Oakeshott Type XVIIIc Alexandria Arsenal Late Medieval Sword

[Jack Loomes]

Date: before 1419

Medium: Steel, Wood

Dimensions: Weight, 3 lb. 10 oz. (1644 g)

Length, 43 25/32 in. (111.2 cm)

Length of blade, 34 7/32 in. (86.89 cm)

Bashford Dean Memorial Collection, Bequest of Bashford Dean, 1928 Accession Number: 29.150.143

The Arabic inscription engraved on the blade of this sword indicates that it was part of the large group of European arms and armor once stored in the Mamluk arsenal in Alexandria, Egypt. Many of those pieces were taken as booty in the battles between Muslim and Christian armies in the Near East and Aegean regions; others were sent to the sultan as tribute, possibly by the king of Cyprus.
The inscription reads in translation: "Donation of al-Mālik al Mu`ayyad Abū al-Nasr Shaykh to the armory in the frontier city of Alexandria [in the] year 822 [A.D. 1419]."

For more information on Type XVa see this relevant extract from Ewart Oakeshott's Records of the Medieval Sword: www.sword-site.com/thread/167/oakeshott-type-records-medieval-sword

Source: metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/23189