09/06/2021 17:57
Clarín.com
Dresses
Updated 09/07/2021 11:12
Among the Arthurian legends, one of the best known passages is that of the great sword stuck on a rock that only the rightful king of England could unlock.
Although many knights tried with all their might,
only Arthur
, again and again and without apparent effort, managed to remove the weapon from its prison.
There are two places in Italy
where there are crosses buried in the rock, inevitably reminiscent of the legends of King Arthur.
In Tuscany, near Chiusdino (province of Siena), the abbey dedicated to San Galgano
remains in ruins.
Knight Galgano was a loose cannon until Archangel Gabriel appeared to him, which he considered a sign to end his life of capricious duels, wine, and women.
The Abbey of San Galgano (Instagram).
He went towards a light on the horizon and on a mound he
nailed his sword.
The hermitage and later abbey would rise there, which is now just a pile of ruins.
However, if you enter the church you can see the sword, with the round pommel of the hilt and the top forming a cross, since that was the symbolism that wanted to highlight the one who was later
the first saint
whose canonization was carried out by a formal process.
The scene is known among Italian historians, who resort to the art gallery in Siena to contemplate a carved marble stone in which the moment when Galgano nailed the sword to the rock is reproduced.
The sword of San Galgano gives to fantasize.
There are those who have dared to affirm that, in fact,
it is the original Excalibur
.
Others said that this is nothing more than rubbish.
However, a group of scientists from the University of Pavia certified in 2001 that the composition and age of the metal corresponded to the time when San Galgano would have carried out the action,
at the beginning of the 12th century.
They also saw, thanks to the use of a georadar, that under the rock there is a cavity large enough to house the remains of the saint.
So, be it the weapon of San Galgano or that of King Arturo,
the sword has more than 900 years of existence
.
Now, to prevent vandalism (and although the abbey complex is in ruins) a methacrylate cover allows you to see the hilt of the sword, but
not touch it.
The sword of San Galgano nailed in the rock (Instagram).
A similar precaution would not have been bad for the sword that is also stuck in Terminillo, in the Abruzzo mountains.
On this occasion it would be the weapon left by some
Knights Templar
at the beginning of the
14th century
, when the order was going through its worst moments due to the persecution of King Philip IV of France.
Until a few months ago, on a bare mound in the middle of the ski resort, the hilt of a sword that aesthetically had many similarities to that of San Galgano,
appeared from a rock
, a few dozen meters from the asphalt SS4bis road.
The legend explains that five of the Knights Templar, as a formal act to consider the order dissolved after having also failed to defend Jerusalem, left it there,
immobilized in the stone.
The sword stuck in Terminillo.
It is from the year 1300 and would be from the Knights Templar (Instagram).
The disputes between the Hospitallers and the Templars and the unofficial influence that they had obtained throughout Christendom would have made both the King of France and Pope Clement V fear losing power, so between them they resolved to
dissolve and persecute
the Knights of the Temple.
In Terminillo there is the plaque that the residents of the nearby towns placed to pay homage to the sword stuck in the rock.
It is a place where five terms used to coincide: Rieti, Cittaducale, Micigliano, Borgovelino and Castel Sant'Angelo, which is why the site was known as the
Five Confines.
In the summer of 2020 someone noticed that
the hilt had disappeared
, although the blade continues to split the stone.
Vandalism or a Templar knight who would want his weapon back?
Lovers of the unexplained have ground to cover in this place in central Italy, some 110 kilometers from Rome.
The vanguard.
GML
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