Editor’s Note:

Despite its Christian overlay,  it would seem that the essential character of Beowulf has survived, making it one of the most Odinist of European epics. It is a tale of honor, hospitality, great battles, and the triumph of the warrior spirit.. We are very pleased indeed to present you with this fascinating exploration of the weaponry of Beowulf!

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In Beowulf’s world of early-sixth-century Scandinavia, swords had personalities and names.  In bleak contrast, the thrall who leads the thanes to the dragon’s cave in the last part of the epic poem, is nameless, and like other slaves, is not considered human.   Of course, the sword Beowulf carries with him on that ill-fated quest is named, and is the celebrated Naegling.

Swords were difficult to make.  Norse smiths used a process that involved twisting together metals from different areas—sometimes different countries—which were then heated and pounded together, only to repeat the process again and again.  These weapons were rare and valuable; only aristocratic thanes possessed them.  A sword was often passed down from generation to generation, and some swords used in the later Viking era were hundreds of years old, having been slightly re-worked through the ages.

If there were so few swords around, what weapons did the Norse and later Vikings utilize in battle?  Most were modified farmstead implements, especially axes, tools such as knives, as well as hunting gear such as bows, arrows, and spears.  For protection, a fighter used a wooden shield with rawhide edging and a metal boss, wore a metal helmet, and prayed to the Gods for victory.  Hedging that prayer, an aristocratic thane would also wear chain mail, which, like a sword, was both costly and time-consuming to make.

In most Beowulf movies such as The Thirteenth Warrior, the thanes are literally larger than life.  These are big guys strategically placed upon huge draft-mix horses to make them appear even larger.  Of course, to be historically accurate, the warriors would have ridden the short, but stout Norwegian Fjord horses utilized by the enemy in that film.  The Hollywood notion of Norse weaponry includes swords that have more in common with the heavy, two-handed Scottish Claymore than anything early Scandinavian.  The hapless viewer is also often subjected to the all too often seen two-sided axe and horned helmet, neither of which existed among the Norse and later Vikings. ^[1]

Norse swords were double-edged and designed to be wielded with one hand, since a fighter was busy holding the shield with the other hand.  Just the same, there are scenes in the eddas and sagas that depict two-handed use of the sword, to include one in Beowulf which has the hero doing this with Hrunting in his battle against Grendel’s mother.  “He put his whole force behind his sword-edge, did not withhold the two-handed swing”. ^[2]  In a case such as that, one must have had to hold the sword like a baseball bat, one hand over the other, because the grip is too narrow for more than one hand. The blade was about two to three feet long and the whole weapon weighed from two to four pounds.  The tip was rounded because this sword was primarily a slashing weapon.  The hilts and pommels of the swords were often decorated to make them distinctive to the specific sword, but also to add weight for balance.

After Beowulf is unable to defeat Grendel’s mother in combat using Hrunting, he is angry at what he believes is the failure of the sword, so he casts it away and a further description of the weapon follows:  “bejeweled, ring-patterned; it lay on the ground, strong, bright-edged.” ^[3]   Tapering of the blade in addition to the grooves running the length of the blade helped with the issue of weight and balance.

Two swords are named in Beowulf:  Hrunting, which is the sword given to Beowulf by Unferth, Hrothgar’s thane and Naegling, which is the sword Beowulf uses against the dragon at the end of the epic.  In keeping with the sword-as-precious-heirloom concept, Hrunting is an ancient sword that has been in Unferth’s family forever.  “Hrunting by name.  It was the best of inherited treasures.” ^[4]  An unnamed, but even more remarkable sword is the one belonging to Grendel’s mother.  This sword was ancient and possibly magical.  Grendel’s mother would have killed Beowulf with her knife after he cast Hrunting away if he hadn’t been able to get her sword.  This sword was decorated with strange designs to include Runes.  It self-destructs after killing its owner:  “a victory-bright blade made by the Giants, an uncracking edge, an honor for its bearer, the best of weapons,” ^[5] further described as “ornamented, burnished”. ^[6]  The audience for the epic tale of Beowulf back when the tale was sung in mead halls would have assumed this sword was incredibly old and possessed of special powers.  Despite translations that say it was forged by Giants, the listeners may have understood that this particular blade was created instead by Dwarves, the dark Gods of the underworld who were famous for crafting various legendary weapons of the high Gods, such as Thor’s hammer, Mjollnir.

There are numerous stories in the various Norse eddas and the sagas that revolve around swords.  In one, a woman raids her Berserker father’s burial mound to take his sword so she can kill her enemies in battle.  Her father emerges as a zombie like creature called a draugnir, and warns his daughter that if she takes the sword, ill luck will befall her.  She ignores daddy’s advice and steals the sword anyhow.  One must have priorities after all.  Swords were often the most valuable possession a person would ever own.  One sword is described as being worth sixteen milk cows.  Dairy and meat were the staples of Norse diet; hide was valued as were the horns for drinking vessels, so milk cows were of high value, indeed.

In another saga, a man abandons his wife and daughter in Iceland and prepares to sail back to Norway.  The woman steals her husband’s sword and successfully ransoms it back to her no-good man for what she wants out of the deal.  Possessing a sword someone else wanted, gave the possessor a lot of leverage.

We have to thank Hollywood for not only confusing us with a double-sided battle axe, but for portraying Norse and later Viking axes as being very large.  That has not helped us with historical perspective.  With the exception of the rare Dane axe, Norse axes were small, light one-handed hatchets.  They were used on farmsteads and most importantly, for shipbuilding.  In battle they were used hand-to-hand as well as thrown.  Even today, axe-throwing competitions are popular in many different venues.

All Norse fighters of Beowulf’s time would have had spears and known how to use them.  Spears were used for hunting and inexpensive to make, having only the metal head affixed to a wooden staff.  The staff served several purposes:  longer reach, weight behind the head, use as a pole for vaulting distances further than normally possible without the leverage, as well as using the staff itself for fighting. Skilled archers were prized in combat.  The Norse and later Vikings used longbows and had various specialized arrow heads designed for everything from ham-stringing horses to cutting ropes on ships.

The 2007 animated movie, Beowulf depicts Norse weapons fairly well.  Do not, however, look at that particular movie for any sort of accuracy on Norse buildings, clothing or much of anything else.  If you can view the movie in 3D, it’s exciting when the axes seem to fly at your head, along with spears, arrows, and swords.  If one is interested in more of a historical depiction of Beowulf’s time as to structures, clothing, weapons—and real Nordic horses–be sure to watch the Icelandic movie, Beowulf & Grendel, starring Scottish actor, Gerard Butler as our favorite hero.

Although there are other weapons in Beowulf, swords are the stars.  There is the swimming contest, much-recreated in re-tellings, where Beowulf races against his friend, Breca, the Norwegian prince.  Both young men “held naked swords” ^[7]  as they swam, allegedly to protect themselves from whales’ tusks.  Beowulf encounters sea monsters and must kill them to save not only his own life, but also that of his friend, so he loses the race because of the delay.  This is the story that comes back to haunt Beowulf in Hrothgar’s mead hall, Heorot, when Unferth mocks him for the loss.  After Beowulf defeats Grendel and Grendel’s mum bursts into the hall wreaking vengeance, a contrite Unferth offers up his family’s most prized possession, Hrunting, as an aid to defeat Grendel’s fearsome mother.

Most retellings will depict the destruction of Hrunting during the battle with Grendel’s mother.  However, the sword is simply cast away in anger and left behind along with her body.  The only two items Beowulf brings with him are the hilt of the magic sword and Grendel’s head.  He offers no explanation or apology to Unferth for abandoning the precious heirloom.

We base our knowledge of Norse swords on those left as grave goods with aristocratic warriors and those found in rivers, bogs, or other places where they were lost in battle.   Perhaps one day a glorious blade will be discovered in Denmark and Hrunting will have awakened from a very long sleep.

Footnotes

1. Although acknowledging that there were many types of helmets used, and that horned helmets are wildly over-represented currently, some historians (including your editor), would disagree with the idea that there were no horned helmets, but this is a battle for another day! ^
2.  Beowulf, 1519-21 ^
3. Ibid., 1532-33 ^
4. Ibid.,1457-58 ^
5. Ibid., 1557-59 ^
6. Ibid., 1562 ^
7. Ibid., 539 ^

Works Cited:

Beowulf. Dir. Zemeckis, Robert;  Neil Gaiman;  Ray Winstone; Anthony     Hopkins; Angelina Jolie, et al.  2007 English  Visual Material  : Videorecording : Animation :DVD video  1 videodisc (114 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in. Hollywood, CA : Paramount Pictures Corporation ; Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment

Beowulf & Grendel. Dir. Gunnarsson, Sturla, Andrew Rai Berzins, and Gerard Butler, et         al. 1 videodisc (ca. 103 min.). Distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment. 2006.

Chickering Jr., Howell D. Beowulf: A Dual-Language Edition. New York: Anchor Books, 1977, 1989, 2006.

Crichton, Michael. Eaters of the Dead : The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in A.D. 922. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.

Cotton MS Vitellius A. XV. British Lib. London.

Peterson, Jan. The Norwegian Viking Swords. Trans. Kristen Noer. Web. date of access.

Saga Conference 2-7 July 2000, University of Sydney. Ed. Geraldine Barnes and Margaret Clunies Ross. Sydney: Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney, 2000. 375-385. Accessed 19 December 2005.

The 13th Warrior. Dir.  John McTiernan. Antonio Banderas, DianeVenora, Omar Sharif. 1 videocassette (103 min.). Buena Vista Home Entertainment; Touchstone Home Video, 1999.

Viking Answer Lady

 

 By Karen Emanuelson

Colorado State University-Pueblo

(Pictures and their comments added by Odinia)

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