Beschreibung:

Medieval Single-Edged Kriegsmesser Sword 1480-1520 AD A single-edged curved sword of Kriegsmesser type with medium curved blade, straight iron guard with ribbed arms attached to a ring to protect the ricasso; archaic spherical pommel with inlaid cross in relief. 627 grams, 72cm (28 1/4"). Fine condition. Rare. Provenance The property of a private family; previously acquired from a collection formed before 1990; thence by descent; accompanied by an academic report by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato Literature See Clements, J., Medieval Swordsmanship: Illustrated Methods and Techniques, Paladin Press, 1998; for Venetian and Italian samples, see Boccia L. and Coelho E.T., Armi Bianche Italiane,1975, in which such hilts are dated 1475-1480 AD. Footnotes Contrary to common perception, not all European Medieval and Renaissance swords were straight and double-edged: single-edged, curved blades were actually quite common, particularly among the non-noble professional men-at-arms and mercenaries of the late Medieval and Early Renaissance period. The Messer, in the version of the Kriegsmesser (war knife) or of the longer Großes Messer (two-handed knife) as it was originally called in German, was essentially an evolution of the medieval falchion already in use by the laboratores (non-aristocratic infantry) both as a utility weapon and as a defense weapon from the twelfth century. Though many of these swords had humbler aspirations, it was not unknown for knights and nobles to carry exquisitely-crafted single-edged swords. This example, with its niello inlaid pommel, is such a blade. Instead of the simple integrated hilt characteristic of many Messers, this weapon has an elaborate cross guard hilt with ring, constructed in the fashion of dedicated swords, as opposed to up-scaled knives. It can be understood clearly as a weapon for a noble warrior, or a very rich bourgeois.