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Old 14th February 2008, 07:27 PM   #8
Norman McCormick
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Hi,
Thanks for the kind words. I have seen many examples of both the broadsword and backsword indeed the museum I mentioned in a previous post has quite a collection of these artifacts. The one item that is seldom mentioned is the Claidheam Crom or basket hilt sabre. Although in the minority as regards Scottish swords it appears to have been in use alongside its more normal straight bladed contemporaries. It has been difficult to find any definitive statistics with regard to the basket hilt sabre and this has led me to wonder if this variant is more of a sword of opportunity rather than anything else i.e. a captured or purloined weapon rehilted. It appears reasonable that a perfectly servicable blade should not be disposed of or drastically altered, remember Scottish prudence and thrift, but altered to suit a new owner. I have read somewhere of a sea service sword being rehilted with a basket at the request of a British Naval captain but what type of sword or when escapes me at the moment. As to the origin of the basket hilt I don't think there is any one answer. Scotland in the 16/17th cent. had many, probably more so than now, and varied links with Europe and I believe that most armies of the time, as far east as Russia, had Scottish mercenaries or indeed full time soldiers as in the case of France. It doesn't seem unreasonable that ideas and fashion should filter back to Scotland through these links and that a basic basket type hilt, which with the loss of armoured gauntlets was an obvious progression, should be adopted and enlarged upon and taken up by so many that it developed into an archetypal Scottish feature. Many cultures have taken outside ideas and made them into their own I don't see any reason to doubt that various forms of basket type hilts were in use throughout Europe and that the Scots just took the form to a greater degree than anyone else. Of course this is conjecture on my part but in my experience a lot of highly individual and stylized forms tend to evolve from a lot of different influences rather than just happen. Anyhow I am eager to hear more from other members on this most interesting subject.
Regards,
Norman.
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