In those days full literacy was probably constrained to the priesthood and legal counsels. The inscriptions are meant to say “Glory to God in the highest” and “St Mary patron of Thorens church.” My first guess was that it’s an execution sword of one of the catholic church city states where the head of state had to dispense punishments to maintain law and order. But there is in fact a castle Thorens in France where this sword may have been used. Struggled a bit with the word “Thorensis” which I take to mean “of Thorens.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Thorens
18th January 2026, 11:29 AM
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