The Land of King Arthur - Dozmary Pool

A slender arm that gripped a sword

rose slowly from the water.

"I'll save her" cried young Arthur.

"She must be some knight's daugter..."

"Be still," hissed Merlin. "There you see

the Lady of the Lake.

She's like a kind of mermaid.

That sword is yours to take."  

Excalibur the Magic Sword- Crazy Camelot Capers  Tony Mitton and Arthur Robins

My children loved the stories from Crazy Camelot when they were little. There is nothing like children stories in rhyme and the illustrations that are inside the book are fabulous. If you have young children and you want to introduce them to King Arthur and his knights then this is a fun way to do it.

Before I take the rest of this post to praise Crazy Camelot, I actually wanted to talk about a very famous lake in Arthurian legend.
 
There are two stories as to how Arthur came by his magical sword. Both will be familiar I am sure. The first one claims that Arthur pulled a sword from a stone. The other states that the sword was gifted to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake.

But where is the Lake?

Could Dozmary Pool be the lake in question??!

Dozmary Pool can be found in Cornwall, in the parish of Altarnun on Bodmin Moor. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - I can understand why. And from the picture above, it is easy to imagine a sword rising from the water.

Now, Excalibur came with instructions - not quite a 'how to use' manual - I am sure Arthur knew how to handle a sword. The instructions were simple. I shall quote from Crazy Camelot again, so prepare yourself for some more rhyme...

I am Excalibur, your sword,

and I will never break.

But when your reign is over,

return me to the lake.

The general consensuses is that Arthur was mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann. Arthur recalled the instructions about the sword. He had to get back to the lake. Sir Bedivere, the only surviving knight of The Round Table - took Arthur back to the lake, but Arthur was too weak to throw the sword back into the lake, so he instructs Sir Bedivere to do it for him. But Sir Bedivere could not bring himself to throw such a beautiful sword into the water, so he hid it and returned to Arthur. Arthur asked him if he had thrown the sword back in the lake. Sir Bedivere lied and said he had. Arthur could see through the lies and told Sir Bedivere to do as he instructed. But Sir Bedivere just could not do it. He lied to Arthur for the second time. Once again, Arthur could see through the lies and for the last time told Sir Bedivere to do as he was instructed. Against his better instincts, Sir Bedivere threw the sword into the lake. To his very great surprise, a hand reached up from the water and grabbed the sword, drawing it back down into the watery depths, out of sight forever more. Sir Bedivere returned to Arthur and told him what he had seen. This time, Arthur believed him.

Dozmary Pool is bottomless and has a secret tunnel that leads directly to the ocean - a perfect home for the Lady of the Lake.  

 

Back to the question is Dozmary Pool - that lake?

It is certainly atmospheric enough, but...

It isn't bottomless - in 1869 the pool dried up and apart from finding some amazing Neolithic arrowheads, there was no tunnel - so there goes that theory.

It is also argued that Dozmary Pool is too far away from the proposed site of the Battle of Camlann.

 So the bottom line is that it is very unlikely that Dozmary Pool is that lake - but it is stunning.

The Lady of the Lake - who was she and what does she have to do with King Arthur?

"I cannot tell how the truth may be; I say the tale as 'twas said to me." Walter Scott

The hand rising out of the water, clutching King Arthur's mighty Excalibur -- That is the image I see when I think of the Lady of the Lake. 

 

Of course there is a great deal more to the Lady of the Lake than merely a hand sticking out of a lake with a sword clutched in it! She plays a pivotal role in many of the stories of Arthur and his knights - most notably in the story of Lancelot. 

In Arthurian Legend she is best remembered for:

*Giving Arthur, Excalibur.

*Enchanting Merlin.

*Raising Lancelot after his father's death.

*Nurses Lancelot back to health when he loses his mind.

Let us take a look at the stories and see how the character of The Lady of the Lake developed.

It is in the Lancelot-Grail Cycle where we first learn about The Lady of the Lake. Her name was Vivianne and she is the apprentice of Merlin. Merlin loves her dearly, despite knowing, for he has foreseen, that Viviane will be his undoing, his destruction, his doom! She wants to know all his secrets - she wishes to become as powerful as he is.

Merlin cannot resist her charms. Ignoring the risks, he tells her everything. In return she traps him in a tree - or was it a cave? - a stone? Anyway, he is entombed and apart from the odd wailing that is said to be heard from Merlin's Cave in Wales every so often, he is never heard of again. Such is life.

 In the Post-Vulgate Cycle's, her name changed to Ninianne, and Excalibur makes an appearance.

Sir Robert Malory and The Lady of the Lake.

In Malory's epic tale there are two Ladies of the Lake. Nimue and Nyneve - the reason soon becomes apparent.

Nimue

Nimue is not the typical Arthurian lady - think of all the women you meet in Arthurian Legend - some of the worst villains are, in fact, women - Morgan La Fay being the obvious one, but remember, even Guinevere brings down a kingdom with her notorious affair with Lancelot. No, Nimue is not like them, she is a force for good. She is married to Sir Pelleas, and is seemingly obedient to her husband, but secretly she sways the court of Camelot to do what is right and what is good. She is clever, but sympathetic. Strong, yet kind.

Although, saying that...in Le Morte d'Arthur, after she enchants Merlin, and subsequently entombs him, she then takes his place as Arthur's closest adviser. When Arthur is mortally wounded she travels with him back to Avalon and takes the sword back.

 

Edward Burne-Jones (1872-1877) The Beguiling of Merlin.

Nyneve

Nyneve is the other Lady of the Lake - she too marries Sir Pelleas and is a force for good. She is also linked with giving Arthur, Excalibur. It is interesting that in this story, Arthur receives Excalibur not once, but three times:

Firstly he pulls the sword from the stone.

Then he is given the sword from the Lady of the Lake.

And lastly, Nyneve presents Arthur with the sword in the midst of battle??!

When ever Arthur is in trouble the Lady of the Lake seemingly helps him. A fairy godmother if you like...minus the pumpkin! Instead she brings swords - far more useful.

Nyneve first appears in the tale of Arthur's wedding - noticeable the same time that The Round Table does, and the two have often been linked with this whole idea of chivalry and the Knights Code of Honour ever since.

The story of the Lady of the Lake has enchanted storytellers and their audience alike. Sir Walter Scott wrote the famous Lady of the Lake poem in 1810. Alfred Lord Tennyson also took an interest in this Arthurian character and immortalized her in Idylls of the King. Interestingly, like with Malory, he writes of two Ladies of the Lake. The first being Vivian - the deceitful woman who ensnares Merlin and her opposite, the Lady of the Lake who raised Lancelot and gives Arthur his sword.

 

Gustave Dore's - Viviane and Merlin (1868). 

The question remains, of course...where is the lake? We could start with Avalon and work our way around from there - that's if anyone can agree to where Avalon actually is!  There are so many supposed locations of where the lake could be, that I am not going to bother to list them in fear that I will miss a location out! But still, it's a good story isn't it.

Competition time!!!
How would you like to win a signed copy of The Du Lac Chronicles? All you have to do is post a comment telling me about your favourite Arthurian Character and why you like them so much!

A generation after the fall of Arthur Pendragon...

“It is dangerous to become attached to a du Lac. He will break your heart, and you will not recover.”  

So prophesies a wizened healer to Annis, daughter of King Cerdic of Wessex. If there is truth in the old crone’s words, they come far too late for Annis, who defies father, king, and country to save the man she loves.

Alden du Lac, once king of Cerniw, has nothing. Betrayed by Cerdic, Alden’s kingdom lies in rubble, his fort razed to the ground and his brother Merton missing, presumably dead. He has only one possession left worth saving: his heart. And to the horror of his few remaining allies, he gives that to the daughter of his enemy. They see Annis, at best, as a bargaining chip to avoid war with her powerful father. At worst, they see a Saxon witch with her claws in a broken, wounded king.

Alden has one hope: When you war with one du Lac, you war with them all. His brother Budic, King of Brittany, could offer the deposed young king sanctuary—but whether he will offer the same courtesy to Annis is far less certain.

Or alternatively, pick up your copy from Amazon!

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Excalibur - The Sword in the Stone

 "In the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in that hand."  Malory

 

If I was asked to name a famous sword then Excalibur would be the first sword I would think of - but then considering my small obsession with Arthurian legend, I guess that is hardly a surprise!

In today's blog, I want to find out how and where Excalibur fits into the Arthurian story. Let us first look at the name. Excalibur... 

 Its origins can be traced way, way back to the Welsh works - although then it went by the name Caledfwlch. It can also be traced back to Irish mythology. Perhaps, Caledfwich was just a name given to swords in general - but for some reason, the name became associated with Arthurian legend and more importantly, it was the name given to Arthur's sword.

Monmouth is again, responsible for placing this sword in Arthur's hands. In The History of the King's of Britain, c.1136, Monmouth, Latinised the name of the sword and it became known as Caliburnus and he stated that it was forged in the Isles of Avalon...and his story kind of stuck.

Geoffrey Gaimer - an Anglo-Norman Chronicler who wrote the History Of The English People, carried on with this theme "...this Constantine was the nephew of Arthur, who had the sword Calibure..."

By the time Chrétien de Troyes got his hands on the story...

"...for at his belt (he is talking about Gawain) hung Excalibur, the finest sword that there was, which sliced through iron as through wood..."

The Sword in the Stone

"Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of all England" Malory

Most of us would be familiar with the Malory quote above - it has been quoted countless times. Most notably in the Disney movie, The Sword in the Stone. But it was not Malory who came up with this whole 'pull a sword from a stone and become king,' idea, but Robert de Boron, in his great work Merlin. But once Boron suggested such a thing, the story took flight and very soon became...well, a legend.

Interestingly, it wasn't just Arthur who pulled a sword from a stone - Galahad did as well!

For me, the story of Arthur does not seem right without a mention of the sword in the stone, it goes hand-in-hand with the stories of Arthur as much as Camelot does.

Most recently, this theme was  portrayed in the BBC drama, Merlin. Similar to many of the stories...it is Merlin that places the sword in the stone.

 Merlin - series 4, episode 13

Excalibur and the Lady of the Lake 

The link between Excalibur and the Lady of the Lake was first suggested in the Post-Vulgate Cycle. In this story, Arthur does not pull the sword from a stone, but he is, instead, gifted the weapon from the Lady of the Lake, near the beginning of his reign. In Vulgate Mort Artu - Arthur orders the sword to be thrown back to the lake when he is fatally wounded.

Excalibur the Sword, by Howard Pyle (1902)

Malory - the master storyteller - tells of both version in Le Morte d"Arthur - he made sure he had all his basis covered! 

Excalibur - a magic sword? 

  Again, we have Malory to thank for this interpretation. 

"thenne he drewe his swerd Excalibur, but it was so breyght in his enemyes eyen that it gaf light lyke thirty torchys." Malory

And let's not forget the magic scabbard and its magic powers. The one who wore the scabbard was protected in battle. Unfortunately Morgan Le Fay got her hands on it and threw it back in the lake, and that was the end of that. 

Morgan La Fay casts the Scabbard away by Henry Justice Ford 1902

It is often said that on the blade of Excalibur there was an engraving which said...

"Take me up" and "Cast me away"

Meaning simply to throw the sword back into the lake when the owner was finished with it and that is exactly what Arthur commanded Sir Bedivere to do. And on that note...I think we will leave it there for the day!