Today we finish talking about one-handed Romanesque swords.
The third part, as promised, is dedicated to swords in Rus'. In the meantime, let us remind you that our entire series “The History of the Sword” can be found here.
So, the first question that usually interests the general public is...
What did the oldest Romanesque swords found in Rus' look like?
So, about swords. Both swords date back to the 12th century as they have flat disc poms. The swords equipped with them in the 11th century were weapons of the future, and at the very end of the 12th century they were already outdated, having received a biconvex shape.
There is also this mark:
Ctclinmefecit- this is Latin, and without spaces between words. You should read “Ctclin me fecit”, and the phrase is translated as “ Ctclin made me". Often this inscription was repeated by different masters, only the names changed.
The second inscription, on the back of the blade, reads "+In Nomini Domini+". In Russian it will sound like "In the name of God" or "In the Name of God".
And here we logically move on to the next group of inscriptions. These are religious slogans and, as you can see, nothing prevented them from being applied to the same blades as the names of the blacksmiths.
- Religious slogans
They imbue the sword with spiritual content. In addition to “+In Nomini Domini+”, the inscription Homo Dei was widespread, which translated from Latin into Russian means “Man of God”. This is exactly how those who went to the Holy Land to liberate Jerusalem from the desecration of the infidels called themselves the people of the Lord.
There are also other interesting inscriptions, for example Lign(...) Anatoly Kirpichnikov found it on a sword discovered in the lower reaches of the Pasha River, and is inclined to believe that it is translated as “Cross of the Lord.”
- Unpronounceable abbreviations
The third group of inscriptions on swords seems like the delirium of a schizophrenic. Well, is it really possible to somehow understand the meaning of inscriptions like the one that decorated the Romanesque sword from the Makaretskaya dacha (Chernigov region):
On both sides of the blade there is an inscription “+(…)ACPVNEDERUEO(…)EDA CPVNESЪ+”. It might read like this:
A C P V N E D, E R U, E O…E D. A C P V N E S.
Translation: “I took up arms for the sake of victory in the name of the eternal God, the eternal King of the universe, the eternal Almighty. . . eternal God. I took up arms for the victory of the Holy Name.".
- Non-alphabetic characters
For example, one of the swords with such non-alphabetic symbols is from the territory of Ukraine.
Of course, these symbols could be classified into the next group - logos, but they are not widespread enough for this. The logo, after all, must be repeated on a large number of items.
- First logos
The most famous logo is the “wolf”, which German gunsmiths from the city of Passau branded their products with. At that time it was an important center of arms production and held its position for quite a long time. Therefore, the mark, even if it was made in the same style, still changed a little over time.
How it ended
At the end of the 13th century, armor masters again prevailed over gunsmiths. They proved to them that the armor could withstand the slashing blows of swords. But a lost battle did not mean a lost war.
And soon gunsmiths created a new type of sword. Often it was narrower than a Romanesque sword and did not have a fuller. Instead, there was a stiffening rib running along the blade.
It is interesting that sometimes on one blade one could find both a stiffener and a fuller at the same time. By the way, there could be three or even five dols on each side.
The cross-section of the new blade was tetrahedral, diamond-shaped, although there were also specimens with a hexagonal cross-section. This shape made it possible to more effectively penetrate enemy armor, so the tip of the blade extended into a sharp, bloodthirsty sting.
In the second half of the 14th century, at the height of the Hundred Years' War, Romanesque swords gave way to swords of a new, Gothic type. The age of chain mail is a thing of the past, although for another good half a millennium it continued to remain a relevant and reliable armor. However, the time of knights in heavy armor was coming.
Soon the Gothic sword was not slow to come to Rus'. There had never been any knights here, but there was plenty of heavy armor. And it was also necessary to break through them. More about this next time.
You will find stories about Gothic, one-and-a-half and two-handed swords, as well as about axes, spears and iron armor. Subscribe to our newsletter to automatically receive our new articles!
- Vyacheslav Samoilov
- Valentin Babkin
- Anatoly Kirpichnikov
- social network VKontakte"
We love antiquity, and even more we love antiquity and the Middle Ages. People were different then, and the ability to hold a sword correctly in your hands meant much more than the ability to write, count or think about art. To some extent, the world was devoid of pathos, deception, and doublethink. Everything was very clear: you have a family, and you have a sword to protect it, the rest does not matter. Perhaps this is why so many modern guys dream of that distant dark time when they could easily be stabbed with pikes and thrown into a cesspool not far from the city gates. The cruelty of the times went hand in hand with the truth. Who determined the truth, you ask Brodude? And Brodude will answer you: “Of course, a sword!”
Below we will describe the most interesting, in our opinion, edged weapons of antiquity.
1. Khopesh
Ancient Egypt is, of course, one of the oldest and most unique civilizations in the world. And although the former greatness has long gone along with the life and ambitions of the pharaohs, the memory of Egyptian weapons is unlikely to ever fade into oblivion.
Let us take as an example the khopesh (khopesh), which became a real symbol of the New Kingdom. Khopesh consists of two parts: a sickle-shaped blade and a handle 60 centimeters long. This blade was common among the elite units of Egypt and could have either a single or double sharpening... There is an opinion that this weapon originated from a more ancient Sumerian analogue. The ancient Egyptians were famous for their ceremonialism, and therefore such weapons could often be found in tombs.
If we talk about technical things, Khopesh is famous for its penetrating ability. They were attacked by both foot soldiers and those in chariots (their length allowed). The weight of this weapon (reached two kilograms) and unique shape allowed ancient Egyptian warriors to vary the style of attack depending on the conditions. Simply put, they could chop, or with special skill they could stab.
2. Xiphos
The Hellenes adopted a lot from the Middle Eastern peoples, but their military tactics were unique.
Of course, it is impossible to single out any specific weapon from such a fateful people that stood out compared to others. And although the Greeks are better known as spearmen, we chose the xiphos, which is the characteristic auxiliary weapon of a hoplite or phalangite.
We use short swords in war because we fight close to the enemy.
– Antalactid –
Xiphos is the real forerunner of the Roman gladius. It was a straight, double-edged sword, 50 to 70 centimeters long. This Greek blade had its own bronze ancestor, which belonged to the Mykken civilization. But the xiphos was made not of bronze, but of iron, and it was shorter. The handle was made of bone, wood or bronze, and the scabbard was made of two wooden strips, which were covered with leather and decorated in every possible way. This sword was used, as a rule, only when a spear broke or the formation was broken. By the way, the Spartans, who terrified their enemies, shortened their already short blade almost to the point of a dagger, and all because they loved to fight closely with the enemy.
3. Gladius
This sword, which brought glory to Rome, is largely an interpretation of the xiphos. However, Livy, one of the most famous Roman historians, has a different opinion on this matter. His conclusion was that the gladius originated from the Celtic periods of the La Tène and Hallstatt cultures. But disputes on this matter do not subside, and this is not the main thing. All the same, this sword will remain in history as a symbol of the main argument of any Roman.
Gladiuses were made from higher quality metal than xiphos. In addition, the tip had a wide cutting edge, and the center of gravity was balanced due to the pommel, which fell on the handle and was a ball. The blade was, of course, short, and it was intended for combat. Roman soldiers tended to use stabbing attacks and left slashing attacks to new recruits. The latter were considered ineffective and more characteristic of an inexperienced boy than of a Roman legionnaire.
4. Carolingian sword
It is a shame not to know who Charlemagne was, and why the sword, which was common in the early Middle Ages, is named after the dynasty he founded. However, the name is very arbitrary. It’s just that historians found it necessary to name the weapon after the name of the dynasty that left a huge mark on the history of Europe and formed, roughly speaking, the first kingdoms in the west. By the time this sword was distributed, the Carolingians were already outliving their usefulness. But the Vikings flourished and terrified Christian settlements.
So, the great migration of peoples ended, the construction of states began. People needed a sword that was practical, of high quality and accessible to everyone. The Carolingian sword had all these qualities: the hilt was easy to assemble, no decoration was required, it had a double-edged blade, 70-80 centimeters long, with a wide fuller, as well as a short handle with a small guard. The weight of such a sword did not exceed one and a half kilograms.
5. Romanesque sword
Perhaps the most famous sword of the Middle Ages. It was used only by elite troops, and to be more precise, by knights. But even in Rus', the Romanesque sword was distributed mainly among the princely squad. It was this weapon that was an attribute of any nobleman; it was a real status item, access to which was closed to commoners. It was from this sword that the concept of honor appeared in the most titled military class of the Middle Ages. Romanesque swords could be decorated with stones and gold, but more modest swords were used for battle, because a sword is primarily a weapon that kills for the glory of the overlord, the king or the Lord.
This personification of the High Middle Ages has a very broad classification. The hilts and blades could differ from each other, but they were always wide (about 4 centimeters) blades. One-handed Romanesque swords were a meter long, of which 7-12 centimeters were on the hilt. Two-handed or, as they are also called, “combat” Romanesque swords had only one blade of at least 100 centimeters, and the length of the handle was in the range of 15-25 centimeters. The weight of such a monster sometimes reached 2-3 kilograms. The pommel was a knob made of iron or bronze, which was sometimes decorated with coats of arms, engravings, and precious stones. The Romanesque sword had a guard that helped protect the hand during battle, which distinguished this sword from the Carolingian one, where the guard was excessively wide and short.
The history of European swords goes back to Antiquity and is directly related to the weapon traditions of the neighbors of Ancient Rome. Initially, the Romans fought with short gladiuses, but the Gauls and some Germanic tribes invented and adopted the spatu - a long chopping iron sword. Usually it was the Romans who extended their achievements to the barbarian environment, but here the opposite happened. Having accepted into its ranks auxillari warriors - people from Celtic and Germanic tribes - the army of the great empire also borrowed a long sword, which soon became a common weapon for cavalry and heavy infantry. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire led to a general technological decline in Western Europe, which also affected military affairs. However, due to its relevance and significant role in the division of the post-Roman world, the sword practically did not degrade. The production technologies created by the empire and the high-quality iron deposits it developed, for example in the Ruhr basin or Roman Norica (now Austria), did not leave medieval Europe without high-quality blades.
The further development of the sword until its disappearance and transformation into other types of weapons was associated with the main stages of European history, with economic and social processes in medieval society, the formation of military classes, changes in battle tactics and, very importantly, the development of armor. The latter is generally characteristic of the entire history of weapons, which is nothing more than a dispute between a projectile, a means of attack, and means of defense.
Stings of greedy barbarians
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From the last decades of the Western Empire (5th century AD) until the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. Europe was an arena for the redistribution of power and territory between aggressive and mobile conquerors. During the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, the former imperial lands were developed by continental Germanic tribes, as a result of which the states of the Franks, Goths, Vandals, Lombards were born and Britain was colonized. In the 8th century AD. Europe, which was already beginning to consolidate under the auspices of the Carolingian Empire, was hit by a new attack. People from the Jutland and Scandinavian peninsulas, known as the Vikings or Normans, set out on longships to claim their share of power and wealth. Over the next three centuries, their influence spread from Eastern Europe, where Rus' began, to Normandy and Italy. The eras of the Great Migration of Nations and the Norman conquests correspond to two periods in the history of the sword - the Vendelian and, accordingly, the Viking period. In Russian scientific literature, swords of the Viking period are often called Carolingian, which indicates that they belonged not so much to a specific people of that time, but to the era as a whole.
The blades of Vendel swords were usually smooth or had a small fuller depth (a notch running along the blade), as well as a rather short hilt - from 10 to 13 cm - and a massive pommel. The length of the blades was approximately 70-80 cm. The blade only slightly tapered to the tip, which, as a rule, had a rounded shape. Carolingian swords were longer [more than 90 cm] and featured a more prominent blade with a deep fuller. He reduced the weight of the sword, while shifting the center of gravity of the weapon to the hilt and making the sword more flexible without depriving it of strength. All this, on the one hand, reduced the weight of the weapon - the warrior acted faster and was less tired in battle, and on the other hand, it gave greater reliability.
Holy Sword
It’s worth making a couple of comments right away. Firstly, throughout almost the entire Middle Ages, the sword was not the main type of military weapon. And even more so - the most accessible. Spears and axes appeared much more often on the battlefields, but only rich warriors or mercenaries armed at someone else’s expense could afford a sword, which was created using complex and expensive technology. It was considered by aristocratic generation after generation as a true jewel and a sign of valor. Secondly, almost as rare as the sword was metal armor. The life and body of ordinary warriors were often protected by armor made of leather, only sometimes with metal inserts. But even against chain mail, the sword worked quite effectively, causing damage to the enemy with slashing, slashing and piercing blows. It is also important to note that the wars of the early Middle Ages most often took place on foot. Even when riding horses, before engaging in battle, the fighters left their saddles. And the swords that existed in those days were created specifically for fighting on foot. However, times have changed. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. In feudal Europe, a class of professional equestrian warriors - knights - gradually began to emerge. This shift could not but affect the development of weapons. The third period has begun in the history of the medieval sword - the century of the Romanesque sword.
| Genealogy of the sword | |
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Ancient Celtic and Germanic weapons gave rise to rich offspring. The straight long sword traces its ancestry to the Gallic spatha, adopted by the Romans in addition to the native gladius. Another branch was the parallel development of weapons with a one-sided blade, such as the sax and scarmasax. One of the representatives of this branch is the falchion, a sword with a short blade flaring towards the end and sharpened on one side. This also includes broadswords of the New Age. The development of the Romanesque sword became long knightly swords and huge two-handed swords of the Renaissance. Evolving further towards piercing weapons, straight swords eventually developed into swords and rapiers. |
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1. The cutting qualities and elasticity of the blade largely depend on the edges of the blade. 2. To cut armor, fabric and bones, the blade must be flat and the blade must have a fairly sharp angle. 3. On the other hand, a thick blade with an edge that has a more obtuse angle will not cut as well, but will be more resistant when repelling a blow. In fact, the blade does not need to be sharpened like a razor. Even a not very sharp sword made of hardened steel, with a good blow, has sufficient inertia to crush the enemy. |
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Knight style
As in the case of the Carolingian sword, the name “Romanesque” is arbitrary and accepted only in certain classifications. The Romanesque sword, which existed for several centuries, of course, underwent significant modifications in the length of the blade, the design of the crosshair and pommel, so that we are talking about a whole family of edged weapons. It is no coincidence that the most prominent expert in the field of medieval weapons, Evart Oakeshott, devoted an entire typological study to the Romanesque type. Its classification includes more than 20 types of swords, including two-handed models. In general, the Romanesque sword was adapted to mounted combat to a much greater extent than the Carolingian one. This was expressed, firstly, in the design of the blade, which became narrower and took on a more pointed shape. The design of the hilt has also undergone changes: the handle has become longer, and the pommel is not so massive: the specifics of the blow performed by a warrior in the saddle required that the hand gripping the weapon feel freer and not be pinched between the crosshairs and the pommel.
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| The diagram on the right shows the blades of different swords in cross section. This diversity reflects the search of gunsmiths who tried to make their weapons at the same time durable, light and good at chopping. |
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Deviating by 7-14 cm, the sword blade must retain strength and elasticity and return to its original shape Different parts of the blade perform different functions in battle. The warrior strikes with the front of the blade, maintaining a distance. In the middle - repels an oncoming blow |
Swords of previous eras, which often had a rounded tip, were obviously oriented mainly towards cutting and cutting blows. The Romanesque sword, created at a time of gradual strengthening of armor, was supposed to not only chop, but also effectively stab, penetrating into vulnerable joints of the protection elements.
Let's chop it for the last time! Types of blades
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The more durable and closed the armor became, the less use there was from chopping blows with a sword. From about the middle of the 13th century, Romanesque swords began to appear in Europe, belonging to type XIII according to the Oak-Shott classification. This is the latest generation of swords with a clearly accentuated cutting function. Such a sword already allows the rider to reach the enemy at a distance with a thrust, but is still heavy enough to cause serious injuries with a slashing blow, which could be effective in the fight against an enemy dressed in armor made of large plates riveted from the inside onto a leather or fabric base, or in a lama lar [scale] armor, if we are talking about Rus'. However, when full plate armor finally appeared in Europe around 1350-1360, the emphasis in the development of the army sword finally shifted towards the piercing function. Taking into account all that has been said, it becomes clear why the XShb sword, belonging to the “thirteenth type,” became one of the landmark models in the development of European edged weapons. It was this medieval sword that was ultimately chosen by Popular Mechanics to be recreated in metal at the end of the first decade of the 21st century.
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1. The picture on the right shows schematically several medieval swords. You will notice that most of them have fullers that can reach almost to the tip or end somewhere in the middle of the blade. 2. Other blades, on the contrary, have stiffening ribs running down the center. There were also blades without ribs or fullers. 3. Valleys are sometimes incorrectly called blood drains, but their meaning is not at all to supposedly drain blood from an enemy’s wound. |
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The diagram on the right shows the hilt of a sword of simple design, characteristic of type XIIIb. You can pay attention to the straight crosspiece, long handle and small round pommel |
Varangian goods
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When telling a brief history of the medieval sword, we almost always talk about Western Europe, the Roman heritage, the Vikings, the Franks, and mounted knights. But what does this have to do with the “sword of the Russian warrior” declared on the cover?
The answer is simple: Ancient Rus' was not a trendsetter in the weapons business. However, this did not prevent the ancient Russian gunsmiths from using both their own developments and the achievements of Western metallurgy and weapons technology, sometimes only with a slight delay (about half a century) accepting innovations coming from Europe.
The Viking Varangians, of course, played a significant role in the penetration of Western swords into Rus'. Already from the second half of the 8th century AD. Scandinavian warriors and merchants penetrated into the lower reaches of the Neva and Volkhov region, the Yaroslavl Volga region and the upper reaches of the Western Dvina. And already in the 9th century, that is, during the era of the legendary founding of Rus' by the Varangian prince Rurik, the Scandinavians, according to Arab sources, traded swords with might and main along the Volga trade route, exporting fox and beaver fur from the Slavic lands to their North-West.
Chronologically, the time of penetration of the Scandinavians into the territory of Ancient Rus', as is easy to see, coincides with the existence of the Carolingian sword, or Viking sword, in the West. So, having “missed” the acquaintance with the weapons of the “Vendel era”, the Russians had at their disposal typical products of the Viking era. In total, in the Smolensk region, in the areas of Yaroslavl, Novgorod, Chernigov and Kyiv, archaeologists discovered more than a hundred Carolingian type swords dating back to the period of the 9th-11th centuries.
Uniter Sword
All excavation data indicate that the overwhelming majority of swords that Russian warriors fought with in the era of Ancient Rus' were of Western, or more precisely, Scandinavian and Germanic (Frankish) origin. This is evidenced by the marks of the masters, applied to the blades and consisting of inscriptions in Latin letters. Moreover, often the “import” consisted only of the blades themselves, and the guards, handles, pommels, and sheaths were already produced by ancient Russian craftsmen.
| Protection from shield and sword | |||
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Keeping your hand from the enemy's blade sliding down the sword is not the only function of the guard. |
Its other equally important role is to protect the hand from a hard collision with the shield. |
The picture shows how a warrior armed with a sword must meet the enemy's shield so that his fingers remain intact. |
The long straight crosshair of a knight's sword better protected the hand from enemy blows sliding along the blade. Until a certain time, this function was performed by a shield |
However, there is a small amount of archaeological evidence that at least the beginnings of their own blade production still existed in pre-Mongol Rus'. In particular, two swords are known, the marks on which are made in Cyrillic and contain the inscriptions “LUD0TA KOVAL” and “SLAV...”. All this, however, does not change the overall picture: even the blades made by Slavic craftsmen were made according to samples that came from the West.
Therefore, it is not surprising that when the era of the Romanesque knightly sword began in Western Europe around the 11th century, samples of these weapons appeared almost simultaneously in Rus'. Among the finds dating back to the 11th-13th centuries are Romanesque swords with blades from 86 to 120 cm, the latter of later origin). The difference in the historical destinies of Rus' and the West after the Mongol invasion becomes the reason for the subsequent divergence in the development trends of edged weapons. In Europe, the straight sword continues to evolve towards a long piercing weapon, which ultimately leads to the appearance of huge two-handed swords of the Renaissance, the Estocs with a faceted blade, then swords and rapiers. The West's acquaintance with the eastern saber (through the Huns, Hungarians, Arabs) did not lead to a significant spread in Europe of weapons with a curved blade and a beveled handle. At the same time, in Rus', where Western full plate armor never appeared, chopping weapons retained their importance, and the saber gradually replaced the straight sword. So the historical reconstruction of a Romanesque type sword is also an occasion to remember the times when, in the Middle Ages, Eastern and Western Europe were united by a “single weapons space.”
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I continue the section “Swords - symbols of the era” about blades recognizable at first sight
You can’t count the idle fabrications and home-grown “discoveries” on “Russian” or “Slavic” swords, which are carried like a wolf-predatory dog, from the extreme “the Slavs had no swords at all until the 9th century” to the extreme “the swords of the Slavs are the ancestors of any sword on planet Earth.” Of course, the truth in the middle is by no means so bright, since it is revealed to us through the hellish feat of heroic archaeologists, the painstaking work of restorers and the truly titanic efforts of professional historians. They are in some way helped by reenactors and collectors, who immediately carefully reproduce interesting samples, many with amazing detail and allowing the public to present not rusty remains, but a solid, colorful and shiny product that easily hits the most ardent reality deniers on the head.
Before proceeding directly to swords, you need to understand a little about the life and way of life of Slavic society and, in general, any inhabitant of Europe at that time, since the Slavs were, as they are now, firmly integrated into the world economy, religion and military affairs. It makes no sense to approach those events, actions and actions from modern positions and concepts, especially with modern value judgments, because if you are captured and not ransomed, you go into the service of the enemy. Further, tomorrow you are taken prisoner by your own former colleagues and, being unredeemed by the previous owner, you enter the service again. At the same time, this is not a betrayal of any kind, a normal practice, and a warrior will not even think of blaming himself for something, this is in the order of things, especially since the enemies are not fascists, but the same prince from a neighboring town, he has half of your relatives in his squad and acquaintances. No one will kill either - a professional expert (the one who is often called a vigilante), a valuable labor reserve, will come in handy.
Combat losses of troops of that time were minimal, it was more like a demonstration of force and extremely rare skirmishes, a battle of grandiose proportions - the Battle of Kulikovo, where a couple of tens of thousands of people took part on both sides. Moreover, these are battles of a much later period, the Battle of the Ice was a skirmish of barely a few thousand horsemen, the grandiose Battle of Hastings, which decided the fate of England in 1066, barely numbered tens of thousands on all sides. There were irrecoverable combat losses of thousands of people, which is why they were included in the chronicles, and the typical war, mentioned in passing, usually had losses of dozens of people. Most of the losses were from diseases, such as dysentery or banal blood poisoning, which, you see, no one will write about in the chronicles. The whole of Kyiv, Suzdal or Novgorod could rarely field more than 1000 people, given that in the times described, only professional warriors who never engaged in agriculture, only horsemen and no militia were put forward for war. For that time, the army fielded by Russia was 3000-4000 people. for any European country, of course, a grandiose army, since they settled in 2-3 households in far-scattered farmsteads of 10-15 people. and for the farmers such an army was generally beyond comprehension, since any number more than three was “many”; not everyone knew how to count to a dozen, and even in the 19th century. About 30,000 people lived in Novgorod, 40-50,000 people lived in Kyiv, they were gigantic megacities
Peasant and military economies are fundamentally different during excavations: the military economy does not have agricultural implements, while the peasant economy does not have a sword, not even a sulitsa (dart) or a bow. Therefore, the Slavic sword is a professional weapon, extremely rich and expensive, as is armor, for example, Slavic helmets - a work of jewelry art, and therefore rare. If at one time all the principalities of Rus' had 10,000 swords in their arsenals, this is simply an incredible amount for Europe of that time, about the same as 10,000 of the most modern tanks now. Slavic swords are included in pan-European weapons, just like our weapons now, in some ways similar, in some ways different. I wanted to give the swords of the Vikings and Slavs together, but there is a lot of material and the topic is pressing, besides, in general, they differ significantly in a number of ways and it is better to separate them. I continue the permitted speeches, in the name of Kirpichnikov and Peter Lyon and Oakeshott, akinak.
Since ancient times, the sword has been a privileged weapon in Rus' and those who wore it, as a rule, had a high social status.
The sword consisted of a wide strip, sharp on both sides, that is, a blade, and a handle, the parts of which were called: apple (some insist on the pommel), black and flint. Each flat side of the blade was called “golomen”, or “golomya”, and the points were called “blades”. One wide or several narrow recesses called dol were made on the holomen. The blades were made of steel or iron, the sword was placed in a sheath upholstered in leather or, later, velvet. The scabbard was made of iron, wood, leather and was sometimes decorated with gold or silver notches. The sword was hung from the belt using two rings located at the mouth of the scabbard.
By typology, Slavic swords are pan-European, characteristic of the Carolingian Empire or, as they called themselves, the Western Empire, consisting of Germany, France and Italy, that is, the European Union 2.0, aka the Franks. It is logical that the formation, whose ruler called himself the Emperor of the Romans, adopted the spatha, popular for Rome, as well as its prototypes from the Iberian Peninsula, popular in continental Europe, and improved it in every possible way in accordance with current tactical methods of battle. The term Carolingian sword, or Carolingian type sword (also often referred to as “Viking sword”) was introduced by weapons experts and weapon collectors of the 19th-20th centuries.
Spatha Roman, Merovingian and Spatha Germanic
The Carolingian type of sword was developed around the 8th century, at the end of the era of the Great Migration of Peoples and at the beginning of the unification of the states of Western Europe under the auspices of Charlemagne and his descendants, which explains the name of the type of sword (“belongs to the Carolingian era”). The Carolingian-type sword is a development of the ancient spatha through an intermediate link - a Wendel-type sword, also known as the “Merovingian” sword or the sword of the Great Migration period. The Carolingians had a double-edged blade about 90 cm long with a deep fuller, a short handle with a small guard, and a total weight of about 1 kg.
By the 10th century, the Carolingian type sword was widespread in the countries of Northern and Western Europe, especially in the Franco-Celtic, Scandinavian and Slavic regions. This is due to the fact that the huge arms corporation Ulfberht worked in Germany, whose swords are simply dotted with the Scandinavian countries and Slavic lands, there were other mass signature swords, that is, other corporations also worked.
In particular, there is a find that was considered Scandinavian, but when clearing a blade from Foshchevataya, the inscription LYUDOTA or LYUDOSHA KOVAL was revealed, which, despite the Scandinavian ornamental decoration, clearly indicates that in Rus' there were at least two large arms corporations that had the ability to forge Carolingian blades and apply There are quite intricate and complex inscriptions on it using complex technology. The second sword has the inscription SLAV, its state of preservation is much worse. Judging by the abundance of unidentified production of swords, we can say that at least large productions were in Ladoga, Novgorod, Suzdal, Pskov, Smolensk and Kyiv. The fact that such inscriptions are a trademark, and not a mark of the master, is evidenced by Frankish finds from different centuries; the inscriptions change due to rebranding, the handwriting is different. Yes, most of the sword finds in Rus' are clearly of German origin, however, the Scandinavians themselves actively purchased Frankish swords in large quantities, re-exporting them to Rus'. The fact that the Scandinavians resold the swords is evidenced by the fact that only one single-edged Saxon blade was found in Rus', a blade known for certain to be forged by Scandinavians. Some of the unsigned blades have simple marks of masters, also of Frankish origin, while about a tenth have no markings at all.
Also, the export of Slavic swords should not be ruled out, at least this is clearly indicated by both the complete similarity of signature swords of Frankish production and Slavic alloy composition, as well as the finds of such type A swords in Sweden and Lithuania. There is also evidence from al-Kindi in the treatise “On various types of swords and the iron of good blades and on the localities after which they are called” and by ibn Rust about “Suliman”, that is, swords of the Rus. They point to the richness of the decoration of the Rus' swords, the general similarity to Frankish swords, and the absence of marks (which, by the way, is typical for later Russian swords). Ibn Fadlan also constantly mentions the magnificent Russian swords that they sent to eastern markets, where there were blades of poor quality. Ibn Miskaweikh remembers Russian swords mainly in reports of how Muslims robbed Russian graves and fallen soldiers, noting the excellent quality of swords “like those of the Franks,” just like the Byzantines and Armenians.
The Old Russian sword is a chopping weapon: “let them not defend themselves with their shields, and let their swords cut them” or “let them cut mercilessly with a sword.” But some expressions in the chronicle, although later, suggest that the sword was sometimes used to stab an enemy: “those who call to the end will be pierced with a sword.” The usual length of a sword of the 10th century was about 80 - 90 cm, but a simply gigantic sword was found, 1.2 m in length, of monstrous weight, it is not even clear which hero it could have belonged to (even the sword of Peter 1, who was 2.03 cm tall, had a sword that was noticeably smaller in size). The blade width was 5–6 cm, thickness 4 mm. Along the blade on both sides of the blade of all ancient Russian swords there are fullers, which served to lighten the weight of the blade. The end of the sword, not designed for a piercing blow, had a rather blunt point, and sometimes was even simply rounded. The pommel, hilt and crosshair of the sword were almost always decorated with bronze, silver and even gold; blades, such as those from the Gnezdovo burial mound, were simply incredibly richly decorated. In general, a distinctive feature of Slavic swords, in addition to the shape of the pommel and ornaments, can be considered the luxury of finishing.
We are interested in the clearly different type A (below). The types of swords were conventionally divided by pommel and type of decoration, but there are hybrids, in particular, many Scandinavian animal ornaments turned into Slavic plant ornaments, for example on the scabbard, so there was clearly the opposite influence, not only were exported swords brought in commercial quantities to Rus'. There is a lot of talk about the very possibility of making not “simple metal products”, but swords, but the question is awkwardly closed by Slavic signature swords, even with a Scandinavian pommel, which is generally removable and maybe the owner liked foreign ones, so it’s not like here. Type A is clearly different from all common European swords and is found only here, which suggests local production.
Sword blades were made complex due to the low quality of steel and the high cost of iron. The central (base) part of the blade was made of soft iron, the blades were made of hardened steel, they were then welded to the base, which, despite the laboriousness of the process, made it possible to make the blade flexible and durable at the same time. This is due to the properties of steel, there is cementite steel, there is pearlite steel, the first is hard and brittle like glass, the second is ductile and soft. The so-called Damascus (Damsassian famous beautiful sabers) could not be used in Rus' due to the fact that the steel there is cementite, which means it is afraid of frost and shatters into fragments upon impact. This is avoided by creating pearlite-cementite steel, where cementite grains are coated with pearlite and a blade is obtained that can be used instead of a sash in the cold, but these are modern technologies, when everyone is crying over the lost secret of “Damascus”, and simply no one needs it because higher quality steel. Now, by the way, if you make a sword, you can make such a blade that no famous blade of antiquity can even come close to comparing with it. There were cemented blades in Rus', but it was a little and generally difficult to withstand the temperature without a thermometer based on the color of the metal, back and forth 10K and the sword disappeared.
The Damascus technique is complex; they take plates of iron or steel, twist them, forge them many times, cut them, forge them (there are a lot of options) and then, with subsequent etching with acid, the beloved “Damascene” pattern is obtained. In fact, this does not say anything about the quality of the sword, but the consumer rejoices, not realizing that this is a necessary measure, and not aerobatics. Next, steel blades were welded to the base, then they learned to leave a little iron in the base, covering it with steel, and then they reached a solid blade. And then the fakes began - thin “Damascus” steel was simply stuffed on top of an iron core, and so a false Damascus appeared, which fortunately did not reach China.
Gnezdovo sword, replica
There are the usual legends about testing swords, that when you put it on your head you need to bend it to your shoulders and it will straighten up without consequences, but apparently they are invented by people who have never done this, it hurts their head, it’s better to eat with it. The blade can be bent quite freely by a strong man into a ring with his hands, for example when they show the remains of Ilya Muromets in Kyiv - well, he was a man of extremely average height, but he could probably gird himself with his sword, as they did in the East. Cutting nails and a gas scarf also raises doubts, since the nails were expensive, no one wanted to spoil the sword, and the sharpening was clearly not razor sharp and the scarf would simply hang on the blade like on a stick. Perhaps some fantastic Damascus sabers could perform such a trick, but since then no one has shown it, apparently either a fairy tale or a single copy, coupled with a deft trick. The same applies to delusional stories about hardening a blade in blood, piercing the enemy’s heart with a red-hot blank and testing the sword to see how many heads it will take off at a time, since all these procedures are harmful when hardening and tempering; it requires oil or, at worst, water. As a rule, I don’t write about sabers and long knives of the Saxons, including Slavic ones, but they were used on a par with swords.
Swords are found mainly in burial mounds, less often in graves; the closer to ancient cities, the more likely you can find a sword in half a hundred graves, while in the countryside of that time there was barely a sword in a quarter of a thousand graves. Not every ten unplundered mounds contain swords; rare horse burials should not suggest that the richest people, in luxurious clothes, with a kilogram of gold jewelry, with a sword-spear-axe arranged according to seniority, were sweepers on foot. A sword, like a horse, were signs of status, so it would be strange to see a noble boyar, but without a good gelding. Earlier finds of Slavic swords than the 9th century. they don’t talk about their absence, it’s just that earlier the sword was not personified with a person and was passed on by inheritance, being an incredibly valuable weapon, in addition, by the 9th century. the scale of production became such that some of the weapons could be sacrificed for honored warriors so that the swords would not be stolen and were deliberately bent.
Swords were worn in sheaths; they could be covered with leather or velvet; Russian craftsmen even used fish skin on expensive items. They were worn on a belt or sling; there is no mention or reliable information about wearing it behind the back, and it is not clear from the ergonomics how to get it from behind the back. The scabbards were richly decorated, which is clear from the surviving tips, often made of precious metals; the scabbards themselves naturally did not reach us.
Further, Carolingian swords coexisted with Slavic swords of the Romanesque type right up to the 13th century, gradually disappearing from circulation. They are being replaced by Romanesque swords, which, in my personal opinion, are much more convenient, especially for mounted combat (easier, fits in the hand and the pommel doesn’t get in the way, wrist finishing is possible) and are not without any advantages of the Carolingian sword, but that’s a completely different story.
