80 Medieval Swords Discovered Beneath a River | Medieval Dead Season 3 Episode 3 [44:29]

YouTube ^ | June 3, 2026 | Ancient History

[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.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: 100yearswar; castillonswords; dordogneriver; europe; france; godsgravesglyphs; history; hundredyearswar; middleages; sirjohntalbot; swords

[SunkenCiv]

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

[SunkenCiv]

[LegendHasIt]

Cool!

[SunkenCiv]

Sir John Talbot
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28344376/john-talbot

[InkStone]

You Never Sleep ! Thank you immensely for your continual posting of Archaeological Topics !

[Adder]

"You get a sword! And you get a sword! And YOU get a sword!"

[CtBigPat]

[Adder]

Exactly!

Heh heh.

[bk1000]

“if I went around, saying I was an emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d put me away!”

[SunkenCiv]

😁 Oh, I sleep. I have a circadian rhythm set up for the wrong day length. Konked out in a recliner getting some sitcom time in. 📺

[SunkenCiv]

I agree! And the investigation was documented in a way that didn’t just tick me off, so that’s a plus. VERY good presentation.

A lot of things I try watching spend the first two minutes with some kind of intro, then remind me of all the things that are either in or suggested by the title, then remind me again, then I leave it and go back to the menu to find something else.

If the reminder to subscribe happens in the first two or three minutes, I dump the vid.

I’d guess than 90% of the documentaries and especially tech vids on YouTube could wrap up the entire presentation in under three minutes. And SHOULD.

[Larry Lucido]

No wonder I woke up wanting to order a watery tart.

[Paal Gulli]

"...I have a circadian rhythm set up for the wrong day length...."

I got that, too. Sleep six hours and don't get sleepy again for 24.

[SunkenCiv]

My catchup sleep happens about every six days. I actually got 8 hrs last night.

[MikelTackNailer]

"...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..."

It appears that the French Navy may have thought the swords were dropped by their lily-livered ancestors so were trying to counter the rampant stereotype of cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

[SunkenCiv]

Heh... “did you mean French military defeats?” heh heh... I doubt it was that reason, but I don’t want to post potential spoilers for those who haven’t viewed it.