THE SWORD.
The sword has always been the most universal of weapons among
almost all nations and ages. It is alike the symbol of honour and
the vindicator of justice; though often, alas, the instrument of
oppression. The history of the sword is almost that of humanity
itself, and supernatural attributes have often been ascribed to it.
There is something about an ancient sword that appeals to the dullest
imagination--it is so suggestive of historic memories, both in
heroism and treason. It is typical of the force behind the law; but
the living sword of our forefathers is now but a memory. It would be
fascinating to follow its forms, traditions, and ramifications from the
“stone age,” and from Menes to Julius Cæsar and Charlemagne--in fact,
something like such an enterprise was begun by Sir Richard F. Burton.
His book is indeed “A Romance of the Sword,” but the priceless stores
of information he has collaborated, and his fine florid imagination,
help us but little in the present quest: sad it is that his researches
stop at such an early stage.
The sword, and its diminutive of which it is doubtless an extension,
forms a distinct class of arms, in contradistinction to the numerous
family of hacking, clubbing, and staff weapons generally. It is
difficult to draw any very arbitrary line between the sword and the
dagger--the hilt is often the same in form, but some swords are short
and some daggers long. Perhaps the best definition of difference is
that the dagger is roughly under two feet in length, and was used
rather as an auxiliary to the sword, for thrusting only; besides being
more capable of concealment, and more efficient at close quarters than
the larger weapon. Writers differ in their method of imagining the
position of a sword for descriptive purposes--that is to say, whether
it be held downwards or upwards. It will here be regarded as being held
in the right hand, point uppermost.
Bronze swords were deficient in hardness, so that they could not be
adequately tempered; they were narrow and leaf-shaped, and this was the
characteristic form everywhere. That recorded on Assyrian monuments is
straight, narrow, and like the Greek, more for thrusting than cutting.
The Roman type was longer, though still not of much use for parrying;
and the leaf form became less accentuated.
The true sword had its birth early in the “iron age,” which arbitrary
period, though usually classified to close with the fifth century,
might reasonably be prolonged to the dawning of the middle ages. It
is during this interval that we have but little accurate information,
still it may be taken generally that the weapon became both longer
and broader after the fall of the Roman empire, when it was straight,
double-edged, and of varying length.
The sword of Chilperic of Soissons (died 584) was found in his tomb
at Tournay in 1653, and is now in the Louvre. The weapon has short
straight quillons, and the pommel is also cruciform; it bears strong
evidences of Oriental influence. Procopius describes the Frankish sword
of his day as a short, straight, broad-bladed, and double-edged weapon,
somewhat obtusely pointed, and usually about thirty to thirty-two
inches long, just about the standard length of the modern small sword;
while Agathias, his successor as a chronicler, records it as just the
length of a man’s thigh. To judge from the few specimens on record, it
has both a cross-guard and pommel, but was by no means uniform either
in form or size. Its extremity was rather rounded. A sword found in a
grave on Chessel Down, in the Isle of Wight, answers very closely to
that of the Franks, as described by Procopius.
The Scandinavian sword of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries was
long, straight, and double-edged; while the Anglo-Saxon weapon of the
eleventh century was about three feet long, cruciform, and rounded at
the end. No one under the rank of thane was allowed to carry a sword,
which accounts for so few specimens having been found.
The earlier Anglo-Saxon sword is, as far as can be ascertained, without
cross-guard, but it has a small pommel. A MS. in the British Museum of
the tenth century gives an illustration of a sword of this kind, which
is only two feet long.
We read in “Sagas” that the swords of heroes were often endowed with
names or titles, such as the “Hrunting” of Beowulf, the “Excalibur” of
Arthur, the “Tizona” of the Cid.
The component parts of the sword are of course the blade and the hilt.
The tang is a piece of wrought iron welded into the shoulder of the
blade, and inserted in the grip or handle, at the bottom of which is
the pommel. The pieces or guards which pass across between the hilt
and the blade are the quillons. Proving the blade was accomplished in
various ways: an early method was by a heavy blow on a block of iron,
first the flat, then the edge, and lastly the back; then bending the
blade flatwise. The operation concluded by driving the point through
a thin iron plate, which was called the “Toledo” test. A machine for
testing swords was invented in England towards the end of the last
century by Matthew Bolton, in which the blade was forced into a curve,
reducing from 36 inches to 29 inches.
The Frankish sword of the eighth and ninth centuries is cruciform,
with a pommel, which is itself sometimes surmounted with a cross. This
may be seen in the Codex Aureus of St. Gall. The weapon of this period
is, however, far from being uniform in shape, length, or breadth.
The knightly weapon of the Bayeux tapestry is cruciform with a long,
straight, two-edged blade, coming somewhat abruptly to a point, and
a ridge running up the centre. The hilts are heavy and strong, with
pommels. A Norman sword on the tapestry shows the pommel to curve on
the grip. There is an actual specimen of this period in the Museum of
Artillery, Paris. The blade of the footman’s weapon is much narrower
than that of the knight. The sword of William Rufus is shown on a
miniature in the Canterbury bible. The point is obtuse, the blade
widens towards the quillons, the ends of which curve upwards, while the
grip is short, and the pommel round.
There is not much change in the twelfth century, when swords vary a
good deal in form; as also does the shape of the pommel. A specimen
of the reign of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa is in the museum at
Dresden.
The cultellus or coustel is a short sword or long dagger. The weapon
is mentioned in a statute of William of Scotland, 1165–1214. From this
time forward we have in military brasses and effigies figures of the
knightly sword brought before us as it actually was.
The sword of the thirteenth century is more distinctly pointed, and has
the cross-guard either straight or curving more or less towards the
blade; the grip is rather short, and the weapon is usually about two
feet six inches to over three feet long, and there is a large heavy
pommel of various shapes. A good example may be seen on the Daubernoun
brass. Some of the German swords of the century, actual specimens of
which may be seen at Dresden, are, however, very much longer. The
short handle could be rigidly gripped, so that the entire force came
more from the arm and shoulder.
The sword blades of Damascus, India, and Persia were equal, if not
superior, in temper, finish, and decoration to any made by the
sword-smiths of Europe, but the Eastern smiths devoted much more care
to the edge than to the point. In the main, they were curved blades.
There is a good deal of romance in old Japan about the sword, and some
very remarkable weapons have been turned out by their craftsmen. There
were numerous distinct varieties of Asiatic swords and daggers; but to
give even the merest outline of these would make the present notes far
too long. Single-handed swords of Europe consisted of curved weapons
like the scimitar or falchion, the dusack, cutlass and sabre, and those
with a straight, double-edged blade.
The scimitar is of Persian origin, and was introduced into Europe
during the first crusade; it did not, however, come very much into
vogue before the middle of the fifteenth century. Like most swords of
Asiatic origin, it is specially devised for cutting; and its curved
blade, and the setting of the hilt, in relation to it, is well adapted
for the delivery of a highly penetrating stroke. This weapon, the blade
of which is short and single-edged, has probably its prototype in the
“Acinace” of the Romans, a representation of which may be seen on that
instructive monument of contemporary history, the column of Trajan.
Possibly the Romans themselves derived it, like so much besides, from
an Eastern source. The falchion, or fauchon, which is a smaller type of
scimitar, appears in England early in the thirteenth century, and is
mentioned in the fourteenth century romance of _Richard Cœur de Lion_,
“broad fawchons and fawchons kene.” It is in two varieties--a broad
blade widening towards the point, with a concave back and sharp edge;
and the other with a straight back. The curious tenure falchion of
the Conyers is an example of the latter kind. This weapon is figured
in _Archæologia Æliana_, vol. xv.; and is also referred to in Blount’s
_Antient Tenures_. Sir Edward W. Blackett, Bart., in a communication
to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,[36] says that
this weapon measures two feet eleven inches in length; on one side
of the pommel are three lions, the arms of England, with remains of
red enamel in the ground; and on the other an eagle with outspread
wings, which Mr. Longstaffe considered to relate to Richard, King of
the Romans, brother of Henry III. This statement would point to its
being a weapon of the thirteenth century, which it undoubtedly is. The
tenure is given in the inquest of Sir John Conyers in 1396. The Baron
de Cosson mentions two examples somewhat similar, one in the Musée de
Cluny, Paris; the other in the Brera at Milan. He compares the Conyers
falchion with one given on the drawing from the Painted Chamber,
Westminster, attributed by Mr. John Hewitt to the second half of the
thirteenth century. The forms are certainly almost identical. The
Conyers weapon has a nearly round pommel, with the quillons slightly
curved towards the point at the extremities. The Paris falchion has
a very large circular pommel, with the quillons on a sharp curve in
the same direction. The guard of the Milan specimen is straight and
the pommel a large oval, with small square side projections. The
blades of all three falchions are similar in form, the Milan example
being the largest. Drawings of the three falchions may be seen in
the _Proceedings_ (vol. v., p. 42) of the Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle-on-Tyne. _The True Tragedy of Richard of Yorke_ (1595) says:
“With purple fawchon painted to the hilts.” Another local tenure
sword, mentioned in Blount’s _Antient Tenures_, is that under which
the Umfravilles held their lordship of Redesdale in Northumberland.
An instance of the application of the “tenure” principle in a humbler
form and modern date, occurs in an agreement with the sword-smiths of
Shotley Bridge, County of Durham, concerning rent for houses occupied
by them. The rent is supplemented by an annual sword of their own make.
The sabre, which is a near relative of the scimitar, is of two kinds,
both straight and curved; the latter form was in vogue as early as the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and of course later.
An interesting example of the curved form, which is attributed to
Charlemagne (771–814), is preserved in the Treasury at Vienna. The form
betrays its direct Eastern origin, and the tradition is too vague to
base any inferences on it. The sword is about thirty inches long, by
over three-quarters of an inch broad, and would appear to date about
the fourteenth century.
The sword of the fourteenth century continues cruciform, with the
quillons either straight or curving towards the blade. The shape of the
pommel varies greatly, being trefoiled, conical, circular, etc., and
sometimes it is also charged with a cross. It was not uncommon for a
ring to be fixed to the pommel for attachment to a chain connecting it
with a mamillière. Examples of this kind may be seen on an effigy in
the church at Ebersberg, temp. 1371; another at Borfe, in the Tyrol;
and one is given by Hewitt in his _Ancient Armour_, vol. ii., Plate XV.
The sword is fastened at the left side by a broad straight belt, called
a “bawdric.”
Blades of this century, though far from uniform, become generally more
ornate and longer than in the century preceding, sometimes attaining
the length of four feet, and there are even longer examples.
Sword sheaths were usually of leather. The knight’s sword-belt was
greatly embellished in this century by quatrefoils, jewels, and
enriched pendants.
The grip of the sword proper rather lengthens in the fifteenth
century, and the tendency of the pommel is to become lighter, and is
oftenest round or pear-shaped; there is still the plain cross-guard.
The straight double-edged blade is long, and sometimes grooved. The
pas d’ane guard is found in this century, though rarely. This guard
projects over the base of the blade, its object being to protect the
back of the hand, which it did but inadequately. It has often been
assumed to have made its appearance first in the sixteenth century, but
this is not the case, as a picture of the early part of the fifteenth
century in a church at Mondoneda shows swords with this guard.[37]
It forms, however, as a rule, an excellent guide as to date, and its
presence would, under ordinary circumstances, indicate a weapon of the
sixteenth century. There are some fine swords of this century (the
fifteenth) in the Munich Museum, in excellent preservation, some with
the original sheaths.
The knuckle-bow, called the finger-guard by some writers, is
comparatively rare towards the end of the fifteenth century, but
becomes common in the following. Mr. John Hewitt, in one of his
contributions towards the _History of Mediæval Weapons_, mentions an
instance as early as the reign of Charles the Bold of Burgundy. It
was long before this guard became united to the pommel. It clearly
developed from the counter-curved quillons, one of which seems to have
reached the pommel by stages. In Holbein’s “Costumes Suisses” is a
figure of a Swiss halbardier of the first half of the sixteenth century
with a sword, the knuckle-bow of which unites the quillons and pommel.
The executioner’s sword is broad in the blade. A German example in the
author’s collection is 39 inches in length. The pommel is circular,
very heavy and flat, and engraved with an eagle; the quillons solid
and plain, curving slightly towards the blade, which has a groove
running up the centre. The blade is two and a half inches broad, and
is inscribed with a cross, cross-bones, and a crown. Quillons are, of
course, unnecessary on these weapons, and are unusual except in the
case of German examples.
The sword used in the foot tournament was heavier and shorter than that
for war.
The two-handed sword was introduced late in the fourteenth or early in
the fifteenth century, and became a favourite weapon in the sixteenth,
after which it was greatly superseded by the rapier. This long and very
heavy two-handed weapon is a footman’s sword, and was much used by the
hardy mountaineers of Switzerland in battle, while the less robust
Germans and Burgundians applied it more in the defence of fortified
places. It was introduced into England early in the sixteenth century,
when it was a favourite weapon of Henry VIII., and continued much
prized there up to its close, when the rapier came into vogue. The
handle is very long for both hands to grasp the hilt. The total length
of the sword is up to five feet eight inches, and even more. This
sword is the true espadon. Two-handed swords were usually worn without
scabbard, but had a piece of leather permanently fixed on the blade
above the quillons; they were rarely met with after the close of the
sixteenth century. A variety with a wavy blade is called “flamberge.”
An example from the Meyrick collection is in the author’s possession,
and shown somewhat incongruously in Fig. 23. This being a footman’s
weapon, ought not to be in the hands of a man-at-arms. Great strength
of arms and supple wrists were necessary for cutting with these
weapons; the point was rarely used. The true claymore is a two-handed
sword. Some fine examples of two-handed swords and flamberges are given
in Fig. 42. The thumb-ring appears in the fifteenth century, possibly a
little earlier, and it was common in the sixteenth.
[Illustration: Fig. 42.--Two-handed Swords, Flamberges, and Daggers.]
The anelace was a very common weapon of the fifteenth century. It is
a short, broad sword or dagger, tapering to a point. The blade is
usually about twenty inches long, by four broad, and double-edged. The
weapon, called in Italy the cinquedea, is of Verona origin, and was
styled oxenzunge by the Germans, and braquamart or épée de passot by
the French. It is a very similar weapon to that carried by the ancient
Greeks and Romans on the left side, called the parazonium, a late
specimen of which was found at Sesto-Calende, and is now at Milan.
The dusack is a sword of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with a
blade like that of the curved sabre, while the hilt consists either of
a hole in the rounded base of the blade for the hand to grip, or is a
rounded continuation of the blade at the shoulder, forming a circular
hole. The length is about 39 inches. The swordsman wore an iron or
leather gauntlet reaching to the elbow.
Swords tended to become more ornate as the fifteenth century advanced,
and towards the end and early in the sixteenth both pommels and
quillons varied greatly in form and in size, the former being round,
square, cusped, truncated, crescent-shaped, etc., while the latter
tended both downwards and upwards, sometimes counter-curved, and curled
at the extremities, but this feature became more pronounced later. The
play of sword and buckler is very ancient, and was displaced in England
by the rapier and dagger in the second half of the sixteenth century.
The sword was of medium size and double-edged, while the buckler was
about fourteen inches in diameter.
The usual form of the sword up to the middle of the sixteenth century
is still cruciform, with or without the pas d’ane guard, a broad
two-edged blade about three feet and a half long, and a large and
frequently circular pommel; the quillons straight or slightly bent
towards the blade, which tends to become narrower and lighter. There
are, however, many examples of a greater elaboration of guards at
an earlier period, when the guard formed like the letter S was not
uncommon. An example of a sword by Ambrosius Gemlich, about 1530,
is given in Fig. 44. There is a calendar on the blade. The simple
cross-guard disappears with the commencement of the second half of
the century, and the pas d’ane guard becomes common. The sword-hand
now becomes adequately guarded, and you get the counter-guard, which
later becomes amplified into one or more branches for encircling the
back of the hand, while the quillons more generally assume curved
forms and eventually merge into the knuckle-bow or finger-guard;
and it was during the second half of the sixteenth century that
the rapier hilt became completely developed. It was no longer the
rule to wear the steel gauntlet; such guards had therefore become
more necessary, and they were gradually evolved by reason of new
developments in fencing strokes. Swordsmanship had now reached the
point when the weapon, besides being for attack, was used more in
a defensive sense. The term “shield” is applied to the flat piece
of steel sometimes found at the base of the hilt, while the “shell”
refers to a semicircular hilt. The growth of what are but inadequately
described as counter-guards consists in a more or less complex system
of perpendicular and horizontally curved and interlacing bars and hoops
gradually evolving the S guard, cross and side ring, cross and finger
loop, cross finger loop and half ring at the side, double branches,
etc., which crystallised, so to speak, in certain classes of swords
into the basket-hilt and the shell or cup. The practice and progress
of the art of fencing had induced upward cuts and other movements that
necessitated additional protection for the hand and wrist.
[Illustration: Fig. 44.--Sword of the Emperor Charles V., about 1530.]
The lansquenette appears in the sixteenth century. It is a weapon about
two and a half feet long, by two inches broad. The blade is broad and
double-edged, and the grip thick and surmounted by a pommel. There
is usually a counter-guard of two rings.
[Illustration:
GERMAN. SPANISH. ITALIAN.
Fig. 45.--Rapiers.]
The mediæval estoc is a long, narrow stabbing sword of French origin.
It was often used in tournaments, and is sometimes two-handed like the
real claymore; it is a horseman’s weapon.
The English broadsword appears in the reign of Edward VI.; both it and
the cutlass are somewhat heavy and unwieldy.
Fencing is a purely European invention, and the time had now arrived
when it had become more of a fine art, though still in its early
stage; and this cause, more than anything else, brought about the
general use of the rapier and small sword. The rapier is a sword with
a great variety of guards, or with the basket hilt, either solid or
perforated, and straight or curved quillons; it was introduced into
England by Philip II., but appeared in Spain in the complex form during
the preceding reign. This weapon has sharp edges, is grooved, and
sometimes strengthened by a sharp central ridge. It was used mostly for
thrusting, but not to the complete exclusion of cutting. The two-edged
rapier is a military sword, but not useful for the _mêlée_, being more
suitable for single combat in any form. Duels were sometimes fought
with the rapier alone, but oftener with the rapier and main-gauche, the
latter held in the left hand. Why the main-gauche should be specially
named as left-handed is impossible to understand. Another form was
with the rapier and a cloak, the latter being held in the dagger-hand.
Examples of German, Spanish, and Italian rapiers are given in Fig. 45.
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., in his admirable monograph, _The Forms
and History of the Sword_, quotes George Silver (1599), the father of
English broadsword play, who speaks of “that mischievous and imperfect
weapon (the rapier) which serves to kill our friends in peace, but
cannot much hurt our foes in war.”
The small sword came into general use towards the close of the
seventeenth century, and it had almost entirely superseded the
two-edged lengthier and heavier rapier when the eighteenth century was
in its second quarter.
The duelling sword and rapier are often confounded with each other,
but the former was used mostly for thrusting only, while the latter
was more adapted for a cutting stroke, although still a weapon more
for thrusting than cutting. The elaborate Spanish hilts were followed
in the seventeenth century by the shell guard for duelling, and a hilt
much lighter than before for military purposes.
The swords made at Toledo have a reputation which still endures; and
the well-known name of Ferrara is derived from a Venetian family of the
sixteenth century. The Ferrara blades are broad and of splendid temper,
but the name was used by many smiths as a sort of “standard” mark.
Andrea Ferrara or Ferara was established in business, in partnership
with his brother Giovan Donato, at the town of Belluno, in the Venetian
province of Friuli, in 1585. The _Trattato Militare_, published at
Venice in 1583, mentions the brothers as the celebrated sword-makers
of that day. Ferara blades, inscribed with the name, were, however,
in existence much earlier than this; but whether all or part of these
were made in Spain, where there are several towns of the name, is far
from clear. The question, then, as to which city or country gave its
name to the great master is not yet absolutely determined. Andrea was
probably born between 1550 and 1560,[38] and his master, Giovanni
Battista, some of whose blades were marked “Zandona,” was called the
“Barcelonian,” which circumstance might suggest the possibility that
the brothers were emigrants from Spain; but it is much more probable
that they came of an Italian family which had been domiciled in Italy
for generations, as there are blades of a considerably earlier date
than the “Andrea” span, bearing the names of Cosmo and Piero Ferara,
both of which Christian names are undoubtedly Italian. A tradition
exists in Scotland that Andrea Ferara, or Ferrara, came there as a
fugitive from justice, and made swords there in great numbers, but
there is no evidence whatever of this being the case. There are swords
bearing the brand “Andrewea Ferrara” with a St. Andrew’s Cross,
which clearly discloses their Scottish origin, or at all events is
suggestive of their having been made in or for Scotland. Indeed, almost
all Scottish blades bearing the name of Ferara, with variations, are
of seventeenth century make, some even later. We know that it was a
common practice of many of the German smiths during the “renaissance”
to inscribe their blades with the names of Italian makers; and while
Ferara blades are to be met with all over Europe, strangely enough
very few are to be found in Italy. The practice of using the marks of
celebrated sword-smiths by others less renowned cannot be looked upon
as a deliberate forgery, unless perhaps in the earlier instances, when
marks were taken possession of by one town or country from another,
proceeding, doubtless, from the importation of craftsmen; but even
in such cases it was not uncommon for the maker to give his own name
or mark in conjunction with such as those of Ferara, the running
wolf, etc. Marks like the bishop’s head, moor’s head, Sahagun, Ayala,
Piccinino,[39] were often used by others, though probably rarely in
the sense of piracy. This is shown by the annexation of the Wolf of
Passau by the Solingen makers, and that of Ferara by the Scotch. Mere
legends, like the domicilisation of Andrea Ferara in Scotland, or that
of Jakob Topf in London, require some more direct evidence for serious
attention, which is certainly not forthcoming in these cases, though
the probability is greater in the case of the latter than in the
former. Excellent rapier blades were also made at Seville, Valladolid,
and Solingen. The Solingen blades are stouter and more suitable for
military purposes than those forged in Spain; they bore the stamp of
the running wolf, but the mark came originally from Passau. A Passau
sword of an early date, with the wolf-mark inscribed on the blade, is
in the museum at Dresden. The general aspect would indicate a date in
the second half of the fourteenth century. The wolf-mark of the Passau
sword-smiths was borrowed from the city arms, which consist of “Or, a
wolf-figure, statant gardant.” Later, and especially in the sixteenth
century, this mark was adopted in other places, and especially by
Solingen smiths. These blades were known as “foxes” in England,
doubtless from the “wolf” inscription, which might well be taken as a
representation of the fox. The term constantly crops up in Elizabethan
literature. This mark, like that of “Ferrara,” was freely used by
sword-makers up to the end of the last century; indeed, this was the
case near Newcastle, where swords forged on the banks of the Derwent,
in the county of Durham, bore the mark. The smiths came originally from
Bavaria, and brought the brand with them. There are still descendants
of these people living in the neighbourhood; and there is a specimen of
their handiwork in the Black Gate Museum, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The spadroon is adapted for cutting and thrusting, but is lighter than
the sabre.
Spanish swords enjoyed a very early celebrity, the Romans having
adopted them after the Carthagenian War, for they were never able to
forge weapons of equal temper. The best early Spanish swords were
made at Bilbilis on the Jalon, and the poet Martial writes of the
excellence of the waters of that river for tempering them; indeed, it
was universally believed that the fine temper depended on the virtues
of a particular river. Probably the steel produced from fine Spanish
ores, so free from deleterious ingredients like sulphur and phosphorus,
had most to do with the super-excellence of the blades. These weapons
are mentioned temp. Julius Cæsar, when the poet Gracio Falisco adds his
testimony to their admirability.
[Illustration: Fig. 46.--Schiavona, in the Author’s Collection.]
The schiavona is a Venetian sword of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, with a flattened elliptical form of basket-hilt forming
a complete protection to the hand, which can still move freely. In
this hilt the first finger was always passed over the quillon, and
the superadded guard to protect it gives the hilt an elongated form.
It derives its name from the “Schiavoni,” the Doge’s guards. The
illustration of this weapon here given (Fig. 46) is of a sword in the
author’s collection.
Scottish broadswords with practically this hilt, although there
are intermediate stages, are often erroneously called “claymores,”
while, as a matter of fact, the Scottish weapon so called was a long
two-handed sword, with quillons usually tending diagonally upwards,
that is towards the blade; and, indeed, it is considered questionable
by some authorities whether any basket-hilted sword whatever was in
general use in Scotland long before the eighteenth century began. Mr.
Parker Brewis, in an able paper[40] on “Four Basket-hilted Swords in
the collection at the Castle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,” writes as follows,
viz.:--“This type of sword is commonly known as ‘Claymore,’ which is
the English phonetic of two Celtic words, meaning ‘Great Sword.’ It was
originally applied to the great two-handed swords of Scotland, but when
the true claymore was gradually superseded by the basket-hilted weapon,
the old name, as conveying the idea of a Highland sword, was retained,
owing to long habit, notwithstanding that it was inappropriate.” The
“mortuary” hilt, so named from a number of swords with this basket-hilt
having been made in memory of King Charles I., was the broadsword of
the Commonwealth, and the Scottish form is obviously an amalgamation of
the schiavona with the mortuary. The basket-hilted sword was certainly
common in England in the second quarter of the seventeenth century,
and there is no reason why it should not have crossed the border long
before the eighteenth century, and that it had done so is certain from
the fact that mortuary hilts were largely made in the island of Islay.
The ordinary Scottish basket-hilted broadsword blades bearing the
name Andrea Ferara, with numerous variations, were certainly not made
by the great master of Belluno, but most of these were forged in the
seventeenth century. Of course, it is often the case that blade and
hilt are not contemporaneous, and old Ferara and even claymore blades
were frequently adapted to the newer fashion, and these cases give rise
to some difficulty.
The colichemarde is a late seventeenth century fencing sword, with
a blade very broad at the “fort,” and exceedingly narrow at the
“foible”--the change from one to the other is very sudden. This
sword was only in use for a brief period. Some of the swords of the
seventeenth century were very long. The cutlass or hanger of this
period is usually without quillons, but has a counter-guard.
After the commencement of the seventeenth century, it becomes more
difficult to fix approximate dates for swords with any precision, and
many weapons are freely attributed to that century which really belong
to the eighteenth. It is the blade that bears the stamp, and many
blades were transferred to other hilts; besides, the armourer was often
permitted to give considerable rein to his fancy, and not unfrequently
reverted to older forms. As in armour, it is an uncommon advantage
to meet with weapons with the date inscribed, although, of course,
many armourers’ marks serve this purpose, when they can still be
deciphered; still, their presence is rarely conclusive without general
characteristics being also taken into account.
The complete transformation of the sword may be said to have been
effected during the eighteenth century, since which time it cannot be
said to have advanced either in balance or general efficiency. Very
little is known as to the early history of sword-making in England,
but Sheffield was a very early centre for the industry. It was not
until towards the end of the last century that English-made swords
established their reputation as the best in Europe, when in an order
for the East India Company, 2,650 English swords were tested in the
machine already referred to in these pages, and only four failed to
bear the test; while out of 1,428 German swords as many as twenty-eight
were rejected.