Hi Chris, thank you for your kind words.
So you were also watching this piece?! I thaught i had to make a quick decision, as usualy this type of swords gets acquired in no time, at least in this web site. Actualy the other day i saw one of this kind and when i contacted the guy to start negotiations, the sword was already sold ... this within a couple days. Amazingly it was a specimen similar to the one you are posting here in the first picture ... or even the very one ?!.
Thank you for the pictures of three examples of broad bladed swords. It might be that they were military ... or not. I humbly agree that the definition of such and such sword being civilian or military is not an easy task, even after regulation took place, to a certain extent. But naturaly things are taken by their generic, or majority, or statistic aproach, to allow for some points of reference. We all know that the rapier, having been conceived for civilian purposes, like (street) fencing and so, was also used by military; i have read that, for instance, they were used in India and thereabouts by Portuguese rank (noble) soldiers... often en suite with the left hand dagger. But coming to a general manner, military ordnance swords had a broader blade, less or no decoration, and knuckle bows fixed to the pommel, to increase their strenght in battle.
Within this reasoning, the sword in the third (last) picture might have belonged to some civilian aristocrat; could even be Portuguese, or for a Portuguese customer ... who knows ? Besides that fine decoration (and the loose knuckle bow), the legend engraved on the blade, PUGNO PRO PATRIA, was (at least also) often seen in Portuguese swords, in allegory to national independence achieved in 1640, after the Spanish Philips period domain.
Forgive me if i said too much nonsense; i was sort of think aloud
.
Fernando