German Swept-Hilt Rapier
- Dated: circa 1600
- Culture: German
- Measurements: length 112 cm
The sword features an unknown maker’s mark on the ricasso. On the blade there’s the following text: “ESPADERA EN ALEMANIA” on one side and “MISINAL ESEL NOMBRE D’JESUS” on the other side.
Source & Copyright: Bolk Antiques
..for History and/or Medieval Studies. Time to brush up on all that Latin and German I learned and promptly forgot.
Scheiße.
stercus.
The Japanese sword is a good weapon. What it’s not is some weird combination of Excalibur and lightsabre.
The European longsword is a good weapon. What it’s not is some weird combination of iron club and barbell.
It would be easy to adopt the approach displayed by some, er, uncritically enthusiastic katana-fans, which is to hit capslock, shout, swear and diss every other sword and the people who used them. Like so:
“Here’s the thing fuckwads. Katanas were used by MASTERS OF BATTLE called SAMURAI who knew precisely WHERE to hit, WHEN to hit, HOW MUCH FORCE THEY’D NEED, ETC. Samurai (at least when they started out, they got pretty corrupted and sloppy toward the end) were ONE WITH THEIR BLADE. The katana was known as the Samurai’s soul.
The FUCKING LONGSWORD on the other hand, was handed out to basically any fucking FARM BOY who happened to enlist/get recruited into the fucking army. That’s the equivalent of YOU picking up a fucking SWORD and getting thrown into battle. So yeah, they’re going to fucking need to be durable because no idiot who picks up a sword is going to know where to swing it so it doesn’t shatter into a million pieces. Oh and by the way, a long sword is also nearly 3 times the weight of a katana (ITS A FUCKING HACKING WEAPON), so it wouldn’t be nearly as precise or fast as a katana. And after about 10 swings, your arms will be fucking DEAD TIRED. Do you understand how much a fucking sword weighs? ITS A GIANT FUCKING CHUNK OF METAL. ITS NOT A FUCKING STICK YOU PLAY GAMES WITH…”
And so on…
This reads like someone in frantic denial about something they don’t like because it may well be true and that spoils their worldview. They’re not alone, apparently. It also reads like someone who has probably never touched a real sword of either kind, or read anything about them other than on-line misinformation and hype.
Read the raving again, but add a bit of common sense. If a weapon is so heavy that swinging it ten times leaves your arms dead tired, what the hell use is it?
Embroidered Hanging
late 14th century
Made in, probably Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany
Silk on linen, painted inscriptionsThis embroidery depicts a cycle of scenes from the Hebrew Bible that prefigure scenes from the New Testament. The choice of scenes appears to be of local inspiration as they do not entirely correspond to any of the widely circulated typologies, such as the Speculum humanae salvationes or the Biblia pauperum. The Cloisters embroidery formed the left section of a larger work. The center section with Christ Enthroned in the upper border was once in the parish church of Brakel in Westphalia. The right section most likely depicted important scenes from the life of Christ. A scene in the Brakel fragment, showing a church consecration, suggests that the embroidery was made for such an event. The use of silk rather than wool, which was commonly used in Wienhausen embroideries, and the appearance of the locally venerated saints, Epiphanius, Bernward, and Godehard, support an attribution to a convent in the region of Hildesheim. Facial details are enhanced with paint. The coats of arms are those of the landgrave of Hesse and the House of Lichtfuss.
Beautiful. I love textile arts, mostly because so few of them remain, and because it’s almost certain they were done by women.
There were plenty of male embroiderers in the middle ages; however it’s likely that this piece in particular was created by nuns.
I love this piece, and I visit it at least once a year.
(Source: metmuseum.org)
Hunting Knife, Sharpener, and Sheath
Bearing an unlikely combination of the mottos and arms of two dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Bold and Charles the Bold, this set is now believed to have been created in the Marcy workshop.
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
European Sword
- Dated: late 14th or early 15th century
- Culture: European, probably Italian
The hilt with a finger guard and marked with the date 1432. According to the Oakeshott typology the blade is an Oakeshott Type XIX, the pommel Oakeshott Type G while the cross-guard is an Oakeshott Type 5. The blade appears to feature some Arabic inscriptions.
Source: © Royal Armouries
Ah, I love this sword.
Albion does a decent approximation of this one (I’ll be honest, not my fav), which they’ve called the Condottiere. It’s nice, albeit a little chunky, and I really wish they had stuck with the Type G pommel like the original:
I just want us all to take a moment to stare at this beautiful scabbard by Tod’s Stuff. Inside, an Albion Prince.
The Ringeck - by Albion Swords
This hand-and-a-half sword by US-armorer Albion Swords is somenthing I have been drooling over for some years now. It’s such an elegant weapon, resembling swords from the first half of the 15th century. It’s standard specifications are:
Total length:118 cm (46,26”)
Blade length:93 cm (36,5”)
CoG:10 cm (3,98”)
CoP:58 cm (22,76”)
Weight:1500 g (3,307 lbs)
Grip length:18,1 cm (7,126”)
Only the pricetag holds me back from buying it: 795,00 Euro via Albion Europe. That’s a lot of money, but look again: This blade with an oxblood red grip would be fantastic.
This is a beautiful sword, and one of my students has one (with a half wire-wrapped grip). Albion swords are intensely expensive, but definitely worth the pricetag!
