Inscribed sword pommel

The pommel can be categorized as a Type VIII variant wheel-shaped pommel (Ward-Perkins 1993:22) and Type I variant (Oakeshott 1964:96) also ‘Miscellaneous’ no. 18 (1991: 227) with a probable date between c.1250-1400. The pommel is important because so far as is known, it is the only surviving example with the inscription ‘IhESV MERCI’ [‘Jesus have mercy’]. The inscription itself is not particularly unusual and is to be found on funeral palls, monumental brasses, tombs, effigies, church bells, personal seals, sword-belts and badges. The spelling of IhESV is a partial corruption of the Greek ΙΗΣΟUΣ, and the Latin transliteration IESVS - Jesus. The word ‘MERC[I]’ in this context alludes to the forgiveness and love of God as the “Fountain of Mercy”. The inscription IhESV MERCI on banderoles and funerary monuments are simple prayers for mercy - ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner’ and in the context of the sword and its intended use, the significance is equally clear. The symbol of the cross is placed at the top so that it would have been seen just below the tang finial. The missing ‘I’ on one side is due to the irregular spacing of the other letters in the inscription, which perhaps indicates that it was applied by the owner of the sword or by a relatively unskilled engraver. Some wheel pommels of this date have engraved or inset roundels with armorial or devotional emblems; a sword pommel in the Bayerisches National Museum, Munich, for instance is inscribed: ‘O MARIA BIT WIR UNS’; and a number of sword blades of this date bear religious inscriptions in the form of a prayer. This kind of wheel pommel appears on swords from the arsenals of Alexandria and Constantinople, and swords from southern, middle and northern Europe; whether it is of domestic or foreign manufacture is impossible to determine.