Constantin Brâncoveanu's sabres - Săbiile lui Constantin Brâncoveanu

[TVV]

These swords with the Virgin Mary medallion have been subject to a lot of speculation. Rivkin, in his "A Study of the Eastern Sword", discusses them and his hypothesis is that these originated during the Great Turkish War and distributed as gifts to potential Holy League allies in Eastern Europe, particularly Russia. If true, this explains why there are inscriptions in different languages - those would have varied based on the intended recipients.

[Teisani]

One more. Seems rehilted since thw scabbard is typically Ottoman. https://www.landesmuseum.de/videogui...ser-und-sultan

[awdaniec666]

Thank you for this superb information!
The Royal Armouries in the UK host a saber with a very similar blade and decoration put on to a typical Polish L-guard. I had to promise them to not publish pictures however..

[Teisani]

Hello Patrick. Very interesting to hear about that L-guard sabre. Since you can't post pictures, can you at least describe the blade decoration, such as: does it match exactly the text on any other blade already posted here? If not, is it Greek/Latin/Cyrillic, can you type the text, are there candles, etc?

Regards,

[awdaniec666]

Hi Teisani,

The inventory number seems to be B.0937.1. They will certainly send you images on request.

There is a arch-ornament with two candles underneath it and a depiction of Maria and infant-Jesus in a circle. All in gold and on the tierce. No text. The blade itself appears to be around 1650, in Hungarian manner and of high quality.

[Teisani]

Apparently the "sword of Constantine XI Palaiologos" myth refuses to die. Here is an article on sword #23, that the author claims belonged to the Byzantine emperor. http://www.rehbergundemi.com/silah-k...23-nolu-kilic/
Oh well! At least we get a nice picture of the inscription on the blade.
This #23 sword is #2682 from here http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...14&postcount=5

συ βασιλευ αηττητε,λογε θεου,πανταναξ,νικης βραβεια δωρησαι κατα των πολεμιων τω ηγεμονι και πιστω αυθεντι Κωνσταντινω ωσπερ ποτε τω βασιλει μεγαλω Κωνσταντινω
(You invincible king, voice of god, all-knowing, bestow (us) the prizes of victory over our enemies, the supreme and true believer Constantine, who once was like Constantine the Great..)
Later, I discovered that the sword belonged to the last Byzantine emperor Constantine Palialogos, thanks to the Greek websites about Chios. This sword is mentioned in many more Greek written sources. The story of the sword is as follows: Paliologos, who aimed to get the support of the crusader armies in 1452, allowed the catholic rite to be held in Hagia Sophia and hosted Cardinal Isidoros, who came from the Vatican, in Istanbul. During this visit, Isidoros Konstantine presented this sword. Later, on April 26, the Genoese commander (Chios) Gioanni Ioustinianos (born in the island of Istanbul) presented this sword to Gioanni Ioustinianos Longos. Longos came to the aid of the Byzantines with 2 ships and 700 men. Longos protected the Agiou Romanou (Topkapı district) Gate during the siege. His soldiers followed him and left Istanbul. He died from the wounds he received 2 days after their arrival in Chios. Chios is a great hero. (The Genoese commander who fought Ulubatli Hasan in the 1453 movie is the same person.)

Wikipedia got in on this act too: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki...an_emperor.jpg

The funny thing is, we actually know what John VIII Palaiologos' (Constantine XI's predecessor) sword looked like. It was a typical sabre for the time. http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...9&postcount=13

And more of the same.
https://sword-site.com/thread/837/sw...eror-byzantium

[TVV]

Originally Posted by Teisani

https://sword-site.com/thread/837/sw...eror-byzantium

"Sword donated by Suleiman the Magnificent to Catherine the Great said by Suleiman to have been Constantine VI's."

That one sentence alone should be enough to discredit pretty much anything else written in that post.