dead sword hilt semantics

[Jim McDougall]

To continue,
With stylized elements of sword hilts, naturally it is far more prevalent, nearly standard, in higher end swords for officers, gentry, diplomatic and court weapons.
Many forms of court type swords actually added raised guard shells and other surfaces to accommodate elaborate themes and allegories in scenes etc.
The Renaissance period daggers with Holbein themes of the 'Dance of Death' are well known motifs of this type.

With these 'mortuary' style hilts, they were not necessarily for any particular group or station, nor to Parliamentarian nor Royalist (both sides used them).
So elements of the structure, aside from decorative application on them, were not as far as I can see, symbolic, that is the scrolled ends of the side guards.

Naturally the cherubic or 'cavalier' type faces were in line with other neo classic themes used on English swords of the 17th century. I think you have a pretty good view of these as you have Stuart's fantastic book.

You noted the 'anchor' as a key Christian element in symbolism, which indeed it is. Rather than elemental however, this device is more often placed on sword blades and inscriptions. This began in Spain, and was followed in German made blades copying Spanish themes and markings. These anchors seem to have variations in the cross bars with numbers and serif or other configurations. In these, I think there may be arcane symbolism, which truly is prevalent on blades, inscriptions and various sigils and devices.

One of the best examples I can think of with elemental symbolism in hilts would be the Scottish basket hilts. In Mazansky, these are catalogued with terms noting variations in the pierced designs used in the shields and often saltires of the guards. Also are the 'rams horn' designs elements of many hilts.
While Mazansky's book is outstanding in typology and categorizing, it is of course not helpful in any deeper study of the often 'secret' symbols, typically Jacobite which these designs represent. As with most studies on weapons of these types, subjective attention to symbolism and such arcane matters is left to other sources.

Sorry to break into 'lecture' mode, not intended, just that this is a topic that has intrigued me for decades, and great to find someone else keenly interested as well.


We crossed posts! Great images on the stones, and pretty compelling evidence. Nicely done!!!!

[Elmereya]

Thank you for the post

[Elmereya]

Thanks for the lecture mode post, very interesting. there is something to think about, yes.
It is very likely that at different times, even in the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries, the interpretations and explanations (of certain things) by different researchers in different, sometimes hard-to-reach places (countries, cities) may simply be different , for different reasons ; - inaccurate or incomplete information accumulated over a specific period of research, the absence of normal (in comparison with modern) communications in the past, any political or religious reasons, and more. A simple example: In the late 1980s, the "era of metal detectors" began around the world.
How much material did historians and researchers have compared to what was accumulated over the past 150 years before that? over a decade, artifacts from more than the previous 100 years have been found. , then a comparative analysis, classification, in a word, a lot of material for study that breaks stereotypes, and besides this there are many other new possibilities, many old typologies required revision, additions, important historical events, thanks to the ability to exchange information, may receive others that differ from the previous explanations ..
of course, even researchers of the mid-20th century, not to mention older times, did not have such a volume of information to study as they do now ... unfortunately, I am not in the scientific community.
Sincerely