There are tools that become legend. Among the Vikings it was a sword – or rather: a whole group of swords, all bearing the same name in the blade. About 170 of them have been found, scattered across half of Europe, and all call out the same word: Ulfberht. A look at the most famous blade of the Viking Age – and at the riddle of its origin.
What is special about these swords stands in the blade itself: into the glowing iron, letters of iron wire were forge-welded, so that an inscription appeared. It reads, decorated with small crosses:
+VLFBERH+T Blade inscription of the Ulfberht swords (9th–11th century)
“Ulfberht” is a Frankish personal name. Whether it was the name of a single master, a workshop or a whole brand over generations is disputed to this day. Certain is: for over two centuries blades bore this name – like a mark of quality.
At a time when most swords were made of iron rods welded together (so-called pattern welding), some Ulfberht blades were made of especially pure, carbon-rich steel – hard and yet elastic, hardly breakable. Part of this high-grade steel probably came from distant sources, along the great trade routes. Not every Ulfberht blade was equally good; the group covers quite varied qualities. But the best counted as the finest one could have.
The form of the name points to the Frankish realm, and the origin is suspected in the Rhineland – the heartland of Frankish weapon-smithing. One of the best-known pieces was even found in the Old Rhine near Mannheim. For us in the Rhineland that is a fine thought: the finest blade of the North may have roots right on the doorstep. More about the Vikings and Rhine trade is in our piece on the silver economy.
Curiously, most Ulfberht swords were found in the North, not in the Frankish realm. The reason is twofold: on the one hand, the export of weapons to “foreigners” was forbidden to the Franks by law – so the blades came North as loot, ransom or contraband. On the other, in the pagan North weapons were placed in the grave with the dead, while in the Christian south they are absent. So the swords appear more often where they were buried.
An Ulfberht was a promise: the best, cleanly worked, reliable. Exactly this standard drives good craft to this day – whether in a blade or in a razor-sharp engraving. The tools worked with in the North are shown in our piece on the Mästermyr tool chest.
The Ulfberht swords are a group of about 170 medieval swords (9th–11th c.) whose blades bear the forge-welded inscription +VLFBERH+T or +VLFBERHT+. “Ulfberht” is a Frankish name; the origin is held to be the Rhineland/Frankish realm. Part of the blades is of especially pure (hypereutectoid) steel. Most finds come from Northern Europe – favoured by pagan weapon graves; Frankish weapon export to foreigners was forbidden (loot/ransom/contraband). Research includes Alan Williams (2007/2009) and Anne Stalsberg (2008).
The legend of “the one superior wonder-sword of secret oriental steel” is too simple: the Ulfberht group covers very varied steels and qualities, many blades are quite ordinarily forged, and several inscriptions are faulty (misspelled) – a sign of imitations or unskilled hands. “Ulfberht” is thus less a single smith than a brand name used – and faked – over generations.
Hacksilver – silver as currency · Viking jewellery · Slate, Wood or Glass? · The Mästermyr tool chest · Stone ships – ships of stone.