Mystery of Castile Swords – Medieval Dead – S03 EP03 – History Documentary

Explore the captivating tale of the Castile Swords, lost for centuries after the Battle of Castillon in 1453. Join archaeologists as they delve into the mystery of these medieval weapons, their origins, and the enigmatic circumstances of their discovery in the Dordogne River. Uncover the historical significance, unique features, and ongoing intrigue surrounding these relics. From the legendary battlefield to the auction rooms, witness the epic journey of the Castile Swords and unravel the secrets buried in the depths of history.

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A secret horde lost for centuries not gold not  silver but steel The Mystery of the occasion   sword group is ongoing end of a war the last  battle to be fought a final stand to be made the Battle of castiana is absolutely  catastrophic for the English

The wreck of an army armor  weapons swords any more bits the investigation of an enduring mystery   a forgotten treasure undisturbed undiscovered  until now swords of Castiel [Music]   the Medieval World the fifth to the 15th  century Tim Sutherland is one of Britain’s  

Most experienced archaeologists he and a team  of Specialists try to understand medieval life   by exploring the realm of the medieval dead we  have a classic view of the storybook medieval   life we don’t hear the stories about the  common man trying to keep his family alive

Archaeologically speaking we can now  focus in on the medieval dead people you can’t help almost look through their eyes  thinking what did they see how did they die thank you this story is one of the most remarkable  in the world of arms and armed  

Truly epic in scope from a medieval Battlefield  to The Prestige sale rooms of the 21st Century   and in between all the plot twists a thriller  writer could imagine except it all really happened   for more than four decades it’s created a trail  of rumor and guesswork hearsay and intrigue  

Now we’ll delve into that world we’ll  examine the clues the stories the facts   and the extraordinary sequence of events  behind the mystery of the swords of Castile [Music]   100 kilometers north of Bordeaux an exhibition  was held in the chateaued upon called laguero  

Mayonage the Hundred Years War the catalog  showed a photograph of a Medieval sword [Music]   of the sword’s origin almost nothing was said  other than it was from somewhere in France   to people outside the international world of  arms and armor it was just another old sword  

Another piece destined for sale to a museum or  collector do those in the know it was a big deal but if it wasn’t really much known up to  that point it was the following year [Music] the world famous Christie’s sale rooms in Geneva  a Prestige auction on the 26th of April 1977  

Featured a selection of Highly collectible antique  arms and armor there was no doubt what the star   items were not one but seven medieval swords I  first became aware of them when appear to sale   and Christie’s in Geneva and um and obviously  though some of them were were fairly Tatty and  

Corroded some were in in pretty good condition I  think we’re catalogous a group of medieval swords   from the same site the same site in fact as the  one that chateaued upon but where no one would say  

A few years later an arms and armor expert  wrote about the find and he hinted that he knew   something the general area of the Fine Place is  known though for reasons of security its location   may not be disclosed over the following Years yet  more swords were sold by auctioneers across Europe  

Switzerland Germany London all was said  to be from the same place still unknown   many years later The Insider expert  explained the secrecy over the find sight   in the first years of the Fine’s existence no  mention of the actual Fine Place was allowed it  

Was merely stated that it was somewhere in France  however by the end of the 70s this rigid secrecy   had been relaxed a little for some of us knew  where the place was we kept silence though for   obviously someone or some Authority was anxious  less treasure Seekers should come looking for more  

Only a few people were truly in the know but  antiques arms and armor expert David Oliver had   contacts in the trade he was able to work out  approximately where the swords had come from   Through the Grapevine one became aware that there  were as it was first suggested a meal that came  

From the last major battle of the Hundred Years  War and that didn’t trig castion I thought there   was a big battle at early on I think prior to  cast the answer that was possibly from early on   and then just back the process of elimination we  eventually discovered that they were actually from  

Castion not far from Bordeaux in Southwest France  on the dordoyne river the swords were from Castile   over the years many more have come  up for auction there was a there was   a time that there were a number of them were  appearing regularly in in Christie sales yeah  

One every few months as it were it’s now  thought as many as 80 swords were recovered   there’s no other medieval Battlefield with  so many swords supposedly associated with it   then Castiel the swords of Castiel such a large  number of them of course they become part of  

This Legend they add considerably to something  which is already dramatic just by because of   the people involved the event and its historical  importance they are almost like sort of icing on   the cake they just make it even more remarkable  the story has captivated collectors historians  

And archaeologists ever since it is one of the  amazing stories about the medieval period the   sores of cassion where did they come from they’re  classic medieval fighting weapons it’s uh it’s a   fantastic story so it’s a wonderful yarn I think  um about how these swords were were discovered

Tim sets out to find out what he can about the  swords and hopefully the circumstances of their   discovery the swords are now scattered mostly in  ones and twos in private Collections and museums   across the world but there’s a rare chance to see  a group of them displayed together for perhaps  

The first time in decades since their finding in  several museums and of course when you see them   you automatically try to imagine what it  was like one finding them but two using   them which battle they’re from and so the  whole your whole of your mind starts to race

While Tim’s in Paris back in England another of  the mysterious blades has suddenly resurfaced   in the heart of Knightsbridge in the West End  Bonham’s sale rooms another Prestige auction   of antiques arms and armor with many alluring  items medieval and otherwise for collectors to  

Feast their eyes on but even though it’s almost  40 years since the first auction in Geneva the   star attraction is once again a casteon sword  it’s expected to fetch a high price the same   every other one of its fellow swords has done  over the intervening decade I can’t remember  

Exactly when I first heard about these swords it  was probably very early 70s something like that   David Nicole like many other medieval historians  became intrigued by the story of the swords whenever these swords come up in an auction  they’re always the star exhibit because of  

The mystery of their find and of course their  association with the great battle of Castiel David   has worked in the arms and armor trade researching  or provenancing items for potential sellers   but he’s never till now come across one of  the casteon swords I never thought I’d see  

Them I never thought I’d handle them I never  thought I’d have anything to do with them   the day before the sale we were allowed special  access behind the scenes it was a chance to see   the preparation that goes into such an auction  well you’re in the auction house bottoms which  

Was established in 1793 and you’re in the sale  room which we have based in Montpellier Street   in Knightsbridge right in the heart of London  and we for some years now we’ve been having   sales dedicated to antique arms and armor and we  tend to hold between two and three sales a year  

As is often the case the sale has come  about following the death of a collector   many of the items that will be sold are from the  estate of just one man be the late owner he was  

An American he had a collection it included um two  or three medieval saws including the castrin sword   David Nicole finally gets the opportunity  to see one of the casteon swords for himself   Davis so here we have lot 173 the cassion sword  that’s coming up in our sale on Thursday that  

Is very nice indeed this is a business like well  it’s very weird isn’t it the weight is actually   not that heavy it’s extremely fine quality and  that’s reflected in its its General wildiness and   you can imagine it was it was a very useful  weapon to use very typical of the type and the  

Period very business-like as you see wieldy useful  although it has a very or had should I say a very   fine Edge it’s actually a very substantial piece  of metal and this essentially trapezoid flattened   Diamond section yes with a medial ridge running  through it absolutely all the way to the tip and  

Um extremely beautifully made beautifully made and  very rigid I mean that’s going to give you a very   substantial Cutting Edge but I would have thought  primarily a thrusting weapon I mean this is   well to say lethal is a little bit obvious inside

There’s a mark oh there it is it caught  the caught my eye caught the light in laser   fleur-de-lis that is fascinating somehow  appropriate that it should be a fleur-de-lis   although the assumption is that these were  anglo-gascon from the losing side in the battle  

Not necessarily the case but most probably  but nonetheless a little French fleur-de-lis   lovely interesting to speculate interesting to  speculate but that brings up the whole story of   the whole question of whether these really  are from the Battle of Castile in Paris Tim  

Is on his way to see a whole group of the swords  yes finally finally getting to see these swords Britain’s royal armories owned several casteon  blades and they’ve loaned them out specially for   this Prestige auction it has pride of place in  France’s Premier arms and armor Museum in the  

Heart of leonvaleid in Paris The Muse and  there are one or two old friends here too finally we meet it’s the first time  these Royal Armory swords have been   back in France since their discovery the musee  de la mes own castillon sword is the one that  

Was exhibited at the Chateau de par the first  one the wider world came to know about it is But what about the circumstances  of the sword’s discovery is there   anything known here in Paris about what  happened back then in the dordoin is um This is the foremost military museum  in France and yet there’s no record   here of the recovery of some 80 swords  archaeological relics from a medieval battle   during the past five years a number of fine  15th century swords have been appearing in  

The sale room and changing hands among  collectors they’re from a find of swords   dredged from the river door near to the  site of the last battle of the 100 years if the battle and the swords could be linked  Beyond doubt it would be completely unique  

You know where they’ve come from you know roughly  the date they come from and you know which country   they come from and why they’re important and  if these swords are connected to the Battle   of Castile in 1453 we’ve nailed it maybe it’s time  to look Instead at the story of that battle itself  

And it was a battle that  didn’t end well for the English   the Battle of castiana is absolutely catastrophic  for the English one of the most catastrophic I   would say actually the most catastrophic since the  1330s the rulers of England and France had fought  

What’s known to us now as the Hundred Years War by  the early 1450s the English had lost virtually all   their possessions in France an army was dispatched  to recapture the great city of Bordeaux and its   surroundings in the dordoin including the  Fortified town of Castile it was the English  

Coming back again seeking to defeat the French  army in battle and then hopefully re-establishing   their position in Southwestern France the English  Commander was highly respected by both sides   Sir John Talbot was a veteran Soldier he was  feared by his enemies because he was successful he  

Was a good leader and he was also pretty good at  getting on with the locals and this is important   because the Army at castillon was not just English  it was from Bordeaux a large part of it was French  

French loyal to the English crown as they had  been for a very long time in that region the   alliance between England and gascony had existed  for many years before even the time of ajinkal a   representative of I think Henry V was very  proud to say that the English nation was  

Composed of five tongs and he mentioned  English Gaelic Welsh Cornish and gascon   the French launched a pre-emptive strike  and besieged the gascon town of castion   Talbot move fast to try and raise the French  Siege before castion fell after marching his  

Army through the night he launched a headlong  assault on the French position [Applause]   the French had decided they were going to stand  and fight and that’s precisely what they did   the English like the French adaging Corps and  certainly like the French at poissier and Cressi  

Were full of confidence they were incredibly  confident in their ability so they charge in there   thinking eh they’re only French this is going to  be a piece of cake it was anything but the French   might not have had the famous English War bar  but they had overwhelming Firepower of Their Own

The English were shot to pieces  cut down in droves by Cannonball the survivors were charged by the French  and the English were completely routed   some tried to make it to the dodoin and  this is where the Last Stand took place   Talbot was killed and his son who led the Reiger

There cannot be many English commanders  of the Hundred Years War who were defeated   and yet are still commemorated on French soil  dalbot’s Monument looks out over the river   there was a Ford here and nearby is where  500 years later the swords are assumed to  

Have been discovered well they dropped in the Ford  during the route how did they get into the river   in the early 1980s an article appeared  in print in which the author our Insider   pondered this very same question [Music] the  article appeared in 1982 in it I had repeated  

The assumption that the swords were lost in  the river by English and gascon men at Arms   trying to get away from the battlefield  having been soundly beaten by the French the author was an English academic who  was passionately interested in swords  

He’s one of the great figures in historical  arms and armor research of the 20th century   he wrote many books and had a wide-ranging  influence on a generation of future researchers   his name was you at oakshot the first book that  I ever came across on arms and armor uh was a  

Book by you at Oak shot at one of his night and  series oh gosh I must have been nine then and it   wasn’t wouldn’t be until about 30 odd years later  that I actually ended up meeting them at used to  

Lecture the schools and this sort of thing is  you used to address himself up in armor it was   only about five foot high to actually um meet him  or something I’ve never forgotten because I’ve   never been served cheesecake with a broth Sage  dagger before no it was great it was it was it  

Was a real character and a lovely man it was Oak  shot who’d been the man in the know on the casteon   swords right from their Discovery he was The  Insider who wrote a series of articles about them  

In each of his articles the story he’s either  found out something more so it gets something   else is added to it the no more numbers  there all those we now know it was found   there or as new anecdotal evidence emerged  Oak shots interpretation 2 steadily evolved  

I was told that the 80 swords had been all  together in a box or crate crate might have   been in a wagon this was a little more reasonable  though how beaten troops getting the hell out  

Of it could have stopped to pack 80 swords  into a box and put it on a wagon I don’t know later the crate was confirmed as being in fact two   large wooden barrels the remains of  which had been found with the swords  

As Oak shot said this didn’t sound like fleeing  troops throwing away their weapons in the river   are there clues in what we know about the  aftermath of medieval battle back at the   battlefield of course you’ve got a load of mixed  and in some cases extremely valuable military  

Equipment lying around now booty is absolutely  Central to the motivation of medieval armies   because they’re not paid very well if paid at all  so if you win survive unhurt you can make a lot of   money by collecting the stuff that’s lying around  and there’s going to be Merchants arms Merchants  

Those people we all love hovering around in the  background ready to come in and buy up this stuff   it’s an odd parallel that half a millennia later  the casteon swords are still highly sought after   by dealers in arms today it’s not just private  collectors who buy antique arms and armor foreign

Like any other consumer if there’s an item  the Royal armories want for their collection   they have to buy it from a dealer in their  storerooms in Leeds Tim gets a rare chance to   see it firsthand the armories six castion blade  when did the swords first come into the Royal  

Armies collection them they the swords have come  into the armories over a period of time starting   from about 1977 and through the 80s and they  have been acquired through either auction or   from dealers and what’s interesting as a group  is there’s similarities and their differences  

So there are none that are identical none of them  are going to be identical because they’re all of   course Hand Forged different person might make  the pommelon the cross as opposed to the blade   even if they were for you know a contract like  we know about places like the tower issuing arms  

Don’t leave for campaigns so even if they were  to fulfill that function they’re still going to   be differences we don’t even know to be honest  whether these are French or English all right   right so there’s nothing here stylistically it’s  it’s it they could have been used basically all  

Over the continent you at Oak shots recognize the  variations in the swords from his wide-ranging   surveys of surviving medieval weapons these Royal  armories blades conform to his initial grouping by   three broad types of the 80 supposedly out there  they fall into most fall into three categories  

The powerful looking type A swords are the most  numerous in the group this one here being the   largest categories referred to as type A and it  has this tapering cut and thrust Diamond section   sometimes with the hollowed outsides of the blade  as well and this downturned cross and heavy wheel  

Pommel fewer in number than the taipees the type  B’s differ very slightly in design but they still   have the same recognizable characteristics that  would be a classic type B with the fishtail pommel   the straight cross with the bulbous ends and  the gradually tapering Diamond section blade  

So more of a more of a thrusting specific weapon  and then the smallest group of which I think is   a group of two is the type C ones and that’s with  this pear-shaped or you know scent stopper pommel   similar cross to type B’s and then  triple Fuller into Diamond section Blaze  

Another of the armories collection can  be included in a third group group C   what I found very interesting is is this Falcon  type it’s also a very very very fine function   it’s not a sort of a typical fossil like a  clubbing someone is it nice it is definitely  

A fine sword but it’s definitely a function so  if you think of uh perhaps well you can think of   some certainly earlier Fountains of the laws  being like a machete that as you say is very  

Very fine it’s very delicate and the [ __ ] tip  as you can see is is quite Exquisite the line on   it a falcian was a medieval slashing weapon this  single sword is perhaps the rarest of the whole  

Casteon group this is a gold decoration on the  blade it could actually be a custom made one-off   and there is none other like it well apparently  out of the apparent 80 that were known this is   the only Falcon type so medieval Falcons overall  are incredibly rare surviving despite being quite  

Quite often shown in art and things like that  actual physical surviving specimens it’s the   compact type a sword that Tim’s drawn to oh that’s  uh yeah that’s really heavy but if you look at the   medieval manuscripts you quite often see this very  typical very broad blade this end and very fine at  

The other end and even some of the tombs have got  swords engraved on that are very similar to this   variants of this type occur almost right through  the 15th century I’ve seen so many illustrations  

But to hold it and feel the weight of it I mean  that is the form is a classic yeah fighting sword   yeah but is there any archaeological evidence on  the blades that might tell us more about their use  

Maybe in a battle even Castiel in your opinion  do these look as though they’ve been used some   of them are on the edges of the blade appear to  give evidence of having been used shall we say but   um one might see those actually as  just um corrosion products whether a  

Nick started it or whether it is just  a corrosion product is hard to say   yeah that’s interesting again  it’s got a line across the and just see if there’s a similar line on the  other side I wonder if that’s the length of the  

Oh there is perfect yes there is so that’s how  long the scabbers were that’s interesting they   didn’t go right to the hilt no you’d have  your metal Mount yes yeah corrosion yeah   wow that’s uh that’s quite nice I think that’s  a new spot isn’t it several of the 80 swords and  

Now this one show evidence that they were  scabbarded when they went into the water   does this help with trying to  work out how they came to be there   one of the main questions is uh what this  collection is all about is it a collection  

Of swords that was going to a battle is this  collection soil that was been that been looted   off the battlefield afterwards collected up and  then taken away from the battlefield and so is   there any evidence that the style and the type  and anything else could answer that question  

The only thing that’s always struck me is I  find it hopefully we’re going to battle later   they would be treated well so you have silver  decorated pommels you have gold on the blade   bustling and jostling if you like alongside common  soldier’s sword maybe and I find that a bit odd  

But I can imagine if it’s being an after the  battle scenario everything is being bundled and   jumbled together because they don’t belong to  anybody anymore that’s right they’ve just been   taken away yeah and pillaged yeah basically these  six swords are like the whole of the casteon group  

Some expensive blades some lesser some may  be used in battle some probably not and   some at least scattered so does it sound  like they were looted or something else   we know they’re in a river or we’re presumably  they’re in a river but we don’t know and that  

That’s the thing if we knew how how they were  actually found the groupings even may be able to   there could be that the swords that have similar  pommels were all grouped together we don’t know   were they in fact battle related or is it possible  these are similar because this was a dealer in  

Sorts and this was his collection and for some  reason he got swamped in a river and lost a lot   David Oliver too has come to  favor this possible explanation   the reason why one of the reasons why I think that  not Battlefield finds is that because the so many  

Are virtually they’re not identical but of the  same type so to my mind the bean supplies from a   a maker or a A supplier of of Munitions um  which you’ve been going to either castion   Bergerac or wherever and just happen to be  lost coincidentally in the casteon region  

Can we even say the Battle of castion had any  connection at all to the swords given what the   physical evidence tells us you as an archaeologist  are more aware of this than than perhaps others   there was a battle just up the road from the  alleged fine site so therefore these swords  

Must be Associated from the battle actually there  is no evidence for that but given the traffic is   a very busy river it yeah it it could just be  total coincidence back in London another of the   casteon swords prepares to meet a new owner  it’s nearly time for the sale barnums have  

Never before sold the casteon sword with less  than 24 hours to go anticipation is building   the starting price of the piece is 8 000 pounds  arms and armor collecting is a popular Market you’re selling into a an educated audience if you  like and um yes they appreciate the work of you  

Know the quality of work and they appreciate the  Rarity and they appreciate the fact that they have   a historical connection very often so lots of  anticipation about tomorrow let’s hope so we’re   going to see auctions like these are vital for  museums to acquire their exhibits the the arms and  

Armor trade sometimes gets a bad press sometimes  I I tell my friends or I’m off to an arms fair   tomorrow or something and they seem to think  I’m going to go off and buy a jet fighter and of  

Course it’s actually it’s an Antiques or antique  Arms Fair the academic world can get a little bit   sniffy about the whole commercial sales buying and  selling of these beautiful and interesting objects   and personally I I feel that’s most unfair by  encouraging and spreading this interest they bring  

In artifacts which we might otherwise not see  which the academics might not see like the Castiel   swords Souls themselves have a Mystique I think  um there’s there’s something about them um that   elevates them above all other weapons I think like  David Nicole Clive Thomas researchers and writes  

About historical items in the arms and armor trade  and he too is fascinated by the Cassian swords   yeah the first time I um actually got to grips  with a Medieval sword uh was actually one of   the casteon pieces it was uh it was just  superb and I was I felt very privileged to  

To be holding it I think at that point that was  when uh my uh my interest in the casteon group   um was really sparked I suppose Clive was  well versed in the work of you at oakshot  

I was first aware of you and oakshot when  uh when I read his book The archeology of   weapons I still dip into it occasionally  just for the sheer pleasure of reading it   much later I uh I actually met the  man and um I I met him probably  

Probably four or five times before he died which  was I think in 2002. what was he like very very he   was very enthusiastic about the subject basically  uh very friendly very um very approachable and I  

Remember when uh the very first time I actually  met him I uh I I was introduced to him by a chap   from the Amazon armor society and um this guy  took me over to you at um at the Park Lane Arms  

Fair as well and uh and said this guy’s just  written an article but you’ve got to see and   uh and and knew it opened the article up said oh  I say you know and uh there we were chatting away  

Like we’ve been old friends for for decades  you know you at oakshot passed away in 2002.   over almost three decades he’d written numerous  articles and books about the casteon blight   yet the story wasn’t complete and still the swords  kept appearing for auction there were still blanks  

To be filled in after Hewitt died uh I was I was  looking through these articles and I thought well   I think I think somebody really needs to put it  all together and you know there was definitely  

A sense of a a bat on being passed I think Clive  continued the work of you at oakshot by starting   out with his own research his aim was to try  to establish the true chain of events it still  

Wasn’t known for sure when or even how the find  occurred he was able to establish some of this   as far as I know we’d pinned the year down  to 1974 when they were discovered they were  

Discovered by I think a dredging company as far  as as far as we can tell anyway but where the   dredging happened was another matter nobody  seemed to know or want to tell even Oak shot  

Himself was koi on the matter in his articles the  general area of the Fine Place is known though for   reasons of secured locations location may not be  disclosed it was as if he couldn’t really um tell  

You everything but he uh he sort of cheated he  he put He put just enough information in there   just to uh just so anybody in the know could  actually determine roughly where these things   were found there was a clue that the swords were  found near afford and this along with the apparent  

Date and type of the swords is how they came to  be associated with the battle it’s often thought   that the um that the phone point was actually  near the site of the battle the 1453 battle in actual fact it was the other side of  the of the town uh further Downstream  

This changed everything not the  Ford of razan which was close to   the battlefield but the Ford of jean-bar  just under a kilometer to the south west   if true this put paid once and for all to the  idea of defeated English soldiers losing their  

Swords in the Ford as they fled Clive found  that Oak shots seemed to be being fed Snippets   of detail about the find the let slip clues in  his articles it’s interesting from the first   articles where it was said that the the souls were  founded up in a wagon or something like that and  

Then he revised that in the following article  to say that they were found in some casks and   later said that they were found in a barge  it’s amazing seeing how the story develops   a plausible picture began to emerge perhaps  the swords have been collected after the battle  

But it could have been before or even years later  the swords were of types in use for much of the   15th century they’ve been loaded on board the  river barge for transportation by English or   gascon or by French troops we don’t know were they  heading up or down river where they loaded around  

Here perhaps spoils from the battle we don’t know  we do know though that valuable swords packed   together in a shipment perhaps in great barrels  below decks would have been a serious commodity   in the medieval arms trade of the Hundred Years  War but just how did they come to be in the river  

Right up to his very last words in print on  the subject Oak shot himself wondered this   for all any others know other things  from that vote May lurk beneath the water   but why did the barge sink Clive came up with  something no one else had the dordoing is one  

Of France’s largest rivers and it Bears  witness to an incredible and potentially   destructive natural force a tidal bore a  surge of water driven by the sea I was quite   surprised actually when I learned of this  of this particular natural phenomenon that  

Um that nobody had actually had actually mentioned  it in any of the uh the literature on on cassion   beforehand that’s why I did a bit of research  on it and um the way that tidal balls work  

Um the one at cast John is actually known as  the Masquerade and it goes all the way up the   door into a point about well several kilometers  further than than cassion itself there would have   been little warning the tidal bore makes hardly  any sound until it hits if they weren’t prepared  

Or if it was unusually strong the Masquerade  might easily have swamped or sunk a small craft the barge and its cargo might also have drifted  some distance before they sank into the mud of   the dordoin I find it very interesting that that  none of that information was ever mentioned by  

Anyone beforehand really in fact why was so  little known about the whole find even you   at oakshot stated that he had to keep quiet on  the matter we kept silence or some Authority was   anxious less treasure Seekers should come looking  for more again Clive came up with an explanation  

I I suspect the The Authority that that you  had mentioned was probably the French Navy at   that point there was a law in France which  said that anything discovered in the river   had to be investigated by them castion isn’t  too far from France’s Atlantic coast and a  

Major Naval Base at Bordeaux in the early  70s this was the height of the Cold War   so the French navy had to be thorough I  have it from various sources that they uh   they didn’t just do a washing brief as such  they uh they they took they actually took  

Pictures in the water cordoned off an area did  a proper search but quite what they learned his   um is open to question because none of  that information is is currently available   until it becomes available if ever will never  know if the 80 recovered swords were the only ones  

Nor whether anything else of the barge  and its cargo remains undiscovered at bottoms of Knightsbridge the auction reaches  its climax with Lot number 173 the casteon sword   the starting price of 8 000 pounds is quickly  left behind in the end it takes just 35 seconds

12 000 pounds and another of the  extraordinary castion swords has a new owner   what would you at oakshot have made of all this  I think uh you at oakshop would be delighted with   the interest that is being given to these sorts  and he’d be fascinated by the fact that more keep  

Popping up because he realized that this was not a  straightforward case it was a an ongoing story and   um well maybe he’s up there thinking hey keep at  it you’re doing well there’s still questions to   answer there’s little doubt though that if it  all happened again today things would be very  

Different I can’t help but imagine what it would  be like if somebody had found those swords today   it would be phenomenal it would be unbelievable  we now know hardly anything about the swords of   cassion were it not for the arms and armor trade  and collectors and experts like David Oliver who  

Commissioned the articles by you at oakshot and  Clive Thomas all the all the academic institutions   use your articles as a reference well it’s nice  to think so I mean that’s that’s uh that’s one   of the one of the objects of the exercise that  these are our works of reference you know that’s  

Something which you just look at and throw away  it’s they are retained and how many people are   account enough to to refer to to our articles  to our catalogs in auction catalogs and um and   articles and books which are which are written  on the subject so hopefully it serves a purpose

Beggars belief now completely um as to how it was  done it it just wouldn’t happen these days um and   uh but but but the whole story it it provides  a a really intriguing sort of mystery I suppose  

We’ve now had 40 odd years and the fact there’s  still a mystery to this story 40 years on uh   I don’t think it’s a good sign I I’ll be  optimistic and hope it will be resolved I   wanted to be resolved but maybe this is  a mystery that we’ll just go on and on  

One day uh I hope somebody is going to do a  proper archaeological investigation of the site