The Sword of the Iron Age Gael

by Cinaet Scotach

Contrary to popular belief that all the celts used long slashing swords, there is little evidence of an archaeolgical nature to show that the Gaels used this type of weapon. During the Bronze age in Ireland, an almost rapier-like sword called Lisburne class was used. It is very closely related to the swords of the Minoans, as well as to blades found in Northern Britain and several other areas. Highly esteemed military historian, Ewart Oakeshott, says of a blade of Irish manufacture, "No other country has produced a sword comparable to one found at Linsane, Ireland."

This type of blade is known as a notched butt. It is found in both rapier blades and dirk blades. This style of blade is attached to a handle by a series of rivets. Due to the weakness in how the blade was attached to the handle, this type of sword was only useful in a thrusting type of attack. Many of the excavated blades show signs of stress at the rivet holes where the blades were used incorrecty in a slashing type of attack. Thrusting is not the natural way to attack with a sword....human instinct is to slash, just give a toy blade to a child and ask him to hit you with it.. The fact that this thrusting type of sword existed for many centuries seems to imply that a method for fighting with these rapier-like blades existed, many centuries before the thrusting type of sword became the vogue in European circles. While not saying that the style of fighting with these blades is in any connected or as sophistcated as the later styles, I feel that is is an important point often overlooked or misused by some individuals.

This weapon slowly evolved into a more of a cut-and-thrust type of sword as better ways to attach the blade to the handle became available. The bronze blade was now cast with a full tang and a leaf-like shape to the blade. This is the leaf design we see attributed to the celts. This is the sword of the Halstadt period, fashioned first in bronze and then in iron. It had an acute point, excellent for stabbing, and a wide body with a good amount of belly that was designed for slashing.

Although the early Irish Sword has been described in some of the manuscripts as being a long, slashing sword, it is believed that this is something added by the writers of the manuscripts. Such a thing was done to other ancient manuscripts - such as the works of Homer, where as the times passed, armor and weapons of a later time were introduced to the story for descriptive purposes.

During the La Tene period, advances in metal working made huge increases in the quality of the workmanship and construction of the sword. The swords now were constructed exclusively from iron with a narrow tang made of steel that passed through the handle with a pommel holding the handle to the blade. The leaf shape was still the predominant shape for blade construction. New blade designs made specifically for cutting and thrusting helped shape the way of the Gaelic warrior.

While the rest of the celtic world used swords with blades that averaged 30 inches overall, we find that, in contrast, the blades of the Iron Age Irish Gael are considerably smaller. Of the thirty excavated Irish swords that can be verified as being from the Iron Age, we find that the blades ranged in size from 15 inches to 18 inches. Many of these sword show a pronounced midrib which greatly strengthens the blade. An excellent example of an Iron Age Irish sword was found in County Wicklow. It is a wooden model of an iron sword that was excavated from a peat bog. A strange barrel shaped protrusion is found on one side of the wooden blade. No explanation of just what this strange wooden sword was used for has yet been discovered.

Across the North Channel in Alba, there are ample examples of the swords used by the native Pictish tribes and the settlers from Irish Dalriada. On many of the pictish stone there are images of warriors. One such stone, known as the Aberlemno Churchyard Cross, is located in Angus. The images on the stone are believed to represent the Pictish victory over the invading Saxon forces at Nechtansmere in 685 C.E.. The swords carved into these stones bear a close resemblance to the swords of the Irish Gael, much shorter than the swords of other cultures of a similar age. At this time in the history of the Picts, their culture was becoming more influenced by the encroaching gaelic culture of the Dalriada. A portion of a blade with a pronounced midrib was excavated from the center of the Dalriada stronghold, Dunadd. Some of the pommels of these swords resemble the pommels of their southern neighbors, the Saxons. There are more variations to the pommels and hilts, found in areas such as Moray, that bear no resemblence to the Saxon weapons.

The writings of some Roman Historians seem to use a stock description of celtic ways when describing different areas of Celtic populations. Unfortunately, most people, including authors, tend to take these roman descriptions as fact, even though there exist many contrary concepts in the testimonials. Even the relief carvings of the Roman invaders in Scotland near the Antonie Wall show the indigenous warriors using swords roughly the size of their forearms - which contradicts the writings of Tacticus on the length of the swords used at Mons Grapius.

So it would seem that the Le Tene leaf-bladed sword was the sword of the Iron Age Gaelic warrior, just as the short cut-and-thrust sword was the weapon of choice for the Mycenaens of the Heroic age of Greece. And, just as with the ancient Mycenaeans, the warriors would approach the scene of the battle and discharge a volley of missles, be they spears or javelins, then the warrior would dismount in order to fight at close range with his foe. Long swords do not do well in the heat of foot combat since they require much more room to use than a shorter thrusting type of weapon. The long slashing sword is not designed for this purpose. It is designed for mounted combat. Astride a mount, the thrust is an almost useless technique, so a pointed sword is...please forgive the pun...pointless. Extra reach is called for when one is mounted , and that is what the longer slashing sword delivers. The shorter leaf-bladed swords found in Ireland clearly show that the means of fighting preferred by the ancient Gael was a close range cut-and-thrust style.

Sources:

The Picts and the Scots, Lloyd and Jenny Laing, 1993, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0-86299-885-9

Pagan Celtic Ireland, Barry Raftery, 1994, Thames and Hudson Ltd., ISBN 0-500-27983-7

The Book of the Sword, Sir Richard Burton, 1884, Dover Publishing, ISBN 0-486-25434-8

Archaeology Of Weapons, Ewart Oakeshott, 1960, Fredrick Praeger Inc

The Handbook of British Archaeology, Lesley and Roy Adkins, 1982, Constable and Company Ltd,. ISBN 0-09-478330-6

prepared by Cinaet Scotach

Back to Top

'Clannada na Gadelica' is a trademark of the Clannada na Gadelica.

WWW Clannada.org