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Taylor Ellis
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 Posted: Wed 06 Jul, 2005 6:19 am Post subject: Hilt finishes in the 13th century |
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As the reproduction market gets more and more historically accurate, I have to wonder if the hilt and pommel decorations are far behind. In the maciejowski bible for example, all swords appear to be gilded or bronze. How common was the burnished stell finish on hilt furniture so popular today? What sort of modern finishes are historically accurate, for example blueing etc? I recall reading that the swords of some of the military orders were usually left plain, but that certainly doesn't seem the case with the rest of the knights of the era.
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Wed 06 Jul, 2005 6:27 am Post subject: Re: Hilt finishes in the 13th century |
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If you check out books like Records of the Medieval Sword or The Sword in the Age of Chivalry or Arms & Armor of the Medieval Knight, bare steel hilts were probably the most common finish in the high Middle Ages. I'd recommend picking up some books like these for research if you don't have them already. You can simply click on the link for each title and go directly to Amazon.com.
If you check out our features page, the Oakeshott type spotlights show many historical examples from the medieval era.
Blackening was done historically, as was russeting (like browning). I've read that some were painted. Gilding, whether with gold or another metal like silver, was also done.
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
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Taylor Ellis
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| Posted: Fri 08 Jul, 2005 12:49 am Post subject: |
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Hi Chad, I own "Records" and "Sword in the Age of Chivalry" and Oakeshott states that most words were gilded with gold or silvered or they were simply painted. Do you know if "painted" refers to blueing in this era? Blueing aside, I can't eem to find much evidence that plain iron was the norm, at least amongt the knightly caste, though I could very easily be wrong!
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Fri 08 Jul, 2005 4:00 am Post subject: |
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| Taylor Ellis wrote: | | Hi Chad, I own "Records" and "Sword in the Age of Chivalry" and Oakeshott states that most words were gilded with gold or silvered or they were simply painted. Do you know if "painted" refers to blueing in this era? Blueing aside, I can't eem to find much evidence that plain iron was the norm, at least amongt the knightly caste, though I could very easily be wrong! |
Painting would mean using paint or a pigment to color the hilt. Blueing is a heat or chemical process (depending on which kind of blueing you're talking about).
If you look through Records of the Medieval Sword, I think you'll see that more swords are plain iron than gilded. Ditto with the historical examples in our articles. Granted, not every sword is shown that ever existed, but I think the majority of surviving, well-published swords that I've seen were ungilded. I know some swords have been over-cleaned, thereby destroying valuable historical evidence and perhaps hilt treatments. Still, I think it's safe to say that plain iron was common for fittings, and could well have been the norm.
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
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Taylor Ellis
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| Posted: Fri 08 Jul, 2005 4:33 am Post subject: |
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Hi Chad, the only thing that I'm wondering about is the likelihood of blueing or painting surviving in excavated like conditions for centuries as well as the lack of plain steel or iron in sources like the maciejowski bible (not that that is evidence in itself).
Cheers mate!
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This is a standard topic