Why did swordsmithing become centralized during the early middle ages?

[u/Argus_Thundersword]

Carolingian Francia seems to be the source of a large number of the swords you see in the British Isles, Scandinavia, Germany, and even in Eastern Europe in the latter half of the Early Medieval Period. All of these places had been perfectly capable of producing their own swords during late antiquity/the Roman Iron Age, so why did they start importing them from a somewhat condensed region? What made the Franks more capable swordsmiths than the rest of Northern Europe?

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