It was indeed my pleasure Vendredi ! and thank you for the kind words in return. I have been most fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in this venue with others who share in these interests, with the teamwork in research and advancing comprehensive knowledge in these arms.
As you note, one of the most fascinating aspects of researching these weapons is discovering the various points of context where they were known to have been used. Case in point, the siege of Vienna where this weapon likely entered the Ottoman sphere.
By analogy, literally decades ago I bought a worn old M1796 British light cavalry saber, which had curious markings CsA on the langet. Over the years there seemed no viable resolution as to what these represented. Finally there was a breakthrough thanks to Richard Dellar ("British Cavalry Swords: Some New Perspectives") when he suggested possibly CsA represented the Castel sant Angelo at the Vatican. It finally turned out compellingly possible that this saber may have ended up there via either British support in these regions in Napoleonic period, or perhaps taken there by the many Catholic volunteers who went to defend the Pope during the wars of unification in 1860s.
Another example of a weapon from one sphere found incongruently in use in another.
With this glaive, it is most interesting that these examples seem to have possibly been made in specific intent for this unit, as suggested by the numeral 74 as highest number found on one. The form itself however seems of course likely produced for broader disbursement so it becomes necessary to discover whether the other numbered examples are distinctly associated with this elite unit in Austria.
As noted, the circumstances with the Vienna siege in 1683, which was one of the most pivotal events in Europe, adds colorful potential to this weapon as likely the best explanation to its entry into the Ottoman sphere, and ultimately into the court of the Dey in Algiers. It would seem the use of this weapon FROM the Christian sphere was likely deviously employed with in this dispatch of Christians with a twisted symbolism.
It is an unfortunate case in the study of arms that often the history held contains unsavory elements, but that is something we as arms historians learn, that we cannot always select the elements that are preserved. There is little pleasantness in war and combat, but is a truth that must be endured as it is history.
Best regards
Jim
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