As cross potent indicates a religious order of knights, more than likely the Teutonic Order. However, it is Gold, and not Black which implies The New Kingdom of Jerusalem, but the Jerusalem Cross is more ornate signaling it is definitely the royal symbol of the Holy Roman Empire. The gold inlay was put in after battles. There are no battle marks on the writing itself. It was probably placed with a honored knight, or king, in a river fire funeral. The lettering is confounding. Where the first C may be a G, and the latter G may be a C. There is also a letter that is not capitalized and says it is an R, however, it could be Hebrew for the letter ת Tav, the last letter in the Hebrew Alphabet that has a numerical value of 400. With all of the other numerical values, possibly in Latinized French if from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, could represent the number of dead enemies with each letter symbolizing a significant confrontation, and possibly representing where. Either way it seems that the lettering was inlayed in commemoration long after the sword was in use. ת