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The hilt now fitted with a long
wooden grip turned in the centre in a double-ogee design with a knop between
and raised bands at either end. The trapeze-shaped iron pommel with turned-over
ends enclosing small circular holes and forming a scroll engraved, J.H.Z.B.V.L.
ALLIS INSERVIENDO CONSUMOR.A.1573 (Julius Herzog Zu Braunschweig Und
Lüneburg: Julius, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, In Serving Others,
I Consume Myself, 1573); the pommel pierced with a central circular hole around
which is engraved a band enclosing the letters, O.H.B.M.N.M.D.S.L.V.E. (O Herr
Behüt Mir Nicht Mehr Denn Seel Leib Und Ehre: Oh Lord protect only my Soul
Life and Honour). The flat iron quillons engraved and shaped as fish, from the
mouths of which emerge the quillon tips, which curve towards the blade and
widen and curl at their ends in opposite directions; small recurved volutes
spring from the quillons close to the blade and large, oval,
intricately-knotted side-rings flank the blade. The blade of flattened diamond
section with a short ricasso from which spring parrying spurs; the ricasso
engraved, beneath a ducal coronet and device thought to represent the ducal
cipher H I, Ao No / 15 / 73 / N 206 (the year 1573, [sword number] 206).
Overall length: 79”, blade
length 52 ½”.
Clearly a Bearing Sword, of the type
carried by the Bodyguard of the Duke of Brunswick on state occasions, the fact
that this sword was intended to be seen with its point uppermost is evident
from the engraved inscriptions on the sword’s pommel and ricasso - which
can only be read when the sword is carried in that way. Thus, this sword must
be envisaged as being carried upright, in the two hands of the armoured soldier
charged with its care and borne before him in procession.
Swords of this type were part of the
everyday state equipment of noble and Royal houses throughout Europe from the
Middle Ages until the eighteenth century. In an age when the ruler of a state
had supreme and autocratic power, much depended upon the display of that power
and the status that it conferred upon the ruler and, by extension, his or her
state - no matter how small. The size of a ruler’s bodyguard and the
magnificence of its weapons, armours and equipment mattered and so ambitious
rulers went to enormous lengths to ensure that their status, as shown by their
bodyguards, was made manifest on every possible occasion.
This sword is from a group of such
swords of varying types and styles, all dating from the reign of Julius, Duke
of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Lüneburg, who was born in 1528, acceded
to the throne of the Lower Saxon duchy in 1568 and died in 1589. Most of those
recorded are dated either 1573 or 1574 and so must have been purchased in those
years. Our sword is numbered 206, indicating that a large order was placed for
such swords in 1573, with additional quantities being ordered in the following
year. Since they fell from use and since the incorporation of the Duchy of
Brunswick into the new nation of Germany in 1871, this substantial collection
of two-handed Bearing Swords has been gradually dispersed worldwide to private
and public collections, although the largest publicly-owned group remains in
the State Museum in Brunswick.
The swords exist in a variety of
forms and with minor variations in blade length, ricasso length, style of
pommel and the fine detailing of the quillon decoration: by no means all have -
as does this example - a dated pommel that matches a dated blade. The group
that survived in the possession of the Duke of Brunswick until 1911 is known to
have undergone some restoration by R. Bohlmann in that year, and the style of
the turned wooden grips is attributed to him, the decorative device of opposing
double-ogees in the centre of the grips matching the symbols engraved thrice
(and thought to represent the cipher of Duke Julius) beneath the ducal coronet
on the ricasso of the sword. Given this match of decorative devices, it may be
that the grips, where restored, were made closely to resemble the original
grips. The particular style of the pommel and quillons is one unique to
Brunswick but not unique to the swords made for the Duke’s bodyguard.
Similar swords, although fewer in number, are recorded that relate to the City
of Brunswick - these would have been made by the same smiths but intended to
represent the City rather than the Duke. Our sword, which is engraved with the
initials, cypher and motto of the Duke and an invocation to God paralleled on
the armours for the State Guard can only have been for use at his Court and as
an amplification of his status.
Image reproduced by courtesy of Peter
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