Posts: 1,757 Location: Storvreta, Sweden
Fri 12 Oct, 2012 12:15 am
I really deplore the fact I have not been able to see the show. Really looking forward to it.
I was a little bit involved in the preparations for the of this program in its earlier stages.
The idea that these swords originate in Scandinavia is strange. I think it was something that Williams suggested early on in this work, but I believe he has abandoned that idea.
It is actually something I discussed with the producers during some of the many long phone calls; that there is no real good reason to think these swords were made in scandinavia.
Not only is the name Frankish, it is also written with latin letters. I do not think there are any finds of scandinavian use of latin letters from this time period.
Ulfbehrt might be more than a personal name. It can possibly allude to something else.
Ulf is a germanic word for "wolf". The bloom you get from a blast furnace is sometimes called Lupe. This might be from the latin word for wolf, Lupus.
Behrt is a germanic word for bright.
So the word Ulf-Behrt might mean "Bright Wolf".
This is a great name for a sword, but might also allude to the special quality of the steel it is made from.
Achim Wirtz, (a great knife maker and magician in steel making) told me about the possible meaning of the word Ulfbehrt. I found it to be a fascinating possibility.
Now I can only wait impatiently for an opportunity to see Ric and Kevin in action!
-I guess I´ll have to buy the DVD.
Robin Smith wrote: |
J.D. Crawford wrote: | Good show, but I was confused about why they seemed fixed on Ulfberhts originating in Scandanavia. At one point it was acknowledged that Ulfbehrt is a Frankish name, but this was explained away as Vikings wanting to sound Frankish.
Perhaps the producers adopted this angle so they could refer to Ulfbehrts as Viking swords and keep things simple for TV?
Is there any more to this? | This is what I am talking about. I have serious reservations about the conclusions being made. AFAIK, the primary evidence for a Scandanavian origin of ULFBERHTs is that is where most are found, but that could be more to do with burial practices. The assumption seems to be made, that since the H+T Ulfberhts are the highest quality, that they must be the originals, and the other variants are copies. But as I pointed out, Anne Stalsberg's work seems to show this to be untrue.
Again, I suggest reading the two articles I mentioned in my above post when you have the time. Stalsberg's work deals alot with which variants appeared when and where, and the other article points to flaws in Alan Williams conclusions. |