Wallace Sword

According to researchers, after the execution of William Wallace in 1305, the sword was transferred to the commandant of the castle of Dumbarton, John de Mentate, although there is no written evidence of this. The next mention of the fate of the weapon occurs two hundred years later, in 1505, when the King of Scotland, James IV, instructed to allocate 26 shillings to the gunsmith for the manufacture of a new handle and pommel for Wallace's sword with reinforcing the fastening of these elements, as well as the scabbard and belt. The old ones are original, according to legend, after the Battle of Stirling Bridge, they were made of the dried skin of Hugh Cressingham, an English treasurer and publican , who had torn three skins from the highlanders and thus received a cruel retribution ^[3] . No new written references to the sword will be found for another three centuries. It is further known that, on the instructions of Prime Minister Arthur Wellington, in 1825 he was sent to the Royal Arsenal of the Tower of London for repair, and in 1875, according to a letter from the War Department, a sword was submitted to a certain Samuel Meirik for examination. Dr. Meyrik was an expert on ancient swords, but estimated his age, exploring primarily the mounts of the hilt, which were replaced with new ones at the beginning of the 16th century as directed by Jacob IV. Thus, the expert concluded that the time of the manufacture of the sword could not be dated before 1500. But he did not take into account the age of the blade itself, whose belonging to the Wallace sword from his contemporaries, apparently, was not in doubt ^[1] . In the early 1880s, William Wallace biographer Charles Rogers began an active correspondence with the leadership of the War Department and ensured that in 1888 the historical relic was moved to the Wallace Monument ^[2] .

On the origin of the sword, exhibited at the Wallace Monument, for many decades there have been many discussions. The first argument of opponents of authenticity: the blade does not have a dol - an obligatory element of a sword of the XIII type according to Oakeshott's typology ^[4] (with the exception of ceremonial weapons). Others relate mainly to the hilt: the handle of the hilt of the weapon exhibited at the Wallace Monument is significantly longer than that of old Scottish swords; the guard has characteristic bends towards the blade; the top is made in the shape of an onion ^[1] , in contrast to the forms of a Brazil nut or disk traditional for the end of the 13th century.

Dr. David Caldwell of the National Museum of Scotland believes that the so-called “Wallace Sword” is a weapon typical of the sixteenth century. Attention was first drawn to him at Dumbarton Castle when he was visited by the poet William Wordsworth in 1803. One of the soldiers of the garrison said that this is Wallace’s weapon. This was the first time a sword was mentioned in connection with the name of a heroic Scot. Nevertheless, from the point of view of Dr. Caldwell, it does not matter whether the sword belonged to Wallace or not: now it is, first and foremost, a legend. In the minds of the Scots, this large, outwardly ascetic blade is an excellent expression of the spirit of a national hero ^[5] .

• Oakeshott, E. Sword in the Age of Chivalry. Classification, typology, description = The Sword in the Age Chivalry. - M .: Centerpolygraph, 2007 .-- 224 p. - ISBN 978-5-9524-3315-1 .