Late medieval swords from Southeastern Europe

[Teisani]

Regarding the second sword, with Stephen's coat of arms, and your observations:
- the aurochs head coat of arms is pretty typical for Moldova of that period. Agreed, here are some other Moldovan coins from earlier periods.
- the shield with half stripes is also common. Agreed.
- the crescent moon and star/sun... One probable reason would be Stephen's victory over Radu the Handsome of Wallachia (a Draculescu himself) in 1473, battle during which his daughters were taken prisoners. In 1480 Stephen actually marries the youngest of them, Maria Voichiţa, which becomes his third wife.

The problem is regarding the dates He marries her in 1480, yet the coins change the coat of arms from 1480 to something else. I base this on the coins you posted. So, this is puzzling.

A few thoughts on the Basarab dinasty coat of arms (of which the Draculesti and Danesti where branches). According to "Basarabii Valahiei, studiu heraldic si genealogic" 2017 by Tiberiu Frăţilă-Felmer, the shield coat of arms with the sun and crescent moon start with Vladislav II of Wallachia and linked with his raids of Transylvania in 1456. The position of these two elements change according with his political needs. See bellow the papers hypotesized cronology of Basarab heraldry. Coincidentaly, the last time it was used was in 1480 by Basarab IV.

Paper in english here:
https://www.academia.edu/30095489/Ba..._and_genealogy

Oh, and a few fun facts.
- this guy, Balassa Menyhért (Hungarian) also has an aurochs on his coat of arms. http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...5&postcount=27
- I wonder if Poland-Lithuania might also be a source for that shield coat of arms. I don't think it's likely but look here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/C...arnenczyka.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/C...int_768761.jpg

[Teisani]

A few more multi-fullered blades:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...9&postcount=62
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...0&postcount=63

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by Teisani

The problem is regarding the dates He marries her in 1480, yet the coins change the coat of arms from 1480 to something else. I base this on the coins you posted. So, this is puzzling.

The Russian article that I pulled the images of Stephen's coins is here... maybe they say something about the change? I didn't translate the text.

Originally Posted by Teisani

A few thoughts on the Basarab dinasty coat of arms (of which the Draculesti and Danesti where branches)...
Paper in english here:
https://www.academia.edu/30095489/Ba..._and_genealogy

I was reading this too while writing my earlier posts. Surprised to see that the colours of Vlad Dracula's arms are not really known? Many sites claim the Draculesti arms were blue/red/gold, but I don't see what this is based on and the Basarab green/gold bars seem most logical.

Originally Posted by Teisani

I wonder if Poland-Lithuania might also be a source for that shield coat of arms.

The gold double-cross on a blue field belonged to the Polish Jagiellons, and Stephen was a Polish vassal - I don't know if there was a marital link as well. According to the Russian article, the double-cross first appeared on coins of Stephen II (r. 1434-47). Stephen and his family seem to have acquired the French lilies (later modified to a single double-headed lily) from the Angevin kings of Hungary, who divided their arms with the red/white bars of Árpád.