Hi all,

Would you happen to have any suggestions regarding the design of a scabbard for a XV century sword (the Henry V to be precise). I have spent hours browsing and searching the forum, books and period artwork too, with very little results. Most XV century painting feature scabbards for bastards swords.

In addition, I have already done a scabbard with no flap over the guard and a central ridge for my A Crecy, and I'd like to try my hands at another design provided that's historically correct (Some might say that the design I chose for the Crecy, being a XIV century sword, would have been more appropriate for the Henry V and they might be right :))

Do you think the Henry V sword would be too advanced in time for a scabbard with a leather flap going over the guard? (from what I've seen so far I would say so, most stopping at the guard and are fitted with metal at the top).

Thanks in advance for your help (pictures would be most welcome!)

Julien

Got any German language skills? If so (or if you're willing to jump in anyway, which I highly recommend) search the artwork at this site:

http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/realonline/

Choose "Material Object" (next to last in the drop down menu,) set your date parameters and click the button (try to keep your date range narrow unless you want to sort through hundreds of images that won't help you answer your question). That will bring up a box listing every object category by alpha. You can scroll through those or just type "schwert" in the search box to speed things along. It's all very intuitive. You'll find tons of images to wade through. Really, you need only know the German terms for what you're looking for, and you can get those at Babelfish if you don't already know them.

Be sure to let all the images load before you start opening any of them. If you jump the gun and then try to back up the site will restart the loading, which can take a long time depending on your date range. This used to drive me crazy until I figured out what was happening. Once everything is loaded, you can quickly jump back and forth between your results and detailed images.

Here are some effigies/brasses of folks who died in the 1410's and 1420's. All are from www.gothiceye.com,a great source.

Sir Simon de Felbrigge (d.1416)
[ Linked Image ]

Robert, Lord Ferrers of Chartley (d.1413)
[ Linked Image ]

John Cressy (d.1413)
[ Linked Image ]

Sir John Segrave c.1425 (this one has a flap)
[ Linked Image ]

And there are many, many more. I've seen flaps in the first part of the 15th century, even combined with metal lockets.

I believe the Henry is a type XVIII, and a 1400 to 1500 century scabbard would most likely have a terminated throat (no rain guard). Risers optional, 2-point to 2.5 point suspension. Rain guards floated into the 14th century but not likely on this one. Rain guards started to get converted to part of the hilt rather than the scabbard, if at all.

Thanks a lot for your answers.

That was pretty much what I thought suitable for this sword as well Brian, I would have loved to go around that by finding another design in period artwork but I guess I'll have to stick to that.

That's a brilliant picture archive Sean! (i did look at gothiceye but pics tend to be too small to be used as reference for such projects) I have found plenty of material in there in a couple of minutes!

Cheers,

J

Of course, you could always do it the way you want to do it. If it looks good, it looks good.