The true sword had its birth early in the “iron age,” which arbitrary period, though usually classified to close with the fifth century, might reasonably be prolonged to the dawning of the middle ages. It is during this interval that we have but little accurate information, still it may be taken generally that the weapon became both longer and broader after the fall of the Roman empire, when it was straight, double-edged, and of varying length.
The sword of Chilperic of Soissons (died 584) was found in his tomb at Tournay in 1653, and is now in the Louvre. The weapon has short straight quillons, and the pommel is also cruciform; it bears strong evidences of Oriental influence. Procopius describes the Frankish sword of his day as a short, straight, broad-bladed, and double-edged weapon, somewhat obtusely pointed, and usually about thirty to thirty-two inches long, just about the standard length of the modern small sword; while Agathias, his successor as a chronicler, records it as just the length of a man’s thigh. To judge from the few specimens on record, it has both a cross-guard and pommel, but was by no means uniform either in form or size. Its extremity was rather rounded. A sword found in a grave on Chessel Down, in the Isle of Wight, answers very closely to that of the Franks, as described by Procopius.
The Scandinavian sword of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries was long, straight, and double-edged; while the Anglo-Saxon weapon of the eleventh century was about three feet long, cruciform, and rounded at the end. No one under the rank of thane was allowed to carry a sword, which accounts for so few specimens having been found.
The earlier Anglo-Saxon sword is, as far as can be ascertained, without cross-guard, but it has a small pommel. A MS. in the British Museum of the tenth century gives an illustration of a sword of this kind, which is only two feet long.
We read in “Sagas” that the swords of heroes were often endowed with names or titles, such as the “Hrunting” of Beowulf, the “Excalibur” of Arthur, the “Tizona” of the Cid.
The component parts of the sword are of course the blade and the hilt. The tang is a piece of wrought iron welded into the shoulder of the blade, and inserted in the grip or handle, at the bottom of which is the pommel. The pieces or guards which pass across between the hilt and the blade are the quillons. Proving the blade was accomplished in various ways: an early method was by a heavy blow on a block of iron, first the flat, then the edge, and lastly the back; then bending the blade flatwise. The operation concluded by driving the point through a thin iron plate, which was called the “Toledo” test. A machine for testing swords was invented in England towards the end of the last century by Matthew Bolton, in which the blade was forced into a curve, reducing from 36 inches to 29 inches.
The Frankish sword of the eighth and ninth centuries is cruciform, with a pommel, which is itself sometimes surmounted with a cross. This may be seen in the Codex Aureus of St. Gall. The weapon of this period is, however, far from being uniform in shape, length, or breadth. The knightly weapon of the Bayeux tapestry is cruciform with a long, straight, two-edged blade, coming somewhat abruptly to a point, and a ridge running up the centre. The hilts are heavy and strong, with pommels. A Norman sword on the tapestry shows the pommel to curve on the grip. There is an actual specimen of this period in the Museum of Artillery, Paris. The blade of the footman’s weapon is much narrower than that of the knight. The sword of William Rufus is shown on a miniature in the Canterbury bible. The point is obtuse, the blade widens towards the quillons, the ends of which curve upwards, while the grip is short, and the pommel round.
There is not much change in the twelfth century, when swords vary a good deal in form; as also does the shape of the pommel. A specimen of the reign of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa is in the museum at Dresden.
The cultellus or coustel is a short sword or long dagger. The weapon is mentioned in a statute of William of Scotland, 1165–1214. From this time forward we have in military brasses and effigies figures of the knightly sword brought before us as it actually was.
The sword of the thirteenth century is more distinctly pointed, and has the cross-guard either straight or curving more or less towards the blade; the grip is rather short, and the weapon is usually about two feet six inches to over three feet long, and there is a large heavy pommel of various shapes. A good example may be seen on the Daubernoun brass. Some of the German swords of the century, actual specimens of which may be seen at Dresden, are, however, very much longer. The short handle could be rigidly gripped, so that the entire force came more from the arm and shoulder.