Swords of the Goths -- myArmoury.com

Bill Love · Posted: Tue 23 Jan, 2007 8:57 pm Post subject: Swords of the Goths

Does anyone have information on Goth swords (Migration Period?)

John Cooksey · Posted: Tue 23 Jan, 2007 9:24 pm Post subject:

This a subject that has not been researched to a full extent yet.
Certainly the Goths of the late 4th and 5th centuries AD have not yet been fully examined.
From what I have read, their equipment bore marked similarities to that of the late Sarmatians.

Bill Love · Posted: Wed 24 Jan, 2007 9:11 am Post subject:

More specifically-Visigoth swords

Jared Smith · Posted: Wed 24 Jan, 2007 4:03 pm Post subject:

I have not researched this either.

I do have the impression that there was a lot of similarity geographically and over a span of several centuries near this time of what we generically call "Viking swords" across Visigoths, Merovingians, and Celts during the period you specified. Swords of Blucina, and South Germany, and "Ulfbergt" made blades originating from the Rhine much later seem to be pretty similar to what I always simply understood to be a "viking sword."

http://www.geocities.com/reginheim/equipment.html

Michael Eging · Posted: Wed 24 Jan, 2007 7:22 pm Post subject:

Something to consider:

When the Franks (Merovingians), Goths and others were settling in the Empire as Foederati (after the death of Theodosius), the machinery of the state was still in operation. I went back to some of my late Roman history books (History of the Late Roman Empire by JB Bury and Barbarians and Romans by Walter Goffart) and the earliest Germanic settlers in Roman territory were given access to the machinery of state (taxes, supplies, and equipment). There were Roman armories in operation in Italy and Gaul when the Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians and Ostrogoths picked up territory and provisioning rights in the early through mid 400s and into the early 500s. I have another reference that I am trying to double check that showed through the military supply records of the period that some units of foederati were equipped in very the latest Roman arms from those armouries. So, as the Visigoths passed through Aquitaine and into Spain, they would have not only taken their "native" weapons with them, but they would also have had late Roman gear as well that was part of their "arrangement" with local authorities.

Cool

Bill Love · Posted: Thu 25 Jan, 2007 9:15 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the information, everyone! Really appreciate it

Matt Molloy · Posted: Sat 27 Jan, 2007 9:32 am Post subject:

I have done some research on this, I am on the way to having a double minor in classics and medieval studies( possibly two of the most useless minors in the private sector). I assume that you mean the Migration period caused by the Huns that eventually led to the battle of Adrianople and the death of the eastern emperor Valens. The bladed weapons of the time would were the Roman gladius(short sword) and the Spatha(cavalry sword). These weapons and variations of them (mainly the spatha) led to the later long swords used by the German tribes during the battle in 378 and then later evolved into the Early and High middle Age cruciform equivalent. Albion has a good Spatha in the works and would give you a pretty good idea of what these weapons looked like. This is in no way definative because time is not kind to weapons and there are no examples around that I know of.

Spatha
http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/ne...spatha.htm

Gladius- This is nice as well, mainly because I named it he he.
http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/ne...fulham.htm