I understand what you mean regarding the classification. Thanks for your praise for Mr. Johannes. You should handle the blade. It is really marvellous.
What is the reason that not many people are interested in this type? Is it because it is too long and slender?
This sword next to Zeremonienschwert is the most important sword in the German speaking countries.
Kind regards
Manouchehr
C.L. Miller wrote: |
I'd like to chime in and thank you for sharing this with us. The Reichsschwert is beyond doubt one of the finest surviving medieval swords, and a personal favorite of mine, I'm glad to see it being given more attention and more information concerning it being brought to light. I do have a number of comments...
If I'm reading the article right, all of the evidence presented concerning the scabbard appears to support the conclusion that it was made during the 11th Century... how can this be reconciled with the conclusion that the sword itself was made around the end of the 12th century? I find the problems in dating this weapon extremely interesting. It seems incredible that such a broad range of dates have been suggested, and that, in terms of the morphology alone, the sword should be capable of fitting into a time span covering 300 years! This is really a perfect example of the difficulties of typology and in the analysis of period artwork. Nevertheless, since it can still be endlessly fascinating to debate such things... I notice that the article cites Schulze-Dörrlamm's classification of the sword as a Geibig type 12, which seems to be an accurate assessment. I'd like to suggest, however, that the blade might be a transitional form between types 12 and 13, as it possesses some shared characteristics of both types, and in a few (such as the slimness of the blade) tends towards type 13. There may of course be a compelling argument against this suggestion, but it makes sense to me. I'm personally fascinated by these long, slim swords of the 12th and 13th centuries, especially the even longer (often broken) German examples documented by Geibig. I'd love to have the opportunity to handle such a blade. Alas, they do not seem to be well represented among the swords created by modern smiths, most of those which come close are rather shorter and broader of blade. Hats off to Mr. Johannes for making what appears to be a very fine reproduction, and to you Manouchehr for sharing your fine article with us! |