Extremely Rare Medieval Sword in 'Outstanding Condition'

An ancient sword from the medieval era that was found last year is now on display for the first time ever.

The sword, which was found in surprisingly good condition in June 2022, is now open to public viewing at the Musée de Picardie in Amiens, France.

It was discovered at an excavation site in Amiens, at the bottom of a ditch filled in the 15th century. The sword itself is thought to have been made sometime between 1325 and 1355. It was found alongside a wooden handle and leather casing, which were also in great condition, but too delicate to be displayed.

"Coming out of the ancient trenches of the town of Amiens, completed in the 15th century, this sword is in such an outstanding condition that the leather and wood that originally complemented it could have been taken with it," the Musée de Picardie wrote in a translated Facebook post announcing the sword's display.

"However, their state of fragility does not allow them to be presented. The handle was surrounded by two very thin wooden insoles, covered with rope for better grip. A leather hat ensured the stability of the guard and protected the entrance of the kiln from rain. The good preservation of these elements suggests that, if the sword had been rejected with its sheath, traces of it would have been observed. The current curve profile of the blade is due to the conditions of its release. So this is a naked, but straight sword, that was abandoned in the medieval trenches of Amiens before the 15th century."

The sword was found to be around 38 inches long and weigh 1.8 pounds, and is thought to be a versatile weapon, used to both swipe at opponents and defend against blows.

"The discovery of a complete sword is a relatively rare event in medieval archeology. If most of the known swords come from rivers, Amiens' one has the peculiarity of having been found during an archaeological excavation on the ground," the museum's Facebook post reads.

According to the museum, X-ray scans revealed that there were several inscriptions carved into the blade, a common trait of medieval swords from this era.

"They can be the signature of the workshop that made the weapon or have a protective function with a religious connotation. The interpretation remains enigmatic because these inscriptions often combine symbols and short text," the post said.

"This discovery is exceptional for two reasons," Richard Jonvel, an archeologist who helped find the sword, told local media 3 Hauts-de-France. "The archaeological context is known and the organic constituent elements of the sword are present. There are plenty of other swords that were found in the 19th and 20th centuries, except that we never know where exactly they came from and in what context they were found discovered in the Seine in 2018 and 2022, a medieval sword that looks very similar to that of Amiens, but during dredging.

"So these were swords that had been lost in the river and probably far from where they were lost, washed away by the water. On the other hand, this sword, it is the enormous luck that we have, it is that we know that it comes from the defensive ditch of the city. We know the place and in addition, we know that this ditch was definitively abandoned at the very end of the 15th century, in the 1480s and this sword was necessarily prior to the abandonment of this ditch in the city."

Jonvel said that the reason for the sword's good condition is that it was buried within peat soil and in a humid environment, which helped to preserve it.

"The interest of the humid environment is to preserve organic materials. This means that in addition to the sword, which was made of iron and copper alloy for the pommel, we found at the level of the handle, the two strips of wood, the leather, and the negative trace of the cord which came to enclose the handle, therefore the leather element which was in contact with the hand" he said.

"These organic elements were found in excavations, which is extremely rare. Specialists in medieval archaeology, like Nicolas Portet, who made very advanced studies on this sword, had only two examples, in Denmark and Finland."

The sword will be on display at the museum until early July but will remain in Amiens for the next five years.

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