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Where did the story/myth of the sword in the stone originate?There have been theories of it originating in Rome and England. It is also said to be just a story, but I think otherwise. There is a theory that the book written by T.H. White was written based off the myth. All stories involve Merlin, but not all stories are the same.

Some say that it was based in Rome and Merlin first possessed the sword given and made for Caesar Augustus, who ruled in Rome in 27 BC until 14 AD. Passing down the sword to each generation eventually being thrown into a stone that only a true Caesar could pull out.

Others say that It was possessed by King Arthur, a British ruler who came of possession of it as a young boy. Merlin possessed it as well, helping him learn as being a teacher and professor to King Arthur.

Where did this "story/myth" come from? Was there more than one sword in the stone? What is the origin? What if it is a myth, can we interpret from this?

anonymous
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The actual answer to the question:

The first reference to the sword in the stone is to be found only in the prose redaction of Robert de Boron’s Merlin. Of the original poem only some five hundred lines survive. Considering that, and the way scribes could elaborate on their sources, we can not now be sure whether the sword in the stone featured in Robert’s own work or not. Whichever is the case, the work does predate the Vulgate Cycle and the other prose works important to this discussion.

(Toohey, Kathleen, King Arthur's Swords)

If anyone is interested, you can read the Prose Merlin online.

I have not found any historical reference to anyone pulling out a sword from a stone. I think this makes sense, because I imagine that it would be hard to put a sword there in the first place. Sarcasm aside, if you find a historical reference to someone pulling a sword our of something, feel free to let me know in the comments.

The following is in response to some of the things said in the original question.

I'm really sorry, but it is not a "theory" that the story of the sword in the stone originated from Arthurian legend. This is a fact.

  1. The google document (why didn't you just link to the wikipedia page that the google document is copied from?) is a copy of the wikipedia page for the movie The Last Legion. This movie is "a 2007 Fantasy film" that combines Arthurian legend with roman history.

  2. You say that "Some say that it was based in Rome and Merlin first possessed the sword given and made for Caesar Augustus, who ruled in Rome in 27 BC until 14 AD. Passing down the sword to each generation eventually being thrown into a stone that only a true Caesar could pull out." That is only true in the movie The Last Legion, which, as stated previously, is a work of fantasy. This is not actual history.

  3. The legend of the sword in the stone, minus the stuff about Caesar Augustus (which, as stated previously, is from the movie The Last Legion), is from Arthurian legend. T.H. White is the author of a children's book, which is also based on Arthurian legend.

The legend of the sword and the stone is a component of Arthurian legend. Arthurian legend is a collection of old stories about King Arthur. A common feature in many of those stories is the mini-story of the "Sword in the Stone", which features King Arthur pulling a sword out of a stone.

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There is an alternate explanation based on Roman conscripts in Roman Britain from Eastern Europe that the Romans credited with introducing the Stirrup to the Roman Cavalry. The defeated province in Eastern Europe was required to provide a certain number of young conscripts to the Roman army each year that had been trained in the use of Cavalry using their native Stirrup. The conscripts also had another tradition they were proud of (but Romans dismissed as worthless) which was that each of their young soldiers was trained to produce their own sword all the way from iron ore smelting to beating out the actual sword and those trained proudly wore a symbol of their skill on their armor (or clothing) which depicted a sword being pulled out of a stone (iron ore). Some of the Roman Soldiers that stayed behind when Rome left Britain still wore that symbol on their armor and the legendary leader of Romanized Britain in the fight against Saxon invaders may well have been one of them.

However by the time Arthur's legend based on that leader was written down in the 11th century, British nobility had agreed not compete in business against the Guild craftsman (including Smiths) in return for the Guild's support of the nobility, so it would not have been acceptable to suggest that a member of a British nobility built their own sword in violation of that long standing accord.

Thomas Anantharaman
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Book of jasher, ch.77 versus 48-51 are interesting. Could be a possible source for the true origin of the story keeping in mind the sword may not necessarily matter.

Bryan
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