Tales of Joyeuse: The Sword that Conquered Europe

source: Ancient Origins

Some 1200 years ago, there lived a famous blacksmith named Galas who embarked on a mission of forging the perfect sword. In 802CE, three long years after the blacksmith first set fire to the forge, the very blade that would help conquer Europe was fashioned into existence. 

Fated to rest in the hands of the battle-born King of the Franks, Charlemagne, the sword La Joyeuse would soon command epic tales of conquests, myth, and magic. The history of Charlemagne’s conquest of Europe, for the most part, is a story of Joyeuse. Legend has it that Charlemagne was on his way back from Spain when setting camp in the very region where Galas was working; there the King of the Franks acquired Joyeuse. Charlemagne was known to be especially brutal and ruthless when fighting his battles, and Joyeuse was a weapon that was as glorious and deadly as his reputation.

There exist several accounts that ascribe magical powers to Joyeuse. Legend has it that the sword was forged with the shards of the infamous Lance of Longinus—the very lance that was stabbed into Jesus’ side during the crucifixion. It is said that whenever Charlemagne unsheathed Joyeuse in battle, he revealed a sword that outshone the sun, and left its enemies blind. It is also said that whoever mastered Joyeuse was impregnable to poison. 

The King of the Franks

source: Museum of Artifacts - blogger

Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, who lived from 742CE to 814CE was the King of the Franks; the Franks was an ancient kingdom that existed in modern day France. Charlemagne was a central figure to the political, military, and spiritual reshaping of medieval Europe. 

Soon after the fall of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne was responsible for consolidating the powers of Western Europe. He was able to build one of the vastest kingdoms in written history. The King of the Franks ruled over what are now the countries of France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and the Low Countries. In a rather militaristic method, Charlemagne was able to enforce the spread of Christianity throughout the conquered lands of Europe. 

Charlemagne was born in 742CE and was the son of King Pepin the Short. Upon the death of King Pepin, Charlemagne inherited the crown with his brother Carloman.  Unfortunately, after the brothers inherited the throne, Carloman passed away. Charlemagne then became the sole King of the Franks. 

Among the many things that the new king inherited was the responsibility to protect the temporal of the Holy See, the central seat of government of the Catholic Church occupied by the Pope. As a result, Charlemagne became deeply embroiled in wars against adversaries of the church, the most powerful of which were the pagan Lombards and Saxons of Germany. 

Ultimately, the new king was able to prove his military prowess by annihilating the adversaries of the land and the church. In 774CE, with a victory against the Lombards and the Saxons under his belt, the pope declared Charlemagne as the first champion of the Catholic Church. 

The Song of Roland

source:  Marto Deluxe Edition

The next two decades of Charlemagne’s reign were marked by brutal wars waged against the Lombards and Saxons of Germany and the Moors of Spain. In 778CE, Charlemagne launched a campaign against the Moors. It was during this campaign that the legendary Battle of Roncevaux Pass took place. The Battle of Roncevaux Pass was later immortalized in the epic poem Song of Roland, one of the oldest surviving major works of French literature. The 11th-century epic poem mentioned an account of Charlemagne riding into battle with La Joyeuse: 

(Charlemagne) was wearing his fine white coat of mail and his helmet with gold-studded stones; by his side hung Joyeuse, and never was there a sword to match it; its color changed thirty times a day. 

According to the story, it was during the Battle of Roncevaux Pass when Charlemagne momentarily lost Joyeuse. To get his sword back, Charlemagne promised to reward whoever could bring Joyeuse back to him. Eventually, one of Charlemagne’s soldiers found Joyeuse and brought it to him. True to his word, the King of the Franks gifted a generous portion of land to his soldier; Charlemagne planted his sword into the earth as he proclaimed— 

“Here will be built an estate of which you will be the lord and master, and your descendants will take the name of my wonderful sword: Joyeuse.” 

According to the story, this is the origin of the French town Joyeuse which sits in South France.

In 779CE, Charlemagne once again launched a massive military assault against the Saxons; this time, the campaign dealt a rather destructive blow to the King’s adversaries as it yielded the baptism of the Saxon leader in 785CE. 

After securing a lasting victory against the Saxons, Charlemagne’s reign became relatively quiet, except for occasional small-scale revolts and Viking raids. Charlemagne’s accomplishments in defending the Holy See and Western Christendom were eventually recognized in 800CE when the Pope crowned him as the Emperor of the Western Empire. 

As great a king as he was, Charlemagne proved to be an even greater emperor. He was able to bring order to a chaotic empire and set a good example to future kings and emperors. Under his reign, agriculture, trade, and law saw unprecedented leaps forward. 

Safekeeping La Joyeuse

charlemagne's saber - Imperial treasury of vienna 

Historians of today associate two swords to Charlemagne. One of Charlemagne’s swords is a saber; it is currently in the care of Weltliche Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury) in Vienna, Austria. While the other one is the legendary sword Joyeuse which is currently in the care of the Louvre Museum. 

Joyeuse was transferred into the Louvre in 1793. Before then, the sword was kept originally in a monastery in Saint-Denis, which is a place of burial for French kings. The earliest mention of the sword being kept in the monastery was in 1905; Joyeuse was mentioned in an inventory where it was listed alongside two other royal swords—the swords of Louise IX and Charles VII.  

The sword Joyeuse derives its name from the word “joyful.” Since the 13th century, Joyeuse was featured prominently in coronation rites of rulers of France. The earliest known event when Joyeuse was used at a coronation was in 1270 when of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold was crowned into power. This was a tradition continued until the coronation rites of Charles X in 1825.

Anatomy of the Sword

source: Medieval Ages-Life in Medieval Times

Today, the once battle-wielded Joyeuse is kept in the Louvre Museum; by this time, the sword has been preserved as a composite of numerous parts added over its long years of service as a coronation regalia. According to the Louvre, the pommel, the cross guard, and the grip had been all been replaced sometime between the 10th and 13th century. And although much of the original steel remains intact to this day, the blade itself had allegedly been refurbished sometime in the 19th century. 

Because it wasn’t being used in battle anymore, Joyeuse had undergone a lot of cosmetic changes to give it a more prestigious look. These ornamentations made Joyeuse representative of a wide range of cosmetic sensibilities from all around Europe throughout different periods in time. 

Joyeuse features two halves of a heavily sculpted gold pommel. The long gold grip measured 4.2 inches and was originally designed with a fleur-de-lis ornamentation within its prominent diamond patterning; fleur-de-lis is a stylized representation of a lily that is most famously recognized as the former royal arms of France. The fleur-de-lis ornamentation, however, was removed for the coronation of Napoleon I in 1804. 

Joyeuse features a gold cross-guard that measures 8.9 inches wide. It sports two winged dragons that are beaded with lapis lazuli eyes. The cross-guard was stamped in the 13th century with the text, “Deux marcs et demi et dix esterlins”; this translates to “two marks and a half and ten sterlings”, which is the weight of the gold. 

Joyeuse features a slender Oakeshott type II blade with a wide and shallow fuller. The blade of Joyeuse runs 32.6 inches long and measures 1.77 inches wide. There are competing schools of thought that offers opposing views on estimated age of the blade. One school of thought believes that the sword, to this very day, features the original blade of Joyeuse that dates back to the Middle Ages; the other suggests that the blade was forged when the sword allegedly got an overhaul in 1804. 

Much like most parts of the sword, the scabbard that originally carried Joyeuse had long undergone various changes. It is very likely that not much of the original scabbard remains except for its belt and the precious stones that were planted on its throat. 

At its present form, the scabbard consists of gilded silver. Its 6-inch throat is covered with purple velvet and ornamented with gold-threaded fleur-de-lis and gems. The velvet and fleurs-de-lis were late additions to the sword; both were added in 1824 for the coronation of Charles X. As for its dimensions, the scabbard has a length of 33 inches and a width of 2.75 inches. A piece of the original belt is still fitted in place, in true medieval fashion, with a gilded buckle. 

Today, Joyeuse remains to be one of the most important swords in all of Europe. Although it has long been removed from the battlefields of yesteryears, Charlemagne’s prized weapon serves as a reminder of prestige and royalty—a surviving testament to the King’s legendary conquests and much storied victories. 

Ancient Viking Sword Used Technology From The Future: The Ulfberht Viking Sword

The Vikings are often portrayed as crude people that should be feared, but in reality, they left behind an important legacy that has resounded throughout history. Among them are the mysterious Uflberht swords – medieval weapons of warfare which were considered to be very advanced for its time. These ancient artifacts have puzzled archaeologists for years, with many wondering about the identity of the people who made them and how the Vikings managed to forge such weapons thousands of years ahead of the technology that would have made creating them possible.

What Are Ulfberht Swords?

The Ulfberht swords are a group of medieval swords found in Europe, and are dated between the 9th and the 11th centuries. These weapons are at the transitional point between the Viking sword and the high medieval knightly sword. They are also considered to be the starting point of the high medieval tradition of inscribing sword blades.  

The blades were inlaid with the inscription of the Ulfberht name and two crosses (+VLFBERHT+), with the name “Ulfberht” believed to be a Frankish personal name that became the basis of a trademark of sorts and was also used by multiple bladesmiths for several centuries. This made the Ulfberht like a medieval luxury brand for swords, as they were of such high quality that some people consider these blades as almost mystical.

Thousands of Ulfberht swords were found across Europe, and most of them were found in rivers or were excavated from Viking burials across Europe and Scandinavia. However, only around 170 swords are proven to be authentic Ulfberht swords. They have been buried for centuries, making these found artifacts only shadows of the ancient masterpieces of weaponry that they once were.

Who Made the Ulfberht Swords?

The Ulfberht swords dominated the battlefield across different parts of Europe. These weapons were attributed to the Vikings and were used by many nations from about 800 to 1100 AD. They were only used by a few select warriors at the time as they were a masterpiece built from pure steel. After this period, the swords disappeared in Europe for at least a thousand years before weapons of this quality surfaced again around the 18th

Why these medieval swords have the inscription of Ulfberht continue to be an enigma until now as the name does not appear in written texts that existed around that time. The fact that the Ulfberht swords appear for over two hundred years is proof that they were not forged by a single craftsman. The name “Ulfberht” could have been the name of the location these weapons were produced, but it could also have been inscribed to the blades as proof of its authenticity. These premium-grade swords were so well-known in European battlefields at the time that hundreds – and maybe even thousands - of imitations of these swords were made, and even these knock-offs were of very good quality as well.

The crosses found in the inscriptions on the Ulfberht swords could suggest that these weapons have a connection with the Roman Catholic Church. This makes sense since the church dominated the Frankish Empire and was also a major producer and dealer of weapons during that time. It was also the practice by bishops and abbots to place the Greek cross before names, so it may also be possible that the Ulfberht name could have been the name of a bishop, abbot or even a monastery. However, many researchers also believe that Ulfberht was one of the most ancient trademarks, serving as sign of high quality weaponry.

Composition & Quality of the Ulfberht Swords

What makes the Ulfberht blades so special is the fact that these blades’ metal was comparable to the strength and quality of modern steel. Most Viking blades and the blades in the rest of Europe made at the time were composed of low-quality steel that could shatter like glass. This is the reason why it is such an enigma how the Ulfberht swords were so advanced when medieval blacksmiths in Europe have yet to possess the knowledge and technology to make weapons as strong, as light and as flexible as the blades that were widely made and could only have existed several centuries later.

To create a sword in the same quality as the Ulfberht blades, the inclusion and distribution of carbon is key. If a sword’s carbon content is not controlled to just the right amount, the sword will either be too soft or too brittle. However, with just the right amount of carbon, this element can significantly strengthen the blade. In fact, the carbon content of Ulfberht swords is about three times higher than that of the bladed weapons around the same time.

Also, in the process of forging iron, the ore has to be liquefied so that the blacksmith could remove the metal’s impurities known as “slag.” To make the ore’s liquefication possible, it must be heated to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is what is done in modern times. However, what’s interesting about this is that medieval blacksmiths in Europe could not make slag-free steel because their fires were not hot enough to completely liquefy the iron. Instead, in the Viking era, carbon could mainly be introduced through coal in the fire, and the only way to remove the slag from the metal was to just try to hammer out the impurities with every strike.

Theories About the Origins of the Ulfberht Swords

According to the research of Dr. Alan Williams, a consultant archaeometallurgist at the Wallace Collection, who analyzed the Ulfberht swords, the metal used in these ancient weapons is known today as crucible steel. Crucible steel is created by meting iron along with other materials mixed in a crucible and then pouring that molten metal into a mold.

At the time that the Ulfbehrt swords were produced, no one in Europe knew how to melt iron at extreme temperatures for centuries. Crucible steel was not even around the continent until the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. So, how did the Vikings manage to forge blades that required this advanced technology around a thousand years earlier?

The Vikings were not just excellent and fearless warriors, they were also advanced in a lot of ways so much so that they were also known to be highly skilled traders and navigators. Many artifacts discovered in modern-day Scandinavia have originated from Asia, India and several Eastern parts of the world, which led many experts to believe that the Vikings have managed to somehow reach continents as distant as the Americas and Asia.

Asia was home to the greatest swordsmiths who forged the greatest swords in human history, and one of them incudes the Damascus steel, which was determined to have similar compositions to the metal content of the Ulfberht swords. This has led to one theory that the Ulfberht swords originated from modern-day Iran. Researchers suggest that the Viking acquired the materials they needed to make the Ulfberht swords by trading with merchants back when the Volga Trade route was opened around the same time.

However, another theory suggests that the Ulfberht blades had nothing to do with the steel forged in the Middle East. According to Robert Lehmann, a chemist at the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Hannover, the material of the Ulfberht sword they found in 2012 in the Weser River in northwestern Germany does not come from the East. The sword’s blade has a high manganese content while its guard was made from iron with a high arsenic content, both of which suggest that the materials used to make the sword were European in origin. Lehmann traced the origin of the sword to a site in the Taunus region, located north of Frankfurt, Germany – a region where some monasteries were known to have created weapons at the time. It is important to note, however, that the Ulfberht name has not been found in the records of these weapon-making monasteries in the area.

While we may have taken several steps closer to unraveling the mystery behind the Ulfberht swords, it is still a glaring fact that we do not have all the knowledge there is to know about this ancient artifact from the Vikings. Nevertheless, we can say for certain that the Ulfberht swords are important testaments to the legacy that the Vikings have left behind as fearless warriors and as a military force to be reckoned with during what has become known as the Viking age. These special swords also serve as proof of the painstaking lengths taken by great swordsmiths of the time to forge weapons of impressive quality that even modern swordsmiths admit to be a very complicated task though they possess the knowledge and technology that weapon makers of the Viking era did not.

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Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulfberht_swords
http://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-technology/step-closer-mysterious-origin-viking-sword-ulfberht-002455?nopaging=1
http://www.ancientpages.com/2014/02/11/unravelling-mystery-ulfberht-sword-ancient-viking-artifact-far-ahead-time/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2878512/The-mystery-magical-superstrong-Viking-sword-Researchers-close-supermonks-believed-forged-weapons.html
http://ancientexplorers.com/blog/ulfberht-the-sword-made-with-tech-from-the-future/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1134288-a-step-closer-to-the-mysterious-origin-of-the-viking-sword-ulfberht/
http://www.hexapolis.com/2015/05/11/the-curious-case-of-ulfberht-the-viking-sword-with-seemingly-futuristic-technology/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings

5 Superweapons of The Ancient World

Throughout recorded history – and perhaps ever before that – warfare has always been a significant part of the human condition. War tactics, strategies and weaponry have gone a long way since the ancient times, but it cannot be denied how much the ingenuity of ancient civilizations have plenty to do with the way modern warfare has been molded into what it is now.

For our purpose of exploring this fascinating subset of human history, here are five (5) ancient superweapons of the ancient world.

1. Claw of Archimedes

Also known as the “Iron Hand,” the Claw of Archimedes was an ancient weapon which is believed to have been used prominently during the Second Punic War in 214 BC, when the Roman Republic attacked Syracuse with a fleet of 60 quinqueremes – which were heavy warships extensively used during the Hellenistic era – under Marcus Claudius Marcellus. Archimedes designed several units of this machine to defend the seaward portion of Syracuse’s city wall against amphibious assault.

Though its exact nature remains unclear, the accounts of ancient historians describe it as a sort of crane equipped with a grappling hook that was able to lift an attacking ship partly out of the water, which then either suddenly dropped the ship or caused it to capsize. These machines were deployed when the Roman fleet approached the city walls of Syracuse at night, and they managed to sink many ships and throw the attack into confusion. Historians like Livy attributed heavy Roman losses to these “claw” machines devised by Archimedes.

2. Helepolis

The helepolis, which translates in English as the “Taker of Cities” is the Greek name for a movable siege tower. It was essentially a large tapered tower – with each side measuring about 130 feet or 41.1 meters high, and 65 feet or 20.6 meters wide – and was manually pushed into battle. It rested on eight wheels, each of them measured 15 feet or 4.6 meters high and was equipped with casters which allowed direct and lateral movements. The machine weighed heavy at 160 tons and required 3,400 men working in relays to move it.

The most famous helepolis was invented by Polyidus of Thessaly and was improved by Demetrius I of Macedon and Epimachus of Athens for the Siege of Rhodes in 305 BC. The siege tower they created was supposedly the greatest and most remarkable engine of its kind that was ever erected. However, when the siege failed, the Helepolis along with other siege engines were abandoned, and the people of Rhodes melted them down to build a statue of their patron god, Helios. This statue came to be known as the “Colossus of Rhodes” and was among the ancient Seven Wonders of the World.

3. Hwacha

The Hwacha may be best described as a type of early multiple rocket launcher developed in Korea, and was primarily used as a defensive weapon by its army to protect its borders but was also utilized in the field of battle. This weapon consists of a two-wheeled cart, and a mounted board with several holes. Each of these holes was field with a singijeon which roughly translates to “magical machine arrows.” These arrows were propelled by a tube of gunpowder attached onto its shaft. Its earliest versions were capable of firing up to 100 arrows each time it was ignited, but the design was later improved to allow up to 200 arrows to be fired in each round.

During the last decade of the 16th century AD, the Korean peninsula was threatened by Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan, and the Japanese invaded Korea with the intention of conquering the entire peninsula. One of the greatest victories achieved by the Koreans during the Imjin War was the Battle of Haengju, which took place on Feb. 12, 1593. According to historical records, the battle involved 3,000 Koreans defending a hilltop fortress against an army of 30,000 Japanese soldiers. Despite the staggering numerical odds, the Koreans managed to emerge victorious, and became one of the first major Korean triumphs during this war. Their success is largely attributed to the use of around 40 units of the Hwacha.

4. Archimedes’ Death Ray

Ancient Greek and Roman historians recorded that during the siege of Syracuse in the Second Punic War, Archimedes also constructed a burning glass to set the Roman warships which were anchored within bow and arrow range on fire. This “Death Ray” allegedly worked by focusing the rays of the sun using mirrors, similar to the Nazi’s take on the death ray concept more than 2000 years later.

The weapon is believed to have consisted of several highly-polished mirrors held by troops along the city walls, which focused the sun’s rays on oncoming Roman ships. By focusing these rays, they were able to create a point of intense heat that set these ships on fire. An alternate version of this weapon was a single, large parabolic mirror, which is similar to the modern concept of a laser gun, incinerating whatever it was aimed at.   

The story of Archimedes’ Death Ray has been heavily debated and a number of attempts to recreate it have been made over the years. TV’s MythBusters attempted to replicate the feat and failed to do so, dismissing the ancient superweapon as nothing more than a myth. However, there were some attempts that have apparently been successful, such as the 1973 experiment by a Greek engineer that caused a mock-up ship 160 feet away to burst into flames within seconds, and MIT’s 2005 experiment which used mirrors in parabolic arrangement to set a replica of a Roman ship on fire.

5. Greek Fire

Also known as “Sea Fire,” Greek Fire, as mentioned in literature, was a weapon invented in the 7th century AD by the Byzantine Empire. According to the historian Theophanes, it was invented by the Greek architect Kallinikos, a former resident of Heliopolis who resided in Baalbeck. However, this claim is still very much debated, with some historians believing that Greek Fire was actually discovered in Constantinople by a group of chemists from an Alexandrian school.

This superweapon was some kind of special sticky liquid that was used in land battles during sieges and naval battles. Soldiers would use a firing tube to spray the liquid that would engulf their target in flames. Greek fire was also so potent that it could even burn on water. Once Greek fire set its target ablaze, it was very difficult to extinguish. This potent weapon gave the Byzantines an edge over their enemies in warfare, and was a closely guarded secret of the empire.  However, it was also a kind of double-edged weapon: if they used it correctly, the Byzantines managed to turn the tide of many battles with it; but if they weren’t careful, they could also end up burning their own troops with the flames.

The exact Byzantine formula of Greek Fire had been lost long ago along with the fall of the empire, though copies were created by others over the centuries but failed to completely replicate it. According to many historians and experts, the original Greek Fire probably contained ingredients such as crude oil, bitumen, naphtha, resin and sulfur. Its use required great caution and technical skill that only selected soldiers specially trained to handle the liquid were allowed to use them during battles.

In the olden times, there was no limit to the genius and ruthlessness the ancient people infused in their creation of diabolical and destructive weapons of war. These five ancient superweapons we have mentioned along with many others that were not enumerated in this list are still heralded as remarkable tools for warfare which serve as a reminder of their creators’ genius and whose legacies have reverberated even in the 21st century.

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Sources:

http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/ten-diabolical-weapons-and-strategies-war-ancient-world-004241?nopaging=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claw_of_Archimedes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helepolis
http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/helepolis-e506240
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Helepolis.html
http://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-technology/powerful-hwacha-early-korean-rocket-launcher-005759
http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiments/deathray/10_ArchimedesResult.html
http://www.hexapolis.com/2015/07/07/4-remarkable-inventions-of-archimedes-that-still-baffle-us/
http://www.oddlyhistorical.com/2014/03/11/legend-archimedes-death-ray-fact-fiction/
http://neobyzantium.com/greek-fire-the-byzantine-secret-weapon/
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/greek-fire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_fire