Oslo Sword Folded Steel Blade (#1205)

Oslo Sword Folded Steel Blade

Viking art, in all its sophistication, presents a striking contrast with the stereotype of the rude and restless barbarian. Viking craftsmen excelled in woodworking, metalworking and weapons making with abstracted animal forms. Many Viking weapons and ships bore elaborate patterns of interlocking anthropomorphic figures. Runic texts and complementary scenes were frequently inscribed on stone. The Viking love of riddling phrases and schemes of rhyme yielded a rich poetic tradition and tales of mythic events.

The Vikings are among the most celebrated warriors of human history. Not the least due to their own stories and Sagas of epic battles and heroic deeds. For centuries, the Vikings raided and colonized wide areas of Europe. They reached North America centuries before Columbus and traded as far as modern day India. These Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish warriors were prompted to undertake their raids by a combination of socio-political factors and overpopulation. As a result, Norse culture permeated all of Western Europe and greatly influenced the development of many modern nations.

This evolution was first described by Dr Jan Petersen, a Norwegian archaeologist who lived in the late 19^th and early 20^thcenturies. Petersen studied the development of Viking sword smithing and published his results in his dissertation, “The Norwegian Viking Swords: A Typological-Chronological Study of Viking Age Weaponry.” This revolutionary typology was the first of its kind, and laid the groundwork for later typologies (such as Ewart Oakeshott’s typology of the medieval sword).

Petersen’s typology traces the ascension of the Viking sword from its humble beginnings – the Type A, a flat, simple broad blade that existed at the end of the Frankish dynasty known as the Merovingian period and early Viking Age (from roughly 700-800CE). Early Types, such as Types B and C, contain double-edged and single-edged examples. Later examples were primarily double-edged and distinguished mainly by differences in the hilt – once established, the Viking blade varied little in the later years of the era.

The Darksword Armory Oslo Viking Sword is based on these later examples, and most closely resembles the Petersen Type D (primarily used from 850-900 AD). Unlike later medieval swords which were used for cut-and-thrust, Viking swords were designed primarily for slashing – this was to counter the leather armour of the time, which allowed swords to be devastatingly effective on the battlefield. Chain links would part beneath the heavy blows this weapon could inflict, and lesser armored opponents would be helpless against such blades.