17th century (?) sword blade

[fernando]

Originally Posted by corrado26

Who is "Cristo"? I never saw a name like this on a blade
corrado26

My mistake; i meant to write "Christo". I was influenced by the term in portuguese being "Cristo" ... some guy i know . But my point was that i didn't discern the word "Pro" in the inscription, as neither it usually see it in such motto out there.


Also i wouldn't imagine this blade being from the 17th century, rather than from the 18th.



.

[Philip]

The blade could well be 17th cent. I have in my collection a Polish saber (ex-Salm-Reifferscheidt zu Schloss Dyck, E.36, dated mid-17th cent. per the Ehrenthal catalogue) with very similar motifs, inscriptions, and font on its blade. A similar decorative style, along with Latin inscriptions, can also be found on a rare example of a European blade marked Me fecit Solingen 1633 [or 1635, last digit illegible] in Japanese mountings, ex-King Frederick VII of Denmark collection, now in the Nationalmuseum Kobenhavn (inv. no. AB 56 NMK), published in Vaabenhistoriske Aarboger XVI (1970), pp 163-71.

[Marcus den toom]

The "fuller" are also inscribed, one side seems to read "si deus pro nobis quis contra nos" which translates to "If God be for us who can be against us?"

also a reference
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?p=209301

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Marcus den toom

The "fuller" are also inscribed, one side seems to read "si deus pro nobis quis contra nos" which translates to "If God be for us who can be against us?"

This saying, along with "pro Christo et Patria" and "Vincere aut mori" are also on the blade of the Polish saber I referenced above.

It is likely that the style of decoration was widely copied by artisans working in different parts of Europe, as were the "running wolf" mark and other symbols on other blades. The name Solingen on the above-referenced blade in katana fittings might not indicate its true origin. The author of the Vaabenhistoriker Aarboger article opines that this blade, despite its markings, could well be Dutch as well as German. The clumsily-scribed and often misspelled wording on many similar specimens points to pattern-book copying by artisans whose fluency or literacy in Latin left something to be desired.