[Jeremiah Swanger]

Hi folks,

Once I get some funds freed up, I am strongly considering commissioning a scabbard for my Albion Stamford.

Since the Poor Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem are one of my areas of interest, I am considering a scabbard pattern (and subsequent fittings) that would have been appropriate for the First Crusades. I realize that my Stamford's pattern is somewhat pre-Christian (but not by much), but I think it might have been close enough to the cruciform to be not entirely out of place. As the first Templars were somewhat lacking in funds, I figure that a slightly-out-of-fashion hilt pattern would be rather appropriate. If anyone sees a glaring mistake in my logic, please let me know.

Anyway, as there aren't many scabbard pictures from this era in The Sword in the Age of Chivalry, I would like to know what sort of details I should be looking for in terms of shape, decoration, mounting, and belt.

[Darren Tully]

In the reading I've done on the first crusade I cam across little descrption of scabbards used by the knights
what I have found suggests that their scabards were simple wooden ones probably leather coated with an
ornate metal tip like in this diagram http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mitchtanz/crusaderssx.jpg

many of the images I've seen for the later crusades show scabbards again wooden and leather coated
with a criss cross leather wrapping running down it again there that have metal tips ths reconstruction
gives the general idea of the design
http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00158/ima...rsword.jpg