Table of contents:
- 1. Sword in stone
- 2. Joyeuse - the sword of Charlemagne
- 3. Sword of William Wallace
- 4. Seven-toothed sword
- 5. Durendal - Roland's sword
Video: The most famous swords that have become real artifacts
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In the past, knights' swords were considered not just weapons, but real comrades in arms. The most famous blades were given names. Warriors believed that their swords had magical protective properties, and losing a blade in battle meant being dishonored. This review presents the most famous swords that have become real artifacts.
1. Sword in stone
Perhaps everyone at least once heard of the legendary sword Excaliburesunk into the stone King Arthur … This episode has a real foundation. In the city of Monte Ciepi (Italy), under glass, there is a heavy stone block with a sword sticking out of it. The blade is believed to have belonged to a Tuscan knight Galliano Guidotti.
According to legend, Guidotti led a very licentious lifestyle, and once the Archangel Michael appeared to him with an appeal to take the path of atonement for sins. To this, Guidotti noted with a grin that it would be possible for him to go to the monastery only if the sword could cut the stone. He immediately struck the blade against the stone, and the archangel made it so that the blade went deep inside. Struck by Galliano Guidotti, he went to the monastery.
After the sword was subjected to radiocarbon analysis, it became clear that the age of the stone and the sword is about eight centuries. The knight Guidotti also lived in the same period.
2. Joyeuse - the sword of Charlemagne
Holy Roman Empire founder's blade Charlemagne bore the name Joyeuse, which translated from French means "Joyful". After the death of the ruler, the sword was used for the coronations of French kings. To date, there is controversy regarding the blade, which is stored in the Louvre. Many call it Joyeuse, but radiocarbon analysis has confirmed that the oldest part of the sword (it has been restored several times) dates from the 10th-11th centuries, while Charlemagne died in 814. It is believed that the current sword was forged using the remains of Joães Charlemagne.
3. Sword of William Wallace
Sir William Wallace went down in history as a fighter for the independence of Scotland. According to legend, he covered the hilt of his sword with the leather of the English treasurer Hugh de Cressingham. From the same "material" the Scotsman made a scabbard and a harness. After Wallace's death, his sword became a real relic. Over time, the scabbard and hilt were tightened with other materials. The sword itself is 168 cm long and weighs 2.7 kg. It is kept at the National Monument in Stirling, Scotland.
4. Seven-toothed sword
Until that moment, until this amazing sword was discovered in 1945, it lay in the ground for at least one and a half thousand years. The blade is strikingly different from ordinary swords in its shape. He has not one edge, but as many as seven, for which the sword was named Nanatsusaya-no-tachi, which in Japanese means "Seven-Toothed Sword".
There is an inscription on the blade of the amazing sword, in which it is called a gift from the Korean ruler to the Chinese emperor. The Nihon Shoki, the oldest Japanese written monument, also mentions a seven-toothed sword. There he was presented as a gift to Empress Jingu.
5. Durendal - Roland's sword
For several centuries, in the Chapel of Not-Dame in the city of Rocamadour (France), pilgrims were haunted by a sword in the wall. According to legend, he belonged Roland - a real person and a hero of medieval epics. Roland allegedly launched his sword in the heat of rage Durendal into the enemy, and the blade is stuck in the wall. Researchers unanimously argue that it could not have been Durendal. The fact is that Roland died in 778, and talk about a sword in the wall appeared only in the middle of the XII century, just in time for the release of "The Song of Roland". The monks simply used the legend to ensure the popularity of the parish. In 2011, the sword was removed from the stone and transported to the Museum of the Middle Ages in Paris.
Slavic knights also paid attention to their weapons. Their damask swords that could cut through silk handkerchiefs and bent in half without breaking, were known far beyond the borders of Russia.
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