English blades

Jim McDougall · 15th August 2021, 11:21 PM

A very good note Fernando, and the access to running water is key to placement of mills, of course to turn the machinery.
This is noted in references to various blade forging places, and there are numbers of thoughts and suggestions of quality achieved by the 'magical properties ' of the water and/or minerals etc. in it.

This was not lost to writers and romanticized notions,

"...a sword of icebrook temper, of the very best quality. The Spaniards used to plunge their swords and other weapons while hot from the forge into the brook Salo (Xalon) near Bilbilis in Celtiberia to harden them. The water of this brook is very cold. It is a sword of Spain, the ice brook temper".
-Shakespeare, Othello v.2
from "Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" E.Cobham Brewer, (1894).

As you know the term 'bilbo' was commonly used for various Spanish swords (Im not sure if Portugal used the same term) in 17th, 18th c.
There has been notable debate on the origin of the term, many thinking it has to do with Bilbao in Basque country, but there is some mention of the Bilbilis having association.

The water is indeed a most important factor as you point out, in addition to the raw materials needed to forge steel and iron.

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15th August 2021, 11:21 PM	#5
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	A very good note Fernando, and the access to running water is key to placement of mills, of course to turn the machinery. This is noted in references to various blade forging places, and there are numbers of thoughts and suggestions of quality achieved by the 'magical properties ' of the water and/or minerals etc. in it. This was not lost to writers and romanticized notions, "...a sword of icebrook temper, of the very best quality. The Spaniards used to plunge their swords and other weapons while hot from the forge into the brook Salo (Xalon) near Bilbilis in Celtiberia to harden them. The water of this brook is very cold. It is a sword of Spain, the ice brook temper". -Shakespeare, Othello v.2 from "Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" E.Cobham Brewer, (1894). As you know the term 'bilbo' was commonly used for various Spanish swords (Im not sure if Portugal used the same term) in 17th, 18th c. There has been notable debate on the origin of the term, many thinking it has to do with Bilbao in Basque country, but there is some mention of the Bilbilis having association. The water is indeed a most important factor as you point out, in addition to the raw materials needed to forge steel and iron.