28/01/2020 Part 2: Swords

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Chapter 1: Armour and Arms Part 2: Swords Part 3: Lances, Spears, Axes Chapter 2: Overview and Armour

A RECORD OF EUROPEAN ARMOUR AND ARMS

THROUGH SEVEN CENTURIES

by Sir Guy Francis Laking

CHAPTER I PART 2
SWORDS

Concerning the weapons of the nobles, it has been asserted that none below the rank of thegn was girt with
the sword, but to differentiate between the long knife of the ordinary soldier and the short sword of the
thegn - more especially as the hring mæl or sword in the earlier Saxon times was practically quillonless - is
to draw a sharp line. Many swords of this date have been handed down to us. They are fine, and, in many
cases, enriched weapons worthy of the closest scrutiny, for they are the very type depicted in the Anglo-
Saxon and early Norman illuminations.

FIG. 13. THE SWORD CALLED THAT OF ST. STEPHEN," PRESERVED IN THE TREASURY
OF THE CATHEDRAL OF PRAGUE
(a and b) Reverse and obverse views of the hilt; (c) the same sword, giving its general proportions

In addition to these authentic swords of Saxon times there are many famous swords with mythical histories
attached to them, which have always been considered to belong to very early dates, even prior to that with
which we are now dealing. Chief amongst them are the two St. Maurice swords, respectively in the Royal
Armoury of Turin and the Imperial Treasury of Vienna, and the two swords of Charlemagne, one in the
Louvre of Paris and the other in the Imperial Treasury of Vienna.

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But, as may be imagined, they are not of the age they purport to
be. They will be found dealt with later on in their proper period FIG. 14. SWORDS FROM THE EPISODE OF THE
BATTLE OF THE THREE KINGS AGAINST THE
(pp. 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, and 94). There is yet another
CITIES OF THE PLAIN
sword, preserved in the treasury of St. Veitus in the cathedral of
Cott. MS. Claudius B. iv. British Museum
Prague, which is known as the sword of St. Stephen of Hungary
(Fig. 13, a,, b, c).

Although the fable as to its original owner is not acceptable, it is

yet a much earlier sword than the four others mentioned, and it
might well be a weapon of the XIth or even Xth century.

The blade, which has chamfered edge, is considerably worn

from cleaning, rendering it now very pliable, which clearly has
also obliterated an inscription in large Roman letters, of which
there are traces running down its centre.

The inscription is now wholly illegible. The short, thick quillons

and the deep trilobed pommel are fashioned of ivory, engraved
with intertwined dragons and foliage directly under runic
influence, strongly suggestive of the sword hilts of Northern
Europe of very early date. The wire grip must have been added in
the XVIth century.

The inventory of the Prague Cathedral Treasury Of 1355

mentions: “Gladius beati Stephani regis Ungarorum, cum manubrio eburneo.”

The same notice also appears in the inventories of the years 1368, 1371, and 1387. It has been the theory
of late years that the sword was presented to the treasury of St. Veitus by King Charles IV of Germany some
time during his reign (1347-1378).

But to return, many swords without speculation of the Xth and XIth centuries do exist, but before
describing the actual swords, let us see how they figure in the Anglo-Saxon MSS. Take as an instance that
already referred to which is reproduced (Fig. 12) from the Cotton MS. Claudius B. iv.

The book is Ælfric's Paraphrase of the Pentateuch and Joshua; the particular illustration chosen is the battle
of the three kings against the cities of the Plain.

Here we see the swords of two of the kings drawn most accurately in detail, although greatly out of scale
(Fig. 14). That they are represented in exaggeration as to size we can satisfy ourselves when we look at the
Gargantuan sword arm and hand of the foremost king. As these are so much out of proportion, we may be
assured that the sword was not actually six feet long and six inches wide in the blade as represented, but of
the ordinary size of these swords of that time that have come down to us.

The artist's inaccuracy in matters of proportion we again notice in the absurdly small feet of the same king.
However, despite these irregularities, the details of the armaments are accurate. The swords represented
have hilts which are almost the counterpart of two swords in the British Museum, a sword in the Collection
of Mr. Godfrey Williams, and an example in the London Museum (Fig. 15, a, b, c, d).

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FIG. 15.
(a) SWORD FOUND IN THE THAMES, LONDON (British Museum); (b) SWORD FOUND IN THE RIVER
WITHAM (British Museum); (c) SWORD FOUND IN THE THAMES, WESTMINSTER REACH (Collection of
Godfrey Williams, Esq.); (d) SWORD FOUND IN THE THAMES, WANDSWORTH REACH (London
Museum). The hilt three-quarter scale

These weapons have the same shaped pommels, but the quillons droop slightly at the ends and lack that
accentuated point over the centre of the blade.

In the drawing (Fig. 14) the hindmost king has the hilt of his sword so fashioned, though by an artistic
licence his sword is not so robust in proportions.

The register of Hyde Abbey, written in the early years of the XIth century, shows a slightly different type of
hilt, for King Cnut is represented wearing a sword with a three-lobed pommel and thick heavy straight
quillons (Fig. 16).

Of this make of quillons one can quote existing examples in the

Wallace Collection (Fig. 17), in the collection of Sir Edward Barry, FIG. 16. KING CNUT
From the register of Hyde Abbey
Bart. (although the pommel on the Barry sword is lobeless) (Fig.
British Museum
18), a sword found in the Thames at Vauxhall, in the author's
collection (Figs. 19 and 19A), and finally a sword, with a
differently formed pommel, but with the heavy, thick quillons.

The last sword is of earlier date, probably of the Xth century,

and is the true Saxon mæl or hring mæl. It was found in the river
Lee at Enfield (Fig. 20).

It is now in the collection of Prince Ladislaus Odescalchi, Rome.

For the richness of the harnessing, as represented in the MSS.,
we can but draw upon our imagination, but the actual
ornamentation on the weapons in existence we can describe.

They are nearly all decorated by the same process - gold, silver,
and copper worked into intricate runic and geometrical designs,
and applied to the surface of the pommels and quillons in the
manner of the azzimina damascening of the XVIth century,
although we can give an illustration of a superb sword hilt found

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in the Thames at Wallingford about 1875, formerly in the

collection of Sir John Evans, but now in the Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford, where the decoration is composed of overlaid silver
plates chased with figure subjects and scrolls. It has been
suggested that in this particular sword the animals upon the
pommel represent the emblems of the four Evangelists (Fig. 21).

FIG. 18. SWORD, XTH OR

FIG. 17. SWORD, XITH
XITH CENTURY FIG. 19. SWORD, XITH
CENTURY
Collection: Sir Edward Barry century
No.1 [now # A 456], Wallace
[now in the Royal Armouries, Collection: Author [15]
Collection
Leeds, IX-859]

FIG. 19A. GENERAL PROPORTIONS OF THE SWORD SHOWN IN FIG. 19

FIG. 20. SWORD FOUND IN THE RIVER LEE AT ENFIEILD, LATE XTH CENTURY
Collection: Prince Ladislaus Odescalchi, Rome

Many of these swords, when in their original FIG.21. SWORD OVERLAID WITH PANELS OF ENGRAVED SILVER
condition, must have been genuinely beautiful The date is from about A.D. 900 to 1000. The decoration is under
quite apart from any barbaric splendour lent to strong Norse influence Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
them by the addition of elaborate scabbards and
settings of gems. Most of the hilts which we have
illustrated, it will be seen, are English finds, much

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resembling one another in the principle of their

manufacture.

They are usually classed together under the

heading of the "Viking" type. The blade was
forged double edged, the section at the hilt
varying a little according to the accentuations of
its central grooving.

In constructing the sword, the quillons were

passed over the tang (the continuation of the
blade for the reception of the hilt); these on their
underside were deeply grooved in order that they
might fit firmly over the extreme top edge of the
blade.

Next the grip was added: here we must once

more conjecture, as no sword of the type, at least
those known to the present writer, has been
handed down to us with its grip entire, save
perhaps for the famous Essen sword to which we
shall shortly refer.

From the absence of rivet-holes in the tang in the

generality of these swords, we may guess that in
most cases the grip was passed over the tang of
the blade as in the sword grips of later times. A
few, however, have the rivet holes by which grip
plates were attached, and of these we give an
illustration of a reconstructed specimen (Fig. 22).

The grips were probably fashioned of wood,

bone, horn or ivory; if of wood, they were
doubtless covered with leather, though not bound
with wire, as at a later date. The foundation wood of the grip, from close examination of the few remains
that have been found, appears to have been pine-wood, as do some of the remnants of the foundation wood
of the scabbards. On the top of the grip was placed the pommel, the tang of the blade passing through it and
being riveted over at the apex.

FIG. 23. SWORD, VIIITH OR IXTH

FIG. 22. RECONSTRUCTED SWORD
CENTURY
WITH HORN GRIP IN POSITION
London Museum

There has been much controversy as to the origin of the shape of the pommel with the five or three lobed
ornament. It has been suggested, with some degree of likelihood, that at the time when the flat oval
pommel was in fashion, not of the type just illustrated, but about a century and a half anterior to the
appearance of the lobed ornament, as, for instance, on such a pommel as shown on the sword hilt (Fig. 23),
a mæl dating from the IXth or even VIIIth century, the fighting man used to bind a relic or charm to
counteract misfortunes or strengthen his arm, and from this habit the lobed pommel was evolved. Its

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gradual development might be traced in the manner suggested (Fig. 24) until its latest form is seen in the
early years of the XIIIth century (Fig. 25).

FIG. 24. THE SUGGESTED DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOBATED POMMEL

From a drawing by the present writer (full page19)

This theory, brought forward by a very eminent authority, is strengthened by a careful examination of some
of the actual lobated pommels here illustrated and described. In nearly every case the cord by which the
relic was originally tied to the flat disk pommel is indicated, and in individual weapons it is represented by
its counterpart in metal, either gold or silver. Certain museums of Northern Europe, notably that of
Copenhagen, are extremely rich in these so-called Viking swords, though it may be accepted that the ultra-
enriched specimens they display are of somewhat earlier date than those British finds we have illustrated.

Apart from the mystic Runes found upon the

blades of weapons of the Iron Age, about which
much has been written, it is often difficult,
wellnigh impossible, to construe any meaning to
the arrangement of letters and curious markings
so often seen on those of the XIth and XIIth
centuries. There exists a very learned treatise on
the subject of the names and emblems found on
the blades of the Northern Viking swords of the
VIIIth and IXth centuries, written by A. L.
Lorange, curator of the Bergen Museum; but we FIG. 25. THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOBATED POMMEL
well remember that consummate authority, the Examples in the British Museum; XIIth or Early XIIIth century

late Sir Wollaston Franks, expressing his fixed

belief that on blades of somewhat later date the
survival of such lettering was practised by
bladesmiths ignorant of letters, and that in the
passage of generations the original significance of
such lettering was lost sight of, developing into a
jumble of often ill-formed and unconnected letters FIG. 26. THEGNIC SWORD FOUND NEAR DUBLIN
out of which no possible sense can be made.

Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Low Countries, France, England, Scotland and Ireland have all
produced specimens of these so-called Viking swords, but those swords from the latter two countries differ
a little in form and show a varying tribal influence, as will be seen by the illustration of the example of a
thegnic sword found near Dublin. This sword, however, may be considered of rather later date (Fig. 26).

The strangest of all these swords that has come to the notice of the present writer is that found in Italy
near the outskirts of Florence, at present in the collection of Mr. Henry G. Keasby (Fig. 27) presently #312 in
the Kienbusch Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

On the pommel of this sword the lobations are exaggerated to such a degree that it resembles a palm leaf
in form, the lobes finish in spikes so long that they must have proved a considerable hindrance to the use of

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the weapon. Its probable date is about 1100. [This sword is X.6 in Oakeshott's Records (1991) where he
postulates a date of 950 - 1000.]

We have left to the last our description of

perhaps the finest and possibly the earliest of the FIG. 27. SWORD FOUND NEAR FLORENCE
Collection: Henry G. Keasby, Esq. [now in the Kienbusch Collection at
historical swords that the hand of Time has spared
the Philadelphia Museum of Art]
us - the superb but little-known sword in the
Dömschatz at Essen, Germany (Fig. 28). In our
opinion it is perhaps the only sword that can
possibly claim the antiquity assigned to it,
namely, the Xth or XIth century, as apart from its
actual form the argument of its decoration
vigorously acclaims its very early date.

Indeed, the question has arisen, a question not

lightly to be set aside, as to whether or no the
blade is not of even greater antiquity than is
claimed by the mounting. There is the possibility,
and tradition so claims it, that the blade belongs
to Roman times, to the IVth century, and was
used at the execution of the patron saints of
Essen, St. Kosmas and St. Damian, who suffered
for their Christian faith in the year A.D. 303.
Though within the category of truth, this tradition
requires strong belief.

The following is a description of the sword as we

see it to-day.

The flattened lobated pommel is studded with

precious stones, showing very little of the gold
filigree groundwork. The quillons have, besides
the precious stones, decorations in the form of
small enamelled plates, but of which only three
still exist. The enamel is in form of stars and fan-
shaped ornaments: pale yellow (opaque), deep
yellow (opaque), dark green (opaque), greenish
blue (opaque), white (translucent), cobalt blue
(translucent), light blue (opaque), and very dark
blue (opaque).

The upper and lower parts of the quillons, as well

as the front and back of the hilt, are decorated
with gold filigree work.

The scabbard consists of a wooden lining of

beechwood overlaid with gold plates. At the sides
it has been restored, like one or two of the
embossed gold plates that cover the scabbard.
The locket mount and the chape have been
strengthened, probably in later mediaeval times,
by fresh plates of gilded silver.

The artistic beauty of this splendid sword lies in

the embossed gold plates that decorate the front
and back of the scabbard. The raised design is
masterly in treatment, and consists of scrollwork
in the form of spirals, with foliage and animals
interspersed. Experts on architectural ornament
assign to this scabbard a date between the Xth
and XIth centuries, for as early as the Xth century
similar designs of foliage and animals occur on

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Byzantine work, with which feeling the general

decoration of this scabbard is imbued.

The locket mount and ferrule of the scabbard

were, as we have already said, added to it,
probably in the XVth century, but reveal beneath
their scalloped edges parts of the original plates
of gold.

On the front of the chape are Gothic

ornamentations, and on the back two cylindrical-
shaped fasteners soldered on to facilitate hanging
the weapon to the belt.

The locket mounts display on the front face the

two patron saints of Essen, St. Kosmas and St.
Damian, and on the reverse side the inscription:
GLADIVS, CVM QVO DECOLLATI FVERVNT NOSTRI
PATRONI.

If this wonderful sword, or at least its mountings,

were executed in Germany, either at the time of
Otto III or Henry II, the town of Trèves or
Ratisbon might either have produced them.

Such applied arts in the Xth and XIth centuries

then flourished in Trèves under Archbishop
Egbert, 977-993, rendered with a strong
Byzantine influence, or at Ratisbon under Abbot
Ramvold von Emmerau, 979-1001. If Italy was
responsible for the mounting of this sword, either
Venice or Monte Casino might have been its
birthplace.

Works produced there like-wise show Byzantine

influence, such as is in the designs of foliage and
FIG. 28. TWO VIEWS OF THE SWORD IN THE DÖMSCHATZ OF ESSEN
animals conjoined with the leaves on this Late Xth or earl XIth century
scabbard. There is the possibility that it was made
in Constantinople, and either looted from there or
sent as a present by the Empress Theophano to one of the German emperors, afterwards to be presented by
them to the Abbess of Essen.

We have given more space to the consideration of the Essen sword than to the other weapons of this time,
partly because we appreciate it as the most important of its period extant, and certainly the most complete
in all its parts.

Part 3: Lances, Spears, Axes

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