Can someone give me a summary of the sword Excalibur?

Question

I actually don't need a full summary. I already looked at wikipedia. What I want to know is what it had to do with King Author becoming king. I know very little of these legends, but I am interested. I know there are many different stories with that sword and King Author, but I guess I'd just like to know the more common ones that involve his sovereignty. I also know that in some legends, the sword in the stone is something completely separate. I just want to know about the one that involved his sovereignty. Did it somehow prove that he was the rightful heir? Was he not in the royal bloodline? Was it something else? Did he search for it with the goal to become king?

Answer 1

A bit more info on Arthurs parentage - Arthur is supposed to be illegitamate son of Uther Pendragon and Ygraine (wife of the Duke of Cornwall).  Merlin cast a spell on Uther to make him look like the Duke of Cornwall and low and behold 9 months later Ygraine gave birth to a baby boy - Arthur. Merlin then took the boy to a foster home to raise him. So I guess as the son of Uther, Arthur had a genetic right to the sword and the throne.

Answer 2

in the most common version of the story, arthur was a foundling raised by a man and his son kai, given to them by merlin from "unknown" parentage.

the man goes to compete in a tournament, but kai either breaks/loses the sword.  they send arthur to find another sword.

meanwhile, merlin has revealed a sword stuck in a stone with the inscription that the man who pulls the sword free will be the rightful heir to the dead king, uther pendragon.

arthur, unsuspecting, sees the sword and an opportunity, and pulls the sword free with no one looking, and brings it his stepdad.

merlin, who mysteriously is there, recognizes the sword, and hails arthur as the rightful king of the britons, and reveals that arthur's father really was uther pendragon, and that merlin had given arthur to the other family to save him from his father's enemies.