~ 1270-1320 Hungary River Find Two Handed Oakeshott Type XVa Sword ~
By the end of the 14th century, the science of armour had advanced, and the design of the sword needed to adapt or become obsolete. The mail armour that had typified the knightly classes, against whom knights were so often using swords to fight, had been supplanted by plate armour, a process that took the better part of a century. While a sword could do considerable damage to a man wearing mail from force alone, the advent of plate rendered cutting swords next to useless against an armoured foe.
To adapt to this new armour, blade-smiths began to make thrusting swords that were stiff instead of flexible, with diamond cross sections that would reinforce the tip. These were swords that were built to thrust through the gaps in armour, or even through the armour itself. The act of cutting had become a minor concern at best in the technology of the sword, at least those that were designed to deal with plate.
In the type XV and its XVa subtype, we see this new weapons technology take shape. The blade is stiff and has a triangle-shaped profile, with a diamond cross section and no fuller. As with the previous sword types, the XVa subtype is marked with a longer blade and handle, often called a “Bastard sword.” This is also a long running and popular sword types of the Middle Ages, with examples dating from 13th century all the way to the late 15th century.
Our example bears the manufacturer’s gold inlay on the blade and the English/French three lions on a shield on the pommel.
It is unclear how an English/French sword ended up in the Danube river in Hungary but it may be a sword used in one of the many regional conflicts of the period by hired hands.
~ Dimensions ~
The blade is 100 cm long and the overall length of the sword is 125 cm.
The crossguard is 28 cm.
~ Condition ~
The sword is in river salvaged condition. The metalwork is clean and the crossguard is loose, due to the loss of its wooden grip.
The pommel is fixed.
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