Schiavona - The one that got away

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Victrix

. Do you think schiavonas were used at sea or was the sailor knot just symbolic?

I am trying to research that point myself. Venice, essentially a city-state, was primarily a maritime power, defending its far flung network of island and coastal trading centers. But at various times the Republic also controlled land areas in Lombardy, northeast Italia, coastal Croatia, and parts of mainland Greece. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Republic's heyday coincided with the high period of mercenary warfare in Europe, and since its limited local landholdings made a supply of conscripts problematic, fighting men were recruited in significant numbers from elsewhere, especially Dalmatians and Stradioti from the Adriatic regions.

Venice's preoccupation with maritime affairs is exemplified by the annual ceremony during which the Doge and his court cruised on the massive gilded barge "Bucintoro" into open waters and threw a gold ring to the waves, to renew the Republic's vows of marriage to the sea. And for a long time, its main rival in Italy was Genoa, its seafaring counterpart on the other side of the peninsula.

I would tend to think that from a tactical perspective, a shorter weapon such as the storta , a broad-bladed cutlass or falchion, might be handier aboard the cramped decks of a galley.