Oakeshott Type XII Medieval Sword from Glasgow Museum

[Jack Loomes]

Holding Museum: Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums, Scotland, United Kingdom

Museum Inventory Number: BC 2.76

Dimensions:Length 119.4 cm: comprising (pommel) 4.8 cm, (grip) 10 cm, (blade) 104 cm

Material(s) / Technique(s): Iron, with brass inlay on pommel.

Date of the object: About hegira 6th century / AD 12th century

Period / Dynasty: Crusader

Provenance: Continental / Northern Europe.

Description: Although this sword was not found in Crusader lands, it is a typical example of a Crusader sword brought to the Holy Land and used by European warriors and knights. The sword has a double-edged slashing blade, which tapers off to a sharp point. It has a central, single channel (fuller) running along the blade on each side, the presence of which lightens the sword without affecting its strength thus making it more effective for cutting and hacking. The handle has a pommel (the knob at the top of the grip) in the shape of a chamfered wheel that is inlaid with brass in the form of a cross design on one side, and a design consisting of three half circles linked in the middle with three lines, on the other. This type of pommel came into use in about the AH 5th / AD 11th century, when sword blades increased in length too. Despite the disappointing number of artefacts that have survived from the Crusades, contemporary European manuscripts and their miniature paintings, together with monuments and their carvings, have depicted with impressive accuracy the types of arms and armour used during the Crusader period.

How object was obtained: Part of the collection given to the City of Glasgow by Sir William and Lady Burrell in 1944.
How date and origin were established:
Artistic analysis: several reasonably accurate examples of these swords appear in contemporary European miniatures in manuscripts, and on stone carvings, confirming that northern European Crusader knights in the Holy Land used this type of sword.

Selected bibliography: Coe, M. D., et al, Swords and Hilt Weapons, New York, 1989.

Nicolle, D., The Crusades, Oxford, 1988.

Citation: Noorah Al-Gailani "Sword" in Discover Islamic Art. Place: Museum With No Frontiers, 2013.

www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus04;6;en

Prepared by: Noorah Al-Gailani

Copyedited by: Mandi Gomez

MWNF Working Number: UK4 12

See also this extract from Ewart Oakeshott's Records of the Medieval Sword with reference to Sword Type XII: sword-site.com/thread/127/oakeshott-type-records-medieval-sword

Source: www.mwnf.net/islamicart/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus04;6;en