Thanks Keith!
What I meant was that the cross on the ULFBERHT word on the blades had NOTHING to do with Christianity in the religious sense. It was entirely a symbolic gesture much in the manner of runes as far as the Vikings perceived. In fact many of the curious geometric etc markings on reverse of many of these blades seem to have derived from Glagolitic and runic symbols.
While the Vikings were not Christianized, Latin, the language of the Church was a lingua francia of the times, so the cross symbol itself was not perceived necessarily as religious, but as noted more an administrative element. If seen magically, or as invocation it was part of talismanic convention rather than religious.
These swords marked Ulfberht were used by many Vikings, but again, not all Scandinavians were Vikings.......these swords were Frankish, virtually none ever made in those countries.
thank you for coming in on this! Your intense research on this history and metallurgy are so valuable, and honestly way outside my pay grade!
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