The Association of Medieval Crusaders

Sword XVIa (bastard) - profiled disc-shaped pommel (AB)

Information

Sword XVIa (bastard) - profiled disc-shaped pommel

Copy of a Danish sword, dated to 1250-1320. The shape suggests that the sword is used as a slashing and cutting weapon in combat both on foot and on horse. At the same time it is optimized considerably as a trusting weapon.
The blade has a very peaked profile and point; it is shaped to slashing and cutting with the fuller from the hilt and ¾ parts down. The central ridge of the blade is lenticular and shaped for thrusting; the long grip compensates the weight of the central ridge and maintains the point of balance of the sword.
The guard is short, the pommel has a rounded profile. The sword is used with the wrist around its axis of rotation. The long grip makes it possible to grab the sword by the shield hand to use both hands for slashing and cutting. It is also possible to use the shield hand on the pommel to provide additional force to thrusting. The sword as a weapon of thrusting emerges as the earliest form of plate armor begins to become usual.
(Oakeshott type: Blade XVIa, Pommel J, Cross-guard 1).

Sources

Sword XVIa (bastard) - profiled disc-shaped pommel 01 (A)

Source type (A):
Archaeological object.
Current location:
Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen Denmark.
Place of origin:
Denmark.
Dating:
Ca. 1250 - 1320.
Note:
A.B. Hoffmeyer pl. XIV - f.
Oakeshott type: Blade XVIa - 4, Pommel J, Cross-guard 1.
Cross-guard: animal heads at the ends..
Blacksmith stamp.

Sword XVIa? (bastard) 02 (B)

Source type (B):
Manuscript.
Name:
Tristan Manuscript.
Author:
-
Current location:
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Germany (Cod. germ. 51 - f.46r).
Place of origin:
Germany.
Dating:
Ca. 1225-1250.
Note:
Tristan kills Morolt.

Sword XVIa (bastard) - profiled disc-shaped pommel 03 (B)

Source type (B):
Manuscript.
Name:
Welscher Gast.
Author:
Thomasin von Zerklaere.
Current location:
Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany (Cod. Pal. germ. 389 - f.55r).
Place of origin:
Oprindeligt: Bavaria (Regensburg?).
Dating:
1256.

More sources

Sword XVIa (bastard) - profiled disc-shaped pommel 04 (A)

Source type (A):
Archaeological object.
Current location:
Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen Denmark (No. Nr.).
Place of origin:
Boringholm, Horsens, Denmark.
Dating:
Ca. 1300 - 1320.
Note:
A.B. Hoffmeyer pl. XX - c.
Oakeshott type: Blade XVIa - 3, Pommel K, Cross-guard 5.
Brass inscription: Front: unicorn. Back: wild boar or wolf (perhaps a Blacksmith stamp of Passau in Germany).

Sword XVIa (bastard) - profiled disc-shaped pommel 05 (A)

Source type (A):
Archaeological object.
Current location:
Royal Armouries, London, England (IX.13).
Place of origin:
London, England.
Dating:
1300-tallet.
Note:
Oakeshott type: Blade XVIa - 4, Pommel J, Cross-guard 7.

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