Hello all, I was recently reading up a bit on Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (the same guy that is in the Christmas carol). I'm not the least bit knowlegeable about this period of history and I was amazed to read what a great man he was (and with a very sordid immediate family history). It also got me to thinking about weaponry at the time.
So if we take his era and location, what is now the Czech Republic (where my dog was born :lol: ), around 925-935 ish...what kind of sword would have been in popularity. From many swordmakers I see Roman style weapons, then "Viking era", then medieval/ dark ages (which seem to begin the following century). I'm probably way off base, but when I think of Vikings, I think of burly guys with red beards, rowing long boats and invading England. :lol: So I guess what I'm asking is what kind of swords did the rest of Europe (and Eastern Europe) use at that time? Would a Bohemian be considered a Viking? I wouldn't think so... So why do we only have Viking weapon reproductions from that era?
Well, for quick links, some Czech stuff from the period:
http://znaleziska.org/wiki/index.php/Hełm_(Hradsko)
http://znaleziska.org/wiki/index.php/Miecz_(Stare_Miasto)_I
http://cea.livinghistory.cz/zivotvm/valka/vyzbroj
Mail and helmet that are attributed to Wenceslaus himself - hell knows if correctly.
[ Linked Image ]
http://znaleziska.org/wiki/index.php/Hełm_(Hradsko)
http://znaleziska.org/wiki/index.php/Miecz_(Stare_Miasto)_I
http://cea.livinghistory.cz/zivotvm/valka/vyzbroj
Mail and helmet that are attributed to Wenceslaus himself - hell knows if correctly.
[ Linked Image ]
Dear D.S.,
A Bohemian would not very likely be a Viking, but the era you are referring to is commonly known as the Viking Age because that is when the Vikings were highly active. Thus, you would have Viking Age swords in use by people who were not Vikings. In addition, many swords used by Vikings were likely made in central Europe, and so could have been the same types of swords used by warriors in the region you are referring to (although there were also regional styles).
J.D.
A Bohemian would not very likely be a Viking, but the era you are referring to is commonly known as the Viking Age because that is when the Vikings were highly active. Thus, you would have Viking Age swords in use by people who were not Vikings. In addition, many swords used by Vikings were likely made in central Europe, and so could have been the same types of swords used by warriors in the region you are referring to (although there were also regional styles).
J.D.
| J.D. Crawford wrote: |
| Dear D.S.,
A Bohemian would not very likely be a Viking, but the era you are referring to is commonly known as the Viking Age because that is when the Vikings were highly active. Thus, you would have Viking Age swords in use by people who were not Vikings. In addition, many swords used by Vikings were likely made in central Europe, and so could have been the same types of swords used by warriors in the region you are referring to (although there were also regional styles). J.D. |
That makes sense. In fact, the sword in Bartek's link looks a great deal like some of the Viking era 1 hander reproductions you see.
Thanks for the links and photos Bartek!
| J.D. Crawford wrote: |
| A Bohemian would not very likely be a Viking, but the era you are referring to is commonly known as the Viking Age because that is when the Vikings were highly active. Thus, you would have Viking Age swords in use by people who were not Vikings. In addition, many swords used by Vikings were likely made in central Europe, and so could have been the same types of swords used by warriors in the region you are referring to (although there were also regional styles). |
That is correct.
Technically the term "Viking sword" is rather strange... Even apart from the discussion about the term "Viking".
Most of the swords that turn up archaeologically in Viking contexts were often made in Frankish lands and completely Frankish in style as well. Occasionally there would be some Viking-specific decorations, and I guess that if one would do a thorough statistical analysis of the various Peterson or Geibig hilt types for the whole of Europe, then some styles may appear to be more popular in certain areas.
But overall, these early medieval swords were more Frankish than Viking in my opinion.
In Moravia and Bohemia, they basically used the same Frankish-style swords as in most of Europe. One difference may have been that Moravian smiths passed the tang through both upper guard and pommel before peening. By contrast, Frankish (and Viking) smiths passed the tang only through the upper guard, and fitted the pommel over the peen using separate rivets. But this is of course on applicable to the earlier swords which had both an upper guard and a pommel.
Petersen type H and K swords are found even in Croatia, probably frankish made...
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