[Jeanry Chandler]

Hi guys,

I'm working on an historical sourcebook for an RPG about the Vikings, and I need help with a spathological issue (is that a word?) Something I've been wondering about for a while now, and I've just seen one too many contradictary claims on the matter by reputable sources to get a sense of the truth of it any more. I'm hoping you can help me.... with the extreme erudition shown on early Celtic swords here I'm sure someone can.

My question is this: The Vikings are known for their advanced metalurgy, largely due to the sophisticated pattern welding techniques that they, like the Celts before them used to make their swords. I know this is something of a simplificiation but I had always believed that the Norse of the 5th - 8th centuries AD roughly had actually reached the pinnacle of European sword design in their own time, improving on the old spatha / celtic "longsword" design by incorporating the heavy iron pommel as a counterweight, and the deep, wide fuller for lightness and specialization as a cutter, even (I had until recently believed) pioneering the early use of meteorite iron as one source for their blades.

My primary question is, many sources point out that the Viking era Norse acquired many swords from the Franks, and that they prized these weapons and valued them highly. They were also obviously very impressed with the swords of their forefathers, either passed down generation to generation or recovered from barrows.

Up until now, I have assumed that while Viking metalurgists in general and swordmakers in particular were probably superior to their Continental European counterparts, the labor intensive nature of their sword production, and before that the costly, inefficient and qualitatively problematic methods of producing iron from sources such as bog iron, meant that it was simply cheaper to buy more 'mass produced' swords which were of a more uniform if not necessarily superior quality.

In other words, I was thinking of the best Viking swordsmiths as making the boutique ferrari of swords, with the lesser viking smiths making Fiats, while the Franks cranked out the Chevrolet (or maybe, the reliable Volkswagen?). Gradually, my theory went, the Volkswagen / Chevies replaced the ferraris altogether, until the Overwash water wheel and therefore Barcelona Hammer & similar tools arrived and the Honda civic showed up...

So what is the truth? Were the Vikings the finest metalurgists of Europe in their day? Were the Vendel period Scandinavians? Were the Celts? Where did the best Viking swords come from, the Vikings themselves or the Franks? Or did they come from the Moors in Spain!!!!?

Who made the ferrari and who made the volkswagen!?

I no longer trust my own ability to interpret historical sources on this issue, and I beg for you to share your knowlege ..


Jeanry Chandler

Also, as an after thought, when did the fullered, heavy pommel type sword replace the organic pommel, diamond or flat blade spatha / migration era type? Where is it believed to have originated?

[Jeanry Chandler]

Also where were the Frankish sword making centers? Were they the old Celtic centers, or the later medievel German ones, or are those two in the same places? I thought there was one major center in Austria and another in Helvetic Switzerland back in Celtic times. Did the Medieval Swiss make their own swords?

So many questions, so little time...

Jeanry

[Craig Johnson]

Hello Jeanry

That is quite a topic. My guess is there are several Phd's involved to just answer a few of those questions. I think the idea that at any given time a pinnacle of sword making was reached maybe a flawed premise. There have always been ebb and flows to such technology and at any given time there are really good makers and relatively poor makers. I think the development of both design and technology in this period is not fully understood by anyone clearly at this point. There are far to many unknowns in the equation. The Franks were excellent sword makers and I think it would be hard pressed to say one region was better than another on a quality scale. The centers of production tended to concentrate around a couple different areas. They would be close to resources i.e. iron deposits or at the source of power, water power or possible at some conjunction of trade routes with a source of power. These elements are needed for any production of scale.

I wish I could answer with much specific information but to be honest after studying this subject for years I am less certain about many of the things you allude to in your post than I was 10 years ago. I guess the old adage the more you learn he more you realize what you don't know, holds a bit of truth.

Best Regards
Craig

[Brock H]

Hello, Jeanry:

I can't answer most of your questions, but I can help a little on one. This is from Oakeshott's The Archaeology of Weapons. Some time around 900 AD (perhaps a little earlier) a new style of sword appeared. These were not just heavy slashers, but were also handy for a thrust, although cutting was probably still their primary use. None of these are pattern welded.

Some of these new style swords bear the name of a smith named Ulfberht. Genuine Ulfberhts (there were fakes even back then) are superior swords and found all over Europe, including in Scandinavia. Best evidence is that Ulfberht was working in the Rhineland in the region of what is now Solingen. Another slightly later smith named Ingelrii also made superior swords. BTW, both Ulfberht and Ingelrii swords were made for several generations, so it's likely both men founded shops or sword smithing families that carried on the business after them.

So some swords would have been made locally and others imported. Some would have been superior and some merely acceptable. I'm afraid there really are no hard and fast answers to your questions, more like a range of answers for each question. And since the Viking period covered 200+ years, the answers also vary over time.

[Thomas Laible]

Brock has explained the main thing. An Illustration of this new swords yo can find here:
http://albion-swords.com/swords/geibig.htm

Another point is the steel: the frankish smiths seem to be the first people to do high-quality, well-tempered ALL-steel-blades. The earlier swords have in general been pattern-welded, and pattern welding was developed to refine low-quality-steels through welding with high-quality steels.

For further information check back with these books:
Swords of the Viking Age
Sword in Anglo-Saxon England


Thomas