An Italian Crusader's Sword from the Arsenal at Alexandria, circa 1340

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With flat double-edged blade tapering to a blunt point, both sides cut with a central fuller running from the base of the ricasso to a point approximately two-thirds of the total length, the fullers each stamped with a series of letters at the forte, LOPC on one face and PVIG on the other, and cut with an Arabic inscription on one face below the hilt, the tang fitted with horizontal cross-guard of rectangular section swelling slightly in the middle, and robust cubic pommel cut to form a central octagonal band of rectangular facets with further faceted bands around the top and bottom.

Overall length: 33 1/2 in; Blade length: 27 1/4 in

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Following the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk Empire in 1517, a collection of European swords with dedicatory inscriptions datable to the period 1365-1437 were removed from the Mamluk arsenal in Alexandria. Sixty-two of these are preserved in the Askeri Museum in Istanbul, one is in the Topkapi Saray collection, and at least twenty-five were dispersed to Europe. The group are of Italian and German origin and are typologically diverse. The inscriptions attesting to their Mamluk ownership frequently include the name of the donor to the arsenal and the date of the deposit. In the absence of an inscribed date all of these swords are datable by virtue of the wording and of the epigraphy used; therein lies the importance of this group to modern scholars. Although the full inscription on this sword can not be read it includes the word Alexandria written in a script very similar to that on one in the Askeri Museum, dated to about 1436-37.

Many of the Alexandria swords are connected with the invasions of Peter de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, whose crusading force sacked Alexandria in 1375. It appears likely that the initial deposit in the arsenal was made from swords captured from a small contingent of the booty-laden withdrawing force. In 1425, in response to Cypriot raids on the Syrian coast, the Mamluk Sultan Al Ashraf Sayf al-Din Barsbay invaded and conquered Cyprus. His army returned in the following year, complete with the humiliated Cypriot King Janus. The ransom included annual payments of Tribute which no doubt included further gifts of swords.


Copyright © 2001 Peter Finer

Is this a Type XIII? It seems like it isn't quite two handed and has a big blunt tip, but it is hard to tell. Anybody know for sure?

Actually reading the dimensions maybe a type XI?

It looks like either a XII or XIIIb to me. The proportions are misleading, as it looks like a hand-and-a-half size until one reads the measurements. If the blade length is 27", the grip would seem to be of single-hand (XII or XIIIb) length rather than the longish-gripped XIII. Perhaps the blade was originally a bit longer but had the tip broken off and reground?
It's way too short to be an XI.

Brian M

I can't see it in the photos, but the text mentions a ricasso. If there is one, I'd ID it as a type XIX.

And what about the curvature at the bottom of the blade nearing the hilt? is that only from honing or was that part of the sword's design? Also, isn't the fuller unusual, almost modern-looking in a machined sort of way?

I also think the term "riccasso" is wrongly used. However, I think it depends on if that small section near the cross has ever showed any signs of sharpening. However, it was not unusual for sword NOT to be sharpened that high up the blade. To me, it looks as if this sword's edge has either been resharpened or rweorked a lot. If that is so, then I find this specimen really exciting. This would indicate some kind of prior edge damage, probably from actual battlefield use during the disasterous invasion of Egypt ! Image some knight weilding this sword on a crusade! Amazing.


Joel Whitmore

I think several of you are completely missing what Mikko was trying to say...

If you look at the second photo in Nathan's original post, you can see that the first 2 inches or so reflects the light brightly, then darkens immediately after those first two inches. This tells me that the angle of deflection is different, hence it would not be an uneducated guess to say that the first two inches are flat, then begins a distal taper. That the change in reflection is so dramatic only reinforces this possibility. This initial flat surface is, at least in my perception, an effective ricasso. In fact, I've adjusted my color settings multiple times while looking at this pair of photos, and I can swear I see a point about 2 to 2.5 inches from the cross where the ricasso forms a cusp-like curve toward the spine as it transitions from ricasso to edge.

Someone said a few posts above that blades this short don't have ricassos. Maybe not usually, but we have to first ask why someone would put a ricasso on such a short blade...

As Angus Trim put it to me, one of the structural benefits of a ricasso is that it effectively shortens the length of the blade. The shorter the blade, the greater the relative degree of stiffness (yes, Gus, I realize I've really, really oversimplified it). A stiffer blade can help yield more blade presence, perhaps to the taste of the sword's wielder?

P.S.- Check out the pics of Albion's Viceroy-- the first time I saw the production pics, I almost missed the ricasso completely. Now imagine how hard it would be to see a ricasso in a photo of the sword after it had been aging and corroding for hundreds of years...

P.P.S.- As I said before, there is no point in trying to pigeonhole this sword into an Oakeshott type... if it turns out to have a ricasso, all bets are off. Assuming I'm wrong about the ricasso, the closest Oakeshott type this sword can be stuck in would be XIIIb (don't forget that the non-suffix XIII has a long grip, 5.5 to 6 inches), and even then it isn't a very tidy fit.

This sword has resurfaced and will be offered at auction by Bonhams next month. The inscription is described as indistinct, "appearing" to contain the name Alexandria, and the estimated price is a small fraction of what some other Alexandrian swords have sold for... I wonder if there are some doubts as to the provenance of this one?

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23564/lot/109/
http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=305499#305499

what springs to mind for me is finally a single handed sword with long enough grip for big guys. Maybe oakshott typology XXL (glove size ;) )