Part of a Viking sword found in Friesland: ‘Unique for the Netherlands’

• Lambert Teuwissen

  Text editor online

Part of a medieval Norse sword has been found near Witmarsum in Frisian. The Fries Museum in Leeuwarden talks about a unique find: nothing like it has ever been found in the Netherlands. There is only one similar fragment known worldwide, which has not been so intact.

It is a copper pommel cap, the deer end of the sword. It is decorated with the heads of animals such as wild boars and they must have been gilded in the past. It goes back to the 10th century.

“It’s a really beautiful thing,” says curator Diana Spiekhout of the Fries Museum. “If you saw this hanging from someone’s scabbard you would really think: wow, this is something.

The object was found in early May by Sander Visser with a metal detector in a field near a Frisian town, at a depth of 20 centimeters. He and a friend were about to head home after a day of searching that produced items such as a 16th century coin, a button and lead.

“And then bang-boom, there was a big tone,” he recalls of the moment his metal detector picked up a signal. “But you never know, 95 times out of 100 it’s rubbish. Sometimes you get a signal like that from underground draw tabs.”

This time, however, he quickly realized he had something special in his hands. “I knew this wasn’t a piece of metal, the shape with the animal heads was clearly visible. I saw it was a sword pommel, but I didn’t know at the time that it was one from the Viking era it was.”

He began to realize how special his find was when he shared photos of his dig with other enthusiasts. “A friend went completely mad. He said: ‘You’re not going to clean it yourself, you have to go to a specialist.’

Sword expert Spiekhout was also enthusiastic when the images reached her. She has been working on an inventory of medieval Frisian swords for some time, which included the Dutch coastal area, the area around Utrecht and the East Frisian coast of Germany.

“It’s a very rare thing for the Netherlands. You only come across it once,” she replied. “We always hope for this kind of discovery.”

“I really see this piece as an important link between the Frisian world and the Viking world,” says Spiekhout. “We can now do research and tell the story of the Vikings beautifully, but also about the use of weapons in Northwest Europe.”

According to Spiekhout, the distinctive decorations indicate, for example, that human characteristics were marked by swords at the time, such as King Arthur’s Excalibur or the family crests from Game of Thrones.

“They had a great symbolic value and would have been more expensive too, especially if he had proven his status in battles. They were important things that were given, as an inheritance or as a gift between two leaders, for example.”

The question remains where the rest of this sword went. Is it still hidden in the Frisian soil, or was the pommel removed a thousand years ago? It is still profitable, says Spiekhout.

“This piece was taken off the sword on purpose, it was scalped, so to speak. It may have been entertained, but it may also have been subdued, is an interesting idea that too. Different situations are possible.”

There are no plans for further archaeological research yet, but Visser wants to investigate further. “Maybe there is still something in the soil. We agreed with the farmer that we are the only ones allowed to search.”

The discovery also opened up a new world for Visser. “Finding Vikings is so rare in Holland that I didn’t really care about them. I’ve only just started looking into them. Lately I’ve been on all kinds of series and see Scandinavian films, especially taking into account the swords and the decoration.

But he had no qualms about parting with his treasure. He will get a bronze replica and be proud of his pommel to be seen in the National Museum of Antiquities and then to the Fries Museum.

“It’s good for my display case, but it’s much better when it’s on public display. That makes me very happy.”