A Primer on Viking Swords

The Norsemen, also sometimes known as the northmen and more popularly as the Vikings, were a group of seafaring Germanic peoples that hailed from the Northern Areas of Europe - Norway, Sweden, and Scandinavia in general. From the end of the Middle Ages to about the 11th century AD, the Vikings were highly influential in Europe, as their raiding parties brought them into frequent contact with the Britons, Irish, and continental Europeans. They even settled in parts of the New World, in Canada and Greenland.

The image of the viking lives on in the popular imagination, not only as a horn-helmeted warrior and bloodthirsty berserker, but even in the name of a National Football League franchise. Of course, the image of the iconic “Viking sword” is every ounce as central to the image of the viking as is the dragon-prowed, square-rigged longship.

Here’s what to look for.

Calling it a “Viking sword” or “norse sword” is just a broad designator. That’s like calling a japanese sword a katana. We know these things by their marks, and there are a few design traits that customarily identify what would be called a Viking sword. Right out of the gate, let’s address origin. Another name for Viking swords, as a class of weapons, is “Carolingian swords,” so-called because many of them were produced in the Frankish Empire during the Carolingian Era - in continental Europe, not the far north.

However, there are several reasons why these swords became so closely associated with the Vikings. One is that the Franks, like the Vikings, were Germanic. Another is that Normandy was a frequent target of Norse raiding ventures. Normandy, after all, was so named because the land in its current form was settled by the Norsemen under a king named Rollo. Hence, the area became known as Normandy, after the “North Men” (nor’men) who lived there.

Another reason is that, trade routes notwithstanding, the norsemen highly valued swords as social and military offerings, and a sword was treated as an heirloom of nearly supernatural status. Consider the fact that many special swords were given names and treated almost as living characters in the Norse eddas and sagas and this becomes apparent. Now that we’ve covered that, let’s talk about what aspects of design make it a “viking sword.”

It is the hilt, not the blade, that most securely typifies a norse sword. Typically, the hilt is made with a pommel with either three or five rounded lobes. Less commonly, the hilt might be capped with a less ornate, single lobe or lozenge - wider than it would be tall.

The crossguard, also known as a quillion, would also be commonly cruciate or rounded slightly with a mild forward curvature. Both the crossguard and the pommel’s lobes would customarily be quite ornately decorated. These could be made of iron, copper, or precious metals like gold or silver (or simply inlaid with them). They might also be made of antler, horn or bone. The smiths that crafted these swords used a technique called pattern welding that enabled intricate, ornate designs to be formed on the surface of the workpiece. Sometimes the crossguard or pommel would be decorated with jewels or runic inscriptions.

The hilt itself would either be made of wood or wood wrapped in leather, which is the reason that many surviving Viking swords have a hilt with a bare, exposed tang - the wood and leather would have rotted away long ago. The scabbard would also have been made of wood and leather. Typically, Viking swords were intended to be wielded with one hand, and so the hilts were fairly short, only accommodating a single grip.

As for the blade, long, flat, double edged blades were common on viking sword patterns, with a single, wide fuller. The fuller, also known as a blood groove, was added to the blade to lighten and strengthen it - not, as commonly believed, to allow egress for blood. Sometimes the blade would be etched with runic inscriptions as well.

The ornately decorated hilts of some viking swords were a leaveover from the practice of decorating hilts elaborately during the Merovingian Age. As time went on, viking swords became plainer and were more likely to have simple steel hilts - though the basic pattern otherwise was still recognized.

Original sword steel quality would have varied significantly according to what was available to the smith at the time. In the modern era, however, Viking sword reproductions are commonly made from high-quality alloys such as 1060 steel; others are sometimes made from Damascus alloys.

It is important to remember that battle-ready swords are not just made from appropriate steel alloys, but that the blade is appropriately tempered and that the tang of the sword is integral with the blade stock and at minimum one-third the width of the blade. If the sword is going to be a wallhanger, then basically any alloy and construction technique are appropriate; just be sure that you never use wallhanger swords for any live practice.

Want to see some modern examples of high-quality, battle ready Viking swords? Shop our collection via the previous link and get in touch with us directly if you have any questions.