Get Discount 5% Off
Subscribe to our newsletters now and stay up-to-date with new arrivals, updates and deals.
A Cultural History of the Medieval Sword: Power, Piety and Play
The sword is an important and multi-faceted symbol of military power, royal and communal authority, religion and...
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
SKU:
9781837650361
Product Type:
Books
Please hurry! Only 0 left in stock
10 customers are viewing this product
Couldn't load pickup availability
The sword is an important and multi-faceted symbol of military power, royal and communal authority, religion and mysticism. This study takes the sword beyond its functional role as a tool for killing, considering it as a cultural artefact, and the broader meaning and significance it had to its bearer. It should be on the bookshelf of anybody who claims to be interested in the importance of the sword in medieval life and thought and their cultural significance in the past - and present. Robert Woosnam-Savage, Royal Armouries. We see the sword as an object of nobility and status, a mystical artefact, imbued with power and symbolism. It is Roland's Durendal, Arthur's Excalibur, Aragorn's Narsil. A thing of beauty, its blade flashes in the sun, and its hilt gleams with opulent decoration. Yet this beauty belies a bloody function, for it is also a weapon that appears crude and brutal, requiring great strength to wield: cleaving armour, flesh, and bone.
This wide-ranging book uncovers the breadth of the sword's place within the culture of high medieval Europe. Encompassing swords both real and imagined, physical, and in art and literature, it shows them as a powerful symbol of authority and legitimacy. It looks at the practicalities of the sword, including its production, as well as challenging our preconceptions about when and where it was used. In doing so, it reveals a far less familiar culture of swordsmanship, beyond the elite, in which swordplay was an entertainment, taught in the fencing school by masters such as Lichtenauer, Talhoffer, and Fiore, and codified in fencing manuals, or fechtbücher. The book also considers how our modern attempts to reconstruct medieval swordsmanship on screen, and in re-enactment and Historical European Martial Arts (or HEMA), shape, and have been shaped by, our preconceptions of the sword. As a whole, the weapon is shown to be at once far more mundane, and yet just as special, as we imagine it.
Author: Robert W. Jones
Publisher: Boydell Press
Published: 05/23/2023
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.60h x 6.70w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781837650361
This wide-ranging book uncovers the breadth of the sword's place within the culture of high medieval Europe. Encompassing swords both real and imagined, physical, and in art and literature, it shows them as a powerful symbol of authority and legitimacy. It looks at the practicalities of the sword, including its production, as well as challenging our preconceptions about when and where it was used. In doing so, it reveals a far less familiar culture of swordsmanship, beyond the elite, in which swordplay was an entertainment, taught in the fencing school by masters such as Lichtenauer, Talhoffer, and Fiore, and codified in fencing manuals, or fechtbücher. The book also considers how our modern attempts to reconstruct medieval swordsmanship on screen, and in re-enactment and Historical European Martial Arts (or HEMA), shape, and have been shaped by, our preconceptions of the sword. As a whole, the weapon is shown to be at once far more mundane, and yet just as special, as we imagine it.
Author: Robert W. Jones
Publisher: Boydell Press
Published: 05/23/2023
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.60h x 6.70w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781837650361
Returns Policy
You may return most new, unopened items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. We'll also pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.).
You should expect to receive your refund within four weeks of giving your package to the return shipper, however, in many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper (5 to 10 business days), the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it (3 to 5 business days), and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request (5 to 10 business days).
If you need to return an item, simply login to your account, view the order using the "Complete Orders" link under the My Account menu and click the Return Item(s) button. We'll notify you via e-mail of your refund once we've received and processed the returned item.
Shipping
We can ship to virtually any address in the world. Note that there are restrictions on some products, and some products cannot be shipped to international destinations.
When you place an order, we will estimate shipping and delivery dates for you based on the availability of your items and the shipping options you choose. Depending on the shipping provider you choose, shipping date estimates may appear on the shipping quotes page.
Please also note that the shipping rates for many items we sell are weight-based. The weight of any such item can be found on its detail page. To reflect the policies of the shipping companies we use, all weights will be rounded up to the next full pound.
Related Products
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Recently Viewed Products
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
Example product title
- BD$69.94 BMD
- BD$69.94 BMD
- Unit price
- per
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.