Well, it's definitely hard to say exactly, it really depends exactly what period of time you are referencing as the Medieval Period covers a very large stretch of time, as well as Rome of course.

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In general, though, I would argue that the metalwork during Medieval Europe was superior in some ways, but perhaps not in all. For example, depending on the time period, Rome definitely would have had a better infrastructure for creating and manufacturing weapons and swords than Medieval Europe.

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As for if most swords were any good, this also depends on where you look. Were all swords good? Not at all, there were definitely going to be swords that were not top quality. In general, though, a sword is still going to generally get the job done as long as it's not made completely terribly (which of course is a possibility as well).

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As for top quality swords, there definitely would be high-quality swords that would have been made and used by those who had the money to buy them. Knights, lords, kings, queens, and other rich people during Medieval Europe would have had the money in order to purchase more high-quality swords.

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So I suppose the answer, in general, is that yes there were probably many swords that were good for what they were intended to be used for, but not all swords would be good. And also yes, in general, Medieval Europe probably had better metalworking depending on the time period you look at. If you look at very early on, Rome and Medieval Europe wouldn't be too different, but the further in time you go, Medieval Metalwork definitely would have been better as we can see with the creation of not only their weaponry, but chainmail, plate mail, and other forms of armor and/or weaponry that Rome did not have.

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As for the question on blacksmiths, I would argue that blacksmiths would have been quite common actually. The thing is that blacksmiths would most likely not have only made weapons and armor. They would probably have made other tools as well, such as farming tools, nails, possibly utensils, and other metal objects that would be useful for people during a particular time period. Of course, they would have also made swords as well though, and some would have made better swords than others. And some may have been a bad blacksmith and not made high-quality swords. It all comes down to specific time periods and what the people of that time period needed, wanted, or could produce. But I would say in general, yes, a blacksmith would have been fairly common, not the most common job, but having a blacksmith in a village would have been a good thing to have. And taking up the progression could have given at least a decent amount of money if you were actually any good at forging metal.