Sword and the Crucible

A History of the Metallurgy of European Swords up to the 16th Century

AvAlan Williams

Inbunden, Engelska, 2012

Del 77 i serien History of Warfare

3 587 kr

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Beskrivning

The sword was the most important of weapons, the symbol of the warrior, not to mention the badge of a officer and a gentleman. Much has been written about the artistic and historical significance of the sword, but outside specialised publications, relatively little about its metallurgy, and that often confined to a particular group. This book aims to tell the story of the making of iron and steel swords from the first Celtic examples through the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. The results of the microscopic examination of over a hundred swords by the author and other archaeometallurgists are given and explained in terms of the materials available in Europe.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2012-05-03
Mått:155 x 235 x 23 mm
Vikt:596 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:History of Warfare
Antal sidor:292
Förlag:Brill
ISBN:9789004227835

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Mer om författaren

Alan R.Williams, PhD (1974) in History of Science, University of Manchester, now works as an Archaeometallurgist in the Wallace Collection, London. He has published extensively on the metallurgy of swords and armour and is the author of The Knight and the Blast Furnace (2003)

Innehållsförteckning

Preface . . . viiPART ONE: THE FIRST METALS1. The Extraction of the First Metals. . . 32. The Smelting of Iron and the Production of Steel . . . 123. Different Ways of Making Steel—Eastern and Western Steelmaking. . . 24PART TWO: THE FIRST EUROPEAN SWORDS4. Celtic and Roman Swords . . . 495. Pattern-Welding . . . 62PART THREE: THE “DARK” AGES IN EUROPE6. The Revival of Science in Europe . . . 857. The Survival of Technology From the Ancient World . . . 968. Viking-Age Swords and Their Inscriptions . . . 116PART FOUR: STEEL ARMOUR AND SWORDS9. The Invention of the Blast Furnace and Finery . . . 18710. Bloomery Steel and the Development of All-Steel Swords after 1400 . . . 20211. The Mass-Production of Steel for Swords and Armour . . . 21012. The Decoration of Swords by Etching and Gilding . . . 22313. Medieval European swords after 1000 . . . 230Further reading . . . 287Index . . . 291