Recommended Exhibition & Book: The Sword - Form and Thought
 

Continuing through Feb 28, 2016 is the exhibit The Sword - Form and Thought at the Deutsches Klingenmuseum in Solingen, Germany. If you are at all interested in European medieval swords, then you would likely find a visit to the exhibition very worthwhile as there are a number of seldom exhibited and even first exhibitions of swords including a substantial number from the collection of a member of this forum. This exhibition focuses on documentation and presentation of a number of fine examples of swords in the context of stories forming the 'legend' of the sword. Everything is presented against the emerging backdrop of the role of geometric relationships in the design of the European medieval sword and Peter Johnsson's observations in this regard.

The likely role of the Church in medieval arms manufacture and supply has increasingly been recognized in the past few years. Some scholars interpret the crosses in the +Ulfberht+ sword inscriptions as evidence of a monastic connection (see The Vlfberht sword blades reevaluated by Anne Stalsberg ) and this interpretation has been corroborated by the observation that from the +Ulfberht+ blades forward for several centuries there are specific relationships between hilt and blade length as well as crossguard and other hilt components, just as similar geometric proportions are identified in cathedral design of the same period.

The exhibit labeling is presented only in German, however the accompanying book presents the exhibition in extended detail with sections explaining the geometric relationships and functional characteristics in both German and English along with descriptions of each sword in the exhibit accompanied by an excellent overall image and hilt detail image in color for each sword.

Thanks for posting Lee, did you get over to see the exhibit yet? I am hoping to make the trip in Feb.

Yes, I was very fortunate in being able to attend the associated conference in November (where I had some longstanding questions answered) and I spent the entire preceding day at the museum leisurely viewing both this special exhibition and their permanent exhibits. (I had taken several photos of the exhibit with my cellphone to share on the forums, but I managed to lose the phone and along with it those photos.)

Very sorry to hear about the phone! I've seen some talks from Peter on his ideas regarding the geometry of Medieval European swords. It seems compelling, however I'd be interested to see a counterpoint to the idea from others in the field. Unless it's more or less a consensus!

Iain, I'd be inclined to say Peter's work is highly plausible - I wouldn't say its absolutely right, solely because we cant be absolutely certain of it without a time machine, or a documented example (much like dr Robert Bork's study of plans for Cologne Cathedral, which still have the compass-holes in the parchment. That would be the holy grail for smiths and makers to lay to rest any doubts!). But I'd be comfortable with what's been studied enough to say that its certainly a likely process.

My initial concern with Peter's work was that it might have been 'over-thinking' much of it - some of the geometrical solutions were rather convoluted. The later iterations, particularly the elements placed in the Catalogue paper now include more "modular" systems for the creation of the primary structures, and the use of the interval, in the same mathematical principals as used in medieval music, are (despite my horribly bad explanation there) much more straightforward, and I personally think, far more likely as the processes the smiths would've used for creation based in geometry. Its distilled the principles down into methods that I think are more practical.

I'm not sure I'd call it a consensus, simply because we're yet to really get enough of a detailed methodology for how to assess blades for geometry, for other craftsmen and historians to really test it out. That'll come in time, I'm sure.


In the absence of photographs, Carl Koppeschaar has a Flikr album of the exhibition, which has photos of most of the cabinets; I hope there wont be any objection to linking to it:

Flickr Gallery - Das Schwert, Solingen

The exhibition itself is quite beautiful, the catalogue is a bit of a headache to get hold of outside of the exhibition currently - my copy was er... "interesting" to get hold of (I was there for the opening, but the catalogue was still at the printers), but eventually arrived and paid for with only a bit of headaches.

Amazon.de is listing the book under its German title, "Das Schwert: Gestalt und Gedanke", and though not available currently, hopefully it'll end up listed on amazon sooner or later for easier purchase.

As for the contents of the exhibition? Well, if you cant get there, in many ways I feel that the book is one of the most informative I've seen in years. Personally, there's a series of single-edged blades in it that I'm going to have to study in detail for my work, as well as some that are old friends familiar to me already, but the quality of the details presented in the book is such that I would in fact feel comfortable and confident to make a reproduction of one (or more) of those I've not handled, and still feel I've made an accurate replica. that's something I could never say for the likes of Oakeshott, or AVB Norman's works.

My only problem with it is its meant I've got to get my arse in gear and publish the single-edged typology as a full book now, or I'm going to be lynched. :D

Thanks for the in depth reply. I have to admit I wasn't being entirely serious when mentioning a consensus, but I had some of the initial reactions you mentioned. It all seemed a little overly complex, perhaps without a reason to be and assumed a level of technical design process that would perhaps be hard to support, without some sort of 'smoking gun'.

In any case I look forward to getting hold of the catalog and reading the paper in question. My interest is not primarily in European Medieval arms, but I have a fair bit of interest in the topic of the blade designs as much of what I collect does in fact have European blades from the 14th-18th centuries. Regardless, its great to see new ideas being proposed and its an intriguing theory.

How far back does the paper propose such a geometry based design process would have started?

Coincident with the appearance of the +ULFBERHT+ inscribed blades; about 800 AD.

I think the geometry observations are still a hypothesis in development, but it appears that a fairly large number of swords are fitting the patterns. Remember that the swordsmiths were unlikely to have been working directly with the math, but from templates. As more collections are analyzed with this tool, I suspect confidence will grow (or wane if too many examples otherwise correct for the period do not conform).

(The +ULFBERH+T crucible steel hypothesis was under attack at the conference and we may see it falling from favor; similarly, some sword and hilt forms from central Europe may, in fact, be earlier than previously believed. A lot to digest and I greatly enjoyed the conference and exhibit!)

Thank you, J.G., Carl Koppeschaar's album is far more comprehensive than the set of photographs I had taken and lost. As I placed this in the discussion forums, I shall shall shy away from discussing detailed logistics about acquiring the book except that the rumor at the conference was that direct mail order purchase is apparently somewhat cumbersome as the museum is a unit of the city government and is limited by regulations beyond its control. But, if you have an interest in this area the book is definitely a worthwhile acquisition.

I, and I'm sure many others, have greatly benefited from Carl's fantastic website and photo collections!

The comment on the crucible steel theory is intriguing given the publicity the documentary from PBS gave the topic. Is there a paper forthcoming to layout a refutation of the crucible steel hypothesis?

Ulfberht
 

In due course a book with the papers presented at the Sword Form & Thought conference is expected to be published.

The presentation relied upon further radiographic studies of four of the swords examined by Dr. Williams that showed imperfections interpreted as indicative of forging from typical bloomery product. Concerns were raised on the (understandable) limitations in extent of metallographic sampling imposed on the original study by the owners of the objects and on interpretation difficulties for subsequent viewers from the images published without scale.

Here is the abstract from the conference program:

More on the Ulfberht theme
 

You may also find this to be interesting.

Exactly my experience. Cumbersome, and a trainwreck. no simple payment option, for example.

My copy was sent out before any invoice, arrived, and then got a letter from the solingen council, demanding payment (all in german of course), with additional fees for processing it because the invoice (which had never been sent to me) hadn't been paid.

Thanks Lee, both the abstract and the link were intriguing.