Beschreibung:

Norman Single-Handed Sword 12th-early 13th century AD A well-balanced Oakeshott Type XI sword with double-edged blade, shallow fuller and solid tip; straight lower guard, medium tang and disc pommel of type G. 1.1 kg, 88.5cm (35"). Fine condition, restored. 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 Hoffmeyer A.D., From mediaeval sword to Renaissance rapier in Gladius, II (1963), pp. 5-68; Oakeshott, E., The sword in the Age of the Chivalry, Woodbridge, 1964 (1994); Oakeshott, E., Record of the medieval sword, Woodbridge, 1991; the sword belongs to the Type XI of 'war sword', as classified by Oakeshott. Footnotes The Type XI was distinguished by Oakeshott by having a slender blade, generally long in proportion to the hilt, with a very narrow fuller running within a few inches of the point. This type has generally been considered to belong to the period of c. 1120-c./1200–1220 AD, but research following the work of Oakeshott has given a much earlier possible date of employment and confirmed that the sword was still used during the fourteenth century. Since so many swords of this typology were discovered in rivers or buried, often due to the corrosion, they present spatulate or rounded points, but this specimen still has the tip of the sword present.