Have they all rusted away into nothingness I guess?
There’s a fair few in the Tower of London…
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“And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…”
Weapons represented an enormous investment in quality iron and steel. Why let it rust away? Or for another matter, why leave them in the hands of the peasant levy, where they might be used in a future revolt? It’s far better to make them into farming implements or other useful tools.
There was a thread on this just a few months ago.
Built thrones?
Where are all the Medieval waffle irons ? Same answer.
Did it also rust away into nothingness?
Here’s one.
Here’s the thread from last year.
The biggest factor is that in older times, people just didn’t value ‘random old stuff’ for it’s age and didn’t have the concept of historical value (without archaeology, there’s not much to learn from an old sword). Fully metal weapons were pretty valuable for their metal, so would tend to get reused or melted down to make new weapons or tools. The old threads go into more detail, but basically the fact that they were swords of a certain era was not considered important unless they were usable as a sword.
If a sword belonged to a very significant personality, sometimes it was preserved. See Joyeuse (sword of Charlemagne) and Tizona (sword of El Cid).
That had to be a lot of work back then. Those surface deposits will go quick and then one is mining for it, by hand. Then the fuel required to get the temp high enough to refine the ore. That’s a lot of wood/charcoal/peat what have you.
Ha! Medieval price list:
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng240/medieval_prices.html
It would have been nice if he had determined a constant currency for each. Any ways… tools seem to be worth more than weapons. So, if you weren’t using that sword, you can make a hammer with it and actually do day-to-day work.
Especially in wartime. I understand many Japanese swords were melted down during WWII.
Cute little girls, swimmin’ in ponds fishin’ out swords is no basis for a system of government.