You all have seen Norse swords and helmets, haven't you...
Well, actually, you may have seen many Norse swords, but only one actual Norse helmet among other early-medieval ones.
 |
 |
| Many Norse swords... | ... and the lone Gjermundbu helmet. |
And why is that? Let my present you my humble theory.
Imagine that you live, nowadays, in a culture that practices grave-good burials, and that, unfortunately, you have to bury both of your grand-parents. You are expected to put in their graves objects that are status symbols, that were dear to them, and maybe have everyday use (for the afterlife). You can also keep part of the objects for yourself as part of your heirloom, but you can't keep everything of course.
Now let us imagine that your grandfather had a reasonably priced Swiss watch that he liked a lot, and is still in perfect working order, and your grandmother cared a lot about her set of gilded porcelain tableware, which is also in perfect shape. Both items are worth about a thousand euros. What would you keep?
My guess is that many people would choose the Swiss watch, which is still practical and fashionable, even several decades after its initial purchase, instead of the gilded porcelain ware, which is outmoded, cumbersome and cannot be put in the dishwasher. On the other hand, a few decades earlier, your grandmother chose to keep her ancestor's gilded porcelain ware, while your grandfather put his ancestor's pocket watch to the grave and chose to buy a Swiss wristwatch.
Now, my theory is that the same thing happened to Norse swords and helmets in burials in the turn from the 8th to the 11th century (and of course there is the change in burial practices, under the influence of christianity and other things, but let us forget about that for a moment, please).
In the case of swords, Norse swords of Petersen types A to W are the porcelain ware, and swords of type X are your modern Ikea tableware.
In the case of helmets, spectacles spangenhelms are the pocket watches, and conical nasal helmets are the Swiss watches.
In the case of swords, Norse swords of Petersen types A to W are the porcelain ware, and swords of type X are your modern Ikea tableware.
 |
 |
| Ten centuries of spathæ | and a transition to medieval swords. |
 |
 |
| Five centuries of spangenhelms | and a transition to conical helmets. |
Burials tell us about objects which already belonged to the past at the time they were buried with their owners. And the heirs could choose to keep, or not, part of these objects based on a ratio between the symbolic value of the object as a grave good, and its practical value in the living world.
Swords evolved at a tremendous pace during so-called Viking Age. After ten centuries of using swords that where more or less direct descendants of the Roman spatha, the "medieval" sword was born somewhere at the turn of the 10th and 11th century. For centuries, sword hilts evolved slowly, and the blades almost didn't evolve at all. Long, flat, parallel-edged pattern-welded blades (Geibig type 1) where standard among Germanic people from the last centuries of the Roman Empire to the first half of of the 9th century. And suddenly, things start to change quicker and quicker. The hilt styles evolve a bit, like they did before, and the decoration styles change, but the main changes occur in the blades: in about 150 years and a few stages of evolution, we reach blades of Geibig types 4 and 5, which are to be found both on the last versions of Norse swords (often associated with Petersen type X hilts), and on early medieval, knightly swords. These blades as pointy, tapering, have substantial fullers in them, and handle in a whole different way to their predecessors.
A sword represented a tremendous amount of economical value, and also a very large amount of symbolic value as a grave good. But in a context of rapid technological change, it can be understandable that it is the symbolic value that prevailed, and the heirs didn't want to keep a sword which, despite being so beautiful and expensive, was already outdated as far as blade properties went. And, given that most of the price of the sword came from the long and difficult forging process, it was a better option to leave the beautiful grave good for the ancestor, and buy a new sword, rather than reforge the old blade.
Things where different with helmets. We know, from rune stones, from illuminations, stories, etc. that many vikings wore helmets in their raids. And from a purely practical point of view, it is even possible that more vikings wore helmets that had swords - a helmet is better as keeping you alive, and maybe doesn't require as expert craftsmanship as the sword does. So why wouldn't we find helmets in warrior graves ? Well, because of Swiss watches. The technological and stylistic transition that occurred for swords during the Viking Age occurred before the Viking Age in the case of helmet. Several depictions show Norsemen during that period wearing conical nasal helmets - a design that first appeared in the early 9th century, and proved popular enough to last well into the 13th century. It superseded earlier helmets, also descendants of Roman designs, the spangenhelms and ridge helmets. It might have been due to the re-increasing amounts of mail armour, used in aventails to protect the face, or to the type of warfare, or the development of other weapons... but that's another question.
Given the amount of iron is needed to make one, a helmet was clearly an item with substantial economical value. And if it was of the new, up-to-date design, it had also a lot of practical value for the heirs, given the centuries of use that the nasal helmets had. A helmet also has clearly less symbolic value than a sword, especially if is has a plain, undecorated design (unlike the rich Vendel helmets, and unlike the swords), so it is not as important to keep it in the ancestor's grave. The Gjermundbu helmet was merely a "last survivor" of the old style of helmets, and ended up been buried in a mound, rather that been reused in battle.
And there you have it. Vikings and other Norse warriors had old swords and new helmets - the former where buried and preserved, the latter, reused for generations, well into the christian times and eventually destroyed. But this is of course just my humble theory!
Yours,
Eiríkr
Swords evolved at a tremendous pace during so-called Viking Age. After ten centuries of using swords that where more or less direct descendants of the Roman spatha, the "medieval" sword was born somewhere at the turn of the 10th and 11th century. For centuries, sword hilts evolved slowly, and the blades almost didn't evolve at all. Long, flat, parallel-edged pattern-welded blades (Geibig type 1) where standard among Germanic people from the last centuries of the Roman Empire to the first half of of the 9th century. And suddenly, things start to change quicker and quicker. The hilt styles evolve a bit, like they did before, and the decoration styles change, but the main changes occur in the blades: in about 150 years and a few stages of evolution, we reach blades of Geibig types 4 and 5, which are to be found both on the last versions of Norse swords (often associated with Petersen type X hilts), and on early medieval, knightly swords. These blades as pointy, tapering, have substantial fullers in them, and handle in a whole different way to their predecessors.
A sword represented a tremendous amount of economical value, and also a very large amount of symbolic value as a grave good. But in a context of rapid technological change, it can be understandable that it is the symbolic value that prevailed, and the heirs didn't want to keep a sword which, despite being so beautiful and expensive, was already outdated as far as blade properties went. And, given that most of the price of the sword came from the long and difficult forging process, it was a better option to leave the beautiful grave good for the ancestor, and buy a new sword, rather than reforge the old blade.
Things where different with helmets. We know, from rune stones, from illuminations, stories, etc. that many vikings wore helmets in their raids. And from a purely practical point of view, it is even possible that more vikings wore helmets that had swords - a helmet is better as keeping you alive, and maybe doesn't require as expert craftsmanship as the sword does. So why wouldn't we find helmets in warrior graves ? Well, because of Swiss watches. The technological and stylistic transition that occurred for swords during the Viking Age occurred before the Viking Age in the case of helmet. Several depictions show Norsemen during that period wearing conical nasal helmets - a design that first appeared in the early 9th century, and proved popular enough to last well into the 13th century. It superseded earlier helmets, also descendants of Roman designs, the spangenhelms and ridge helmets. It might have been due to the re-increasing amounts of mail armour, used in aventails to protect the face, or to the type of warfare, or the development of other weapons... but that's another question.
Given the amount of iron is needed to make one, a helmet was clearly an item with substantial economical value. And if it was of the new, up-to-date design, it had also a lot of practical value for the heirs, given the centuries of use that the nasal helmets had. A helmet also has clearly less symbolic value than a sword, especially if is has a plain, undecorated design (unlike the rich Vendel helmets, and unlike the swords), so it is not as important to keep it in the ancestor's grave. The Gjermundbu helmet was merely a "last survivor" of the old style of helmets, and ended up been buried in a mound, rather that been reused in battle.
And there you have it. Vikings and other Norse warriors had old swords and new helmets - the former where buried and preserved, the latter, reused for generations, well into the christian times and eventually destroyed. But this is of course just my humble theory!
Yours,
Eiríkr
No comments:
Post a Comment