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Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Chivalry

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Jana Chand-Medlock
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« Reply #60 on: October 27, 2009, 01:14:47 am »

"I am hight Escalibore,
Unto a king fair tresore."

Bishop Brice, after exhorting the assembly to offer up their
thanksgivings for this signal miracle, proposed a law, that whoever
should be able to draw out the sword from the stone, should be
acknowledged as sovereign of the Britons; and his proposal was decreed
by general acclamation. The tributary kings of Uther, and the most
famous knights, successively put their strength to the proof, but
the miraculous sword resisted all their efforts. It stood till
Candlemas; it stood till Easter, and till Pentecost, when the best
knights in the kingdom usually assembled for the annual tournament.
Arthur, who was at that time serving in the capacity of squire to
his foster-brother, Sir Kay, attended his master to the lists. Sir Kay
fought with great valor and success, but had the misfortune to break
his sword, and sent Arthur to his mother for a new one. Arthur
hastened home, but did not find the lady; but having observed near the
church a sword sticking in a stone, he galloped to the place, drew out
the sword with great ease, and delivered it to his master. Sir Kay
would willingly have assumed to himself the distinction conferred by
the possession of the sword; but when, to confirm the doubters, the
sword was replaced in the stone, he was utterly unable to withdraw it,
and it would yield a second time to no hand but Arthur's. Thus
decisively pointed out by Heaven as their king, Arthur was by
general consent proclaimed such, and an early day appointed for his
solemn coronation.
Immediately after his election to the crown, Arthur found himself
opposed by eleven kings and one duke, who with a vast army were
actually encamped in the forest of Rockingham. By Merlin's advice
Arthur sent an embassy to Brittany to solicit aid of King Ban and King
Bohort, two of the best knights in the world. They accepted the
call, and with a powerful army crossed the sea, landing at Portsmouth,
where they were received with great rejoicing. The rebel kings were
still superior in numbers; but Merlin by a powerful enchantment,
caused all their tents to fall down at once, and in the confusion
Arthur with his allies fell upon them and totally routed them.
After defeating the rebels, Arthur took the field against the
Saxons. As they were too strong for him unaided, he sent an embassy to
Armorica, beseeching the assistance of Hoel, who soon after brought
over an army to his aid. The two kings joined their forces, and sought
the enemy, whom they met, and both sides prepared for a decisive
engagement. "Arthur himself," as Geoffrey of Monmouth relates,
"dressed in a breastplate worthy of so great a king, places on his
head a golden helmet engraved with the semblance of a dragon. Over his
shoulders he throws his shield called Priwen, on which a picture of
the Holy Virgin constantly recalled her to his memory. Girt with
Caliburn, a most excellent sword, and fabricated in the isle of
Avalon, he graces his right hand with the lance named Ron. This was
a long and broad spear, well contrived for slaughter." After a
severe conflict, Arthur, calling on the name of the Virgin, rushes
into the midst of his enemies, and destroys multitudes of them with
the formidable Caliburn, and puts the rest to flight. Hoel, being
detained by sickness, took no part in this battle.
This is called the victory of Mount Badon, and, however disguised by
fable, it is regarded by historians as a real event.
The feats performed by Arthur at the battle of Badon Mount are
thus celebrated in Drayton's verse:-
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