Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Renaissance executioner sword from Germany

Matchlock · 8th April 2011, 04:12 PM

Hi Steve,

Oh yeah, there are so many sayings about justice and beheading swords ...

We should keep in mind that they are not the same. Justice swords were just symbols of justice and had no practical use.

Also, the three holes sometimes found in the tips of beheading swords are just a stylistic decorative relict of the Gothic period when they were used as the utmost simplification of the trefoil (Dreipass) ornament. In traditionally made tools the obsolete Gothic style lived on thru the periods, over the 18th to the 19th c. when the Neo-Gothic style reenlivened those traditional forms. We also find the trefoil decoration on many later axe heads, first drilled and in later times just punched.

Best,
Michael

8th April 2011, 04:12 PM	#28
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Hi Steve, Oh yeah, there are so many sayings about justice and beheading swords ... We should keep in mind that they are not the same. Justice swords were just symbols of justice and had no practical use. Also, the three holes sometimes found in the tips of beheading swords are just a stylistic decorative relict of the Gothic period when they were used as the utmost simplification of the trefoil (Dreipass) ornament. In traditionally made tools the obsolete Gothic style lived on thru the periods, over the 18th to the 19th c. when the Neo-Gothic style reenlivened those traditional forms. We also find the trefoil decoration on many later axe heads, first drilled and in later times just punched. Best, Michael Last edited by Matchlock; 8th April 2011 at 08:21 PM.