How did MEDIEVAL SWORDS survive? What can their condition tell us? With

[@scholagladiatoria]

Discussing with the @RoyalArmouriesMuseum Curator of European Edged Weapons, Iason Tzouriadis, how ancient weapons survived, and how we can read their history from their condition. Royal Armouries swords at Museum Replicas Limited (USA): bit.ly/3V9MGeV Royal Armouries Shop (UK): shop.royalarmouries.org/collections/windlass-swords

[@RoyalArmouriesMuseum]

Great video Matt! Loved having you visit us ⚔

[@Gorboduc]

I'm fascinated at how "everyday" this sort of thing was at one time, and fairly recently at that. When the Eglinton Tournament was held in 1839, lots of the competitors basically got their armor and weapons by just rummaging around in their attics, where great great great great grandpa's cuirass had been hanging on a peg for three centuries or so. "In our halls is hung armoury of the invincible knights of old" was a once tangible fact rather than a poetic metaphor.

[@edi9892]

In my first flat, I put two swords on the wall. They were brand new Albion Kingmaker. It only took three months for the backside of the pommel to turn red from rust! It was an interior wall and far from windows or anything related to plumbing. It rusted that bad despite being oiled! I polished it (huge work and didn't get rid of all the rust) and it instantly rusted again! I had to buy renaissance wax to prevent my sword from disappearing!

[@scholagladiatoria]

Atmosphere in houses is weird and complex - there is one corner of my garage where things rust, but not in the rest of the garage. I think it's something to do with different temperatures meeting and causing condensation.

[@TijmenHatesads]

It could be moisture, but I've also seen brake dust deposit on metal things and cause them to rust.

[@tomhossain2099]

Generally places where animals live end up wet because we breath out wet air

[@allangibson8494]

Caustic vapours from lime mortar could cause similar effects…

[@Marcus1293]

Just checking, if you are still Matt Easton.

[@trollfiddler]

Nowadays I expect him to say "I've been Nosferatu" 😆

[@TijmenHatesads]

As you can see this video is mirrored, making him Gloss Weston. Next video will be on lightsabers.

[@bushnut8305]

He does have a certain look, doesn't he...?

[@peterlynchchannel]

Is he the owner of Cat Easton?

[@stretch3281]

​@@trollfiddlerlol 😅😂😂

[@FiliiMartis]

Ok, this is beautiful! I love this type of content. As an idea for you to consider: please make videos like this when you pass by Leeds (and it seems you do this quite often). Just pick three swords from the collection and talk about them. Maybe it will even help you to gauge which swords appeal to people for the 3rd batch of reproductions. Just saying...

[@mistercroc9407]

Very interesting stuff, these interviews/convos are awesome.

[@wolfpac4934]

Thank you gentleman for an excellent video. What I particularly liked was the analytical approach to these swords. I am an archaeologist and as archaeologists, we can never say for sure with absolute certainty. I also liked that caveat. Please keep doing these videos

[@michaelshelton5488]

Jonathan Ferguson and Ian McCollum should collaborate on official Royal Armouries reproductions of historical guns

[@scholagladiatoria]

Jeez, with Pietta or Uberti! That would be so amazing.

[@evenjohansen4584]

😳Hoooh! Do you _want_ the universe to explode from awesomeness?!

[@Mulvers]

Really enjoyed these videos with Iason. Being local to Leeds and having used that brilliant library for research quite a few times, it's lovely to see a KZbinr Historian I like also being there 😄

[@arislabos4559]

Amazing video and so many interesting facts. Also, it is always good to see a fellow Greek "blade enthusiast" and such a brilliant scholar.

[@GrantHendrick]

Very interesting commentary about how swords survived.

[@basilbrushbooshieboosh5302]

Marvellous Matt. Love your shows like this.

[@tiltskillet7085]

Great video. I suspect isn't going to be the most popular focus, but I enjoy it when you go more into archaeology. Silly question: Is there a Curator of European Blunt Weapons?

[@-RONNIE]

Thanks for the video & information ⚔️

[@XVI_Legion]

Super interesting videos, great showcase of the swords and knowledge.

[@windalfalatar333]

What is the opposite of a fuller called? The third sword you demonstrated has this. I really love these videos when you discuss matters with other experts (such as Toby Capwell and this chap).

[@windalfalatar333]

Please, Matt, what is the opposite of a fuller? Sorry for insisting, but it's my autism acting up.

[@dustronyt4565]

it's not the opposite of a fuller, it's just no fuller. This arming sword has flattened diamond cross-section, so it's really just one of it's edges that wasn't removed cause no fuller was made

[@windalfalatar333]

@@dustronyt4565 I see. Being an edge of the diamond section, could it then be termed a 'bevel'?

[@KlausBeckEwerhardy]

That was awfully interesting. Thanks for that.

[@polymathart]

We need a deep dive into Narsil: its origin, its design, its battle damage, how it kept its edge after thousands of years, and how it was reforged into Anduril.

[@jakeshaw4952]

Already done.

[@ulfhedtyrsson]

More importantly, how they perfectly fabricated and forge welded shards of the blade together into the same sword by beating on them at a dull red heat that wouldn't even dent good steel at those temperatures. No wonder dwarves are so salty. Elves can just magically cold forge weld steel like nothing despite the dwarves being of Aulë the Smith god. Not fair bro.

[@tl8211]

@@ulfhedtyrsson The solution is easy: it's not the old sword. They got a new sword and just told Aragorn it was the old one LOL

[@Suillibhain]

It wasn't real. It was a story. Tolkien wasn't a conservationist that I am aware of. Let fiction be fiction. Read it for the story it tells, not for its science. Fiction isn't science, contrary to the musings of the conspiracy and Peudoscientist idiots (cough... Gram Hancock... cough)

[@HobieH3]

Iason has quite an unusual accent. He sounds like 3 different people. Probably a very interesting person.

[@ryankolick4117]

A really cool sword I think to talk about is in the royal armories in Leeds (hint hint) it's a "falchion" that looks to be made by modifying an old arming sword

[@SeanCrosser]

The chape holding moisture explains why my bastard sword, that I store upright in my room, has corrosion develop right above the tip. Good to know!

[@Intranetusa]

Great video on an interesting topic that is rarely discussed. I wonder how much corrosion and rust affects historical artifacts that are very old (eg. 2000+ year old swords) even if they look like they're in decent condition. Do modern sword replica makers add a lot of additional iron/steel mass to swords to take into account the original artifact's potential lost material from rust and corrosion?

[@thekaxmax]

A lot. It's why ones that aren't corroded much are so celebrated

[@titanscerw]

Compare eg stats of Royal Armouries specific items IX.144 IX.2141 IX.2638 stats on their respective Royal Armouries websites with stats on their todays replikas it is not by much of difference in case of well preserved less corroded pieces. Hope that helps. +][+

[@bcscenery9254]

So, Excalibur could be perfectly preserved in the mud of the Dozmary Pool ?

[@boydgrandy5769]

The localized pitting on the Italian short sword could be a result of the manner by which it was displayed. Using some sort of sleeve or clamp at the first quarter of the blade, made of brass or bronze say, could have resulted in electrolytic corrosion that made the steel of the blade the sacrificial anode of the circuit. Moisture (condensation) would have accelerated the process.

[@dougsinthailand7176]

Requesting captioning for us hard of hearing veterans. Thank you!

[@311Bob]

I wonder if any families still hold a family's sword from medieval times and who has the oldest.

[@theeddorian]

The Cinquedea was perhaps on a mantle, resting loosely in the scabbard, with the corroded edge of the blade downward.

[@TristanBehrens]

However both edges were corroded on opposite faces

[@guyplachy9688]

"The Cinquedea was perhaps on a mantle, resting loosely in the scabbard, with the corroded edge of the blade downward."

[@TristanBehrens]

@@guyplachy9688 My bad, however the explanation still doesn't quite check out as a mantle is likely to be too dry for the kind of corrosion as a result of the scabbard design that Matt is referring to.

[@michaelwhite8031]

These have been great videos

[@ReedCBowman]

The cinquedea's pattern of pitting could indicate it was hung on the wall in its chaped scabbard, but hung at an angle, say 30 to 45 degrees off from horizontal, with the pitted side downward where the water collected. I'm thinking of some of the weapon displays at places like Hampton Court (IIRC) where they'll have a whole rosette of twenty or thirty swords or polearms or guns hanging on the wall.

[@HypocriticYT]

Leather scabbard can deteriorate and miss grow in it keeping it damp

[@mrunique4871]

Oooooooh , not medieval swords again . Of course , I'm going to have to watch it now I'm here though lol 😄

[@HypocriticYT]

Blades can be covered in hard black corrosion and later the corrosion removed. Most swords have been completely covered in corrosion and probably several times between cleanings.

[@billberg1264]

I was immensely confused by the dao until you referred to it as a dao. With it displayed on a table next to two clearly European swords, and possessing a blade that seemed plausible for a European sword, I just kind of assumed it was European. But then that handle. I guess I'm a little disappointed that it didn't turn out to be some sort of double-edged messer. I've always kind of wished those existed. Well, it seems the Elmslie type 5b has once again successfully defended its place as my favorite European sword.

[@CISCambridge]

Do you mean the cinquedea? Italian 15/16th century.

[@billberg1264]

@@CISCambridge Apparently, yes. It sounded to me like he was saying "Qin [something or another] dao." If I had remembered how long ago the Qin dynasty was, I may have been more credulous.

[@DogsaladSalad]

i would love to know how many surviving swords are slightly bent! seemingly a lot of them have a bend in the blade. was that normal or was that just from age and mistreatment?

[@wrekced]

At about 23:50 you spoke about the engraving on the recasso of that sword from the other video and it made me wonder (again) what you might see if you were to use a magnaflux system on that sword. Magnaflux is non-destructive and could show details of the engraving that are not visible anymore. They use magnaflux systems to recover erased serial numbers off guns and other metal items in crime investigations. Its not 100% effective at revealing hidden markings, but I bet you could get a pretty good idea of what the engraving looked like originally if you used that method. Since the method is basically to put oil/fluid with very fine steel particles in it on the surface to be tested, then expose the object to a strong, evenly distributed magnetic field, there is very little risk to the sword. There are vehicle repair shops that have magnaflux systems for finding hidden cracks in things like cylinder heads and engine blocks. You could probably find a shop that would let/help you use their equipment to look at that sword in exchange for some publicity. I think it would be really cool to see the whole engraving on that sword. I bet that having access to a magnaflux system would be very usefull because it could (non-destructively) reveal hidden details on other items as well.

[@scholagladiatoria]

Yes it might work, I honestly don't know much about it. I have only heard of them a few times in regards to criminal investigations.

[@ulfhedtyrsson]

Awesome

[@matthewdavies2057]

Would liquid automotive wax be as protective as museum wax on sword blades?

[@scholagladiatoria]

I have absolutely no idea, sorry!

[@katecapek3116]

FWIW, carnauba based automotive paste wax works well on antique black iron (circa 1880 and more recent).

[@Hangman404]

Hi Matt, thanks for the interesting video. A related topic that I would be very interested in is the wear and tear caused by combat and what it can tell us about the techniques and intensity of a fight. Is it possible to determine how sharp different parts of a blade actually were in comparison to modern blades?

[@rogerlafrance6355]

Survival is rare considering, they were pulled off the wall and reworked to serve in the latest war or adventure for many hundreds of years.

[@allangibson8494]

Putting anything on a ship tends to be bad for long term survival…

[@TheUncleRuckus]

Hmm Idk... I can't tell if you are or aren't Matt Easton or if you'll continue to be 🤔

[@jancello]

The corrosion on the cinquedea blade seems to be close to the centre of percussion, is it possible that it has been enhanced by microscopic damage resulting from impacts on targets (either from combat or practice in its historical context, or from messing around by later collectors)?

[@Intranetusa]

What is up with all these weird spam bots popping up? I haven't seen them on other Scholagladitoria videos before. Anyways, great video on an interesting topic.

[@thekaxmax]

There are spambots? Check your security

[@johanneszimmermann3299]

Lots of spam bots.

[@robthompson1399]

I recont that cinquedea was displayed protruding from behind a sheild on a wall, without inspection, nobody would know it was rusting away 🤷‍♂️

[@georgysb]

Now I'm interested if at the mile deep bottom of the Black Sea iron objects are well preserved due to anaerobic condition despite the salt water. Or hydrogen sulfide reach salt water agressively dissolves iron?

[@Joe-Przybranowski]

I was intrigued by your question so I looked it up and discovered the answer 'sometimes'. Apparently if the oxygen is low enough metal won't corrode quickly regardless of salt levels.

[@richardmcginnis5344]

i really like that short fat one, i have a few swords but they're single edge mostly asian origin i would love to put one of those fat little swords on my wall

[@nickl7488]

about very localised heavy corrosion, it's usually dissimilar metal corrosion, so the blade might have been touching some copper alloy, tin or lead for several decades at some point

[@allangibson8494]

Variation in carbon content in the blade has an impact too - more carbon equals faster corrosion.

[@tonyoliver2750]

Are swords in churches sometimes beaten into ploughshares and pruninghooks? Asking for my friend Isaiah.

[@balaam_7087]

Bro just rest at a bonfire and they get repaired automatically

[@Timbyte]

interesting stuff

[@Dave_0993_I]

13:00 a brass chape would react chemically with a ferris blade.

[@john-paulsilke893]

Matt has most certainly sold more swords in the last five years than the armoury currently has stored. Not to mention his private collection in many ways quite likely is superior to the Royal Armoury’s.

[@Kanner111]

I did not really follow the line of argument about the patterning on the sword near the end of the scabbard, specifically why the metal end of the scabbard protects the tip of the sword and then the patterning tends to happen just above that. (Not disputing any of this, just none the wiser as to what is happening here).

[@SeanCrosser]

5:10 huh, that's an arabic script inscription on that blade. 8:41 ah alright, inscribed when they were obtained by the arsenal

[@FiliiMartis]

This is funny, at this point, half of the comment are butt bots.

[@JasonPollington-s6g]

Why no stand alone videos of your second batch?

[@StephenPoor]

That scottish guy just couldn't wait to interrupt.

[@Eckister]

complete and absolute off-topic, but does everyone at the Royal Armories follow a dress code, or is this just for the cameras? don't get me wrong - I get that they are a reknowned institution of learning, but surely a curator (for whom it is possible not to come into much contact with any other person during a day) could have some leniency, no?

[@karllambert2350]

Blood rusts

[@Arhanar-xg9rf]

Де субтитри??? 🤔

[@j-uw8gx]

Some archeologist is 500 years is going to love the Soviets for drowning everything in cosmoline.

[@windalfalatar333]

If a dead knight lay with his lady under a stone effigy slab in the church, didn't the corpse or corpses very quickly start smelling? It seems people in the Middle Ages weren't as anal-retentive about odours as modern man, but it seems to me that the situation could have become almost unbearable. Did people just put on a brave face because it had been the lord of the manor and he was considered worthy of respect? Then again we're talking about an age when they appear to have used human urine and excrement for lots of things and that all the disgusting jobs from history Sir Tony Robinson tried out in his documentary series often had something to do with getting into contact with excrement (such as building Anglo-Saxon huts from feces) or urine (working as a tanner).

[@allangibson8494]

Knight and the like were wrapped in sear cloth (beeswax saturated cloth) after the entrails were removed (similar to Egyptian mummies). They were then wrapped in lead and the joints soldered. Eventually the lead will rupture but that was frequently centuries after interment. In the 1800’s rather disembowelment, chemical preservatives (like formaldehyde and alcohol) came to be used.

[@Rhaegar.Targaryen]

Witcher sword is real! :D

[@plasmaburndeath]

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸, 𝗻𝗼 𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗦? 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 ;-) Seriously though keep up the good work.

[@HypocriticYT]

Deaccession these swords and I’ll care for them 😂

[@JamesfrederickCurrie-c7m]

Too boring, blah blah blah blah, tell a bloody story, how can you have all these historical, wonderful, weapons, weilded by hero's and villains, and turn it into, misery, like two janitors, get someone interesting, funny to help you, say all that crap, to each other at home, off air, instead of inflicting it on us, wave the swords, around, chase the boring frog, with a rapier maybe a sabre,!.

[@vulpesvulpes5177]

You guys must work in an incredibly second-guessed business! I’ve not heard stuttering and hemming and hawing like this in a long time. Got an opinion? State it. Clear and loud. No need to fret over every word you utter. Somebody won’t like it. That’s why we have debates. Matts not too bad. This other guy is killing me!

[@michaelcote1942]

NO CAPTIONS! Thumb Down.