Seeking info on sword from Dresden -- myArmoury.com

Nils Anderssen · Posted: Mon 20 Feb, 2012 4:57 am Post subject:

A friend of a friend of mine just visited the museum. She was not allowed to take pictures in the exhibition, but was able to get some more information on the sword:

"This double edged sword with long tip and the puscian with blackened club face were presented to Elector Christian I by one of the counts of Zrinyi in 1590. They have a special place in the collection as these European weapons most likely originally belonged to a Persian warrior."

and

"The croatian nobles of the house of Zrinyi excelled in the battles against the Ottoman army. Count Niklas Zrinyi for example was the commander of the Hedegari - an fortress of Szigetvár in 1566, which was besieged by Sultan Süleman I. Zrinyi died during a failed breakout attempt. In 1590. One of his descendents, whose name remains unknown, presented Elector Christian I with a saddle, a mace and a swoard. Around 1660 count Peter Zrinyi took part in negotiations regarding the Croatian personal guard requested by Johann Georg II."

This kind of explain why it is where it is Happy

Peter Johnsson · Industry Professional

Thank you!

This is interesting. From the text it seems that the museum at least at one time thought the sword belonged to an Islamic warrior.
I am mystified by this, as the sword more probably would have belonged to a family member of the house of Zrinyi rather than their enemies.

A trail to follow!
Thank you very much. :-)

Luka Borscak · Posted: Mon 20 Feb, 2012 6:35 am Post subject:

Peter Johnsson · Industry Professional

Luka, would you know more about any members of the house of Zrinyi that would have been alive and prominent at the end of the 15th century? I wonder if there a known ancestor of Nikola Zrinyi who could have owned this sword originally? Perhaps Nikola carried this sword at his death, about a century after it was made, but that seems less likely to me.

Luka Borscak · Posted: Mon 20 Feb, 2012 7:07 am Post subject:

Here is their family tree: http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obiteljsko_stablo_knezova_Zrinskih
It seems that family members at the end of the 15th century about who we know some info mostly died at the catastrophic battle of Krbava in 1493. But since any of them would be very rich and have more than one sword, the sword in question might or might not have been present at the battle. At the end of 15th century straight swords were still more popular than sabers in Croatia and sabres got more and more popularity from about that time forward...