Templar Longsword “Montgisard”

The name points to the Battle of Montgisard on 25 November 1177. The sixteen-year-old King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, with a few hundred knights and a contingent of Templars, routed Saladin’s far larger army there, and the sultan barely escaped with his life. The sword is not a copy of any piece from that field but a longsword in the Templar idiom: a black hilt, bright steel and the Templar cross on the pommel.

The pommel says the most. It is a wheel with an inset medallion: a red enamelled cross with flaring arms — the sign Pope Eugene III granted the Templars in 1147 — and at its centre a gold seal showing two knights on one horse. The Order’s grand masters used that seal; the image is usually read as a sign of the poverty and brotherhood the Order began with. The red crosses return on the silver ring that binds the black cord wrap, and the arms of the guard carry twisted narrowings.

The dimensions are full size: 132 cm overall, 90 cm of blade and a 24 cm grip with room for both hands. The fullered blade is up to 5 cm wide and 7 mm thick, and the whole sword weighs 1.72 kg. Let us be honest about the weight — that is more than period originals, which at this blade length usually ran 1.2–1.6 kg. In the hand it reads as a steady sword that carries a cut well but does not like sudden changes of direction.

The blade is 5160 steel. The maker calls it high-carbon; more precisely it is a chromium spring steel with about 0.6 per cent carbon and 0.8 per cent chromium. Leaf springs are made from it, so it takes impacts and bends that could leave plain carbon steel crooked. The maker gives the hardness as 50–58 HRC — the nearer the top of that range, the longer the edge holds; the nearer the bottom, the more the steel forgives against a hard target.

The scabbard is 96 cm long, made of hardwood covered in faux leather with an embossed floral pattern. Metal fittings guard its mouth and tip, and a strapped hanger lets you wear the sword at the belt.

5160 is not stainless. Wipe the blade after every use and give it a thin coat of oil, and look in on it now and then even while it rests in the scabbard — wood and faux leather shut moisture in with the steel.

Note: this is a sword for collecting and solo practice. It is not suitable for sparring with a partner — contact calls for blunt gear with an edge at least 2 mm thick and a rounded tip.

• 5160 spring steel, 50–58 HRC
• Pommel with the enamelled Templar cross and the Order’s seal
• 90 cm blade and 24 cm grip — a full two-handed hold
• Blade up to 5 cm wide and 7 mm thick — stiff and steady in the cut
• Guard with twisted arms, cord wrap with a cross-set ring
• 96 cm hardwood scabbard in faux leather, with hanger