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Audiobook10 hours
The Perfect Sword: Forging the Dark Ages
Written by Edoardo Albert and Paul Gething
Narrated by Michael Langan
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About this audiobook
The story of the Bamburgh Sword—one of the finest swords ever forged.
In 2000, archaeologist Paul Gething rediscovered a sword. An unprepossessing length of rusty metal, it had been left in a suitcase for thirty years. But Paul had a suspicion that the sword had more to tell than appeared, so he sent it for specialist tests. When the results came back, he realized that what he had in his possession was possibly the finest, and certainly the most complex, sword ever made, which had been forged in seventh-century Northumberland by an anonymous swordsmith.
This is the story of the Bamburgh Sword—of how and why it was made, who made it and what it meant to the warriors and kings who wielded it over three centuries. It is also the remarkable story of the archaeologists and swordsmiths who found, studied, and attempted to recreate the weapon using only the materials and technologies available to the original smith.
In 2000, archaeologist Paul Gething rediscovered a sword. An unprepossessing length of rusty metal, it had been left in a suitcase for thirty years. But Paul had a suspicion that the sword had more to tell than appeared, so he sent it for specialist tests. When the results came back, he realized that what he had in his possession was possibly the finest, and certainly the most complex, sword ever made, which had been forged in seventh-century Northumberland by an anonymous swordsmith.
This is the story of the Bamburgh Sword—of how and why it was made, who made it and what it meant to the warriors and kings who wielded it over three centuries. It is also the remarkable story of the archaeologists and swordsmiths who found, studied, and attempted to recreate the weapon using only the materials and technologies available to the original smith.
Author
Edoardo Albert
Edoardo Albert is a copywriter, editor and writer of short stories, features and books. His stories have appeared in Daily Science Fiction and Ancient Paths, and he has written features for Time Out, TGO and History today. He was the editor of the Time Out Cycle London Guide. He is the author of Northumbria: a lost Kingdom (History Press), The Northumbrian Thrones series (Lion Fiction), and London: A Spiritual History (Lion Books).
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