Help pls. on 15th-17th C. cutlass & scimitar

[Norman McCormick]

Hi,
Another incarnation of the 'chopping' sword, Dussack, Tesak etc.
Regards,
Norman.

[Gonzalo G]

Beautiful pieces, Norman, and your point of view is very interesting.
Regards

Gonzalo

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

European Hunting Cleavers usually part of a Trousse or set. First photo is German 15th Cent. the other two similar. Falchions possibly developed from earlier versions of these type of 'butchering' tools.

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

Another incarnation of the 'chopping' sword, Dussack, Tesak etc.

Hi Norman,

Those are beautiful examples! Thanks for sharing those pics.

And we can surely get a lot of insights merely by observing them (and marrying those observations to the earlier remarks of Fernando, Gonzalo, Jim, and Manuel).

It appears to me then that in arming the ordinary warrior, whether in the West or in the East, the origin of his sword was that it must have come from a utilitarian civilian blade (a butcher's meat cleaver, a farmer's jungle 'bolo', etc.), that eventually found itself getting employed as a weapon (a falchion, a bracamarte, or in the case of the Igorots, the pinahig).

Thanks again,

Lorenz

PS - Ward, where are those images you promised? [looks at watch]

[migueldiaz]

Reviewing the info posted above on the falchion, the bracamarte, and the other cleavers and choppers, one cannot help but see a possible similarity in the evolution of certain ethnic Phil. swords.

For instance in the case of European swords, it was proposed that the falchion was an intermediate form (see att. below), and said falchion then eventually morphed into the cutlass, the saber, etc.

As an aside, one wonders whether the original generic Phil. bolo when it became the pinahig or the binagong or the bangkung, were the equivalent of such intermediate form.

And then (to continue the speculation) the Moros merely further pushed the envelope until they came up with the pira and the kampilan, for instance.

[We can recall that Cato said that the bangkung is a much older form amongst the Moro blades.]

Once again, these are my own "unschooled" musings Hopefully we get inputs from the experts, to either validate or refute this (wild) theory!

But we are really talking here about European cutlasses and 16th century Spanish swords. So pardon me for the digression ...

[Gonzalo G]

Neverthless, we must distinguish among straight blades with curved edges, from the curved blades...of course, also with curved edges. I think the weapon called alfanje had a curved blade, and according with Beraiz, also the scimitar. but in the case of the last one I feel not certainty.