Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Wallachian Swords of the 15th Century: What Types?

kronckew · 12th July 2009, 06:24 AM

dates are always confusing me, 1476 is the last quarter of the 15th century and only 24 years from the 16th century - which starts in 1500, so i had lept at the assumption that the changes over that short a period would not have been great. wallachia had been under mongol rule until the early 1300's (14th century) when hungary took over, so curved mongolian style swords would possibly be familiar objects. the area involved:

found this partial image of a statue of him holding a sword that is straight however. not found any details on the date of the statue

this one shows vlad recieving turkish envoys, seems to show him wearing a sabre very like the charlemagne/attilla/9c kronckew repro.

again, no date info on painting, may have been dramatic license of a later artist. national gallery bucharest.

cropped/sharpened section:

he has a mace in this one

edited:found a better photo, shows a sword

this one looks to be fairly recent, no sword visible, is that his coat of arms?

of course attempts to photograph him in later years after his death were unsuccessful as his image cannot be photographed or seen in a mirror

(i personally suspect that as his head was removed and sent to the turkish sultan in instanbul, where it was displayed, fittingly, impailed on a spike, that his transformation into a classical vampire would have been impossible. severing the head (or spine) was one of the traditional ways to kill one. he would have made a great headless horseman tho, ichabod crane would have loved to meet him)

12th July 2009, 06:24 AM	#4
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,150	dates are always confusing me, 1476 is the last quarter of the 15th century and only 24 years from the 16th century - which starts in 1500, so i had lept at the assumption that the changes over that short a period would not have been great. wallachia had been under mongol rule until the early 1300's (14th century) when hungary took over, so curved mongolian style swords would possibly be familiar objects. the area involved: found this partial image of a statue of him holding a sword that is straight however. not found any details on the date of the statue this one shows vlad recieving turkish envoys, seems to show him wearing a sabre very like the charlemagne/attilla/9c kronckew repro. again, no date info on painting, may have been dramatic license of a later artist. national gallery bucharest. cropped/sharpened section: he has a mace in this one edited:found a better photo, shows a sword this one looks to be fairly recent, no sword visible, is that his coat of arms? of course attempts to photograph him in later years after his death were unsuccessful as his image cannot be photographed or seen in a mirror (i personally suspect that as his head was removed and sent to the turkish sultan in instanbul, where it was displayed, fittingly, impailed on a spike, that his transformation into a classical vampire would have been impossible. severing the head (or spine) was one of the traditional ways to kill one. he would have made a great headless horseman tho, ichabod crane would have loved to meet him) Last edited by kronckew; 12th July 2009 at 07:03 AM.