Mortuary Sword
The Mortuary Sword is an English sword from the beginning of the 17th century.
History and description
The Mortuary Sword originated in England in the early 17th century . It is a typical cavalry sword , comparable to a Pallasch , the English Basket Sword or the Italian Schiavona . It was worn as the standard weapon by the British Dragoons in the War against Scotland (1639-1640), the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1644-1651) and at the beginning of the English Civil War . The Mortuary Sword is seen as the "grandfather" of all subsequent basket swords of the 18th and 19th centuries. The name goes back to 19th century collectors who coined the name (Oakeshott). It is said to commemorate the execution of King Charles I (1649). Another explanation of the name is that the basket looks similar to the ribs in the human chest. A famous version of the Mortuary Sword is preserved in the collections of the Royal Armories. This sword was believed to have belonged to the 1st Lord Protector of England, Sir Oliver Cromwell . The Mortuary Swords were taken out of service around 1670 and replaced by successor models.
literature
- Nick Evangelista : The encyclopedia of the sword. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995, ISBN 978-0-313-27896-9
- Cyril Mazansky, Kenneth Snodgrass: British basket-hilted swords: a typology of basket-type sword hilts. Illustrated edition, Boydell Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-84383-053-5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cyril Mazansky: British Basket-hilted Swords , Chapter 11, pages 233 ff. ( Partial preview online )