What was written on sword blades?

The other day a customer asked what types of inscriptions were common on sword blades. The answer is "various things", but after some thought we can break down the types of things written on the blades of European swords into a few categories. First, religious references or prayers. At first thought it might seem incongruous to have religious markings on a weapon, but when you realize that drawing a sword in earnest came with the very real possibility that it was the last thing you might ever do, it makes more sense.These invocations are often pleas for divine mercy rather than bellicose expressions of fervor, though those also exist. 

In earlier medieval swords inscriptions are frequently very confusing or don't make sense. There are many words misspelled and strange (to us) abbreviations abound. This is particularly the case in times and places where most people were illiterate and in which the person inscribing the blade was probably just copying something someone else had written down without being able to read themselves. In those cases the writing was probably more akin to a magical device or symbol than something like a modern makers mark. In fact, prior to the Renaissance it was rather uncommon for craftspeople to sign objects that they made and if there was a name on the blade it was more likely to be the name of the person who bought the blade or of the person they served such as a king or lord.

As always, our swords and other weapons are entirely made by us, by hand, at our shop in Minneapolis, MN. Sword blades are hand ground of 6150 carbon steel, hardened and tempered to 50-52 Rockwell. All of our products are made to look, feel, and function just like the historical originals on which they are based. Arms and Armor is dedicated to quality and authenticity. For over four decades we have worked with museums, collectors, and scholars around the world to develop a deep understanding of European weapons; knowledge we use to make products that exemplify the finest qualities of the very best historic pieces. When we select historic items to reproduce, being pretty isn't enough, they have to move with grace and beauty, and beg to be used when in the hand. These are pieces that feel as good as they look, and that work as well as they feel. Our mission is to craft items that recreate the look, feel, and function of the best historic originals.

Check out our website to see all of our awesome products, custom projects, and hundreds of blog posts here:
https://www.arms-n-armor.com

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Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at many HEMA events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985