ish Danes, and in so troubled a time, when no man could feel safe from the attacks of strangers, and all were consequently obliged to be constantly prepared for conflict, good weapons were naturally of extraordinary importance. Skilful armourers were then in great request, and although in other cases the Danish warrior would have thought it unbecoming and dangerous to disturb the peace of the dead, he did not scruple to break open a barrow, or a grave, if by such means he could obtain the renowned weapon which had been deposited beside the hero who had wielded it.
The iron swords of this period were somewhat larger than those of bronze, but more rarely two edged[1]. At the end of the handle, which was covered with wood, leather, bone, or stag's horn, which however is now consumed, a tolerably large knob or boss was introduced, with the view of forming a counterpoise to the blade. The introduction of a guard also indicates a nearer approach to the more regular form of swords. The handle, or to speak more correctly, the knob and the guard, among the rich, were surrounded with chains of gold, or covered with plates of gold and silver; and
- ↑ The reader cannot but be struck with the obvious resemblance between the decorations on the handle of the sword figured above, and the interlaced ornaments observable in MSS., and other productions of the Anglo-Saxons, and of which the accompanying engravings, which exhibit portions of two crosses of the Anglo-Saxon period, preserved in the Museum of the Literary and Philosophical Institution of Bath, furnish very characteristic examples.—T.
