Museum Quality Castillion Style Medieval Sword

Description

History
Castillion swords, as they are called, are from a hoard that was found while dredging the River Dordogne in France. Its located a few kilometers downstream from the town of Castillon.
The long series of campaigns between England and France from 1337 to 1453, known collectively as the Hundred years War (although it actually spanned 120 years), all took place in France.
A battle in July of 1453 was the last battle of the Hundred Years’ War. It vertically ended any English claim to French soil. The Castillion sword hoard consisted of 85 or so complete, or near complete, swords and three daggers. There were more bits and pieces of more heavily corroded swords and daggers. The exact numbers are not known as the find was kept secret by the original first purchaser who purchased the whole group.
The English commander named John Talbot, (Earl of Shrewsbury) , led his men on a frontal assault of the French lines that resulted in Talbot, Talbot’s son, and most of his 6,000 men being killed by heavy artillery fire; followed by a strong French attack that decimated what was left of the English.
One theory is that while retreating an estimated 100 swords were placed on a barge that the French set on fire while crossing the Dordogne River. The combination of fire, ash and the soft bottom of the river resulted in the swords being preserved in an exceptionally good and unique condition. Another theory is that they were “spoils of war”, booty picked up by the French after the battle. We will never know how they ended up on the bottom of the river.
Swords from this group were originally found in small numbers at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century. However the main hoard was not found until many years later, in the early 1970’s.
Starting around 1970 they started to appear at Christie’s auction house, one a month. Others were purchased by museums such as the “Metropolitan Museum” in New York, the “Tower of London”, the Musée de l'Armée in Paris, and museums, while other swords were sold privately. 15 swords and one dagger were photographed and published in many books and Arms and Armour publications.
I have personally had the honor and privilege to handle 4 of the published swords. The sword I am offering has the same pagination of those 4. Another characteristic is a faint line on the offered sword and the 4 that I have examined, a line believed made by their being in a scabbard when they were lost.
The sword being offered is the only sword of the hoard with, what I believe to be, the original wooden grip.
The blade shows signs of extensive sharpening of both sides.
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BELOW is the information on one of the Castillon Swords in the Tower of London Armory collection - IX.1787
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Object Title
Sword
Date
1430-1450
Object Number
IX.1787
Provenance
Purchased 3 April 1978. One of a group of 7 swords reputed to have been excavated (probably in 1974) from a ford near the site of a battle in 1453 at Castillon-la- Bataille on the Garonne. First sold at Christie's (Geneva) 26 April 1977, lots 66-72. For further details see Notes.
Physical Description
Hilt: iron pommel of fish-tail pattern, scalloped at the upper edges and with traces of incised line decoration and applied silver. The cross guard is straight with small globular finials and small moulded central langets with tear-drop finials and traces of applied silver decoration. The wooden grip is missing, only traces remaining adhering to the tang (see Notes for wood analysis)
During cleaing in 1983, additional decoration, consisting of silvering and incised lines to the pommel, was found (see notes and sketch by BC on inv. file).
Blade: straight, double edged and flattened diamond section, slightly bent at two points towards the tip. It shows that it was sharpened many times in its working life.
Featured in
Hundred Years War
Dimensions
Dimensions: Overall length: 1483 mm (58.375 in) (or approx. 1485 mm (58 1/2 in), blade length: 1148 mm (45 in), blade width, at hilt (=max.): 47 mm (1.85 in), blade thicknes, at hilt (=max.): 8.5 mm (0.33 in) Weight: 2.2 kg (1 lb 13 oz)
Associations
Places England
Bibliographic References
CHECK sale cat. and other pubs on Castillon listed in entry for IX.3683.
N. Melville, 'Towards the identification of a group of fifteenth century English two-handed swords', Eighteenth Park Lane Arms Fair [guide], 18 February 2001, pp. 19 (illus. - gen.view), 20 (liius. - author's outline drawing), 21.
C. Paggiarino, The Royal Armouries, masterpieces of medieval and renaissance arms and armour, Milan, 2011, volume 1
Notes
This is one of a group of at least eighty swords said to come from the same find spot. For general information about these swords and others in the Royal Armouries Collection and elsewhere, see entry for IX.3686 under 'Notes'.
NOTE: The following information, in so far as it relates to the group generally rather than specific comparisons for the present sword, should in due course be moved to and spliced in with the information already in IX.3683 under 'Notes'. PLEASE DO NOT ADD FURTHER GENERAL
INFORMATION TO THIS ENTRY (PJL, 11/02/00).
The wherabouts of these swords sold at Christie's on 26 April 1977 is as follows:
lot 66 - Phillippe Missilier
lot 70 - Musee de l'Armee
lot 72 - Armouries (IX.1787).
Some of the other swords found at this site are known to have been sold in the Paris Flea Market. (P Missilier says that some 80 were found - added note ny AVBN). Lots 66 - 70 are single handed swords similar to 'Henry V's' sword in Westminster Abbey.
Lot 70 is a single hand sword with traces of gilt inscriptions, with straight quillons with bulbous tips and an inverted pear-shaped pommel.
Lot 71 is similar to IX. 1797 but with a shorter grip and block and a pommel with only two lobes. This re-sold at Christie's 19 July 1978, lot 25.
Another sword from the same site is in the Musée de l'Armée, No. J 21592. It was ourchased in 1975 and exhibitied in 1976 at the exhibition, 'La Guerre au Moyen Age', Château de Pons (Charente-Maritime), cat., p. 39, No. 76 (illus.).
Others of the same group are said to be in the Curtis collection [owner now dead, collection dispersed? - PJL] (end of note by GMW).
For further information on the 'Castillon' swords, a list of other examples in the Royal Armouries and publications, see entry for IX.3683, under Notes.
For a similar hilt see Hornpenger Votiftafel, 1462, in Diocesan Museum, Vienna, No. 49 (note by BC from inf. from AVBN, Aug. 1983).
Melville (2001) compared this sword with swords in the Museum of London (no. 39.142) and the Wallace Collction (no. A474) and identifed these three as part a group of an English type of two-hand sword with an implied dating for this sub-group (his Group I) of around the first half of the fifteenth century (see also entry for IX.633).
The wooden grip was examined by Dr Allan Hall, a consultant archaeobotanist, on 27 October 2000. His findings were as follows: 'fragments from grip [which had become detached during previous handling] proved to consist only of iron corrosion; fragments from the base of the handle appeared to be wood; they were soaked in dilute HCl (there was slight effervescence) but the only diagnosis which could be made was that the material was a hardwood, perhaps one with large vessels (consistent with oak ('Quercus') or ash ('Fraximus'))'. See also scientific analysis sheet on inventory file. Two other swords from the Castillon find were analysed by Dr Hall (IX.2226 & IX.5409) - these produced similar, inconclusive results, but were also thought most likely to be oak or ash.
Without testing a much greater number of grips, it is impossible to know whether any significance can be attached to the fact that these three swords all appear to have grips of the same kind of wood (however, the fact that other types of wood were also used for this purpose is suggested by IX.3744, also analysed by Dr Hall and thought to have a grip of poplar - see entry for IX.3744).
https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-173.html
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PROVENIENCE
EA Christensen
Hanum Auction
My NOTE:
The second to the last photo shows one of the Castillon swords and one of the three daggers found. The last photo is of another documented sword with the same heavily rib blade.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF SWORD OFFERED:
Overall length: 31 1/4”
Blade length: 24 3/4”
Blade Width: 2 1/4”
Cross width: 6 7/8”
Pommel 2 1/4” by 1” deep
Blade thickness 1/2” at rib
Weight: 2.28 pounds
This sword is in excellent condition as excavated. The blade is pitted but retains its full original shape with much of the blade showing its original surface. The cutting edges are still sharp but being the thinest pard of the blade, has experienced minimal losses. T
he blade shows that it has been sharpened many times over its working life.
The downward quillions end in abrupt points that are very sharp, an unusual feature, that in themselves, could be used in close combat as a weapon. The grip was in two pieces when I received the sword. Not two “plates” but two jaggedly separate pieces indicating the grip was one piece when the sword was originally assembled. There is a 1 1/8” piece missing exposing the tang. The pommel has more corrosion than the rest of the sword indicating a different iron alloy. There is no pommel nut, the tang being peened into the pommel when it was made.
There are only 80-85 thought to have been found. There are 15-20 documented Castillion Swords that have been published publicly or are in Museums. The sword offered is not a published sword. I base my conclusions on the patina, the faint line below the cross as found on a number of other documented swords, the description given to the auction house by the prior owner as being dredged from the River Dordogne, and my observations handling 4 documented Swords.
The offering price of the sword being offered reflects the price of a very good (museum quality) excavated medieval sword. If it were a documented Castillion Sword, the price would be double or higher.
See: Czerny’s Auction (Number 90) “Fine Antique Arms &Armour”. March 30, 2019. Lot #397 SOLD for 21,000€ OR ,582.92 !