The Vlfberht sword blades reevaluated JennyRita（Vlfberht剑叶片评估JennyRita）.pdf

1 The Vlfberht sword blades reevaluated ANNE STALSBERG To my friend and mentor in archaeology, Jenny-Rita Næss, Stavanger. Background Readers of archaeological literature about Viking Age weapons are familiar with the male name Vlfberht which is welded onto Viking Age Sword blades. The name is in the archaelogical literature also written Ulfberht; V and U were used intechangably for the semi- vowel [w], but the sword blade signature is with one single exception written V. He is regarded as a Frankish blacksmith and the name is Frankish, from the lower Rhine Area, and it is generally supposed that his sword blades were traded from the Frankish Realm to pagan Europe. During preparations for the publication of the Norwegian-Russian Sword Project it struck me that these axioms need a renewed discussion (on the Norwegian-Russian Sword Project: Stalsberg 1994). I also realized that there, - to the best of my knowledge -, is no typology of the variants of the Vlfberht signatures and geometrical reverse marks usually accompanying the Vlfberht signature. To be able to discuss production and trade of the Vlfberht blades, a typology of the variants of signatures and reverse marks is needed, and the chronological and geographical distributions of these variants must be analysed to form a basis for the reevaluation of the Vlfberht blades. Some Vlfberht signatures are clearly not correctly written, but lack letters, letters are turned upside down or turned back to front. They have been interpreted as falsifications, imitations or failed (Menghin 1975, Stalsberg 1989, Geibig 1991:121-122). To solve this question the forging and welding techniques have to be examined, both of genuine and possible imitations or falsifications, inside as well as outside the Frankish Realm. Different forging techniques may also reveal working methods of different smiths. This impo