In paleontology they have the same issue with what they call preservation bias, where paleontologists tend to find more of certain kinds of dinosaurs (typically very large ones and from certain regions) because those are what preserve the best but don't represent the true diversity of these animals in life. Paleontologists tend to find large adult animals more often than juveniles or babies because those are what preserve better and does not mean that there were very few young dinosaurs running around. They also tend to find animals that lived in environments near rivers and flood plains but not deep in tropical forest because those are the environments that preserve the animals the best and not because there were dinosaurs living in environments where we don't find fossils in.
Anglo Saxon sword in York museum? That reminded me of a story my headmaster told me in the 1990s, I was in primary school in North Yorkshire. He said one of his ex pupils found a sword in gilling beck, I used to live in gilling west so I remember it. Turns out it's the exact same sword and he was talking about the sword 20 years after it was found to inspire his students to history. I gotta get down there and start looking next time I go home!
Ryukey If you should find anything: Do not excavate it. Immediately inform the authorities and make sure the archaeologists can observe the finding in it's original environment. We lose so much information by people (often thinking they're helping) digging up stuff, effectively making it impossible to draw conclusions from the surroundings it was found in. I am of course aware, that you only wanted to share this anecdote, but I found it was an ideal opportunity to inform some interested people about the dangers for our science by lay-helpers.
I think you should maybe take a look at the anthropomorphic hilts from the Celts for the inspiration for the curved bars of the Anglo Saxon hilt, just a thought.
"Matt is a viking hater"...perhaps it is time to find the good old longship in the garage and go back to England! You still owe us a lot of Danegeld, Matt.... (we Danes still keep our weapons, boats and horned helmets, because we a Asetro naturally)
Oddly the most interesting part to me was the brief aside at the beginning about spatulate tips. It's something I haven't heard before and I had wondered why you'd ever want a rounded tip. Well know I know, thanks!
Interesting information on the construction of the pommel. i really enjoy bits of information that can be only understood by observing the real articles.
A knife... and not like a lang messer is a knife, more like Crocodile Dundee saying "this is a knoif" type of knife. Though they have no hand guard, but were carried by many of the people who carried the types of sword that Matt was just showing, used as a general utility knife, but like a bowie knife or kukri it could also be used for defense, as well as utility. So having one with a matching hand grip to one of the swords could make a nice set piece.
Speaking of York, one thing thing that marks the type L as probably Ango-Saxon is that a large number of leather scabbard covers were found in York and a lot of them were curved at the top, perfect for a type L hilt, and they had a stitch along the curved upper edge where they were sewn to the scabbard lining or whatever covered the mouth of the scabbard so these curved flaps were not rain guards. One could make the argument that York was an Anglo-Scandinavian city but then there are also some survivng scabbard covers from Gloucester that were made for type L hilted swords and Gloucester was in deepest darkest Wessex. Finally there are also a few manuscript illustrations showing figures with later styles fo the Type L.
Matt anything you could say about 'spanish' swords (be it from the christian north or muslim south) during this period? We always see a lot about 'vikings', Anglo-Saxons and Franks, but not much about other european regions
I honestly haven't looked at Spanish archaeology for this period. I *think* that they were using similar swords to the Franks in Christian areas and of course the Moors had their own sword types.
I am curious as to why you chose oak for the grip. I have always thought oak was no desirable as the oak can be corrosive to the steel. I personally use poplar but I am always curious about what others use.
We should always think in probabilities, and likelihoods. I never really looked to closely at the designs on the hilts, but after you pointed that out, i think your right. Those designs are defiantly mainland Europe designs on the hilt, Scandinavians much preferred the woven look, but franks and Italians would definitely put vines on their weapons. Vikings obviously took them home and used them for themselves, its probably likely that they then designed their own swords based the ones they took from southern Europe.
Mr. Easton would you be willing to put some vocabulary in your video descriptions? Terms used and proper spelling, that why viewers can use them to search with and learn more?
Yeah, as Alistair says it would be a lot of work... but if he had a general link on his videos to a page that did just that, that may work. My sister is staying with me, and I had to pause a few times to explain what he was talking about.
Matt, is it possible for you to make a video about East Roman or Byzantine swords? I know this a really wide and complicated subject but I'm just puting an idea for a future video. Thank's again for all this great content : )
Unfortunately that's my case too. The only basic knowledge I have are reports of weapon imports from European Kingdoms during the Mid and Late Byzantine Era and in the same time the use of Asian curved blades by the army. We do see the use of European straight and Asian curved blades simultaneously in our hagiography saved from those centuries. My apologies I'm certainly not an expert on the issue, just sharing some basic thoughts, my field of expertise is modern arms. Just for encyclopedic reasons here's a song orchestrated in the 11th-12th century way. ua-cam.com/video/P2mRotEdCV4/v-deo.html
So now how about some viking era helmets? We all know the famous Coppergate and the Gjermundbu ones, but are there any other distinct styles (except the nasal)?
Without the cap on the pommel the Anglo-Saxon design reminds me of one of those anthropomorphic hilts that were popular in Celtic regions in the Iron Age. Obviously just a coincidence since there are only so many practical geometries
What is (strangely enough) never mentioned, but is - in my opinion - a very important reason for the Viking era swords design , is the aspect of durability. Viking era swords were mostly used with and against shields. And it was a blade mainly for chopping and cutting. So, - if you swing your sword against an opponents shield repeatedly, a narrow tip will be damaged very soon. With the short and broad (sometimes fully rounded) tip of these kinds of sword, that risk is minimized. And even when chopping occasionally into (the quite rare at that time) chainmail - it is far better not to have a narrow tip.
Awesome video as always, also 15:55 minutes of pommel related information and not one pommel joke colour me impressed... Slightly off topic; have you ever seen a Sardignian "Albertina"-sword?
Actually we’re still doing the same thing nowadays-you see soldiers in battle using captured weapons all the time. SEALs in Vietnam used AK-47’s a lot of times. In the Afghanistan War the use AK’s regularly as well. If a fighting man thinks another weapon will give him the advantage, he’ll use it. Also, about that Anglo-Saxon hilt-I also thought it was Norwegian, and saw it labeled as such in one of the long ago issues of Museum Replicas Ltd. (a catalog of medieval etc. weapons for reenactors in the ‘90’s-still great) Interesting I am not qualified to to make any assumptions on that but somehow I wonder if we’ve heard the last of that controversy. I love your videos Matt, it’s nice to get a scholarly view on weapons by someone who seems quite qualified to me. Too many people just want themselves and their opinions heard, and in so doing gather a tribe around them without the people doing their research on the subject. Refreshing!
A very informative video. But the ONE thing I cannot find in any of your migration era/viking age sword videos; information on the distal taper of these swords. I was recently watching your video on the Sutton Hoo sword. Great video, you talked about the dimensions, point of balance ect. But no info on distal taper.
We can say that there is absolutely no evidence for them. We cannot say that they absolutely didn't exist, but it seems very unlikely that gambesons existed before about 1100 at the earliest.
Umm... you are falling into the classic archaeological blunder so many others have. Just because the minuscule amount of land we have excavated hasn't revealed a gambeson, doesn't mean they didn't exist. Here's an example of the hazards of this path of logic. southpark.cc.com/clips/401750/ancient-alien-thanksgiving
A quote by George Barone; "archeology is not the only source for evidence". And what other sources of evidence do you use? Do you toss the bones? Eat magic mushrooms and wait for your god to give you magical divination? You just made stupid comment of the year. With that said, people weren't generally buried in their armor back then. They were buried with regular clothes on, hence the reason there aren't any gambesons in graves. Mass burials after battles were generally stripped and mutilated bodies, since it was fairly profitable to keep what the dead left behind. Again, the reason there are no gambesons in those graves. Remember that one single Rus burial that had a small cone shaped thingy in it that so many people assumed was an end cap from the Birka style, AKA Santa hat? Yeah, fun times. Next thing you saw was hundreds of reenactors running around with Santa hats instead of the common round caps of the time. It still has not been proven to be an end cap from a hat.
The only evidence for a Viking era gambeson-like garment I know of are the magic reindeer coates of Tore Hund when he fought Olav the Holy and one reference to a felted garment that might maybe be some kind of armour. Those are the only litterary sources i know of. Most people generally don't think these sources talk about a gambesonlike garment.
It would be interesting to find out how many of the Anglo Saxon style blades found in Norway were found in burials along with hulls from English black walnuts.
Two things matt, could you talk a little about dark age single edge swords (like the viking style single edge sword). Also you promised to do a more extensive video of european sword quick draw techniques, the one similar to iaido.
I have three binns swords, and four pole arms. Paul makes great blades, but he seems to like a rough and ready approach. Which I'm totally on board with, because it's more like what we would find on mass in hands. But, I can re hilt or adjust a little to suit whatever I like. I'd rather line Paul's palm than send my hard earned to America !
'Not many people wearing chainmail?' - wasn't one of the requirements for holding 5 hides of land that the holder was obliged to provide arms and (chainmail) armour (and two horses) for one soldier/servant - anyone holding 5 hides of land would be paying five pounds of silver per year in taxes, he would be expected to help defend his land anyway and probably wouldn't be putting up his own tent, cooking his own meals or tending his own horse, and he'd probably have his own chainmail too.
Hi - under Burhgal Hideage yes indeed one in 5 hides was required for military service, and another to man fortifications, but do you know of any documents actually specifying a mail byrnie? I have had a quick search and the only edicts I could find listed spear, shield, sword and helmet. My impression from everything I've read is that mail shirts were indeed rare until perhaps around 950-1000AD.
Cheers for the reply (and thanks for the vid :-) - sadly had to get rid of all my books (incl. Maitland) a while back but I'm pretty sure the list read something like 'one helmet, one (can't remember if the term hauberk or byrnie was used),one shield, two spears and two horses. Just had a quick look at Wiki to no avail, see if I can do a bit more digging.
Dug this up from Fordham University's 'Ancient History sourcebook page sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1035Cnutrelf.asp '72. And let the heriots be as it is fitting to the degree. An eorl's such as thereto belongs, that is, eight horses, four saddled and four unsaddled, and four helmets and four coats of mail, and eight spears and as many shields, and four swords and 200 mancuses of gold.' - Admittedly this is an Earls heariot and it is due to Canute but the 'horses saddled & unsaddled (half & half - one to ride and one spare - don't want any 'lame' excuses) rings a bell for the Burhgal Hideage, also a quote/saying of the time saying something like 'even if a man has his own helmet, sword, spear shield, horse and armour, unless he hold 5 hides of land he is not a thegn.' My interpretation was 'Because a thegn brings at least one similarly equipped servant with him.'
+OrkStuff I dunno man, the "viking age" is commonly considered to have lasted from ~600 AD to 1066 AD - that's a huge time period. We can't reasonably expect that the laws and equipment during the time of, say, Charlemagne, were the same as the ones during the reign of Canute, right? Besides, obviously as time went on, more and more mail armour became available, and thus more people would have some. The link you posted doesn't invalidate what Matt said: "My impression from everything I've read is that mail shirts were indeed rare until perhaps around 950-1000AD". Now, a source from the time of Charlmagne, on the other hand... My curiosity is piqued by the mention of "breast-plates" - were those boiled leather breastplates? Before the advent of metal plate armour, boiled leather seems to have been used as extra protection, in combination with mail. Is that what the link is talking about? Or just poor translation of anglo-saxon words?
+TheFilthyCasual 'We can't reasonably expect that the laws and equipment during the time of, say, Charlemagne, were the same as the ones during the reign of Canute, right?' Can't actually think of any good reason for them to have changed that much from Alfreds' time to Canutes' - nothing else had really changed that much. 'Besides, obviously as time went on, more and more mail armour became available, and thus more people would have some.' The Romans had chainmail when they came here, the Sutton Hoo burial contained a chainmail hauberk of at least thigh length, the Coppergate helmet has a chainmail 'camail' at the back - yes, they are rare finds but Anglo-Saxon finds of any type are comparatively rare. Arguably the fact that there is so 'many' of them would suggest it wasn't that rare but the link I posted to was most similar to what I recall reading about the 5 hide obligations of the Burghal Hideage, including the spare horse (and the spare shield and spear - a friend argued that they might be used by another man defending a Burgh wall where he might not have as much need for chainmail, personally, I thought they're just things that are likely to get wrecked and need replacing mid-battle). I can't think of any good reason why Canute should have changed Alfreds' laws other than (perhaps) to benefit himself. 'My curiosity is piqued by the mention of "breast-plates" - were those boiled leather breastplates? Before the advent of metal plate armour, boiled leather seems to have been used as extra protection, in combination with mail. Is that what the link is talking about? Or just poor translation of anglo-saxon words?' The breastplates appear to be a later Norman adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon/Danish laws. Also, as far as I'm aware, swords of that bladeform were still being used from 950-1066.
While it's true that "gambesons" proper did not exist back then, textile armor was still a thing and had been for millenia at that point (no pun intended). People wore quilted textile vests under their mail during the roman era, they probably did not stop doing it afterwards.
7:15 : *LULZ* I can almost imagine some of the "outrage"; I can hear a ghostly voice like Marty Feldman, uttering curses and daring you to move to Lindisfarme.
@@adamgetzendanner My point is that rosemaling is one of the most scandinavian things there is (together with longships, bunads, blue eyes, and IKEA). It's really fucking weird to show rosemaling and claim "it doesn't look scandinavian".
I know gripping a sword is a personal thing, but if you want the most effective bang for your buck, you're doing it wrong. Anchoring with the pinky is the exact opposite of what you want to do for maximum efficiency in energy transfer. Grip with the index finger and thumb. About 3/4 the way through your swing, clench your other fingers down on the handle. This will yield a whipping action and give extra punch.
How about making some videos about old Slavic swords (weapons in general). Say from the Great Moravian period (late 7th or early 8th century up to some 10th century). Coincidentally, that period overlaps significantly with the heyday of the Viking era. There were essentially some territorial disputes with the Frankish empire. But also some cultural influences (through church mainly, until Moravia chose to split away from the Frankish monks and invited Cyril and Methodius). So, were there any influences in the weaponry? Probably, but it would be nice if you could perhaps elaborate on that a bit more. Thanks'.
I'm curious as to whether the pommel and crossguard on your anglo-saxon sword could be decorated at a later date - would etching merely produce a surface effect similar to how the Albion looks, or could it produce an effect similar to moulding if enough material is removed?
Mr. Matt, do you have any knowledge about later medieval sword hilts (12-14th century) in the area of Slovenia, Austria..? All the examples I saw have the same kind of hilt shape I have not seen mentioned anywhere else.
Doesn't the inwardy curved guard on the anglo-saxon sword facilitate better/more secure sword-binding? It's easier for the opponents sword to get "stuck" on the base of the sword/more difficult to slip off the guard?
Hello, Matt! I apologize for my language as I'm not a native speaker and, maybe because of this, slightly longer question than would be considered "easy" and polite :D As you were extrapolating on Scandinavian artistic differences, you mentioned that Sweden would look towards the east, Russia (I understand it to be meant as slavic tribes or, closest to a close-to-Baltic slavic state at that time, Principiality of Pskov) to be exact. Would it not be more appropriate to say Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes as at that period slavic tribes did not populate lands near Baltic Sea and therefore be in vicinity of Sweden, and as trade and raids were mutual between Swedish raiders and, for example, Baltic Curonians? For example, Snorri Sturluson's "Heimskringla" informs that danish had a prayer "God, save us from plague, fire and Curonians", implying that mutual raids and cultural mixing were happening. Also, what exactly is your argument for the second type being Anglo-Saxon type hilt, not Norwegian type hilt? I heard your explanation why this could be NOT Norwegian style and still have so many finds in Norway, but I'm afraid I have missed your reason to think that this is Anglo-Saxon type hilt except for, again, finds. Thank you in advance if you can answer to my question :)
Badger0fDeath well, that's exactly my point. Vikings mostly visited what is today Baltic states. There were two main trade routes through Eastern Europe - Volga trade route (which went through Rus states) and trade route From Varangians to the Greeks that went through modern Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine etc, not venturing in modern Russia territory. As far as I know second was more prominent, so my statement stands. About swords - agree to you, I just didn't know about the statistics 😊
Honestly decorative pommels are extremely common on swords from multiple cultures in multiple time periods. It might serve a function, but I don’t it has to.
Matt, can you tell us a bit about early medieval padded garments, what was worn under mail in that period? Its a broad question but you love digressing so maybe make a video about that :) What I read is that earliest use of gambison, that can be proven, is the late 10th century, so I wonder what was in use before that.
What sword would have been used just before the viking period but after the migration period? Say between 700 - 750, on the continant (france, germany, etc)? I can't find information anywhere...
Piercing dedicated maille armor was not going to be doable with any single-handed weapon anyway. - Unlike a dummy tied to a stand, a live human opponent wearing maille as primary passive defense over textile armor can still be pushed around and thus will not have its armor easily pierced by a handheld weapon, even with a spear point, even less so a pointy sword. The main reason for this is that *it often takes less force to push the body back than what it would take to pierce the maille links.* Therefore you would almost never pierce the maille unless you were pinning your opponent to a wall or a tree. - The maille voiders of later plate armors had lighter maille and their links were not as strong as those of a full primary-protection hauberk and could, in theory, be pierced; though in practice that would still be incredibly rare because effectively stabbing the small gaps in plate armor *_with any significant force_* while still being accurate enough to connect with the gap is extremely difficult and unlikely. - The best way to counter and defeat early-medieval maille armor was still to *_go around the armor;_* i.e., to strike at the limbs and extremities; and since stabbing extremities in movement is much much harder and less effective than cutting at them; cutting attacks were still prioritized for this. Magnus Olafsson called his sword "Legbiter" for a reason.
Am I remembering wrongly or were there Greek and Celtic swords with hilts like that "Anglo-Saxon" style one? I mean in terms of the opposing arcs on the pommel and guard.
There was really no Gambeson in the 8th Century? Even though gambeson, mail and plate were all used in ancient times? Or just no evidence of gambeson because no one was drawing pictures of it?
Gambesons weren't used during the Viking era? I thought that the lower class soldiers in both the Greek hoplite armies and the Roman Republic wore linen armour.
Speaking of the way you hold the Frankish type sword; did they ever use lanyards or rope to aid in weapon retention? Having them on my ski poles have saved me from having to walk up the slopes to fetch them a couple of times and I'd imagine it'd fulfill the same function on a weapon, albeit in a situation where losing your tool would have more dire consequences. Yet I can't recall ever having seen them pictured on anything other than sabers and swords of much later eras.
I know it's a little off topic, But what sword should i get for my first sword once i complete my training? Im most interested in Viking Swords and Anglo-Saxon as well
According to the map the vikings settled as far as Crimea and attacked Italy, any chance of some of the context around this? Never heard of the vikings of the Black Sea before.
I think you might be reaching a bit with your theory on the hilt style origin. If more of them have been found in Norway and that one was found in York, which we know had Norse contact, isn't it more reasonable to assume that it was the side with the fewer numbers who got them from the side with the greater numbers? As for the Frankish sword, I thought those grapes were raspberries at first. :D Great video though, here's a picture of a beautifully ornamented sword as thanks: i.pinimg.com/originals/03/40/2c/03402c1484246d9effc685cd4a8d4ec0.jpg
This is not the only reason that it's 95% probably to be an English hilt design - the decoration on some of them is not at all Scandinavian in style and also of course the English had their own swords - they were a bigger population than the Scandinavians. So if these aren't the English swords, which ones are? These are a common type (relatively) to find in England.
As a Norwegian Viking descendant, I say you shouldn't worry about accusations of being a "Viking hater". It's perfectly natural for a Brit to be a bit ambivalent about my ancestors. I'm not entirely comfortable with everything they did, myself; I feel like they occasionally may have crossed a line or two... More seriously, anyone who takes care to look into it will realize that the Norse being "North Germanic tribes" is more than just empty terminology. The main cultural difference between them, the Franks, and the British Anglo-Saxons, was that the Franks and Anglo-Saxons had been Christian for a few centuries; probably less than 150 years for some of the British Anglo-Saxons -- possibly much less than that again, for remote areas in Britain. The conversion undoubtedly changed their culture in many aspects, but technologies were kept or discarded based on their utility and availability, not their religion, and economical, cultural, political and military ties with the remaining pagans (the Norse) continued, with mutual influence. The Norse, the Franks, and the Anglo-Saxons were one big, very dysfunctional family, happily killing each other with the family silver, a.k.a. "Viking swords". Most of the "family silver" was made where production was cheapest, meaning Frankish regions -- pretty much like modern electronics are mostly made in China (no offense to the Franks or the Chinese). The Brits are in an unfair situation regarding the terminology; those who won't call the swords "Viking swords" usually go with "Frankish" or "Merovingian", both of which also exclude the British. Still, it can't be more insulting than the knobs who think the Norse were incapable of making swords, and/or that all Viking Age swords were made by the Franks. The latter, of course, insulting Anglo-Saxons and Northmen alike. Damn! I never considered how poorly treated historical Anglo-Saxon blacksmiths are, by modern culture! Seriously! This is not OK!
Mr Easton, I have a question. How did ancient people train/spar with axes, maces, and warhammers? You've stated before that if you were to hit someone with a blunted axe it would still cause a lot of damage. So how could you spar and train with an axe? Or a even in full plate, how could you learn to duel with warhammers vs others in armor wielding the same? Thanks for all the great videos.
I'm not Matt, but I can offer a little bit of knowledge. The Romans, for one, sparred with wooden weapons. Later on in the Medieval people used similar practice weapons called wasters, which, like the Roman wooden gladii, were heavier wooden representations of real weapons. I'm not sure how early wasters appeared though.
I couldn't help but notice.. on both your swords the pommel appears to be almost exactly inline with the blade.. historical examples are all canted by a few degrees clockwise or anticlockwuse of the line of the blade. The ratio of examples of each way is roughly the same as typically what one would expect of right handed ppl to left handed ppl. Most ppl do not notice this canting of the pommel alignment but it is fairly universal on these swords and would affect the manner in which the blade is gripped. Do these makers not usually add this feature?
Gambesons didn't exist. Back then? Now, what they had was a lot different than the latter versions, but they still had some padded armour, because you know that maille was less common than obviously latter.😉
Great video, Matt! Do you think the Anglo-Saxon hilt has any relation to the earlier Celtic swords? I know they're in no way identical, but they appear to have some similar design motifs, with the hilt components coming out from the hand - weather curved or not.
I don't think there is any connection, because swords in England during the 5th-7th centuries look very like swords found in other Germanic areas of what are now Northern France, Germany and Scandinavia.
12:10 -- Oh Shit! I wasn't expect to ask you a real question, but you have given me enough data and voila! *SO THEN,* I have to ask, if you were to strike something with an overhand blow, and the sword became lodged into the target/flesh, would the "main thing" to keep in mind be how to dislodge the sword? I mean, it seems to me that the little finger, hooked tightly next to the pommel, would allow for a better retrieval, but not having actually used a sword, that's a wild guess for me. You'd know better...!
Sure, the hand is further down from the point of balance; and you've already demonstrated countless times that being close to the center of mass would tend to make a heavy weapon easier to wield. But I also know from high school physics that being further from a point of leverage is also a good thing, and if the blade has cleaved its way deep into anything, it wouldn't matter if it was nearer to the tip or the point of balance; either way, there's more leverage toward the pommel end, if the sword isn't free-swinging.
How do you figure that armor was somehow less than what was known in roman period? Do you think they at least had thick lamilar or anything organic that maybe rotted over time? I know leather armor isn't really a super effective or common thing. But wouldn't it have been better than nothing? I know you probably won't respond but if you could cover in a vid that'd be great ;)
Say this is an English style hilt, and not Norwegian. Do you have an example of what a Norwegian style would look like? You mentioned differing styles in current Norway, Denmark and Sweden This does look a little like a hybrid between the Frankish style and the Swedish one you showed. Could it not have developed over time both in Norway and England, considering how much the places were connected?
There seems to be some morphology similarities in between the "Saxon" sword and some of the anthropomorphic celtic style hilts. Although the celtic blades seem to have more in common with old greek/levant blades. That diamond section you talked about. I disagree about the understatement of the similarities of the migration period swords and the spatha. The genius of the black smithing there in the transition to steel from iron. I am also not a historian.
"I realize Im getting a bit of a reputation for being a Viking hater."
I blame the accent.
In paleontology they have the same issue with what they call preservation bias, where paleontologists tend to find more of certain kinds of dinosaurs (typically very large ones and from certain regions) because those are what preserve the best but don't represent the true diversity of these animals in life. Paleontologists tend to find large adult animals more often than juveniles or babies because those are what preserve better and does not mean that there were very few young dinosaurs running around. They also tend to find animals that lived in environments near rivers and flood plains but not deep in tropical forest because those are the environments that preserve the animals the best and not because there were dinosaurs living in environments where we don't find fossils in.
Absolutely!
Anglo Saxon sword in York museum? That reminded me of a story my headmaster told me in the 1990s, I was in primary school in North Yorkshire. He said one of his ex pupils found a sword in gilling beck, I used to live in gilling west so I remember it. Turns out it's the exact same sword and he was talking about the sword 20 years after it was found to inspire his students to history. I gotta get down there and start looking next time I go home!
Ryukey If you should find anything: Do not excavate it. Immediately inform the authorities and make sure the archaeologists can observe the finding in it's original environment. We lose so much information by people (often thinking they're helping) digging up stuff, effectively making it impossible to draw conclusions from the surroundings it was found in.
I am of course aware, that you only wanted to share this anecdote, but I found it was an ideal opportunity to inform some interested people about the dangers for our science by lay-helpers.
I don't know where the oak is from I didn't chop the tree down--Matt Easton
I think you should maybe take a look at the anthropomorphic hilts from the Celts for the inspiration for the curved bars of the Anglo Saxon hilt, just a thought.
Very good video. I was formerly not a huge fan of this genre of sword, but they are definitely starting to grow on me.
"Matt is a viking hater"...perhaps it is time to find the good old longship in the garage and go back to England! You still owe us a lot of Danegeld, Matt....
(we Danes still keep our weapons, boats and horned helmets, because we a Asetro naturally)
Ah so you still hide your navy in garages or up fjords ....come try and take your danegeld
Oddly the most interesting part to me was the brief aside at the beginning about spatulate tips. It's something I haven't heard before and I had wondered why you'd ever want a rounded tip. Well know I know, thanks!
The countries between France and Germany. Good ole Lotharingia...
And most of old francia
No! Grand Fenwick of course.
Don't Blinktenstein or you'll miss some of them. Oh, and who was that false knight from "A Knight's Tale", wasn't he from one of those too?
Interesting information on the construction of the pommel. i really enjoy bits of information that can be only understood by observing the real articles.
9:48 Any chance you're also gonna do the Seax hilt?
ua-cam.com/video/rV94X-MWD3o/v-deo.html
A thing of beauty.
A knife... and not like a lang messer is a knife, more like Crocodile Dundee saying "this is a knoif" type of knife. Though they have no hand guard, but were carried by many of the people who carried the types of sword that Matt was just showing, used as a general utility knife, but like a bowie knife or kukri it could also be used for defense, as well as utility. So having one with a matching hand grip to one of the swords could make a nice set piece.
Speaking of York, one thing thing that marks the type L as probably Ango-Saxon is that a large number of leather scabbard covers were found in York and a lot of them were curved at the top, perfect for a type L hilt, and they had a stitch along the curved upper edge where they were sewn to the scabbard lining or whatever covered the mouth of the scabbard so these curved flaps were not rain guards. One could make the argument that York was an Anglo-Scandinavian city but then there are also some survivng scabbard covers from Gloucester that were made for type L hilted swords and Gloucester was in deepest darkest Wessex. Finally there are also a few manuscript illustrations showing figures with later styles fo the Type L.
Matt anything you could say about 'spanish' swords (be it from the christian north or muslim south) during this period? We always see a lot about 'vikings', Anglo-Saxons and Franks, but not much about other european regions
I honestly haven't looked at Spanish archaeology for this period. I *think* that they were using similar swords to the Franks in Christian areas and of course the Moors had their own sword types.
scholagladiatoria ....at that period we use chorizos and tortillas!!!!!! Or just paellas....cant remember
Thanks for the reply Matt!
Cheers
they would be identical to a "viking" sword.
ARX 351 céltics, iberos, gauls, muslims, cartaghinians......nordsmen?? I dont think so
I am curious as to why you chose oak for the grip. I have always thought oak was no desirable as the oak can be corrosive to the steel. I personally use poplar but I am always curious about what others use.
We should always think in probabilities, and likelihoods. I never really looked to closely at the designs on the hilts, but after you pointed that out, i think your right. Those designs are defiantly mainland Europe designs on the hilt, Scandinavians much preferred the woven look, but franks and Italians would definitely put vines on their weapons. Vikings obviously took them home and used them for themselves, its probably likely that they then designed their own swords based the ones they took from southern Europe.
Mr. Easton would you be willing to put some vocabulary in your video descriptions? Terms used and proper spelling, that why viewers can use them to search with and learn more?
Dirus Nigh lot of work but good idea
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilt#/media/File:Sword_parts-en.svg
Quick and dirty version.
Yeah, as Alistair says it would be a lot of work... but if he had a general link on his videos to a page that did just that, that may work. My sister is staying with me, and I had to pause a few times to explain what he was talking about.
Matt, is it possible for you to make a video about East Roman or Byzantine swords? I know this a really wide and complicated subject but I'm just puting an idea for a future video.
Thank's again for all this great content : )
I'd love to, but I simply don't have anywhere near enough knowledge on the subject. Maybe one day when I've learned more.
Unfortunately that's my case too. The only basic knowledge I have are reports of weapon imports from European Kingdoms during the Mid and Late Byzantine Era and in the same time the use of Asian curved blades by the army. We do see the use of European straight and Asian curved blades simultaneously in our hagiography saved from those centuries. My apologies I'm certainly not an expert on the issue, just sharing some basic thoughts, my field of expertise is modern arms. Just for encyclopedic reasons here's a song orchestrated in the 11th-12th century way.
ua-cam.com/video/P2mRotEdCV4/v-deo.html
So now how about some viking era helmets? We all know the famous Coppergate and the Gjermundbu ones, but are there any other distinct styles (except the nasal)?
Without the cap on the pommel the Anglo-Saxon design reminds me of one of those anthropomorphic hilts that were popular in Celtic regions in the Iron Age. Obviously just a coincidence since there are only so many practical geometries
Off topic question : what's your opinion on the French 1822 light cav saber compared to the British 1821 light cavalry saber?
Well, I have both at the moment, so maybe I'll do a video.
Can't wait to see the video thank you so much :)
That would be interesting !
I too find that broad tips have their desired effect sooner than narrow tips.
What is (strangely enough) never mentioned, but is - in my opinion - a very important reason for the Viking era swords design , is the aspect of durability. Viking era swords were mostly used with and against shields. And it was a blade mainly for chopping and cutting. So, - if you swing your sword against an opponents shield repeatedly, a narrow tip will be damaged very soon. With the short and broad (sometimes fully rounded) tip of these kinds of sword, that risk is minimized. And even when chopping occasionally into (the quite rare at that time) chainmail - it is far better not to have a narrow tip.
How late was saex used by the Anglosaxons not only as a tool but as a weapon?
Loved it keep giving us that info.
An interesting and very educational video!!
Great video again!!! Great swords!
Awesome video as always, also 15:55 minutes of pommel related information and not one pommel joke colour me impressed...
Slightly off topic; have you ever seen a Sardignian "Albertina"-sword?
Actually we’re still doing the same thing nowadays-you see soldiers in battle using captured weapons all the time. SEALs in Vietnam used AK-47’s a lot of times. In the Afghanistan War the use AK’s regularly as well. If a fighting man thinks another weapon will give him the advantage, he’ll use it. Also, about that Anglo-Saxon hilt-I also thought it was Norwegian, and saw it labeled as such in one of the long ago issues of Museum Replicas Ltd. (a catalog of medieval etc. weapons for reenactors in the ‘90’s-still great) Interesting I am not qualified to to make any assumptions on that but somehow I wonder if we’ve heard the last of that controversy. I love your videos Matt, it’s nice to get a scholarly view on weapons by someone who seems quite qualified to me. Too many people just want themselves and their opinions heard, and in so doing gather a tribe around them without the people doing their research on the subject. Refreshing!
A very informative video. But the ONE thing I cannot find in any of your migration era/viking age sword videos; information on the distal taper of these swords. I was recently watching your video on the Sutton Hoo sword. Great video, you talked about the dimensions, point of balance ect. But no info on distal taper.
But we don't really know whether gambesons existed back then or not
We can say that there is absolutely no evidence for them. We cannot say that they absolutely didn't exist, but it seems very unlikely that gambesons existed before about 1100 at the earliest.
Umm... you are falling into the classic archaeological blunder so many others have. Just because the minuscule amount of land we have excavated hasn't revealed a gambeson, doesn't mean they didn't exist.
Here's an example of the hazards of this path of logic.
southpark.cc.com/clips/401750/ancient-alien-thanksgiving
TacDyne archeology is not the only source for evidence.
A quote by George Barone; "archeology is not the only source for evidence". And what other sources of evidence do you use? Do you toss the bones? Eat magic mushrooms and wait for your god to give you magical divination?
You just made stupid comment of the year.
With that said, people weren't generally buried in their armor back then. They were buried with regular clothes on, hence the reason there aren't any gambesons in graves. Mass burials after battles were generally stripped and mutilated bodies, since it was fairly profitable to keep what the dead left behind. Again, the reason there are no gambesons in those graves.
Remember that one single Rus burial that had a small cone shaped thingy in it that so many people assumed was an end cap from the Birka style, AKA Santa hat? Yeah, fun times. Next thing you saw was hundreds of reenactors running around with Santa hats instead of the common round caps of the time. It still has not been proven to be an end cap from a hat.
The only evidence for a Viking era gambeson-like garment I know of are the magic reindeer coates of Tore Hund when he fought Olav the Holy and one reference to a felted garment that might maybe be some kind of armour. Those are the only litterary sources i know of. Most people generally don't think these sources talk about a gambesonlike garment.
It would be interesting to find out how many of the Anglo Saxon style blades found in Norway were found in burials along with hulls from English black walnuts.
Two things matt, could you talk a little about dark age single edge swords (like the viking style single edge sword). Also you promised to do a more extensive video of european sword quick draw techniques, the one similar to iaido.
+scholagladiatoria similar to pulwar vs tulwar?
I have three binns swords, and four pole arms. Paul makes great blades, but he seems to like a rough and ready approach. Which I'm totally on board with, because it's more like what we would find on mass in hands. But, I can re hilt or adjust a little to suit whatever I like. I'd rather line Paul's palm than send my hard earned to America !
'Not many people wearing chainmail?' - wasn't one of the requirements for holding 5 hides of land that the holder was obliged to provide arms and (chainmail) armour (and two horses) for one soldier/servant - anyone holding 5 hides of land would be paying five pounds of silver per year in taxes, he would be expected to help defend his land anyway and probably wouldn't be putting up his own tent, cooking his own meals or tending his own horse, and he'd probably have his own chainmail too.
Hi - under Burhgal Hideage yes indeed one in 5 hides was required for military service, and another to man fortifications, but do you know of any documents actually specifying a mail byrnie? I have had a quick search and the only edicts I could find listed spear, shield, sword and helmet. My impression from everything I've read is that mail shirts were indeed rare until perhaps around 950-1000AD.
Cheers for the reply (and thanks for the vid :-) - sadly had to get rid of all my books (incl. Maitland) a while back but I'm pretty sure the list read something like 'one helmet, one (can't remember if the term hauberk or byrnie was used),one shield, two spears and two horses. Just had a quick look at Wiki to no avail, see if I can do a bit more digging.
Dug this up from Fordham University's 'Ancient History sourcebook page sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1035Cnutrelf.asp
'72. And let the heriots be as it is fitting to the degree. An eorl's such as thereto belongs, that is, eight horses, four saddled and four unsaddled, and four helmets and four coats of mail, and eight spears and as many shields, and four swords and 200 mancuses of gold.'
- Admittedly this is an Earls heariot and it is due to Canute but the 'horses saddled & unsaddled (half & half - one to ride and one spare - don't want any 'lame' excuses) rings a bell for the Burhgal Hideage, also a quote/saying of the time saying something like 'even if a man has his own helmet, sword, spear shield, horse and armour, unless he hold 5 hides of land he is not a thegn.' My interpretation was 'Because a thegn brings at least one similarly equipped servant with him.'
+OrkStuff
I dunno man, the "viking age" is commonly considered to have lasted from ~600 AD to 1066 AD - that's a huge time period.
We can't reasonably expect that the laws and equipment during the time of, say, Charlemagne, were the same as the ones during the reign of Canute, right?
Besides, obviously as time went on, more and more mail armour became available, and thus more people would have some.
The link you posted doesn't invalidate what Matt said:
"My impression from everything I've read is that mail shirts were indeed rare until perhaps around 950-1000AD". Now, a source from the time of Charlmagne, on the other hand...
My curiosity is piqued by the mention of "breast-plates" - were those boiled leather breastplates? Before the advent of metal plate armour, boiled leather seems to have been used as extra protection, in combination with mail. Is that what the link is talking about? Or just poor translation of anglo-saxon words?
+TheFilthyCasual
'We can't reasonably expect that the laws and equipment during the time of, say, Charlemagne, were the same as the ones during the reign of Canute, right?'
Can't actually think of any good reason for them to have changed that much from Alfreds' time to Canutes' - nothing else had really changed that much.
'Besides, obviously as time went on, more and more mail armour became available, and thus more people would have some.'
The Romans had chainmail when they came here, the Sutton Hoo burial contained a chainmail hauberk of at least thigh length, the Coppergate helmet has a chainmail 'camail' at the back - yes, they are rare finds but Anglo-Saxon finds of any type are comparatively rare. Arguably the fact that there is so 'many' of them would suggest it wasn't that rare but the link I posted to was most similar to what I recall reading about the 5 hide obligations of the Burghal Hideage, including the spare horse (and the spare shield and spear - a friend argued that they might be used by another man defending a Burgh wall where he might not have as much need for chainmail, personally, I thought they're just things that are likely to get wrecked and need replacing mid-battle). I can't think of any good reason why Canute should have changed Alfreds' laws other than (perhaps) to benefit himself.
'My curiosity is piqued by the mention of "breast-plates" - were those boiled leather breastplates? Before the advent of metal plate armour, boiled leather seems to have been used as extra protection, in combination with mail. Is that what the link is talking about? Or just poor translation of anglo-saxon words?'
The breastplates appear to be a later Norman adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon/Danish laws.
Also, as far as I'm aware, swords of that bladeform were still being used from 950-1066.
While it's true that "gambesons" proper did not exist back then, textile armor was still a thing and had been for millenia at that point (no pun intended). People wore quilted textile vests under their mail during the roman era, they probably did not stop doing it afterwards.
The Viking sword that has the removable grip would look nice with the same hilt cast in bronze.
That would really mess up the balance and weight though. Some grips were cased in thin sheet metal, but were wood inside.
Correct me if I'm wrong but there has been finds of both of those swords in Norway that dates back to before anyone crossed the sea.
For the prices Albion charges for their swords they should be PERFECT! None of this casted fake wire wrapping on the grip crap!
So will you do a video on making the grip? would be interesting.
"gambesons didn't exist then." ... What do you think they wore under mail? They must have had some form of alternative right?
7:15 : *LULZ* I can almost imagine some of the "outrage"; I can hear a ghostly voice like Marty Feldman, uttering curses and daring you to move to Lindisfarme.
I agree. Big tips are better than small tips. Perky is Ok though
Interesting. I could see the difference in your arm extension and angle, a little more reach with the curved pommel.
"Doesn't look at all Scandinavian" he says, while showing something that looks like an exact copy of Norwegian rosemaling (rose painting).
This sword is from the Viking Era. About 1000 years before rosemaling.
@@adamgetzendanner My point is that rosemaling is one of the most scandinavian things there is (together with longships, bunads, blue eyes, and IKEA). It's really fucking weird to show rosemaling and claim "it doesn't look scandinavian".
I know gripping a sword is a personal thing, but if you want the most effective bang for your buck, you're doing it wrong. Anchoring with the pinky is the exact opposite of what you want to do for maximum efficiency in energy transfer.
Grip with the index finger and thumb. About 3/4 the way through your swing, clench your other fingers down on the handle. This will yield a whipping action and give extra punch.
How about making some videos about old Slavic swords (weapons in general). Say from the Great Moravian period (late 7th or early 8th century up to some 10th century). Coincidentally, that period overlaps significantly with the heyday of the Viking era. There were essentially some territorial disputes with the Frankish empire. But also some cultural influences (through church mainly, until Moravia chose to split away from the Frankish monks and invited Cyril and Methodius). So, were there any influences in the weaponry? Probably, but it would be nice if you could perhaps elaborate on that a bit more. Thanks'.
I also find the word “Mushroom” strangely enjoyable to say.
There are actually historical antique examples of one-piece, exposed peen pommels that were shaped to imitate the traditional multi-part pommels
I'm curious as to whether the pommel and crossguard on your anglo-saxon sword could be decorated at a later date - would etching merely produce a surface effect similar to how the Albion looks, or could it produce an effect similar to moulding if enough material is removed?
You're comment on the curve on the hilt made me think you should do a video on spandrels in sword designs?
Mr. Matt, do you have any knowledge about later medieval sword hilts (12-14th century) in the area of Slovenia, Austria..? All the examples I saw have the same kind of hilt shape I have not seen mentioned anywhere else.
Doesn't the inwardy curved guard on the anglo-saxon sword facilitate better/more secure sword-binding?
It's easier for the opponents sword to get "stuck" on the base of the sword/more difficult to slip off the guard?
Hello, Matt! I apologize for my language as I'm not a native speaker and, maybe because of this, slightly longer question than would be considered "easy" and polite :D
As you were extrapolating on Scandinavian artistic differences, you mentioned that Sweden would look towards the east, Russia (I understand it to be meant as slavic tribes or, closest to a close-to-Baltic slavic state at that time, Principiality of Pskov) to be exact. Would it not be more appropriate to say Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes as at that period slavic tribes did not populate lands near Baltic Sea and therefore be in vicinity of Sweden, and as trade and raids were mutual between Swedish raiders and, for example, Baltic Curonians? For example, Snorri Sturluson's "Heimskringla" informs that danish had a prayer "God, save us from plague, fire and Curonians", implying that mutual raids and cultural mixing were happening.
Also, what exactly is your argument for the second type being Anglo-Saxon type hilt, not Norwegian type hilt? I heard your explanation why this could be NOT Norwegian style and still have so many finds in Norway, but I'm afraid I have missed your reason to think that this is Anglo-Saxon type hilt except for, again, finds.
Thank you in advance if you can answer to my question :)
Badger0fDeath well, that's exactly my point. Vikings mostly visited what is today Baltic states. There were two main trade routes through Eastern Europe - Volga trade route (which went through Rus states) and trade route From Varangians to the Greeks that went through modern Baltic states, Belarus and Ukraine etc, not venturing in modern Russia territory. As far as I know second was more prominent, so my statement stands.
About swords - agree to you, I just didn't know about the statistics 😊
B
Any thoughts on why they would go to the trouble of building a 2 piece pommel? Must have been a practical reason.
Honestly decorative pommels are extremely common on swords from multiple cultures in multiple time periods. It might serve a function, but I don’t it has to.
Thanks for the book recommendation know any good sword or weapons books for Anglo Saxon era?
Tulwar disc pommel vs pulwar cup pommel - seems quite similar.
Matt, can you tell us a bit about early medieval padded garments, what was worn under mail in that period? Its a broad question but you love digressing so maybe make a video about that :) What I read is that earliest use of gambison, that can be proven, is the late 10th century, so I wonder what was in use before that.
What sword would have been used just before the viking period but after the migration period? Say between 700 - 750, on the continant (france, germany, etc)? I can't find information anywhere...
Piercing dedicated maille armor was not going to be doable with any single-handed weapon anyway.
- Unlike a dummy tied to a stand, a live human opponent wearing maille as primary passive defense over textile armor can still be pushed around and thus will not have its armor easily pierced by a handheld weapon, even with a spear point, even less so a pointy sword. The main reason for this is that *it often takes less force to push the body back than what it would take to pierce the maille links.* Therefore you would almost never pierce the maille unless you were pinning your opponent to a wall or a tree.
- The maille voiders of later plate armors had lighter maille and their links were not as strong as those of a full primary-protection hauberk and could, in theory, be pierced; though in practice that would still be incredibly rare because effectively stabbing the small gaps in plate armor *_with any significant force_* while still being accurate enough to connect with the gap is extremely difficult and unlikely.
- The best way to counter and defeat early-medieval maille armor was still to *_go around the armor;_* i.e., to strike at the limbs and extremities; and since stabbing extremities in movement is much much harder and less effective than cutting at them; cutting attacks were still prioritized for this. Magnus Olafsson called his sword "Legbiter" for a reason.
Am I remembering wrongly or were there Greek and Celtic swords with hilts like that "Anglo-Saxon" style one? I mean in terms of the opposing arcs on the pommel and guard.
There was really no Gambeson in the 8th Century? Even though gambeson, mail and plate were all used in ancient times? Or just no evidence of gambeson because no one was drawing pictures of it?
Gambesons weren't used during the Viking era? I thought that the lower class soldiers in both the Greek hoplite armies and the Roman Republic wore linen armour.
Speaking of the way you hold the Frankish type sword; did they ever use lanyards or rope to aid in weapon retention? Having them on my ski poles have saved me from having to walk up the slopes to fetch them a couple of times and I'd imagine it'd fulfill the same function on a weapon, albeit in a situation where losing your tool would have more dire consequences. Yet I can't recall ever having seen them pictured on anything other than sabers and swords of much later eras.
Not certain if I remember that correctly but I think something like that was mentioned in the icelandic sagas.
Watch out for the oak. It can sometimes make the metal rust.
I know it's a little off topic, But what sword should i get for my first sword once i complete my training? Im most interested in Viking Swords and Anglo-Saxon as well
I guess that depends entirely on what training you are doing and what you want.
scholagladiatoria I'll play it by ear then.
According to the map the vikings settled as far as Crimea and attacked Italy, any chance of some of the context around this? Never heard of the vikings of the Black Sea before.
I think you might be reaching a bit with your theory on the hilt style origin. If more of them have been found in Norway and that one was found in York, which we know had Norse contact, isn't it more reasonable to assume that it was the side with the fewer numbers who got them from the side with the greater numbers? As for the Frankish sword, I thought those grapes were raspberries at first. :D
Great video though, here's a picture of a beautifully ornamented sword as thanks: i.pinimg.com/originals/03/40/2c/03402c1484246d9effc685cd4a8d4ec0.jpg
This is not the only reason that it's 95% probably to be an English hilt design - the decoration on some of them is not at all Scandinavian in style and also of course the English had their own swords - they were a bigger population than the Scandinavians. So if these aren't the English swords, which ones are? These are a common type (relatively) to find in England.
As a Norwegian Viking descendant, I say you shouldn't worry about accusations of being a "Viking hater". It's perfectly natural for a Brit to be a bit ambivalent about my ancestors. I'm not entirely comfortable with everything they did, myself; I feel like they occasionally may have crossed a line or two...
More seriously, anyone who takes care to look into it will realize that the Norse being "North Germanic tribes" is more than just empty terminology. The main cultural difference between them, the Franks, and the British Anglo-Saxons, was that the Franks and Anglo-Saxons had been Christian for a few centuries; probably less than 150 years for some of the British Anglo-Saxons -- possibly much less than that again, for remote areas in Britain. The conversion undoubtedly changed their culture in many aspects, but technologies were kept or discarded based on their utility and availability, not their religion, and economical, cultural, political and military ties with the remaining pagans (the Norse) continued, with mutual influence. The Norse, the Franks, and the Anglo-Saxons were one big, very dysfunctional family, happily killing each other with the family silver, a.k.a. "Viking swords". Most of the "family silver" was made where production was cheapest, meaning Frankish regions -- pretty much like modern electronics are mostly made in China (no offense to the Franks or the Chinese).
The Brits are in an unfair situation regarding the terminology; those who won't call the swords "Viking swords" usually go with "Frankish" or "Merovingian", both of which also exclude the British. Still, it can't be more insulting than the knobs who think the Norse were incapable of making swords, and/or that all Viking Age swords were made by the Franks. The latter, of course, insulting Anglo-Saxons and Northmen alike.
Damn! I never considered how poorly treated historical Anglo-Saxon blacksmiths are, by modern culture! Seriously! This is not OK!
Mr Easton, I have a question.
How did ancient people train/spar with axes, maces, and warhammers?
You've stated before that if you were to hit someone with a blunted axe it would still cause a lot of damage.
So how could you spar and train with an axe? Or a even in full plate, how could you learn to duel with warhammers vs others in armor wielding the same?
Thanks for all the great videos.
I'm not Matt, but I can offer a little bit of knowledge. The Romans, for one, sparred with wooden weapons. Later on in the Medieval people used similar practice weapons called wasters, which, like the Roman wooden gladii, were heavier wooden representations of real weapons. I'm not sure how early wasters appeared though.
Ian Pierce wrote about cutting swords...
So how IS the Albion pommel attached ?
Any chance of an Irish ring sword film.
Wasn't Sutton hoo a Saxon warrior found in a bog boat. buried with all weapons.
I couldn't help but notice.. on both your swords the pommel appears to be almost exactly inline with the blade.. historical examples are all canted by a few degrees clockwise or anticlockwuse of the line of the blade. The ratio of examples of each way is roughly the same as typically what one would expect of right handed ppl to left handed ppl. Most ppl do not notice this canting of the pommel alignment but it is fairly universal on these swords and would affect the manner in which the blade is gripped. Do these makers not usually add this feature?
So you're saying you find the curved bottom slightly more comfortable to hold?
Did you ever finish the handle on that sword?😀
Wait.
They didn't have padding under their mail during that period?
Gambesons didn't exist. Back then? Now, what they had was a lot different than the latter versions, but they still had some padded armour, because you know that maille was less common than obviously latter.😉
Where is the evidence of padded armour in this period?
Gambeson wasn't a thing in a 10th century? Isn't it just layered cloth?
Great video, Matt!
Do you think the Anglo-Saxon hilt has any relation to the earlier Celtic swords? I know they're in no way identical, but they appear to have some similar design motifs, with the hilt components coming out from the hand - weather curved or not.
I don't think there is any connection, because swords in England during the 5th-7th centuries look very like swords found in other Germanic areas of what are now Northern France, Germany and Scandinavia.
Matt that custom job makes the Albion look a bit crumby....
5160 has chrome in it.
But what about the rivets, Matt? They seem to be a bit uncomfortably pressing your fingers when holding it your way.
12:10 -- Oh Shit! I wasn't expect to ask you a real question, but you have given me enough data and voila!
*SO THEN,* I have to ask, if you were to strike something with an overhand blow, and the sword became lodged into the target/flesh, would the "main thing" to keep in mind be how to dislodge the sword? I mean, it seems to me that the little finger, hooked tightly next to the pommel, would allow for a better retrieval, but not having actually used a sword, that's a wild guess for me. You'd know better...!
Sure, the hand is further down from the point of balance; and you've already demonstrated countless times that being close to the center of mass would tend to make a heavy weapon easier to wield. But I also know from high school physics that being further from a point of leverage is also a good thing, and if the blade has cleaved its way deep into anything, it wouldn't matter if it was nearer to the tip or the point of balance; either way, there's more leverage toward the pommel end, if the sword isn't free-swinging.
$10 Viking Sword vs $1000 Viking Sword
How do you figure that armor was somehow less than what was known in roman period? Do you think they at least had thick lamilar or anything organic that maybe rotted over time? I know leather armor isn't really a super effective or common thing. But wouldn't it have been better than nothing? I know you probably won't respond but if you could cover in a vid that'd be great ;)
Tangfastic Matt
Say this is an English style hilt, and not Norwegian. Do you have an example of what a Norwegian style would look like? You mentioned differing styles in current Norway, Denmark and Sweden
This does look a little like a hybrid between the Frankish style and the Swedish one you showed. Could it not have developed over time both in Norway and England, considering how much the places were connected?
Bro make video on kukri
I love big, broad tips and I cannot lie.
Cnut the Great can but try
0:58 seconds in and chad was already triggered.
Why did gambesons not exist in that time period?
What about German - Saxon hilts?
There seems to be some morphology similarities in between the "Saxon" sword and some of the anthropomorphic celtic style hilts. Although the celtic blades seem to have more in common with old greek/levant blades. That diamond section you talked about. I disagree about the understatement of the similarities of the migration period swords and the spatha. The genius of the black smithing there in the transition to steel from iron. I am also not a historian.
Spatulate is a great word. Spatulate! Spatulate spatulate spatulate!
Would I be able to get a decent sword for £300?
Not a fan of the chrome finish on the Saxon blade.
It might be surface chromed.
Nothing wrong with hating Vikings. Vikings are by definition the ones who went out and pillaged.