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Why so Many Viking Age Swords in Norway?
- Ukraine - 26 swords 8 (for both countries: it is unknown how many more swords
later have been found in these two countries).
In Geibig's undoubtedly exact catalogue from Bundesrepublik Deutschland, i.e.
the previous West Germany 9 I have counted some 163 swords which have been found
in the pagan northern areas of West Germany.
According to Geibig's catalogue 275 swords have been found in countries which
were parts of Frankia: -Austria -11, -Belgium -5, -Switzerland -4, -France -37, -the
Netherlands -41, plus 184 from the southern Linksrheinisches West Germany.
-- Number of swords versus size of population
The ratio between the number of swords and 9th -10th century population would
have been very informative about how frequent swords really were. But, the
estimated sizes of populations are „relying partly only on conjectures”. 10 Used with
great care and criticism the estimated size of populations may, roughly, give an
impression of the correlations, or rather lacking correlations between population size
and the number of swords found in their areas.
A couple of examples are instructive:
Calculations by Norwegian historians of the population in Norway in the middle
of the 14 th century, have given results varying from 300 000 to 500 000 persons 11 .
Those two populations would give ratter different frequencies of swords.
According to Geibig's catalogue 275 swords have been found in areas belonging to
Frankia (ut supra). The American historian Bernard Bachrach discussed the sizes of
the armies which were mobilized under the Carolingian and suggested „a total
mobilization of armies of expeditionary operations on all fronts in the 100 000
range” 12 . Such a figure makes it even more striking how many swords have been
found in Norway with a very small population compared to Frankia where a hundred
thousand soldiers may have been mobilized.
-- But why so many swords in Norway?
When I first discussed this question, I referred to two factors: find circumstances
and research activity 13 .
In Christian countries grave goods were disapproved of, the swords are mainly
waterfinds (lost or thrown into rivers), while in pagan Europe they come from graves
with grave goods. Norway stands out among the pagan countries, since generous,
sometimes lavish burial rites were practized, more than in other countries.
8 Kirpichnikov 1966, catalog p. 74ff.
9 Geibig visited some 600 museums and collections in West Germany when preparing his dissertation
(Müller-Wille in the Vorword des Ausgebers in Geibig 1991).
10 Russel 1981-1983, p.14.
11 Krag 2000, p. 249f.
12 Bachrach 2001, p. 58.
13 Stalsberg 2009, p. 100.
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