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: