The Migration Period sword was a type of
sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
popular during the
Migration Period
The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roma ...
and the
Merovingian period of
European history (c. 4th to 7th centuries AD), particularly among the
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
. It later gave rise to the Carolingian or
Viking sword type of the 8th to 11th centuries AD.
The blade is normally smooth or shows a very shallow
fuller, and often has multiple bands of pattern-welding within the central portion. The handles were often of perishable material and there are few surviving examples. Blade length measured between 28" and 32" (710 and 810 mm) in length and 1.7" to 2.4" (45 to 60 mm) in width. The tang has a length of only some 4" to 5" (100 to 130 mm) long. The blades show very little taper, usually ending in a rounded tip.
Surviving examples of these Merovingian-period swords have notably been found in the context of the Scandinavian
Germanic Iron Age
The archaeology of Northern Europe studies the prehistory of Scandinavia and the adjacent North European Plain,
roughly corresponding to the territories of modern Sweden, Norway, Denmark, northern Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.
Th ...
(
Vendel period
In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period ( sv, Vendeltiden; 540–790 AD) appears between the Migration Period and the Viking Age. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church, Uppland. This is a period wit ...
).
Names and terminology
There is no single term that can be reconstructed as having referred specifically to the spatha in
Common Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bra ...
. There are a number of terms and epithets which refer to the sword, especially in
Germanic poetry
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of a ...
.
* ''*swerdan'' "cutting weapon" (whence
sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
). ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...
'' has the compound ''wægsweord'' (1489a) referring to a
pattern-welded
Pattern welding is the practice in sword and knife making of forming a blade of several metal pieces of differing composition that are forge-welded together and twisted and manipulated to form a pattern. Often mistakenly called Damascus steel, ...
blade (the ''wæg-'' "wave" describing the wave-like patterns). A ''mære maðþumsweord'' "renowned treasure-sword" (1023a) is given to Beowulf as a reward for his heroism. The same sword is called a ''guðsweord'' "battle-sword" later on (2154a)
* ''heoru'' (''heoro'', ''
eor
The ''Ear'' rune of the Anglo-Saxon futhorc is a late addition to the alphabet. It is, however, still attested from epigraphical evidence, notably the Thames scramasax, and its introduction thus cannot postdate the 9th century.
Transliterati ...
''), tentatively associated with the name of
Ares
Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war ...
(identified with
Teiwaz) by
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...
* ''maki'' (''meki'', ''mækir'', ''mece''; also ''hildemece'' "battle-sword"), found in Gothic as well as in Old English and Old Norse, perhaps related to the Greek
μάχαιρα; in any case, Gothic ''meki'' in
Ephesians 6:17 translates this Greek word. The compound ''hæftmece'' in Beowulf, literally "hilt-sword", presumably describes a sword with an exceptionally long hilt. Slavic ''
mьčь'' is usually regarded as a loan from the Germanic word.
Terms for "blade", "point" or "edge" which ''pars pro toto'' (“part for total”) could also refer to the sword as a whole include
*''*biljo'' "splitter, cleaver" (West Germanic only); a ''bill'' could be any bladed tool, especially farm implements such as scythes or sickles; the compound ''guðbill'', ''wigbill'', ''hildebill'' "battle-blade" refers to the sword, but also the simplex ''bill'' is used.
Heliand (v. 4882) has ''billes biti'' "sword-bite". The
Hildebrandslied has a parallelism establishing ''bill'' and ''suert'' as synonyms (v. 53f. ''suertu hauwan, bretun mit sinu billiu'' "
e shall
E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plur ...
hew
t me
T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is der ...
with
issword, lay
elow with
isblade").
* ''*þramja'' "edge, blade", perhaps Tacitus' ''framea'' "spear, lance", but Old Norse ''þremjar'' means "edges, sword blades"
*''*agjo'' "edge".
* ''ord'' "point"
* ''*gaizo-'' meaning "cutter", the normal term for "
spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...
", but in the early period may also have referred to the sword (see
Bergakker inscription)
From the testimony of
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
Origins
As the Germanic lang ...
and the
Icelandic sagas, swords could also be given
individual names. Examples include the magic sword of
Högni, named ''Dáinnleif'' after the dwarf Dáinn (''
Skáldskaparmál
''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''.
The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...
''), ''Skofnung'' and ''Hviting'', two sword-names from the ''
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 cle ...
'', ''
Nægling
Næġling () is the name of one of the swords used by Beowulf in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem of ''Beowulf''. The name derives from "næġl", or "nail", and may correspond to Nagelring, a sword from the '' Vilkina saga''. It is possibly the sword o ...
'' and ''
Hrunting'' from ''Beowulf'', and ''Mimung'' forged by
Wayland the Smith
In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith ( ang, Wēland; , ; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; german: Wieland der Schmied; goh, Wiolant; ''Galans'' (''Galant'') in Old French; gem-x-proto, Wēlandaz, italic=no from ', lit. "crafting one") is a master ...
.
Early development
Roman spatha
The ''spatha'' was introduced to the
Roman army
The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...
in the early
imperial period by Germanic
auxiliaries
Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, u ...
. The earlier ''
gladius
''Gladius'' () is a Latin word meaning "sword" (of any type), but in its narrow sense it refers to the sword of ancient Roman foot soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called '' xiphe'' (plural; singular ''xi ...
'' sword was gradually replaced by the ''spatha'' from the late 2nd to the 3rd century. From the early 3rd century, legionaries and cavalrymen began to wear their swords on the left side, perhaps because the ''
scutum
The ''scutum'' (; plural ''scuta'') was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC.
The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formati ...
'' had been abandoned and the ''spatha'' had replaced the ''gladius''.
An early find of Roman spathae in a native Germanic context (as opposed to Roman military camps in Germania) is the deposit of sixty-seven Roman swords in the
Vimose
Finds from Vimose (), on the island of Funen, Denmark, include some of the oldest datable Elder Futhark runic inscriptions in early Proto-Norse or late Proto-Germanic from the 2nd to 3rd century in the Scandinavian Iron Age and were written in t ...
bog (3rd century).
The ''spatha'' remained in use in the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and its
army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
. In the Byzantine court, ''
spatharios The ''spatharii'' or ''spatharioi'' (singular: la, spatharius; el, σπαθάριος, literally "spatha-bearer") were a class of Late Roman imperial bodyguards in the court in Constantinople in the 5th–6th centuries, later becoming a purely ho ...
'' (σπαθάριος), or "bearer of the ''spatha''", was a mid-level
court title
A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...
. Other variants deriving from it were ''
protospatharios
''Prōtospatharios'' ( el, πρωτοσπαθάριος) was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries), awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes.
History
Th ...
'', ''spatharokandidatos'' and ''spatharokoubikoularios'', the latter reserved for
eunuchs
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
. One of the more famous ''spatharokandidatoi'' was
Harald Hardrada
Harald Sigurdsson (; – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet ''Hardrada'' (; modern no, Hardråde, roughly translated as "stern counsel" or "hard ruler") in the sagas, was King of Norway from 1046 t ...
.
Krefeld type
An early type of recognizably Germanic sword is the so-called "Krefeld-type" (also Krefeld-Gellep), named for a find in late Roman era military burials at Gelduba castle,
Krefeld
Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...
(Gellep grave 43).
The military burials at Gelduba begin in the late 1st century with the establishment of a Roman camp in
Germania Inferior
Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed Germania Secunda in the fourth century, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Agrippin ...
, and they continue without interruption throughout the period of withdrawal of Roman troops and the establishment of early
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
presence in the mid-5th century.
The Krefeld type spathae appear in graves from approximately the 430s through the 460s.
In these graves, the exalted prestige of the sword is not yet fully developed, and some of them are surprisingly poor. They rather seem to still continue the tradition of military graves of the Roman period, of warriors buried with their personal weapon, the presence of a sword perhaps indicating service in the late Roman army.
Six Krefeld type swords are known from Francia, four from Alamannia, and another two from England.
Merovingian period
A native industry producing "Germanic swords" then emerges from the 5th century, contemporary with the
collapse of the Western Roman Empire
The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...
.
The Germanic spatha did not replace the native
seax
''Seax'' (; also sax, sæx, sex; invariant in plural, latinized ''sachsum'') is an Old English word for "knife". In modern archaeology, the term ''seax'' is used specifically for a type of small sword, knife or dagger typical of the Germanic p ...
, sometimes referred to as ''gladius'' or ''ensis'' "sword", but technically a single-edged weapon or
knife
A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...
.
It rather establishes itself, by the 6th century, at the top of the scale of prestige associated with weapons.
While every Germanic warrior grave of the pagan period was furnished with weapons as
grave good
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.
They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...
s, the vast majority of the 6th- to 7th-century graves have a seax and/or a
spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...
, and only the richest have swords.
Swords could often become important heirlooms.
Æthelstan Ætheling
Æthelstan Ætheling (Old English: ''Æþelstan Æþeling''), early or mid 980s to 25 June 1014, was the eldest son of King Æthelred the Unready by his first wife Ælfgifu and the heir apparent to the kingdom until his death. He made his first a ...
, son of king
Æthelred
Æthelred (; ang, Æþelræd ) or Ethelred () is an Old English personal name (a compound of '' æþele'' and '' ræd'', meaning "noble counsel" or "well-advised") and may refer to:
Anglo-Saxon England
* Æthelred and Æthelberht, legendary prin ...
, in a will of c. 1015 bequeathed to his brother
Eadmund
Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector".
Persons named Edmund include:
People Kings an ...
the sword of king
Offa (died 796), which at that time must have been over 200 years old.
Gold hilt spatha
The gold hilt spatha was a very rare and prestigious type of sword in the later 5th century.
Specimens are known mostly from
Alemannia (
Pleidelsheim
Pleidelsheim is a municipality in the state of Baden-Württemberg, about north of Stuttgart. Pleidelsheim is situated on the right bank of the Neckar river across from Ingersheim. This historical town has buildings that date back to the 14th ...
,
Villingendorf
Villingendorf is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Rus ...
), but also as far afield as
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
(
Blučina).
An "Alamannic type" is distinguished from a "Franconian type" based on scabbard mounts and hilt design by Quast (1993). A total of 20 examples are known, ten of each type.
One of the "Franconian" examples is the sword of
Childeric I
Childeric I (; french: Childéric; la, Childericus; reconstructed Frankish: ''*Hildirīk''; – 481 AD) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a king (Latin ''rex ...
(died 481), recovered from his tomb at
Tournai
Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...
.
Some authors have suggested that Childeric's sword was a "ceremonial sword" not intended for combat, perhaps produced for the occasion of his burial.
Ring-sword
The ring-sword (also ring-spatha, ring-hilt spatha) is a particular variant of the Germanic migration period swords.
Ring-swords are characterized by a small ring fixed to the hilt (not to be confused are Late Medieval to Renaissance Irish swords with ring-shaped pommels, also known as "ring-swords").
Ring-swords came into fashion in the last phase of the Migration period (or the beginning of the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
, in the 6th and 7th centuries. They were found in
Vendel era
In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period ( sv, Vendeltiden; 540–790 AD) appears between the Migration Period and the Viking Age. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church, Uppland. This is a period wit ...
Scandinavia, Finland and in
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...
as well as on the Continent (
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
,
Francia
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...
,
Alemannia,
Langobardia). These swords were prestigious, prized possessions, probably reserved for kings and high nobility. The ring is interpreted as a symbolic "oath ring".
The design appears to have originated in the late 5th century, possibly with the early
Merovingians
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...
, and quickly spread to England (from the earliest phase of
Anglo-Saxon presence) and Scandinavia. The
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...
poem uses the term ''hring-mæl'', literally "ring-sword" or "ring-ornament", and scholars who interpret this as referring to this type of sword can point to it as one indication that the Beowulf poet was still drawing from an unbroken tradition of the
pagan period, as ring-swords disappeared from the archaeological record with Christianization, by the late 7th century.
Examples include:
*Continent
**the Beckum ring-sword, dated c. AD 475–525, found at
Beckum, Germany
Beckum (; Westphalian: ''Biäkem'') is a town in the northern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is about 20 km (12 miles) north-east of Hamm and 35 km (22 miles) south-east of Münster. It gives its name to the nearby Beckum ...
**Wünnenberg-Fürstenberg, grave 61, 6th century
**the
Schretzheim sword, found in tomb 78 in the Schretzheim
Alemannic cemetery,
Dillingen, Bavaria, dated to between 580 and 620 AD. The sword is a rare example of a blade inscribed with an
Elder Futhark inscription
A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of E ...
, four runes arranged so that the staves form a cross shape.
*England
**the Kent (or Dover) ring-sword
**
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near the English town of Woodbridge. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a ...
ring-sword
**the Chessel Down II (Isle of Wight) ring-sword), early 6th century
**
Staffordshire Hoard k543, a silver sword ring fitting of fixed type, among the treasure found near Hammerwich, Staffordshire. Thought to be associated with one of the older pommel-caps in the hoard, the piece has been dated to the early 6th century. Pommel-cap k711 also displays characteristic damage caused by the installation and later removal of a ring fitting in antiquity, like the pommel-cap from the Snösbäck ritual deposit in Västergötland.
*Scandinavia
**the
Snartemo sword, found 1933 in tomb 5 at Snartemo,
Vest-Agder
Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...
, Norway, dated to c. 500 AD.
**Vendel ring-sword, found at Vendel,
Uppland
Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...
, Sweden, 6th century.
**the Vallstenarum sword, found in
Gotland
Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
, provides an important indication of the spread of the fashion. The sword was made in the early 6th century, and a ring was added only later, around 600 AD, damaging part of the existing hilt decoration.
File:Spada longobarda.jpg, Replica of a Lombard ring-sword, Civico Museo Archeologico di Bergamo
File:Arte longobarda, pomello di spada, VI-VII sec, forse da italia.JPG, Lombard art, sword pommel, 6th–7th century
File:Gutenstein warrior.jpg, The 7th-century Gutenstein scabbard, found near Sigmaringen
Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district.
Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen ...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, Germany shows a warrior in wolf costume holding a ring-sword
File:Ringknaufschwert 1.JPG, Anglo Saxon ring sword (6th century)
File:Ringsvärd Eura merovingertid.jpg, Finnish ring sword (7th century) from Pappilanmäki, Eura
Eura is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Satakunta region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is .
The municipal ...
Transition to the Carolingian sword
In the 8th century, Frankish sword smiths increasingly gained access to high quality steel imported from Central Asia, where a
crucible steel
Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron (cast iron), iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. In ancient times steel and iron were impossible to melt using charcoal or coal fires ...
industry began to establish itself.
[David Edge, Alan Williams: Some early medieval swords in the Wallace Collection and elsewhere, Gladius XXIII, 2003, 191-210 (p. 203).] The earliest types of "Viking swords" according to the typology of Petersen (1919) are dated to the second half of the 8th century, while the "Viking sword" proper (and notably the ''
Ulfberht
The Ulfberht swords are a group of about 170 medieval swords found primarily in Northern Europe, dated to the 9th to 11th centuries, with blades inlaid with the inscription ''+VLFBERH+T or +VLFBERHT+''. The word "Ulfberht" is a Frankish pers ...
'' type) emerges by the turn of the 9th century.
See also
*
Iron Age sword
Swords made of iron (as opposed to bronze) appear from the Early Iron Age (c. 12th century BC), but do not become widespread before the 8th century BC.
Early Iron Age swords were significantly different from later steel swords. They were work-har ...
*
Migration period spear
The spear or lance, together with the bow, the sword, the seax and the shield, was the main equipment of the Germanic warriors during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages.
Terminology
The pre-migration term reported by Tacitus is ...
*
Gothic and Vandal warfare
The Goths, Gepids, Vandals, and Burgundians were East Germanic groups who appear in Roman records in Late Antiquity. At times these groups warred against or allied with the Roman Empire, the Huns, and various Germanic tribes.
The size and social ...
*
Anglo-Saxon warfare
*
Viking Age arms and armour
Knowledge about military technology of the Viking Age (late 8th to mid-11th century Europe) is based on relatively sparse archaeological finds, pictorial representation, and to some extent on the accounts in the Norse sagas and Medieval Scandinavi ...
References
*Elis Behmer, ''Das zweischneidige Schwert der germanischen Völkerwanderungszeit'', Stockholm (1939).0
*H. R. Ellis Davidson, ''The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England: its Archaeology and Literature'', Oxford (1962).
*
External links
5th- to 7th-century Germanic sword / seax
{{DEFAULTSORT:Migration Period Sword
Ancient European swords
Sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
Sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...