KøbenhavnskeSværdfegereTreAarhundreder_1957

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penhagen in the mid 1760 ’s leaving his work­ shop to his stepson, Peter Weidenhaupt, to whom is attributed the “ yellow officer’s small sword” (Plate 7 , 4 ) delivered in 1 7 7 7 . B y that time the manufacture o f swords had been mostly transferred from the sword- cutlers to the factories and the poorer mem­ bers o f the guild certainly felt their existence endangered and their trade a declining one. To tell the complete story o f the sword- cutlers’ guild is impossible because its records are lost. Notwithstanding, it has proved pos­ sible to reconstruct ta fairly reliable list o f its members in the 1 8 th century from other offi­ cial sources, and this list could be checked with the number o f sword-cutlers in those years for which the official reports about the guilds o f Copenhagen survive. Furthermore, a great deal o f material for the period 17 15 -2 2 sur­ vives in the records o f the local courts, as it was a period o f fierce quarrels within the guild. The number o f master sword-cutlers at different times confirms the general impres­ sion we have gained about the rise and fall o f the sword-cutler’s craft. It reached its peak with 22 masters in 1 7 1 0 , but the plague-year 1 7 1 1 reduced them to 1 4 . The great fire o f 1728 left undamaged those districts where most o f the sword-cutlers lived, but their number fell to an average o f 10 - 1 1 . In 1764 there were 1 2 , but a steady decline now set in. In the last three decades o f the century their number varied between 6 and 8 . The British assault in 1801 and the constant menace o f war in the following years seems to have en­ couraged a few journeymen o f the trade to take out their licences, but the success o f the knife and sword manufacture at Frederiks- ch a pter 6 THE GUILD IN THE l8TH CENTURY

were the true Swedish patterns but European arms o f varying provenance stored in the fortresses. Under Christian VI ( 1730 - 1746 ), the sword- cutlers continued to work for the armoury, but the different types o f military swords o f the period cannot be distinguished with any certainty from each other, as many were altered under the following kings. The brass- hilted types now seem to gain ground, but a new type o f iron-hilted broad-swords is men­ tioned in 17 3 3 - 34 , and, in 174 5 , some hun­ dreds o f them were repaired. The reign o f King Frederik V ( 1746 - 1766 ) brought a single contractor, namely Johan Christian Herrig, to prominence. Although this single man delivered military side-arms on a hitherto unknown scale, there was at the same time a tendency to experiment with blade-manufacture and so to become inde­ pendent o f the sword-cutlers’ supplies. Herrig probably imported his blades and may have contracted with his colleagues, the other sword-cutlers o f Copenhagen, to furnish them w ith hilts and scabbards. Plate 12 shows a broadsword o f which specimens exist with the marks o f N . C. Plockross, Peter Meis and Matthias Johansen Hoy who were among eight sword-cutlers who, in 175 9 , delivered 1403 new broadswords. It is not quite clear whether this delivery should be credited to Herrig or whether they had been specially contracted for by the sword-cutlers’ guild. In the years 175 7 - 63 , Herrig delivered a large number o f a new type o f side-arm, the “ sabre” , which was a single-edged, slightly curved soldier’s sword inspired by those used by the Prussians under Frederik the Great. The new regiment o f light cavalry raised in 17 6 2 , the hussars, were given longer sabres. Plate 13 is probably one o f them; the hilt is marked by Peter Meis, the blade was prob­ ably replaced at a later date. Herrig left Co­