LEGENDARY FIGURES AND ROYAL BLADES: MYTH, MATERIAL, AND STATECRAFT
Keywords:
regalia; cultural diplomacy; gift exchange; symbolic capital; metallurgy; provenance; intangible cultural heritage; exhibition diplomacyAbstract
Royal blades—swords, sabres, and ritual knives linked to rulers and saints—sit at the intersection of myth, material craft, and political performance. This article examines how legendary blades condense narratives of legitimacy into repeatable acts of sovereignty and then circulate as instruments of interstate relationship-building from the medieval period to the present. Bringing together regalia theory, gift-exchange, and symbolic capital, I analyze six case clusters—Excalibur (Britain), Joyeuse (France), the Sword of Osman (Ottoman Empire), Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Japan), Ẕū-’l-Fiqār (Islamic tradition), and a regional Uzbek example (Andijan/Bukhara court blades, 16th–19th c.)—and situate them alongside a South Asian Mughal comparative. Methods include close reading of chronicles and epics, museum catalogues and object files, and metallurgical/epigraphic evidence where available, supplemented by market and exhibition data (auction records 1990–2025; exhibition loans 2000–2025). Three findings emerge. First, mythic scripts (e.g., “right to wield” tests) stabilize succession anxieties by materializing virtue as an object. Second, cross-border blade movements—tribute, dowry, trophies, and curated loans—create durable cultural linkages and soft-power channels. Third, contemporary heritage economies monetize verified provenance through collaborative maker–museum projects while raising questions of ritual sensitivity and digital stewardship under the UNESCO 2003 ICH framework. I conclude with governance guidelines for exhibiting and replicating royal blades that balance public access, artisans’ rights, and the integrity of sacred narratives.
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