The Perfect Sword: Forging the Dark Ages

Gething, Paul; Albert, Edoardo

ISBN 10: 1780277849 / ISBN 13: 9781780277844

Published by Birlinn Ltd, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2022

About this Item

Dark blue cloth, gilt title. 288pp. colour plates. Minor shelf wear to boards and dust jacket; DJ now in clear, removable protective wrapper. A lovely clean copy in excellent condition.

Seller Inventory # 120475

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Perfect Sword: Forging the Dark Ages
• Publisher: Birlinn Ltd, Edinburgh, Scotland
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1780277849
• ISBN 13: 9781780277844
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good+
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good +

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

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.

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.