49 Fun Facts About Excalibur

In Malory, the sword in the stone appears in a churchyard at which feast?

Christmas. Merlin has the Archbishop summon every lord to pray for a sign on the night of Christ's birth, to show who should rightly be king.

Arthur's sword is called Caledfwlch, not Excalibur, in early tales in which language?

Welsh. In the early tale Culhwch and Olwen, Arthur offers his young cousin any gift he asks except a few treasures he will not part with: his sword and his wife are both on the list.

In his Latin chronicle, Geoffrey of Monmouth called Arthur's sword what?

Caliburnus. As Geoffrey's history spread across the Continent, French poets reworked the name into Escalibor, and later writers finally settled on Excalibur.

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, where was Arthur's sword forged?

Avalon. Geoffrey brings the story full circle: after his last battle the mortally wounded Arthur is carried to the same island to be healed.

In Malory, the sword in the stone appears in a churchyard in which city?

London. Malory admits he cannot say whether the church was St Paul's, because 'the French book maketh no mention': he was reworking older French romances and they left it out.

In Malory, the sword in the stone is actually stuck in what, set on top of the stone?

An anvil. Robert de Boron's poem of about 1200 had it too, but later retellings mostly set the blade straight into the rock; Disney's 1963 film is one that kept the anvil.

In Malory, whoever pulls the sword from the stone is 'rightwise king born' of where?

All England. Arthur first draws the sword unseen, with no idea a contest is on, and has to put it back and pull it out again before anyone believes him.

When Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, he believes he is the son of which man?

Ector. When Arthur draws the sword a second time, the old knight kneels to the boy he raised and admits that he was never his father.

In Malory, Arthur's first sword breaks in a duel with which king, the father of Round Table knights?

Pellinore. He has the disarmed Arthur pinned and is about to cut off his head when Merlin drops him into an enchanted sleep.

In Malory, who offers Arthur his second Excalibur in return for a gift to be named later?

The Lady of the Lake. When she comes to court to claim her gift she asks for a knight's head, and the knight strikes off hers instead, in front of the king.

In Malory, what special power does Excalibur's scabbard have?

Its wearer could not bleed from wounds. Merlin scolds Arthur for liking the sword better, since the scabbard is worth ten of it, and its later theft leaves the king open to his death blow.

In Malory, who steals Excalibur's scabbard and throws it into a lake?

Morgan le Fay. It is her revenge: Arthur has just killed her lover, who fought him with the real Excalibur while the king unknowingly swung a fake she had sent him.

In Tennyson's Idylls of the King, Excalibur's blade says 'Take me' on one side and what on the other?

Cast me away. The words sadden Arthur as he takes the sword, but Merlin tells him to strike with it, because 'the time to cast away is yet far-off'.

In Malory, Arthur is told that the name Excalibur means what?

Cut steel. Malory was shortening an older French romance, which had claimed, fancifully, that the sword's name was Hebrew.

In Malory, when Arthur first drew Excalibur in battle, its blade did what?

Blinded enemies with its light. Malory says the blade shone in their eyes like thirty torches; Arthur draws it only after a rebel king has knocked him to the ground.

In Malory, which knight twice hides Excalibur before obeying Arthur and throwing it into the water?

Bedivere. He cannot bear to waste so rich a sword and twice lies about it; in the older French romances the reluctant knight is Griflet, and English writers gave his part to Bedivere.

What happens when Excalibur is finally thrown into the water after Arthur's last battle?

A hand rises and catches it. It shakes the sword three times and vanishes; the knight's earlier claim to have seen only waves and wind had told Arthur he was lying.

In some French romances, Arthur passes Excalibur on to which knight, his own nephew?

Gawain. Chrétien de Troyes already has him wearing Escalibor at his belt, and a later romance explains why: Arthur had won a sword he liked better.

In the Vulgate Merlin, Arthur captures Marmiadoise, a sword once owned by which hero, and prefers it to Excalibur?

Hercules. Arthur wins the sword from King Rions, the conqueror who in Malory trims his cloak with the beards of beaten kings and sends for Arthur's to finish it.

In the tale Culhwch and Olwen, Arthur's sword Caledfwlch is swung in an overseas raid to seize what?

A cauldron. The blow is struck not by Arthur but by one of his warriors, Llenlleawg, and the raiders sail home with the cauldron full of plundered coin.

Which Irish legendary sword, borne by Fergus mac Róich, is compared to Excalibur because of its similar name?

Caladbolg. In the Irish epic the Táin, Fergus is begged not to turn it on his own Ulster kin, so he swings it over their heads and slices the tops off three hills instead.

In the Alliterative Morte Arthure, seeing his ceremonial sword Clarent in an enemy's hand tells Arthur that who has betrayed him?

Guinevere. Clarent was kept locked away at Wallingford for knightings and other ceremonies, and Arthur reasons that nobody but the queen knew where to find it.

A sword said to be Excalibur surfaced in 1191, the year monks claimed to find Arthur's grave at which abbey?

Glastonbury. Historians read the discovery as a publicity stunt: the abbey had burned down in 1184, pilgrim numbers had fallen, and a royal grave brought visitors and money back.

Which English king, wintering in Sicily, is said to have given its ruler Tancred a sword he claimed was Excalibur?

Richard I. The Lionheart's treaty with Tancred also named his own heir: a small nephew called Arthur, who was promised one of Tancred's daughters as a bride.

A medieval sword set in rock, linked to Saint Galgano, sits in a chapel at Montesiepi in which Italian region?

Tuscany. The legend runs the opposite way to Arthur's: Galgano, a knight giving up war to live as a hermit, is said to have driven his sword into the rock and left it there.

In a Norse parallel to the sword in the stone, which god drives a blade into a tree for Sigmund to draw?

Odin. He walks into a wedding feast as a one-eyed old man in a slouched hat, sinks the blade up to the hilt and offers it to whoever can pull it out.

Who plays Morgana in the 1981 film Excalibur?

Helen Mirren. She and Nicol Williamson, the film's Merlin, had fallen out during a stage Macbeth and neither wanted to work with the other, so the director gave them plenty of scenes together.

The 1981 film Excalibur was shot in which country?

Ireland. Filming in Wicklow, Tipperary and Kerry helped launch the screen careers of young actors found in Irish theatres, Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne among them.

Which thunderous piece of music plays as Arthur and his knights ride out in the 1981 film Excalibur?

O Fortuna. Carl Orff's 1930s setting of a medieval poem plays as Arthur, restored by the Grail, leads his knights to their last battle through a countryside bursting back into blossom.

In the 1981 film Excalibur, who thrusts the sword into the stone in the first place?

Uther Pendragon. Ambushed as he chases Merlin, who has carried off his newborn son, the dying king drives Excalibur into the rock with his last strength.

In the 1981 film Excalibur, which knight throws the sword back into the water?

Perceval. He is the last knight left standing and also the film's Grail winner: it follows Chrétien de Troyes there, where Malory gives the Grail to Galahad.

In the 1981 film Excalibur, how does Arthur break the sword?

Using its power unfairly against Lancelot. The undefeated knight is holding a bridge against all comers; the blade snaps on him, and Arthur gets it back whole only once he is humbled.

The 1981 film Excalibur won Best Artistic Contribution at which festival?

Cannes. In his note for the festival the director said he had struggled for more than ten years to find backing for the film, then spent two and a half years making it.

Merlin's 'Charm of Making' in the 1981 film Excalibur has been reconstructed as a line in which language?

Old Irish. Linguist Michael Everson wrote down the sounds spoken on screen and rebuilt them as a line of Old Irish verse, wondering aloud where the film-makers had found it.

Disney's The Sword in the Stone (1963) is based on a novel by which author?

T. H. White. He later folded the story into The Once and Future King, the book behind the musical Camelot, so one writer stands behind both Disney's Arthur and Broadway's.

In Disney's The Sword in the Stone, why does Wart need a sword?

He left Kay's sword at the inn. Wart, serving as squire, runs back to find the inn locked for the tournament, so he borrows the sword he sees standing in a churchyard.

In the BBC series Merlin (2008-12), Excalibur is forged with the help of which creature?

A dragon. The Great Dragon, voiced by John Hurt, tempers the blade with his fire on Merlin's promise that only Arthur will wield it; the king borrows it for a duel instead, and Merlin is told to hide it away.

In King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), which footballer plays the soldier who tells Arthur to grip the sword?

David Beckham. A friend of director Guy Ritchie, he plays a soldier called Trigger and gets to bark the order that starts the legend, telling Arthur to put both hands on the hilt.

In Sonic and the Black Knight, what is unusual about the sacred sword Sonic wields?

It talks. When the knights fear they have no king left to serve, the sword reminds them that it chooses the true king, and its choice turns out to be Sonic himself.

Marvel's Britain-based team Excalibur is an offshoot of which superhero team?

X-Men. The team formed when the world believed the X-Men were dead: three former members joined Captain Britain and set up home in his lighthouse.

The castle-themed Excalibur Hotel and Casino opened in 1990 in which city?

Las Vegas. The castle was announced without a name: its builder, Circus Circus, ran a public naming contest, and Excalibur won out over thousands of other suggestions.

The Excalibur casino's castle design was inspired particularly by which real castle?

Neuschwanstein. The model was itself a fantasy: a nineteenth-century palace built for Bavaria's 'Mad King' Ludwig II to conjure up an age of knights long gone.

The M982 Excalibur is a 155 mm artillery shell guided by what?

GPS. Fold-out fins let the shell glide down from the top of its arc and steer onto its satellite fix, so gunners can use it where ordinary shells would endanger civilians or their own side.

The 1950s submarine HMS Excalibur and her sister were nicknamed the 'blonde' boats because they ran on which chemical?

Hydrogen peroxide. In concentrated form it proved so volatile that reports of explosions followed the pair, and locals renamed Excalibur's sister Explorer the 'Exploder'.

Geoffrey of Monmouth sends Arthur into battle with his sword and a shield painted with whose image?

The Virgin Mary. Geoffrey says the picture was there to keep her always in the king's mind, and he has Arthur call on her name before charging the enemy line alone.

In the Alliterative Morte Arthure, whom does Arthur kill with Excalibur in his last battle?

Mordred. The poem follows the older chronicle story, in which he is not Arthur's son but his nephew, trusted to govern while the king is abroad; he takes the crown instead.

In Malory, which knight keeps a cursed sword he drew in a contest and later kills his own brother with it?

Balin. A damsel warns that the sword will kill the man he loves best; he keeps it anyway, and he and his brother Balan, neither recognising the other, cut each other down.

In medieval legend, what did the sword Dyrnwyn do when drawn by a worthy man?

Blazed with fire. The sword is counted among thirteen legendary treasures, yet its owner, Rhydderch the Generous, is thought to have been a real sixth-century king of Strathclyde.

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's history, Arthur cuts down 470 men with his sword alone in a battle against which invaders?

Saxons. The feat comes at the siege of Bath and settles an old score with ten to spare: Geoffrey's Saxons had earlier massacred 460 unarmed British nobles at a peace meeting.