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Originally Posted by chevalier
ahh, i had thought falchions where used as late as the 1500s, at least in the italian city states (florence/pavia/milan, ect) ive seen them used in many paintings by leonardo davinci ect.
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I had thought the question applied to the 'New World' which is typically held to be the colonies in the Americas, and as you noted those of the Spanish and English.
While the term falchion seems to have largely fallen out of use, as noted, in Italy the short sword/hangers with heavy chopping type blades known as 'storta' might have been perceived as a sort of 'falchion'. In reviewing the excellent resource on Italian weapons "Armi Bianchi Italiene" (Boccia & Coelho, 1975) there are no references to falchion, and the only heavy bladed chopper swords are these variations of storta.
I'm curious which Davinci paintings you are referring to, as it would be interesting to see what weapon form they are. It should be remembered that often classical artists used weapons out of context using contemporary or even exotic pieces to convey sensation or emotion in thier works. It seems that in one Biblical theme work, Rembrandt even used an Indonesian keris.
All the best,
Jim