The sword is one of the most famous objects of the Middle Ages. Museum exhibitions on medieval topics and depictions of the Middle Ages that appear on television screens today almost always include swords. Modern audiences seem to love learning about the deadly objects used before the rise of guns and watching skilled fighters wield these dangerous weapons. A great deal of import is also often ascribed to swords in modern medieval narratives: important, named swords appear all the time in everything from pseudo-medieval fantasy to historical narratives.
Swords held the same appeal in the Middle Ages. Some of the most popular medieval stories featured heroes with remarkable fighting abilities who often brandished wondrous swords. Some of those swords were named and developed almost as much fame as the heroes who wielded them. Here are a few of the most famous.
HRUNTING
This sword appears in Beowulf, one of the oldest surviving epics from medieval England. Beowulf is preserved in a manuscript from the tenth century, but the tale itself was probably written much earlier. The story tells of the heroic Beowulf. He saves a kingdom from the monster Grendel, becomes king of said kingdom, defeats various evils that come to threaten that realm (including a dragon), and eventually dies. He is aided in his exploits throughout by several wonderful swords.
The first and most famous of Beowulf's swords is Hrunting. Hrunting, 1456-1459).
