Anglo-Saxon Spatha

[Caleb Budd]

Started on my first sword making journey back in November of last year and I have finally finished! I decided to try something a little closer to a time period and culture I found interesting so I picked 6th century Anglo-Saxon England. I first started with some reading and I turned to "The sword in anglo-saxon england (5th-7th century)" and I can say it was a wealth of information! My sketch was pulled from examples in the book. My starting dimensions for the blade were 625mm length and 60mm width.

 

I decided to forego forging on this project since I didn't want to add any unnecessary variables in an already difficult project. Though my next one I do plan on forging to shape.

 

 

Rough ground and tang elongated through some forging

3

 

I then moved on getting those grind lines going in the right idrection

 

Guard and handle fitted up

 

I then forged a wrought iron peen block

 

Finished photos

The whole process had me hating myself for wanting to do this but by the end I was yearning for more. Probably call it Swordholm syndrome but I am excited for my next project!

The blade is 5160 and has an antler handle with brass and maple guards. The wrought etched beautifully and I was happy to use up some scrap. The blade itself starts at just under 3/16" and tapers to about 1/8". The blade is pretty point heavy but it leans into the chopper feel of it and the final weight didn't seem too terrible. But either way I hope you'll like it! 

 

Final Dimensions are

Total length is 750 mm

Blade length 625 mm

Width 60mm at the base 

50mm right before the tip transition

Grip length is 95mm 

Total weight 968 grams 

POB 6.5" from the bottom guard

[Alan Longmire]

Good for you!  You did capture the look of the very early ones. 

[Caleb Budd]

1 hour ago, Alan Longmire said:

Good for you!  You did capture the look of the very early ones. 

Thank you Alan! Even though I can’t change it now I was hoping you’d respond so I can ask about the handling of these early pieces. From what I’ve been reading it seems just about right but I wanted your opinion so I can look at changing it for my next sword!

Thank you

[Alan Longmire]

The only real Anglo-Saxon sword I've ever held was from around 950 AD, substantially later than this one.  I think, based on what I've read, that your description of slightly point-heavy is right on.  The lack of fullering and the lack of a true pommel both conspire to make point-heaviness inevitable.  I don't think they figured that out until after 800 AD.  You can watch the evolution of the upper guard as pommel caps were added, then became heavier, then disappeared altogether in favor of a true pommel, right alongside fuller experimentations and tapers in width to bring the balance into a more point-friendly state.  And that moment around 1050 AD is when Peter Johnsson's sword dynamics and geometrical design really snap into focus. 

 

As an aside, go look at Owen Bush's latest Anglo-Saxon swords.  He really raised the bar on organic materials in hilt work...

https://www.owenbush.co.uk/product/dumbledore-old-english-for-bumble-bee-early-saxon-organic-hilted-short-sword/

https://www.owenbush.co.uk/product/horn-organic-hilted-sword/

 

Those two blow me away.

[Caleb Budd]

That all makes a lot of sense! These swords don’t seem to have as much coverage as other later period swords.

 

Owen Bush has honestly been a huge inspiration for me when it comes to this sword and there was more than a couple times I’d look at his work if I felt stuck on some idea of mine. Both of those swords blow me away on the level of craftsmanship! Hoping to get my own pattern welded sword finished one of these days 

[Ryan Hobbs]

On 3/7/2023 at 1:08 PM, Alan Longmire said:

The only real Anglo-Saxon sword I've ever held was from around 950 AD, substantially later than this one.  I think, based on what I've read, that your description of slightly point-heavy is right on.  The lack of fullering and the lack of a true pommel both conspire to make point-heaviness inevitable.  I don't think they figured that out until after 800 AD.

 

If I remember correctly, fullers were not unknown in the Migration era, and the POB being farther out towards the tip was a deliberate feature rather than a product of design limitations.

The large shields used at this time meant the sword didn't have to be super nimble, so the sword could be almost purely offensive and give extraordinarily strong cuts. I know at least the blunt ones hurt a lot, haha.

So ya, paired with the shield, the heavy blades actually work quite well! Sorry if all of that was already known knowledge.

 

 

[Alan Longmire]

Exactly.  Migration-era swords were deliberately point-heavy because of the style of fighting of the time.  One-on-one with sword and shield, you use the sword almost like an axe.  When the shield wall came back into greater use, thrusting became a more important thing that needed to be done, so POB moved back a bit to allow better point control (feel free to remember Roman infantry tactics with shield walls and the gladius!). Bernard Cornwell harps endlessly on this in his Saxon Chronicles, particularly by having his main character often use a long-ish seax in the shield wall rather than the sword, the better to stab in under the opposing shields.  Fullers were common on Roman daggers and not uncommon on Roman spathas, but they are usually multiple, short and narrow rather than the later single full-length wide ones of the later Anglo-Saxon period.  As the spatha evolved into the Germanic single-hand sword the blade became wider and slightly shorter, while the fullers went away for a while between ca 450 AD to around 700 AD, when they reappear as the really wide shallow ones.  This is of course a gross oversimplification, as anything to do with swords always is. 

[Hoy's Forge]

Like the contrast of the wood and brass  on the guard and cap .  Nice work !