The Espada Ancha

[Jim McDougall]

I have had personally a very much lifelong fascination with these typically short, heavy bladed swords of Spanish colonial America and Mexico, which began in my youth in Southern California. I had acquired one of these swords, but quite frankly knew little about it and traded it away. Some years later I found the book "Spanish Military Weapons in Colonial America 1700-1821" (Sidney Brinckerhoff & Pierce Chamberlain, 1972) and saw the swords resembling the one I had. My regret at having lost that amazing example began my quest to find others and learn more on these fascinating swords of the Spanish in the early days of California and Mexico.

Over the years I indeed acquired more examples, and though there was very little material beyond that in the book by Brinckerhoff & Chamberlain, my research discovered a number of obscure articles, Woodward (1946), Adams (1985) and Hanson (1978). It was not until the advent of the computer that new horizons opened in research, and I found this forum then begun by Lee Jones. With that it was amazing that he too had a deep interest in these swords, and the article he wrote on them was truly an inspiration, and the research continued more tenaciously than ever.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to compile these years of research into an article, "The Espada Ancha or Machete of Northern Mexico Frontiers and the Spanish Southwest from the 18th through 19th Centuries".

In this I describe the origins of the espada ancha, as well as the fact that these were never really called 'espada ancha' but actually termed 'machete' in common parlance.
In the article I use examples from my own collection as well as from Lee Jones' along with the illustrations from other sources.
Most remarkable is the frontispiece of a vaquero c. 1820-30 created by David Rickman, a Delaware based artist and historian well known for his work in many books and publications which include some of the Osprey series.
In his illustration he used one of my examples as the 'espada ancha' strapped under the saddle and his left leg, as many of these larger examples were carried.

The article is published in the "Svenska Vapenhistoriska Sallskapet" yearbook of the Swedish Arms Society, XXXVIII, the centennial celebration of the Society. It is the oldest arms society in Europe, where I have proudly been a member for over 20 years, and Staffan Kinman, author of many arms references, is the director. It was he who gave me this opportunity to present this work, and I am sincerely grateful.

I am placing details on acquiring this article, which remains in English in the book, which is primarily in Swedish with English captioning and summaries.

In hopes this article might promote more interest in these weapons, I am hoping others out there with examples might bring them in for discussion. While I have tried to be comprehensive in this coverage on the history of these espada anchas, there is so much more yet to be learned as always, and hopefully this will carry that forward.