[Laurie Brandt]

I have see the Nova TV show in the Ulberht Swords on youtube. I have been active with the SCA as a name herald. Ulfberht is a first name, but there is no last name or epithet. Why is it in the Latin alphabet and not in runic? may be Ulfberht meaning "bright wolf," is the name of the shop that made it?

[Patrick Kelly]

[Henrik Granlid]

Another possibillity presented to Peter Johnsson by a friend of his, IIRC, is that Ulf was an old saxon name for the sparks coming out of the pyre during the smelting and forging processes, whilst Behrt is old saxon for Bright (do also consider the resemblence between the old name and the modern day anglosaxon english name).

This would give the meaning "Bright Spark" or "Bright Ember", essentially stamping how the blade was made on the sword, much like a modern day sticker saying "Made by the highest quality steel".

Thusly, the saxon Ulfbehrt is NOT the same as the nordic Ulfbehrt in meaning, where one denotes sparks of a very strong colour, whilst the other reffers to a bright or strong wolf.

Furthermore, the reason for the letters being written in latin rather than runic alphabet would be the very same reason, they were likely made (originally at least) by saxon (french) monks or clergymen, not by nordic blacksmiths, the clergy knew how to write in latin, not how to write in runic.

[Shahril Dzulkifli]

Ulfberht sword (bottom)

I think Henrik is right.
To me it is quite bizarre to see Roman letters engraved on the blade of a Viking sword like Ulfberht itself.

[Luka Borscak]

[Craig Johnson]

Hi All

Great topic. The origin of the "Bright Wolf" idea came from Dr. Keith Alderson and I working on some language stuff helping Ric Furrer prepare for the film shoot. It came about pretty organically and Keith being an expert in early Germanic languages.

The intent of the word could follow a couple different meanings and or translations. One needs to remember when following such threads in history that the words and the perception of them in period are not going to be the same as what we perceive today completely out of the context of the piece and its time.

Our thinking is that the phrase could be interpreted as Bright wolf, shiny wolf, bright fang, gleaming tooth or the like. Our feeling is it is a kenning. The name of the sword like excalibur, or durendal. This would fit in the context of the period and explain why the distribution and variety of makers and there different forms of inscription are so wide and varied. It is not the sign of a workshop or smith. Craftspeople of this period would not sign their work in such a way, it would be a declaration of their hubris which the religious and social structure of the period do not support. It also breaks down the idea that there are forgeries of a particular forge or smith.

Rather these are swords made to answer a desire for a famous sword of the period one that must have been legendary. Sadly the examples of the sword have survived but their story has not.

This also explains why the cost and time to produce these blades would be undertaken. They would have been for high status clients. There are additional supporting ideas to this theory and a few other ideas as well. One of the main being the swords are wrapped into the forges of religious orders as the term Ulf is used almost as a title in some of the period leaders of the church. There is a paper or two written by a scholar from Iceland I think on this. I do not have the site to hand and will try to find it for you all.

Either way Ulfberht and its derivations should be viewed as a power word one that will impart something special in the blade and have meaning to the person or institution that commissioned its manufacture. The wolf was the top of the predator list in this region and time, it was seen as one of the forces of nature to those living with it in the world.

The idea for the show started along the lines of looking at the fakes verses the real Ulfberhts but this in a way misses the whole poiont of what they where and the story behind them.

Best
Craig

PS I had not heard Peter's theory on the sparks it is intriguing and will look further into that.

Have a great day everyone this stuff is cool !

[Peter Johnsson]

Just for the record, I should perhaps also point out that I have never proposed that "Ulfberht" has anything to do with "Bright Sparks".
:-)
I think this could be an example of the whisper game: a phrase or saying getting gradually changed by being retold a few times.
:-)

Ulf is not a word that means spark in any language that I know of. It means *Wolf* in ancient germanic languages.
"Berht" is an ancient word for "Bright".

During the preparatory work of "The Secret of the Viking Sword" I had many lengthy sessions over Skype with the producers of the film. During one of these talks I brought forward an idea that I had been told by Achim Wirtz, the german steel guru and blade smith:

-"Vlfberht" is a germanic kenning that combines the ideas of "Bright" and "Wolf". Vlf =wolf, Berht= bright.

It is worth noting that the latin name for wolf is Lupis. The germanic word for the iron bloom taken from the furnace is "Lupe", "Luppe" or "Lup". (Why a wolf is borne out of the furnace, is something that I don´t know: it must be further researched!)
The word Lupe, Lupp or Lup might actually carry directly over from the latin name for wolf.
Ulfberht might therefore refer to "Bright Fang", "Bright Wolf" but perhaps most of all:

*Bright Bloom*!

All of these Kennings are meaningful in the context of a fine and murderous sword made from *excellent* material.

We sill call the bloom a Lup, or Lupp. There are also sayings about the wolf in the smithy, but now in the meaning of something going wrong or getting dangerous. I think this is an ancient connection.

Both the name (it is a continental germanic name, not a scandinavian name) and the style of lettering (latin letter, not runic) suggests a continental european origin for these blades.
They may have been copied by smiths in other areas, but there is scarce evidence to suggest they were made by scandinavian smiths. Viking age scandinavians did not use latin letters. They were literate with runes. All known scandinavian inscriptions from this period are in runic alphabets. I think the scandinavian link is weak, both for trading of the steel cakes and for manufacture of the blades.
There is undoubtedly something very unique and rare going on with these swords, with the extremely high carbon content and almost or completely slag free composition. A R Williams is convinced this is only possible to achieve with crucible steel.
I have heard other views on the matter from people who are experienced in traditional steel making methods: -a very skilled steel maker may have been able to produce high carbon steel of a very clean quality with other methods.

-Personally I cannot say if the crucible method is the only viable way. Since I have heard it equally strongly both propagated and refuted by people whose experience and understanding in these matters is greater than mine, I must keep an open mind in regards of that question.

[Roger Hooper]

How do the Ingelri swords fit into this discussion? From what little I know, they are a little later, and are believed originally to come from the workshop of the German maker, Ingelri.

[Harri Kyllönen]

edit. Nevermind... Everything I said was already said much better by others.

[Robin Smith]

[R. Kolick]

i understand the lettering issue being latin not runic leading to the idea that they rant made by nordic smiths but how did they smith on the fine get the steel required to make such a fine sword the only furnaces that they have found to my knowledge capable of making such high quality steel is in the east where trade would have been rare with Europe with the exception of vikings (and why do people think that it was a monk or priest making the steel ones since the church had forbidden any trade with the "heathens" at this time) is it possible going with the +T are newer than the ones that are T+ theory is it possible that norse smiths using superior foreign steel used the name as a way to prove that they made superior blades rather than the clergy

[Harri Kyllönen]

I watched a documentary a while ago (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXbLyVpWsVM) that had a smith recreate the Ulfberth sword.
The documentary has this theory that vikings brought the steel itself and/or it's secrets from India through the eastern trade routes. It's based among others on the fact that a viking age Buddha statue from India was found in Sweden.
The documentary is a bit sensationalist but worth a watch if you can ignore some of the silly narration.

[Robin Smith]

[Craig Johnson]

[Craig Johnson]

[Michael Pikula]

[Harri Kyllönen]

[Robin Smith]

[Robin Smith]

[Harri Kyllönen]