the lost oakeshott sword

[cornelistromp]

almost every student of the medieval sword knows this sword, but I think nobody ever saw a picture of it.
So here is the "primeur".
It is the sword that made a big impression on the former art student Ewart Oakeshott, long before he made his classification of the medieval sword, who made a truthful sketch of it and saved it for at least 65 years. This was in 1935 when the sword was auctioned at Sothebys.

Oakeshott has later published his sketch in several books and articles for its enormous size and rarity.
first in records of the medieval sword as a type XIII.4 and later in an article, fire or triumph in Gun Report Magazine / sword in hand, and article about an unusually large size sword, as the correct type XIIIb.
(swords of this size should really deserve their own classification)
In his life studying the medieval sword Ewart Oakeshott encountered only 3 other swords of this heroic dimension, only two which are of the Same date as the above discussed.(the third is a later 1325 Type XIV in the Metropolitan Museum in NY.

The first is a well known Enormous sword in the Musee de l'Armee, the second one is a less known huge type XIA, in a private collection, the Pontirolo sword. The third is a 200 year later type XIV in the metropolitan dated (1325).

The sword has 2 very old nails hammered through the blade just under the cross, so after its working life it has hung somewhere as a symbol, maybe in a church.

[Lee]

Very nice! Thank you for sharing this; it is always a pleasure as some of these swords 'resurface' after 'slumbering' somewhere for many decades. Speaking of decades, over the past decade I have gotten rare e-mails from the current owners of a couple of the other swords that had impressed Ewart Oakeshott sufficiently for him to include them in his writings.

[Cerjak]

Few days ago I have received one copy of Sword – Form and Thought and I have read the unbelievable story about your beautiful and rare sword.
I still not understand how a dealer could have done this work ! because I can’t believe that it could be made by a museum or a collector.
It is right that it is not the first time that Ewart Oakeshott made such mistake in measurement and also you have a second example in your collection. http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11231.
But it was really a stupid idea to enlarge the blade in order to match with Ewart Oakeshott description’s.
This sword is so uncommon with his large pommel and blade that no doubt was possible about his origin.. It is really crazy discovery.
A fantastic sword Indeed .
I have noticed a second sword from your collection (a so beautiful type XVI A n°23 P 98,I like very much this sword with a very rare type of pommel and also a sword in excellent condition.
This medieval sword is a jewel and you are lucky to have it in your collection.
Jewel
Best
Jean-Luc

[cornelistromp]

Yes strange world.
a friend and authority in the field of medieval weapons had studied the sword at a very well known dealer in the UK in 2003.
Then, luckily he had taken records of all the measurements.
The length however did not correspond to the dimensions I gave him in 2011

After a long search we ( actually he did at the RA) found the old catalog of Sotheby 1935 where the sword was depicted. see Appendix. Oakeshott has also based his drawing in ROMS on the image in the catalog.

I have pictures of the sword taken in 2007 by a dealer and by then the sword was already extended.

The sword has been in possession of two UK dealers between 2003 and 2007.
one of the two has made the ridiculous decision between 2003 and 2007 to extend the sword to the estimated size that Oakeshott has given in ROMS.

Oakeshott was not very good in dimensions, he used the principle
"best he could recall" and after 56 years of seeing the sword, it became a guess I suppose.

this information , that the sword was 14 cm longer was known to me and submitted before the geometric study and exhibition, to Peter Johnsson and museum curator.

After the exhibition the new point which was fixed around the old one has been removed by the restorer of the museum, the sword is back to the original length.

Also inscriptions and details came forth after the thick layer of paint had been removed by the restorer.

the sword looks beautiful again


best,
Jasper

[fernando]

Originally Posted by cornelistromp

... After the exhibition the new point which was fixed around the old one has been removed by the restorer of the museum and the sword is back to the original length.

inscriptions and details came forth after the thick layer of paint has been removed by the restorer.

the sword looks beautiful now...

Not so often a story with such bad start turns up having such an excelent ending .

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by cornelistromp

Also inscriptions and details came forth after the thick layer of paint had been removed by the restorer.

Do tell! Are the inscriptions legible? I am very curious and would love to see photos...

Peter Johnsson has shared some additional thoughts about this interesting sword and possible "cousins" in a recent thread of mine that may be of interest to forum members here also.

http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=317321#317321

A sword in the Wallace Collection has a somewhat similar very thin, flat pommel... there's a recent paper that reveals it had a very delicate silver inscription, but sadly it's all but obliterated.

https://www.academia.edu/29498453/An...Collection.pdf

cheers,
Mark

[cornelistromp]

herewith the pictures of the sword after the restoration.
several layers of paint of hundreds of years old have been removed from the blade.

it was a risk, because it was not known how the general condition of the steel would be covered for 100 of years in in paint and whether the new point which was mounted around the old point could be removed neatly. Fortunately everything turned out well. see attached picture of restored sword next to picture from Sotheby's catalogue in 1935.

there are two residues of big nails discovered in the blade.
One nail head is clearly visible on the Sotheby photo from 1935, left on the blade near the cross. the other head on the other side of the cross at 38cm.
Further, at 12cm from the point is an old restoration in which a hole in the blade was covered with a steel plate, plugged with 6 rivets. The plate steel is almost gone but 4 rivets and two rivet holes are visible. This restoration is probably centuries old.

Given the layers of paint, 2 fastening nails through the blade and very old restoration to the point, this sword has probably been hung for a long time at a chain, probably dry in the open air, in or outside a church or castle?

Maybe this is the sword that has been lost in Rocamadour at the beginning of the last century, DURENDAL 


after removal of the paint, an inscription became visible SOS on one side and OSO on the other side. Well is it an S? the S here is composed of a wavy line, and two dashes.

SOS stands for Salvator Omnipotens Salvator and can be part of an Inscription ;

Cum quo ei Dominus S. O. S. (Salvator Omnipotens Salvator) auxilietur adversus partes amen


(source TWO INCRUSTED MEDIEVAL SWORDS FROM ZBASZYN, LUBUSZ VOIVODSHIP, Marian Głosek Tadeusz Makiewicz)

another sword 1100-1199 with SOS inscription is ROMS XIa.1 a sword in the Royal Armouries, Leeds (IX.1082), interpreted by Oakeshott as Sancta O maria Sancta.


This sword dates from the end of the 12th century to the mid 13th century and there are a small number of this type known.

The most important, certainly the most impressive and for me the most beautiful one, is a sword in the Real Ameria in Madrid. G22
The Sword of San Fernando III (on this sword was a claim from the early 16thC that this sword could be the sword of Roland, DURENDAL.)


Best,
Jasper

[cornelistromp]

G22 sword of Fernando III

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by cornelistromp

herewith the pictures of the sword after the restoration.
several layers of paint of hundreds of years old have been removed from the blade.

it was a risk, because it was not known how the general condition of the steel would be covered for 100 of years in in paint and whether the new point which was mounted around the old point could be removed neatly. Fortunately everything turned out well.

Thanks so much for sharing the new photos! My curiosity is satisfied... It is great to see the restoration has been such a success.

I think it is very interesting to find this inscription on your sword. The unusual form of the sword is so immediately striking to modern viewers, and yet (as I'm sure you know) the SOS/OSO inscription is not so rare. So in a way, the sword is still "part of the family" and perhaps once upon a time, would not have seemed so unusual at all.

I do not think it is likely that it is a trace of a longer inscription... the 18th c. illustration of the inscription that was once present on the Szcerbiec can be seen in the article "Szcerbiec - the coronation sword of the Kings of Poland" from 2011, and it's actual appearance is as follows:

CVM . QVO . EI DNS . OS . AVXIL
ETVR . ADUS . PARTES . AMEN

So in this case the first "S" is simply the last letter of "dominus", and the "OS" stands alone, no doubt meaning "omnipotens Salvator" or "omnium Salvator". Nevertheless, the stand-alone SOS sequences surely seem to refer to a similar invocation!

The sword in the Real Armeria is of course an amazing artifact, even if it is not Durendal... If I remember correctly, does not the earliest(?) source for this attribution to Roland also mis-name it "Joyosa", which would be Charlemagne's sword? Someone did not read the Chanson carefully! The history of these various claims and attributions of legendary swords is a whole topic in itself, and coincidentally is something I have been reading about lately.

best,
Mark