One part of the story of the Vienna Holy Lance is that it may have temporarily made its way to England. The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury states in his account that the spear of Charlemagne (i.e. the Holy Lance) and other holy and priceless gifts were given to the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan by Hugh the Great in A.D. 926 in order to secure a marriage with Athelstan's sister. 

Some sources, including the Catholic Encyclopedia, refute this story, chalking it up to a "misconception." However, this same source also misidentifies Hugh the Great as his son Hugh Capet, who was born in 938 — several years after the exchange supposedly happened — adding to the confusion. 

After this point, it is unclear what happened to this spear (if it existed at all), but some of the more fanciful sources indicate it may have passed into the hands of King Otto I of Germany (aka Otto the Great) as partial dowry for the marriage to his half-sister Edith in 939. However, this does not seem to be the case, since more reliable analyses, such as the scholarly work "Pilgrimage and Pogrom" by Mitchell B. Merback, indicate that the lance passed to Otto directly from his father, thus connecting the artifact to the German throne. All this reinforces the cryptic nature of Holy Lance history and lore, which is further emphasized by the supposed relationship between the Spear of Destiny and a certain up-and-coming autocrat in the early 20th century.

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