Posted on 09/24/2001 7:46:55 PM PDT by blam
Tuscany's Excalibur is the real thing, say scientists
Rory Carroll in Rome
Sunday September 16, 2001
The Observer
The sword of St Galgano, said to have been plunged into a rock by a medieval Tuscan knight, has been authenticated, bolstering Italy's version of the Excalibur legend. Galgano Guidotti, a noble from Chiusdano, near Siena, allegedly split the stone with his sword in 1180 after renouncing war to become a hermit. For centuries the sword was assumed to be a fake. but research revealed last week has dated its metal to the twelfth century.
Only the hilt, wooden grip and a few inches of the 3ft blade poke from the hill, which still draws pilgrims and tourists to the ruins of the chapel built around it.
'Dating metal is a very difficult task, but we can say that the composition of the metal and the style are compatible with the era of the legend,' said Luigi Garlaschelli, of the University of Pavia. 'We have succeeded in refuting those who maintain that it is a recent fake.'
Ground-penetrating radar analysis revealed that beneath the sword there is a cavity, 2m by 1m, which is thought to be a burial recess, possibly containing the knight's body. 'To know more we have to excavate,' said Garlaschelli, whose findings have been published in Focus magazine.
Carbon-dating confirmed that two mummified hands(DNA?) in the same chapel at Montesiepi were also from the twelfth century. Legend has it that anyone who tried to remove the sword had their arms ripped out.
In English legend the sword Excalibur is pulled from a stone by the future King Arthur, heralding his glory. In Galgano's case the miracle signified humility and holiness.
The son of an illiterate feudal lord, Galgano had a reputation for arrogance and selfishness. After a vision of the Archangel Michael, however, he retired to a cave to become a hermit. Lured out by his family he was thrown by his horse while passing Montesiepi, a hill near Chiusdano, where another vision told him to renounce material things.
Galgano objected that that would be as difficult as splitting a rock and to prove his point he struck one with his sword. The rock, it is said, yielded like butter.
Exodus to Arthur, Mike Baillie
Catastrophe, David Keyes
There's another by Clube & Napier but I can't remember the title. All were published within the last couple of years. All good reading.
Sorry, I read so much that I can't keep them all straight.
Krakatoa erupted some time in there too. The whole world supposedly had no sun for about 3 days and there was snow in the summers due to the particles blocking out the heat of the sun, making the average earth temperature much cooler for a while.
The renowned Krakatau volcano lies in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. Caldera collapse, perhaps in 416 AD, destroyed the ancestral Krakatau edifice, forming a 7-kilometer-wide caldera. Remnants of this volcano formed Verlaten and Lang Islands; subsequently Rakata, Danan and Perbuwatan volcanoes were formed, coalescing to create the pre-1883 Krakatau Island. Caldera collapse during the catastrophic 1883 eruption destroyed Danan and Perbuwatan volcanoes, and left only a remnant of Rakata volcano. The post-collapse cone of Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau), constructed within the 1883 caldera at a point between the former cones of Danan and Perbuwatan, has been the site of frequent eruptions since 1927.
The 1883 eruption caused what became to be known at the year without summer. It snowed in New England in July.
This could account for the "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" line that occurs in Celtic folk tales.
Damn, I like that. I really, really like that. Most people are unaware of how many things in our language/culture have ancient origins. When in Rome, do as the Romans.
Another is "The Holy Grail" by Norma Lorre Goodrich. It has lots of good stuff including a chapter on Don Quixote who had a grail encounter.
We need a grail discussion site.
I am bad about reading everything I can get my hands on..only remembering the concept or idea but not the details. I had a teacher once tell me that the ideas and concepts were what one should keep in their head, the details were in the book to look up. I haven't really felt very well so I didn't go to look up the exact date. :)) Thanks!! :))
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