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Ulfbert Swords - Episode 18025
129 Plays6 years ago
Possibly produced in the Frankish part of Europe, these swords have long been a mystery. Some have agreed that they represent a new technology of crucible steel. However, there are examples of them found that have been pattern-welded, a method which usually indicates a different form of metal production.
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Transcript
Introduction to Ulfberht Swords
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Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network. At some point in the 9th century, a new type of sword started to appear in Western Europe, with the name Ulfberit inlaid into them. This is episode 25 for January 25, 2018.
Podcast Episode Overview
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Speaker
I'm Chris Webster, and welcome to the Ark 365 podcast, 2018 edition. Ark 365 is a podcast today, every day, in 2018.
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This episode is written by Jared Panditari.
Mystery of Ulfberht Swords
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Speaker
Possibly produced in the Frankish part of Europe, these swords have long been a mystery. Some have agreed that they represent a new technology of crucible steel. However, there are examples of them found that have been pattern welded, a method which usually indicates a different form of metal production. Pattern welding, sometimes called false Damascus, is a method of using a combination of rods of iron and high carbon steel to get the flexibility of iron and the strength and sharpness of steel.
00:00:53
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This also helped to get around the issues surrounding the brittle steel that was produced at the time.
Origins and Design Techniques
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Who this Ulfbert may have been, or where he was from, was long been a mystery.
00:01:03
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Most likely the blades came from one of two places. The first possibility is Norikum near the modern town of Passau on the Upper Danube in Germany. This has long been a place of iron production. First established as a metal production facility in the Roman period, objects made here were shipped all over the Roman world and beyond. The second possible home of Ulfbert is Solingen in North Rhine, Westphalia.
00:01:24
Speaker
which is also in Germany, though further west and north. It has long had a tradition for high-quality blade production, with evidence of iron production starting over 2,000 years ago, and in modern times, it even has a blade museum. The swords themselves are type known as Okushot Type X, based on the typology created by Ewart Okushot in 1960.
00:01:42
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They are a single-handed sword with a variety of hilts and pommels. They tend to have a single wide fuller, they hollowed out part of the blade, are on average 91 cm long and weigh 1.2 kg. The blades are usually around 5 cm wide and are inlaid with Ufbert flanked by two crosses and on the reavers have an inlay of a geometric pattern.
Balance and Handling of Swords
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Some consider these swords to be the transition point between Viking style swords and later knightly or arming swords. It is also thought that they are the beginning of the medieval practice of inlaying sword blades.
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Though these swords were not lighter than those that went before them, their point of balance was shifted more towards the hilt, making them feel lighter in the hand. In the hilt, a combination of a join known as a scarf weld and softer metal meant that the tang, the part of the blade that is within the handle, was less likely to fracture.
Production Period and Imitators
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The earliest Ulfberht sword is dated to around 850 CE, with the latest dating to the early 1100s.
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Even though the later example may have been made decades earlier, it is obvious that all of the known swords could have not been made by one man. This becomes less likely when you consider that there are between 100 and 160 surviving examples of these swords. From this information, we can assume that over the 250 year period that these swords were in production,
00:02:51
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that hundreds of Ulfberht blades were made. Some believe that Ulfberht was the first to make these swords, and then was the founder of and president of Ulfberht LTD, which as a company outlasted him. These blades must have been sought after as by 925 a competitor, Inglari, appeared and started to produce blades of similar type using similar inlay methods. Following this, like all products of quality, more imitations appeared, even trying to seemingly pass them off as authentic Ulfberht swords, but with misspellings of the name.
00:03:18
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There also appears to be a correlation between the accuracy of the spelling of the name and the quality of the blade. While who precisely Ulfberht may have been is still a mystery, he is left behind an enduring legacy and a worthwhile question to answer.
Supporting the Podcast Network
00:03:30
Speaker
For more information on these wonderful swords, please see the show notes. Thank you.
00:03:40
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Thanks for listening to Arc 365. If you want to hear more Arc 365, check out www.arcpodnet.com slash Arc 365 for the 2017 and 2018 episodes. Check out arcpodnet.com slash Arc 365 dash G30 for the last 30 episodes. Please subscribe and rate on your service of choice. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play, among others. Support the APN at arcpodnet.com slash members.
Podcast Production Details
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Thanks for listening and thanks for being awesome.
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This show is produced and recorded by the Archaeology Podcast Network, Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle, in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Collective. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chrisatarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com.