Introduction

Weapons were associated with events of central importance to the lives of many Germanic and Scandinavian peoples. Solemn oaths were sworn on weapons; the bearing of arms was forbidden to the Romans, though customary among the Germans; the gift of a weapon tied the lord to his followers, one king to the king of another people, the father to his adopted son, the sovereign to his successor, and it marked the entry of free men into the community. man's social status was announced by the weapons that he bore, and they were buried with him.

The assembled community bore arms – which meant that there was no distinction between that assembly and the exercitus – and it used weapons to express its assent. The armed assembly was probably an institution among the Germans even before they migrated from their lands of origin, for it is well attested in Scandinavia until the twelfth century, with features that at first sight seem archaic. However, as we have already seen with reference to socalled Germanic law, the custom was not specifically Germanic: it was a natural corollary of the unstable lives lived by peoples confined to small territories who were accustomed to settling disputes in public by means of armed conflict.