Blades travelled a long way

[Jens Nordlunde]

In ‘Early Medieval Islamic Arms and Armour’ by David Nicolle I found this.
He is writing that the imported swords from Andalusia, China and India are of a better quality than the ones from Egypt, and then he goes on: "Swords also entered Islam from the north, via the Virangian traders of Scandinavia. Ibn Hurdadba in the second half of the 9th century mentions such traders selling swords from the Rhinland in the markets of both Baghdad and Constantinople. Half a century later another writer, Ibn Fadlan in 921/922 AD, wrote to the Halif Muqtadir concerning large and 'damascened' Varangian blades".

Somewhere else he writes that the blades were straight, and one or double edged.

It is not often we hear about blade trade north south.