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Weapons and Military Equipment Found in the German Settlement Area
• The single hand sword mainly used for cutting and thrusting with a lenticular-shaped pommel, with a
more pronounced top part and a median ridge towards the point (type V according to the typology of Z.
K. Pinter – Z. K. Pinter 1999, p. 124; the classification of R. E. Oakeshott includes similar swords
under type XI, namely blade XI, pommel B, cross-guard 1 – R. E. Oakeshott 1964, p. 24, 31, 93, 113,
see also R. E. Oakeshott 1991, p. 10 , 56-57). This type of sword with a wide spread in Western and
Central Europe (Z. K. Pinter 1999, p. 124) and dated between the second half of the 12 th century and
the first half of the 13 th century, is rarely encountered in Transylvania, the only copy that we know of
belonging to the collection of the National Museum of the History of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca (K.
Horedt 1957, p. 334-348.p. 335 K. Horedt 1986, p. 149 , fig. 62-2), and an analogy in Banat, in Poiana
Prisăcii – near Oţelul Roşu (Z. K. Pinter 1999, p. 123-126).
• Due to the discovery of a certain type of sword only in the former province of Sibiu and Ţara Bârsei
(type VI according to Z. K. Pinter’s classification, type XV according to A. Ruttkay – A. Ruttkay 1976,
p. 258, and according to R. E. Oakeshott’s classification, the pommels of the sword in question fall
under “type N” – R. E. Oakeshott 1964, p. 98), with the clearest typological parallels in north-western
Germany (sic!), this type is attributed to the German population settled here (Z. K. Pinter 1999 , p.
130); in fact, swords with type N pommel were found in southern Germany, one in the Passau area, a
second in Seehausen and another in western Germany with an unknown place of discovery (for the
range of model and proposals for its timing and sub-typology, see details in M. Aleksić 2006, p. 363-
370, fig. 2). The single hand or a hand-and-a-half sword for cutting and thrusting is characterized by a
blade about one meter long (97 cm), with a massive aspect, with parallel cutting edges on most of its
length, only slightly converging towards the point; the hilt rod fits the single hand or the hand-and-ahalf
size but for the smaller version of these hilts, the cross-guard is very long and has a rectangular
profile in its central part and the corners are rounded and narrower to the extremities; the hilt pommel is
semi-lenticular with a more prominent bottom part towards the hilt, while the top is almost straight and
fitted with a centre rib. We have recorded this type of sword dating between the end of the 12 th century
and the mid-13 th century in several places in the south of Transylvania, namely Cetatea Neagră
Codlea, near Sânpetru (Braşov County), on the border of the village Vurpăr, and another one in the
Slătineanu collection published as belonging to the German Transylvanian milieu. Similar features are
also encountered in the sword, found without pommel, at Grid (Hunedoara) (pl. 1:2) or in the case of a
sword fragment from the collection of the Sighişoara Town Museum (Z. K. Pinter 1999, p. 127-131).
Exceptionally, we have definite proof that this type of sword was forged in Transylvania in the first
half of the 13 th century, through the archaeological discovery of a blade in full processing and of such a
semi-lenticular pommel in the blacksmith's workshop from Şelimbăr (see cat. no. 1).
• The swords found in Şeica Mică (M. Rill 1983, p. 80, fig. 1 / 1), Coroi (Târnava Mică), Dejan (Braşov
County) and Bâtca Doamnei are classified by Z. K. Pinter under type VII (according to R. E.
Oakeshott, the pommels appear under type E – R. E. Oakeshott 1964, p. 94, and according to Al.
Ruttkay under type XIII – Al. Ruttkay 1976, p. 259-260), considering them a form of limited territorial
extension inside the Transylvania. These heavy single hand or a-hand-and-a-half swords for cutting and
thrusting are characterized by a long blade (850-900 mm) with slightly converging edges towards the
point and median fullers on both sides of the blade on a distance of approx. 550 mm, then fading
towards the point, a straight cross-guard in rectangular section with rounded corners, a massive but
rather flat pommel, with a diamond frontal aspect, its lower corner being slightly rounded towards the
hilt. Regarding the allocation to a specific cultural background of these swords specific to 13 th century
Transylvania, it is difficult to say whether these weapons were used by the Saxon hospites with a
predilection, by the Teutonic Knights or other population groups organized from a military point of
view (Z. K. Pinter 1999, p. 131-133).
• Another type of sword that was also found in the German environment in the south of Transylvania
(Sighişoara and Hamba), very widely spread from a territorial and chronological perspective, with
numerous analogies in Transylvania and Banat, is the one classified under type VIII by Z. K. Pinter.
Due to the particularities of their component parts, the rich sword material was sub-typologised, type
VIIIa and VIIIb. In what type VIIIa is concerned (see the sword from Sighişoara – cat. no.7), it is
chronologically placed between the second half of the 13 th century and the begin of the 14 th century (Z.
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