Editing Spatha (section)

===Viking Age===<!-- This section is linked from [[Rus' Khaganate]]. See [[WP:MOS#Section management]] -->
{{Main|Viking sword}}
{{unreferenced section|date=July 2021}}
Perhaps the most recognisable descendants of the ''spathae'' were the [[Viking Age]] blades. These swords took on a much more acute distal taper and point. They had deep [[fuller (weapon)|fullers]] running their length, yet still had single-handed [[hilt]]s which sported a uniquely shaped [[Hilt#Pommel|pommel]], flat at the grip side and roughly triangular early on, with the flat curving to fit the hand later.{{cn|date=March 2024}} While the pattern of hilt and blade design of this type might readily be called a "[[Viking sword]]", to do so would be to neglect the widespread popularity it enjoyed. All over [[continental Europe]] between the 8th and 10th centuries, this design and its variations could be found. Many of the best blades were of [[Franks|Frankish]] origin, given hilts in local centres. These blades had significantly better balance.

During [[Norman England|Norman times]], the blade's length increased by around {{convert|10|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}, and the hilt changed significantly. Instead of the Brazil-nut pommel, a thick disc-shaped pommel was attached "on-edge" to the bottom of the iron hilt. In addition the upper guard grew substantially from the near-absent design predating it. Also, the blades tended to taper slightly less than those found in the time of the [[Vikings]].

[[Jan Petersen (historian)|Jan Petersen]], in ''De Norske Vikingsverd'' (''The Norwegian Viking Swords'', 1919), introduced the most widely used classification of swords of the Viking Age, describing 26 types labelled A–Z. In 1927, [[R. E. M. Wheeler]] condensed Petersen's typology into a simplified typology of nine groups, numbered I–IX.