Mortuary Sword - first use of the term?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Triarii

Thanks for the reply. I'm discussing this with some C17th history enthusiasts - we all know the story as per my OP, but were all wondering at the first instance of its use.

Very much like when was the term ' apostles' used to describe a collar of bandoliers. The Victorians loved it but no contemporary use during the English Civil War, so its got to be 100% Victorian. However, turns out that it's used in a play dating from 1664, so there is the possibility that it pre-dates this.

This is a most interesting topic, and one that could be broadened into a book quite frankly (maybe even a movie!)
That is, that of collectors terms for the weapons of history. I had heard of the 'apostles' term before sometime years ago in some now forgotten research, and as with most of these kinds of terms, thought it quaint and intriguing.

By way of analogy I could test the band width of this forum with examples of these terms, but briefly I can note a few.

Weapons that become well known among fighting men almost inevitably are given nicknames or colloquial terms, pretty much everything from swords and guns to tanks, planes etc. Most of these never make it into literary parlance, but as pointed out, some do.

I am curious about what play this term 'mortuary' appeared in.

The only instances I know of at this point of such terms used figuratively in literature prevalent enough to come to mind are:

FOX: This term figuratively describing a good sword was used by Shakespeare in "Henry V" , Act 4, Scene IV (1599),
the character Pistol to a French opponent, " O signieur Dew, thou diest on point of FOX".
The term, rather than referring to a specific type of sword, is believed to pertain to perhaps the 'running wolf' mark on German sword blades of the time, and taken to represent a fox.

BILBO:
In Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor" (1602),
" to be compressed, like a good BILBO, in the circumference of a peck, hilt to point, heel to head" , 3.5.43
The 'compressed' term means the blade can be bent around and contained in a confined area.
The term bilbo represents fine swords made in the Spanish town of Bilbao, who shipped swords to the British Isles. The term later became used colloquially for a Spanish military sword of the latter 17th century, and lost its association in English parlance.

There are other terms for daggers such 'dudgeon' and 'bodkin' which are among some of these kinds of terms.