This new work fills a vacuum in English language studies of the swords made and used in northern Europe during the Viking Age, from the mid-eighth through to the mid-eleventh century.
Ian Peirce, in his quest for the best representative examples of the broad diversity of swords of the time, has selected and catalogued sixty from the hundreds he has handled in museums and collections throughout northern Europe. The majority are rarely seen or newly shown here, though a few - too important to omit - may be familiar to specialists.
Where possible, each example is shown both full-length and with illustration of detail, and the entries for most of the swords cover two facing pages. Eight pages of colour illustrations are included, three of which are reproductions from Lorange's unsurpassed lithographs of 1889. The catalogue of exaples which forms the body of this work is preceded by a brief illustrated overview of blade types and construction, pattern-welding, inscriptions, and handle forms classified according to Jan Petersen's conventions.
Ian Peirce, armourer and weaponsmith, has staged major exhibitions of armour and weapons in England, France and Ireland, and written and lectured extensively on arms and armour, on the Norman Conquest and on the Vikings.
Published by: The Boydell Press
Paperback: 2002