Skofnung was the sword of legendary Danish king Hrólf Kraki. "The best of all swords that have been carried in northern lands",''

Hrólfs saga kraka Hrólfs saga kraka, the ''Saga of King Rolf Kraki'', is a late legendary saga on the adventures Hrólfr Kraki, a semi-legendary king in what is now Denmark, and his clan, the Skjöldungs. The events can be dated to the late 5th century and the 6 ...

'', Chapter 45
One of the translations by Peter Tunstall (2005)
it was renowned for supernatural sharpness and hardness, as well as for being imbued with the spirits of the king's 12 faithful

berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word ''berserk'' (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers a ...

bodyguards. It appears in saga unrelated to Hrólf, it being said that an Icelander, Skeggi of Midfirth, who was chosen by lot to break into the gravemound and plunder it, recovered the sword while doing so, so it may have had some historical reality. Other similar incidents are found in Norse literature, such as Grettir the Strong's recovery of a sword from a burial mound. Events concerning the recovery of Skofnung are related in chapter 9 and 10 of

Kormáks saga ''Kormáks saga'' () is one of the Icelanders' sagas. The saga was probably written during the first part of the 13th century. Though the saga is believed to have been among the earliest sagas composed it is well preserved. The unknown author cl ...

. It also appears in the Laxdœla saga, where it has come into the possession of Eid of Ás. Eid is the son of Midfjardar-Skeggi, who had originally taken Skofnung from Hrólf Kraki's grave. The sword is handed down from Eid to his kinsman Thorkel Eyjólfsson. Eid lends the sword to Thorkel to kill the outlaw Grim, who had killed Eid's son. Thorkel fought Grim, but the two became friends, and Thorkel never returned the sword to Eid. Skofnung is briefly lost when Thorkel's ship is capsized while sailing around

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

, and all of those on it drown. The sword sticks fast in some of the timbers of the ship, and washes ashore. It is thus recovered at some point by Thorkel's son Gellir, as he is mentioned carrying it with him later in the saga. Gellir dies in Denmark returning from pilgrimage to Rome, and is buried at

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

, and it seems Skofnung was buried with him (near where the sword was recovered from the burial mound in the first place) because the saga records that Gellir had the sword with him "and it was not recovered afterwards". According to Eid of Ás in chapter 57 of the Laxdœla saga, the sword is not to be drawn in the presence of women, and that the sun must never shine on the sword's hilt. This is in accordance with many other ancient superstitions, such as the

Eggjum stone The Eggja stone (also known as the Eggum or Eggjum stone), listed as N KJ101 in the Rundata catalog, is a grave stone with a runic inscription that was ploughed up in 1917 on the farm Eggja in Sogndal, Nordre Bergenhus amt (now in Vestland county), ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is also told by Eid that any wound made by Skofnung will not heal unless rubbed with the Skofnung Stone, which Eid gives to Thorkel Eyjólfsson along with the sword.

References

Mythological swords Mythological Norse weapons {{Norse-myth-stub