This book, having been prepared and published in the early 1960s, contains many errors in the matter of the dating of swords. Since then, thirty more years of thought based upon many significant archaeological finds have exposed these errors. My publishers and I have decided not to amend the actual text, but rather to add an appendix wherein these errors are corrected. Further finds and more study will inevitably bring about the need for yet further amendments. Any publication of archaeological research must always be subject to the possibility of new evidence calling for a change of mind, and for any true scholar this must demand an admission of error. To avoid confusion, I ask my readers to refer constantly to this appendix because all of these reassessments, and all of this fresh thought have appeared in my Records of the Medieval Sword (Boydell Press, 1991).
Those of my readers who are already familiar with my work will know that I write in a conversational style. I believe that a person-to-person approach is more likely to be appreciated by those for whom I write, than a strictly academic one. I am not, nor ever have been, an "expert", and I will not write merely for the benefit of experts. The words "amateur" and "dilettante" have become pejorative. An amateur is held to be a person of no consequence who interferes with matters which he does not understand, while a dilettante is considered to be a human butterfly who flits with frivolous insouciance from one enthusiasm to another. But to be referred to as "a renaissance man" is considered (and rightly so) to be a great compliment, and yet all three of these expressions mean (or used to mean) the same thing. The amateur, the lover of his subject, is one who does not follow only the particular and narrow discipline in which he works - that is the function of the expert - but encourages his attention to stretch away into the study of any or every thing even remotely connected with it. That, too, is what the true dilettante must do. In the case of the study of armour and arms, and of their corollary, the ethics of elegant combat, a constant study of history is basic. It is also necessary to be able to practise what is preached.
Long ago - more than fifty years ago - I found that in order to do justice to a real study of the sword, not just to have a love-affair with it, I had to wander off into fascinating by-ways; it was essential of course to
Study not only the history of the period, but its art, and not only its art, but its literature - all of it, from saga, chronicle, will and inventory to love poems and pub songs and other frivolities. These things, and only these things, can give some understanding of the Zeitgeist of a period without which there can be no true appreciation of a sword or a war-harness, or indeed of anything else.
These by-ways, which always led back to the main road, took me far away from England, for most of the material I needed came from Europe and Asia - from Ireland to Siberia and from Finland to Andalusia. I also had to learn how to wear armour and ride in it, and to heft the sword. These splendid things are not simply ancient artifacts buried in the ground of times past, to be dug up for the benefit of the egos of 20th century experts. They were objects of everyday use by real, very simple people - objects also of mystery and veneration.
So: I am indeed an amateur, whose aim is to arouse the interest of any person who cares to read what I write, to be helpful to the student of history or culture or art, and to increase the pleasure of those who collect these splendid things - and now, in these days, of all those who so eagerly and skilfully use them in combat.
When this book was in preparation in 1962, I wrote a preface in which I acknowledged my indebtedness to several eminent authorities, working in the field of arms and armour studies, for their support and encouragement. Thirty-two years on, those personages belong to history and there is little point in reiterating this acknowledgement but if, now, I were to try to thank by name all those who support me, a mere preface would be totally inadequate. So I make a general, wide-ranging expression of deep gratitude to all who may read this, wherever they may be, all over the world. It is to them - to you - that I owe the will and the ability to go on working in this most fascinating field of study as my eightieth year rapidly approaches; and it is for you I write. Without the warmth and appreciation of so many people - some close and dear friends, some interesting acquaintances to whom I hope to get closer, and some known to me only by their letters - I would be a spent force.
So thirty years on I do not make acknowledgements to great authorities of the past, but I say thank you, to all of you who still regard my work as useful, and without whose encouragement I could no longer function.
World History
