I am Roland Warzecha, a professional illustrator – and a swordsman. Hence the name ‘Dimicator’ which is a Latin term meaning sword fighter. I present to you cutting-edge research into historical martial arts, and Viking & high medieval sword & shield fighting in particular. I am co-operating with museums, fellow martial artists and scholars worldwide. Renowned expert for historical arms, Dr Alfred Geibig, says: “The careful reconstruction of historical swordsmanship, impressively demonstrated by Mr. Warzecha, is a valuable supplement to archaeological insights, and clearly proves the efficiency of European swords and the sophistication of the associated historical fighting arts.” To get regular up-dates on the archaeology and history of sword & shield and how they were used, sign up for my newsletter! I would be delighted if you would join my quest.
Medieval Sword Design
A 1000-Year-Old Sword from the River Warnow
Hello sword enthusiasts.
Yesterday at the Kulturhistorisches Museum Rostock I had the privilege of examining some of the finds from the Warnow River discovered near Schwaan in 1927/28 (read more in last week’s newsletter).
By courtesy of the city’s head archaeologist Dr. Ralf Mulsow, Theodor Rosentreter and myself had the chance to document a sword with rather plain hilt fittings of 10th century Frankish/German design. This furniture is mounted to a spectacular pattern-welded blade. This is an unusual combination, as pattern welding was no longer common practice in imperial blade manufacture of the day.
It will be interesting to run a geometric analysis on this sword. In the 10th century, paganism was still strong in the region. If the weapon once belonged to a pagan Slavic warrior, and was assembled by local craftsmen, it would not be surprising if its layout would not conform to typical imperial design. Swords from outside the Christian cultural sphere follow different design concepts, and usually do not feature an obvious correlation between blade length and size of hilt.
In contrast, medieval Christian designs were holistic, and they were based on strict geometric rules. Researcher and sword maker Peter Johnsson has repeatedly published on the subject, and my own research confirms his suggestions time and again.
You can see a step-by-step guide to the geometry of a Carolingian sword that I recently examined in Berlin in my respective public post on my patreon.
| See the suggested design concept |
But wait – there's more!
Yes, indeed. In addition to the pattern-welded sword, I also managed to complete the documentation of two so-called Dane axes thanks to the kind assistance of my longterm patron and fellow living history and archaeology enthusiast Theodor Rosentreter. Theo’s expertise in pattern-welded blades and the Merovingian era was also extremely helpful.
We finally got a glimpse of additional material from the Schwaan finds, such as Germanic sword blades and spear heads. We will definitely go back there to do more work, and results will be shared as per usual. So look forward to more.
So, that's it for today. Take care, and keep your blade well-honed.
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Yours,
Roland
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Dimicator
I am Roland Warzecha, a professional illustrator – and a swordsman. Hence the name ‘Dimicator’ which is a Latin term meaning sword fighter. I present to you cutting-edge research into historical martial arts, and Viking & high medieval sword & shield fighting in particular. I am co-operating with museums, fellow martial artists and scholars worldwide. Renowned expert for historical arms, Dr Alfred Geibig, says: “The careful reconstruction of historical swordsmanship, impressively demonstrated by Mr. Warzecha, is a valuable supplement to archaeological insights, and clearly proves the efficiency of European swords and the sophistication of the associated historical fighting arts.” To get regular up-dates on the archaeology and history of sword & shield and how they were used, sign up for my newsletter! I would be delighted if you would join my quest.
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