Военная история / Оружие / The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe: Experience, Identity, Representation

Название: The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe: Experience, Identity, Representation
Автор(ы): Sue Brunning
Издательство: The Boydell Press 2019
Страниц: 234
Язык: English
Формат: True PDF
Размер: 10 MB

Swords were special in Anglo-Saxon England. Their names, deeds and pedigrees were enshrined in writing. Many were curated for generations, revealed by their worn and mended condition. Few ended their lives as casual discards, placed instead in graves, hoards and watercourses as part of ritualised acts. Contemporary sources leave no doubt that complex social meanings surrounded these weapons, transcending their use on the battlefield; but they have yet to transcend the traditional view that their primary social function was as status symbols. Even now, half a century after the first major study of Anglo-Saxon swords, their wider significance within their world has yet to be fully articulated.