Original Item: One of a Kind. A relic Scottish dirk that may have been owned by a King! This dirk came to us with an amazing tale that may very well be true!

In 1513 the Scottish King James IV, in support of his ally King Louis XII of France, invaded the North of England. On September 9th 1513 the Scottish army confronted King Henry VIII's army commanded by the Earl Of Surrey, Thomas Howard, who later became the 2nd Duke of Norfolk. KING HENRY was himself in France, having invaded the continent on June 30th 1513.

The Battle Of Flodden took place near the Village of Braxton in Northumberland, the Scots defending the South end of the moor named Flodden Edge. It was a complete rout! It was estimated that the English had 1,500 dead but the Scot’s losses were 10,000 to 20,000 men killed in action!

History tells us that the flowers of Scottish aristocracy, including King James IV, were put to the sword on that day. King James IV was the last Monarch to be killed in battle in Great Britain.

The English Commander had the bodies stripped and buried in mass graves, which were not located until the Victorian era, and he himself took charge of the Scottish weapons and Armor. This was said to include about 350 Sets of Armor from the Scottish Nobility and endless quantities of edged weapons. All this was delivered to the Earl Of Surrey's Castle at Framlingham in East Anglia in England, where it decorated the walls for many years.

Fast forward to 1681, when the 6th Duke of Norfolk in gratitude for some favourable ruling gifted the London College Of Arms, the recorder of the Nobility, a set of weapons supposedly belonging to King James IV found on the Battlefield at Flodden.

This garniture of Sword, Dagger (dirk) and ring were supposedly decorated en-suite, inlaid with Turquoise enamel and Gold, over brass, having been a gift from King Louis XII 's wife Queen Anne, The Former Duchess of Brittany to the Scottish King James IV in gratitude for the support Scotland was giving France regarding England's continued hostility and subsequent invasion of France.

In the last 100 years there has been a bit of an uproar that the Duke of Norfolk's Gifts of 1681 were, perhaps, not what they were claimed to be. The ring is correct with the decoration, BUT the Sword and Dirk said to have been King James's are both 50-75 years too young, dating from the Elizabethan era. All this is easily confirmed on the Internet, just look.

So the tale moves forward to the late 1880's when a "farm hand" unearths a relic dirk and sells it to a local landowner near the Village of Branxton, very near to Flodden. This was later gifted some years later to a young man of the area who is now, or was a few years ago, 95 years old. So a couple of years ago this ancient collector sold the dirk to a dear friend of IMA director Christian Cranmer, who then sold it to him.

The Dirk is in relic condition, it measures 17 " in overall length with a 13” long blade. It is well eaten away after centuries of field burial. The interesting feature however is the still attached pommel, which features bright Turquoise enamel inlay, decorated with gold inlays, mostly worn away but leaving the brass mounting underneath. Nobody ever did any research but it is all available to be found on the internet. Apparently the dirk had a large emerald set into the pommel but alas it's gone of course, but one can see where it was mounted.

Is our RELIC dirk really that of SCOTTISH KING JAMES IV, killed at FLODDEN in 1513? We certainly hope so!

Now it is for YOU to decide! This ought to go into a museum or just a very good home! Ready to display!

Dimensions:
Blade length: 13”
Blade Style: Spear Point Double Edge
Overall length: 17”