King Arthur's magical sword, said to symbolise both destruction and fertility. In one version of the legends of Arthur, the future king proved his right to rule by pulling Excalibur out of a stone, which no other man could do. In another version, he received the sword from the Lady of the Lake. As Arthur lay dying he asked Sir Bedevere, one of his knights, to return Excalibur to the lake, where an arm rose up out of the water to receive it.

The Sword in the Stone, sometimes a sword in an anvil, is drawn by Arthur as proof of his birthright and of his nobility. It is both a test and a miraculous sign of his royalty. The sword drawn from the stone is different from the one given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. The latter is always referred to as Excalibur; the former is called by that name only once, when Arthur draws the sword at a crucial moment in the first battle to test his sovereignty (Vinaver I, 19):

"thenne he drewe his swerd Excalibur, but it was so breyght in his enemyes eyen that it gaf light lyke thirty torchys."