Editing Szczerbiec (section)

== History ==
=== The Szczerbiec of Boleslaus the Brave ===
Historical accounts related to the early history of the Polish coronation sword are scant and often mixed with legend. The earliest known use of the name "Szczerbiec" appeared in the ''[[Chronicle of Greater Poland]]'' at the turn of the 14th century. According to this source, the sword was given to King [[Boleslaus I of Poland|Boleslaus the Brave]] (reigned 992–1025) by an angel; Polish kings were supposed to always carry it in battle to triumph over their enemies. During Boleslaus's invasion of [[Kievan Rus']], he hit it against the [[Golden Gate (Kiev)|Golden Gate]] of [[Kyiv]] while capturing the city. It was the notch that appeared on the edge of the blade which gave the sword its name. This account, written three centuries after the events it describes, is implausible not only because of the customary reference to the sword's supernatural origin (compare [[Excalibur]]), but also because [[Boleslaw I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis, 1018|Boleslaus's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis]] took place in 1018, or about 19 years before the actual construction of the Golden Gate in 1037.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|ps=|p=16}}{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|ps=|p=134}}
[[File:Boleslaw Chrobry with Swietopelk near The Golden Gate in Kyiv MNK ND 11610.jpg|thumb|[[Jan Matejko]], ''[[Boleslaus I of Poland|Boleslaus the Brave]] and [[Sviatopolk I of Kiev|Sviatopolk]] at the [[Golden Gate (Kiev)|Golden Gate]] of [[Kyiv]]'' (1883)]]
It is plausible, though, that Boleslaus did chip his sword by striking it against an earlier gate in Kiev. His great-grandson, [[Boleslaus II of Poland|Boleslaus the Bold]] ({{nowrap|r. 1058–1079}}), hit the Golden Gate with a sword in 1069, which would indicate that it was a customary gesture of gaining control over a city.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|ps=|p=16}}{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|ps=|p=134}} It is also possible that this sword was preserved as a souvenir of past victories venerated by Boleslaus the Brave's successors. According to [[Wincenty Kadłubek]]'s ''[[Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae|Chronicle]]'', [[Boleslaus III, Duke of Poland|Boleslaus Wrymouth]] ({{nowrap|r. 1107–1138}}) had a favorite sword he called ''Żuraw'' or ''Grus'' ("Crane"). A scribe who copied the chronicle in 1450 added the word ''Szczurbycz'' above the word ''Żuraw'', but whether these two swords were one and the same is uncertain.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|ps=|pp=16–17}}

According to the ''Chronicle of Greater Poland'',  the sword was kept in the treasury of the [[Wawel Cathedral]].{{sfnp|Biborski|Stępiński|Żabiński|2011|ps=|p=95}} The ultimate fate of the original Szczerbiec is unknown. It may have been taken to [[Prague]], together with other royal insignia, by King [[Wenceslaus II of Bohemia]] after his coronation as king of Poland in [[Gniezno]] in 1300. What happened with these insignia thereafter remains a mystery.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|ps=|p=18}} Although Boleslaus the Brave's notched sword has not been preserved and even its very existence is doubtful, its legend had a great impact on Polish historical memory and the treatment of its successor, the modern Szczerbiec.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|ps=|pp=69–70}}

=== From a sword of justice to a coronation sword ===
The sword currently known as Szczerbiec was forged and decorated in a style characteristic of the late 12th and 13th centuries, so it could not have belonged to any of the three great Boleslauses of the 11th and early 12th centuries. Additionally, it is a purely ceremonial sword which, unlike the original Szczerbiec, was never used in combat. It was originally used as a [[sword of justice]] (''gladius iustitiae''), or insignia of the sovereign's judicial power, by one of the many local dukes during Poland's [[Age of Fragmentation (Poland)|Age of Fragmentation]].{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=69–70|ps=}} A silver plate, now lost, on the sword's grip bore an inscription which indicated a duke by the name Boleslaus as its original owner.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=70|ps=}} An inscription on the Radziwiłłs' replica of Szczerbiec, now also lost, could provide an additional hint as to the duke's identity: "Boleslaus, Duke of Poland, [[Masovia]], and [[Łęczyca]]" – except that no duke of this name and titles ever existed. Historians have variously identified the duke in question as [[Bolesław IV the Curly|Boleslaus the Curly]] ({{nowrap|r. 1146–1173}}),{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=76|ps=}} [[Bolesław V the Chaste|Boleslaus the Chaste]] ({{nowrap|r. 1226–1279}}),{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=77|ps=}} [[Boleslaw I of Masovia|Boleslaus I of Masovia]] ({{nowrap|r. 1229–1248}}){{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=76|ps=}}  or [[Bolesław the Pious|Boleslaus the Pious]] of [[Greater Poland]] ({{nowrap|r. 1239–1247}}).{{sfn|Czyżewski|ps=}}

As a coronation sword, Szczerbiec was first specifically mentioned by [[Jan Długosz]] in his account of the crowning of King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon|Casimir IV]] ({{nowrap|r. 1447–1492}}), but it was probably first used in a coronation ceremony by King [[Ladislaus the Short]] ({{nowrap|r. 1288–1333}}) in 1320,{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|p=135|ps=}} by which time he had reunited most of the core territories of Poland. If Szczerbiec had previously belonged to his uncle, Boleslaus I of Masovia, or his father-in-law, Boleslaus the Pious, then he could have inherited it. If it had belonged to any of the two Boleslauses who had ruled from [[Kraków]] as high dukes of all Poland, then Ladislaus could have simply found it in the [[Wawel Cathedral]].{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=76–77|ps=}} Thereafter, Szczerbiec became an integral part of the [[Polish Crown Jewels]], shared their fate, and was the principal ceremonial sword used in coronations of all [[List of Polish monarchs|Polish kings]] until 1764,{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=70|ps=}} except [[Jogaila]] (1386),{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=79|ps=}} [[Stephen Báthory of Poland|Stephen Báthory]] (1576),{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=89|ps=}} [[Stanislaus I of Poland|Stanislaus I Leszczyński]] (1705), and [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus III Wettin]] (1734).{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=105|ps=}}

[[File:Bacciarelli - Chrobry.jpeg|thumb|left|[[Boleslaus I of Poland|Boleslaus the Brave]] holding Szczerbiec,{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=70|ps=}} as painted by [[Marcello Bacciarelli]] in  1771. Note the lack of a slit in the blade and the chipped edge.]]

Szczerbiec, together with other crown jewels, was removed from the [[Wawel Hill]] on several occasions during that period. After his Polish coronation in 1370, King [[Louis I of Hungary]] took the crown jewels with him to [[Buda]]; his successor on the Hungarian throne, [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Sigismund]], rendered them to Poland in 1412.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=135|ps=}} On two occasions, in mid-17th and early 18th centuries, they were evacuated across Poland's southern border to protect them from invading Swedish armies. In 1733, during the [[War of the Polish Succession]], supporters of King [[Stanislaus I of Poland|Stanislaus I]] concealed the jewels in a [[Warsaw]] church for three years to prevent [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus III]] from using them in his coronation. In 1764, they were sent to Warsaw again, to be used in a coronation for the last time – that of [[Stanislaus II of Poland|Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski]]. They were returned to Kraków afterwards.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=137|ps=}}

During a typical Polish coronation ceremony in the times of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], the king-elect received Szczerbiec after his [[Anointing|anointment]] and before being crowned and [[enthronement|enthroned]]. The [[List of archbishops of Gniezno and primates of Poland|primate of Poland]], that is the archbishop of [[Gniezno]], picked up the unsheathed sword from the altar and handed it to the kneeling king. At the same time, he recited a formula which asked the monarch to use the sword to rule justly, defend the Church, fight evil, protect widows and orphans, and to "rebuild what is damaged, maintain what is rebuilt, avenge what is unjust, reinforce what is well managed," etc. Then, the king handed the sword to the Crown sword-bearer (''[[miecznik]] koronny''), who slid it into the scabbard and passed on to the primate. The primate, aided by the Crown and Lithuanian sword-bearers, fastened the scabbard to the king's belt. The king stood up and, facing onlookers, withdrew Szczerbiec, made three times the [[sign of the cross]] with it, and wiped it against his left arm before replacing it in the scabbard.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=40–42|ps=}} The king's sword-wielding abilities were closely watched by his new subjects during this part of the ritual. When Augustus III betrayed his poor fencing skills at his coronation, nobles joked that they were going to have "a peaceful lord".{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=54–55|ps=}} After Szczerbiec, a bishop handed the sovereign the [[Grunwald Swords]] symbolizing the monarch's reign over the two constituent nations of the Commonwealth.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=42|ps=}}

Throughout the period from [[Casimir III the Great|Casimir the Great]] ({{nowrap|r. 1333–1370}}) to Stanislaus Augustus, Polish crown jewels were commonly believed to date back to the times of Boleslaus the Brave. This conviction helped maintain a sense of continuity of Polish statehood and provide [[Legitimacy (political)|legitimacy]] for the nation's kings, implicitly making each Polish monarch a successor of the ancient and glorious legacy of the first king of the [[House of Piast]]. Accordingly, the coronation sword took over the name and the legend of the original Szczerbiec.{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|p=136|ps=}} The corrosion-induced slit in the blade became associated with the fabled ''szczerba'', or notch that Boleslaus had purportedly made on his sword in Kiev. The power of tradition was so strong that when Stanislaus Augustus's court painter, [[Marcello Bacciarelli]], who had made detailed studies of Polish crown jewels, painted an imaginary portrait of Boleslaus the Brave, he chose to depict Szczerbiec so that its appearance agreed with legend rather than reality. The images of the [[Crown of Bolesław I the Brave|coronation crown]] and sword are overall meticulously accurate, but Bacciarelli's Szczerbiec lacks the slit and has a chipped edge instead.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=70–72|ps=}}
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=== In foreign hands ===
{{multiple image
| align     = right
| direction = horizontal
| footer    = Rough sketches of the obverse (left, by S. Smolikowski) and reverse (by [[Sebastiano Ciampi]]) sides of the hilt
| width1    = 170
| image1    = Szczerbiec.jpg
| alt1      = Obverse of the hilt
| width2    = 172
| image2    = Rękojeść Szczerbca.jpg
| alt2      = Reverse of the hilt }}

In 1794, during the failed [[Kościuszko Uprising]] which led to the [[Third Partition of Poland|final partition of Poland]] a year later, [[Prussia]]n troops captured Kraków. In the following year, on King [[Frederick William II of Prussia|Frederick William II]]'s orders, the treasure vault of the Wawel Castle was looted and the crown jewels taken to Breslau (now [[Wrocław]] in Poland), then to [[Berlin]], and finally to Königsberg (now [[Kaliningrad]] in Russia). Between 1809 and 1811 most of the jewels were melted down, but some, including Szczerbiec, were put up for sale.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=70–72, 138–141|ps=}} The coronation sword was acquired by the future Russian minister of justice, Prince [[Dmitry Lobanov-Rostovsky]], who probably hoped to resell it to one of Polish aristocrats. In 1819, he approached General [[Wincenty Krasiński]], speaker of the [[Sejm of the Republic of Poland|Sejm]] (parliament) of the [[Congress Poland|"Congress" Kingdom of Poland]]. The prince did not disclose the actual source of the sword and claimed to have bought it in [[Moscow]] from an Armenian merchant who had found the weapon somewhere between [[Belgrade]] and Rusçuk (now [[Ruse, Bulgaria|Ruse]] in Bulgaria) during the recent [[Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)|Russo-Turkish War]]. Krasiński, who was a known antique  weapon collector, suspected it could be Szczerbiec, but asked Prof. [[Sebastiano Ciampi]], a historian of the [[Warsaw University]], for opinion. Ciampi examined the [[lithography]] Krasiński had had made of the sword, but was unsure whether it was the actual Szczerbiec. As a consequence, Krasiński declined Lobanov-Rostovsky's offer.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|pp=72–74|ps=}}

Lobanov-Rostovsky ultimately sold Szczerbiec to Prince [[Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato|Anatoly Demidov]], who kept it together with the rest of the [[Demidov collection]] in his [[Villa San Donato]] near [[Florence]]. In 1870, the sword was bought for 20,000 [[French franc]]s by [[Alexander Basilevsky]], Russian ambassador to France and great art collector. In 1878, he displayed Szczerbiec at the [[Exposition Universelle (1878)|World's Fair]] in [[Paris]]. By that time, the scabbard had been lost and the sword itself was presented as of [[Teutonic Knights|Teutonic]] origin. It was seen by several Polish visitors who speculated whether it could be the Polish coronation sword. In 1884, the entire Basilevsky collection was purchased by Emperor [[Alexander III of Russia]] for the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[Saint Petersburg]]. Both Polish and other experts at the time expressed doubts as to the authenticity of Szczerbiec held in Russia's largest museum ''(see [[#Historical replicas|Historical replicas]] below)''. An international museum congress held in Saint Petersburg in 1913 pronounced the sword a 17th-century replica.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=74|ps=}}

In 1917, as a result of the [[October Revolution]], Russia became a communist state. In the aftermath of [[World War I]], Poland reemerged as an independent country in the following year. From 1919 to 1921, the two states fought the [[Polish–Soviet War]] which was concluded with the [[Peace of Riga]]. Article 11 of the peace treaty required that the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] side return all culturally significant collections and items that had been removed from Poland since the [[First Partition of Poland|First Partition]] in 1772. A special bilateral committee was set up to carry out the restitution of cultural goods.{{sfnp|Wójcik|1997|ps=}} In 1928, the committee's efforts resulted in the return to Poland of, among other national treasures, Szczerbiec,{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=75|ps=}} which, after 133 years, was deposited back in the Wawel Castle.{{sfnp|Lileyko|1987|p=70|ps=}}

=== Evacuation in World War II ===
{{See also|Evacuation of Polish National Treasures during World War II}}
[[File:Bank of Montreal Wellington Street Ottawa.jpg|thumb|upright|From 1945 to 1959, Szczerbiec was locked away in a vault of the [[Bank of Montreal]] branch at [[144 Wellington Street]], [[Ottawa]].{{sfnp|Swoger|2004|p=77|ps=}}]]
On 3 September 1939, two days after [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] invaded Poland triggering the [[World War I|Second World War]], began the evacuation of the most precious national treasures, including Szczerbiec, from the Wawel Castle. The cargo was transported on barges, wagons, buses and trucks to Romania. From there, it was shipped by sea to France and later to Britain.{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|pp=138–139|ps=}} On the way from [[Bordeaux]] to [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]], the ship carrying Polish national treasures came under fire from the [[Luftwaffe]].{{sfnp|Swoger|2004|p=53|ps=}} [[Karol Estreicher (junior)|Karol Estreicher]], who oversaw the evacuation, decided then to remove Szczerbiec from a chest and sandwich it between two wooden planks, and to attach to them an explanatory [[message in a bottle]] – so that in the event that the ship was sunk, at least the coronation sword could be salvaged.{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|p=139|ps=}} When the [[Battle of Britain|German bombing of Britain]] began in July 1940, the valuables were transported aboard the Polish ocean liner [[MS Batory|MS ''Batory'']] to Canada{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|pp=138–139|ps=}} and finally deposited at the Polish consulate and then other locations in [[Ottawa]].{{sfnp|Swoger|2004|p=58|ps=}} After the war, one of the custodians of the national treasures, who remained loyal to the [[London]]-based [[Polish government-in-exile]], was reluctant to return them to Poland, which had fallen under communist rule and Soviet influence.{{sfnp|Swoger|2004|p=76|ps=}} After lengthy negotiations, the first batch of the most important objects, including Szczerbiec, was ultimately returned in 1959; the rest followed in 1961. Since then, the Polish coronation sword has been on permanent display in the treasure vault of the Wawel Castle.{{sfnp|Rożek|1987|pp=138–139|ps=}}