Szczerbiec, the Coronation Sword
twelfth or thirteenth century, hilt decoration later
In the treasury vault, behind glass, lies the only piece of the medieval Polish crown jewels to survive in the country. Szczerbiec is the sword that was carried before Polish kings at their coronations from thirteen twenty, when Władysław the Elbow High was crowned in Wawel Cathedral, until the last coronation in Kraków in the eighteenth century. Its name means the notched sword, and it comes from a legend that Bolesław the Brave struck the Golden Gate of Kiev with it in the year ten eighteen and chipped the blade. The sword you see is in fact two centuries younger than that story, but the legend gave it its power.
The blade is plain, a broad double-edged weapon of steel. All the interest is in the hilt. The pommel, grip and crossguard are covered with gold plated silver plates engraved with the symbols of the four evangelists, the Lamb of God and inscriptions in Latin and a Hebrew-derived magical formula meant to protect its bearer. One inscription names a certain Duke Bolesław, which is probably why the sword became attached to the legend of the earlier king. A small hole in the blade near the hilt is a later addition, made when someone fitted a chain.
After the Prussians looted the treasury in seventeen ninety five, the sword passed through the hands of collectors and dealers across Europe and ended up in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. It was returned to Poland under the Treaty of Riga in nineteen twenty eight, evacuated to Canada in nineteen thirty nine along with the tapestries, and came back to this hill in nineteen fifty nine. Everything else from the medieval regalia was melted down by the Prussians for coin.
Did You Know? The Prussians melted down the rest of the Polish crown jewels for their gold, and Szczerbiec survived only because a Russian collector had bought it.
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