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

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Miguel, nicely done on the excellent work by Mr.Clements, those groupings of profiles really help in the discussion and looking at the development annd comparisons of types. Thank you for posting them for those of us who do not have this reference at hand.

Also, well placed digression to the Philippine versions of these, as it is always to see the widespread diffusion of many European influences into other cultures, and if none directly exists, the similarity regardless.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the comments!

The European influence on Asian blades is indeed one big factor. And hundreds of years even before Magellan and crew landed in southeast Asia (the present day Phils., Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.), Portuguese, Italian, and other European explorers and traders had already been frequenting Asia as we all know.

And am sure it was a two-way street -- Asian craft for sure was influencing European blade designs as well.

Going back to Spanish conquistador weapons, we see the illustrations below from one of Osprey's conquistador titles, for commentary as usual:

[migueldiaz]

Would appreciate more help and comments, please!

[And by the way, thanks again to Gonzalo for referring me the LINK from where the book Spanish Arms & Armour, which is now in the public domain, can be downloaded (a 45 mb download).]

So I found in the book this image of a 16th century cutlass (the rightmost sword). May I inquire from anybody please as to the cutlass' country of origin, as well as any other info about the same?

Thanks in advance!

[Gonzalo G]

Looks italian, and I wouldn´t call it a "cutlass".

[Gonzalo G]

Originally Posted by migueldiaz

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the comments!

The European influence on Asian blades is indeed one big factor. And hundreds of years even before Magellan and crew landed in southeast Asia (the present day Phils., Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.), Portuguese, Italian, and other European explorers and traders had already been frequenting Asia as we all know.

And am sure it was a two-way street -- Asian craft for sure was influencing European blade designs as well.

Going back to Spanish conquistador weapons, we see the illustrations below from one of Osprey's conquistador titles, for commentary as usual:

Well, Augustus (Cesar Octavius) sent an embassy to the chinese court through Southeast Asia. The relations are not ignored. The mutual influences are still to be established based on scientific grounds.

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Gonzalo G

Looks italian, and I wouldn´t call it a "cutlass".

Thanks for the comment!

Originally Posted by Gonzalo G

Well, Augustus (Cesar Octavius) sent an embassy to the chinese court through Southeast Asia. The relations are not ignored. The mutual influences are still to be established based on scientific grounds.

Don't know about that one in particular, but thanks for the info.

Other explorers who for sure were "agents" of the phenomenon of the West influencing the East (and vice versa) would be Marco Polo (1254-1324) and Ibn Battuta (1305-1377). The latter is supposed to have even reached the Philippines.

And then there's the Italian Niccolò de' Conti (1395–1469) and Ludovico di Varthema who both reached what is now present day Malaysia and Indonesia.

Thus I think it would be safe to assume that Asia had been influencing Europe (and vice versa) even way back then. The only thing that would be hard to pinpoint would be the magnitude of each one's influence over the other.