Hi all,

On a medieval history board I frequent, a member was talking about a "Celtic Rapier" type weapon that I'd never heard of. Here's his reference for it (as well as a rough picture).

Quote:

The really odd-ball Celtic sword is known as the "Rapier" style. It account for maybe 1% of Celtic swords, but it shows up in the early LaTene era, has the length and profile of a traditional Renaissance rapier, but had a triangular cross section. What follows I've transcribed from "The Celtic Sword" by Radomir Pleiner pp 69-70 (forthcoming illustration from p14 (fig. 2)) "We should note finally a curious type of sword, the long rapier known in German archaeological literature as the Knollenknaufschwert. Fewer than 20 examples from some 15 localities in central Gaul and southern Germany have been recorded. They come in the main from wet sites, so that for a long time their dating was in doubt, until Kramer (1962) in his analysis of the Chiemsee find, brought out a consensus opinion that this type was a Celtic weapon of the Late Hallstatt or Early LaTene periods. What is striking about these weapons is that they are exclusively thrusting weapons, a fact completely at variance with the concept of the Celtic cutting sword. It is also most noticeable that these weapons are totally unknown from the usual cemeteries and hoards. There technical characteristics are of interest also. The type has a square-shaped section, and is narrow (tapering from 18-25mm at the guard to about 12mm at the point) and extremely long in length (73-83cm). If we include the hilt-tang, then the length rises to 86-105cm. From X-radiography carried out by Driehaus (in Kramer 1962, 121-4, pl 11), the blade (at least in the case of the Chiemsee specimen) was welded together from two triangular-sectioned iron bars. The hilt-tang was not formed on short bars of lozenge-shaped section to the campaniform arch at the top of the blade to tang. The top of the hilt where the pommel sat was perforated centrally. The most characteristic feature is the iron beads or globules attached to the welded-on hilt-tang, with four located at the pommel and two on the tips of the guard, crowning the hilt. The scabbards found with these rapiers are constructed from two overlapping iron strips, and they fit closely to the blade surface. It was mounted by a hinged joint to an iron plate locked by a removeable iron pin. These look very much like very good examples of the work of the locksmith. It is hard to see how the plate was ever suspended to a normal belt, or even how it could have been hung immobile on pillars, walls, or trees, and further discussion would merely be highly speculative. We may hazard the guess that this weapon, which was clearly suitable for fencing only, was used in duels of exceptional, even ceremonial or ritual importance, and was never worn to battle. Thus it did not form a part of the normal equipment of a warrior."

[ Linked Image ]

Has anyone here ever heard of such a weapon and where it may have been used?

Jamie Fellrath
ARMA-Columbus

Hey, Jamie! I vaguely recall Oakeshott using the term in The Archaeology of Weapons to refer to an ancient blade form. It's been years since I read it, so I may misremember. Anyway, you might find something there...

Reviving the post after 20 years because this shouldn't be left unanswered.

There's a real lack of English material on Knollenknaufschwert (the "celtic rapiers" all feature bubbles on the pommel that made the German Historians call the sword this way), mostly because they only appear in the territory of France, Switzerland and Southern Germany, so the literature about it was either German or French, but lack of interest prevented translations or divulgation to English (which is the universal language for studying swords today). If you want papers, Dr. Fabrice Cognot have some pdfs, I haven't seen him in myArmoury these years but he's still active in Facebook and often talk to me there.

Because such Iron Age Celtic Swords are not the general interest of sword studies, there wasnt really an effort to publish stuff about it, which is also the case for 400-550 AD spathae, which has an actual typology that explains the developments we see in the Viking Era: Western Europe developed Germanic types of Late Spathae, which were shorter, wider and for strong cuts; Balkan/Byzantine Swords developed mainly from Asiatic Types, which were slimmer and longer, like cavalry swords. There's even a Russian/Eurasian case which some have interpreted to be two-handed spathae. In any case, there's translation and divulgation work to be done in that respect.
-----------------------------------------------------

For the Knollenknaufschwert itself: the main type is a triangular section blade that goes up to 93-103cm overall length (thus some 83-93cm long). Some examples feature ridges (though the only one which I have seen its actual section has ridges on both sides, I posted it bellow) and at least one, the shortest, has a diamond section (I don't know if it's thick enough to qualify as square section), more similar to the most known thrusting shortswords of Celtic Antiquity

[ Linked Image ]
https://www.trommer-archaeotechnik.de/Repliken_Schwerter.html

[ Linked Image ]

Neues museum, Germany.

[ Linked Image ]

https://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/kap_a/advanced/ta_1_1c.html#Knollenknaufschwerter


So, it seems the approach the Celts in nowadays Germany and France solved the limitations in metalurgy and iron purity were much similar to what Europeans did through Middle Ages and Renaissance. It should be noted, however, that these swords had better material than your general Celtic Iron Sword.

Due to lack of written sources and rarity of these types, there's a debate about if these were only cerimonial or religious items, or if they were actual martial weapons (either for duels or actual war). I have a bias towards the later, but the good quality materials has been noted in support for that martial thesis. Something that I should notice is that most of them have actual or possible battle damage. Tips are often broken in findings such as this:

[ Linked Image ]

https://www.leo-bw.de/en/detail-gis/-/Detail/details/DOKUMENT/lmw_museumsobjekte/19484/Eisernes+Knollenknaufschwert+mit+Resten+der+Scheide+%5BQuelle+Landesmuseum+W%C3%BCrttemberg%5D

https://bawue.museum-digital.de/object/19484

Triangular section apparently, OAL 105cm. Blade length of perhaps 87cm.

The shortsword with a diamond section I posted has assymmetric edges: this generally happens when you have edge damage and later take material off the blade, thus making a type XVIII edge turn into a type XV edge. This happened to one edge of the XVIIIc Alexandria Longsword at the MET and Oakeshott mentioned a few possible cases in his Records.

German Wikipedia:

Quote:

The bulbous sword or Celtic rapier is a peculiar type of sword , of which only about 50 examples have been found in France , southern Germany and Switzerland , almost exclusively in rivers or lakes. Due to the lack of air, the weapons are often preserved in good condition. The knobbly sword is made entirely of Celtic steel . [1] Instead of a crossguard, two steel knobs are attached between the handle and the blade, which, together with the typical knobs at the top of the handle, give the sword its name. In terms of shape, it most resembles a rapier from the 17th century. It is probably an early form of deliberately manufactured Damascus steel . Due to the excellent forging technique, the first examples found were initially attributed to the Middle Ages . It was only through further finds and their context that the Celtic origins became known. According to Birkhan , taking into account the locations where they were found, these swords were always understood as ritual objects, for example for a sword dance or as an object of jurisdiction (e.g. during or after a war). They were not intended for combat use. [2] This theory is contradicted by pieces with clear "signs of use" in the form of notches in the blade. [3] [4] Nor does cultic or non-combat use justify the outstanding quality of the steel. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knollenknaufschwert

Pedro

Gioal Canestrelli talks about the knobbed-pommel swords in his book for Pen & Sword Military https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Celtic-Warfare-Hardback/p/21705

There are also early iron swords from the Aegean with thick diamond cross-sections.