![]() ![]() Most Viking warriors owned a sword, as one raid was usually enough to afford a good blade. Owning a sword was a matter of great honour, and persons of status often owned ornately decorated swords with silver accents and inlays. Swords were highly valued in Norse culture, as they were costly to make and a sign of high status. Better steel also allowed the production of narrower blades, and the swords of the 9th century have more pronounced tapering than their 8th-century predecessors, shifting the point of balance towards the hilt. Pattern welding fell out of use in the 9th century, as higher quality steel became available. The sword gradually replaced the seax during the late 8th to early 9th century.īecause grave goods were no longer deposited in Francia in the 8th century, continental finds are mostly limited to stray finds in riverbeds (where anaerobic conditions favoured the preservation of the steel), and most extant examples of Carolingian swords are from graves from northern or eastern cultures where pagan burial customs were still in effect. Two men sharpening swords, one using a grindstone the other a file, are shown in the Utrecht Psalter (fol. There are very few references to Carolingian-era sword production, apart from a reference to emundatores vel politores present in the workshops of the Abbey of Saint Gall. Regino's Chronicle suggests that by the end of the 9th century, the sword was seen as the principal weapon of the cavalry. Swords were still comparatively expensive weapons, although not as exclusive as during the Merovingian period, and in Charlemagne's capitularies, only members of the cavalry, who could afford to own and maintain a warhorse, were required to be equipped with swords. Benedikt in Mals, South Tyrol, early 9th century)ĭuring the reign of Charlemagne, the price of a sword (a spata) with scabbard was set at seven solidi (totaling about US$1300) ( Lex Ribuaria). History ĭepiction of a Carolingian sword with scabbard ( donor portrait in the St. The area produced the best quality weapons found in Central and Northern Europe. Swords of the 8th to 10th centuries are also termed " Carolingian swords", while swords of the late Viking Age and the beginning High Middle Ages (late 10th to early 12th centuries) blend into the category of Norman swords or the early development of the knightly sword.ĭuring the Viking age, the Carolingian Empire was central for advanced swordsmithing. The association of the name " Viking" with these swords is due to the disappearance of grave goods in Christian Francia in the 8th century, due to which the bulk of sword blades of Frankish manufacture of this period were found in pagan burials of Viking Age Scandinavia, imported by trade, ransom payment or looting, while continental European finds are mostly limited to stray finds in riverbeds. 830.Īlthough popularly called "Viking sword", this type of sword was produced in the Frankish Empire during the Carolingian era. Two men armed with swords, detail of an illustration from the Stuttgart Psalter (fol. ![]()
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