Viking Swords which are NOT Viking

[@scholagladiatoria]

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[@jswets5007]

Just playing the advocate that many have played before, but isn't it the same migration of Germanic peoples which led to both the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavian cultures? Couldn't that make it possible that the style has its origins in the Roman Empire? Therefore, couldn't it be called a Roman sword? 😂 Just having a bit of fun. Great video.

[@Gravelgratious]

The West African Tokouba is identical to the “Viking” swords.

[@Tkoutlosh]

Here is the example from 9th century Great Moravia Mikulčice gave no. 280, very simple sword, but still of same style. www.sword-elgur.com/sword-type-x-from-mikulcice-grave-280/

[@jordanthomas4379]

Will you do a review of the 2022 movie ‘The Northman’? There is a single edged sword in it, I’m not sure how accurate it is.

[@grunztiertransmutator770]

@@jordanthomas4379 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZ7CeoyMm9mLe6s

[@leifroarmoldskred6370]

From the point of view of a viking, _every_ sword is a viking sword. Their owners just aren't always aware of the fact.

[@andrewsalhany5665]

😆

[@Halo_Legend]

Bruh, every sword is a gladius as well. Duh.

[@antistalkingassociationofp2387]

Good point

[@justinpyle3415]

As a decendant of vikings, i aprove this message

[@Halo_Legend]

@@justinpyle3415 As a descendant of Attila, bababooey.

[@stonedog5547]

I used to make swords for re-enactors. I remember having a long drawn out 'discussion' with an authentication officer about a sword I'd made up and was hoping to sell at the event, it looked just like the plan I hilt you showed as a generic pattern...... He banned it as it didn't look like any of the dozen or so pictures in his book, this was the same plank who insisted I couldn't use a club on field as "No ones found one". Like Vikings are the only group since before modern humans came into being that never hit someone else with a stick!

[@anarchclown]

1. I'm pretty sure there is mention of people hitting each other with sticks in the sagas. 2. I think this guy was just an asshole drunk with power.

[@hollyingraham3980]

Normans in Bayeux Tapestry carry big sticks with the leaves on.

[@jeremiahkindel9301]

You have to love "gate keepers" like that person. Apparently he has never seen the bayuex tapestry. Also clubs where common weapons of the clergy. Supposedly they were not to spill blood. But even does not make sense because you could easily split someone's head wide open.

[@bulldrumm]

Apparently, the man is afflicted by dungeon mastery. A terrible, terrible affliction...

[@ericdpeerik3928]

Hitting people with a stick, you say? That's brilliant! Why didn't the vikings think of that?

[@thezieg]

Hence, Matt Easton frequently wears Japanese clothing (i.e., imprinted with Japanese text) but made in China, sold in the UK. And if Matt donates his shirt to Oxfam it can end up in a bin going to East Africa. Pretty hard to define the shirt, now.

[@hector_2999]

It is now a Matt Easton relic.

[@Kenicavus]

thats a good analogy

[@SirThomasMontacute]

And clothing enthusiasts in the future will be having a hissy fit trying to convince people that East Africans would not have worn these shirts.

[@hazzardalsohazzard2624]

@@SirThomasMontacute 500 years from now, films set in the 2000s will show everyone dressed in t shirts and jeans.

[@Brutaxilos]

Lol SuperDry is a British brand. Not a Japanese one.

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

Also with the issue of hilting: If a Viking captured an Anglo-Saxon sword they could take it back to Norway g have it re-hilted. Since we can't always tell where a blade was made a hilt can only tell us about the hilt; where it may have been from, time period/region of decorations, etc

[@SonsOfLorgar]

Hot take: most early 'viking' swords were re-hilted Roman Spatha ;)

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

@@SonsOfLorgar do you have some sources for that? Not saying you are wrong & it seems logical but I've never seen any proof. I haven't looked into it much to be fair

[@SonsOfLorgar]

@@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145 nope, it's pure intuitive speculation based on the percived uniformity of shape, length and quantity that from my limited point of view might be either due to inspiration/imitation or customisation of inherited captured/issued/or by other means disseminated blades out of Imperial proto-mass production stockpiles. Similiar to all the AR15 and AK-47 variants today

[@SonsOfLorgar]

@@trolltalwar mid 8th-early 9th century?

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

@@SonsOfLorgar fair enough! I definitely believe there were Roman blades remounted by others & that Romans definitely borrowed ideas from others; as they did with the gladius. I was just hoping someone did research on it & had a book or something. Regardless thank you

[@ArkadiBolschek]

It's a bit like people calling morions "conquistador helmets", when they were in fact one of the most common helmets of the XVIth-XVIIth centuries and everybody in Europe used them.

[@yokaiou5848]

People do call them that. I knew about them as Nanban Kabuto, before I knew them as European.

[@ArkadiBolschek]

@@yokaiou5848 Interesting. And what does "nanban" mean in this context?

[@yokaiou5848]

@@ArkadiBolschek it means southern barbarians, it's stuff that the Japanese either bought or made in a foreign style, in this case European. They adopted and adapted European weapons and armor. The morion being a helmet was named Southern Barbarian style helmet.

[@appleciderhorror12]

​@@yokaiou5848 googled "japanese morion" and it was exactly what I thought it would be: a morion helmet but with a mask and a lamelar neck guard

[@kevinstachovak8842]

They were apparently quite popularly used during the English Civil War

[@bennettthomas4446]

The hilt style with the curved crossguard and pommel is very reminiscent of older celtic weapons.

[@SonsOfLorgar]

And also the Roman Imperial Spatha

[@lowlandnobleman6746]

The spatha was itself based on the Celtic La Tène swords in use far earlier. The really famous ones that had the long blades, not the short and stabby ones from Iberia and Britain.

[@wehrewulf]

The Celts likely got it from the Roman Spatha. The tribal "Celtic" Britons were more spearmen (and axes maybe) than swordsmen until the Romans brought tbose weapons.

[@roderickclerk5904]

@@wehrewulf not true. The Roman spatha wasn’t a thing until like after the birth of Jesus Christ. Celtic people’s had been using double edged, full tanged swords, elaborate hilted swords since the beginning of the Iron Age. The Romans even got mail from the Celts of Central Europe who been using mail since 800 BC. Even the Germanic people had iron sword production independent of the Romans, but I’m sure they gleaned off of Roman design because why not

[@jus_sanguinis]

In post-Soviet countries (I dont know about all of them, but in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine for sure) this type of swords is known as Carolingian or Frankish.

[@pierdurin]

I'd really like you to cover byzantine and arab swords of this period, no one ever talks about those. In fact, even though I imagine both material and reliable iconographic sources to be particularly scarce on this topic, I'd love you to also address differences in general equipment (shields and armour) with that of western Europe.

[@badluckrabbit]

HECK YES

[@SevenStarsandSevenStones]

That would be really cool! I know it's not Matt's area of expertise, but I'd love to hear his thoughts. There's so much iconography to look at.

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

I think for Arab swords there's actually a great deal of originals in some museums. I've had chances to buy some stuff that's not much later than that for not even that much money albeit still expensive af compared to alot of what Matt buys but far cheaper then European swords of that time would be.

[@dirckthedork-knight1201]

I support this!

[@SAHorman]

This kinda feels like a 'guns, germs, and steel' situation that turned into a misinformation situation. These swords are buried primarily by Vikings thus they are found most frequently in Viking lands.

[@hydrolito]

Did they remember where they buried them all if they need them in war?

[@carlcramer9269]

Hi form Sweden! People from south (as in not Scandinavia) used plant patterns in decoration of many things - smithwork on doors, paninted on rafters, and sculpted on the capitals of pilars. Scandinavians did not do this until well into the Christian era (12 century). Scandinavians used animal patterns, snakes, wolves, horses, hounds and such. The sword you call Franksish at the start of the video certainly fits this pattern, being decorated with a plant vine motif very uncharacteristic of Scandinavia.

[@lemminglobber1854]

"OLAF! Love the look! New sword?" "Ulfberth! Yes, thank you for noticing! I just got back from London Fashion Raid. These new swept hilts are all the rage with the Saxons."

[@acethesupervillain348]

A lot of people like some version of "spatha" for this era of sword. "Dark-Age Spatha", "Migrant Spatha" (as in short for Migration Era Spatha), "Post-Roman Spatha", "Latter Spatha", etc.

[@blakewinter1657]

Strictly speaking a migration era spatha would precede these swords! The migration era is like 400-750 AD, the viking era 750 - 1050 AD (give or take a few decades, and depending on whom you ask - the English, for example, usually say the viking age is 793-1066). The migration era swords are actually somewhat different from the viking era swords, although there are of course a lot of similarities and some overlap. It's fine to call these 'spathas' but we should differentiate them from the migration era swords, if we want to be technical! (Personally I just call them viking era swords).

[@PJDAltamirus0425]

@@blakewinter1657 Shadiversity has a good idea for the name. Swert, it the Norse name for Swerd before the term sword was developed. It is still to specific, but not as nonsensically specific as a Viking Sword.

[@WritingFighter]

Carolingian seems better. "Spatha" has an overall different approach to the handle and blade width, and is more commonly understood to be a longer version of the Gladius.

[@acethesupervillain348]

@@PJDAltamirus0425 I don't like Sverd for these because that's still the modern Scandinavian word for sword. "Sverd" is just as valid for katanas and rapiers.

[@blakewinter1657]

@@WritingFighter I would never call them 'carolingian,' in part because I dislike Charlemagne. Also it suffers from the same problem as 'viking,' in that most of these swords were not used by Charlemagne's people, and also, the 'viking swords' lasts from 750 to 1050, much longer than Charlemagne.

[@markusfreund6961]

Thank you so much for this, Matt! I was always convinced that "Viking sword" or "Anglo-Saxon sword" are, by and large, marketing terms for what should be referred to as an "early medieval (northern) European sword". Given the scarcity of findings and the, erm, mobility of property associated with every aspect of what we retrospectively call "Viking culture" today, there simply is no honest way of being sure that a sword ending up in e.g. a Scandinavian tomb actually originated in the area. Likewise, how do we know that a sword found, say, amidst the remains of a longship on the bottom of the river Thames, didn't travel across the continent with its previous owner? I wouldn't even be surprised at them wielding handed-down gladii from the 5th century. Anyway, enough of me nerding out. It's just nice that I can finally LARP a pre-Norman-conquest Anglo-Saxon warrior sporting a "Viking sword"... 🍻👍

[@almandragoran]

There are definitely decorative styles that are primarily Scandinavian and can quite confidently point to a particular sword having been made in Scandinavia. It’s the more generic, pan-European style swords that are hard to place as made in a specific region of Europe. And of course, some sword types are clearly Anglo-Saxon or Frankish, for instance. While swords definitely could be passed down the generations, I’ve never heard of a 5th century (Migration Era!) sword found in a Viking Age context. If it happened, it must have been exceedingly rare. I’ve never heard of a 7th century sword found in a Viking Age context either. Maybe you could find some blades from the Vendel Period still in use in the 9th or 10th century if you went looking for them, but if that were the case they were all re-hilted in contemporary styles.

[@njalsand133]

It's also very possible that some swords for decorate by blacksmiths once they came to other countries, depending on the owner

[@blakewinter1657]

So I agree with the points here! I really do. And, as an afficionado of Viking-Era swords (particularly those that were prevalent in Sweden and Finland), this is a point that I often consider as well when I talk about swords. They are not really viking sword, but viking-era. A few types were not even very prevalent in Scandinavia (e.g. the type L shown in this video). However, I do use the term 'viking sword' a lot, because, like the term viking itself, it's gotten changed in popular language. Just as 'viking' has come to mean 'any Scandinavian from circa 750 AD to 1050 AD,' so 'viking sword' just means one of these styles of one-handed sword with a short hilt, relatively small but thick guards, etc. I think of it kind of like the term 'pirate sword.' Technically, there is no such thing as a pirate sword. Pirates didn't make swords, nor did they have any kind of sword that was exclusive to them. But people talk about 'pirate swords' anyway, just meaning 'the kinds of swords pirates used.' That seems to be the way people use the term 'viking sword.' As long as we're aware of this, I don't think it's much of an issue. By the way, I also really recommend 'Marks of Fire, Faith, and Value' by Mikko Moilanen for anyone interested in swords of this era. Although it focuses on swords found in Finland, and only on those with iron inlays in the blades, he includes so many useful measurements and things that I have not found in any other sources. So for people trying to learn what the originals were really like, it is a wonderful source. He is also a swordsmith himself, so he discusses the metallurgy and how the swords were likely made.

[@RichardCarlsson]

Hello Blake! :-)

[@blakewinter1657]

@@RichardCarlsson How odd seeing you here!

[@RichardCarlsson]

@@blakewinter1657 Ditto.

[@Nightmare-pj4fg]

Hmm, the pirate analogy is sound but did Vikings/ the people of Denmark, Scandinavia, etc not make their own steel? Are they and their blacksmiths not famous for a kind of Damascus accidentally made using twisted steel bought from the Middle East? Or is this another case of we can’t be sure where the swords are from in Europe? Edit: I’m talking about UlfBerht swords which apparently indeed are not probably not “viking”.

[@Jonsson474]

If I may, I’d like to clarify some of the confusion of the different Viking tribes and who went Viking where.The borders of the different Viking tribes and the modern countries are very different. The Dane’s came from todays Denmark and from todays southern Sweden. Sweden didn’t exist so within the area of todays Sweden lived four main tribes; the Swedes (east central), the Geats(south central), the Gutes (island of Gotland) and the Danes (South). The kingdoms of the swedes and the Geats later united to become Sverige (Sweden in Swedish). The southern part of Sweden where the Dane’s lived was later conquered from Denmark. In the the area of todays Norway were the Geats and the Norwegians. The Norse were however very mobile and often moved from one area to another. Many of the famous Viking kings and warriors didn’t originally come from the area or tribe they were known for. Somone known to be Norwegian might actually have been a swede and a swede might originally have been a Dane. One example is Ragnar Lothbrok, who is famously portrayed as a Dane but he was actually born in the kingdom of the swedes and was a son of the Swedish king Sigurd Ring. What makes up for this confusion is mostly due to English name translations and very different borders. The people in Sweden today are all called swedes in English and the Viking tribe are also called the swedes. But in the Scandinavian languages there is a distinction. The tribe were “Svear” but the people living in todays Sweden are “Svenskar”. Svenskar are made up of Svear(swedes), Götar(Geats), Gutar (Gutes) and Skåningar (who used to be Danes). Another contributing factor to the confusion and the factual errors is the fact that during the romance, it was common practice to slightly alter history for nationalistic reasons.

[@Jonsson474]

@@KurtFrederiksen Almost everything we have to go by are from the island if sagas and the Swedish rune stones, unless the Catholic Church documented it. And they were often wrong. I think you’re missing the point of my post. The swedes is not equal with Swedish Viking’s as there was no Sweden. The Swedes (not Swedish)was living in the area of todays central Sweden and gave name to the country. But if you say Vikings from Sweden you must include several tribes and include the Danes, as they lived in what now is Sweden. That’s why I say it’s a lot of confusion with the terminology. I’ve seen dozens of rune stones in Sweden telling the story of vikings from the area of todays Sweden, including central Sweden where the swedes lived, telling the story of journeys to the British islands. Unfortunately there was a lot of misconceptions and incorrect facts during the nationalistic era of the romance when people from Norway and Denmark dictated the Viking history.

[@runerebel8441]

Good and interesting video as always. Here in Norway it has been found over 3500 viking era swords. So they are relativley common here. Where they are made is a good guess, but there was lots of swordmakers I have been told. The quality of the steel and iron used was normaly of lower quality than in the rest of europe. Early types have shorter blades because of this. Again, I have been told so. I dont know if this is true..🤔

[@WoodrowSkillson]

Yep! that's why plaiting the iron was a common practice while forging, similar to how the japanese fold steel. And that is also why the Ulfbert swords were fancy rich guy options, because they used imported Indian crucible steel.

[@urkkipurkki5733]

Most iron age sword were found from Finland. Finland was unique bc of how many of those were found and how detailed they were. (Carvings of finnish gods and different symbols.) Like 50% of all iron age swords were found from finland.

[@larsamundlarsen4628]

That was brand new news for me. 50% of all iron came from Finland? I have never read about vikings from Finland?

[@urkkipurkki5733]

@@larsamundlarsen4628 No not 50% of iron. I meant 50% of iron swords. There isnt many videos or articles about this, and the ones that do exist are in finnish. Also vikings weren’t from Finland. Finnish tribes sometimes fought vikings. I had a phase where I was interested in iron age finland and finnish mythology, so I wached videos and read ab this stuff. Now it’s passed and I just remember some fun facts.

[@larsamundlarsen4628]

@@urkkipurkki5733 I understand what you mean. It's also difficult to know where the swords was made. The swords that has been digging out from graves in different places in Scandinavia show us that they had fantastisk swords, mostly from England or France. They had mutsh better steel than us, and they had learned from the Romans hundreds of years ago. It was forbidden to sell swords to the Vikings, but they stole or captured them during the fight.

[@PetriW]

Mun pitää kyl vähä haastaa tota sun argumenttia. Suomesta on löytyny arviolta noin yli 500 viikinki ajan miekkaa, ja taas Norjasta toista tuhatta...

[@PetriW]

I think hes reffering to Ulfberth swords. Not all viking sword's

[@velkewemaster]

Great video, i was just thinking about this topic last night. To my understanding most franks would have known these swords just as spatha, as they used latin terms for the military, for example lorica insted of mail.

[@trondsi]

I have to take a look at that book. I remember one Norwegian book on vikings stating that the Norse really preferred Frankish swords (or just blades) at the time, such as the famous Ulfberht swords. Not sure if this is the whole story of course.

[@lothbroke]

I'm glad he brought the single edge Norwegian swords because that the first thing I though of as a specifically viking sword. One in five swords discovered in Norway is single edged.

[@comiteolympiquedemocratique]

Same with the "Viking" shield. Used absolutely everywhere in Europe from as early as the 5th century for the oldest found via archaeological searches.

[@tsafa]

Very interesting additional Point.

[@Skuggan84]

Pretty sure Vikings also used Turkish/Arabian style swords... atleast some of the Varangians that served as guards for the emperor in Konstantinopel/Mikklagard (todays Istanbul). The Vikings used what they liked and could get their hands on. Some they made, some they bought, some they stole and some they looted from the dead. A good sword is a good sword and that is valuable.

[@anarchclown]

Interestingly enough. If I remember it correctly, the Varangians were offered swords along with the rest of their battle gear by the Byzantines but said they'd rather use their own swords. I'm not sure what the reasoning was, but I imagine the designs being too different from what they were used to might be a part of it?

[@ReasonAboveEverything]

@@anarchclown The early medieval swords in middle east were very similar to early medieval European swords. Straight stocky blade. Short crossbar.

[@anarchclown]

@@ReasonAboveEverything Yup. I don't know why they made that choice to be honest. I just know that it was specifically mentioned at some point that they didn't want the Byzantine swords.

[@ReasonAboveEverything]

@@anarchclown I'd quess it's because the swords they used were already custom made or at least the hilt was custom made for the each warrior. Plus possible magical bonds they might have with the sword.

[@davidfletcher6703]

I actually have a sword of that type from Windlass, it's based off of a find from Finland, it's got a pattern welded blade and the guard and pommel are unusually shaped, it's labeled as Damascus Viking sword in their catalogue

[@lehtju4waif5ahk49]

Suontaa sword?

[@ReasonAboveEverything]

@@lehtju4waif5ahk49 no it's the one with z type hilt.

[@davidfletcher6703]

​@@lehtju4waif5ahk49, I don't know, but it's listed in Windlass's catalog as Damascus Viking Sword

[@zoiders]

We have the Saxon Hoard on display at the city museum, split between our museum and Birmingham. Its very uniquely Saxon in ornamentatiom but the bare bones of how the swords and armour are shaped and styled show the huge influence of the Roman Legions. The swords are just like Roman cavalry swords which is unsurprising as the Germanic tribes fought for the Legions, often as cavalry. Then there is the Romano British influence as well. I am fairly certain its why European swords all have the same flavour.

[@Kaiyanwang82]

I also thought about the Spatha. I am just unsure about the average respective lenghts.

[@dirckthedork-knight1201]

There's also the fact that the culture of covering most of Europe at this point was Germanic so it really shouldn't be that surprising that most of tye weapons across Europe looked similar with eachother

[@Iceguide]

as much i know, there are no metal ore mines here in iceland, but the ore is bound in certain types of moss and had to be melted out, the quality was of course very fragile and the blades had to be imported from france and the local blacksmiths only mounted the handles on them and the sword was finished... fun fact, the "vikings" stole so much silver if you could find all this today and put it on the market the price of silver would fall by half - according to studies from sweden from the early 2000's

[@bjornronaldson6017]

This actually ties very closely to what I was going to post. We have amazing examples of the Saxon "three core" swords and numerous depictions of them in Anglo-Saxon art, that predate the "Viking Age." Later examples of art, in my opinion, clearly show Norse using swords strikingly like the Anglo-Saxon "three core" swords. As a smith, this makes a good deal of sense to me. Bog iron being the primary source of "hardenable" material in the most of the Scandinavian countries, produces significantly lower quality steel and is excessively labor intensive, while the British Isles, Frankia, Spain, the German Principalities and the imported steel from northern India / Pakistan was of significantly greater quality. Why wouldn't a raider / trader either take the raw billets or even better, the finished product home with them? And if the form was equated with function, as well as the material, it would make sense to reproduce the designs you know work, but add a little personal flair.

[@gustavchambert7072]

@@bjornronaldson6017 Do you have a source for the lower quality of metal produced from bog iron? Because all I can find suggests that it actually has less impurities than most orea, meaning it should produce better metal. As far as I understand, the reason for European pattern welding was the fact that bloomery smelting produces very impure ingots with non-homogenous carbon content. Which means that you can pick out the high-carbon steel pieces to use as edges, pattern weld the rest into as strong a blade as possible and weld the edges to that. That process would have been the same for any bloomery smelted iron though, not just bog iron.

[@bjornronaldson6017]

@@gustavchambert7072 it's less that the bog iron is inherently poor quality and more that the billet steel coming out of Northern India was of abnormally high quality at the beginning of the Viking Age. I believe the Brotish Royal Museum did a metallurgical study of several swords from the period and I know there have been several private experiences done with both processes, though we no longer have access to the naturally occurring raw material from those veins.

[@gustavchambert7072]

@@bjornronaldson6017 sure, I know about the north-indian steel but you seemed to say that the distinction was between bog iron and mined ore in general, as you mentioned the indian steel in the same sentence as a bunch of european mines. You actually state flat out that bog iron is more labour intensive and of lower quality than all the european, mined sources you mentioned. To my knowledge, none of those places made crucible steel or similar until much later in history, meaning the only real difference would have come from the source of the material.

[@bjornronaldson6017]

@@gustavchambert7072 ah, I see what you are getting at. Here is one interesting study on bloomery steel from the Medevail period, www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/kap_c/articles/2015_thiele_bloomery_steel_tests.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiD2Na-sb75AhVPpIkEHRwlAJIQFnoECAcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1fuDsRTGRmiaUOsq7PMCe0 And here is a decent description of smelting process for bloomery steel, with links to comparisons between modern and period bloomery steel. Still sifting through my library for my information on bog iron. It's not something I work with regularly, so I believe it may be in a box somewhere and since it is 5am here and my roommates are asleep, I am not going to risk waking them. I will try to find the texts and get you the info.

[@mr_m3lon24]

Your videos are always so informative! Thank you for sharing!

[@MythicFrost]

Large amount of Ulfberht swords has been found from Finland but it's not known how they got here and some even have suggested that those were forged in Finland.

[@daginn896]

There are 14 found in Finland (Moilanen argues the number is 31). 17 in Sweden, 9 in Estonia, 13 in Germany and 44 in Norway. I can't understand why Finland have been suggested as the origin of the Ulfberth based on numbers, Do you have a source? Going by numbers alone, Norway would be the obvious suggestion. Out of 167 Uflberth swords, over a quarter have been found in Norway. I doubt they were made in Scandinavia, or in the Nordics, as the name Ulfberth suggest todays Germany or France.

[@miracleyang3048]

@@daginn896 Interesting Archeology can be misleading without primary sources to guide us i mean with the finding alone one will assume those Swords were Scandinavian, but in reality that was mostly because of the pagan burial traditions

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

Any pointing to them being forged in Finland are doing so for a biased reason. The general concensus is they were forged in Francia so either Germany or France by modern standards plus a little bit of other countries. The name is a frankish personal name. We'd also have to look at the Finnish swords and determine if they're even real or just era appropriate forgeries. Name spelling and a few other details matter. So do the fittings. All the highly decorated ones I know of are fakes and made of the wrong blade material. Might be some rehilted ones but none I'm aware of. But finland is the wrong area.

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

@@daginn896 31 found in Finland. But we don't have exact numbers. One expert does show the 14 swords he accounted for. Another mentions a total of 31 and shows some of them but doesn't go into enough detail. We also aren't sure on the exact number of real originals. And how many are actually in extant existence because there's some that may be in private collections. There's also some swords believed to be in reference to the originals that were found in Finland but not actual originals. And there's some that are in extreme states of damage from the ages that are debatable if they're even really still surviving examples.

[@Blake_Stone]

A Viking sword is one with a horned helmet on the pommel, a biker leather hilt and a horsehair plume that's side-shaved and braided. Usually kept in a woolen chainmail scabbard.

[@wolf310ii]

No thats total wrong, they used fur like a real barbarian not wool for the scabbard.

[@pcooper4976]

Have you ever done a video specifically about the Ulfberht swords? I don't know much on the subject and would be interested in your thoughts.

[@forkliftwizard]

Excellent video, but I found myself wondering why you didn't show more of the bigger pictures ?

[@andrewfujiki616]

I love the Migration Era sword. Really gotta find the time to forge the ones I sketched years ago.

[@rudyschultzzz]

That War of Clans ad transition legit made me lol. Really fun moment there.

[@hollyingraham3980]

Irish culture did not include cities. Dublin wasn't just ruled by the Norse, it was founded by them.

[@joshpullman1690]

I just had a thought whilst watching. It’d be really cool to have a virtual SG workshop with all your weapons on the walls beautifully rendered and videos about/related to them and weapon information on a virtual museum plaque.

[@joellaz9836]

I think it would have been interesting to note that there’s written evidence that Vikings preferred Frankish swords because the Frankish king passed a law prohibiting the sale of weapons to Vikings on pain of death. *Scandinavian battle axes, spears, and arrows were efficient, but Vikings nevertheless coveted Frankish battle swords, which were famous for their craftsmanship all over Europe and even in Baghdad. Scandinavian warriors often acquired Frankish swords; many were buried with them. The Franks were aware of the superiority of their weapons; Emperor Charles the Bald in 864 prohibited the sale of weapons to Northmen, on pain of death.*

[@TacDyne]

Ulfberht is Saxon for wolf bright. Yes, Ulfberht, or +ulfberh+t to be correct, was Saxon make, not Frankish. The Franks spoke vulgar Latin at the time, and if they were indeed monastery made, they would have been in Latin, not Saxon. I and a team of people from around the globe researched this for many years. The ONLY language Ulfberht is contemporary with, and is found in, is Saxon.

[@johnhanley9946]

Great video, I really appreciate the depth you're going into on this topic!

[@Duececoupe]

A must have book it seems.... excellent video as always! Greetings from a Swede in Glasgow....

[@LazyLifeIFreak]

The Danes that invaded/raided then-England were mostly Jutes and to this very day, Danes from Jutland are still called Jutes. As far as I know the Danes were predominantly a tribe/clan(?) from Zealand. I might be wrong.

[@jackellock7113]

I can't believe this guy doesn't have 10 million subscribers.

[@ODonnchadhaBrian]

Nice to hear your pronunciation of Clontarf improving with time.

[@Snikwald]

Two things that I feel strongly should be considered here is how developed was metallurgy in Scandinavia at the time and how much and of what quality ore they had access to. If both lesser than western and southern parts of Europe, then it would be logical for Vikings to have kept better quality swords (and consider them better to the level of choosing them as sidearms for final journey - burial). The fact that more straightforward swords were in fashion longer there seems to back that up. However all that is just my rambling, I have no idea. Great video, thanks Matt!

[@HighColorado]

Marvelous explanation, illuminating and thought provoking!

[@HrodnandB]

The whole term "viking" should just simply be abandoned in academic context. It's been way overused in recent years due to media popularity and a lot of hype from fans of tv shows and movies. Great presentation btw!

[@hollyingraham3980]

Make it go stand next to chainmail.

[@Shifty51991]

@@hollyingraham3980 ? what's wrong with chainmail lol more accurate than fucking leather armor....

[@PajamaPantsStudios]

But the term chainmail isn’t an ambiguous term. It’s a justified term due to the use of mail in other contexts, like email, snail mail, etc.

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

Helmetless Hollywood viking: Rah!!! Hjalmar Helmetbro: Well, Sven... It looks like you forgot your helmet again. You wouldn't want your wife to be a widow and the jarl to get fined for an Osha violation

[@Syriondeathvow]

Also a warrior would use whatever equipment he felt most comfortable with and felt had the most advantage. Look at brigantine armor.

[@khodexus4963]

"What is a viking sword?" Any sword that was worn/carried/wielded by a person who went viking.

[@khodexus4963]

@@Meevious No, it's a sword that is used for viking. I wasn't referring to a sword owned by a vikingr, but one being used for the purpose of viking. A cutting sword isn't a sword that is itself a cutting. It is a sword that is used for the purpose of cutting.

[@megadesu69]

People should check out iron age Germanic swords. They're single-edged and look kind of like machetes. The handle construction with the rivets also reminds me of messers which are also Germanic, as far as I'm aware. Swords like this seem to have been the original type used in the far north, until they began adopting double-edged swords from the Celts.

[@zoiders]

They adopted Roman swords. Its 100% down to Germanic tribes serving in the legions. We have a large Saxon hoard on display at the city museum and the sword is an ornate version of a Roman cavalry sword.

[@unclebob540i3]

People seem to underestimate the amount of trade that went on in that period, technology travels.

[@maxvarjagen9810]

Its kind of like calling a cutlass a pirate sword. Or a scimitar an arab sword. Or a katana a samurai sword. A gross oversimplification that nevertheless gets the point across very effectively.

[@megadesu69]

Excuse my ignorance, but in the case of the katana, weren't they almost exclusively used by members of the samurai class?

[@maxvarjagen9810]

@@megadesu69 samurai used lots of different swords, any of which could technically be considered "samurai swords". About the usage of the katana by non samurai, I've heard lots of conflicting information. I follow the line of thinking that as samurai were notably distinguished by the carrying of two swords, that implies that lowborn people would have been permitted to carry a single katana if it was appropriate for the situation.

[@rogerlafrance6355]

There was a TT show on a hoard of posh hilts and such with no blades. One would assume that the blades were reused, perhaps several times. Metalurgy shows blades were made in many places and exported from early Roman times.

[@huskergator9479]

Metal newbie here, so maybe this is a dumb question, but what does the metallurgy suggest? I kept waiting to hear about where the iron was from. I understand with trade and looting, everything ends up everywhere, but ….

[@inregionecaecorum]

In a way it is like arguing whether the Bowie knife is an American thing or Sheffield thing.

[@johnathonkeith4798]

I love learning about the Vikings what better person to learn about them right

[@ericfierro1693]

10:20-10:29 that escalated quickly

[@tunguskalumberjack9987]

🤣🤣🤣

[@josephnebeker7976]

Ever since I learned about these styles of swords I have referred to them as Migration Period swords, mainly for the simple reason that it's not always easy to know which nation or people's developed or made a particular sword. For the same reason I usually don't call all cruciform hilted swords an English sword or a French sword or an Italian sword. The same goes with many other general styled swords. There are some obvious exceptions to this, such as the Roman Gladius or Scottish Broadsword.

[@michaelpotts4001]

I think the books from Osprey, man at arms, ellite, created zome of that question, it points out your point but mentioned the pommel styles made a differences. And yes a big arms trade amd taking a dead warriors. But love new information about the subject❤

[@petrapetrakoliou8979]

There's also another book more substantial perhaps (701 pages): "Viking swords" by Fedir Androshchuk, mainly presenting Swedish examples.

[@charlesjonestherednecknerd]

Were the Vikings traders or raiders? Yes. They were both at times. In my small studies I think Viking Era swords they are just an evolution of the swords of the migration period. This is good information on the varying burial practices and why some stuff is found in some locations and time periods. Ah the twisted history of the British Isles. I love reading about it but man is it far different than the outline I an American was taught. Thanks for a video on my Northern France and Norse roots. Skol! Have a great week Matt.

[@SembuaHumpdediddle]

Viktor Rydberg pointed out that the earliest patriarchs of Vikins were spearmen, not swordmen. Oera Linda Book documents the mixin of the Norse folks with Finda's i.e. Mongoloid inhabitants of Sweden and Finland. Hans F.K.Guenter's measurements of the skulls of the East Baltic Race show combined features of the Nordic Race and the Mongoloid Race. By cross-referencin these works, we can infer that swords were introduced by Finda's folks as the kinds interwedded with each other, through trickery and treachery of Finda's. At first, swords were despised, later accursed. Ivaldi was Cush, son of Canaan, and was, thus, black, since "Cush" means "black". His sons were the swordsmiths. Everybody was interweddin with Finda's and with Jotnar, if you go into detail about the genealogies. The mother or grandmother of Halfdan the Black was a Dverg i.e. Mongoloid. Atilla was a red-haired halfbreed dwarf (by later definition), but his kindred were interbred with Jotnar.

[@Spetulhu]

Wasn't there a time when the Franks put the death penalty on selling sword blades to northmen? A lot of the blades the vikings used were probably bought (or looted) elsewhere since mining iron wasn't a huge thing in Scandinavia during the viking age. Better use the bog iron for tools and smaller weapons like spear points or axe heads.

[@wehrewulf]

Even as far away as Arabia I bet.

[@brotherandythesage]

Viking swords found everywhere the Vikings went interesting. That "Saxon" sword looks more comfortable to wield by a modern man compared to having to use the Viking sword as a Viking.

[@The_Judge300]

Why do you think the Saxon sword looks more comfortable?

[@joshwright3683]

Great video. It's a bit of a false argument. It is well known that metallurgy was not as advanced in the places we now call Scandinavia as it was in the UK, Germany or France. My understanding is that the 'ulfberht' was the most desirable sword to the vikings although it originated in Frankia. These swords, at a time, were a prohibited export. In the modern era we use rifles. There have essentially been three dominant rifles post WWII. The AK, the AR and the FN-FAL. Given the video is English in origin, I wonder whether he would exclusively describe the FN-FAL as a Belgian rifle. That is where it was designed, although made under licence around the world by friend and foe. The UK fought Argentina in the Falkland Islands, both carried a version of the FN-FAL. There been over 7 million produced for over 90 countries, often locally under licence. A 20+minute video could have been summed up by calling the 'viking-era' or 'viking-style'. It makes a bit of a mockery when essentially referencing a book to a similar effect. Apart from being a pedant over terminology, a good video.

[@acethesupervillain348]

in fact, I think that basic pattern of sword was used from Ireland all the way to Arabia.

[@mikeorick6898]

Reminds me of the guys going on about the eastern archery gear found in 10th century Birka... ;)

[@8ace02]

Brilliant video and also thanks for the disambiguation of what is viking, scandinavian, frankish both in terms of swords and culture/ ethnicity. However, I´d quote you at 4:46 "..Francia, the land of the franks, what we generically call France these days.." Well, you shouldn´t because Francia/ France or frankish/ french is not synonymous at all. Albeit it is true that most of Roman Gaul had fallen under Frankish rule by the 8th century (conquered and accordingly named "Neustria" (New Realm) by Merowingian king Clovis/ Chlodwig I), the Frankish heartland "Austrasia" was located to the (then germanic) east. The clue is both in the name and the geography, Austrasia most likely being a latinisation of *oster rike, meaning "eastern realm", centered on the Middle Rhine, including the basins of the Moselle, Main, and Meuse rivers, most of which are located in modern Germany, Holland and Belgium, to a far lesser extent in modern France. Given the fact that both the metallurgic fingerprints and the "brand name" of the infamous Ulfberth swords (clearly falling into the overall stylistic patterns of the so called "Viking swords") these most likely originate from the Rhineland in modern Germany. Interestingly enough, that´s also where a good deal of suitable iron ore deposits during the middle ages were found. There´s an interesting source (downloadable as pfd.-file in English) about Ulfberth swords: "Anne Stalsberg, Herstellung und Verbreitung der Vlfberht-Schwertklingen. Eine Neubewertung, Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Mittelalters, 36, 2008, 89-118". So, the whole lot of this type of sword to my understanding is neither Viking, nor French, or "European" for that matter. It´s rather a "Carolingian Spatha", or an "Early Medieval German Sword"... which admittedly is a bit of a mouthful. Here´s an interesting video about making a copy of a Merovingian sword (spatha), literally from ore to blade. Although it´s in German, you´d easily get the gist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJzdqYyln89mmas

[@Jutang_Tzu]

You mention the Jutes, what’s a good resource for information on the jutes peoples

[@richardjohnson4052]

Want to know how to tell a Viking raider from a Viking trader? Count the swords on both sides.

[@benjaminboyle7329]

Matt Easton: Complains about pop culture views of vikings Also Matt Easton: Shows ad for a game that perpetuates pop culture views of vikings

[@matthewexline6589]

Extend the handle a few feet, shorten the blade a lot, widen it a bit, turn it sideways, there you go.

[@akablasto6133]

AS a Nordic American_ -I do agree - most swords - knives -walking sticks / staffs -anything martial is what one naturally wants to wield. The Scandinavian's - Nordics would of course grinned as they closed their eyes for the last time - clutching a captured Frankish / English steel sword - Valhalla ROARS tonight when we walk in with the enemies sword ! Great info - love it!

[@lalli8152]

I guess some kinda umbrella term for example like "arming sword" for medieval broad bladed cross hilted swords used all over in europe in period could be thing to solve issue. I personally use "migration era sword", but i guess even that isnt perfect term.

[@PieZello]

Will you be doing fight and weapon reviews for the upcoming LOTR and GOT shows?

[@ravendon]

Well technically, both the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Scandinavians all came from Germany. The Anglo-Saxons came from either Germany or Southern Scandinavia. Not to mention the hybridization of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings through intermarriage and conquest. So you could say these aren't Viking swords, but Germanic swords. And Germanic swords were based on Roman Gladius, which was influenced by Ibero-Celtic Spanish swords.

[@AhsokaTanoTheWhite]

There were also Vikings from what is the modern day Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, though most people forget.

[@daginn896]

Viking refers to an activity as well as a cultural package (that of pre christian Scandinavia).

[@asiansensation622]

My fellow history nerds (of aficionados, whichever) I'm going to Europe for the first time to visit Belgium and several German cities. What battlefields, sites, and museums do I need to go to? I'm already planning on going to Waterloo and Bastogne, and might be able to make it out to Teutoburg. But other than that I could use some advice.

[@Jugger_Coach]

While born in Berlin, I was growing up in Franken. Still smiling when someone speaks of "Viking swords". While they had been made in other parts of much-different medieval Franken, it is still amusing to think of good, old Frankish steel. Franken as it is today is more known for its beer, though. Fits quite well as an afterthought, though.

[@seamusderby169]

An oft overlooked fact is old Germanic, old English and old Norse are sister languages steming from proto German trade would have been fairly common especially in the Normandy region of France being relatively central to Northern Europe's seas

[@erikjrn4080]

In the same vein, it really annoys me, when someone says "Early Medieval sword". It should be Early Medieval *Era* sword! I'm kidding. People are lazy. "Medieval Era" will become simply "Medieval", every single time, and it doesn't annoy me. Similarly, "Viking Era" will become "Viking". That's potentially confusing to people who know nothing about history and historical weapons, but we have no choice, other than to live with that. For referring specifically to swords made in Scandinavia, or by Scandinavians, I suggest saying _Norse swords._ The Norse raided, traded, settled, crafted, conquered, manufactured, explored, captured, oppressed, killed, were killed, ruled, extorted, fought as mercenaries, and generally did everything else that people did back then. They were just a bit more eager than average, when it came to some of those things. Matt has a chip on his shoulder about the Vikings behaving badly in England, and has very nearly accused English Viking reenactors of treason. It hardly matters which side in what part of English history one reenacts, though. If it's after the Roman occupation ended, one will be a traitor, by that standard. At that point, everyone in England was an invader or a descendant of an invader. Yes, Matt, even you. The Vikings weren't special in what they did, just in how successfully they did it, how many places they did it, and for how long they kept doing it. Oh, and they considered getting killed a success, which, I guess, does set them apart a bit, but not by nearly as much as one would think. Winning 50% of pitched battles is pretty good for an invader arriving by sea, by the way. The rule of thumb is that an invading force needs to outnumber the defenders 2:1, in order to be successful. Arriving by sea, the Vikings had nothing close to that kind of numbers. Combining matching the English in pitched battles with guerrilla tactics, the Vikings were very successful. An invader being better than the locals in guerrilla tactics is also pretty unusual.

[@Ken19700]

Decorations aside, it's ultimately a Roman calvary sword.

[@paulolopes5714]

Excellent Vídeo. For a long time I tried to figure out the differences between anglo-saxon and viking swords. You have shown slight differences on pomels and crossguards, but what about the actual mailing of the sword? Are there metalurgical differences? I heard about a high quality viking blade made by a certain blade smith that even engraved his mark on its swords!

[@wehrewulf]

The overall design likely emerged from the Roman Gladius, and Spatha. Individual swordsmiths elaborated with their own creative embellishments.

[@benluna1474]

Matt: "Hooray! for archaeologists..." Slave #43: 😰😰😰😰😰

[@Hin_Håle]

I've wanted a copy of one of the Sollerön swords for ages. I never thought about wether or not they are really scandinavian.

[@RHill40]

Would you recommend a master smith? The only swords I can find online are mass produced junk, usually made in Asia.

[@PenDragonsPig]

The Irish were the first Vikings and the Danes and the Cornish were allies at times- don’t think that relationship lasted much past Knut invading Kernow.

[@andreweden9405]

"Although smaller weapons like daggers, knives, and arrowheads could be manufactured in Scandinavia, the best swords and spearheads were undoubtedly imported." -Wikipedia article on Viking-age arms and armor. Btw, I've always LOVED the Albion "Clontarf". It's almost as precious now as it would have been in the time of Charlemagne, considering that Albion no longer makes it!😥

[@anarchclown]

Yeah. That is utter nonsense from Wikipedia. I have no idea who wrote that, but considering there are impressive local objects made from iron and steel from earlier than the viking era, it's a preposterous stereotype that keeps being perpetuated, partially at least by the actual school system for some reason. At least in Sweden, we had access to iron very early on and we exported iron objects but somehow even though we had plenty of it, even though Lapphyttan in Sweden is the oldest known blast furnace in Europe, even though we have what appears to be purely scandinavian designs of things, even though there are plenty of helmets and other objects made by the norse, for some reason there are still people believing that "they couldn't make swords". It's quite frustrating.

[@andreweden9405]

@@anarchclown , I do think the author quoted in the Wikipedia article is probably making an overly broad statement. That being said, I think they are probably speaking only within the context of what we would call the "Viking Age" (7th-10th centuries), and even then, only in reference to swords and some spears. I do believe that it's pretty well established by archeological evidence that the vast majority of swords used by Scandinavian Vikings were obtained from outside of Scandinavia, i.e. the Kingdom of the Franks.

[@almandragoran]

@@andreweden9405 There is no such consensus at all. The Ulfberht swords were probably manufactured in a Frankish workshop (though copies probably made somewhere else have also been found), but iron production was a huge part of the Scandinavian economy. Eva Hjärtner-Holdar of the Swedish National Heritage Board and Stockholm University has spend her career on Iron Age iron production and smithing in Sweden, and she has definitively shown that very fine carbon steel was made in Sweden, which was particularly well suited for making weapons such as swords through pattern welding. There was also martensite quality iron, which is excellent for edges. There was a system of differently shaped iron bars depending on the type and quality of iron, and this system was in place by 0 AD, so long before the Viking Age. Therefor, the theory that most Scandinavian swords had imported blades are not sustainable, at least not for Sweden. The scale, quality and organization of the central Swedish iron industry in the 1st millennium AD was far too advanced for there not having been a substantial local production of swords, seaxes, spear- and arrow heads during the entire period. This proficiency in iron smithing also extended to other, non-martial objects as well, such as latticework bird ornaments on Vendel period shields, and of course the Vendel helmets, for instance.

[@-RONNIE]

Thanks for the sword video ⚔️

[@Loki_Firegod]

What I find a bit sad, quite apart from all the "viking swords" on the market that would more accurately be called either viking age swords or actually frankish swords (because more often than not, they were made in Francia - at some point, the Frankish rulers banned exporting frankish swords to Denmark and Norway because too many Vikings - this time actual Vikings - turned up a bit later with high-quality frankish steel in hand to raid the Franks), is that you can find a lot of 9th and 10th century swords, but very few replicae of 6th and 7th century swords, and even less that are actually accurate and based on finds (and made of quality steel, too). There are some decorative swords from the northern areas (usually called vendel swords) and I've seen a replica of the sword from the Sutton Hoo burial, but apart from that, it's very little, even though there are great finds and very beautiful hilt and pommel designs in that time.

[@matthewwalker5430]

I mean, anyone who says that Anglo-Saxons only carried those swords because they traded with Danes is kind of missing the point that, by the same argument, Danes only took those swords back to Scandinavia because they traded with Anglo-Saxons. It may have been the Dark Ages but Anglo-Saxon England was a pretty wealthy place - there's a reason why the Danes came here as Vikings to raid in the 1st place and just look at Sutton Hoo! Swords in this period were not cheap to design and manufacture, they were pretty high status, and whilst I am clearly not saying that Danes did not smithy their own weaponry, there is a reason why the Axe was their preferred raiding tool. They most likely acquired the majority of their swords either through trade or raids, which would imply that their swords could just as easily come from areas outside of Scandinavia.

[@PenDragonsPig]

I didn’t watch the. Series Viking but now I wish I did. I did see a short clip of the program and saw one Norwegian warrior using a falcata- whatever it’s real name was, whoever invited it, and whoever used it.

[@robertmedina5850]

This was a good video found it informative

[@martinjansson1970]

3:32 There were no "Swedish" Vikings in "England" and "France". But there where a lot of Geatish Vikings (in all the early expeditions to the area, even more than the number of Danish Vikings), and also a few Rus Vikings there. Vikings that came from what is now Sweden. During most of the Viking era, the Geats had a very friendly relation with the Norsemen and Danes, and partook, in large numbers, in most of their early Viking expeditions to the British Islands and Celtic controlled parts of Continental Europe (modern day France). Occasionally, a Rus, or even a few Rus ships, would also join Danish and/or Norse Viking expeditions. But the Rus Vikings mostly traveled more to the east. The Rus even founded a new nation in the east, guess the name! C:a 900 AD, the previous arch enemies, the Geats and the Rus, created a coalition, that you might call Sweden. But some historians place the creation of Sweden at a later point in time, usually the 13th century (as laws in the two areas became more, and more, unified), but some even as late as 1521, when the areas for the first time became ruled under the same one law, the same one assembly, and the same one King (that soon would make himself a tyrant). The Danes and Norsemen wasn't particularly fond of the Rus (altough the kingdoms would at different points in time, be overseen by the same King or Queen, but never under the same law or assembly (ting)). To complicate Norse+Danish and "Swedish" relations further, the Geats got Christianised as early as 1.000 AD, and within the same generation, spread that religion to the Rus areas they already controlled, or would conquer. So not a lot of "Swedish" Vikings joined later expeditions to "England" and "France". So, not any "Swedish" vikings, anywhere, because they have never existed, because a Swedish national identity didn't exist, yet. But a lot of vikings from what is now Sweden.

[@pillowmanswe2350]

yeah the swedish viking being rus viking is correct. as you said sweden did not yet exist

[@WritingFighter]

So for the commoners and overview classification... *what exactly should/can we call these Viking Era swords?* The differences around the ornamental bits of the hilts or pommel doesn't change too much the overall stylistic approach made to these weapons or how they were used. The differences between most of these swords found in Scandinavia, the British Isles, or across mainland Europe in this period is less than the difference between katana and ninjato. "Carolingian" seems to be too unpopular, but I like the term. Anyone trying to search for references on these swords would get 1,000% better Internet search returns attaching the word "Viking" to the keywords.

[@MrErikseifon]

Some modern Danish historians claim that the Vikings never existed. It is a literary invention from the 1800s. The Viking expansion is just a Nordic Iron Age expansion...

[@jasonmorahan7450]

I read some historical account of Celtic smiths being particularly prized as slaves by wealthy Roman elites, enjoying luxurious lives producing exquisite blades by Roman standards, with their characteristic techniques such as hard tempered edge inserts lesser local smithies had largely yet to develop in iron weapons and of course simply working iron for a high quality sword was itself an individual talent. The point it makes is that obviously a smithy was more prized than a sword to ensure the quality of a sword and these would have been undoubtedly traded as valuable slaves in this period, smiths formerly producing weapons in the Anglo-Saxon style at some coastal city might be taken in a raid to Scandinavia to produce weapons for them and then traded between kingdoms as a valuable asset. Another consideration is that, if I recall correctly Scandinavian ore was, for the most part not awesome compared to that being turned up in Frankish lands, yielding less usable at greater effort in batches of material through the working process, so foreign swords were likely to have been highly prized in the first place. They may have become like a badge of influence and authority, very much a cultural feature however not at all indigenous.

[@onbedoeldekut1515]

Hi Matt. Is it not possible to perform spectrographic/isotopic studies on extant examples to determine any number of desired variables?

[@CChrisL]

What about Seax Swords and Ulfberht Swords? Do you personally own any actual Viking Swords that you can show us, instead of pictures from a book?

[@thorsforge4517]

I actually belive very few viking era sword blades where made in scandinavia. Some of the hilts for sure but the blades probaly not. As you said the single edge swords is most likely scandinavian made sens single edge swords where popular longer in scandinavia than in the res of Europe. Good topic

[@tsafa]

Is there any historical data on where the Iron was mined in Europe. It seems to me that the Iron Mines would be the driving factor.

[@davidhenriksen5947]

One of the best videos on youtube.