History and legend of the sword in the stone: the only true one is in Italy in the abbey of San Galgano

The legend of sword in the stone he was very lucky inWestern European imagination and it could have been born from the story of the blade that the knight Galgano Guidottilater made holy, would be stuck in a rock in the second half of 12th century in Tuscany (it can be seen inside the Abbey of San Galgano a Manhole coverin the province of Siena). On the other hand, the best-known “sword in the stone” is certainly the literary one Excaliburthe weapon drawn from King Arthur which would have consecrated him as legitimate king of England. In the Arthurian cycle (the set of writings that bring together the legends of King Arthur, Camelot and the knights of the round table) the first reference to Excalibur is within the poem Merlinof French Robert de Boroncomposed between the 12th and 13th centuries. In different versions of the legend, however, Excalibur it is not even always identified as the sword drawn from the stonebut is sometimes described as a different weapon, given to Arthur by the character of Lady of the Lake. In any case the origin of the symbolism of the sword probably comes from the depths link between political authority and the defense of Christianity.

The link between the sword and faith

In the legends of the Arthurian cycle, the link between Excalibur and the Christian faith is very strong. In some versions of the story, the drawing of the sword and therefore the demonstration of Arthur’s legitimacy to reign is placed near the Christmaswith an implicit reference tocoronation of Charlemagnewhich took place on the occasion of Christmasyear 800. Furthermore, the formulas used in the late medieval novels that dealt with these events are unequivocal: “Whoever will extract this sword from this rock he will be king by choice of Jesus Christ“, and again: “Take the sword with which you will maintain justice and you will defend the Holy Church“.

It should then be noted that in the Middle Ages there was one oldest traditionor that of the “sword of Peter“, the first of the apostles of Christ. It is not the sword used by Peter in the biblical episode of the Garden of Gethsemane, with which the apostle cut off the ear of one of the guards who came to arrest Jesus, but rather asymbolic expression to denote the power and prestige of religious authoritieslike the clergy and the pope. The story of the apostle Peter, the first pope, whose name imposed by Jesus it really means “stone“, or “rock“, and of the sword understood as symbol of authority strengthens the symbolic link between weapons and power, too religious.

The real sword in the stone in Italy

Although in many places in Italy there are “swords in the stone”, in almost all cases it is a question of tourist findsintended to act as reminders for routes of trekking (Mount Gifarco, in Liguria, or Lake Barbellino in the Bergamo area, for example). THE’the only true sword in the stone dating back to Middle Ages is located in Tuscanyin the hermitage of San Galgano in Chiusdinoin the province of Siena.

Galgano Guidotti was a noble knightlived in second half of the 12th century (coincidentally prior to the very first attestation of the story of the sword in the stone of the Arthurian cycle, that in Merlin by Robert de Boron), who after a life of recklessness, repents following one vision of the archangel Michael (saint particularly dear to military circles). After his conversion, he retired to hermit life on Monte Siepi, in the Siena area, where, as a sign of renouncing his old life, he stuck his sword into a rock.

Galgano lived as a hermit on the mountain until his death in 1181and his fame it was particularly great right from the start. One was built on the mountain chapelinside which the one that is still kept today it is believed to be the sword that the knight stuck in the stone. Galgano came sanctified a few years after his death, and this denotes how his story was particularly known in Italy already at the end of the 12th centuryand how this may perhaps have influenced the French writer Robert de Boron for the genesis of the sword in the stone of the Arthurian cycle.