Weapons - Arming sword
Fire gilded sword made of silver, iron, wood and plum blue silk velvet
Size: sword and scabbard: 101 x 13 cm; sword: 96 x 13 cm, D. 4.8 cm; scabbard: 87.5 x 10.4 cm, D. 2 cm
Origin and time: Algeria, circa 1530
KHM (Museum of Fine Arts), Vienna
Inv. No. HJRK_C_180 (Collection of Arms and Armour)
This North African arming sword with an Italian blade dates back to the 15th century and is presumably a loot of the Barbary Pirates who were fighting Christian fleets on behalf of the Ottoman sultan.
The arming sword - sometimes also referred to as knight's or knightly sword - is the single handed cruciform sword of the High Middle Ages, commonly used between ca. 1000 and 1500. It was typically worn with a shield or a buckler.
