中世紀中期的許多歐洲劍刃都有劍身銘文。劍身刻上銘文在12世紀特別受歡迎。這些銘文中有許多是錯亂的一串字母，通常明顯地受到宗教信仰表白書的啟發，特別是短語“in nomine domini”和“benedictus”或“benedicat”。
12世紀劍身刻上銘文的風氣是基於更早的9至11世紀，名叫Ulfberht劍（英语：Ulfberht swords）的傳統。一個可追溯到11世紀末或可能12世紀初，來自德國東部意外的發現，銘文結合了“Ulfberht”和“in nomine domini”短語（在這個發現中短語寫法為“+IINIOMINEDMN”）。[11]
12世紀後期和13世紀的許多劍身銘文甚至更加錯亂，與in nomine domini短語沒有任何相似之處，有時類似於隨機地刻上的一串字母，例如ERTISSDXCNERTISSDX，[12]+NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+，[13]+IHININIhVILPIDHINIhVILPN+ (Pernik劍（英语：Pernik sword）)等。[14] Geibig在1991年提出了8至13世紀劍身碑文的類型學。
參見
注釋
^Formerly kept in the Treasury of the Abbey of St. Maurice in the Valais, where it had been preserved in a leather case at least since the 15th century, it was transferred to the Royal Chapel at Turin in 1591 along with the relics of the saint on the order of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. Saint Maurice of Turin (albion-swords.com) （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
^George Cameron Stone, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor, 2013, p. 18 （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）.
^"The size of a sword has not hitherto determined its type, but here, and in swords of the 14th and 15th centuries, it will be found to do so. The reason here is partly that the XIIIa's are very big weapons, partly because in their own time they were distinguished from their smaller contemporaries by the ter 'espées de Guerre' or 'Grete Swerdes'. [...] The two-hander of the 13th-15th centuries was not, as in the 16th, a specialised form of weapon; it was just an outsize specimen." (Oakeshott 1964, p. 42)
^Oakeshott, Ewart. Records of the Medieval Sword. 1960.
^Loades, Mike. Swords and Swordsmen. Great Britain: Pen & Sword Books. 2010. ISBN 978-1-84884-133-8.
^"I must reiterate my firm belief that you cannot date a sword by its type, for most of the types – not all, as you will see – can span the whole of the medieval period. Nor can you use the forms of cross and pommel to date a sword – hardly ever. There are a few, mostly in use in the 15th century, which are dateable to a few decades, and can be identified with a region; but most of the pommel-types and cross-styles span the whole period; besides, within those types and styles there must be an infinity of variation – personal, regional and in some cases plain careless on the part of the cutler who made them." Oakeshott (1991:64).
^Herrman, J. and Donat P. (eds.), Corpus archäologischer Quellen zur Frühgeschichte auf dem Gebiet der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (7.-12. Jahrhundert), Akademie-Verlag, Berlin (1985), p. 376.
^T. Wagner et al., "Medieval Christian invocation inscriptions of sword blades", Waffen- und Kostümkunde 51(1), 2009, 11–52 (p. 24).
Oakeshott, Ewart (1964), The Sword in the Age of Chivalry.
Oakeshott, Ewart. Records of the Medieval Sword. Boydell & Brewer Inc. 1991. ISBN 0-85115-566-9.
Loades, Mike. Swords and Swordsmen. Great Britain: Pen & Sword Books. 2010. ISBN 978-1-84884-133-8.
Geibig, A. (1991), Beiträge zur morphologischen Entwicklung des Schwertes im Mittelalter.
North, Anthony (1994), "Swords and Hilt Weapons" in: Anne Cope (ed.), Swords and Hilt Weapons.
Peirce, Ian (1990), "The Development of the Medieval Sword c.850–1300", in Christopher Harper-Bill, Ruth Harvey (eds.), The Ideals and Practice of Medieval Knighthood III: Papers from the Fourth Strawberry Hill Conference, 1988, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, pp. 139–158.
Schulze-Dörrlamm (1995). Das Reichsschwert: Ein Herrschaftszeichen des Saliers Heinrich IV. und des Welfen Otto IV. Jan Thorbecke Verlag Sigmaringen.
Seitz, H. (1967). Blankwaffen 1. Braunschweig: Klinkhardt and Biermann.
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