The ‘Living’ Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe: An Interdisciplinary Study Volume 1: Thesis, Appendices and Bibliography Susan Elaine Brunning Institute of Archaeology, University College London PhD Supervisors: Professor Andrew Reynolds (Institute of Archaeology) Dr. Jeremy Tanner (Institute of Archaeology) Dr. Chris Abram (formerly Department of Scandinavian Studies) Word Count: 74,276 (excluding appendices and bibliography) 1 Signed declaration: I, Susan Elaine Brunning, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. …………………………………………. 2 Volume 1 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 10 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 13 Chapter 2. Literature Review .................................................................................... 16 1) Form and function .............................................................................................. 16 a) Typology ........................................................................................................ 16 b) Production and distribution ............................................................................ 18 c) Combat function ............................................................................................. 19 d) Concluding remarks ....................................................................................... 20 2) Social, Cultural and Symbolic Significance ...................................................... 20 a) Identity and status .......................................................................................... 21 i) Social status ................................................................................................. 21 ii) Military Identity and Status ........................................................................ 25 iii) Gender ....................................................................................................... 32 b) Ritual significance ......................................................................................... 36 c) Ancient swords ............................................................................................... 37 d) Artefact biography and ‘living’ swords ......................................................... 40 3) Areas for future study ........................................................................................ 43 Chapter 3. Aims and Methods ................................................................................... 46 3 1) Introduction: Interdisciplinarity in Medieval Research ..................................... 46 2) Aims ................................................................................................................... 49 a) Topic aims ...................................................................................................... 49 b) Interdisciplinary aims .................................................................................... 51 3) Methodology ...................................................................................................... 52 a) Types of evidence .......................................................................................... 52 b) Research questions ......................................................................................... 54 c) Structure and method ..................................................................................... 55 4) Outline of research chapters .............................................................................. 56 a) Chapter 4: Images .......................................................................................... 56 b) Chapter 5: Archaeology ................................................................................. 59 c) Chapter 6: Texts ............................................................................................. 61 d) Chapter 7: Discussion .................................................................................... 64 5) Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 64 Chapter 4. Images...................................................................................................... 66 1) Introduction ........................................................................................................ 66 a) Critical and contextual issues ......................................................................... 66 b) Approach ........................................................................................................ 68 c) A note on the collected data ........................................................................... 70 2) Research Question 1: The Sword as a ‘Living’ Object ..................................... 71 a) Visual character.............................................................................................. 72 b) Swords with life-histories .............................................................................. 78 4 c) Swords in action ............................................................................................. 84 d) Animated swords ........................................................................................... 93 3) Research Question 2: The Warrior-Sword Relationship ................................... 96 a) Swords, warriors and warrior identities ......................................................... 97 b) Women and swords ...................................................................................... 100 c) Social groups and the mobilisation of sword motifs .................................... 102 4) Research Question 3: The ‘Living’ Sword in Time ......................................... 104 5) Research Question 4: The ‘Living’ Sword in Space........................................ 108 6) Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 113 Chapter 5. Archaeology .......................................................................................... 115 1) Introduction ...................................................................................................... 115 a) Critical and contextual issues ....................................................................... 115 b) Approach ...................................................................................................... 117 2) Research Question 1: The Sword as a ‘Living’ Object ................................... 117 a) Method ......................................................................................................... 118 b) Wear ............................................................................................................. 123 c) Repair ........................................................................................................... 134 d) Modification................................................................................................. 136 e) Loose fittings and visual identity ................................................................. 141 f) Concluding remarks...................................................................................... 144 3) Research Question 2: The Sword-Warrior Relationship ................................. 145 a) Critical and contextual issues ....................................................................... 145 5 b) Body side ..................................................................................................... 147 c) Physical proximity ....................................................................................... 149 d) Non-warriors ................................................................................................ 151 4) Research Question 3: The ‘Living’ Sword in Time ......................................... 153 a) Research Question 1: The Sword as a ‘Living’ Object ................................ 154 b) Research Question 2: The Sword-Warrior Relationship ............................. 159 5) Research Question 4: The ‘Living’ Sword in Space........................................ 162 6) Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 164 Chapter 6. Texts ...................................................................................................... 166 1) Introduction ...................................................................................................... 166 a) Critical and contextual issues ....................................................................... 166 b) Text selection ............................................................................................... 170 c) Approach ...................................................................................................... 173 d) A note on language, translation, spelling and referencing ........................... 175 2) Research Question 1: The Sword as a ‘Living’ Object ................................... 176 a) Characterisation ..........................................................................................