City of Bristol "Pearl Sword" -- myArmoury.com

T. Arndt · Posted: Tue 20 Nov, 2012 8:56 pm Post subject: City of Bristol "Pearl Sword"

Does anyone know where I can find more information and better pictures of the City of Bristol's "Pearl Sword", a XVII given to the city in the 1430s?

D. Bell · Posted: Fri 23 Nov, 2012 6:26 pm Post subject:

I went looking for information on this sword a few months ago without much luck. It is mentioned in Sir Guy Francis Laking's A Record of European Arms and Armour (Volume II) which is now out of copyright and can be found online. I will quote the relevant section.

"Once again we return to Bristol to find the next most ancient ceremonial sword. This is the city's second processional sword, known as the "Pearl" sword, because the sheath is supposed to have originally been richly studded with pearls. No traces of pearls are now visible; but there are portions of silver embroidery on the crimson velvet with which the sheath is covered. This sword was given to the city of Bristol by Sir John de Wells, grocer. Mayor of London in 1431. The blade is apparently the original made for the hilt. The pommel is of flattened pear-shaped form, the quillons straight, plain, and six-sided. At each end of the grip is a shield of arms, that next the quillons bearing those of England, impaling the cross and martlets ascribed to Edward the Confessor, the other showing those of the city of Bristol. Below the former shield and continued above the latter is the inscription:
JON WELLIS OF LONDON GROC' & MEYR
TO BRISTOW GAVE THIS SWERD FEIR

On the other side of the grip is engraved:
W CLEVE

Across the pommel on each side is a scroll inscribed;
MERCY. AND. GRACE.

What connection W. Cleve — whose name appears upon the grip — had with Bristol, cannot be ascertained: his name cannot be traced in the list of mayors or sheriffs of Bristol."

The book does include a picture of the sword (Fig. 699) but it is not as good as the one in myArmoury's Type XVII Swords article which you have already posted. I tried to find another without success, your best bet would be to contact the Corporation of the City of Bristol and see if they can help you out.

T. Arndt · Posted: Fri 23 Nov, 2012 6:32 pm Post subject:

Thank you very much for sharing your information. Happy

Neil Melville · Posted: Sat 24 Nov, 2012 8:37 am Post subject:

Here are a couple of photos scanned from 'Connoisseur Magazine' , March 1956. The double photo shows front and back views of the sword with old (left) and new (right) scabbards. Hope these are helpful.
Neil

Dan Mackison · Posted: Wed 26 Feb, 2014 1:22 pm Post subject:

Does anybody have any measurements, like weight, blade length, grip length and span of the crossguard?

Phil D. · Posted: Wed 26 Feb, 2014 2:07 pm Post subject:

Here is another pic...not much detail but I found it here...

http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/great_britain/...gland/0512

There may be a contact on the page that could assist in your hunt for info.

Mark T · Posted: Wed 26 Feb, 2014 5:51 pm Post subject:

This sword also appears in Claude Blair's 'European and American arms'. It may be in other sources I have, but I know it's definitely in Blair. I don't have access to a scanner at the moment, but perhaps someone else can upload the image and text.

Dan Mackison · Posted: Tue 04 Mar, 2014 5:04 am Post subject:

I received this email today. The attachment was very nice, but was in pdf format, so I have not been able to successfully post it here.

Dan Mackison · Posted: Tue 04 Mar, 2014 5:12 am Post subject:

Here is the attachment

Radovan Geist · Posted: Tue 04 Mar, 2014 8:03 am Post subject:

nice, thank you for sharing this!