surviving visgothic swords?

[chevalier]

has anyone seen any?

[Jim McDougall]

which period? region? Alaric in Rome? Hispania? Gaul? Iberia in 6th c. ?
I believe Migration period example found in France recently.

[Ed]

Yes, we have a very nice one here.

http://www.quizilla.com/user_images/F/faHOOlagin/1046601790_nchKnights.JPG

No, you cannot see it, silly person.

Seriously ... a paper on the subject from Soc. Anti. was just on ebay ... I'll see if I can find it.

[Ed]

Here ya go ... not an auction.

Swords and Sequence in the British Bronze Age

by M. A. Brown

Journal Offprint from Archaeologia Volume 107, 1982, 42 pages, 9 line-figure, plus 3 full-page b/w plates of swords. A4, card cover, as new.

British and continental archaeologists alike have long been beholden to J.D. Cowen for his interpretation of the bronze sword in Europe. His identification in 1951 of Hemigkifen and Erbenheim types among South German Griffzungenschwerter, his recognition that these forms were basic to all subsequent sword development in the British Isles, and his dating of them to the Hallstatt A (Ha A) Urnfield phase have remained crucial in any interpretation of the British Late Bronze Age.

[chevalier]

i was thinking of the spanish period: 419-711 AD.

[Marc]

There is at least a couple of them in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (National Archaeological Museum) in Madrid, but there's no hilts, only the blades and those are completely mineralized. As far as swords go, I'm not aware of any other exemplar excavated in Spain from that period, although it wouldn't be impossible that there was something in some local museum...
By the way, the Museo Arqueológico Nacionalis at the moment undergoing deep structural reforms, and it's going to be closed for about the next four years (that, being optimistic), so seeing them life can be a bit difficult, right now...