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A report from a broadsword with finger rings from Djurhamn, Sweden. Early complex-hilted swords are a gap in the literature, because later and more protective hilts tend to get most of the attention. A forum member is working on a typology of rapier blades.

Very interesting sword. At first I thought of it to be fake, due to how ugly it seems to me. But a number of Iberian "double guarded swords" since 1490's are ugly as well.

One of the reasons for why I thought to be fake were the apparently useless finger-rings, but the picture showing the sword on the ground gives a better notion of its proportions. The short grip is saying you must put the index finger on the rings, a number of swords from the Real Armeria of Madrid have this demand.

But I would say it makes more sense this weapon to be 16th or 17th century rather than late 15th. Of course, there are some swords in Spanish Artwork in the 1490's with a somewhat similar design, but the pommel is more related to combinations I have seen in Modern Era, rather than Late Medieval. For example, double guarded swords from 15th century Portuguese extant and artwork swords always show round disk pommels, and the ones from Real Armeria from late 15th century too, as well.

Although the 16th century pretty much killed bastard-style longswords, "military rapiers" (wide enough to cut) and some complex hilted one handed swords were still used by soldiers and in peace-time.

There's also this issue that this whole style would be brand new and for some reason was already in Sweden (it should be said, though, that the Royal Armouries of Sweden has a Kriegsmesser the museum claims to be from Spain, based on a maker's mark, as I heard from a specialist).

It also should be said that MOST (but not all) double guarded swords of the 1470-1500 have long blades that can cut with authority (with or without an acute point). 90cm, 88 or so are common (My friend Ricardo Lebre asked Gael to make a 1470's Portuguese repro based on a number of sources, and it has 84-85cm blade long. 77cm an outlier for a normal sword, even so for a sword of this type, but here on the feature content of the group we have a very small sword of this type, but the only one of its type until discovering the sword you posted here.

Some tips for your article: 1) Negroli's sword has a twin in the Real Armeria, but it's barely known by the common enthusiast because RAM lack an online catalogue and the only I have is pretty much Napoleonic Era. 2) The late medieval Portuguese law generally tolerated the use of falchions and "minor arms" in cities (curiously, though, the King intervenied when city guards were confiscating weapons from merchants and travellers that entered cities with swords of "unapropriated length", but that were legal because they were travelling), I think the issue with rapier prohibition was mostly the length (like the 1565 royal decree limiting to some 95cm blade length, up to the later issues in 1719 century where city guards were confiscating "Toledan rapiers" of some 125cm blade long, as the allowed length was 66cm long)

By the way, some complex hilted one handed swords from 1600-1620 Dutch Republic:

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I would like to point out that the Dutch targeteers have swords way more similar to Djurhamm's finding than the artwork from late 15th century Iberia. Similar style pommel, shorter blade ...

It seems the Tercios also favoured shorter swords when commanders or rodeleros had their as main weapons. Sweden made use of rodeleiros or whatever equivalent term they had at that time, there's some artistic evidence here:

shield-bearers.html" target="_blank">https://theviaregia.blogspot.com/2023/07/rodeleros-or-shield-bearers.html

Many of thee swords with these hilts from the 17th century have four-sided blades not six-sided blades like this sword. A copy of A.V.B. Norman is coming in the post but I don't remember that he was very interested in blades.