Viking Sword with an History

Reventlov · 23rd March 2016, 12:46 AM

The sword from the Thames (now in the British Museum) mentioned above may have been found in England, but I think it is unlikely to be of Anglo-Saxon manufacture. This sword falls under Petersen's type S. Examples have been found across Europe, from Iceland to Russia, but are most common in Denmark (as a percentage of finds per country).
[Androshchuk, "Vikings and farmers", 2009]

At a minimum, this type is known to have been produced in Gotland, as shown by the discovery of a hoard of incomplete hilts and local-style jewelry.
[Gustafsson, "Viking period metalworking hoard...", 2011]

The surface of the hilt is covered with decorative designs of distinctly Nordic type, perhaps classifiable as being of the late 10th-century Jellinge or Mammen styles. Other type S swords with similar decorations have been found in Norway (C237, shown in Swords of the Viking Age) and near the Danish emporium of Haithabu/Hedeby.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_art#Jellinge_Style

The latter example shares the wire-wrapped grip as the Thames sword. This feature seems to be most common on swords of type S, with other examples coming from Iceland, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia...

Canute himself is depicted bearing a type S sword in an Anglo-Saxon manuscript illustration. Ultimately it may be the Thames sword that has a better claim to a direct link with Canute, but as a Danish import brought to England by one of his high-ranking followers, instead of an acquired local product.

Tordenskiold1721 · 23rd March 2016, 09:28 AM

Thank you for your in-depth explanation and additional material that cast light on this very interesting sword Reventlow ! (Christian Detlev Reventlow?)

You show examples of wire wrapping on Viking sword grips, do we agree that we are talking sometime between the end of the 900 hundreds to early period 1000 ?

Reventlov · 24th March 2016, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tordenskiold1721

Thank you for your in-depth explanation and additional material that cast light on this very interesting sword Reventlow ! (Christian Detlev Reventlow?)

Glad you found it to be of interest! I must confess that my username was actually borrowed from an Isaac Asimov novel long ago...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tordenskiold1721

You show examples of wire wrapping on Viking sword grips, do we agree that we are talking sometime between the end of the 900 hundreds to early period 1000 ?

Yes, this definitely seems to be the time-period for this sort of grip. I can offer a dozen or so more examples... At least half are of type-S and greatly resemble the Thames sword; several of the others are of seemingly related types T and Z. These types are not at all common in general, so the correlation seems to be more than mere coincidence.

Now what is even more interesting is that the wire grip also appears on a small number of swords which are of very rare or even unique types. The sword below has a fantastically ornate hilt of cast silver, and must have belonged to a very prestigious (royal?) owner. The sword comes from Dyback in the region of Scania, in Southern Sweden, formerly Danish territory. Note that the lower guard is actually shaped very much like the type-Z sword above, and the lower portion of the "guard" is in fact the mouth of the scabbard which has become fused to the hilt.

It has been suggested that the ornamentation can be linked to the Anglo-Saxon Winchester style, characterized by bushy, leafy, scrollwork designs. So here we may have evidence of Anglo-Saxon gifts or trophies brought home by Vikings, or a product of the Anglo-Danish environment of the Danelaw or the period of Canute's rule over England. The Winchester style is exemplified in the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold, dating to around the 960s-80s. Note that this purely Anglo-Saxon product also shows a sword with the curving guard and triangular, two-piece pommel resembling Petersen's type-L.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_art

The upper portion of the pommel of the Dyback sword is lost, but amazingly the corresponding component of another sword of the same type has also been recovered, again in Scania. The metalwork is so similar, it seems surely to be the product of the same artisan.

The wire-wrapped grip occurs again on a couple of swords from Norway of even more unusual typology. The better preserved example is shown below. The sword seems to combine the small curved guard of the Anglo-Saxon type-L with the unusual pommel of the type-AE variants (which strictly speaking does not appear in Petersen's typology). Like the Langeid sword, the pommel seems to be silver plated and decorated with Nordic designs... the clubbed tips of the foliage/tendrils seems to me to be a feature of the Ringerike style, which would suggest a slightly later date for this sword compared to the previously discussed examples.

Classic examples of the Ringerike style appear in the form of several weathervanes from Norway and Sweden. Another example is a runestone recovered from the yard of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, which dates to reign of Canute. Again, it might be possible to interpret this very rare style of sword as the result of the combining Anglo-Danish influences of the late 10th-early 11th centuries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking...ingerike_Style

Tordenskiold1721 · 27th March 2016, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Reventlov: The closest analogue to the Langeid sword comes from another site in Norway however... here the ornamental metalwork is of precisely the same style. Notice in particular the identically placed spiral designs. This sword is held in the museum in Oslo, under inventory no. C36640.

Thanks Reventlov ! Great post and lots of valuable information.

You absolutely are right, One sword almost identical to the Langeid sword was found in Al, Buskerud and is the sword you show with museum reference to Oslo. From what I understand there is two more swords with this hilt found in Denmark and the one in Finalnd that you show, the same sword from Finland is seen below with other Viking and early medieval swords:

The "Langeid swords" was not found when Petersen made his typology in 1919 and is therefore not part of his work. Oakeshott is in reality a copy and paste of Petersen and Wheelers work with an expansion of the scope of swords and time line, so there is nothing new in Oakeshott's work(On Viking swords) that is not in Petersen and Wheeler's work from 1919 and 1927 other than the two medieval swords who bridges the Viking swords with the medieval swords types.

Here is an good article on the Langeid sword for those interested, use google translate and you will get the article in English. The article reveals that the blade has text on both sides:

http://www.khm.uio.no/forskning/saml...a-langeid.html

The Axe found in the same grave, with good detail of construction and mounting on shaft:

http://www.khm.uio.no/forskning/saml...a-langeid.html

Reventlov · 28th March 2016, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tordenskiold1721

the same sword from Finland is seen below with other Viking and early medieval swords:

That's a great photo right there! I've seen most/all of those swords photographed individually, but here you can really get a sense for the differences in dimension and proportion. Several of the blades bear interesting inscriptions.

Thanks for the link about the axe also, interesting to see what the described "brass decoration" looks like.

Tordenskiold1721 · 28th March 2016, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reventlov

Thanks for the link about the axe also, interesting to see what the described "brass decoration" looks like.

Brass decoration or reinforcement of the shaft against sword blows or axe strike on the Norwegian battle axe is a complicated subject. The battle axe saw practical use into the middle of the 1600'hundreds in Norway.

Below is some later axes with spiral reinforcement of the haft:

When the spiral brass and iron, and in some rear cases gold reinforcement of the haft was introduced I don't know but I have seen it on a small light Viking axe intended for "fast" use with a single hand.

Lee · 29th March 2016, 12:15 AM

Here is an old thread with another of these early 17th century Norwegian axes that has a helical bronze band.

One thing interesting about this example is how the haft is curved. This is not warping with age as the curve continues into the iron axehead.

23rd March 2016, 12:46 AM	#1
Reventlov Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 138	The sword from the Thames (now in the British Museum) mentioned above may have been found in England, but I think it is unlikely to be of Anglo-Saxon manufacture. This sword falls under Petersen's type S. Examples have been found across Europe, from Iceland to Russia, but are most common in Denmark (as a percentage of finds per country). [Androshchuk, "Vikings and farmers", 2009] At a minimum, this type is known to have been produced in Gotland, as shown by the discovery of a hoard of incomplete hilts and local-style jewelry. [Gustafsson, "Viking period metalworking hoard...", 2011] The surface of the hilt is covered with decorative designs of distinctly Nordic type, perhaps classifiable as being of the late 10th-century Jellinge or Mammen styles. Other type S swords with similar decorations have been found in Norway (C237, shown in Swords of the Viking Age) and near the Danish emporium of Haithabu/Hedeby. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_art#Jellinge_Style The latter example shares the wire-wrapped grip as the Thames sword. This feature seems to be most common on swords of type S, with other examples coming from Iceland, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia... Canute himself is depicted bearing a type S sword in an Anglo-Saxon manuscript illustration. Ultimately it may be the Thames sword that has a better claim to a direct link with Canute, but as a Danish import brought to England by one of his high-ranking followers, instead of an acquired local product. Attached Images Last edited by fernando; 29th March 2016 at 04:25 PM.

23rd March 2016, 09:28 AM	#2
Tordenskiold1721 Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 72	Thank you for your in-depth explanation and additional material that cast light on this very interesting sword Reventlow ! (Christian Detlev Reventlow?) You show examples of wire wrapping on Viking sword grips, do we agree that we are talking sometime between the end of the 900 hundreds to early period 1000 ? Last edited by Tordenskiold1721; 23rd March 2016 at 08:15 PM.

29th March 2016, 12:15 AM	#7
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 940	Here is an old thread with another of these early 17th century Norwegian axes that has a helical bronze band. One thing interesting about this example is how the haft is curved. This is not warping with age as the curve continues into the iron axehead.