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From Every Side Armed with a Cross Sign. A Crusader’s (?) Sword from …
Louis was strongly interested in plans for new crusade because of the Turkish
expansion which directly threatened the borders of the Kingdom of Hungary and its
influences in the Balkan region 66 . Even though the Cyprian swords from this time are
of quite different forms 67 , we can suppose that the sword from Budapest could have
been a gift from Peter which he gave to the Hungarian king during this meeting (Fig.
6). Eventually, Louis did not participate in the crusade 68 . However, we cannot exclude
that some unnamed Hungarian knight took part in it and in remembrance of that event
he ordered to make this sword.
This assumption can be proved by the analysis of distribution of analogous forms
of swords in Europe. Type XVIa blades are the most widely distributed late medieval
sword blades in Central Europe. M. Głosek in his monumental work enumerated over
131 swords of this type from this territory 69 . Over 70 specimens of this type come
from south-eastern Europe 70 . The quantity of Type K pommels is relatively high
among the finds from south-eastern Europe including over 40 specimens 71 . In
European collections there are only 5 fully analogous swords. They were found in the
River Piana near Anklam in Germany 72 , the Lake Balaton in Hungary 73 (Fig. 7: 1) and
the site of Vodica in the Jakovački Ključ forest in Serbia 74 . Two other swords are in
the collection of the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest 75 (Fig. 7: 2-3).
Analyzing the distribution of Type XVIa, K, 1 swords in Europe, we can note that
apart from the sword from Anklam, sword hilts of this kind were more popular in the
66
Wyrozumski 1986, p. 136; Dąbrowska 1994, p. 264; Grodecki 1995, p. 69; Głodek 1997, pp. 22-23.
67
It has been suggested that some of these swords from the arsenal of Alexandria were captured by the
Mamluks during the crusade of Peter I (Alexander 1984; Oakeshott 1991, p. 113) (Fig. 6). All swords
from Alexandria were engraved with dedicatory inscriptions often including the name of the depositor and
the date on which it was placed in the arsenal (Combe, Cosson 1937; Combe 1938; Mann 1963;
Alexander 1984; Kalus 1991; Oliver 1999; Thomas 2003; Robinson 2010). The swords connected with
Peter’s crusade (Alexander 1984, Nos 1-6,14,48,49) are all very similar and all are dated to 1367/1368
and 1368/1369. If they were captured in 1365, one must assume that the Mamluks caught a small unit
with identical arms and then kept their weapons elsewhere for two years before donating them to the
Alexandrian arsenal. Most of these swords are of Type XIIIb, K, 5 (Oakeshott 1991, p. 113). Yet
another form of a sword was depicted on the 14 th cent. St George’s wall painting from the Church of
Panagia Phorbiotissa Asinou in Cyprus. The depicted sword has a quillon which bends towards the
blade (Nicolle 1992, Fig. 44; Hunt 2006).
68
Lutrell 1965; Edbury 1977; Edbury 1991; Edbury 1993; Bliznyuk 2001; de Machaut 2001; van
Steenbergen 2003.
69
Głosek 1984, p. 29.
70
Aleksić 2007, p. 89.
71
Aleksić 2007, p. 54-58.
72
Głosek 1984, cat. 113.
73
Based on the coat of arms depicted on this sword (a shield with a field divided into 3 sections and a
double cross on the other side), G. Nagy and J. Hampel considered its connections with the Hungarian
noble family of Aba, and the town of Levoča. According to them it was manufactured in Košice (Nagy
1894, II.XV.3; Hampel 1899, p. 83, fig. 12). M. Głosek suggested that this sword probably belonged to
Béla IV (1206-1270) King of Hungary (Głosek 1984, cat. 419).
74
Šercer 1976, p. 43-44, cat. 8, T. I/2; Aleksić 2007, cat. 238.
75
Kalmar 1971, p. 61, kép. 101/a; Głosek 1984, cat. 471; Aleksić 2007, cat. 112 and 138.
59