According to Schulze-Dörrlamm (1995:35), the scabbards of medieval swords were mostly made of wood or leather, and, therefore, the majority of them are not extant.  There are, of course, some exceptions, such as the leather scabbard on the belt of Saint Hadrian from the 13^th century that is kept in Historisches Museum in Bamberg.  Schulze-Dörrlamm (1995:35) adds that the scabbard of the Reichsschwert is another rare example that has survived.  The scabbard of the Reichsschwert is one of the most beautiful works on sword scabbards.  It is 101 cm long, 6.7 cm wide close to the scabbard mouth, and 3 cm close to the chape, meaning that it tapers towards its end (Schulze-Dörrlamm, 1995:117).  The wooden scabbard consists of two slats of hard olivewood, and it is encased with gold panels.  The edges/corners of the scabbard are covered with bands of gold plates from the scabbard mouth to the scabbard chape.  In the middle of these bands are garnet stones in bezel settings, encircled with ringed pearl wires.  The outer edges of these bands are also decorated with pearl wires.

            The gold panels on the front and back of the scabbard have fourteen rectangular figures of standing kings in repoussé work.  The figures are placed in a way that they are right way up (in the right position) if one holds the sword with the tip showing upward.  Oakshott (1991:56) deducts from this fact that the Reichsschwert’s scabbard was solely made for ceremonial purposes (such as coronation purposes).  Further, Oakshott suggests that the scabbard and the sword itself were made in the second half of the 11^th century.  Between each pair of panels, there is enamelling work in the form of tiny squares of red, white, and blue that are set in a diaper pattern (see Oakshott, 1991:56).  Schulze-Dörrlamm (1995:38) explains that the decisive hint that the scabbard was made during the Salian period and not during the era of Otto IV is due to the number, sequence, and identity of fourteen monarchs.  Schulze-Dörrlamm (1995:38) does not agree with the assumptions by Haupt (1939), Kahsnitz (1979), and Scharmm (1983), who suggest that the number of monarchs is a symbolic sequence of fourteen (2 times 7) of anonymous rulers.  Moreover, Schulze-Dörrlamm (1995:39) explains that this is a sequence of German kings and emperors from Charlemagne to Henry III and states that the most important evidence for this assumption is that next to the youngest ruler, namely Louis IV, the Child (900-911 A.D.), there is a carved inscription “L : REX” (King L.).  Schulze-Dörrlamm (1995:39) stresses that many researchers either understood it as a late addition or misinterpreted its meaning.  If one counts the rulers from the scabbard mouth to the scabbard chape consecutively, then this figure can be only identical to the young and beardless king number six, namely the last Carolingian Ludwig IV, the Infant.  This German monarch ruled from 900 until 911 A.D. and was never enthroned as the emperor.  Ludwig IV is the only monarch on the scabbard that is provided with this letter.