Migration Period sword

Migration Period Sword
Germanic type ring sword – France, 6th century
Type	Sword
Place of origin	Northwestern Europe
Production history
Produced	4th century – 7th century
Variants	Krefeld type, Alamannic type, Frankish type
Specifications
Length	c. 70–80 cm (28–31 in) blade
Blade type	straight, smooth or with shallow fuller, double edged
Hilt type	short guard, large pommel, ring hilted variants

The Migration Period sword was a type of sword popular during the Migration Period and the Merovingian period of European history (c. 4th to 7th centuries AD), particularly among the Germanic peoples. It later gave rise to the Carolingian or Viking sword type of the 8th to 11th centuries AD.

The blade was normally smooth or showed a very shallow fuller, and often had multiple bands of pattern-welding within the central portion. The handles were often of perishable material and there are few surviving examples. Blade length measured between 28–32 in (710–810 mm) in length and 1.7–2.4 in (43–61 mm) in width. The tang has a length of 4–5 in (100–130 mm) long. The blades show very little taper, usually ending in a rounded tip.

Surviving examples of these Merovingian-period swords have notably been found in the context of the Scandinavian Germanic Iron Age (Vendel period).