Excalibur Trivia
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49 free Excalibur trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Excalibur trivia for anyone who knows the sword but not the fine print. Most people assume the sword in the stone and the sword from the lake are the same blade; the medieval romances mostly say otherwise, and this quiz walks through how the story grew - from the Welsh Caledfwlch of Culhwch and Olwen, to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Caliburnus forged in Avalon, to Robert de Boron's anvil in a churchyard, to the Post-Vulgate's Lady of the Lake and the scabbard that Merlin said was worth more than the sword. Along the way you will meet the knights who borrowed or returned it (Gawain, Griflet, Bedivere), the enchantress who stole its sheath, the fake Excalibur used in a duel, the sword Richard the Lionheart gave away as a diplomatic gift, and 'Tuscany's Excalibur' still stuck in a rock in a chapel. Then the modern era: John Boorman's 1981 film with Helen Mirren and a young Liam Neeson, Disney's anvil, the Vegas castle-casino, Marvel's Excalibur team, and the GPS-guided artillery shell that borrowed the name. Questions run from easy to expert, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its source. For the wider legend, try our King Arthur, Merlin and Holy Grail quizzes.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Malory, the sword in the stone appears in a churchyard at which feast?
Christmas
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.
Q 02Arthur's sword is called Caledfwlch, not Excalibur, in early tales in which language?
Welsh
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.
Q 03In his Latin chronicle, Geoffrey of Monmouth called Arthur's sword what?
Caliburnus
Caliburnus. As Geoffrey's history spread across the Continent, French poets reworked the name into Escalibor, and later writers finally settled on Excalibur.
Q 04According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, where was Arthur's sword forged?
Avalon
Avalon. Geoffrey brings the story full circle: after his last battle the mortally wounded Arthur is carried to the same island to be healed.
Q 05In Malory, the sword in the stone appears in a churchyard in which city?
London
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.
Q 06In Malory, the sword in the stone is actually stuck in what, set on top of the stone?
An anvil
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.
Q 07In Malory, whoever pulls the sword from the stone is 'rightwise king born' of where?
All England
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.
Q 08When Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, he believes he is the son of which man?
Ector
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.
Q 09In Malory, Arthur's first sword breaks in a duel with which king, the father of Round Table knights?
Pellinore
Pellinore. He has the disarmed Arthur pinned and is about to cut off his head when Merlin drops him into an enchanted sleep.
Q 10In Malory, who offers Arthur his second Excalibur in return for a gift to be named later?
The Lady of the Lake
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.
Q 11In Malory, what special power does Excalibur's scabbard have?
Its wearer could not bleed from wounds
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.
Q 12In Malory, who steals Excalibur's scabbard and throws it into a lake?
Morgan le Fay
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.
Q 13In Tennyson's Idylls of the King, Excalibur's blade says 'Take me' on one side and what on the other?
Cast me away
Q 21Which Irish legendary sword, borne by Fergus mac Róich, is compared to Excalibur because of its similar name?
Caladbolg
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.
Q 22In the Alliterative Morte Arthure, seeing his ceremonial sword Clarent in an enemy's hand tells Arthur that who has betrayed him?
Guinevere
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.
Q 23A sword said to be Excalibur surfaced in 1191, the year monks claimed to find Arthur's grave at which abbey?
Glastonbury
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'.
Q 14In Malory, Arthur is told that the name Excalibur means what?
Cut steel
Cut steel. Malory was shortening an older French romance, which had claimed, fancifully, that the sword's name was Hebrew.
Q 15In Malory, when Arthur first drew Excalibur in battle, its blade did what?
Blinded enemies with its light
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.
Q 16In Malory, which knight twice hides Excalibur before obeying Arthur and throwing it into the water?
Bedivere
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.
Q 17What happens when Excalibur is finally thrown into the water after Arthur's last battle?
A hand rises and catches it
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.
Q 18In some French romances, Arthur passes Excalibur on to which knight, his own nephew?
Gawain
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.
Q 19In the Vulgate Merlin, Arthur captures Marmiadoise, a sword once owned by which hero, and prefers it to Excalibur?
Hercules
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.
Q 20In the tale Culhwch and Olwen, Arthur's sword Caledfwlch is swung in an overseas raid to seize what?
A cauldron
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.
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.
Q 24Which English king, wintering in Sicily, is said to have given its ruler Tancred a sword he claimed was Excalibur?
Richard I
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.
Q 25A medieval sword set in rock, linked to Saint Galgano, sits in a chapel at Montesiepi in which Italian region?
Tuscany
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.
Q 26In a Norse parallel to the sword in the stone, which god drives a blade into a tree for Sigmund to draw?
Odin
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.
Q 27Who plays Morgana in the 1981 film Excalibur?
Helen Mirren
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.
Q 28The 1981 film Excalibur was shot in which country?
Ireland
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.
Q 29Which thunderous piece of music plays as Arthur and his knights ride out in the 1981 film Excalibur?
O Fortuna
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.
Q 30In the 1981 film Excalibur, who thrusts the sword into the stone in the first place?
Uther Pendragon
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.