14th – 15th Century High Ranking Medieval Knights Enamelled Great Sword

14th – 15th Century High Ranking Medieval Knights Enamelled Great Sword For Study And Research Only! This very special Knights Crusader Sword is a very special find. Dated from the 14th to 15th century and having a German Passau blade. Without any doubt this sword belonged to a very wealthy and important high-ranking knight of one of the prominent knight’s orders in Europe. The pommel of the sword is its main feature and having enamelled inserts with silver gilded crosses. The cross includes a basic shaped cross and the cross moline, which makes identifying the order quiet a mystery. Firstly, crosses on knight’s swords are a very common sight as religious symbolism is very common feature. If you are part of a holy order of Christ, they the symbolic meaning of a cross would have been quite important and personal. Many can debate that the cross Moline is a Templar cross, but the reality is many other orders used this cross including the Hospitallers and the Teutonic order. I have studied these swords and their symbols extensively over the last 15 years what I can say is that the crosses evolved greatly over the centuries. The blade is another key feature of this sword, having a sword made by master Germany sword smiths would have been costly. German smiths were famed for their quality and strength. The overall design is reminiscent of the Great swords used in the 11th and 12th century This Sword falls into the Oakeshott Type XII. Reference from Medieval Sword by Ewart Oakeshott: “This is one of the most difficult sword-types to identify, because so many swords which might seem (perhaps by the forms of their hilts) to be of the type are in fact Xs, or even XVIs. In isolating the type, I laid down two totally arbitrary criteria: (1) that the blade should have noticeable taper, and an acute point, and the grip should be quite short, never of hand-and-a-half length, and (2) that the fuller should not extend beyond two-thirds of the length of the blade. This is all very well where these features are obvious; identification is easy enough as the illustrations below will show, but there are so many examples where the fuller is nearly(or quite) three-quarter length, making it nearly an X, or where there is no, as in No. XII. 16 below, or where the hilt is of a clearly early form, as in XII. 2 below, or where the taper is very slight and the point rounded, or when the grip is longer than the ‘standard’ 4″ to 4&1/2” single-hand length. So many swords have one or other, or even all, of these difficult characteristics that one has difficulty in pinning them down to any of the types. I mentioned the ‘early form’ of the hilt of XII.2. I must reiterate my firm belief that you cannot date a sword by its type, for most of the types – not all, as you will see – can span the whole of the medieval period. Nor can you use the forms of cross and pommel to date a sword – hardly ever. There are a few, mostly in use in the 15th century, which are dateable to a few decades, and can be identified with a region; but most of the pommel-types and cross-styles span the whole period; besides, within those types and styles there must be an infinity of variation – personal, regional and in some cases plain careless on the part of the cutler who made them. A sword’s cross is a most difficult object to make by forging, and distortion is difficult to avoid”. Description: The hilt is in excellent form having a large, rounded pommel inlaid with enamel and silver crosses. The raised portion where the tang button sits, is also gilded in silver and this addition was added to allow the sword to be taken apart for maintenance and then refitted. The handle has the original wood grips with leather binding and a top and bottom silver ferrule. These may have been added to give that added strength. The guard is a crucifix form having straight rounded quillons. The blade has a single fuller on either side and the blade is marked with the Passau wolf on wither side with gold inlay. Truly a rarely seen sword of Museum quality! Specifications: Overall Sword 97 CM Blade 79 CM Blade Width 6.8 CM Enquire now