CEREMONIAL SABER OF THE PRINCE DMITRY M POZHARSKY IN SHEATH
The Armory Chamber, Moscow
The end of XVI – beginning of the XVII centuries
Showcase 5
The saber belonged to the national hero of the Ttime of Troubles, Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky (1578–1642).
Prince Pozharsky belonged to family of Princes Starodubsky, descendants of Grand Duke of Vladimir Vsevolod the Big Nest. He participated in fighting against the troops of False Dmitry II. He joined the First Militia, was seriously wounded in the uprising of Muscovites in March of 1611. At the offer of the head of Nizhny Novgorod Zemstvo Kuzma Minin – the initiator of new militia – he headed the Second Militia, which in October of 1612 liberated Moscow from the poles. According to legend, the saber was presented to the Prince by grateful Muscovites. In 1613, at the Coronation of Mikhail Romanov, Pozharsky was granted a Boyar and during the Coronation procession was carrying one of the Royal regalia – The Orb.
At the base of the saber’s blade on one side is a stamp in shape of a fantastic animal that reminds a lion; under it are three round recesses. The handle and sheath are decorated in Turkish style: covered with gilded silver and decorated with Jasper and pearl plates, turquoise, ruby and emerald sparkles in golden nests.
Moscow Armory was the centre of production of ceremonial weapons in Russia in the beginning of XVII Century. Russian weapons makers forged blades after Persian and Turkish models. Russian craftsmen achieved very good results in copying of the Oriental samples. Besides Russian craftsmen a lot of foreigners worked in the Armory: poles, Germans, Dutch, natives of Persia. Among the latter was known craftsman Trenka Akatov, referred to in one of the sources as “the master of sabers” – so were called only Persian saber makers. The blade of saber of D.M.Pozharsky is the closest to works of Trenka Akatov stored in the Armory. It is also possible that the sword of Prince Pozharsky is made after the Turkish model.
After 1647 the sword of D.M.Pozharsky, as well as the sword of M.V.Shuisky, was kept in the sacristy of the Solovetsky monastery and always was described as one of the treasures of the monastery. The description of the monastery of 1836 recorded that the sword was donated to the monastery in 1647 by the Governor Boyar Semyon V.Prozorovsky (1586–1659) upon the death of Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky.
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