The Ingelrii group consists of about 20 known

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

s from the 10th to 12th century with a

damascening Damascening is the art of inlaying different metals into one another—typically, gold or silver into a darkly oxidized steel background—to produce intricate patterns similar to niello. The English term comes from a perceived resemblance to t ...

blade inscription INGELRII, appearing with several slight spelling variations such as INGELRD and INGELRILT. It is comparable to the older, much better-documented ''

Ulfberht The Ulfberht swords are a group of about 170 medieval swords found primarily in Northern Europe, dated to the 9th to 11th centuries, with blades inlaid with the inscription ''+VLFBERH+T or +VLFBERHT+''. The word "Ulfberht" is a Frankish perso ...

'' group (9th to 11th century, about 170 known examples). By 1951,

Ewart Oakeshott Ronald Ewart Oakeshott (25 May 1916 – 30 September 2002) was a British illustrator, collector, and amateur historian who wrote prodigiously on medieval arms and armour. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Founder Member of the A ...

had originally identified thirteen such swords of this inscription, and had suggested that another, at Wisbech Museum, found in the river bed of the Old Nene in 1895, is also an ''Ingelrii''; supported by Davidson as a possible fourteenth. Other variations of the inscription have also been found: INGRLRIIMEFECIT on a sword found by Sigridsholm,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and INGELRIH FECIT on a sword found in Flemma,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Known Ingelrii swords

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

– ''Ingelrii'', found in the River Thames, along the King's Reach, at

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

* Wisbech Museum – found at Raven's Willow,

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

Davidson, Hilda Ellis (1998
''The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England: Its Archaeology and Literature'', p. xviii–xx. Boydell & Brewer Ltd.
. Retrieved 27 September 2013. *

Lower Saxony State Museum The Lower Saxon State Museum Hanover (, or simply ) is the state museum of Lower Saxony in Hanover, Germany. Situated adjacent to the New Town Hall, the museum comprises the state gallery (), featuring paintings and sculptures from the Middle ...

, Hanover Oakeshott, Ewart (2012
''The Sword in the Age of Chivalry'', p. 82. Boydell Press.
/ref> *

Bavarian National Museum The Bavarian National Museum () in Munich is one of the most important museums of decorative arts in Europe and List of largest art museums, one of the largest art museums in Germany. Since the beginning the collection has been divided into two ...

, Munich – found in the Danube near Hilgartsberg *

Swiss National Museum The Swiss National Museum () is a museum in Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, adjacent to Central Station and the '' Platzspitz'' park. It is part of the ''Musée Suisse Group'', which is itself affiliated with the Federal Office of Culture ...

, Zurich — an 11th-century sword found in Marin, Neuchatel *Sword with +INGELRI+ inscription, and +PREBM+ on the reverse side, pommel of "tea-cosy", length 89.5 cm (blade 75 cm) *A singular sword with a variant form of the inscription, read as +SINIGELRINIS+, dated mid-10th to mid-11th century, formerly of the Frank Unrath collection (auctioned in 2013)

References

*Alfred Geibig, ''Beiträge zur Morphologischen Entwicklung des Schwertes im Mittelalter'', 1991, p. 124 *Lech Marek, ''Early Medieval Swords from Central and Eastern Europe'', 2005, pp. 49–54, plates 6c and 25c Medieval European swords Viking swords 10th-century military history {{England-hist-stub

Known Ingelrii swords

See also

References