Posted on 06/07/2026 10:27:05 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The final catastrophe of the Hundred Years War ended in 1453 with the total annihilation of Sir John Talbot’s English army at Castillon, but an extraordinary discovery made over five centuries later has rewritten the final moments of this medieval tragedy. Based on the authentic records from the file captions, this episode investigates the stunning 1974 retrieval of approximately 80 elite medieval swords from the mud of the Dordogne River -- a find originally kept under rigid Cold War secrecy by the French Navy. By dismantling the long -- accepted myth of defeated soldiers frantically dropping their weapons in flight, forensic researchers track the physical evidence to an entirely different river crossing at the Ford of Jeanbar. There, the analysis reveals that these pristine cut-and-thrust blades, rare single-edged falchions, and gold-inlaid hilts were actually packed neatly inside large wooden barrels beneath the deck of a commercial cargo barge. The historical investigation ultimately exposes the exact natural force that sealed this massive shipment's fate: a sudden, catastrophic tidal bore wave known as the Mascaret, which swamped the unsuspecting crew and froze a multi-thousand-pound medieval weapon shipment in time until its modern revival in the world's most prestigious auction rooms.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
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80 Medieval Swords Discovered Beneath a River | Medieval Dead Season 3 Episode 3 | 44:29
Ancient History | 16.2K subscribers | 36,981 views | June 3, 2026
Cool!
Sir John Talbot
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28344376/john-talbot
You Never Sleep ! Thank you immensely for your continual posting of Archaeological Topics !
"You get a sword! And you get a sword! And YOU get a sword!"
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