Épée de chevalier à lame inscrite, vers 1050-1150.... - Lot 160 - Pierre Bergé & Associés

Épée de chevalier à lame inscrite, vers 1050-1150. A Medieval Knightly sword, circa 1050-1150. In excavated condition, with broad slightly tapering blade cut with a long shallow fuller over almost the entire length, each side with a brief inscription originally inlaid in soft iron, one side cut with "III XX III" and the other side with a cross and a series of bold letters including "RHT", with slender crossguard of rectangular section, and brazil-nut pommel formed with a narrow ridge running over the top. L. overall: 93.2 cm - L. blade: 80.5 cm - W.: 22,8 cm. The two-part inscription on this blade is part of a complex series seen on blades found in a wide range of European sites, from England and Brittany to Finland and Russia. It is likely that the inscription on this blade is a contemporary shortened counterfeit version of the well-known "ULFBERTH". The name Ulfberth is suggested to relate to either a long-lived family of bladesmiths or a group of closely associated workshops spanning a lengthy period. For a detailed discussion of this type of sword and its period of use, see Oakeshott , R. Ewart, The Sword in the Age of Chivalry, 1965. The author classifies this type of sword as type X, for an illustration of which see plate 2 fig. A. The pommel is classified as type A, see p.93. A similar version of this two-part inscription is illustrated on page 139, fig. 126 A. For further discussions related to the study of Ulfberth blades and their early imitators, see Gorman , Michael R., ULFBERTH: innovation and imitation in early Medieval swords. in the catalogue of the XVIth Park Lane Arms Fair, Spring 1999.