The Perfect Sword: Forging the Dark Ages

Written by Paul Gething and Edoardo Albert

Narrated by Michael Langan

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Sep 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350831344

Paul Gething

Paul Gething is Director of the Bamburgh Research Project. He studied Archaeological Science at the University of Sheffield and began excavating in 1987. Since then, he has worked in the Middle East, North Africa, France, Spain and the length and breadth of the UK. He has written for History, Current Archaeology, The Great Outdoors and Time Out.