He produced reams of architectural manuscripts, forging a pioneering relationship between form and function that would form the next generation of architects, including august names like Frank Lloyd-Wright. A flamboyant restorer of dozens of France’s greatest medieval landmarks, he renovated Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral in the 1860s as well as the magnificent cité walls of Carcasonne. (Curiosity): The Tragically Obscure Viollet-le-Duc It’d be a fantastic addition to a re-enactment impression of a 14 th -century knight, or to a LARP costume for a brave paladin or warrior. The Duke’s Sword is a rare object: a new medieval sword, based upon the old but incorporating centuries of innovation. It truly is a marvel of design and manufacture.

This means that the Duke Sword moves like a snake, feeling absolutely weightless in your hand and shifting with lightning-speed. The large wheel-pommel his heavier than you might expect on an inferior, mass-produced reproduction weapon: that’s because Darksword’s expert smiths have carefully weighted it so as to move the point-of-balance of the sword right down to the sword’s crossguard. The grip is made from wet-formed leather.īut the Duke Sword’s pommel has a trick up its sleeve.

This means all of the parts are threaded onto the tang of the blade, and then the protruding tip of the tang is hammered flat, securing the hilt firmly to the blade and resulting in a fully battle-ready weapon, capable of being used safely. The hilt of the Duke Sword is made from tough mild steel, and is made with a full-tang, peened construction. The blade of our Duke Sword is made from highly resilient 5160 spring steel, dual-tempered to 60 HRC at the edge (48-50 HRC at the core) – this means that it is a fully-functional, resilient blade capable of taking (and dealing out) the rough and tumble of light combat and re-enactment use. Such weapons became popular in the 13 th and early 14 th centuries, with the improvement of chainmail and the appearance of transitional forms of armor that began to introduce elements of plate: such a stiff cutting-and-thrusting sword could work equally well to burst mail as to deliver concussive blows or weak-point thrusts against a more armored opponent. The blade of our Duke Sword is a true classic: a slender Oakeshott Type XIV arming sword blade, with a stiff diamond cross-section, a steady even taper almost to the point of the narrow blade and a broad shallow fuller. The Encyclopédie ’s precise almost blueprint-like illustrations have given Darksword Armory fantastic material from which to make a fitting tribute to Viollet-le-Duc: the Duke Sword. His breathtaking Encyclopédie Médiévale is a towering work of medieval scholarship, when the academic discipline had not yet even entered infancy. (About): A Sword Lovingly Designed from a Hidden Gem of 19 th -Century MedievalismĮugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc is not a household name in the Anglosphere, but by any measure of justice he should be.

Medieval manuscripts dual blade