The Archaeology of Weapons

436 Pages·1994·21.17 MB·English

by  Ewart Oakeshott

Page i
The Archaeology of Weapons
Page ii
Sword found in the tomb of Sancho IV, King of Castile 1284-95, in the Capilla Mayor in Toledo Cathedral.
Frontispiece
Page iii
The Archaeology of Weapons
Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry
Ewart Oakeshott
Illustrated by the Author
THE BOYDELL PRESS
Page iv
Disclaimer:
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© 1960 R. Ewart Oakeshott
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be
photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of
the copyright owner.
First published 1960
Reprinted 1994 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge Reprinted in paperback 1999
ISBN 0 85115 559 6 hardback
ISBN 0 85115 738 6 paperback
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk 1P12
3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. PO Box 41026, Rochester, NY 14604-4126, USA web site:
http://www.boydell.co.uk
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 94-40355
This publication is printed on acid-press paper
Printed and bound in the United States of America
Page v
CONTENTS
Preface to 1994 Reprint 3
Errata 7
Introduction 13

Part One
The Prehistoric Period
I 21
"The Pitiless Bronze"
II 37
Iron Comes to Europe: The Hallstatt People
III 51
The Gauls

Part Two
The Heroic Age
IV 69
The Great Migrations
V 83
Rome in Decline: The Gothic Cavalry
VI 89
The Bog-Deposits of Denmark
VII 107
The Arms of the Migration Period

Part Three
The Vikings
VIII 131
Swords in the Viking Period
IX 150
The Vikings at War
X 164
From Charlemagne to the Normans
Page vi

Part Four
The Age of Chivalry
XI 181
The "Gay Science" of Chivalry
XII 200
Sword Types and Blade Inscriptions, 1100-1325
XIII 224
Sword Hilts ad Fittings
XIV 239
The Sword in Wear
XV 253
"The Complete Arming of A Man", 1100-1325
XVI 282
Armour and the Longbow in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
XVII 301
Swords and Daggers in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
Appendix: Four Date-Charts 341
Bibliography 351
Index 353
Page vii
LIST OF PLATES
The sword of Sancho IV, King of Castile, 1284-95. Prom his tomb in the frontispiece
Capilla Mayor in Toledo Cathedral
Between pages 184and 185

1
Three Bronze-Age swords from Denmark (National Museum,
Copenhagen). Warriors from a Krater of Attic red-figure ware, 5th century
. (British Museum)
B.C

2
Shield from the River Thames at Battersea, c. A.D. 50 (British Museum).

3
Iron Age sword and scabbard, c. 300 B.C.; sword with hilt and scabbard
mounts of silver; sword with hilt and scabbard mounts of bronze, both
fourth to fifth centuries . (National Museum, Copenhagen).
A.D

4
Helmet from the ship grave at Sutton Hoo (British Museum).

5
Reconstructed shield from the ship grave at Sutton Hoo (British Museum).

6
Viking sword from the River Thames (British Museum); sword of late
Viking type (coll. author); sword c. 1130-70 (in a private collection);
sword from Fornham, site of a battle in 1171.

7
Sword found in Denmark, c. 1150-1200 (National Museum, Copenhagen);
sword from the River Witham near Lincoln (British Museum); war sword
from the River Thames, c. 1300 (Guildhall Museum); sword with hilt of
iron overlaid with silver, c. 1300 (coll. author, ex coll. J. Wallace, Esq.).

8
Hilt of "The Sword of St. Maurice", Imperial Treasury, Vienna; detail of
plate 6c; hilt of sword c. 1300, with original grip (coll. author).

9
War sword, c. 1300 (coll. author); copy of "The Sword of St. Maurice"
from the Royal Armoury at Turin (coll. author, ex coll. Sir G. F. Laking);
sword from the tomb of Fernando de la Cerda, in the convent of Las
Huelgas, Burgos.

10
Sword (unsheathed) of Sancho IV of Castile, showing part of the belt, and
spurs of Sancho IV of Castile (Toledo Cathedral).
11
"The Israelites repulsed from Hai", from the Maciejowski Bible (Pierpont
Morgan Library, New York). Seal of the Guild of St. George, Ferrara (c.
1290) (British Museum), impression of the seal of Roger Fitzwalter (1235).
Page viii

12
Monument above the tomb of Can Grande Della Scala (+ 1329), Verona.

13
Sword-hanger from a late fourteenth-century hip belt of copper-gilt (coll. J.
Wallace, Esq., ex. coll. author); pair of spurs of gilt bronze, with their
original cloth-of-gold straps (ex coll. Sir G. F. Laking).

14
Bascinet, c. 1390, with snouted visor (Wallace Collection no. 74); armet,
probably Italian, c. 1470 (Wallace Collection no. 85); barbute, Italian, c.
1440 (coll. R. T. Gwynn, Esq.); sallet, German, c. 1450 (coll. R. T. Gwynn,
Esq).

15
Complete amour made between 1497 and 1503 in Nürnburg for Kunz
Schott von Hellingen (coll. R. T. Gwynn, Esq., ex coll. W. R. Hearst, ex
coll. Count Erbach zu Erbach).

16
Sword, blade with inscription inlaid in yellow metal (National Museum,
Copenhagen); sword found in London, c. 1320-50 (British Museum); sword
found in the River Cam, c. 1375-1410 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge);
sword, c. 1360-1400 (coll. A. E. Christensen, ex coll. author); sword,
probably part of the funeral furniture of Henry V (Muniment Room,
Westminster Abbey).

17
Sword of doubtful ownership in Toledo Cathedral, c. 1310-30; sword of
Can Grande Della Scala (Archaeological Museum, Verona).

18
Scottish sword, early fifteenth century (coll. Mr. C. O. v. Kienbusch, New
York); incised slab in the churchyard at Kinkell, Aberdeenshire; sword, c.
1300, found in the River Trent (in a private collection).

19
Sword, Italian, c. 1460-80 (coll. author); sword, Italian, c. 1485-1500 (coll.
David Drey, Esq., ex coll. author, Douglas Ash, Esq., and the late Baron de
Cosson); sword, perhaps Flemish, c. 1450-75 (coll. author); sword, Italian,
c. 1450-1500 (coll. C. O. v. Kienbusch, ex Londesborough and Bernal
collections).

20
Sword with blackened hilt and finger-ring, 1432 (Armouries, Tower of
London, ex coll. W. R. Hearst, Baron de Cosson); sword with side ring, c.
1420-50 (coll. author, ex coll. E. J. Sullivan); sword with blackened hilt,
"Pas d'Ane" and ring. Spanish, c. 1480 (coll. author); "Landsknecht" sword,
c. 1520 (coll. author).

21
Short sword, Italian, c. 1470-90; dagger and sheath, c. 1450-80 (both coll.
author).