[Russel Foxtrot]

Hello. I know you probably get this a lot but I can't seem to find much info on the internet about it. I wondered just how advanced the sword making techniques were of the groups that inhabited the British Isles during the Dark Ages. I understand that the Romans perhaps brought some continuity in manufacture to the inhabitants of Britain but I'm also aware that before the Roman Conquest sword manufacture has apparently been found to be inferior to that practiced by the Celts on the continent and so I'm quite interested in knowing about the techniques of groups such as the Picts and Scotti who remained relatively untouched if anyones has information. As this was the time of high point of pattern welded swords and the introduction of better steel (from the likes of Catalonia) how did swords compare with those on the continent?

[J. Bedell]

I'm no expert on this subject but I believe that the Picts and Scotts used mainly spears and such. I don't believe swords were a very common thing with the tribes on the island until the Vikings, Angles, and Saxons inhabited it. As I said, I'm no expert so if I am wrong, please somone correct me.

I know the above doesn't answer your question, I'm trying to show that the sword wasn't very popular, so it would be reasonable to assume that the quality would not be as high as that of the continental swords. This is just my interpretation, and of course if my facts are wrong then my interpretation is totally wrong so don't take all of this as set in stone. Clarification (or correction) from someone with a little more knowledge in this area would be nice.

I'm not sure if I just created more confusion but I hope I was of at least some help to someone...
-James

[Martin Wallgren]

[Jeroen Zuiderwijk]

Iron age and early medieval britain are not my main focus. At least in the bronze age, Scotland had pretty good bronze swords. I don't know if any iron age swords can be associated directly with the Picts or the Scots, but speaking generally of the UK, there are quite a lot of pretty good swords found from the iron age. I haven't seen much in terms of metalurgical reports though. During the dark ages, there's not much difference between continental and British swords that I'm aware of, at least in typology (there's a difference in seax design, but the spathae don't seem to be very different). Ireland is different though. It appears that only small, gladius-like swords were used during the early medieval period. Also from the iron age, there aren't that many iron swords that I'm aware of, and they all appear to be quite short and of soft iron.

[Jeff Pringle]

The brits had good swords before the Romans, "British Iron Age Swords and Scabbards" by I.M. Stead, published by the British Museum last year, goes into great detail on the La Tene period swords of the British Isles, from the fourth century BC up to the Romans. Really great book! Lots of technological details.
After the Romans, sword quality was congruent with the continent. The introduction of better steel is what killed pattern welding, but that didn't happen until about the tenth century. Although improved smelting probably developed on the continent, there wasn't an appreciable lag before the new technology was adopted in Britain.
(Or so it seems to me, but after the pattern welding drops out, so does my interest, so someone else will have to pick up the ball in the eleventh century)

[Jean Henri Chandler]

[Hugh Fuller]

There is a chapter in Mike Bishop's & J.C. Coulston's Roman Military Equipment from the Punic Wars to the Fall of the Empire that discusses manufacturing techniques under the Romans. Among other things, they have analyzed a number of sword blades and many of them appear to have been homogeneous, some of iron with a steel edge welded in but some of all steel.

[Jared Smith]

A n International History Channel special was broadcast last night (Wednesday January 3rd, 2007) regarding a warrior skeleton excavated at a military base in Suffolk England. The man was carbon dated as 1400 years old (placing him about 600 A.D. which some would consider Dark Age era.)

I will summarize what was described.

The warrior was determined to be 5' 10" tall with strong build and good nutrition and health based on the skeletal remains. No wounds or accidental causes of death were evident. The warrior was positioned prostrate with a hand over a sword that rested upon the length of his leg. The sword was badly corroded but the archeologists were able to cast a plastic over it and keep it intact and determine an amazing amount of things about its structure through off site examination. I was a double edged cruciform with a large and straight cross guard - (closer to an Oakeshotte type X or XI than any Viking category.) The pommel was a pyrimidal form similar to the pommel of a viking style, whereas the rest of the sword and guard would easily be mistaken for a 11th to 13th century weapon. X ray examination of the blade revealed a classic patternwelded construction, judged to be a stacked pile type with different steel at the center of the edges, classic opposed twist rod style core. There was also a rotted but intact spear and spear head that would have been very passable for a 10th or 11th century Norman cavalry spear, except possibly a little short on the order of 9 to 10 feet long.

He was buried with his horse which was 14 hands tall. The horse's bridle and several fittings were restored and revealed to be very decorately and finely worked bronze pieces, many of which were ornamental chapes at the end of excess straps. There was deterioration in one of the hock joints of a rear leg of the horse which suggested a severe bruise had occurred and the horse probably had arthritis and some degree of permanent lameness.

Also, some youth were found buried near by, all of which had a spear smilar to the adult warrior's spear placed within their graves.

[Jared Smith]

The name of the program was "Meet the Ancestors, Warrior." It should repeat on Wednesdays this month.

[Jeff Pringle]

[Jean Henri Chandler]

[Chad Arnow]

[Russel Foxtrot]

If dated to 600 AD and found in Suffolk the man was most likely Anglo-Saxon. Does anybody know anything about the swords the Roman-British used? I presume they would have followed the Roman style for a while but obviously I can't say for sure. Before the Roman conquest I read that more advanced techniques were introduced around 150 BC by the Belgae tribes. It suggested that the techniques had been in use on the continent for a while and I find it hard to understand how the technology could not have been passed sooner considering their is only a small body of water between Gaul and Britain.

[Jean Henri Chandler]

[Jean Henri Chandler]

[Jeroen Zuiderwijk]

[quote="Jean Henri Chandler"]

[Jeroen Zuiderwijk]

Alright, I've found some actual information, which answers a lot of questions. It's from "The prehistory of metallurgy in the British Isles" by R.F. Tylecote:

Iron age:

Isleham, UK, 50BC-50AD
- carbon contents: variable
- phosporous contents: 0.01%
- manganese contents: -
- hardness: 320-450 HV (cutting edge 370-450 HV)

Notes: sandwich of three layers, with a higher carbon central layer. Hardness suggests fast aircooling.

Waltham Abbey, UK, ?
- carbon contents: 0-0.25%
- phosporous contents: 0.075%
- manganese contents: 0.0035%
- hardness: 170-250 HV

Notes: 24 piled layers of 0-0.25 %C. 250 HV at edge, 170 HV at core

Other blades: examination of 5 blades from Llyn Cerrig Bach showed 4 piled blades with wrought iron with various degrees in carburization, and one piled at right angle to the axis of the cross-section (linear pattern), with alternating higher and lower carbon contents. All five blades have hardnesses in the 140- 265 HV range, usually higher at the edges and lower at the core.

Other notes: edges sometimes workhardened on the iron age swords.


Roman period:

'N' type Nydam sword, Denmark, first half of 3rd century AD
-Edges: one side 0.29% C, other 0.43% C
-Core: 0.5% C
-Thin iron strips on either side of core: 0.1% C
-Three twisted billets either side of core: 0.1-0.6% C
-Phosphorous contents: 0.16-0.21%

Note: A sword from South Shields, UK (197-205AD) has twist damast as well, with similar bronze inlays as Nydam sword.

Possibly spatha, Whittlesey, 2nd-4th century AD
Section shows well diffused structure of ferrite and pearlite with a higher carbon zone running through its centre, varying from 0.3% C at cutting edge to 0.25% C at center. The carbon contents of the center decreases to about 0.1% C at surfaces. Hardness varies from 120-150 HV.


Early medieval period:

Ulfberht sword, Donnybrook, Dublin, Ireland, ?
Centre:
- carbon contents: 0.2%
- phosporous contents: 0.02%
- manganese contents: 0.1-1.0%
Fine grained ferrite with spheroidal pearlite

Edge:
- carbon contents: 0.3-0.4%
- phosporous contents: trace
- manganese contents: 0.1%
Quench-hardened to 520-550 HV

Notes: piled layout.

French pattern-welded swords:

M. 7 core:
- carbon contents: 0.12%
- phosporous contents: 0.21%
- manganese contents: 0.01%

M. 10 core:
- carbon contents: 0.09%
- phosporous contents: 0.30%
- manganese contents: 0.05%

M.11 core:
- carbon contents: 0.08%
- phosporous contents: 0.16%
- manganese contents: nil

M.11 edge:
- carbon contents: 0.2%
- phosporous contents: 0.14%
- manganese contents: nil

Luneville sword, core:
- carbon contents: 0.01-0.05%
- phosporous contents: 0.18%
- manganese contents: nil

Luneville sword, core:
- carbon contents: 0.02-0.03%
- phosporous contents: -
- manganese contents: -

Three Norwegian pattern welded swords: 0.414% C, 0.401% C and 0.52% C

Ulfberht sword from Norway, 10th century AD: 0.75% C (not patternwelded)

Frankish sword, Canwick Common, 9th-10th century AD:
Piled in 2mm thick layers
Structure varies from high-carbon martensite to lower-carbon structure throughout the structure
Hardness 306-630HV

Pattern-welded sword of Palace of Westminster, UK, 9nd century AD:
Patternwelded areas down the center consist of 0.2% C iron together with fine and coarse grained ferrite and small globules of slag. Hardness 186-188 HV. The edges consist of fine-grained mild steel with a ferrite + pearlite structure, but surprizingly only a hardness of 136- 145 HV. Patternwelded areas are possibly harder due to higher phosphorous contents.

Note:
Story of the batlle at Swanfirth against Snorri and his folk shows that good and bad swords were used concurrently. Steinthor found that "the fair-wrought sword bit not whenas it smote armour, and oft he must straighten it under his foot"

The book also contains some information on axes, knives and scramaseaxes. But I'm too tired at the moment to write that all down.

[Kirk Lee Spencer]

[Kirk Lee Spencer]

Hi again...

Just after I posted, I saw the data Jeroen provided and it reminded me I had seen a summary of some R.F. tylecote's conclusions as well as many other researches in this area. I found it in a work by Janet Lang and Barry Ager entitled "Swords of the Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods in the British Museum: a radiographic study", in Weapons and Warfare in Anglo-Saxon England edited by SC hawkes (Oxford, 1989).

(Be warned this is more of the "consensus." However, keep in mind it is the consensus of men and women who have spent their careers studying this very question.)

This is what it says:

"Pattern -welding has been considered to have been employed mainly for strengthening the blade, but some recent papers suggest rather that it was used mainly for decoration and a consensus of opinion seems to be gradually emerging to this effect. tylecote (1962 p. 250) remarked that the pattern was a by-product of the method of manufacture and not an intended effect. It was used, he suggested, to introduce carbon into the blade to a greater depth and thus to increase its hardness. At the same time the embrittling effect concomitant with increasing hardness would be mitigated by the softer tougher strips also incorporated in the pattern-welded structure, and gross slag inclusions would be also eliminated. Later, however, Tylecote (1976, p.57) has commented that it is not clear that artifacts made in this way were appreciably stronger than most of the weapons made by simple piling, but if well polished, they would look beautiful. Most recently (1986), Tylecote said that the pattern-welded sword appears to have been designed in its earliest phase as an ornamental or prestige weapon and its military usefulness seems to have taken second place to its appearance. He adds 'if it were not for the fact that we know that such swords were used for fighting (Beowulf etc) we would have supposed that its purpose was like the ceremonial sword of today.'

Some early work supported the idea that the swords had superior properties; certainly Salin (1957) and France-Lanord (1947) found that the patter-welded swords which they examined were extremely hard and apparently could cut like razors. France-Lanord (1947) also tested the blades he was examining and found that pattern-welded blades were three times more flexible than ordinary blades (Salin 1957, p. 65)...

During conservation in the British Museum Conservation workshop a seventh-century pattern-welded sword in good condition from Acklam still exhibited considerable springiness when being straightened in spite of lying in the ground for fourteen centuries. Menghin (1983) also stressed the importance of pattern-welding and the resilience of the blade.

Although the resilience of the blade is important, pattern-welding is not necessarily the best way of achieving it. Ypey (1984), as a result of his own experimental work, has suggested that the purpose of pattern-welding was almost entirely decorative, at least in the later Carolingian and Viking periods. This must be the case with pattern-welded spearheads which are of rigid construction. Menghin (1983) has reported thin surface layers of pattern-welded material on sword blades which must be also entirely decorative, although it should not be forgotten that these developments are relatively late. So may swords have been identified as having three layers, a relatively plain layer (Schurmann 1959) between two pattern-welded ones, that it is difficult to believe that their presence is entirely functional. Cutting edges and cores were constructed from more than one strip (Schurmann 1959, Tylecote 1986) but often with a layered structure, and this was probably intended for strengthening. Gilmour (Tylecote 1986) sectioned a number of pattern-welded swords and found that the blades were variable both in relation to soundness and their hardness although there seemed to be a technical improvement from the eighth century onwards. The majority were made from wrought iron, both phosphorus rich and phosphorus free, while some contained some iron richer in carbon. Gilmour discussed the use of phosphorus iron, which he concluded was employed to improve the pattern, rather than for its structural properties. Phosphorus iron was frequently used during the Iron Age (Schultz 1965) and a Roman blowing iron was constructed from low and high phosphorus irons. In this case it was concluded(following Rollason 1978, 170) that these irons were used to facilitate welding (Lang 1976). If this were the case, it might have been a factor in its use in pattern-welding. Goodway (1987) also points out that phosphorus has a considerably hardening effect and in the absence of carbon can be worded and used satisfactorily. On balance it seems most likely that pattern-welding was largely decorational. It is quite possible that pattern-welding was thought to improve the properties of the swords, and might be remembered that a smith with the skill to produce fine pattern-welding might be likely to produce a good quality sword anyway."

[You will notice I left out a small part of the text. This is because it dealt with period textual evidence and I wanted to focus on research of the actual swords.]

One thing I noticed with Tylecote's work is that there should be a distinction between the act of pattern welding of the core, which gets all the attention and the amazing inclusion of high carbon steel for the edges which gets very little attention. While it may be that the layers of the Pattern-Welded core do not necessarily make for a better sword (only prettier), the high carbon steel edges certainly would add to its cutting quality. Also notice that the use of phosphorus iron would explain why the swords Tylecote examined showed signs or workhardening... I have heard that phosphorus iron can be work hardened like bronze.

hope this helps

ks

[Jared Smith]

I am going to weigh in a little with theory over why pattern welding may have been done, and why the twisted serpent form could have been prevalent.

Some facts first,

1) Ores were exported in the form of ingots (often Wootz originating from India, but commonly known for being worked in Damascus.) Ores were also traded in iron-steel rods of varying quality. Some materials such as the Wootz had carbon content as high as 1.5% which is excellent for hard tool steel, but were not ideal for a spring temper which should be closer to 1% carbon than 1.5%. This was taking place in "B.C." era.

2) Some blacksmith tools of Anglo Saxon "Dark Ages" period are known. One excavated site clearly showed that the anvil was a mere stake anvil (a spike like object wedged into a stump) and relatively small fire composed of ring of stones on a sand bed. The hammer was comparable to a modern 4 to 6 lb one.

3) The process of forge welding with moderate time and adequate welding temperature causes carbon to diffuse between high and low carbon steels to a degree, but much of it is simply lost, quickly! Modern pattern welders often utilize very heavy "power hammer" machinery to make large cross sectional rectangular bars of pattern welded material all at once without loosing too much carbon. If working the metal by hand, it is better to work in smaller pieces such as rods so that human force can perform the welds and draw or stretch back out to a shape if part of an elaborate pattern. It is also possible to only heat a small section to the temperature of welding, if working with a small fire and small cross section pieces, without loosing too much carbon. A 1/2" to 3/4" square twisted rod can be done with a hand held hammer and modest sized anvil. This was actually demonstrated by a blacksmith that fully completed a nice pattern welded sword blank in 315 hammer strokes from start to unground finish with mixed composition rods on the History Channel Show "Meet the Ancestor, Warrior", who was described as "Anglo Saxon." Considering that this allowed for creation of 4 subsections and the final welding of them into one sword blank, that works out to a manageable 75 hammer blows per twisted rod or stacked strip assembly. About 6 to 7 blows is all that can typically be done before the metal cools below welding temperature, so the rod has to be shoved back into the fire with the next section to be welded in the "heart of the fire" about 10 times to complete it as a major segment of the completed sword still relatively high in carbon content.

My "Theory"

I suspect pattern welded swords with the twisted rod core and stacked layer edge prevailed because this was conducive to the tools, and economy of using higher and lower carbon grade available materials. As few as three successive cycles (locally at each section of metal that reached temperatures of carbon diffusion) of heating to forge welding temperatures could have been done with the available materials to arrive at completed sword blanks (still unground.) Rods of varying quality could have been sorted by known origin, appearance, and possibly simple tests of hardness and ductility so as to match up layers of esthetic and functional performance in finished twisted rods and stacked bars of strips (made from flattened rods.) The probability of successful welds with mere hand tools would have been better if limited to modest diameter/ square cross section rods and strips.

I call this "my theory", but I happen to have a mentor that has produced a significant amount of pattern welded material at first by hand, then later with the power or trip hammer. He is fanatical about testing remper results for Rockwell hardness, and insists that results of handwork will turn out inconsistent (too low in carbon) unless the cross section is kept small as we see in most historical examples.