The Perfect Sword: Forging the Dark Ages
Edoardo Albert and Paul Gething
Language: English
Published by Birlinn, 2023
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: The Book-Wyrm, Pebble Beach, CA, U.S.A.The Book-Wyrm
AbeBooks seller since January 12, 2026
Condition: Used - Good
£ 7.63
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
When Paul Gething opened an archaeologist?s old suitcase he rediscovered a rusty length of metal excavated at Bamburgh Castle three decades earlier, which scientific analysis revealed to be a 7th-century sword of uniquely high quality. In this book the authors explain how and why such pattern-welded swords were produced and describe a project to study the weapon and to recreate it using technologies available to the original swordsmith.
Seller Inventory # ABE-1768361673320
- Title
- The Perfect Sword: Forging the Dark Ages
- Author
- Edoardo Albert and Paul Gething
- Publisher
- Birlinn
- Publication year
- 2023
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1780277849
- ISBN 13
- 9781780277844
- Item weight
- 2.315 pounds
- Dimensions
- 1.07 inches width by 6.36 inches height by 9.48 inches depth
The story of the Bamburgh Sword – one of the finest swords ever forged.
In 2000, archaeologist Paul Gething rediscovered a sword. An unprepossessing length of rusty metal, it had been left in a suitcase for thirty years. But Paul had a suspicion that the sword had more to tell than appeared, so he sent it for specialist tests. When the results came back, he realised that what he had in his possession was possibly the finest, and certainly the most complex, sword ever made, which had been forged in seventh-century Northumberland by an anonymous swordsmith.
This is the story of the Bamburgh Sword – of how and why it was made, who made it and what it meant to the warriors and kings who wielded it over three centuries. It is also the remarkable story of the archaeologists and swordsmiths who found, studied and attempted to recreate the weapon using only the materials and technologies available to the original smith.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Paul Gething is Director of the Bamburgh Research Project. He studied Archaeological Science at the University of Sheffield and began excavating in 1987. Since then, he has worked in the Middle East, North Africa, France, Spain and the length and breadth of the UK. He has written for History, Current Archaeology, The Great Outdoors and Time Out.
Edoardo Albert is a London-based writer of Italian and Sri Lankan extraction who specialises in religion, travel and archaeology. His previous books include: Warrior: A Life of War in Anglo-Saxon Britain and Northumbria: The Lost Kingdom, both of which he co-authored with Paul Gething.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
The Book-Wyrm
Pebble Beach, CA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since January 12, 2026
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