![]() |
![]() |
#1 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
|
![]()
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 . Last edited by fernando; 26th October 2022 at 07:28 PM. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#2 |
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Rhineland
Posts: 364
|
![]()
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing, Fernando!
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#3 |
Member
Join Date: Sep 2021
Location: Leiden, NL
Posts: 471
|
![]()
Neat! That is very well preserved... You can still make out much of the colors the pommel and grip would've been originally.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#4 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Black Forest, Germany
Posts: 1,192
|
![]()
That's a really interesting video, thanks a lot
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#5 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
|
![]()
Thanks all
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#6 |
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 233
|
![]()
Interesting. It looks like something we would likely misidentify as "fantasy". Hopefully we can see the blade later.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#7 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#8 |
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 233
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#9 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: NC, U.S.A.
Posts: 2,086
|
![]()
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! |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#10 | |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
Posts: 1,036
|
![]() Quote:
You can see "before" and "after" photos of Giovanni de' Medici's sword in plates 44.52 in Boccia/Coelho, Armi Bianche Italiane. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#11 | |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: Romania
Posts: 314
|
![]() Quote:
================================================= 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/ |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#12 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Room 101, Glos. UK
Posts: 4,167
|
![]()
The sword belt looks in remarkable condition!
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#13 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
|
![]()
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. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#14 | |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
Posts: 1,036
|
![]() Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#15 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: Romania
Posts: 314
|
![]()
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
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#16 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
Posts: 1,036
|
![]()
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.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#17 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
|
![]()
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. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#18 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
|
![]()
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". |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#19 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
Posts: 1,036
|
![]()
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.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#20 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
|
![]()
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. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
|