Calling all codebreakers. The British Library has appealed to members of the public to help decipher an inscription found on an 800-year-old sword which has left experts stumped.
Advertisement
The sword has an inscription on its blade, but no one seems to know what the inscription says.
“It has been speculated that this is a religious invocation, since the language is unknown” the British Library wrote in a blog post, which comes with a comments section full of ideas from people trying their hand at deciphering the message.
But that still doesn’t account for what the inscription means.
The River Witham sword is not unique in this.
The Medieval sword containing a mysterious inscription.
It now belongs to the British Museum, but is currently on loan to the British Library, where it’s being displayed as part of an exhibit on the 1215 Magna Carta. The attackers appear to be holding swords similar to the one on display.
A close-up of the inscription on the blade of the River Witham sword. On the sword from Alphen, the starting letters read BENEDOXO.
“The sword is part of the ceremony of Knighthood, and the cross-shaped hilt of such swords, used by knights, acknowledge the Christian duties a knight must fulfill, defending the church”, the museum’s description of the sword reads.
To narrow this down a little bit more, Julian Harrison from the British Library told The Telegraph that the inscription is “not Welsh”. “However, it is apparent that the pommel, inscription and the blade shape are more characteristic of Medieval European swords than those of Viking origin”.
While historians aren’t entirely sure what language the letters on the sword represent, they are fairly certain that the letters are a short-form version of Latin, according to van Hasselt, who said that Latin was the “international language of choice” in 13th-century Europe.
“On the River Witham sword, it is NDXOX, possibly standing for Nostrum Dominus (our Lord) or Nomine Domini (name of the Lord) followed by XOX…Perhaps these letter combinations-XOX and OXO-refer to the Holy Trinity”.
Advertisement
But it’s going to take more than a quick search of Bing or Google to crack this one. Here’s a new puzzle to get your teeth stuck into: a 13th century sword with a hidden message.
