Szczerbiec
Encyclopedia
Szczerbiec (ˈʂt͡ʂɛr.bʲɛt͡s) is the coronation
sword
that was used in crowning ceremonies of most kings of Poland from 1320 to 1764. It is currently on display in the treasure vault of the Royal Wawel Castle
in Kraków
as the only preserved piece of Polish Crown Jewels
. The sword is characterized by a hilt decorated with kabbalistic
formulas, Christian symbols
and floral patterns, as well as a narrow slit in the blade which holds a small shield with the coat of arms of Poland
. Its name, derived from the Polish
word szczerba meaning a gap, notch or chip, is sometimes rendered into English as "the Notched Sword" or "the Jagged Sword", although its blade has straight and smooth edges.
A legend links the Szczerbiec with King Boleslaus the Brave who was said to have chipped the sword by hitting it against the Golden Gate
of Kiev
(now in Ukraine) during his capture of the city in 1018. However, the Golden Gate was only constructed in 1037 and the sword is actually dated to the late 12th or 13th century. It was first used as a coronation sword by Vladislaus the Elbow-High in 1320. Looted by Prussia
n troops in 1795, it changed hands several times during the 19th century until it was purchased in 1884 for the Hermitage Museum
in Saint Petersburg
, Russia. The Soviet Union
returned it to Poland in 1928. During World War II
, the Szczerbiec was evacuated to Canada and did not return to Kraków until 1959. In the 20th century, an image of the sword was adopted as a symbol by Polish nationalist
and far-right
movements.
bearing rich Gothic
ornamentation, dated to the late 12th or 13th century. It is classified as a type XII sword with a type I pommel according to the Oakeshott typology
, although the blade may have changed its shape due to centuries of corrosion and intensive cleaning before every coronation.
, or black metallic inlay that contrasts against the golden background. The niello designs include kabbalistic
formulas written in late Romanesque
majuscule, Christian symbols
and floral patterns.
On the obverse
side of the hilt, the pommel is decorated with a floral motif. The grip bears the symbols of two of the Four Evangelists
: the eagle of Saint John
and the angel of Saint Matthew
, as well as an Agnus Dei (Lamb of God
). The cross-guard bears, above a floral pattern, an inscription in corrupted Hebrew
in Latin script: Con citomon Eeve Sedalai Ebrehel ("Fervent faith incite the names of God: Sedalai and Ebrehel"). On the opposite ends of the cross-guard, there are again the symbols of Saints John and Matthew.
On the reverse side of the pommel, there is a large stylized letter T between the Greek
letters Α and ω (alpha and omega
) surmounted with little cross
es. Below the letter T, there is another cross placed within a cloud or flower with twelve petals. Around this design runs a circular Latin
inscription in two rings which reads: Haec figura valet ad amorem regum / et principum iras iudicum ("This sign rouses the love of kings and princes, the wrath of judges"). The reverse side of the grip is decorated with the lion of Saint Mark
, the ox of Saint Luke
and another Agnus Dei. The cross-guard bears the following Latin inscription: Quicumque hec / nomina Dei secum tu/lerit nullum periculum / ei omnino nocebit ("Whoever will carry these names of God with him, no danger will harm him").
The currently reverse side of the grip and the pommel was most probably originally on the obverse, so that the symbolically more important side of the pommel was visible while the sword was worn by the monarch. At an unknown point in history, this part of the hilt must have been reversed. As a result, both sides of the hilt now display a duplicated pair of Evangelists rather than all four of them. The narrow sides of the grip used to be embellished with inscribed silver plates, which, however, were lost in the 19th century. These lost inscriptions are partly known from graphical documentation of Polish crown jewels made by King Stanislaus Augustus's court painter, Krzysztof Werner, in 1764. One of the plates had already been broken by that time with only part of the inscription preserved: Iste est gladius... Bolezlai Duc... ("This is a sword of... Duke Boleslaus..."); the inscription on the other plate continued: Cum quo ei Dominus SOS [Salvator Omnipotens Salvator] auxilietur adversus partes amen ("With whom is the Omnipotent Lord and Savior, to help him against his enemies. Amen"). The missing part of the first inscription is only known from an old replica of the Szczerbiec which once belonged to the Radziwiłł family (see Historical replicas below). The full inscription read: Iste est gladius Principis et haeredis Boleslai Ducis Poloniae et Masoviae, Lanciciae ("This is a sword of Hereditary Prince Boleslaus, Duke of Poland, Masovia, and Łęczyca"). The identity of this Duke Boleslaus is uncertain.
of Poland, was originally attached to the scabbard
, or sheath. The Gothic scabbard, with a golden or silver locket and chape, was probably created in 1320 and lost between 1819 and 1874. The shield is the only preserved element of the sheath. It was tilted to the left – from the onlooker's point of view – while it was fastened to the scabbard's locket, but today it is aligned with the blade. The eagle on the red field of the shield is white, with a golden crown, bands across the wings, ring on the tail, and talons.
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Historical accounts related to the early history of the Polish coronation sword are scant and often mixed with legend. The earliest known use of the name "Szczerbiec" appeared in the Chronicle of Greater Poland at the turn of the 14th century. According to this source, the sword was given to King Boleslaus the Brave (reigned 992–1025) by an angel; Polish kings were supposed to always carry it in battle to triumph over their enemies. During Boleslaus's invasion of Kievan Rus'
, he hit it against the Golden Gate
of Kiev
while capturing the city. It was the notch the appeared on the edge of the blade which gave the sword its name. This account, written three centuries after the events it describes, is implausible not only because of the customary reference to the sword's supernatural origin (compare Excalibur
), but also because Boleslaus's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis took place in 1018, or about 19 years before the actual construction of the Golden Gate in 1037.
It is plausible, though, that Boleslaus did chip his sword by hitting it against an earlier gate in Kiev. His great-grandson, Boleslaus the Bold , hit the Golden Gate with a sword in 1069, which would indicate that it was a customary gesture of gaining control over a city. It is also possible that this sword was preserved as a souvenir of past victories venerated by Boleslaus the Brave's successors. According to Wincenty Kadłubek's Chronicle
, Boleslaus Wrymouth had a favorite sword he called Żuraw or Grus ("Crane"). A scribe who copied the chronicle in 1450 added the word Szczurbycz above the word Żuraw, but whether these two swords were one and the same is uncertain.
The fate of the original Szczerbiec is unknown. It may have been taken to Prague
, together with other royal insignia, by King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia after his coronation as king of Poland in Gniezno
in 1300. What happened with these insignia thereafter remains a mystery. Although Boleslaus the Brave's notched sword has not been preserved and even its very existence is doubtful, its legend had a great impact on Polish historical memory and the treatment of its successor, the modern Szczerbiec.
(gladius iustitiae), or insignia of the sovereign's judicial power, by one of the many local dukes during Poland's Age of Fragmentation. A silver plate, now lost, on the sword's grip bore an inscription which indicated a duke by the name Boleslaus as its original owner. An inscription on the Radziwiłłs' replica of the Szczerbiec, now also lost, could provide an additional hint as to the duke's identity: "Boleslaus, Duke of Poland, Masovia, and Łęczyca" – except that no duke of this name and titles ever existed. Historians have variously identified the duke in question as Boleslaus the Curly , Boleslaus the Chaste , Boleslaus I of Masovia or Boleslaus the Pious of Greater Poland
.
The sword was first used in a coronation ceremony by King Vladislaus the Elbow-High in 1320, by which time he had reunited most of the core territories of Poland. If the Szczerbiec had previously belonged to his uncle, Boleslaus I of Masovia, or his father-in-law, Boleslaus the Pious, then he could have inherited it. If it had belonged to any of the two Boleslauses who had ruled from Kraków
as high dukes of all Poland, then Vladislaus could have simply found it in the Wawel Cathedral
. Thereafter, the Szczerbiec became an integral part of the Polish Crown Jewels
, shared their fate, and was the principal ceremonial sword used in coronations of all Polish kings until 1764, except Vladislaus II Jogaila
(1386), Stephen Báthory (1576), Stanislaus I Leszczyński (1705), and Augustus III Wettin
(1734).
The Szczerbiec, together with other crown jewels, was removed from the Wawel Hill
on several occasions during that period. After his Polish coronation in 1370, King Louis I of Hungary took the crown jewels with him to Buda
; his successor on the Hungarian throne, Emperor Sigismund
, rendered them to Poland in 1412. On two occasions, in mid-17th and early 18th centuries, they were evacuated across Poland's southern border to protect them from invading Swedish armies. In 1733, during the War of the Polish Succession
, supporters of King Stanislaus I concealed the jewels in a Warsaw
church for three years to prevent Augustus III
from using them in his coronation. In 1764, they were sent to Warsaw again, to be used in a coronation for the last time – that of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski. They were returned to Kraków afterwards.
During a typical Polish coronation ceremony in the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the king-elect received the Szczerbiec after his anointment
and before being crowned and enthroned
. The primate of Poland, that is, the archbishop of Gniezno
picked up the unsheathed sword from the altar and handed it to the kneeling king. At the same time, he recited a formula which asked the monarch to use the sword to rule justly, defend the Church, fight evil, protect widows and orphans, and to "rebuild what is damaged, maintain what is rebuilt, avenge what is unjust, reinforce what is well managed," etc. Then, the king handed the sword to the Crown sword-bearer (miecznik
koronny), who slid it into the scabbard and passed on to the primate. The primate, aided by the Crown and Lithuanian sword-bearers, fastened the scabbard to the king's belt. The king stood up and, facing onlookers, withdrew the Szczerbiec, made three times the sign of the cross
with it, wiped it against his left arm and put it back into the scabbard. The king's sword-wielding abilities were closely watched by his new subjects during this part of the ritual. When Augustus III betrayed his poor fencing skills at his coronation, nobles joked that they were going to have "a peaceful lord". After the Szczerbiec, a bishop handed the sovereign the Grunwald Swords
symbolizing the monarch's reign over the two constituent nations of the Commonwealth.
Throughout the period from Vladislaus the Elbow-High to Stanislaus Augustus, Polish crown jewels were commonly believed to date back to the times of Boleslaus the Brave. This conviction helped maintain a sense of continuity of Polish statehood and provide legitimacy for the nation's kings, implicitly making each Polish monarch a successor of the ancient and glorious legacy of the first king of the House of Piast. Accordingly, the coronation sword took over the name and the legend of the original Szczerbiec. The corrosion-induced slit in the blade became associated with the fabled szczerba, or notch that Boleslaus had purportedly made on his sword in Kiev. The power of tradition was so strong that when Stanislaus Augustus's court painter, Marcello Bacciarelli
, who had made detailed studies of Polish crown jewels, painted an imaginary portrait of Boleslaus the Brave, he chose to depict the Szczerbiec so that its appearance agreed with legend rather than reality. The images of the coronation crown
and sword are overall meticulously accurate, but Bacciarelli's Szczerbiec lacks the slit and has a chipped edge instead.
which led to the final partition of Poland
a year later, Prussia
n troops captured Kraków. In the following year, on King Frederick William II
's orders, the treasure vault of the Wawel Castle was looted and the crown jewels taken to Breslau (now Wrocław in Poland), then to Berlin
, and finally to Königsberg (now Kaliningrad
in Russia). Between 1809 and 1811 most of the jewels were melted down, but some, including the Szczerbiec, were put up for sale. The coronation sword was acquired by the Russian minister of justice, Prince Dmitry Lobanov-Rostovsky
, who probably hoped to resell it to one of Polish aristocrats. In 1819, he approached General Wincenty Krasiński
, speaker of the Sejm (parliament) of the "Congress" Kingdom of Poland
. The prince did not disclose the actual source of the sword and claimed to have bought it in Moscow
from an Armenian merchant who had found the weapon somewhere between Belgrade
and Rusçuk (now Ruse in Bulgaria) during the recent Russo–Turkish War. Krasiński, who was a known antique weapon collector, suspected it could be the Szczerbiec, but asked Prof. Sebastian Ciampi, a historian of the Warsaw University, for opinion. Ciampi examined the lithography
Krasiński had had made of the sword, but was unsure whether the sword was actually the Szczerbiec. As a consequence, Krasiński declined Lobanov-Rostovsky's offer.
Lobanov-Rostovsky ultimately sold the Szczerbiec to Prince Anatole Demidov
who kept it together with the rest of the Demidov collection
in his Villa San Donato
near Florence
. In 1870, the sword was bought for 20,000 French franc
s by Alexander Basilevsky, Russian ambassador to France and great art collector. In 1878, he displayed the Szczerbiec at the World's Fair
in Paris
. By that time, the scabbard had been lost and the sword itself was presented as of Teutonic
origin. It was seen by several Polish visitors who speculated whether it could be the Polish coronation sword. In 1884, the entire Basilevsky collection was purchased by Emperor Alexander III of Russia
for the Hermitage Museum
in Saint Petersburg
. Both Polish and other experts at the time expressed doubts as to the authenticity of the Szczerbiec held in Russia's largest museum (see Historical replicas below). An international museum congress held in Saint Petersburg in 1913 pronounced the sword a 17th-century replica.
In 1917, as a result of the October Revolution
, Russia became a communist republic. In the aftermath of World War I
, Poland reëmerged as an independent state in the following year. From 1919 to 1921, the two states fought the Polish–Soviet War which was concluded with the Peace of Riga
. Article 11 of the treaty required that the Soviet
side return all culturally significant collections and items that had been removed from Poland since the First Partition
in 1772. A special bilateral committee was set up to carry out the restitution of cultural goods. In 1928, the committee's efforts resulted in the return to Poland of, among other national treasures, the Szczerbiec, which, after 133 years, was deposited back in the Wawel Castle.
On 3 September 1939, two days after Germany
invaded Poland triggering the Second World War
, began the evacuation of the most precious national treasures, including the Szczerbiec, from the Wawel Castle. The cargo was transported on barges, wagons, buses and trucks to Romania. From there, it was shipped by sea to France and later to Britain. On the way from Bordeaux
to Falmouth
, the ship carrying Polish national treasures came under fire from the Luftwaffe
. The Wawel museum employees who oversaw the evacuation decided then to remove the Szczerbiec from a chest and sandwich it between two wooden planks – so that in the event that the ship was sunk, at least the coronation sword could be salvaged. When the German bombing of Britain
began in July 1940, the valuables were transported aboard the Polish ocean liner MS Batory
to Canada and finally deposited at the Polish embassy in Ottawa
.
After the war, the Canadian government, as well many Polish Canadians
, was reluctant to return the treasures to Poland, which had fallen under communist rule and Soviet influence. The first batch of the most important objects, including the Szczerbiec, was ultimately returned in 1959; the rest followed in 1961. Since then, the Polish coronation sword has been on permanent display in the treasure vault of the Wawel Castle.
in Belarus) made in 1740 includes a detailed description of a sword decorated with symbols of the Evangelists and inscriptions identical to those on the Szczerbiec. According to the inventory, it was a gift from Crown Prince Jakub Sobieski
to Prince Michał Radziwiłł, but the original source of the supposed replica was not given. An inventory made in 1738 of the treasure vault of the Sobieski family
's Żółkiew Castle (now Zhovkva
in Ukraine) mentions "an estoc
(koncerz
) covered with golden plates bearing images of the Four Evangelists; Skanderbek
's." Based on this record, historian Aleksander Czołowski hypothesized that a replica of the Szczerbiec was forged as early as 1457 and awarded to George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, the national leader of Albania, in recognition of his victory over the Ottoman
forces in the Battle of Ujëbardha
. After King John III Sobieski defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Vienna
in 1683, Albanians presumably returned the sword to him. His son, Jakub, possibly passed it on to Michał Radziwiłł as a present.
There are doubts, however, whether the swords known to have been at Żółkiew in 1738 and at Nieśwież two years later, were in fact the same sword. Of the two swords known to have belonged to Skanderbeg (see Arms of Skanderbeg
) that are now at the Hofburg Imperial Palace
in Vienna
, neither resembles the Szczerbiec. The Radziwiłłs' castle was plundered by the Russian army in 1812 and the subsequent fate of their replica of the Szczerbiec is unknown. This fact cast doubts over the authenticity of the Szczerbiec held in the Hermitage. Some experts suspected that the sword possessed by the Russian imperial museum was in fact the Nieśwież replica, not part of the original royal insignia.
Another historically notable replica of the Szczerbiec was produced probably in Dresden
, Saxony
, at the time when the original was in Prussian hands. It is modest and inexact; the handle is carved in bovine bone and the niello is imitated with black paint. Designs on the handle are patterned on those of the genuine Szczerbiec, except that the crosses and letters on the pommel were replaced with the coat of arms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The blade was initially shorter than that of the original, actually typical for a stiletto
. It was purchased in Dresden by art historian Edward Rastawiecki
, who in 1869 donated it to the archeological collection of the Jagiellonian University
of Kraków. The university lost it during the German occupation in World War II. After the war, the replica found itself in the hands of Tadeusz Janowski who smuggled it to the United States in 1947. At around that time, the short stiletto blade was replaced with a long blade of a 16th-century German sword. To imitate the Szczerbiec, a slit was cut in the blade and small heraldic shields were attached to it on both sides. During the communist rule in Poland
, the Polish American
community of Chicago
treated the replica as a symbol of Poland's independence. In 1968, it was demonstrated to U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy
while he was meeting with Polish Americans during his presidential campaign
. Janowski returned the sword to the Jagiellonian University in 2003.
organizations led by Roman Dmowski
– the Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielkiej Polski), the National Party
(Stronnictwo Narodowe), and the All-Polish Youth
(Młodzież Wszechpolska). Their members wore it as a badge called Mieczyk Chrobrego, or "Little Sword of [Boleslaus] the Brave". The symbol was also sewn onto the left sleeve of the sand shirt which was part of the Camp of Great Poland uniform. Among the politicians who wore the badge before World War II were Roman Dmowski, Władysław Grabski, Wojciech Korfanty
, Roman Rybarski, and Wojciech Jaruzelski
. During World War II, the badge was used by right-wing anti-Nazi
and anti-Soviet military resistance groups, the National Armed Forces (Narodowe Siły Zbrojne) and the National Military Organization
(Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa). After the fall of communism in Poland, the Mieczyk Chrobrego symbol was readopted by new or reactivated nationalist and far-right
organizations, including the League of Polish Families
(Liga Polskich Rodzin) and the All-Polish Youth. Additionally, Szczerbiec is the title of a periodical published since 1991 by a minor radical nationalist party, the National Revival of Poland (Narodowe Odrodzenie Polski).
In 2005, the Polish Football Association
, in an attempt to curb racism among Polish football fans, prepared a blacklist of allegedly racist
and fascist
symbols to be banned from Polish football stadiums. The catalogue, co-authored by a leftist
anti-fascist
organization Never Again (Nigdy Więcej), listed the Mieczyk Chrobrego along with the Nazi swastika
, the Celtic cross
, and the Confederate Flag. The sword was removed from the index after a protest by MEP
Sylwester Chruszcz
of the League of Polish Families.
The symbolic use of the Szczerbiec became a bone of contention again in 2009. After a monument to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya) on the Chryszczata Mountain in southeastern Poland was vandalized, authorities of the Ukrainian city of Lviv
demanded the removal of an image of the Szczerbiec from the local Polish military cemetery
. The Ukrainians, recalling the legendary use of the original sword in a Polish invasion of Kiev, argued it was a Polish nationalist, militaristic and anti-Ukrainian symbol.
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
that was used in crowning ceremonies of most kings of Poland from 1320 to 1764. It is currently on display in the treasure vault of the Royal Wawel Castle
Wawel Castle
The Gothic Wawel Castle in Kraków in Poland was built at the behest of Casimir III the Great and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland. Their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hen's...
in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
as the only preserved piece of Polish Crown Jewels
Polish Crown Jewels
The only surviving original piece of the Polish Crown Jewels from the time of the Piast dynasty is the ceremonial sword - Szczerbiec. It is currently on display along with other preserved royal items in the Wawel Royal Castle Museum, Kraków....
. The sword is characterized by a hilt decorated with kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
formulas, Christian symbols
Christian symbolism
Christian symbolism invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world. Religious symbolism is effective when it appeals to both the intellect and...
and floral patterns, as well as a narrow slit in the blade which holds a small shield with the coat of arms of Poland
Coat of arms of Poland
The White Eagle is the national coat of arms of Poland. It is a stylized white eagle with a golden beak and talons, and wearing a golden crown, in a red shield.- Legal basis :...
. Its name, derived from the Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
word szczerba meaning a gap, notch or chip, is sometimes rendered into English as "the Notched Sword" or "the Jagged Sword", although its blade has straight and smooth edges.
A legend links the Szczerbiec with King Boleslaus the Brave who was said to have chipped the sword by hitting it against the Golden Gate
Golden Gate (Kiev)
The Golden Gates of Kiev is a major landmark of the Ancient Kiev and historic gateway in the ancient city fortress, located in the capital of Ukraine. Currently it serves as a museum and can be found on the corner of Volodymyr street and Yaroslaviv Val Street...
of Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
(now in Ukraine) during his capture of the city in 1018. However, the Golden Gate was only constructed in 1037 and the sword is actually dated to the late 12th or 13th century. It was first used as a coronation sword by Vladislaus the Elbow-High in 1320. Looted by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n troops in 1795, it changed hands several times during the 19th century until it was purchased in 1884 for the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia. The Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
returned it to Poland in 1928. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Szczerbiec was evacuated to Canada and did not return to Kraków until 1959. In the 20th century, an image of the sword was adopted as a symbol by Polish nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and far-right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
movements.
Description
The Szczerbiec is a 98 cm (3.2 ft) long ceremonial swordCeremonial weapon
A ceremonial weapon is an object used for ceremonial purposes to display power or authority. They are often used in parades, and as part of dress uniforms.Although they are descended from weapons used in actual combat, they are not normally used as such...
bearing rich Gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
ornamentation, dated to the late 12th or 13th century. It is classified as a type XII sword with a type I pommel according to the Oakeshott typology
Oakeshott typology
Ewart Oakeshott's typology of the medieval sword is based on blade morphology. It categorizes swords into 13 main types labelled X to XXII. Ewart Oakeshott introduced it in his The Archeology of Weapons: Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry in 1960.The system is a continuation of...
, although the blade may have changed its shape due to centuries of corrosion and intensive cleaning before every coronation.
Hilt
The hilt consists of a round pommel, a flat grip and an arched cross-guard. The grip is rectangular in cross-section and its hard edges make it difficult to handle and impractical for fighting, which is indicative of the sword's purely ceremonial usage. All parts of the hilt are covered with golden plates which are engraved and decorated with nielloNiello
Niello is a black mixture of copper, silver, and lead sulphides, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal. It can be used for filling in designs cut from metal...
, or black metallic inlay that contrasts against the golden background. The niello designs include kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
formulas written in late Romanesque
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
majuscule, Christian symbols
Christian symbolism
Christian symbolism invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world. Religious symbolism is effective when it appeals to both the intellect and...
and floral patterns.
On the obverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
side of the hilt, the pommel is decorated with a floral motif. The grip bears the symbols of two of the Four Evangelists
Four Evangelists
In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...
: the eagle of Saint John
John the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
and the angel of Saint Matthew
Matthew the Evangelist
Matthew the Evangelist was, according to the Bible, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the four Evangelists.-Identity:...
, as well as an Agnus Dei (Lamb of God
Lamb of God
The title Lamb of God appears in the Gospel of John, with the exclamation of John the Baptist: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29 when he sees Jesus....
). The cross-guard bears, above a floral pattern, an inscription in corrupted Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
in Latin script: Con citomon Eeve Sedalai Ebrehel ("Fervent faith incite the names of God: Sedalai and Ebrehel"). On the opposite ends of the cross-guard, there are again the symbols of Saints John and Matthew.
On the reverse side of the pommel, there is a large stylized letter T between the Greek
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
letters Α and ω (alpha and omega
Alpha and Omega
The term Alpha and Omega comes from the phrase "I am the alpha and the omega" , an appellation of Jesus in the Book of Revelation ....
) surmounted with little cross
Cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...
es. Below the letter T, there is another cross placed within a cloud or flower with twelve petals. Around this design runs a circular Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
inscription in two rings which reads: Haec figura valet ad amorem regum / et principum iras iudicum ("This sign rouses the love of kings and princes, the wrath of judges"). The reverse side of the grip is decorated with the lion of Saint Mark
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....
, the ox of Saint Luke
Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist was an Early Christian writer whom Church Fathers such as Jerome and Eusebius said was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...
and another Agnus Dei. The cross-guard bears the following Latin inscription: Quicumque hec / nomina Dei secum tu/lerit nullum periculum / ei omnino nocebit ("Whoever will carry these names of God with him, no danger will harm him").
The currently reverse side of the grip and the pommel was most probably originally on the obverse, so that the symbolically more important side of the pommel was visible while the sword was worn by the monarch. At an unknown point in history, this part of the hilt must have been reversed. As a result, both sides of the hilt now display a duplicated pair of Evangelists rather than all four of them. The narrow sides of the grip used to be embellished with inscribed silver plates, which, however, were lost in the 19th century. These lost inscriptions are partly known from graphical documentation of Polish crown jewels made by King Stanislaus Augustus's court painter, Krzysztof Werner, in 1764. One of the plates had already been broken by that time with only part of the inscription preserved: Iste est gladius... Bolezlai Duc... ("This is a sword of... Duke Boleslaus..."); the inscription on the other plate continued: Cum quo ei Dominus SOS [Salvator Omnipotens Salvator] auxilietur adversus partes amen ("With whom is the Omnipotent Lord and Savior, to help him against his enemies. Amen"). The missing part of the first inscription is only known from an old replica of the Szczerbiec which once belonged to the Radziwiłł family (see Historical replicas below). The full inscription read: Iste est gladius Principis et haeredis Boleslai Ducis Poloniae et Masoviae, Lanciciae ("This is a sword of Hereditary Prince Boleslaus, Duke of Poland, Masovia, and Łęczyca"). The identity of this Duke Boleslaus is uncertain.
Blade
Just below the hilt, there is a long rectangular slit made in the fuller of the blade. This opening, known in Polish as szczyrba or szczerba, was originally caused by rust and, in the 19th century, polished into a regular shape. A small triangular enameled heraldic shield is fastened to the slit. The shield, bearing the White EagleCoat of arms of Poland
The White Eagle is the national coat of arms of Poland. It is a stylized white eagle with a golden beak and talons, and wearing a golden crown, in a red shield.- Legal basis :...
of Poland, was originally attached to the scabbard
Scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.-Types of scabbards:...
, or sheath. The Gothic scabbard, with a golden or silver locket and chape, was probably created in 1320 and lost between 1819 and 1874. The shield is the only preserved element of the sheath. It was tilted to the left – from the onlooker's point of view – while it was fastened to the scabbard's locket, but today it is aligned with the blade. The eagle on the red field of the shield is white, with a golden crown, bands across the wings, ring on the tail, and talons.
The Szczerbiec of Boleslaus the Brave
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
, he hit it against the Golden Gate
Golden Gate (Kiev)
The Golden Gates of Kiev is a major landmark of the Ancient Kiev and historic gateway in the ancient city fortress, located in the capital of Ukraine. Currently it serves as a museum and can be found on the corner of Volodymyr street and Yaroslaviv Val Street...
of Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
while capturing the city. It was the notch the appeared on the edge of the blade which gave the sword its name. This account, written three centuries after the events it describes, is implausible not only because of the customary reference to the sword's supernatural origin (compare Excalibur
Excalibur
Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...
), but also because Boleslaus's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis took place in 1018, or about 19 years before the actual construction of the Golden Gate in 1037.
It is plausible, though, that Boleslaus did chip his sword by hitting it against an earlier gate in Kiev. His great-grandson, Boleslaus the Bold , hit the Golden Gate with a sword in 1069, which would indicate that it was a customary gesture of gaining control over a city. It is also possible that this sword was preserved as a souvenir of past victories venerated by Boleslaus the Brave's successors. According to Wincenty Kadłubek's Chronicle
Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae
Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae is a Latin history of Poland written by Wincenty Kadłubek between 1190 and 1208 CE. The work was probably commissioned by Casimir II of Poland...
, Boleslaus Wrymouth had a favorite sword he called Żuraw or Grus ("Crane"). A scribe who copied the chronicle in 1450 added the word Szczurbycz above the word Żuraw, but whether these two swords were one and the same is uncertain.
The fate of the original Szczerbiec is unknown. It may have been taken to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, together with other royal insignia, by King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia after his coronation as king of Poland in Gniezno
Gniezno
Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, some 50 km east of Poznań, inhabited by about 70,000 people. One of the Piasts' chief cities, it was mentioned by 10th century A.D. sources as the capital of Piast Poland however the first capital of Piast realm was most likely Giecz built around...
in 1300. What happened with these insignia thereafter remains a mystery. Although Boleslaus the Brave's notched sword has not been preserved and even its very existence is doubtful, its legend had a great impact on Polish historical memory and the treatment of its successor, the modern Szczerbiec.
From a sword of justice to a coronation sword
The sword currently known as Szczerbiec was forged and decorated in a style characteristic of the late 12th and 13th centuries, so it could not have belonged to any of the three great Boleslauses of the 11th and early 12th centuries. Additionally, it is a purely ceremonial sword which, unlike the original Szczerbiec, was never used in combat. It was originally used as a sword of justiceSword of Justice
A Sword of Justice, or executioner's sword, was used by trained executioners for carrying out capital punishment in many cultures. Given their special 'ceremonial' purpose, they were usually very well-made of the highest quality metal and were extremely sharp...
(gladius iustitiae), or insignia of the sovereign's judicial power, by one of the many local dukes during Poland's Age of Fragmentation. A silver plate, now lost, on the sword's grip bore an inscription which indicated a duke by the name Boleslaus as its original owner. An inscription on the Radziwiłłs' replica of the Szczerbiec, now also lost, could provide an additional hint as to the duke's identity: "Boleslaus, Duke of Poland, Masovia, and Łęczyca" – except that no duke of this name and titles ever existed. Historians have variously identified the duke in question as Boleslaus the Curly , Boleslaus the Chaste , Boleslaus I of Masovia or Boleslaus the Pious of Greater Poland
Greater Poland
Greater Poland or Great Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief city is Poznań.The boundaries of Greater Poland have varied somewhat throughout history...
.
The sword was first used in a coronation ceremony by King Vladislaus the Elbow-High in 1320, by which time he had reunited most of the core territories of Poland. If the Szczerbiec had previously belonged to his uncle, Boleslaus I of Masovia, or his father-in-law, Boleslaus the Pious, then he could have inherited it. If it had belonged to any of the two Boleslauses who had ruled from Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
as high dukes of all Poland, then Vladislaus could have simply found it in the Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral
The Wawel Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Stanisław and Vaclav, is a church located on Wawel Hill in Kraków–Poland's national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs. It is the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Kraków...
. Thereafter, the Szczerbiec became an integral part of the Polish Crown Jewels
Polish Crown Jewels
The only surviving original piece of the Polish Crown Jewels from the time of the Piast dynasty is the ceremonial sword - Szczerbiec. It is currently on display along with other preserved royal items in the Wawel Royal Castle Museum, Kraków....
, shared their fate, and was the principal ceremonial sword used in coronations of all Polish kings until 1764, except Vladislaus II Jogaila
Jogaila
Jogaila, later 'He is known under a number of names: ; ; . See also: Jogaila : names and titles. was Grand Duke of Lithuania , king consort of Kingdom of Poland , and sole King of Poland . He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle Kęstutis...
(1386), Stephen Báthory (1576), Stanislaus I Leszczyński (1705), and Augustus III Wettin
Augustus III of Poland
Augustus III, known as the Saxon ; ; also Prince-elector Friedrich August II was the Elector of Saxony in 1733-1763, as Frederick Augustus II , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1734-1763.-Biography:Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Imperial Prince-Elector...
(1734).
The Szczerbiec, together with other crown jewels, was removed from the Wawel Hill
Wawel Hill
Wawel Hill is the name of a Jurassic limestone outcrop formed about 150 million years ago. It is situated on the left bank of the Vistula River in Kraków, Poland, at an altitude of 228 metres above the sea level. Over the millennia, the hill provided a safe haven for people who settled there since...
on several occasions during that period. After his Polish coronation in 1370, King Louis I of Hungary took the crown jewels with him to Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
; his successor on the Hungarian throne, Emperor Sigismund
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
, rendered them to Poland in 1412. On two occasions, in mid-17th and early 18th centuries, they were evacuated across Poland's southern border to protect them from invading Swedish armies. In 1733, during the War of the Polish Succession
War of the Polish Succession
The War of the Polish Succession was a major European war for princes' possessions sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland that other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests...
, supporters of King Stanislaus I concealed the jewels in a Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
church for three years to prevent Augustus III
Augustus III of Poland
Augustus III, known as the Saxon ; ; also Prince-elector Friedrich August II was the Elector of Saxony in 1733-1763, as Frederick Augustus II , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1734-1763.-Biography:Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Imperial Prince-Elector...
from using them in his coronation. In 1764, they were sent to Warsaw again, to be used in a coronation for the last time – that of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski. They were returned to Kraków afterwards.
During a typical Polish coronation ceremony in the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the king-elect received the Szczerbiec after his anointment
Anointing
To anoint is to pour or smear with perfumed oil, milk, water, melted butter or other substances, a process employed ritually by many religions. People and things are anointed to symbolize the introduction of a sacramental or divine influence, a holy emanation, spirit, power or God...
and before being crowned and enthroned
Enthronement
An enthronement is a ceremony of inauguration, involving a person—usually a monarch or religious leader—being formally seated for the first time upon their throne. This ritual is generally distinguished from a coronation because there is no crown or other regalia that is physically...
. The primate of Poland, that is, the archbishop of Gniezno
Gniezno
Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, some 50 km east of Poznań, inhabited by about 70,000 people. One of the Piasts' chief cities, it was mentioned by 10th century A.D. sources as the capital of Piast Poland however the first capital of Piast realm was most likely Giecz built around...
picked up the unsheathed sword from the altar and handed it to the kneeling king. At the same time, he recited a formula which asked the monarch to use the sword to rule justly, defend the Church, fight evil, protect widows and orphans, and to "rebuild what is damaged, maintain what is rebuilt, avenge what is unjust, reinforce what is well managed," etc. Then, the king handed the sword to the Crown sword-bearer (miecznik
Miecznik
Miecznik was a court office in Poland. Responsible for the arsenal of the King and for carrying his sword.Since the 14th Century an honorable title of district office, in Kingdom of Poland and after Union of Lublin in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth....
koronny), who slid it into the scabbard and passed on to the primate. The primate, aided by the Crown and Lithuanian sword-bearers, fastened the scabbard to the king's belt. The king stood up and, facing onlookers, withdrew the Szczerbiec, made three times the sign of the cross
Sign of the cross
The Sign of the Cross , or crossing oneself, is a ritual hand motion made by members of many branches of Christianity, often accompanied by spoken or mental recitation of a trinitarian formula....
with it, wiped it against his left arm and put it back into the scabbard. The king's sword-wielding abilities were closely watched by his new subjects during this part of the ritual. When Augustus III betrayed his poor fencing skills at his coronation, nobles joked that they were going to have "a peaceful lord". After the Szczerbiec, a bishop handed the sovereign the Grunwald Swords
Grunwald Swords
The Grunwald Swords were a gift presented by Ulrich von Jungingen, the Grand Master of the Order of Teutonic Knights, to King Vladislaus II of Poland and Grand Duke Vytautas the Great of Lithuania on 15 July 1410, just before the Battle of Grunwald . The gift, a pair of simple bare swords, was a...
symbolizing the monarch's reign over the two constituent nations of the Commonwealth.
Throughout the period from Vladislaus the Elbow-High to Stanislaus Augustus, Polish crown jewels were commonly believed to date back to the times of Boleslaus the Brave. This conviction helped maintain a sense of continuity of Polish statehood and provide legitimacy for the nation's kings, implicitly making each Polish monarch a successor of the ancient and glorious legacy of the first king of the House of Piast. Accordingly, the coronation sword took over the name and the legend of the original Szczerbiec. The corrosion-induced slit in the blade became associated with the fabled szczerba, or notch that Boleslaus had purportedly made on his sword in Kiev. The power of tradition was so strong that when Stanislaus Augustus's court painter, Marcello Bacciarelli
Marcello Bacciarelli
Marcello Bacciarelli was an Italian painter of the late-baroque and Neoclassic periods.He studied in Rome under Marco Benefial. In 1750 he was called to Dresden, Saxony, where he was employed by Elected King Augustus III of Poland; after whose death he went to Vienna, and thence to Warsaw...
, who had made detailed studies of Polish crown jewels, painted an imaginary portrait of Boleslaus the Brave, he chose to depict the Szczerbiec so that its appearance agreed with legend rather than reality. The images of the coronation crown
Crown of Bolesław I the Brave
The Crown of Bolesław I the Brave was the coronation crown of the Polish monarchs.- History :The origins of the Polish crown are shrouded in mystery...
and sword are overall meticulously accurate, but Bacciarelli's Szczerbiec lacks the slit and has a chipped edge instead.
In foreign hands
In 1794, during the failed Kościuszko UprisingKosciuszko Uprising
The Kościuszko Uprising was an uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania in 1794...
which led to the final partition of Poland
Third Partition of Poland
The Third Partition of Poland or Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1795 as the third and last of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.-Background:...
a year later, Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n troops captured Kraków. In the following year, on King Frederick William II
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
's orders, the treasure vault of the Wawel Castle was looted and the crown jewels taken to Breslau (now Wrocław in Poland), then to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and finally to Königsberg (now Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
in Russia). Between 1809 and 1811 most of the jewels were melted down, but some, including the Szczerbiec, were put up for sale. The coronation sword was acquired by the Russian minister of justice, Prince Dmitry Lobanov-Rostovsky
Dmitry Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovsky
Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovsky , Russian Prince, statesman and military leader.Rostovsky was as a descendent of prince Rurik and one of the most major Russian noblemen in the court of Catherine II of Russia.After Russia's defeat at on 14 June 1807, Russia asked for an armistice, which...
, who probably hoped to resell it to one of Polish aristocrats. In 1819, he approached General Wincenty Krasiński
Wincenty Krasinski
Count Wincenty Krasiński was a Polish nobleman , political activist and military leader.He was the father of Zygmunt Krasiński, one of Poland's Three Bards—Poland's greatest romantic poets.-Life:...
, speaker of the Sejm (parliament) of the "Congress" Kingdom of Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
. The prince did not disclose the actual source of the sword and claimed to have bought it in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
from an Armenian merchant who had found the weapon somewhere between Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and Rusçuk (now Ruse in Bulgaria) during the recent Russo–Turkish War. Krasiński, who was a known antique weapon collector, suspected it could be the Szczerbiec, but asked Prof. Sebastian Ciampi, a historian of the Warsaw University, for opinion. Ciampi examined the lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
Krasiński had had made of the sword, but was unsure whether the sword was actually the Szczerbiec. As a consequence, Krasiński declined Lobanov-Rostovsky's offer.
Lobanov-Rostovsky ultimately sold the Szczerbiec to Prince Anatole Demidov
Anatole Demidov
Count Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato , was a Russian industrialist, diplomat and arts patron of the Demidov family.-Early life:...
who kept it together with the rest of the Demidov collection
Demidov collection
The Demidov collection was a collection of artworks gathered by the Russian industrialist Nikolay Demidov and considerably expanded by his second son Anatole. It was mainly on show at their Villa San Donato near Florence, in which a private museum of 14 rooms was devoted to them...
in his Villa San Donato
Villa San Donato
The Villa San Donato is a Palladian palace built by Russian industrialist Nikolay Demidov on 42 hectares of marshland to the north of Florence at Polverosa which he had bought from the Catholic church, after he was made Russia's ambassador to the court of Tuscany. The first stone was laid on 27...
near Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. In 1870, the sword was bought for 20,000 French franc
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
s by Alexander Basilevsky, Russian ambassador to France and great art collector. In 1878, he displayed the Szczerbiec at the World's Fair
Exposition Universelle (1878)
The third Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May through to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of France after the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.-Construction:...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. By that time, the scabbard had been lost and the sword itself was presented as of Teutonic
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
origin. It was seen by several Polish visitors who speculated whether it could be the Polish coronation sword. In 1884, the entire Basilevsky collection was purchased by Emperor Alexander III of Russia
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
for the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. Both Polish and other experts at the time expressed doubts as to the authenticity of the Szczerbiec held in Russia's largest museum (see Historical replicas below). An international museum congress held in Saint Petersburg in 1913 pronounced the sword a 17th-century replica.
In 1917, as a result of the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, Russia became a communist republic. In the aftermath of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Poland reëmerged as an independent state in the following year. From 1919 to 1921, the two states fought the Polish–Soviet War which was concluded with the Peace of Riga
Peace of Riga
The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga; was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, between Poland, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish-Soviet War....
. Article 11 of the treaty required that the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
side return all culturally significant collections and items that had been removed from Poland since the First Partition
First Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the...
in 1772. A special bilateral committee was set up to carry out the restitution of cultural goods. In 1928, the committee's efforts resulted in the return to Poland of, among other national treasures, the Szczerbiec, which, after 133 years, was deposited back in the Wawel Castle.
Evacuation in World War II
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
invaded Poland triggering the Second World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, began the evacuation of the most precious national treasures, including the Szczerbiec, from the Wawel Castle. The cargo was transported on barges, wagons, buses and trucks to Romania. From there, it was shipped by sea to France and later to Britain. On the way from Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
to Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
, the ship carrying Polish national treasures came under fire from the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
. The Wawel museum employees who oversaw the evacuation decided then to remove the Szczerbiec from a chest and sandwich it between two wooden planks – so that in the event that the ship was sunk, at least the coronation sword could be salvaged. When the German bombing of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
began in July 1940, the valuables were transported aboard the Polish ocean liner MS Batory
MS Batory
The M/S Batory was a large ocean liner of the Polish merchant fleet, named after Stefan Batory, the famous sixteenth-Century king of Poland....
to Canada and finally deposited at the Polish embassy in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
.
After the war, the Canadian government, as well many Polish Canadians
Polish Canadians
Polish Canadians are Citizens of Canada with Polish ancestry, and Poles who immigrated to Canada from abroad. According to the 2001 census by Statistics Canada, 984,585 Canadians claim full or partial Polish ancestry.-History:...
, was reluctant to return the treasures to Poland, which had fallen under communist rule and Soviet influence. The first batch of the most important objects, including the Szczerbiec, was ultimately returned in 1959; the rest followed in 1961. Since then, the Polish coronation sword has been on permanent display in the treasure vault of the Wawel Castle.
Historical replicas
A treasury inventory of the Radziwiłł family's Nieśwież Castle (now NesvizhNesvizh
Nesvizh is a city in Belarus. It is the administrative center of the Nesvizh District of Minsk Province and location of the Nesvizh Castle World Heritage Site. Its 2009 population is 14,300 .-History:...
in Belarus) made in 1740 includes a detailed description of a sword decorated with symbols of the Evangelists and inscriptions identical to those on the Szczerbiec. According to the inventory, it was a gift from Crown Prince Jakub Sobieski
Jakub Ludwik Sobieski
James Louis Sobieski was the son of King John III of Poland and Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien.-Biography:...
to Prince Michał Radziwiłł, but the original source of the supposed replica was not given. An inventory made in 1738 of the treasure vault of the Sobieski family
Sobieski family
Sobieski family of Janina coat of arms, also known as House of Sobieski due to their royalty connections, were a notable family of Polish nobility. According to the family's legend, disproved by modern historians, it traced its lineage to Polish duke, Leszek II the Black...
's Żółkiew Castle (now Zhovkva
Zhovkva
Zhovkva is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, north of Lviv. It is the administrative center of the Zhovkivskyi Raion . The current estimated population is 13,500.-History:...
in Ukraine) mentions "an estoc
Estoc
The French estoc or English "tuck" was a variation of the longsword focused intensely on fighting against mail or plate armour. It was long, straight and stiff, with a diamond or triangular cross-section. An estoc had no cutting edge, just a point. Examples from Poland are more than long, with a...
(koncerz
Koncerz
thumb|KoncerzA koncerz is a type of sword used by Polish-Lithuanian hussars in the renaissance period. It is thin and long and generally used by a type of heavy cavalry to go through an armour plate, but not to slash....
) covered with golden plates bearing images of the Four Evangelists; Skanderbek
Skanderbeg
George Kastrioti Skanderbeg or Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu , widely known as Skanderbeg , was a 15th-century Albanian lord. He was appointed as the governor of the Sanjak of Dibra by the Ottomans in 1440...
's." Based on this record, historian Aleksander Czołowski hypothesized that a replica of the Szczerbiec was forged as early as 1457 and awarded to George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, the national leader of Albania, in recognition of his victory over the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
forces in the Battle of Ujëbardha
Battle of Ujebardha
The Battle of Albulena, also known as the Battle of Ujëbardha, was fought on 2 September 1457 between Albanian forces led by Skanderbeg and an Ottoman army under Isak bey Evrenoz and Skanderbeg's nephew, Hamza Kastrioti....
. After King John III Sobieski defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Vienna
Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...
in 1683, Albanians presumably returned the sword to him. His son, Jakub, possibly passed it on to Michał Radziwiłł as a present.
Arms of Skanderbeg
Skanderbeg was a prominent figure in the history of Albania. His weapons have been subjects of mythical adoration. According to legends his sword was so heavy that only his arm could wield it...
) that are now at the Hofburg Imperial Palace
Hofburg Imperial Palace
Hofburg Palace is a palace located in Vienna, Austria, that has housed some of the most powerful people in Austrian history, including the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, neither resembles the Szczerbiec. The Radziwiłłs' castle was plundered by the Russian army in 1812 and the subsequent fate of their replica of the Szczerbiec is unknown. This fact cast doubts over the authenticity of the Szczerbiec held in the Hermitage. Some experts suspected that the sword possessed by the Russian imperial museum was in fact the Nieśwież replica, not part of the original royal insignia.
Another historically notable replica of the Szczerbiec was produced probably in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
, at the time when the original was in Prussian hands. It is modest and inexact; the handle is carved in bovine bone and the niello is imitated with black paint. Designs on the handle are patterned on those of the genuine Szczerbiec, except that the crosses and letters on the pommel were replaced with the coat of arms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The blade was initially shorter than that of the original, actually typical for a stiletto
Stiletto
A stiletto is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, intended primarily as a stabbing weapon. The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated tip reduces friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply...
. It was purchased in Dresden by art historian Edward Rastawiecki
Edward Rastawiecki
Edward Rastawiecki was a Polish art historian.He was a descent of aristocratic Polish family. His father was baron Ludwik Mikołaj Adam Rastawiecki. He finished Liceum Warszawskie. Then he graduated study of administration Uniwersytet Warszawski...
, who in 1869 donated it to the archeological collection of the Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
of Kraków. The university lost it during the German occupation in World War II. After the war, the replica found itself in the hands of Tadeusz Janowski who smuggled it to the United States in 1947. At around that time, the short stiletto blade was replaced with a long blade of a 16th-century German sword. To imitate the Szczerbiec, a slit was cut in the blade and small heraldic shields were attached to it on both sides. During the communist rule in Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
, the Polish American
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
community of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
treated the replica as a symbol of Poland's independence. In 1968, it was demonstrated to U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
while he was meeting with Polish Americans during his presidential campaign
Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign, 1968
Robert F. Kennedy was a U.S. Senator from New York, having won in 1964. In 1968, President Johnson began to run for reelection. In January 1968, faced with what was widely considered an unrealistic race against an incumbent President, Senator Kennedy stated he would not seek the presidency...
. Janowski returned the sword to the Jagiellonian University in 2003.
Modern symbolism
In the interwar period, a simplified image of the Szczerbiec wrapped three times in a white-and-red ribbon was adopted as a symbol of Polish nationalistNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
organizations led by Roman Dmowski
Roman Dmowski
Roman Stanisław Dmowski was a Polish politician, statesman, and chief ideologue and co-founder of the National Democracy political movement, which was one of the strongest political camps of interwar Poland.Though a controversial personality throughout his life, Dmowski was instrumental in...
– the Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielkiej Polski), the National Party
National Party (Poland)
Stronnictwo Narodowe was a Polish political party formed on 7 October 1928 after the transformation of National Populist Union. It gathered together most of the political forces of Poland's National Democracy right-wing political camp. SN was one of the main opponents of the Sanacja regime...
(Stronnictwo Narodowe), and the All-Polish Youth
All-Polish Youth
The All-Polish Youth is a Polish nationalist youth group, formerly affiliated with the League of Polish Families, with a Catholic-National philosophy. Its agenda declares that its aim is to raise Polish youth in a Catholic and patriotic spirit....
(Młodzież Wszechpolska). Their members wore it as a badge called Mieczyk Chrobrego, or "Little Sword of [Boleslaus] the Brave". The symbol was also sewn onto the left sleeve of the sand shirt which was part of the Camp of Great Poland uniform. Among the politicians who wore the badge before World War II were Roman Dmowski, Władysław Grabski, Wojciech Korfanty
Wojciech Korfanty
Wojciech Korfanty , born Adalbert Korfanty, was a Polish nationalist activist, journalist and politician, serving as member of the German parliaments Reichstag and Prussian Landtag, and later on, in the Polish Sejm...
, Roman Rybarski, and Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's...
. During World War II, the badge was used by right-wing anti-Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and anti-Soviet military resistance groups, the National Armed Forces (Narodowe Siły Zbrojne) and the National Military Organization
National Military Organization
Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa was one of the Polish resistance movements in World War II. Created in 1939, it did not agree to merge with the Service for Poland's Victory /Union of Armed Struggle /Armia Krajowa but recognized the Polish government in exile. Politically related to the National Party...
(Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa). After the fall of communism in Poland, the Mieczyk Chrobrego symbol was readopted by new or reactivated nationalist and far-right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
organizations, including the League of Polish Families
League of Polish Families
The League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....
(Liga Polskich Rodzin) and the All-Polish Youth. Additionally, Szczerbiec is the title of a periodical published since 1991 by a minor radical nationalist party, the National Revival of Poland (Narodowe Odrodzenie Polski).
In 2005, the Polish Football Association
Polish Football Association
The Polish Football Association is the governing body of football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues , the Polish Cup, the Polish SuperCup, the Polish League Cup, and the Polish national football team...
, in an attempt to curb racism among Polish football fans, prepared a blacklist of allegedly racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
symbols to be banned from Polish football stadiums. The catalogue, co-authored by a leftist
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
organization Never Again (Nigdy Więcej), listed the Mieczyk Chrobrego along with the Nazi swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
, the Celtic cross
Celtic cross
A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...
, and the Confederate Flag. The sword was removed from the index after a protest by MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
Sylwester Chruszcz
Sylwester Chruszcz
Sylwester Arkadiusz Chruszcz is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Lower Silesian Voivodship and Opole Voivodship with the Naprzód Polsko, part of the Union for Europe of the Nations and is member of the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and...
of the League of Polish Families.
The symbolic use of the Szczerbiec became a bone of contention again in 2009. After a monument to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya) on the Chryszczata Mountain in southeastern Poland was vandalized, authorities of the Ukrainian city of Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
demanded the removal of an image of the Szczerbiec from the local Polish military cemetery
Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów
The Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów is a memorial and a burial place for the Poles and their allies who died in Lviv during the hostilities of the Polish-Ukrainian War and Polish-Soviet War between 1918 and 1920....
. The Ukrainians, recalling the legendary use of the original sword in a Polish invasion of Kiev, argued it was a Polish nationalist, militaristic and anti-Ukrainian symbol.
See also
- Grunwald SwordsGrunwald SwordsThe Grunwald Swords were a gift presented by Ulrich von Jungingen, the Grand Master of the Order of Teutonic Knights, to King Vladislaus II of Poland and Grand Duke Vytautas the Great of Lithuania on 15 July 1410, just before the Battle of Grunwald . The gift, a pair of simple bare swords, was a...
- Polish Crown JewelsPolish Crown JewelsThe only surviving original piece of the Polish Crown Jewels from the time of the Piast dynasty is the ceremonial sword - Szczerbiec. It is currently on display along with other preserved royal items in the Wawel Royal Castle Museum, Kraków....
- Royal coronations in PolandRoyal coronations in PolandRoyal coronations in Poland officially began in 1025 and continued until 1764, when the final King of an independent Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, was crowned at St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw. Most Polish coronations took place at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, but crownings also occurred...
- Wawel CastleWawel CastleThe Gothic Wawel Castle in Kraków in Poland was built at the behest of Casimir III the Great and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland. Their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hen's...
- List of historical swords