree on many points besides the origin of Arthur's sword. 

In John Boorman’s film “Excalibur”, the sword Excalibur is the sword in the stone which breaks when King Arthur fights Lancelot. The sword is then reforged by the Lady of the Lake. John Boorman has combined the two medieval accounts and introduced Lancelot. But this is just modern invention (as opposed to medieval invention). The first meeting of Lancelot and Arthur is described quite differently in two (discrepant) medieval accounts. In neither of them is there a single combat between Arthur and Lancelot. 

Arthur didn’t die, according to many tales. But for information on Arthur’s last battle see http://kingarthur.wikia.com/wiki/Modred and read the material on “Mordred’s Rebellion and Death”. 

See also Malory’s text at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/book20.htm and the “Didot-Perceval'' at http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/mort3.html for two of many similar medieval accounts.
 

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