The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England, edited by Paul Mortimer and Matt Bunker, is an astounding achievement and a wonderful addition to the corpus on the subject. It is both scholarly in its depth and approach and at the same time accessible to the more casual reader with an interest in early Anglo-Saxon England, or swords in general. It covers just about everything you could think of about swords from this period, from how they were used, their place in the military culture, their symbolism, how they were fashioned and decorated, in-depth analyses of the distribution of archaeological finds, the different forging processes, the ideology of swords and several case studies of reconstructions of famous historical swords, such as the Sutton Hoo sword from mound 1 and the Bamburgh Blade.

This is a hefty tome, weighing in at 450 pages [a bit over 1kg]. The contributions are varied and for anyone with even a vague interest in the subject matter there will be some chapters that will make compelling reading. There are several highlights in the book, but for me the detailed descriptions of the pattern-welding process and the step-by-step accounts of forging replicas of pattern-welded swords, with numerous enlightening colour photographs, really stand out and elevate this above other works by adding in-depth practical knowledge from expert blade smiths.

What differentiates this book from others is its scope. Most sword books take a specific approach to the sword and rarely stray from that – an example being Ian Pierce’s Swords of the Viking Age. In that text, one is presented with a catalog of historical swords, a brief discussion of archeological typologies, an informative section on pattern-welding and the book concludes. Contrast this with Paul Mortimer and Matt Bunker’s presentation: a survey of the previous publications on their topic, discussion of the martial culture of Anglo-Saxons, how the iron and steel was made, charcoal production and smelting, detailed discussion of pattern welding and patterns found, the role of the blacksmith in society in Northern Europe, a survey of sword finds, how the sword was clothed (guard, pommel, rings, pyramids, stones, jewelry, ornamentation, scabbard construction, scabbard lining, scabbard covering), how the sword was worn, the literature and vocabulary of the sword, and runes and inlay on a sword blade. A complete survey of the sword from start to finish – yet our authors/editors/contributors are not done.

With contributions from expert bladesmiths Vince Evans & Jesus Hernandez, & blacksmith Lee Sauder, we are gifted with specific, detailed case studies on the reproduction of historical blades such as the Sutton Hoo Mound 1 blade, the Vehmaa and the Bamburgh swords, as well as alternative techniques for sword construction. Next, with the help of Matt Easton, a long time instructor and even longer time student of Historical European Martial Arts, they explore how the sword was used in combat, the grip, and the combination of sword and shield. This is followed by a look at the archeological evidence for sword inflicted trauma.

The book ends by exploring the meaning and life of swords in their contemporary society, the burial of the sword, and the relationships of women to swords. These explorations of the cultural interactions with the sword are a welcome addition in any discussion of the sword – it was not an object apart from the culture; it was an intrinsic part of the culture of Northern Europe, and without the inclusion of this material one is left to speculate why these weapons are so important as contrasted with any other implement of the society.

As a final bonus, on author/editor Paul Mortimer’s Academia.edu site, one can download no less than 13 additional appendices.

Finally, this book includes dozens of high quality, color photographs to illustrate the concepts. The usual charts, diagrams and tables are also provided where appropriate to guide the reader in understanding the data presented.