The Celtic Sword

The Celtic Sword PDF Author: Radomír Pleiner
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This book deals with the history of the long sword, the principal weapon used by Celts during their raids in the 4th-2nd centuries B.C. The Celts adopted this weapon from European Bronze Age cultures and completed its development after it had been superseded by short, stabbing weapons in the warfare of advanced civilizations. Nonetheless, the role played by the Celtic long sword remained considerable. In this first major study of the subject, Pleiner assesses the importance of the sword, and provides the first systematic treatment of the relevant historical and technological problems associated with its manufacture.

The Celtic Sword

The Celtic Sword PDF Author: Radomír Pleiner
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book

Book Description
This book deals with the history of the long sword, the principal weapon used by Celts during their raids in the 4th-2nd centuries B.C. The Celts adopted this weapon from European Bronze Age cultures and completed its development after it had been superseded by short, stabbing weapons in the warfare of advanced civilizations. Nonetheless, the role played by the Celtic long sword remained considerable. In this first major study of the subject, Pleiner assesses the importance of the sword, and provides the first systematic treatment of the relevant historical and technological problems associated with its manufacture.

Bright Sword of Ireland

Bright Sword of Ireland PDF Author: Juilene Osborne-McKnight
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780765350046
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Young Finnabair, daughter of the great warrior queen Medb of Connacht, becomes a pawn in her mother's quest for the Brown Cow of Cuailnge.

The Sword and the Crucible

The Sword and the Crucible PDF Author: Alan Williams
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004229337
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
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.

Sword of Fire

Sword of Fire PDF Author: Katharine Kerr
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0756413680
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Now in paperback, this first novel of an epic fantasy trilogy reintroduces readers to the beloved and bestselling world of Deverry, blending magic, politics, and adventure in an unforgettable setting. The bards are the people's voice--and their sword. All over the kingdom of Deverry, the common people are demanding reform of the corrupt law courts. In Aberwyn, the situation catches fire when Gwerbret Ladoic, second in authority only to the High King, allows a bard to starve to death rather than hear their grievances. Guildwoman Alyssa, a student at the local scholars' collegium, and Lady Dovina, the gwerbret's own daughter, know that evidence exists to overthrow the so-called traditional legal system, if they can only get it into the right hands. The powerful lords will kill anyone who threatens their privileges. To retrieve the proof, Alyssa must make a dangerous journey that will either change her life forever--or end it.

British Iron Age Swords and Scabbards

British Iron Age Swords and Scabbards PDF Author: Ian Mathieson Stead
Publisher: British Museum Press
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
British Iron Age swords and scabbards are here catalogued in detail for the first time. They are grouped on the basis of typologies of components and are discussed with special reference to their decoration, context and chronology. Artefact studies have been neglected for many years, and this subject was last tackled in a paper published in 1950. Since then, the material available for study has tripled, from 93 to 274 items, and new archaeological discoveries include several elaborately decorated scabbards. Illustrations include 71 full pages of line drawings, while additional contributions examine the technology of some of the swords and provide a discussion of their enamelled decoration. Contents: Introduction; Typology and terminology; Group A: Swords of medium length and scabbards with open chape ends; Group B: Swords of medium length and scabbards with closed chape ends; Group C: Long swords and scabbards with campanulate mouths; Group D: Long swords and scabbards with straight mouths; Group E: Earlier swords and scabbards in the north; Group F: Later swords and scabbards in the north; Group G: Short swords in the south and the north; Group H: Swords and scabbards of mixed traditions; Discussion; Appendices; The technology of some of the swords; Weapons and fittings with enamelled decoration; The Isleworth sword: a note on the brass foils; A technical report on the Orton Meadows scabbard; The scientific examination of the Asby Scar sword and scabbard; The extraction of swords from their scabbards; Catalogue; Bibliography.

The Spatha

The Spatha PDF Author: M.C. Bishop
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147283240X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
Adopted from the Celts in the 1st century BC, the spatha, a lethal and formidable chopping blade, became the primary sword of the Roman soldier in the Later Empire. Over the following centuries, the blade, its scabbard, and its system of carriage underwent a series of developments, until by the 3rd century AD it was the universal sidearm of both infantry and cavalry. Thanks to its long reach, the spatha was the ideal cavalry weapon, replacing the long gladius hispaniensis in the later Republican period. As the manner in which Roman infantrymen fought evolved, styles of hand-to-hand combat changed so much that the gladius was superseded by the longer spatha during the 2nd century AD. Like the gladius, the spatha was technologically advanced, with a carefully controlled use of steel. Easy maintenance was key to its success and the spatha was designed to be easily repaired in the field where access to a forge may have been limited. It remained the main Roman sword into the Late Roman period and its influence survived into the Dark Ages with Byzantine, Carolingian and Viking blades. Drawing together historical accounts, excavated artefacts and the results of the latest scientific analyses of the blades, renowned authority M.C. Bishop reveals the full history of the development, technology, training and use of the spatha: the sword that defended an empire.

Celtic Warrior

Celtic Warrior PDF Author: Steve Collins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780862784393
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
The Irish boxer recounts his life and career in the ring

The Singing Sword

The Singing Sword PDF Author: Jack Whyte
Publisher: Forge Books
ISBN: 146682221X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
We know the legends: Arthur brought justice to a land that had known only cruelty and force; his father, Uther, carved a kingdom out of the chaos of the fallen Roman Empire; the sword Excalibur, drawn from stone by England's greatest king. But legends do not tell the whole tale. Legends do not tell of the despairing Roman soldiers, abandoned by their empire, faced with the choice of fleeing back to Rome, or struggling to create a last stronghold against the barbarian onslaughts from the north and east. Legends do not tell of Arthur's great-grandfather, Publius Varrus, the warrior who marked the boundaries of a reborn empire with his own shed blood; they do not tell of Publius's wife, Luceiia, British-born and Roman-raised, whose fierce beauty burned pale next to her passion for law and honor. With The Camulod Chronicles, Jack Whyte tells us what legend has forgotten: the history of blood and violence, passion and steel, out of which was forged a great sword, and a great nation. The Singing Sword continues the gripping epic begun in The Skystone: As the great night of the Dark Ages falls over Roman Britain, a lone man and woman fight to build a last stronghold of law and learning--a crude hill-fort, which one day, long after their deaths, will become a great city . . . known as Camelot. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Sword in Hand

Sword in Hand PDF Author: Ewart Oakeshott
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780971437906
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description


Celtic Warfare 1595-1763

Celtic Warfare 1595-1763 PDF Author: James Hill
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781720363439
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Since earliest times the strategy and tactics of the Celts in battle has exhibited a continuity over the centuries that is quite surprising. This book provides a comprehensive study of the way in which the Celtic people fought and the weapons that they used. After an introduction which sets the background, the book concentrates on the Irish Wars, the civil war in Scotland, the campaigns of Graham of Claverhouse, Bonnie Dundee, the Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745, and the North American War against the French and the Indians. Battles which are analyzed in detail include Clontibret, Yellow Ford, Moyry Pass, Kinsale, Tippermuir, Aberdeen, Inverlochy, Auldearn, Kilsyth, Killiecrankie, Preston, Sheriffmuir, Prestonpans, Falkirk, and Culloden. The author of this volume provides a sound, factual, and analytical base that identifies the continuity in Gaelic warfare from the 1590s to the 1760s which will interest all concerned with the study of the military history of Ireland, Scotland, England, and North America.