Kampfschwert für Harnischfechten: miecz z pogranicza Nowej Marchii i Ziemi Torzymskiej
Kampfschwert für Harnischfechten: Sword from the Borderland of Neumark and Sternberg Land

Summary/Abstract: Neumark and Sternberg Land- the provinces which were established as a result of the expansion of margraves in the 13th and 14th centuries into Greater Poland and Western Pomerania – are far from proper recognition. Similar remarks should be made to the medieval armament of these regions. The information about the existence of an accidentally found, late-medieval sword from this region, that had never been published and found its way into private collections, should be welcomed with interest.The sword remained in fairly good condition to our times; however, corrosion pits are visible, indicating its deposition in the ground. It has not very common type of blade with a ridge, characterized by a rhomboidal cross-section, considerable length, slenderness and a clearly marked point that allows it to be classified as type XVIIIb, which is dated in the literature from the second half of the 15th to the beginning of the 16th century. Swords with blades of the type XVIIIb were much stiffer and therefore more suitable for thrusts and piercing of armour. For this reason, they were considered a weapon to fight the enemy protected by plate armor. The form of a S-shaped crossguard with horizontally bent arms indicates its connection with the Style 12 or its variant 12a. The pear-shaped pommel allow to classify it as a T3 Type according to Oakeshott. The presence of diagonal grooves only at the top of the pommel makes it similar to the specimen from the Museum in Karlovy Vary, from the first half of the Sixteenth century.Blade of type XVIIIb are known mainly from Western and Central Europe and they were produced in Passau in Bavaria and in Hall in Tyrol. The mark in the form of the St. Andrew, visible on the blade of the analyzed sword, appears quite often on the tangs of swords from Central Europe. However, it is difficult to say unequivocally whether the second sign: a cross with forked top, which marked its blade, should be associated with blacksmith or sword maker workshops. They appear both on the tangs and blades. Both typological and iconographic arguments indicate that the sword should be dated to the end of the 15th – beginning of the 16th century, with a slight indication of the time around 1500, when it could be produced and used.The form of the sword, which enables both one-handed and two-handed combat, allows to consider analyzed sword as a bastard’s sword (Bastardschwert). The clear enhancement of the tip of sword, as well as the pear-shaped pommel, which allows for a better grip when giving powerful thrusts, indicate that the tested sword can be considered a weapon used mainly in armored foot combat (the so-called Harnischfechten).His appearance on the borderland of Neumark and Sternberg Land should be associated with the renaissance of the idea of organizing knightly tournaments that prevailed among the rulers of the Reich, including Brandenburg margraves from the Hohenzollern dynasty.

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