There are two notable swords known recovered from the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

, both kept in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. The River Witham "

Viking sword The Viking Age sword (also Viking sword) or Carolingian sword is the type of sword prevalent in Western and Northern Europe during the Early Middle Ages. The Viking Age or Carolingian-era sword developed in the 8th century from the Merovingian ...

" (actually a blade of German/

Ottonian The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...

manufacture, with hilt fittings added by an Anglo-Saxon craftsman), also known as the "Lincoln sword", British Museum 1848,10-21,1 is dated to the 10th century. It is classified as a Petersen type L variant (Evison's "Wallingford Bridge" type). It was found in the River Witham opposite Monks Abbey,

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

. The guard is inlaid with silver and copper alloy, in a series of lozenges, each lozenge of copper surrounded by a bronze border and hammered on to a cross-hatched, prepared field. The sword is remarkable for being one of only two known bearing the blade inscription ''Leutfrit'' (+ LEUTLRIT), the other being a find from

Tatarstan The Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Республика Татарстан, Respublika Tatarstan, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə tətɐrˈstan; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Республикасы), or simply Tatarstan (russian: Татарстан, tt ...

(at the time

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state wi ...

, now kept in the Historical Museum of

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

). On the reverse side, the blade is inlaid with a double scroll pattern. The sword weighs , at a total length of . Peirce (1990) makes special mention of this sword as "breath-taking", "one of the most splendid Viking swords extant". The River Witham

knightly sword In the European High Middle Ages, the typical sword (sometimes academically categorized as the knightly sword, arming sword, or in full, knightly arming sword) was a straight, double-edged weapon with a single-handed, cruciform (i.e., cross-shape ...

, was found in 1825 in the

near

. is dated to the later 13th century. It is likely of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

origin The blade bears an inlaid inscription reading ''+NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+'' The weapon's length is in length. The hilt of the weapon measures . The blade itself is in length.

References

European swords European weapons Medieval European swords Individual weapons {{England-hist-stub

See also

References