Variations of famous Viking-era swordsmiths' names

Victrix · 31st October 2019, 10:46 PM

In Wikipedia on Passau history I found this: ” During the second half of the 5th century, St. Severinus established a monastery here. The site was subject to repeated raids by the Alemanni. In 739, an English monk called Boniface founded the diocese of Passau, which for many years was the largest diocese of the German Kingdom/Holy Roman Empire, covering territory in southern Bavaria and most of what is now Upper and Lower Austria. From the 10th century the bishops of Passau also exercised secular authority as Prince-Bishops in the immediate area around Passau (see Prince-Bishopric of Passau [de]). I have read that swords with blade inscriptions starting and ending with crosses are believed to have been used in ecclesiastical territories which seems to fit Passau as bishopric.

The prevalence of Ulfberht sword finds in Northern Europe may be because the swords were used by viking mercenaries serving in Frankish lands and then brought home with them on their return? The swords would be found in excavated condition because of lingering practices amongst pagan vikings of burying the dead with their swords and sacrificing the weapons of defeated enemies in bogs etc. When the vikings became Christian these practices ceased, and archaelogical finds become more rare.

Jim McDougall · 1st November 2019, 03:09 AM

This is really a complex topic, and Ibrahiim thank you for these links, which help with perspective greatly. As I have noted, this field of study, particularly the metallurgy, is far outside my pay grade

but it is great to get into some research and discussion here.

Vilhemmson, thank you for the kind words and especially for the wonderfully explained response to the Feuerbach article. Your clear knowledge and command of this subject matter reveals, as they say here in Texas "this for sure aint your first rodeo!!!"

Your point on the fact that the author probably may have certain bias toward the use of crucible steel in some of these Ulfberht swords, which she does support by the evidence for considerable trade from Central Asia into Scandinavia.
In going through resources I have here I did find generally that many of the sword finds were perhaps contaminated by minerals in context so accurate analysis may have been compromised somewhat.

Well noted on the case for Haakon the Good, and I had not realized that records on him were somewhat implied in later histories concerning his father etc. With that, the case for this figure 'commissioning' early Ulfberht blades would best not be quite so adamantly cited.

Getting to the point of the OP, on whether INGELRII was a makers name or other,..the question reaches to other 'names' found inlaid in blades in the manner of ULFBRECHT and apparently a number of other names.

It does seem likely that at the early inception of innovative blade forging techniques, there may have been a maker named Ulfberht who inlaid these blades with his name and the crosses.....on the reverse there was a lattice work with three vertical lines inlaid as well. The purpose or meaning there is unclear.

Other makers of course tried to capitalize on the name and markings in degree, probably accounting for variation in the letterings, and likely the metallurgy of the blades in finds. It seems that about mid 10th c. the advent of INGELRII began, and it would seem this may have been a maker as well, but actually capitalizing on the Ulfberht 'style' as these blades had similar geometric patterns on blade obverse.
The INGELRII blades continued into the 11th c. apparently, and again obviously the use of these names were attempts to signal quality. With these blades there were variations in the same manner as Ulfberht, and as noted ME FECIT and variants of that.

With these names having etymological break down, such as Ulf Berht =wolf man, another name which occurred in this 'name' style (but in guards) was HILTIPRECHT, in these time periods. In "Hiltipreht: Name or Invocation" (Oakeshott & Peirce, Park Lane Arms Fair, 1995) it notes that Ellis-Davidson (1958) suggested this was not a name, however later examination found that it was probably a name after all. She had based her original idea on the 'word' in Old Norse , Hilt= battle, Preht= ready in a kind of 'magic context'.

It would seem these presumptions of the words in these inscriptions being used in such metaphoric sense might be incorrect, and that these were names which had become collectively used as connoting quality.

Victrix, excellent entry concerning the Passau element of these blade symbolisms, and well placed observations on the situations with the ecclestiastic symbolism with crosses, which indeed find use in wide range of inscriptions on blades being produced under auspices of Church Bishops.

Returning to the Ulfberht 'name', the use of crosses etc. It would seem that the letters of a name/word augmented by the powerful symbol of the cross would signal quality and imbuement to even illiterate persons. The alphabetic characters may have been seen as potent symbols in the same manner as the crosses, runes etc.

It would seem possible that the use of these names and symbols were very much the ANDREA FERARA and Toledo smiths names and marks on the day and in that tradition of blade imbuement.

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 1st November 2019, 01:46 PM

Thanks Jim.. Here is another perspective on the subject from the forge Please See https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...rc&FORM=VDRVRV

Jim McDougall · 1st November 2019, 07:00 PM

While we have been focused on the ULFBERHT blade phenomenon, which appears of course to be the predecessor of the INGELRII blades, which is the subject of the original query here, this perspective has been indeed key to the answer.
Ibrahiim, thank you for that link which indeed adds to that perspective,

To continue on INGELRII, I found the following article in the spring 2005 Park Lane Arms Fair journal,
"INGELRII: A Continuing Tradition in Early Medieval Swordsmithing"
by Michael R. Gorman
On p.30, it notes;
"..with the advent of the Ulfberht blades, we perceive a moment of technological innovation in sword smithing , which the original smith(we presume his name was Ulfberht) chose to proclaim by an additionally novel way of inscribing his mark/tradename. It seems that this tradition continues with the rise of the INGEL group of inlays, which are morphologically very similar to the ULFBERHT inlays, and carry forward without perceptible interruption into the mid 11th c.".

It is suggested that the extended chronological range of these swords, surpassing the life span of one person, likely may have been a family firm or closely linked shops in a group.

Further, the much improved quality of these blades was superior to the older PATTERN WELDED blades, thus ULFBERHT became synonymous with high quality. Naturally copying of the inlaid inscriptions was inevitable.

At the end of the 'ULFBERHT' period (950AD +) emerged another group of morphologically inlaid blade inscriptions in form of the name Ingel, (usually INGELRII) but there appears to have been an overlap in transition. While the Ulfberht ceased, the INGELRII group carried into c. 1050AD.

One sword found in a river bed (River Nene, Ravens Willow, Cambridgeshire) actually had ULBERHT on one side and INGELRII on the other!!!

There seem to be variations in the INGEL group, such as INERIIGEMITT; INEERIIRIETI; INCELRII and others. With the original INGELRII, the grouping seems sometimes separate suggesting RII is a suffix, recalling the often separate 'T' in Ulfberht perhaps being of similar intent.

Whatever the case, these two 'names' became synonymous with quality for the apparently dramatic improvement in smithing techniques and production. The copying and spurious reproduction of the inlays of these groups of swords of course suggest that they are more a quality imbuement than makers name proper, and the origin of these names remain unclear.

With regard to the metallurgy of these early medieval blades, it is noted (p.35) that an INGELRII sword (presumed by the author to be last quarter 10th to early 11th c) when cleaned revealed the appearance of Damascus steel.
While this article predates the other works we have discussed, it is noted that the 'jury was still out' as far as whether authentically crucible steel or simply a makers effort to duplicate it. The author notes that Alan Williams was among those investigating this sword along with Peter Finer; the late Ian Peirce; the late Claude Blair and other notable figures.

Reventlov · 2nd November 2019, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

One sword found in a river bed (River Nene, Ravens Willow, Cambridgeshire) actually had ULBERHT on one side and INGELRII on the other!!!

I mentioned this up-thread...

vilhelmsson has eloquently (and gently) pointed out the weaknesses in that particular paper by Feuerbach; similar issues were previously raised here: https://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=325878

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

https://www.bing.com/images/search?...&vt=0&eim=1,2,6 is an INGELRI weapon

BONHAMS HAD ONE WHICH THEY SOLD...SEE https://www2.bonhams.com/auctions/21639/lot/218/[/url]

This second example is I think very likely a fraud (Peter Johnsson has previously opined publicly on it as well.) The first is more interesting, its script is extremely similar to others that are inscribed INGERIHFECIT. I would be curious if anyone knows more about it; I gather it is/was on loan from a private collection.

Here is a somewhat dubious lead that perhaps someone else can follow further than I can at the moment. In a French article I found the conjecture that the Ingelrii workshop may have been located in Cologne, on the basis of a stained glass window claimed to show the name INGELRII on a sword-blade. With a little imagination, I can possibly see the letters RI in the image below, but it could just as well be the texture of the glass... I have not been able to find a high-resolution image to confirm one way or the other.

The window is of St. Cecilia, in St. Cunibert's basilica, in Cologne.

Victrix · 2nd November 2019, 04:59 PM

I searched the word Ingelrii. The Annals of the Coinage of Britain and its Dependencies by Rogers Ruding mentions an Ingelri in a list of moneyers to Aethelred, Rex Anglorum.

In ancient Norse, Ing is the name of a god presumed to be fertility god Frey (gender neutral). Names were combined with Ing to place the child under the protection of that god, e.g. Ingrid, Ingvar. Ingela is a Germanic name.

Ingel is the word for angel in Old Frisian and Estonian (from German Engel).

The Angles (Old English: Aengle, Latin: Anglii, German: Angeln) were a Germanic people who settled in Britain in the post-Roman period. They originated from the Schleswig-Holstein area. This is the origin of the word England.

Reventlov · 2nd November 2019, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victrix

I searched the word Ingelrii. The Annals of the Coinage of Britain and its Dependencies by Rogers Ruding mentions an Ingelri in a list of moneyers to Aethelred, Rex Anglorum.

Well done! Such a close match with the swords' name is new to me. Following up on this leads to an article on the topic of the many continental moneyers at work in England during the 10th century. INGELRI and other variants are attributed to one or more moneyers named Ingelric:

Quote:

Ingelric
ENGELRI [Edw I HT1], INGERI [Æthst HCT1]
INGELRIES genitive [Edg HR1]
Oxford INGELRI [Æthst CC]
Probably two different moneyers here, as the earlier moneyer is linked to Oxford by a mint-signature; probably the Edward moneyer is the same man, as he strikes late in the reign. He uses Winchester derived dies, which would be normal for Ox-ford. The Edgar moneyer on the other hand uses a Rosette die with M in the field,which indicates Derby die-cutting, and there is no evidence for such dies reaching Oxford. There are no examples for the intervening period.

This is apparently based on coins different than any known by Ruding as Athelred is not mentioned.

http://www.snsbi.org.uk/Nomina_artic...a_32_Smart.pdf

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 8th November 2019, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victrix

I searched the word Ingelrii. The Annals of the Coinage of Britain and its Dependencies by Rogers Ruding mentions an Ingelri in a list of moneyers to Aethelred, Rex Anglorum.

In ancient Norse, Ing is the name of a god presumed to be fertility god Frey (gender neutral). Names were combined with Ing to place the child under the protection of that god, e.g. Ingrid, Ingvar. Ingela is a Germanic name.

Ingel is the word for angel in Old Frisian and Estonian (from German Engel).

The Angles (Old English: Aengle, Latin: Anglii, German: Angeln) were a Germanic people who settled in Britain in the post-Roman period. They originated from the Schleswig-Holstein area. This is the origin of the word England.

Salaams Victrix, I regret I missed this post as it points quite firmly at the origin of this peculiar word INGELRII . Nicely placed and very well noted.

31st October 2019, 10:46 PM	#1
Victrix Member Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: Sweden Posts: 686	In Wikipedia on Passau history I found this: ” During the second half of the 5th century, St. Severinus established a monastery here. The site was subject to repeated raids by the Alemanni. In 739, an English monk called Boniface founded the diocese of Passau, which for many years was the largest diocese of the German Kingdom/Holy Roman Empire, covering territory in southern Bavaria and most of what is now Upper and Lower Austria. From the 10th century the bishops of Passau also exercised secular authority as Prince-Bishops in the immediate area around Passau (see Prince-Bishopric of Passau [de]). I have read that swords with blade inscriptions starting and ending with crosses are believed to have been used in ecclesiastical territories which seems to fit Passau as bishopric. The prevalence of Ulfberht sword finds in Northern Europe may be because the swords were used by viking mercenaries serving in Frankish lands and then brought home with them on their return? The swords would be found in excavated condition because of lingering practices amongst pagan vikings of burying the dead with their swords and sacrificing the weapons of defeated enemies in bogs etc. When the vikings became Christian these practices ceased, and archaelogical finds become more rare.

1st November 2019, 03:09 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,800	This is really a complex topic, and Ibrahiim thank you for these links, which help with perspective greatly. As I have noted, this field of study, particularly the metallurgy, is far outside my pay grade but it is great to get into some research and discussion here. Vilhemmson, thank you for the kind words and especially for the wonderfully explained response to the Feuerbach article. Your clear knowledge and command of this subject matter reveals, as they say here in Texas "this for sure aint your first rodeo!!!" Your point on the fact that the author probably may have certain bias toward the use of crucible steel in some of these Ulfberht swords, which she does support by the evidence for considerable trade from Central Asia into Scandinavia. In going through resources I have here I did find generally that many of the sword finds were perhaps contaminated by minerals in context so accurate analysis may have been compromised somewhat. Well noted on the case for Haakon the Good, and I had not realized that records on him were somewhat implied in later histories concerning his father etc. With that, the case for this figure 'commissioning' early Ulfberht blades would best not be quite so adamantly cited. Getting to the point of the OP, on whether INGELRII was a makers name or other,..the question reaches to other 'names' found inlaid in blades in the manner of ULFBRECHT and apparently a number of other names. It does seem likely that at the early inception of innovative blade forging techniques, there may have been a maker named Ulfberht who inlaid these blades with his name and the crosses.....on the reverse there was a lattice work with three vertical lines inlaid as well. The purpose or meaning there is unclear. Other makers of course tried to capitalize on the name and markings in degree, probably accounting for variation in the letterings, and likely the metallurgy of the blades in finds. It seems that about mid 10th c. the advent of INGELRII began, and it would seem this may have been a maker as well, but actually capitalizing on the Ulfberht 'style' as these blades had similar geometric patterns on blade obverse. The INGELRII blades continued into the 11th c. apparently, and again obviously the use of these names were attempts to signal quality. With these blades there were variations in the same manner as Ulfberht, and as noted ME FECIT and variants of that. With these names having etymological break down, such as Ulf Berht =wolf man, another name which occurred in this 'name' style (but in guards) was HILTIPRECHT, in these time periods. In "Hiltipreht: Name or Invocation" (Oakeshott & Peirce, Park Lane Arms Fair, 1995) it notes that Ellis-Davidson (1958) suggested this was not a name, however later examination found that it was probably a name after all. She had based her original idea on the 'word' in Old Norse , Hilt= battle, Preht= ready in a kind of 'magic context'. It would seem these presumptions of the words in these inscriptions being used in such metaphoric sense might be incorrect, and that these were names which had become collectively used as connoting quality. Victrix, excellent entry concerning the Passau element of these blade symbolisms, and well placed observations on the situations with the ecclestiastic symbolism with crosses, which indeed find use in wide range of inscriptions on blades being produced under auspices of Church Bishops. Returning to the Ulfberht 'name', the use of crosses etc. It would seem that the letters of a name/word augmented by the powerful symbol of the cross would signal quality and imbuement to even illiterate persons. The alphabetic characters may have been seen as potent symbols in the same manner as the crosses, runes etc. It would seem possible that the use of these names and symbols were very much the ANDREA FERARA and Toledo smiths names and marks on the day and in that tradition of blade imbuement.

1st November 2019, 01:46 PM	#3
Ibrahiim al Balooshi Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE Posts: 4,408	Thanks Jim.. Here is another perspective on the subject from the forge Please See https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...rc&FORM=VDRVRV

1st November 2019, 07:00 PM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,800	While we have been focused on the ULFBERHT blade phenomenon, which appears of course to be the predecessor of the INGELRII blades, which is the subject of the original query here, this perspective has been indeed key to the answer. Ibrahiim, thank you for that link which indeed adds to that perspective, To continue on INGELRII, I found the following article in the spring 2005 Park Lane Arms Fair journal, "INGELRII: A Continuing Tradition in Early Medieval Swordsmithing" by Michael R. Gorman On p.30, it notes; "..with the advent of the Ulfberht blades, we perceive a moment of technological innovation in sword smithing , which the original smith(we presume his name was Ulfberht) chose to proclaim by an additionally novel way of inscribing his mark/tradename. It seems that this tradition continues with the rise of the INGEL group of inlays, which are morphologically very similar to the ULFBERHT inlays, and carry forward without perceptible interruption into the mid 11th c.". It is suggested that the extended chronological range of these swords, surpassing the life span of one person, likely may have been a family firm or closely linked shops in a group. Further, the much improved quality of these blades was superior to the older PATTERN WELDED blades, thus ULFBERHT became synonymous with high quality. Naturally copying of the inlaid inscriptions was inevitable. At the end of the 'ULFBERHT' period (950AD +) emerged another group of morphologically inlaid blade inscriptions in form of the name Ingel, (usually INGELRII) but there appears to have been an overlap in transition. While the Ulfberht ceased, the INGELRII group carried into c. 1050AD. One sword found in a river bed (River Nene, Ravens Willow, Cambridgeshire) actually had ULBERHT on one side and INGELRII on the other!!! There seem to be variations in the INGEL group, such as INERIIGEMITT; INEERIIRIETI; INCELRII and others. With the original INGELRII, the grouping seems sometimes separate suggesting RII is a suffix, recalling the often separate 'T' in Ulfberht perhaps being of similar intent. Whatever the case, these two 'names' became synonymous with quality for the apparently dramatic improvement in smithing techniques and production. The copying and spurious reproduction of the inlays of these groups of swords of course suggest that they are more a quality imbuement than makers name proper, and the origin of these names remain unclear. With regard to the metallurgy of these early medieval blades, it is noted (p.35) that an INGELRII sword (presumed by the author to be last quarter 10th to early 11th c) when cleaned revealed the appearance of Damascus steel. While this article predates the other works we have discussed, it is noted that the 'jury was still out' as far as whether authentically crucible steel or simply a makers effort to duplicate it. The author notes that Alan Williams was among those investigating this sword along with Peter Finer; the late Ian Peirce; the late Claude Blair and other notable figures.

2nd November 2019, 04:59 PM	#6
Victrix Member Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: Sweden Posts: 686	I searched the word Ingelrii. The Annals of the Coinage of Britain and its Dependencies by Rogers Ruding mentions an Ingelri in a list of moneyers to Aethelred, Rex Anglorum. In ancient Norse, Ing is the name of a god presumed to be fertility god Frey (gender neutral). Names were combined with Ing to place the child under the protection of that god, e.g. Ingrid, Ingvar. Ingela is a Germanic name. Ingel is the word for angel in Old Frisian and Estonian (from German Engel). The Angles (Old English: Aengle, Latin: Anglii, German: Angeln) were a Germanic people who settled in Britain in the post-Roman period. They originated from the Schleswig-Holstein area. This is the origin of the word England.