Executioner's sword

Executioner's sword

An executioner's sword is a sword designed specifically for decapitation of condemned criminals (as opposed to combat). These swords were intended for two-handed use, but were lacking a point, so that their overall length was typically that of a single-handed sword (ca. 80-90 cm). The quillions were quite short, and mainly straight, the pommel was often pear-shaped or faceted.

In the Middle Ages, decapitations were executed with regular swords, and the earliest known specifically designed executioner's swords dates to ca. 1540.They were in wide use in 17th century Europe, but fell out of use quite suddenly in the early 18th century. The last execution by sword in Europe was carried out in 1867, when Niklaus Emmenegger was beheaded in Lucerne for murder.

The blades of executioner's swords were often decorated with symbolic designs, showing instruments of execution or torture, or the Crucifixion of Christ, combined with moralistic inscriptions. When no longer used for executions, an executioner's sword sometimes continued to be used in processions as a symbol of judicial power.

ee also

*Guillotine

External links

* [http://www.zeller.de/de/katalog/auktion-80-mai-04/auktionsartikel/richtschwert/ German executioner's sword of ca. 1700]
* [http://www.artfund.org/artwork/1324/executioners-sword German executioner's sword dated to 1674] at the Royal Armouries.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Executioner — Not to be confused with Executor. For other uses, see Executioner (disambiguation). Headsman redirects here. For the film, see The Headsman. Execution of Pirates in Hamburg, 1573 …   Wikipedia

  • Sword replica — Sword replicas may be produced as a singular reproduction of a specific historical sword, e.g. commissioned by a museum, or they may be produced commercially in series, again either based on a specific sword, a certain historical type of sword,… …   Wikipedia

  • Sword and sandal — films, or pepla (singular=peplum) are a genre of adventure or fantasy films that have subjects set in Biblical or classical antiquity, often with contrived plots based very loosely on mythology or history. Most movies based on Greco Roman history …   Wikipedia

  • Sword of Justice — A Sword of justice can be metaphorical, such as in a personification of Justice where it symbolizes the power to punish offenders, or literal in the sense of an executioner s swords. Swords of justice, or executioner s swords, were used by… …   Wikipedia

  • Samurai Executioner — Infobox animanga/Header name = Samurai Executioner caption = Samurai Executioner Volume 1 ja name = 首斬り朝 ja name trans = Kubikiri Asa genre = Drama, Historical, MatureInfobox animanga/Manga title = author = Kazuo Koike publisher = flagicon|Japan… …   Wikipedia

  • Franz Schmidt (executioner) — Franz Schmidt (* abt. 1550 + 1635), also known as Meister Franz, was executioner in the region of Bamberg from 1573 to April 1578, and from 1 May 1578 till the end of 1617 executioner of Nuremberg. In 1617, he resigned from his post. This removed …   Wikipedia

  • List of Chronicles of the Cursed Sword characters — This is a list of characters from the manwha series Chronicles of the Cursed Sword Contents 1 Main characters 1.1 Rey Yan 1.2 Pasa Sword 1.3 Shyao Lin …   Wikipedia

  • Capital punishment — Death penalty and Death sentence redirect here. For other uses, see Death penalty (disambiguation) and Death sentence (disambiguation). Execution and Execute redirect here. For other uses, see Execution (disambiguation) and Execute… …   Wikipedia

  • Types of swords — This is a list of Types of swords found through history all around the world.word types sorted by geographic originAfrica*Flyssa *Kaskara *Nimcha *Shotel *Takoba *IdaAmericas*Macana *MacuahuitlAsia*Aikuchi (合口, 匕首) *Aruval *Barong *Bolo / Itak… …   Wikipedia

  • The Masque of Mandragora — 086 – The Masque of Mandragora Doctor Who serial The Brethren of Demnos commune with the Mandragora Helix Cast …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”