Legbiter
The Strangford Lough Brewing Company beer Legbiter is named after Magnus Barelegs’ sword. Magnus Barelegs reigned as King of Norway from 1093 until his death in 1103. On the day of his death King Magnus is described as “regaled with a helmet on his head, a red shield in which was a gilded Lion and girt with the sword Legbiter”. Legbiter’s hilt was tooth (ivory) and the hand grip wound about with gold thread and the sword was extremely sharp.
The Sword in the Stone
The image on our Legbiter beer label shows the famous sword embedded in a stone on the shore of Strangford Lough. The background of the label portrays an image of Magnus’s Viking ship emerging from the dawn mist of Strangford Lough. The orange glow represents dawn, the ideal time for Barelegs and his Vikings to raid the unexpecting shores of Strangford Lough. The colour is the same as the Barelegs label, making them both recognisable as our Barelegs range.
The Salvation
The Norse saga Magnus Barefoot’s Saga says that King Magnus “was girded with a sword called Legbiter. Its guards were of walrus ivory, and its hilt was sheathed with gold.” As well as precious metals, the Vikings also regarded ivory obtained from walrus tusks as very valuable. The gold can be seen on the swords hilt in our image along with the ivory guard. It is believed that Vikings prized swords above all other weapons. Ancient stories tell how the Vikings gave their favourite swords special names like ‘Leg-Biter’ or ‘Long-and-Sharp’. Magnus took his sword everywhere with him, hoping it would help him on his quest to become King of Ireland. When King Magnus was killed in an ambush by the Men of Ulster, his famous sword was retrieved and brought home to Norway.
Middle-Earth
A publication, “In the hilt is fame”: resonances of medieval swords and sword-lore in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, discusses the similarities of the blades of Middle-earth, described in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and the literature of medieval Europe. In both Middle-earth and the literature of medieval Europe there is a rich tradition of famous weapons with names. Among the pre-eminent swords of medieval literature are Beowulf’s Hrunting and Arthur’s Excalibur, and numerous references to lesser-known blades in the Scandinavian sources, including Slicer and Legbiter. It is thus not surprising in the least that many of the blades of Middle-earth described in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings should have names, but the similarities do not end there. Since the swords Glamdring and Orcrist are known to the Goblins in Lord of the Rings as Beater and Biter, and Bilbo Baggins names his sword Sting, these names seem reminiscent to us of Legbiter and Slicer, names derived from the abilities of the swords to wound in either particular or more general ways.
The Name ‘Legbiter’
It is therefore no surprise to learn where Legbiter’s name derived from. Magnus’s sword was reputedly named Legbiter because of his battle tactic - to use the sword to strike enemies above their knees.
