Schiavona markings

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

I just came across this coat of arms of Dalmatia.
Is it long-since known to everyone that it is the Schiavona pommel?
I'm still catching up.

It is unclear what the cats head pommel alludes to. Of course the winged lion of St. Mark is a well known symbol in Venice, but the cats head pommel may have other connections. With the familiar 'katzbalger' swords of the Landsknecht mercenaries of Germany but long associated with the Swiss, the term of course alludes to 'cat fighter' for the ferocity of feral cats in their fights. These kinds of associations, while typically apocryphal, seem to make sense for the character of the fighting men of these times.