Would the real Andrea Ferrara please stand up. An excellent video released by the Royal Armouries in the UK about the mythical sword-smith Andrea Ferrara.
Most anyone that is interested in 16th to 18th Century Scottish swords will have come across swords marked with the name ‘Andrea Ferrara’. And that the name has become associated with blades of high quality. But where does the name come from? Certainly the mark features on blades from a wider span of time than is possible for one smith to cover. Some theorise that he was a Spanish or Italian smith brought to Scotland in the 16th or 17th Century by King James IV. Others believe that he was a Spanish smith that was forced to flee Spain. While another theory is that there was no smith, that the name is a marketing ploy, a word play as a quality mark. The video is a bit sword-nerdy, but an excellent example of how historical research works and the importance of even the most obscure primary sources to unearth the most probable ‘truth’.
