An East Staffordshire expert in Viking history has revealed what he believes to be the real reason an ancient sword was discovered in a Swedish lake - and it is rooted in the legend of King Arthur.

The find sparked worldwide interest when a young girl discovered the Viking sword. Saga Vanecek, aged eight, made headlines across the globe when she pulled the relic from the Vidostern lake in Jonkoping County, which is 80 miles from the Swedish city of Gothernburg.

The sword was initially reported to be 1,000 years old, but experts at the local museum now believe it may date to around 1,500 years ago.

The discovery led to Saga being dubbed the 'Queen of Sweden'.

Gareth Williams, director of research at Tutbury Castle, has studied Viking history and is a specialist in Viking warfare and military organisation - he is hoping to complete his latest book on Viking warfare by the end of this year.

He said the dating of the sword coincides perfectly with the time of King Arthur in the fifth and sixth centuries.

Swords in the Staffordshire Hoard collection at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Swords in the Staffordshire Hoard collection at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

"It would have been from exactly the time of King Arthur and the legend of the lady of the lake, including the sword being thrown into the lake," he said.

There are many different versions of the story of the lady of the lake, but most involve the lady handing King Arthur his famous sword, Excalibur, from a lake.

And in some, including in the BBC series 'Merlin', the story includes the sword later being tossed back into the lake after Arthur no longer has use for it.

Dr Williams, who lives in Lichfield with his wife Lesley Smith, the curator of Tutbury Castle, said the discovery of the Swedish sword and others like it that have been found in and around water is evidence of a broad Viking tradition.

He said: "There are lots of finds of Viking weapons in lakes, which suggests a tradition of deliberate sacrifice.

"A sword was not just a weapon and something to have for safety, but also a measure of wealth and symbolism in Viking society - the sword was symbolic of power and identity."

Not only would Vikings get rid of their swords by throwing them into lakes and rivers, but also by destroying them by pulling them apart or bending and twisting them so they could not be used again.

Dr Williams said: "What you do with a weapon when it is no longer in use is very important. The destruction of the sword is representative of the destruction of the status of the individual.

"And the destruction of wealth was also the individual effectively saying, 'I am so rich I can afford to throw it away.'"

It was also accepted in Viking society that those who made it to Valhalla, a version of heaven for Viking warriors, would have everything provided for them and so would not need their sword in the afterlife, Dr Williams said.

The tradition of getting rid of swords by throwing them in lakes and destroying them by other means gave rise to legends like the story of King Arthur because Vikings would also have been finding similar items in the ground from people before them.

"These traditions come up for the first time in the 13th century," Dr Williams said.

"We're finding things now that people back then would also have found and come up with explanations for them."

Tutbury Castle-Tutbury
Historic Tutbury Castle

This pattern is also reflected in many of the artifacts found among the famous Staffordshire hoard - the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever found.

The Anglo-Saxons were in Britain at the same time as the Vikings, with a border between the two peoples running along the River Trent.

In fact, Dr Williams, who also specialises in early medieval coins, said a new coin that was found in a different hoard discovered in 2007 was likely minted in Rocester, highlighting Staffordshire's significance as a border region between Viking and Anglo-Saxon England.

Top 10 Viking facts

  1. 'Viking' means 'pirate raid' in the Old Norse language that was used in Scandinavia when the Vikings were around over 1,000 years ago.
  2. Every day of the week is named after a different Viking god except for Saturday, which is named after the Roman god Saturn.
  3. Thursday is named after Thor - the Viking god of Thunder.
  4. Vikings did not wear helmets with horns on - this classic Viking image was actually created by costume designer Carl Emil Doepler.
  5. Only one complete Viking helmet has ever been found - meaning they either didn't wear helmets at all or wore ones made out of less hardy materials like leather.
  6. English cities, towns and villages ending in '-by', '-thorpe' or '-ay' were most likely old Viking settlements.
  7. Viking explorer Leif Erikson set foot in America 500 years before it was famously discovered by Christopher Columbus.
  8. For a Viking, their sword was their most prized possession.
  9. The word 'berserk' comes from Viking 'berserkers', special warriors who would go into a rage-fuelled trance while fighting.
  10. The death of King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 - widely believed to have been killed by an arrow to the eye - marked the end of the Viking period.

Dr Williams said the Staffordshire hoard contained a number of weapons - and parts of weapons - that had been bent, broken or spiralled into a curl to render them useless.

This shows just how far the tradition of destroying weapons after they were no longer in use had spread across Viking society - from Staffordshire to Sweden.

Although the rough shape of the blade found in Sweden has provided information on the age of the sword, more of its exact properties will be understood once it has been thoroughly cleaned, which is set to be finished by summer 2019.

As well as research on Viking history, Dr Williams has also been involved in historical reenactments in his job as director at Tutbury Castle with his wife Lesley Smith.

He has portrayed Eric Bloodaxe, a mighty Viking king who had terms reigning over both Norway and Northumbria before he was treacherously killed by an ambitious earl.

Lesley Smith, curator at Tutbury Castle

Tutbury Castle, a Grade I listed building, was built nearly 1,000 years ago and is best known as one of the places where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned for conspiring to overthrow and murder Queen Elizabeth I.

In September, curator Ms Smith welcomed the sentencing of a man who was jailed for just over two years for stealing a number of replica weapons from the castle.


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