A Cultural History of the Medieval Sword

A Cultural History of the Medieval Sword PDF Author: Robert W. Jones
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1837650365
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
This study takes the sword beyond it functional role as a tool for killing, considering it as a cultural artifact and the broader meaning and significance it had to its bearer.

A Cultural History of the Medieval Sword

A Cultural History of the Medieval Sword PDF Author: Robert W. Jones
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1837650365
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
This study takes the sword beyond it functional role as a tool for killing, considering it as a cultural artifact and the broader meaning and significance it had to its bearer.

Introduction to Early Medieval Western Europe, 300-900

Introduction to Early Medieval Western Europe, 300-900 PDF Author: Matthew Innes
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415215077
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 552

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Book Description
This comprehensive survey synthesises a quarter of a century of pathbreaking research in an accessible manner for undergraduate students. Matthew Innes combines an account of the historical background of the period with discussion of the social, economic, cultural and political structures within it.

The Sword

The Sword PDF Author: Lisa Deutscher
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783274271
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
A multidisciplinary overview of current research into the enduringly fascinating martial artefact which is the sword.

Living by the Sword

Living by the Sword PDF Author: Kristen Brooke Neuschel
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501752138
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
Sharpen your knowledge of swords with Kristen B. Neuschel as she takes you through a captivating 1,000 years of French and English history. Living by the Sword reveals that warrior culture, with the sword as its ultimate symbol, was deeply rooted in ritual long before the introduction of gunpowder weapons transformed the battlefield. Neuschel argues that objects have agency and that decoding their meaning involves seeing them in motion: bought, sold, exchanged, refurbished, written about, displayed, and used in ceremony. Drawing on evidence about swords (from wills, inventories, records of armories, and treasuries) in the possession of nobles and royalty, she explores the meanings people attached to them from the contexts in which they appeared. These environments included other prestige goods such as tapestries, jewels, and tableware—all used to construct and display status. Living by the Sword draws on an exciting diversity of sources from archaeology, military and social history, literature, and material culture studies to inspire students and educated lay readers (including collectors and reenactors) to stretch the boundaries of what they know as the "war and culture" genre.

The Book of the Sword

The Book of the Sword PDF Author: Sir Richard Francis Burton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description


The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe

The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe PDF Author: Sue Brunning
Publisher: Anglo-Saxon Studies
ISBN: 9781783274062
Category : Swords
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A wide-ranging study of the significance of swords throughout the whole Anglo-Saxon period, offering valuable insights into the meaning of and attitude towards swords. Swords were special in Anglo-Saxon England. Their names, deeds and pedigrees were enshrined in writing. Many were curated for generations, revealed by their worn and mended condition. Few ended their lives as casual discards, placed instead in graves, hoards and watercourses as part of ritualised acts. Contemporary sources leave no doubt that complex social meanings surrounded these weapons, transcending their use on the battlefield; but they have yet to transcend the traditional view that their primary social function was as status symbols. Even now, half a century after the first major study of Anglo-Saxon swords, their wider significance within their world has yet to be fully articulated. This book sets out to meet the challenge. Eschewing modern value judgements, it focuses instead on contemporary perceptions - exploring how those who made, used and experienced swords really felt about them. It takes a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, bringing together insights from art, archaeology and literature. Comparison with Scandinavia adds further nuance, revealing what was (and was not) distinctive of Anglo-Saxon views of these weapons. Far from elite baubles, swords are revealed to have been dynamic "living" artefacts with their own identities, histories and places in social networks - ideas fuelled by their adaptability, durability and unique rolein bloodshed. Sue Brunning is Curator of European Early Medieval Collections at The British Museum.

European Weapons and Armour

European Weapons and Armour PDF Author: Ewart Oakeshott
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 184383720X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
The story of arms in Western Europe from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution. A treasury of information based on solid scholarship, anyone seeking a factual and vivid account of the story of arms from the Renaissance period to the Industrial Revolution will welcome this book. The author chooses as his starting-point the invasion of Italy by France in 1494, which sowed the dragon's teeth of all the successive European wars; the French invasion was to accelerate the trend towards new armaments and new methods of warfare. The authordescribes the development of the handgun and the pike, the use and style of staff-weapons, mace and axe and war-hammer, dagger and dirk and bayonet. He shows how armour attained its full Renaissance splendour and then suffered itssorry and inevitable decline, culminating in the Industrial Revolution, with its far-reaching effects on military armaments. Above all, he follows the long history of the sword, queen of weapons, to the late eighteenth century, when it finally ceased to form a part of a gentleman's every-day wear. Lavishly illustrated. EWART OAKESHOTT was one of the world's leading authorities on the arms and armour of medieval Europe. His other works on the subject include Records of the Medieval Sword and The Sword in the Age of Chivalry.

Constantine's Sword

Constantine's Sword PDF Author: James Carroll
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618219087
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 774

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Book Description
A rare book that combines searing passion with a subject that has affected all of our lives. "Chicago Tribune" Novelist, cultural critic, and former priest James Carroll marries history with memoir as he maps the two-thousand-year course of the Church s battle against Judaism and faces the crisis of faith it has sparked in his own life. Fascinating, brave, and sometimes infuriating ("Time"), this dark history is more than a chronicle of religion. It is the central tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reaching deep into our culture to create a deeply felt work ("San Francisco Chronicle") as Carroll wrangles with centuries of strife and tragedy to reach a courageous and affecting reckoning with difficult truths."

The Sword and the Crucible

The Sword and the Crucible PDF Author: Alan Williams
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004229337
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The sword was the most important of weapons, the symbol of the warrior, not to mention the badge of a officer and a gentleman. Much has been written about the artistic and historical significance of the sword, but outside specialised publications, relatively little about its metallurgy, and that often confined to a particular group. This book aims to tell the story of the making of iron and steel swords from the first Celtic examples through the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. The results of the microscopic examination of over a hundred swords by the author and other archaeometallurgists are given and explained in terms of the materials available in Europe.

Records of the Medieval Sword

Records of the Medieval Sword PDF Author: Ewart Oakeshott
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780851155661
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
An extensive and thorough study of the origins, development and usage of the glamorous two-edged knightly sword of the European middle ages, with a complete typology. Spanning the period from the great migrations to the Renaissance, this book presents a selection from a very large body of photographs and research and gives a full and detailed record of the swords of that turbulent time.