WEAPONS AND WEAPONRYThe finds revealed that Waterford had strong trading
links with Western England, Northwest France, and
the Low Countries. Some of the more important crafts
that have left an archaeological trace were bone comb-
making and the production of other antler objects in
Peter Street, woodworking, and leather production.
There was also extensive metalworking, producing
everyday objects such as locks all the way to a very
rare and beautiful early twelfth-century kite brooch, or
a thirteenth-century gold ring brooch.
Although in European terms the walled area of the
medieval city was quite modest in size, it was still the
port chosen by English kings such as Henry II, John,
and Richard II for their landfall in Ireland because of
the security afforded by its walls and its location close
to the major ports of western Britain. Because of its
status as a royal port it prospered throughout the Mid-
dle Ages, even in the difficult years of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, and its prosperity continued
well into the sixteenth century.
TERRY BARRY
References and Further Reading
Clarke, Helen, and Bjorn Ambrosiani. Towns in the Viking Age.
Leicester and London, Leicester University Press, 1991.
Hurley, Maurice et al. Late Viking Age and Medieval Waterford
Excavations, 1986–1992.Waterford: Waterford Corporation,
1997.
Thomas, Avril. The Walled Towns of Ireland,2 vols. Dublin,
Irish Academic Press, 1992.
Walton, Julian. The Royal Charters of Waterford. Waterford:
Waterford Corporation, 1992.
See alsoPorts; Ships and Shipping; Walled Towns
WEAPONS AND WEAPONRY
Early Medieval Period (c.400–800)
Early medieval Ireland was not highly militarized, and
without significant external threats there was little
pressure to improve military technology. The quality
of pre-Viking Irish weapons has been questioned,
although metallographic study of weapons of this
period has found that while some were technologically
poor, others were quite effective. Irish sources of the
ninth to twelfth centuries depict the ideal weaponry of
a warrior as a shield, a sword, and one or more spears.
Significantly, these are the only weapons represented
in the historical or archaeological record for the pre-
Viking period and, indeed, for the preceding Iron Age.
The shield/sword/spear combination seems to have
been the ideal throughout the Iron Age and early medi-
eval periods.
The spear was the most common, and in that sense
the most important of these weapons. Used by all
races, classes, and types of warrior, it could be thrown
as a missile or retained in the hand to thrust and parry
in close combat. At least twelve different terms for
spears are found in Irish sources—testimony to its
ubiquity. Archaeological study of medieval spearheads
is hampered, however, both by the scarcity of examples
from dateable contexts and by the recurrence of similar
forms over long periods. Early medieval sources con-
tain two terms for “sword”—claidebandcolg. Mallory
suggested that colgis the earlier, originally applied to
small Iron Age thrusting swords, whereas claidebis a
fifth- or sixth-century introduction, denoting longer
swords designed for slashing or cutting. Rynne sug-
gested that swords of “sub-Roman” type developed
during the fourth to seventh centuries, followed by
other forms (“expanded-ended” and “crannog”
swords), which may have remained in use until the
ninth century. In view of the scarcity of good contex-
tual information, however, Rynne’s classification and
chronology must be regarded as provisional.Viking/Hiberno-Norse Period
(c.800–1170)
The normal range of Viking military equipment is well
known; their main weapons were spears, swords, axes,
and bows and arrows. Initial Viking technological
superiority could have been made up fairly readily,
however, by the greater Irish kings. Military techno-
logy always responds rapidly to new influences, andIron helmet, Lough Henney, Co. Down. Photograph reproduced
with the kind permission of the Trustees of the National
Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland.