SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF MEDIEVAL EDGED WEAPONS: A HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The history of scientific study of medieval edged weapons dates back over 200 years. During this time a lot of information has been accumulated and this knowledge is a necessary basis for further research. However, the methods and approaches by which that data was obtained deserve special attention. Traditions to collect ancient artifacts significantly influenced the formation of scientific interest in bladed weapons. The first attempts to analyze the material were related the need to catalog it. For the 19th century, we can talk about different scientific works in which the main or significant attention was paid to edged weapons. Shaping of approaches to the study of ancient weapons which are central today developed gradually. Standards of description of items, typology, and technology and material analysis, studying of artifacts in a broad cultural context became the main vectors of work with medieval edged weapon. At the turn of the 20th – 21st centuries development of chemical and physical sciences, the complication of the methodological apparatus and the accumulation of archaeological material narrowly focused works built on in-depth analysis of small groups of artifacts and use of specific research methods. The interdisciplinary approach, which involves the research of one problem by specialists in different fields of science, has taken a significant place in the edged weapon studying. Thus, the further development of the classical approaches, combined with the new ones emerging at the boundaries of the disciplines, opens up new opportunities for gaining the most accurate knowledge about past through the study of blade weapons. Like any part of the past, blade weapons as a source can be perceived by the researcher entirely subjectively, so it is important to understand the limits of this perception and the accents it provides. The analysis of the process of formation of research strategies and methods which widely used today makes it possible to determine further optimal ways of their development. As well as it allows assuming which previously obtained ideas and assertion require verification.