Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jun 26, 2013 15:07:19 GMT
An image from a ceramic plate showing a 'dual wielding' style of fighting, in this instance with two curved swords. Note the guard is curved towards the hand on both swords, much like other examples depicted in Byzantine art.  Here we see a number of different types of Byzantine swords as identified by Tim Dawson PhD.  Strong evidence demonstrating the importance of Byzantine pictorial evidence for swords (and the panoply of war) in Byzantine Art.  Fascinating depictions of swords and fighting:  These images come from: Dawson, T. Byzantine Infantryman. Eastern Roman Empire c.900-1204. Osprey, 2007. |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jun 26, 2013 15:11:32 GMT
A broad bladed Type R pommeled sword being used to devastating effect against an unfortunate Barbary lion:  Image taken from: Dawson, T. Byzantine Cavalryman c.900-1204. Osprey, 2009. |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jun 26, 2013 15:15:51 GMT
Byzantine Sword Guard. These guards appear to have been constructed from two shape plates of copper alloy, then soldered together using lead or silver.  Another example:  These examples show a style which is largely unrepresented in modern reproductions - a slender bladed lenticular sword:  Images taken from: D'Amato, Raffaele. Byzantine Imperial Guardsmen 925 - 1025. The Taghmata and Imperial Guard. Osprey 2012. |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jun 27, 2013 11:24:10 GMT
This rich 12th century image shows yet another of hilt, demonstrating the many, many styles of sword that existed in the Eastern Roman lands simultaneously. Note also more examples in the margins.  |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jun 27, 2013 13:59:33 GMT
An onion pommel. Byzantine swords frequently show spiral wrapped grips, which appear to be wrapped with copper alloy wire. The wrap however is made of several wires rather than one and runs at a more acute angel up the grip, much like would be seen on swords in the 16th century onwards in the rest of the world.  |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jun 28, 2013 15:00:07 GMT
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jul 4, 2013 12:49:55 GMT
This sword from Oakeshott's Records of the Medieval Sword (p.85 fig. XII. 16) is commented upon by Ewart as being very unusual, and by Western standards it is, but it was a very common sword type in the lands of the Romamoi. It was found in North Italy. Given its find location being very close to Venice, Venetians being the beneficiaries of vast amounts of Constantipolitan loot from the fourth crusade, coupled with its lenticular blade section which is basically unknown in the west at the time, I believe there is a strong possibility the sword may be Byzantine. However though it is quite likely that the sword was Roman in origin, it was probably rehilted to suit Western design sensibilities. A final piece of useful data that Oakeshott inadvertently provides to support my proposition that this may be a Byzantine Sword is the date he ascribes to it: 1250 - 1300; placing it squarely within the relevant period as the fourth crusade took place in 1204, so we might reasonably argue that this was war booty, which was rehilted possibly by the son or grandson of the warrior who originally took it from Constantinople. Alternately it may have been made in Constantinople or the regions surrounding it during Latin occupation of Byzantium. Here is Oakeshott's estimation of the sword: Type: XII
Find-place: A town in N. Italy
Collection: Private, USA
Blade-length: 29&1/2" (75cms)
Pommel-type: J
Cross-style: 5 - or a variant of it
Date: c. 1250 -1300
Condition: good. This was found with two other swords in a a house being demolished in an Italian town. The swords were hidden between two walls, so had been preserved in dry conditions. The gilt-bronze pommel and cross have been severely cleaned, but are in very good condition, the iron under the gilding not having corroded at all. The blade and tang are covered in a rather thick brown patina - though to call it a patina when it is more in the nature of the thick brown deposit is perhaps too polite to it. Beneath this crust, however, the blade seems to be perfectly preserved.
Publications: None
It is difficult to to categories this sword with certainty, for there is no clearly defined fuller in the blade, and its grip is is rather long for a Type XII, the whole thing being in the proportions of a Type XIII. Compare it, for instance with the No. XIII. 1 in this sequence. However the taper of the blade and the acuteness of the point is more in the nature of a XII, so I have put it under that type. It is a good example of one of the many cases where it seems quite impossible to put certain swords into a typological straight-jacket. The cross is unusual, too, rather heavy, made (like the pommel) of bronze gilded. It has been bent, and though it shows a strong transverse ridge along the middle of both arms on the 'outside', on the reverse it is quite plain and flat. This feautre of half-decorated cross is very common, particularly in 15th century hilts.  |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jul 6, 2013 13:49:47 GMT
With its lenticular blade, long grip, globular ending terminals on the cross guard and parallel edges this fifth century Roman Spatha represents an ideal paradigm of Byzantine sword design from the Migration Era.  |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jul 7, 2013 7:32:04 GMT
Petersen Type G saertype 4 is in all likeliness a souvenir brought to Scandinavia from Constantinople or another Varangian Garrison.  |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jul 10, 2013 12:53:47 GMT
With its Type R pommel and find place of Scandinavia, it is probable that this is a Byzantine Sword, taken back to Denmark by a former Varangian Guardsman. Here's what Oakeshott had to say about this splendid sword in Records of the Medieval Sword: XIV.3 Type: XIV Find-place: Somewhere in Denmark Collection: Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen Blade-length: 28" (71.1cms) Pommel-type: R Cross-style: 1, curved Date: c.1300+ or -20 Condition: Excavated, probably from a bog. Poor, very corroded. Interesting double fuller.  |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Jul 11, 2013 7:58:02 GMT
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Aug 7, 2013 10:50:33 GMT
This sword is purported to be Mameluke or Syrian in origin but it has been noted that it is an extremely rare find. I suspect that it is Byzantine.
Below is the information provided by the Auction House who sold it.The straight (slightly bent), double-edged blade with remnants of a grip rivet on the conical tang, the iron quillons with a copper-soldered ferrule and silver-inlaid stripes on both sides, iron mushroom pommel, the oval ferrule below it with a ring for the hand loop. An excavated find preserved over its whole length with very good basic matter, partly cleaned at the quillons. Length 95.5 cm. An extremely rare sword with supposedly Syrian/Mameluk provenance (or possibly Byzantine). Compare: Islamic Swords and Swordsmiths, Istanbul 2001, Plate No. 80-83, and Islamiske vaben i dansk privateje, Copenhagen 1982, No. 24.    Source: www.hermann-historica.de/auktion/hhm49.pl?f=NR&c=42392&t=temartic_1_GB&db=kat49_A.txt
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Aug 9, 2013 17:40:41 GMT
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Aug 25, 2013 15:58:52 GMT
I've included this sword, because though it is not directly from the Byzantine period, its form emulates Byzantine style so precisely it is uncanny. The sword features the classic Byzantine 'onion' pommel, cuff projecting from the guard and the predominately lenticular blade cross section that was so ubiquitous in Eastern Roman lands. See the Serci Limani shipwreck sword example and the 'Goliath' sword and many others for comparison. I speculate that this replication of the Byzantine style, or of a style shared by the Islamic and Orthdox Christian nations of the medieval period (and originating within the lands of the Romiosi) is intentional. Very similar but plain wood examples that are virtually identical were utilised during the classical period of the Ancient Roman Empire, matched with both Spathae and Gladii. If earliest date provided by the sale description is correct - early 1600s, it would put the sword well with the cultural and material memory of the existance of the Byzantine Empire and while the Turks who ultimately supplanted the Byzantines for control of Anatolia and the Balkans were Muslim and Turkic speaking, they adapted much of the Byzantine way of war, institutions and were keen to utilize the sophisticated apparatuses of Byzantine civilisation. The same applies for the Persians who for many centuries were subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Cairo, Egypt and Solingen, Germany late 18th century or early 17th century (blade) Iron or steel, silver and gold, chased Length: 80 cm, blade Mark: Running wolf mark of Solingen Inscription: In Persian, to the effect that sword belonged to Shah Jahan Badshali Gazie         Further reading: Laking, G. F., Wallace Collection Catalogues: Oriental Arms and Armour, London: The Trustees of the Wallace Collection, 1964 Source: wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=62326&viewType=detailView |
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Jack Loomes
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Post by Jack Loomes on Aug 27, 2013 11:56:38 GMT
This sword find from the Serce Limani shipwreck has previously been designated as Islamic in origin, but has now been confirmed as Byzantine and corroborated with contemporary pictorial evidence by Professor Valeri Yotov.It features a lenticular blade form, most of which is lost, and shows the Byzantine custom of a sleeve like projection running down the blade. It too is attached to the blade by way of rivets.  Below are accurate measurements of the find for interested parties (for some reason measurements are given in metres): From: Serçe Limanı: An Eleventh-century Shipwreck, Volume 2: WP 64. Bronze sword hilt and scabbard fragment. Inv. No. GW 56 [Lot 251] P6 UL4-LL2. Figs. 21-4, 21-15, and 21-16. Length 0.25; length of hilt 0.17; length of pommel 0.0265; pommel diameter 0.03 (crown), 0.044 (max), 0.027 (base); pommel crown thickness 0.001; pommel wall thickness 0.002-0.003; lanyard ring diameter 0.0095-0.013 (outside), 0.0035-0.005 (inside); ring wall thickness 0.0035; grip length 0.0815 (overall), 0.0195 (upper section), 0.0185 (middle section, 0.0175 (lower section); tripartite bands (4): 0.028 (diameter), 0.0065 (width); grip diameter 0.025; grip wall thickness 0.002; length of guard 0.058 (to blade), 0.062 (to quillon tips); guard width 0.071 (upper flanges), 0.076 (middle flanges), 0.07 (lower flanges); guard thickness 0.26 (at écusson), 0.024 (at blade); length of quillon 0.034 (upper left and right flanges), 0.49 (middle right flange), 0.05 (middle left flange), 0.067 (lower left and right flanges); quillon width 0.018-0.003 (upper left and right flanges, shoulder to tip), 0.02-0.003 (middle left and right flanges, shoulder to tip), 0.021-0.003 (lower left and right flanges, shoulder to tip); quillon thickness 0.009-0.002 (upper left flange, max. to tip), 0.01-0.002 (upper right flange, max. to tip), 0.008-0.002 (lower left and right flanges, max. to tip); distance rivets from écusson (obverse and reverse), 0.018 (lower), 0.045 (upper); diameter of rivets : 0.043-0.005 (heads), 0.004 (shafts). Bronze sword hilt and concreted remains of scabbard throat. Pommel circular in section. Pommel crown formed by integrally cast disk. Upper pommel surface fluted with 24 channels. Channels elliptical in section, 0.001 deep, width tapering from 0.006 (base) to 0.004 (crown); arrises 0.001 (height), 0.002 (width) (base). Integrally cast lanyard ring 0.01 from pommel crown, 0.01 from pommel base; ring edge length on pommel surface 0.0065. Ring perpendicular to, but aligned on, reverse, longitudinal, medial axis of hilt. Bronze wire loop passes through ring; loop diameter 0.016-0.0195 (outside), 0.011 (inside), loop wall thickness 0.002-0.0025; wire ends overlap 0.008. Pommel terminates in recessed section of cavetto molding tapering to grip. Juncture pommel/grip circumscribed by narrow tripartite band; 2 identical bands divide grip length into three segments; fourth band marks juncture grip/guard. Grip polygonally circular in section. Each grip segment composed of 13 rectangular facets: 0.004-0.006 x 0.0195 (upper segment), 0.004-0.006 x 0.0185 (middle segment), 0.004-0.006 x 0.0175 (lower segment). Below grip, écusson defined by rectangular cowl: length 0.036 (obverse), 0.035 (reverse); width 0.012. Cowl spreads over middle of engaged quillons, which curve and taper down and out, forming flanged arch of guard. Convex lunettes, height 0.046, span 0.06, thickness 0.0045 (obverse and reverse), defined by interior arcs of quillons and closed by narrow bands decorated with pearl motif interposed between horizontally parallel ridges. Each lunette embellished at center with rondelle, 0.038-0.045 in diameter, containing openwork representation or ornately plumed bird, and at corners by foliate designs similar to those on quillons and cowl. Blade originally hafted with single through-rivet in each of 2 lower grip segments. Rivets aligned along obverse/reverse longitudinal, medial axis. Blade not preserved. Scabbard throat completely concreted, length 0.088, width 0.068, thickness 0.024 (exterior), 0.0035-0.0075 (shell). Remains of wooden scabbard lining indicates blade was lenticular in section, double-edged, 0.035 in width, and 0.006 thick at ricasso. |
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