A Blade & A Mystery...

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JohnKSa

JohnKSa

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I ran across this and thought others might find it interesting.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe/d/double-edged_sword.aspx

"This double-edged sword was found in the River Witham near Lincoln. It is an extremely well preserved example of the type of sword which was common from about 1300.

When new this sword would have been a fine weapon, and probably owned by a wealthy individual or knight. It is likely that the blade was manufactured in Germany, which was the centre of blade manufacture in Europe at this time. The blade is made of steel, which combines a sharply honed edge with the flexibility not to shatter in use, and is inlaid with gold wire to form an inscription which is yet to be deciphered."​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Witham_sword
"The blade bears an inlaid inscription reading +NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+"​

http://www.livescience.com/51802-medieval-sword-mysterious-inscription.html

ancient-sword-closeup.png

Apparently it wasn't unusual for swords to have inscriptions, but many are decipherable. The link below is a paper on the topic.

http://www.gustavianum.uu.se/digita...n-invocation-inscriptions-on-sword-blades.pdf
 
Wow!

Thanks for the links!!!

One has to wonder how they made such wonderful blades back then with no power tools and nothing but sweat to do it with!!

rc
 
One has to wonder how they made such wonderful blades back then with no power tools and nothing but sweat to do it with!!
Click to expand...

Some smiths are doing today without power tools, but more out of tradition or demonstration of skill. I have a tachi that Louis Mills dug the ore by hand, built the Japanese vertical smelter by hand, smelted the ore by hand, sorted the bloom by hand, refined the steels in his forge by hand, and forged, quenched, and polished the blade all by hand using very traditional techniques. There are others out there that CAN do it all by hand when they want to. I've even participated in making steel in the vertical smelter and sorting the material that came out and helping to hammer refine/blend the steel to form a billet that was then forged into a blade.
 
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The writing is the earliest known version of Ruger's warning label.

Joking aside, that's a fantastic sword and incredibly well preserved for being in a river.
 
"Point Towards Enemy" it might be an early Claymore. (That's a Joke, Son)

All joking aside, why don't I ever find something like that?

-kBob
 
Interesting. Sent the link to a linguistics/crypto/history geek I know.
 
Some smiths are doing today without power tools, but more out of tradition or demonstration of skill.
Click to expand...
It makes one think about what a sword must have been worth in ancient times.

I don't even like to think about cutting the channels on the irregular surface for the inlay work with only hand tools. I assume that had to be done after the blade was tempered.
 
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Once upon a time, only the very rich or those protecting them could afford the finest weapons.

The interesting thing is, an individual weapon as good, for practical purposes, as any out there is no more than 2 weeks' wages for most of us now. This makes high-quality weapons cheaper in real terms than at any other time in over 1000 years of history.

I have a short sword as good as any in existence. I have several longarms and sidearms, again, as good as any out there. I have numerous knives of higher quality than those built during thousands of years of human existence. I am not especially wealthy.

We are so rich, compared to almost all of our predecessors. It's easy to forget that, on a planetary time scale, it was barely yesterday that our ancestors were struggling to keep warm in the dark.
 
Interesting sword with an equally mysterious inscription! I like both the history and the weaponry. Thanks for the look and the links.
 
JShirley said:
Once upon a time, only the very rich or those protecting them could afford the finest weapons.

The interesting thing is, an individual weapon as good, for practical purposes, as any out there is no more than 2 weeks' wages for most of us now. This makes high-quality weapons cheaper in real terms than at any other time in over 1000 years of history.

I have a short sword as good as any in existence. I have several longarms and sidearms, again, as good as any out there. I have numerous knives of higher quality than those built during thousands of years of human existence. I am not especially wealthy.

We are so rich, compared to almost all of our predecessors. It's easy to forget that, on a planetary time scale, it was barely yesterday that our ancestors were struggling to keep warm in the dark.
Click to expand...
I believe it wasn't just the ability to afford such a weapon, but also the right to possess it. There were times when only royalty and the nobility were lawfully allowed to own such things.

That hasn't changed in certain cities or states, and certainly not in many countries.
 
That's somewhat of a myth. There were plenty of mercenary companies with swords, pikes, crossbows, etc.
 
GEM,

Oh thanks......another song to be stuck in my head for a week.

......cutting down the souls of Lords and Ladies, my master is my slave........

and that darned Weyland painting...................

-kBob
 
That's what seems most likely--and it seems from information in the paper that there was probably a religious theme to the words.
 
Pretty likely, based on what the paper says--and, I think, on the facts that latin was the religious language of the time and that the letters appear to be latin.
 
As a kid (army brat) my family was in Europe for a few years and I remember going to museums in France, Holland, and Germany.... For this kid, the weapons displays were always the highlight -but I don't remember ever seeing any sword that good looking (particularly the inscription). Wonder what other jewels are buried (or concealed somewhere) just waiting modern "discovery". Sounds like the plot for some interesting fiction but might actually be real...
 
hso wrote:

"Some smiths are doing today without power tools, but more out of tradition or demonstration of skill. I have a tachi that Louis Mills dug the ore by hand, built the Japanese vertical smelter by hand, smelted the ore by hand, sorted the bloom by hand, refined the steels in his forge by hand, and forged, quenched, and polished the blade all by hand using very traditional techniques. There are others out there that CAN do it all by hand when they want to. I've even participated in making steel in the vertical smelter and sorting the material that came out and helping to hammer refine/blend the steel to form a billet that was then forged into a blade."

Natgeo aired a special on one such sword https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVSsRunJ2K4 where Richard Furrer created a sword from crucible steel that was analyzed by a modern steel expert who declared it "pretty good steel."
 
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