12. The Ulfbehrt swords were so strong that any Viking warrior who wielded one was often feared to be a demi-god
Luxury items are by no means a new invention; more than 1,000 years ago, the Vikings were producing ‘designer swords’. And, above all, those weapons crafted by Ulfberht were the most coveted of all. What makes these swords so fascinating to historians is the way they were forged. Despite being made between 800-1,000AD, the weapons were made by heating iron to a temperature of around 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. How this was possible is the source of much debate – after all, the technology required to forge iron at such high temperatures didn’t become commonplace until the Industrial Revolution, 800 years later.
The skilled Viking blacksmiths were, quite literally, a millennium ahead of their time. The ‘Crucible steel’ they produced meant that Ulfberht swords were both flexible but almost unbreakable. What’s more, they would have been extra-lightweight, especially compared to other weapons of the age, and the blades would have stayed razor sharp. According to some accounts from the Viking times, any warrior who wielded an Ulfbehrt sword on the battlefield would have been seen as having quasi-supernatural powers. The weapons were usually buried with their deceased owners, giving them elevated status in death as well as in life.