26 Government Communication Ofce 27 Sinfo - Slovenian information IN FOCUS Following the trail of the frst crusades in Slovenian lands DR. ANDREJ GASPARI A MEDIEVAL SWORD WITH AN INSCRIPTION FROM THE LJUBLJANICA RIVER A sword with an invocation inscription found in the Ljubljanica River is certainly among the most attractive artefacts shown to the public at the City Museum’s exhibition on medieval Ljubljana. The sword was found during a dive near the village of Lipe in the Ljubljana Marsh- es, and the valuable find belonging to the Collection of the Potočnik family was acquired by the museum in 2010. The incompletely preserved sword with a broken point features a relatively short blade with a wide groove, an almond-shaped pommel at the end of the hilt and a short and straight cross-guard. The preserved length of the sword is 75 cm, and it weighs close to 750 grams. The upper part of one side of the blade’s groove has remains of an engraved and inlaid Latin inscription with iron inserts, which can be read on an X-ray image as “INOMIM +”. The acronym of the words that end with St. Anthony’s cross (crux patibulata) belongs in the group of “INNOMINEDOMINI” invoca- tion inscriptions, meaning “in the name of God” or “in the name of the Lord”. A trace of this inscription can also be seen on the other side of the blade, where however only the letter “O” is legible. The sword, whose origin can be with considerable reliability dated on the basis of its design features back to the 11th century or, at the latest, to the beginning of the 12th, was found without re- mains of its scabbard, although this does not necessarily mean that the weapon sank in a battle. At that time scabbards were generally made of organic materials, i.e. leather-coated wooden sheath, with the only metal parts being the chape, the mouth and the the buckle and the fttings of the belt set, so they have been rarely, and even then only in traces, preserved on parts of swords originating in the same period and found in the Ljubljanica river and other inland waterways of Europe. The production origin of the sword can only be guessed at the moment, but it might have been made in a blacksmith’s workshop of one of the monastery centres in southern or central German territory. Specifc weapons can most likely be imagined as part of the equipment of a knight, protected with a conical helmet, a chain- mail and an oval-conical shield, and armed with a sword, a spear and possibly an axe. In the initial, principal period of high feudalism’s chivalric age, swords were a precious symbol of social status and af- fliation to a military order, while, on the other hand, they were regarded as po- tentially sacred objects that may have been inscribed with prayers, blessed in special liturgical rituals or dedicated with the noble actions of their bearers. The oldest in nomine Domini inscriptions, which convey the Christian component of chivalry (miles christianus) and perhaps the very blessing of the sword, originate from the early 11 th century. LJUBLJANA DURING THE FIRST CRUSADES Because of its early origin and prestige, the sword hold an out- standing position among the medieval fnds from the Ljubljana Basin, as it belongs in the archeologically and historically modestly documented period after the stabilisation of the south-eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire, between the end of the Hun- garian invasions in the second half of the 10th century and the beginning of the 12th. Ethnically heterogeneous, with Slavs, Ger- mans and Romans, the colonized territory between the Eastern Alps, the Friuli region and Istria became an area of expansion for the Bavarian dioceses and nobility, who soon took up leading po- sitions in terms of both land ownership and political rule. At that time Ljubljana’s strategic position on the most favourable transport com- munication between the Italian regions and the northern Adriatic and Central Europe or the Danube region once again proved its importance. The front side (aver) of the Byzantine silver coin (billon aspron trachy), minted in Constantinople, most probably under Alexis III Angel-Komnen in the period 1195- 1197. (Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, Collection of the Potočnik family). Photo: Matevž Paternoster