Sword of Portuguese King Dom Dinis (1279-1325)
 

See here the delicate operation of removing the sword of King Dom Dinis from his 1325 tomb for study.

https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/cultura/...umulo_v1442084



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Fantastic! Thanks for sharing, Fernando!

Neat! That is very well preserved... You can still make out much of the colors the pommel and grip would've been originally.

That's a really interesting video, thanks a lot

Thanks all :cool:

Interesting. It looks like something we would likely misidentify as "fantasy". Hopefully we can see the blade later.

This is no blog nor any sensationalist media, Rick. It is the Public TV chanel; those persons are not trying to play tricks.

My point was that sometimes maybe we are wrong.

I agree. CSinTX. Some of the late medieval swords had a 'fanciful' look to them that could throw you if you didn't see them literally being removed from their tombs. I recall seeing the intact blade of some early English king from the 1400's and it was like this one in many ways.

Fernando, thanks for posting this great footage!

The decoration may look "fanciful" at first blush but in essence the proportions of hilt to blade length, the relative narrowness of the quillons, and the wheel pommel with large flattened central bosses is quite reminiscent of those features on the sword of Giovanni de' Medici (d 1353) which was recovered from his tomb in Florence early in the last century. This sword was in pretty dreadful as-found condition, having suffered more deterioration during its internment, but has since been cleaned and conserved to the point at which the blade is essentially intact, with original edge and tip contours, albeit with the expected corrosion pits. I can't wait to see what Dom Dinis' sword will look like after conservation is completed.

You can see "before" and "after" photos of Giovanni de' Medici's sword in plates 44.52 in Boccia/Coelho, Armi Bianche Italiane.

This one? https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._ante_1351.JPG

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A few more photos of the Dinis sword.

https://observador.pt/2022/10/26/esp...itu-na-europa/

https://capeiaarraiana.pt/2022/10/27...lo-do-monarca/

The sword belt looks in remarkable condition!

Could it be due to the tomb beig well sealed ?
I gather that Kings had court swords and battle swords. Not that Dom Dinis was much of a military;
For ones perusal, he has only been on the battle field a couple times. His preferences were more on the culture side. A great troubadour, with plenty songs written and a couple of them with his own music. Apparently the first Portuguese monarch truly literate; he established the Portuguese language as the official language of the court, and created the first Portuguese University. One of his great dids was to prevent Portuguese Templars to be extinguished and condemned to death by Pope Clement. He managed to receive a bull from Pope Johhn XXII (Ad ea ex quibus), changing the name of the Order of the Temple to that of the Order of Christ, saving the knights live and their wealth.

Yes, it’s the one I had in mind

For me, the fact that the colour is partially preserved is a real treat. More proof that people back then liked shiny and colourful things as well :D. I hope the blade is just as well preserved.

Wasn't Dom Dinis also known for practical achievements, especially in advancing Portuguese agriculture? After all, isn't his honorary title "o Lavrador" (the Farmer)? I read somewhere that he implemented a system in which fields were to be aligned in specific directions to optimize sunlight and irrigation, and so that windbreaks of tall trees around their borders minimized crop damage during harsh storms.

You are right Filipe. I did not further expand on Dom Dinis biography as i thought i should not bore the members with such long story.
Yes, his cognomen was Lavrador (Farmer) but also Rei Poeta (Poet King). He did increment the Leiria Pine Forest started by his father. Besides this being a defence for agriculture, preventing the advance of damaging sands, this later became an added value in the XV century discoveries period, as the pine wood was fundamental for the building of caravels and so was the pitch to protect them.

More on the sword ...
 

Maria Antonia Amaral, the sword study coordinator, details to RTP (public TV) ...


"Made of iron, silver handle and enamel application, it is one of the rare royal swords found "in situ" in Europe", says the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage, sharing images of the moment when this historic element was removed, with specific care from the grave.

Maria Antónia Amaral, coordinator of the study, even says that this is a rare sword around the world. "It was an apparatus sword. Let's say it was not a sword that the king would take to war, since it is full of decorations and has a very heavy weight on the handle".

Although Dom Dinis didn't do much campaigning himself, wasn't it during his reign that the Moors were finally expelled from Portugal? I remember reading that the final battles to push them out were in the 1290s sometime... If I have the wrong chronology, please advise. If it was indeed at the close of the 13th cent., then it would give Portugal a lot of bragging rights since their Spanish neighbors didn't end the Moorish occupation of their turf until the victory at Granada in 1492.

Filipe, the reconquest in Portugal indeed ended earlier than in Spain, with the definitive conquest of the city of Faro, by the forces of D. Afonso III "o Africano", (Dom Diniz father) in 1249.
Despite this conquest, the war against the Moors continued at sea ... but that was another business.