Nuremberg Chronicle; depictions of edged weapons from the late 15th Century

[shayde78]

Originally Posted by Philip

Two pages up from the first appearance of our Ottoman friend, you can see on the left side something that at a hurried glance might appear to be a dagger, but is actually a socketed spearhead. The actual relic has been preserved in the Hofkammer at Vienna for centuries, it was once the property of the Holy Roman Emperors.

This object, by tradition, is the head of the Roman spear that pierced the side of Christ during the Crucifixion. It has been broken ages ago, and repaired with wire using an iron spike at midpoint, which is held to be one of the nails pulled out of the True Cross. I'll leave it to the experts on ancient Roman military equipment to comment on the historicity of the spearhead's design.

I have read somewhere that in some of the literature, this spearhead has been referred to as the Spear of St. Maurice. Interesting, since in the Armeria Reale di Torino is a sword that is traditionally venerated as La Spada di San Maurizio. St. Mauritius/Moritz/Maurizio was a Roman soldier who lived early in the imperial period, converting to Christianity and being martyred as a result. The sword, unfortunately, does not fit his bio since it is a far cry from a gladius or even a spatha; it is a typical north European knightly sword of late Viking type, Oakeshott Type X. Still well worth a visit if you're in town -- in remarkable condition for one of these, with scabbard and a polychromed fitted wooden case for the whole.

Again, great information. I'm posting below the full page on which the spearhead is depicted, as well as a closer view of the text that I think pertains to the image. Also, I'm including an image of the actual artifact from the museum in Vienna. It is interesting to note the details of the illustration compared to the piece itself.