Hello,

My name is Taran Matharu and I am an author researching for my upcoming book. I've been reading the forum posts here and they have been immensely helpful. I was hoping to pose a question to you all, if that's ok.

I am searching for famous weapons/armour that were known to exist but have since been lost/stolen/disappeared. So far my list includes:

 661 – Zulfiqar

 778 - Durandal Paladin Sword

 1185 - The Kusanagi Sword

 1596 - Sir Francis Drake’s coffin, with his full suit of armour inside.

 1827 - Original Bowie knife

 1876 - Buntline special with Ned carved in the bottom

 1934 - John Dillinger, two thompson machine guns

 1945 - The Honjo Masamune

 1945 - Otegine, one of three legendary spears of Japan

Any suggestions or help would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Taran

The problem is that a number of these are, at the very least, heavily laden with mythology. Zulfiqar and Durandal especially. It's possible there was never an actual weapon called that-- certainly the Prophet had a sword when he fought, but who knows if it was called Zulfiqar or if people gave it that name years after the fact? Durandal is far less certain, for we are not even sure that there was a warrior of the Dark Ages named Roland who fought for Charlemagne at Roncesvalles.

Interestingly, there were actually a few "mythical" swords circulating in medieval times, though whether their owners actually believed them to be genuine relics or merely found them to be useful propaganda items is an open question...

During his rebellion in 1183, Henry the Young King resorted to seizing church treasures to pay his troops... from a shrine in Rocamadour he stole a sword that was claimed to be Durendal.

RIchard the Lionheart owned "the excellent sword of Arthur, which the Britons call Caliburn", ie. Excalibur. Richard gave this sword to King Tancred of Sicily in 1191, on his way to crusade.

Not to be outdone by his older brothers, John claimed to possess the sword of the hero Tristan. This sword was documented as being in his possession in 1207, but may have been lost in 1216 with the rest of the crown jewels.

John's sword of Tristan might be the source of some royal traditions that continue to the present day. Curtana, the blunt Sword of Mercy, is displayed during the coronation ceremony. A sword by this name is first documented in 1236, though the present day Curtana is certainly not this old. The 13th century Prose Tristan states that Tristan's sword passed to one of Charlemagne's paladins, Ogier the Dane, who shortened it and renamed it Cortaine.

Drake was buried at sea so best of luck with that one...

There is no proof he was buried in his armour, just a report that one of his dying wishes asked for that to happen. No proof that the wish was recorded accurately either...

should add that if he was buried in his armour we do have several wrecks that show what the condition things might now be in.

http://www.alderneywreck.com/index.php/artefacts/armour for example

One of Drake's swords is in Plymouth, England, although there's some who doubt the attribution to Drake.
Google "Sir Francis Drake's sword" and you'll find photos of it.

--ElJay

Thanks guys, this has been really helpful!

thanks for that E.B. v interesting. Its a bit of a mish-mash isn't it? I'd immediately say wrong, but there again there is little to compare it with of the same provenance. Any other royal presentation swords out there from 16th cent England?