An early medieval sword with a Carolingian K-type pommel from Varín in Northwestern Slovakia: A status symbol rather than a weapon

Zbigniew Robak

doi:10.35686/AR.2026.317

Authors

Zbigniew Robak Department of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Arne Nováka 1/1, CZ-602 00 Brno, Czech Republic; Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Akademická 2, SK-949 21 Nitra, Slovakia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4819-468X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35686/AR.2026.317

Keywords:

Early Middle Ages, Carolingian period, Carolingian sword, elites, metallography

Abstract

Early medieval swords, Carolingian or Viking, are treated and usually discussed in the literature as finds related to elites. In real life, however, second-grade swords were also made, and old and used weapons were repaired and traded. Lower-quality items were used by people with aspirations who could not afford to acquire expensive signs of status. Here, the author describes the find of a Carolingian-type sword from Varín in Northwestern Slovakia, which is determined to be a difficult-to-classify, low-end, early medieval product. However, it fits into the historical context of Carolingian times, when a class of new European nobility was forming. These considerations shed new light on the genesis of this social group.

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