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Niels Just Rasmussen
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 Posted: Sat 07 Feb, 2015 5:33 am Post subject: Wooden shield & Sword with leather hilt. Boringholm 1368 |
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The old excavation by Chr. Axel Jensen in 1906-1916 of the fortified great-farm Boringholm, near Horsens, has finally been published and shows quite spectacular finds.
Publication: http://da.unipress.dk/udgivelser/b/boringholm/
Boringholm - en østjysk træborg fra 1300-årene
Edited by Jan Kock & Else Roesdahl (2006)
(Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter 53)
This so called “voldsted“ (something like “moat-place“ - that is also the meaning of a “-holm“) was built out on a lake, where you first had punched over 2000 wooden poles down into the lake floor in 1368/69 (hence the precise dating for it's creation through dendrochronology). Then you poured filling material on top to create a small artificial hill. It was further enlarged in the 1380's to a long oval hill in the lake with two bridges of 38 & 50 meter to the lakeshore. The farm was protected by being surrounded by a timber construction (palisades?) of 300 meter.
Until 1365 the Boring-area had been owned by the Brok family. Nobleman Niels Brok is mentioned in letters from 1298-1330 and he received the town Boring from Peder Rask in 1323-24. The Brok family was loyal to the Crown, when Valdemar IV Atterdag 1340-1375 tried to get Denmark back from pawn ownership by German noblemen.
Niels Brok handed Boring to his son Peder Brok who then handed it over to his daugther Elena. She hands over the area to the King in 1365. So it must be under King Valdemar's orders that Boringholm is build.
When the King dies in 1375 the crown-goods should go to Queen Margrethe I, but she first receives definite ownership in 1400. You can through letters follow that she had control of the area until at least 1406.
Around 1412 there is a fire in Boringholm - likely the result of an attack from nearby rebels in Rask Forest and the site was abandoned afterwards.
The wet environments has created excellent condition for the preservation of leather. This site of yielded the largest find of leather footwear in Denmark [around 700 individual pieces]. It has also preserved a sword with the leather hilt intact.
Black-and-white picture: http://www.denstoredanske.dk/@api/deki/files/...ze=webview
[Edit: This picture is from Oakeshott's book “Records of the Medieval Sword“ from 1991]
Big colour image of the sword and wooden shield:
http://samlinger.natmus.dk/DMR/167968
So what do you think of the origin (German?) and type of this sword?
We have a quite narrow date of creation to abandonment of Boringholm 1368-1412.
I guess preserved wooden shields from this period also is quite rare.
Last edited by Niels Just Rasmussen on Tue 10 Feb, 2015 6:14 am; edited 3 times in total
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Shahril Dzulkifli
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| Posted: Sat 07 Feb, 2015 4:11 pm Post subject: Wooden Shield & Sword With Leather Hilt, Boringholm 1368 |
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I am not sure whether the Boringholm sword is either German or Danish.
Never seen it before, though.
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength”
- Marcus Aurelius
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Luka Borscak
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| Posted: Sun 08 Feb, 2015 3:07 am Post subject: |
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Nice sword, I like the XVIa swords, especially with this kind of hilt furniture and "rainguard". Do you maybe know more details about how the shield was arranged for wearing? Where were the straps etc...
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Sun 08 Feb, 2015 5:24 am Post subject: |
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Shahril Dzulkifli - thanks for resizing the picture! Would be interesting if someone has seen a sword like it.
Interesting with the big pommel, but small sized crossguards.
Luka Borscak - the rainguard is interesting, so would it have a function when halfswording - one hand on the hilt and the other around the crossguard area to get a firm grip?
Is a rainguard -> really for “rain“ or blood?
About the shield I don't have more information.
Last edited by Niels Just Rasmussen on Tue 10 Feb, 2015 4:20 am; edited 1 time in total
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James Moore
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| Posted: Mon 09 Feb, 2015 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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The sword, incidentally, is the one featured in Oakeshottt's "Records of the Medieval Sword" as XVIa.3. (page 154, by my copy).
Am I the only one who loves when swords from that (or other) books resurface, in modern high-def colour photos, and you get a whole new view of something you'd only seen in grainy B/W picture(s) previously?
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Greg Ballantyne
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| Posted: Mon 09 Feb, 2015 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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James you are not the only one.......
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Tue 10 Feb, 2015 4:14 am Post subject: |
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| James Moore wrote: | The sword, incidentally, is the one featured in Oakeshottt's "Records of the Medieval Sword" as XVIa.3. (page 154, by my copy).
Am I the only one who loves when swords from that (or other) books resurface, in modern high-def colour photos, and you get a whole new view of something you'd only seen in grainy B/W picture(s) previously? |
Great!
So Oakeshott gives the following info about the sword from his book:
Findplace: Borringholm [should be Boringholm, near Horsens]
Type: XVIa
Blade length: 91,1 cm
Pommel: Exaggerated K
Cross guard style: Exaggerated 6
Date: 1300-1325 [So that means if that interval is correct, that the sword was already old when Boringholm was build in 1368/69].
Condition: Very good. Corrosion on the blade, but little on the hilt.
Original grip very well preserved, though “the wood core below the cord binding and leather covering has perished a good deal“.
Intact rainguard.
Similar sword found in Norway !! (Oldsaksmuseum, Oslo), though with less acutely tapered blade.
Hoffmeyer should have it as Plate XX.9
[So does anyone have Hoofmeyer's book, so to provide a picture for a comparison]
So maybe this is also a fairly special Scandinavian Sword Type.
Could it even be a forerunner to the “Danish Two hander“ ?
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Sun 15 Feb, 2015 7:42 am Post subject: |
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Also found a picture of riding equipment from Boringholm.
Source: http://samlinger.natmus.dk/DMR/167967
DK: Stigbøjle = Eng: Stirrup
DK: Spore = Eng: Spur
DK: Strigle = Eng: Curry Comb (here of metal)
Also shown a metal mouthpiece (Type II - Ward Perkins, I think) and partial horseshoe.
The stirrup seems to have two “clovers“ design. As I'm not at all familiar with stirrup typology, what could it signify at that time and in what places has this clover design been found?
Today wikipedia tells that the 4 petals signify:
“the first is for faith, the second is for hope, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck“.
These Christian theme could also be at work here.
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Mon 09 Nov, 2015 9:05 am Post subject: |
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| Niels Just Rasmussen wrote: |
Similar sword found in Norway !! (Oldsaksmuseum, Oslo), though with less acutely tapered blade.
Hoffmeyer should have it as Plate XX.9
[So does anyone have Hoofmeyer's book, so to provide a picture for a comparison]
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I have found a Norwegian sword looking very much like the Boringholm sword. [Very much like it !] Likely the one Bruhn-Hoffmeyer had looked at.
It has image and info on the "Kulturhistorisk museum, Oslo" webpage, where one can press to see a somewhat bigger image.
http://www.unimus.no/arkeologi/#/detailsView?search=C851
It was found at the farm "Skybjerg" in Oppland according to the overview-info, but in the info page (see below) it says the farm Rognstad).
Info:
Inventory number: 851. [should be C851 now]
"Et Sværd af Jern; den hele Længde 1 Al. 201/2 T.; Hæftet for sig: 91/2 T., og det egentlige Haandfang 7 Tr.; Knappen rund og fra Siderne fladtrykt; Pærerpladen næsten 6 Tr. lang, flad, bredere i begge Ender end paa Midten; Klingen tveegget, med en Fordybning langs Midten indtil omtrent halvveis for oven; noget tilspidset mod Enden. Sværdet kan ifølge sin Størrelse og Form antages at have været brugt til at hugge med begge Hænder. Det er meget vel konserveret paa det nær, at Bedækningen er borte af Haandfanget. Det er rimeligvis fra Slutningen af Hedenskabet eller og fra Kristendommens første Tider. Fundet i Jorden paa Gaarden Rognstad i Øjer omtrent 1/4 Mil fra Præstegaarden paa hin Side Elven."
Source: http://www.unimus.no/arkeologi/resources/musi...umsnr=C851
The length of the sword is given as 1 Alen and 20,5 Tommer.
1 Danish/Norwegian "Alen" (English "Ell") was 62,74 cm in 1875 and adjusted to 60,96 cm in 1959.
1 Danish/Norwegian "Tomme" (litt. Thumb, English "Inch") was 2,614 cm originally 1875 and adjusted to 2,540 cm from 1959.
The text given above is basically written Danish with use of double aa, so the earliest measurements from 1875 are probably the correct ones.
So 1 Alen 20,5 Tomme for "hele længden" (the entire length) gives 116,3 cm.
Hilt (hæftet) 9,5 Tommer -> 24,83 cm, whereas the Grip (haandfang) is 7,5 Tommer -> 19,6 cm. [This seems more likely].
That would give us a blade length of ~91,47 cm [ very close - identical? - with the blade length of the Boringholm sword that is 91 cm].
Crossguard (parerpladen) almost 6 Tommer -> so around 15 cm [reckon 7,5 cm on each side of the blade].
Same type - but less preserved - from the farm Dvergsten in Oppland [C1530] is very slightly shorter; but it could be caused by the tip is broken off.
Source: http://www.unimus.no/arkeologi/#/detailsView?search=C1530
A third fragmented one [C805] but with all the hilt and crossguard preserved - from the farm Brevik Søndre in Akershus - shows that this sword was popular in Norway.
Source: http://www.unimus.no/arkeologi/#/detailsView?search=C805
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Håvard Kongsrud
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 6:10 am Post subject: |
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Thanks Hr. Kongsrud for the extra picture of the Norwegian swords and the reference to the obsoleteness of the Oakeshott dating of the Boringholm sword.
The Boringholm sword seems quite unlikely to be from 1300-1320, when the Boringholm complex is dated from 1368-1412.
Likely the 3 Norwegians swords are from the same time period, since the C851 Norwegian sword and the Boringholm sword are so much alike that they could very well be from the same weapon-smith?!
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Mark Lewis
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 6:59 am Post subject: |
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| Niels Just Rasmussen wrote: |
So does anyone have Hoofmeyer's book, so to provide a picture for a comparison |
Hi Niels, here is a scan of the plate in question, showing the Borrenholm and C851 swords. Not sure if these photos are to scale or not.
Looks like there is another member of the family in Copenhagen, with number D261.
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Håvard Kongsrud
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 7:23 am Post subject: |
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| Niels Just Rasmussen wrote: | Thanks Hr. Kongsrud for the extra picture of the Norwegian swords and the reference to the obsoleteness of the Oakeshott dating of the Boringholm sword.
The Boringholm sword seems quite unlikely to be from 1300-1320, when the Boringholm complex is dated from 1368-1412.
Likely the 3 Norwegians swords are from the same time period, since the C851 Norwegian sword and the Boringholm sword are so much alike that they could very well be from the same weapon-smith?! |
Mind you, the shape of the pommel on both C851 and C805 differs from the Boringholm sword. Both seem to me to be of a subtype not discussed by Oakeshott with the sides of the disk tapering to both sides from a vertical ridge..
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 8:36 am Post subject: |
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| Håvard Kongsrud wrote: | | Niels Just Rasmussen wrote: | Thanks Hr. Kongsrud for the extra picture of the Norwegian swords and the reference to the obsoleteness of the Oakeshott dating of the Boringholm sword.
The Boringholm sword seems quite unlikely to be from 1300-1320, when the Boringholm complex is dated from 1368-1412.
Likely the 3 Norwegians swords are from the same time period, since the C851 Norwegian sword and the Boringholm sword are so much alike that they could very well be from the same weapon-smith?! |
Mind you, the shape of the pommel on both C851 and C805 differs from the Boringholm sword. Both seem to me to be of a subtype not discussed by Oakeshott with the sides of the disk tapering to both sides from a vertical ridge.. |
You are correct there! The two Norwegian swords with pommels preserved are clearly of a different type, than the two Danish ones (and the English one, though this one has a different guard)! So we have to reckon with a special Norwegian sub-type.
Mark: Many thanks for the scan from Bruhn-Hoffmeyer  [Interesting that she hits a more correct dating of 1400!].
About the D261 sword also in Copenhagen I found some info about it:
[In "Aarbog for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie" 1868, page 157]
"126. Et tveegget Jern Slagsværd, fundet i et Vandløb paa Skjellet mellem Tornemark og Skafterup Marker ved
Skjelskør, tre Fod under Jordsmonet (D 261). Det har en flad Knap og lige Parerstang; Pladsen mellem disse ere
7 Tommer lang; Sværdets hele Lægde 4 Fod."
My translation: A double-edged Iron Slashing-Sword found in a stream dividing Tornemark and Skafterup Fields at Skælskør, three feet deep. It has a flat pommel and a straight cross-guard. The space between these are 7 "tommer" long (18,3 cm). The whole length of the sword is 4 feet [1 Danish foot = 0,31385 m, so 125,5 cm in total length].
Source: https://archive.org/stream/aarbgerfornord1868norduoft/aarbgerfornord1868norduoft_djvu.txt
PS: Linguistic nerdy stuff.
Jordsmonet is a word so old I had never ever seen or heard it before!
Mon is old Danish, cognate with Old Norse Munr meaning value/difference.
Jord-s-mon-et: Litt. "The Earth's Value" - meaning the surface of the earth (topsoil?).
Source: http://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=jordsmon
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 9:05 am Post subject: |
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D261 Boringholm-style-sword from Rikke Behrend's publication "Vandfundne sværd fra middelalderen". [Water-found swords from the Middle-ages].
Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark 1970.
Drawing by Holger Schmidt.
It is the sword on the right.
Behrend probably also correctly gives the date ~1400.
 Attachment: 492.55 KB
Source: Behrend (1970).
Last edited by Niels Just Rasmussen on Fri 18 Dec, 2015 7:55 am; edited 3 times in total
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Håvard Kongsrud
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 9:40 am Post subject: |
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A few words from Jan Kock & Else Roesdahl (ed.) 2006, Boringholm.
p. 141-43 says the blade is from Passau with unicorn and boar production marks. The sword is presumed to have been assembled in Denmark. Both Oakeshott (ca 1300-25), Liebgott (mid 14th century) and Hoffmeyer (ca 1400) are said to base their dating on the dating of the evacuation of Boringholm voldsted. However, the autor Charlotte Boje Andersen stresses that it was found "deep in the layers", which indicates that the fully functional sword was intentionally buried, either as a offering or for hiding. If the first is the case the sword belongs to the building phase.
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 9:56 am Post subject: |
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| Håvard Kongsrud wrote: | A few words from Jan Kock & Else Roesdahl (ed.) 2006, Boringholm.
p. 141-43 says the blade is from Passau with unicorn and boar production marks. The sword is presumed to have been assembled in Denmark. Both Oakeshott (ca 1300-25), Liebgott (mid 14th century) and Hoffmeyer (ca 1400) are said to base their dating on the dating of the evacuation of Boringholm voldsted. However, the autor Charlotte Boje Andersen stresses that it was found "deep in the layers", which indicates that the fully functional sword was intentionally buried, either as a offering or for hiding. If the first is the case the sword belongs to the building phase. |
Thanks!
I think that goes for most (late?!) medieval swords from Scandinavia, that the blades are from Germany and they are assembled locally according to special wishes of the buyer.
Since I didn't own the Boringholm publication it is very interesting to learn that the sword was intentionally "deeply" buried (for offerings often occurs in shallow waters quite close to the shore and this old custom continues probably up to at least 1500 (?), even with Christianity is the new religion -> this is the case for the medieval Esrum Lake (~1200, see scan in my former post, the sword on the left) and Ordrup Mose (~1300) swords as well.
So if the sword is a lake-offering, then "Boringholm" could have been build on top of the offered sword at a later time and Oakeshott's 1300-1320 dating seems no longer so unlikely!!
Last edited by Niels Just Rasmussen on Wed 09 Dec, 2015 9:04 am; edited 1 time in total
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Mark Lewis
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 12:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Håvard Kongsrud wrote: | | Mind you, the shape of the pommel on both C851 and C805 differs from the Boringholm sword. Both seem to me to be of a subtype not discussed by Oakeshott with the sides of the disk tapering to both sides from a vertical ridge.. |
| Niels Just Rasmussen wrote: | | You are correct there! The two Norwegian swords with pommels preserved are clearly of a different type, than the two Danish ones (and the English one, though this one has a different guard)! So we have to reckon with a special Norwegian sub-type. |
Marko Aleksic classifies these as an additional subtype H2 in Swords from Southeastern Europe... this is an excellent source, make sure to download the full book from Academia.edu if you do not have it already!
He identifies three swords with this pommel type, two found in close proximity in Serbia, and one more from Bosnia. The Serbian blades are both XVIa's with similar hilts and overall dimensions... Aleksic suggests they are locally produced; one comes from a hoard of weapons found in a village named Kovačnica, which translates to "blacksmith".
Here are some photos that I have collected of this sword, which is held in the Jagodina Regional Museum:
I know of one additional Northern example, this from Sweden:
 
http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=108245
Taken all together, it does seem to be a rare pommel type but not a regionally exclusive one...
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Håvard Kongsrud
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| Posted: Tue 08 Dec, 2015 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the very interesting reference, mr. Lewis!
| Niels Just Rasmussen wrote: | Since I didn't own the Boringholm publication it is very interesting to learn that the sword was intentionally "deeply" buried (for offerings often occurs in shallow waters quite close to the shore and this old custom continues probably up to at least 1500 (?), even with Christianity is the new religion -> this is the case for the medieval Esrum Lake (~1200, see scan in my former post, the sword on the left) and Ordrup Mose (~1300) swords as well).
So if the sword is a lake-offering, then "Boringholm" could have been build on top of the offered sword at a later time and Oakeshott's 1300-1320 dating seems no longer so unlikely!! |
I think a closer reading still leaves Oakeshott's dating unlikely. Although Chr. Axel Jensen's original report didn't say if there were disturbances from burying the sword or not, Andersen seem to believe an offering was directly related to the building of the voldsted, (inn note 140 she refers to another building offering in Saxeholmen where a war axe was found in the walls.) On a separate note: Building-offerings are found throughout the modern period in Scandinavia.
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Wed 09 Dec, 2015 6:17 am Post subject: |
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Thanks Mark for the added finds of this sword type.
Your ability to find "companion"-examples from your vast picture-collection, no matter what type of sword I introduce, never ceases to amaze me.
So 2 Norwegian (third Norwegian lacks pommel), 1 Swedish, 1 Bosnian and 2 Serbian examples of this pommel type on type XVIa sword. That is some strange geographical variation (we are to far down in time to explain it away with any gothic connection here).
They look so identical that chance-likeness should not be the first assumption - yet they probably were all assembled locally (only blades imported). Interesting mystery!
| Håvard Kongsrud wrote: | | I think a closer reading still leaves Oakeshott's dating unlikely. Although Chr. Axel Jensen's original report didn't say if there were disturbances from burying the sword or not, Andersen seem to believe an offering was directly related to the building of the voldsted, (inn note 140 she refers to another building offering in Saxeholmen where a war axe was found in the walls.) On a separate note: Building-offerings are found throughout the modern period in Scandinavia. |
This is off course also a very possible explanation.
But as it's stated the offering in Saxeholmen was found in the walls, whereas the Boringholm sword was dug into the mud and was "deep" compared to the rest of archaeological dig-site finds.
Building offerings are common and have a very long history in Scandinavia (for instance insertion of offering into post-holes and then put the oak-beam down afterwards when building a longhouse).
As it's described to me I still think the lake offering and later building of Boringholm on top of the sword most likely, but the time difference between the event would still be very uncertain?
The water offering could actually have been done to the waters in connection with the building about to start (give a gift before you take from the waters) - which technically would still make it a lake offering and not a building offering (where deposition in a wall makes more sense).
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