Edged arms in Varazdin castle

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by Victrix

Must confess that I was more focused on the panzerstecher there on the left at the time, but you may be on to something. You are in luck, Reventlov! I took pics of the museum description and also post another pic of the sword below. The description mentions it’s a crusader sword. The Knights Hospitallers were based in Varazdin in early 13thC and built a church and monastery there which were later taken over by the Franciscans.

That's great, thank you!

A fine example of a very classic type of the later 14th century. There is a sword of the exactly the same type (XVII, H1, 1) in the Hungarian National Museum, though I know it only by description. This one has on side the mark of a sword, on the other two swords, also in yellow metal. Oakeshott provides two more examples in Records of the Medieval Sword, including a well-known great sword in the London Museum, and it reportedly appears on the bearing sword of Edward III in Westminster Abbey.

On the tang of the Varazdin sword you can also see what is probably a mark like an X, which appears on many Eastern European swords of this period.