The “great sword”, or “long sword”, was an oversized sword with a hilt large enough to be held in two hands; the German term Zweihänder alludes to this, and this larger hilt may be deemed the sword’s identifying characteristic [Stone 643].  It was favored by the German Landsknechte of the 16^th Century, and therefore has also been blazoned in the Society, more fully, as a “landesknecht’s greatsword”.  We have no examples of its use, so blazoned, in period heraldry.  Cf. claymore.

Eloise of Lancaster bears:  Argent, a wingless dragon gules entwined around a landsknecht’s great sword sable, on a chief gules three fleurs-de-lys Or.

Kirsten Maria Matz bears:  Purpure, a great sword bendwise sinister inverted between two roundels Or, each charged with a penguin statant proper.

The “gladius” is a short sword used by soldiers of ancient Rome through the end of the 2^nd Century.  It was quillonless, with a short hilt; though double-edged, it was used mostly for thrusting [F. Wilkinson, Arms and Armour, pp.34-36].  We have no examples of its use in period heraldry.

Marcus Gladius bears:  Tierced per pall vert, sable, and gules, overall a gladius inverted proper.

Marcus Artorius Metellus bears as a badge:  Two gladii inverted in saltire sable and overall a lion contourny argent.

The “flamberge” is so named for the wavy “flame-like” shape of its blade.  It was cited by Bossewell, 1572 [II.132v], who termed it a “sword wavy”.

The Order of the Flamberge, of the Barony of the Flame, bears:  A flamberge gules, hilted and the blade enflamed Or.

Max Erich von Baden bears:  Per pale gules and sable, two flamberges in saltire Or surmounted by a skull argent.

The “falchion”, or “faucheon”, is a slashing sword with a curved single-edged blade.  It’s a period charge, found in the canting arms of di Folcion, mid-15^th C. [Triv 150], and maintained by one of the supporters of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, 1575 [Bromley & Child 93].  Cf. scimitar.

Guy de Falchion bears:  Azure, three falchions Or, on a chief argent three crosses crosslet gules.

Mustafa Kamaal of Antioch bears:  Vert, a falchion inverted between in chief two cat’s eyes argent.

The “estoc”, or “tuck”, is a sword with a narrow square blade, with no cutting edge.  It was intended solely for thrusting, through gaps in the foe’s armor [Stone 223]; it was the precursor to the rapier of late period.  The estoc is found in the canting arms of Tuck, 1419 [DBA4 431].

Illuminada Eugenia de Guadalupe y Godoy bears as a badge:  An open book argent and overall an estoc inverted Or.

The “dussack” is a hiltless fencing sword peculiar to Eastern Europe, dating from the 16^th Century [Stone 214].  We have no examples of its use in period heraldry.

The Baron of Vatavia bears as a badge:  Azure, a dragonfly between two dussacks in pile Or, a bordure countercompony vert and Or.

The “cutlass”, or “curtelasse”, has a short, thick blade.  Its shorter blade made the cutlass useful in close quarters, and so was favored by sailors.  It’s found in the arms of Tatnall, 1632 [Guillim2 340].

Elena McKenzie bears:  Purpure, two cutlasses in saltire edges to chief and a base rayonny Or.

Basilius Fuchs bears:  Per chevron throughout argent and sable, two cutlasses in chevron sable and a phoenix Or rising from flames proper.

The “claymore” (Scots Gaelic claidheamh mór) is the traditional great sword of Scotland.  In the Society, the claymore is drawn as the actual 16^th C. artifact [Stone 181], with angled quillons terminating in trefoils.  The modern heraldic stylization, with a basket hilt [Parker 566], is a post-period form.

Duncan MacGregor bears:  Gules, a cross and overall in saltire two claymores inverted, all conjoined Or.

Deaton Claymore bears:  Vert, two claymores in saltire surmounted by a third inverted proper, enfiling a ducal coronet Or.

A sword is a hand weapon with a long pointed blade, which may be single or double-edged, set in a hilt.  It was the primary hand weapon of the Middle Ages; as an heraldic charge it dates from c.1275, in the canting arms of Marmion [ANA2 550].  The default orientation is palewise, point to chief; if the sword is single-edged, the edge is to dexter by default.  When blazoned “proper”, the sword has an argent blade and Or quillons and hilt.

There are a great many variant forms of sword, depending on the shape of the blade; many strange forms are blazoned simply as a “sword”.  No difference is therefore counted between the variants.  The most common form is the “broadsword” or “arming sword”:  straight-bladed, double-edged, straight-quilloned.  Any sword whose form is unspecified may be safely drawn in this form.

The sword’s blade may be altered in some manner.  The oldest such alteration is the “curtana”, or more fully, the “sword curtana”:  a sword with its point blunted.  The curtana, though not a charge on shields, was part of the English coronation ceremony, where it is also known as the Sword of Mercy.  It was certainly in use temp. Richard III, 1483 [OED], and is described by Archbishop Cranmer as used in Edward VI’s coronation, 1547 [Pemberton, The Coronation Service, 1901, p.23].

A more severe alteration is the “broken sword”, with the blade snapped away halfway down its length [Franklyn 321]; it’s found in the crest of Ryvet or Rivett, c.1528 [Woodcock & Robinson pl.13].  This should not be confused with the “sword fracted”, which is a complete sword separated into two fragments, as seen in the arms of Kemp of Thomastoun, 1582 [Dunvegan Armorial, fo.429].

Of swords peculiar to the Society, there are the “sword of Damocles”, a broadsword hanging, point down, from a thread tied to the hilt; and the “sword of Hoflichskeit”, an obsolete Society term for a mullet of four points elongated to base, gyronny Or and sable.

The Society’s other sword variants may be classed according to blade shape:  straight-bladed or curved-bladed.  The Society permits many variants which, while found as artifacts or weapons in period, were not period heraldic charges.

The straight-bladed swords found in period heraldry (in addition to the standard broadsword) include:

• The estoc
• The rapier

The curved-bladed swords found in period heraldry include:

• The cutlass
• The falchion
• The flamberge
• The scimitar
• The seax

The straight-bladed swords found as artifacts in period include:

• The claymore
• The gladius
• The great sword

The curved-bladed swords found as artifacts in period include:

• The dussack
• The katana (SFPP)
• The ken blade (probable SFPP)
• The shamshir (SFPP)

Swords which are disallowed in the Society include:

• The saber (modern cavalry saber)

For related charges, see knife, zulfikar.  See also scabbard.

The Marshallate bears:  Sable, two swords in saltire Or.

Peter of Stratford bears:  Or, chapé checky argent and sable, a sword sable.

Donnabhán O Rothláin bears:  Vert, three pairs of swords in saltire Or.

El of the Two Knives bears:  Sable, two swords Curtana inverted and conjoined at the quillons within a bordure Or.

Ivan Piotrovic Pevcov bears:  Per fess indented argent and gules, a broken sword bendwise proper.

Lothar of Rothenborg bears:  Or, a sword fracted sable hilted gules, between two flaunches azure.

Roger von Allenstein bears:  Gules, on a pile sable fimbriated argent the sword of Damocles pendant Or.

 

A streitgabelklinge is a charge from German heraldry: the name translates to “war fork blade”. It’s the head of a war-fork, a weapon combining prongs for stabbing with blades for slicing or catching [Stone 450, s.v. military fork]. The streitgabelklinge is a period charge, found in the arms of Lynnser, mid-16^th C. [NW 22]. Its points are to chief by default. For related charges, see fork, mancatcher.

Heinrich Eberhart von Thorn bears: Sable, a streitgabelklinge argent.

Konrad Mailander bears as a badge: A streitgabelklinge Or.