The Espada Ancha Myth

[Jim McDougall]

In recent browsing through another forum, I found this curious heading and opened the thread hoping to find what this title meant. The author was inquiring if someone might direct him to references which might tell him about these notable Spanish colonial short swords as he could find nothing in Mexican or Spanish sources. Perhaps he was situated in Mexico as his surname was Mexican.

Naturally there was little response, but the only brief reply suggested "Spanish Military Weapons in Colonial America 1700-1821" (Brinckerhoff & Chamberlain, 1972) which is virtually the only reference ever written describing these (aside from several brief papers in subsequent years).

The so called 'espada ancha' evolved primarily in the frontier regions of New Spain (now Mexico) in the mid to latter 18th century, and appears to have evolved in hilt style from hangers/hunting swords probably from vessels which traveled between Spain and its colonies.

In the frontier regions of New Spain in the north, the Spanish southwest which included Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Alta California and the northern parts of New Spain from Baja California to Sinaloa,Sonora, Chihuahua, these areas were rugged desert with thick vegetation.

Horsemen found their military broadswords (termed espada ancha =Sp. broad sword) were not adequate for brushing trails and the blades often broke. The local blacksmiths began forging heavy blades which were stout, cutlass like types which were mounted on various interpretations of the European hanger, hunting swords types often used on ships.
In those times, these were deemed 'machete' by Spaniards although some narratives use the term cutlass.

In later years, perhaps because some of these were indeed mounted with the Spanish dragoon blades (often with the 'Spanish motto) of the 18th century, somehow the term 'espada ancha' became colloquially applied to these machetes by collectors (again, espada ancha = broadsword in Spanish).

As has been noted, information on these is sparse, so it is not surprising that this individual could find nothing, as outside the US there virtually is no reference to them I am aware of.

I would like to initiate this thread to effectively open a study of these long overlooked and under researched edged weapons. Here I would like to note that Lee Jones in his now venerable paper on this site, is probably the last author to write on these. I would like to advance our collective knowledge on these from that bench mark.

I hope those in our community will post examples, add information and please ask questions. While no regional distinctions as yet have been confirmed, there are some plausible speculations. These were locally produced with blacksmith forged blades, and the hilts, while of a basic style, often used certain embellishments such as shells from crossguard, varying grips etc.

In the attachments:
First is a bone gripped example, probably 1790s and at this point presumed of a form known in Sinaloa but later Alta Calif. and Santa Fe. Here the hilt is of the familiar hanger style but mounted with 18th c. Spanish dragoon blade (broadsword).
Next is the 'regulation' military form used by Spanish through the 18th century into 19th known colloquially as the 'bilbo' in European and American parlance. As the blades were DE, broadsword, the Spaniards regarded them as ESPADA ANCHA.

Next is a grouping of these colonial 'machete' (espada ancha) showing wide variation of forms, most of these from c. 1790-1850.