“A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test

In the late 5th century AD, the famous Ostrogoth Theoderic the Great received a truly regal gift from the king of the Warini: he was given highly elaborated swords, richly decorated and able to cut through armour. Their fullers (long grooves along the flat side of the blade to reduce weight and to g...

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Autor principal:	Florian Messner
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	EXARC 2020
Materias:	weapon methodology sword early middle ages late middle ages austria Museums. Collectors and collecting AM1-501 Archaeology CC1-960
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5db860d3fbf54be196b5204b99e15f4f
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:5db860d3fbf54be196b5204b99e15f4f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5db860d3fbf54be196b5204b99e15f4f2021-12-01T14:42:34Z“A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test2212-8956https://doaj.org/article/5db860d3fbf54be196b5204b99e15f4f2020-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10484https://doaj.org/toc/2212-8956In the late 5th century AD, the famous Ostrogoth Theoderic the Great received a truly regal gift from the king of the Warini: he was given highly elaborated swords, richly decorated and able to cut through armour. Their fullers (long grooves along the flat side of the blade to reduce weight and to gain stability, often falsely called “blood groove”) were so well made it was as if worms (or dragons) were crawling upon the surface. But the most outstanding feature was indeed the surface of the blades, which were so expertly polished as if to create “a mirror for men”. To prove that this description of the quality of medieval swords wasn’t an exaggeration I was granted funding by the Tyrolean Scientific Fund (TWF) to reconstruct a medieval polishing bench and to examine possible historical abrasive agents.Florian MessnerEXARCarticleweaponmethodologyswordearly middle ageslate middle agesaustriaMuseums. Collectors and collectingAM1-501ArchaeologyCC1-960ENEXARC Journal, Iss 2020/1 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	weapon methodology sword early middle ages late middle ages austria Museums. Collectors and collecting AM1-501 Archaeology CC1-960
spellingShingle	weapon methodology sword early middle ages late middle ages austria Museums. Collectors and collecting AM1-501 Archaeology CC1-960 Florian Messner “A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test
description	In the late 5th century AD, the famous Ostrogoth Theoderic the Great received a truly regal gift from the king of the Warini: he was given highly elaborated swords, richly decorated and able to cut through armour. Their fullers (long grooves along the flat side of the blade to reduce weight and to gain stability, often falsely called “blood groove”) were so well made it was as if worms (or dragons) were crawling upon the surface. But the most outstanding feature was indeed the surface of the blades, which were so expertly polished as if to create “a mirror for men”. To prove that this description of the quality of medieval swords wasn’t an exaggeration I was granted funding by the Tyrolean Scientific Fund (TWF) to reconstruct a medieval polishing bench and to examine possible historical abrasive agents.
format	article
author	Florian Messner
author_facet	Florian Messner
author_sort	Florian Messner
title	“A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test
title_short	“A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test
title_full	“A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test
title_fullStr	“A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test
title_full_unstemmed	“A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test
title_sort	“a mirror for men” – reconstructing a medieval polishing bench and putting it to the test
publisher	EXARC
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/5db860d3fbf54be196b5204b99e15f4f
work_keys_str_mv	AT florianmessner amirrorformenreconstructingamedievalpolishingbenchandputtingittothetest
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“A Mirror for Men” – Reconstructing a Medieval Polishing Bench and Putting it to the Test

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