Page:VCH London 1.djvu/228

 A HISTORY OF LONDON In 1897 a fine example of the Viking sword (fig. 9) was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries " by Mr. Morgan S. WilHams, and commented on by Mr. C. H. Read. It had recently been found in the Thames near West- minster, standing upright, and resembles one from the Witham in the national collection. It belongs to one of the two leading types of the period, having curved guard and pommel, both originally silvered over and ornamented with a row of lozenges in gold outlined in copper (fig. 10). The outer part of the pommel is, as usual, in three lobes, which seem to have represented an animal's head in the present instance. The blade is excellently forged and is 30I in. long, with a broad channel down the middle, but any possible inscription on the blade is hidden by a black oxide. The damascening (due to forging the blade out of several twisted iron rods) is still visible in places on the blade ; and the tang, which is now a flat tapering bar of iron, was originally covered with plates of horn, bone, or wood to form a grip. To the same type belongs another in the national collection from the Thames at the Temple (fig. 13). It is unornamented, but in good condition, wanting nothing but the grip of bone or wood, and must have been a most serviceable weapon, much stronger, heavier, and better balanced than the native Anglo-Saxon sword of the pagan period, with its long narrow blade Fig. 13. — Viking Sword from the Thames at the Temple (J) and inadequate pommel. That the English eventually adopted the weapons of their conquerors is most probable ; but the superiority of the Danish armament in the ninth century no doubt had much to do with their successes. A Viking sword of another type (fig. 1 2), bequeathed by Mr. H. D. Baines to the national collection, was said to have been found about 1846 in the tomb of an earl of Pembroke (early thirteenth century) in the Temple Church, but is more probably from the Thames, as its condition testifies. The blade is 2 ft. 4I in. long, slightly tapering, and double-edged, with a broad channel down the middle on both faces ; and the tang is now tightly bound with silver wire that once encircled the bone or wooden grip. The axis of the guard as well as that of the pommel-base is at right angles to the grip, but their sides are slightly concave ; and while the guard retains clear traces of silver plating and interlaced animal ornament, the pommel is modelled in the form of two conventional animal heads once plated with silver, the details indicated by an inlay of copper (fig. 11). In the words of Mr. C. H. Read, who described the sword for the Society of Antiquaries on the occasion of its exhibition in 1886 by Rev. J. C. Jackson, the decoration of the hilt has been very skilfully and laboriously executed ; and the method is the same as that now practised by the Indian and Persian smiths in inlaying gold or silver over a large surface of iron or steel, viz. by cross-hatching the whole space to be covered, and then hammering the silver plate upon it, the slight roughing being quite sufficient to " Proc. Soc. Antiq. xvi, 390. 156