707 years ago on this
day (23 August 1305), Sir William Wallace was executed in Smithfield London. In
memory of this martyr, I will post about his weapon, the Wallace Sword from
Wikipedia.
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Stained glass portraying the Warrior William Wallace
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The Wallace's Sword is an antique
claymore purported to have belonged to William Wallace (1272–1305), a knight
and Scottish patriot who led a resistance to the English occupation of Scotland
during the Wars of Scottish Independence. It is said to have been used by
William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and the Battle of
Falkirk (1298).
The shaft of the sword measures 4 feet
4 inches in length (132 cm) and including the tip 5 feet
6 inches (168 cm). The breadth of the blade varies from
2.25 inches at the guard to 0.75 inches before the point. The sword
weighs 6.0 lb (2.7 kg).
History:
It has been alleged that after William
Wallace's execution in 1305, Sir John de Menteith, governor of Dumbarton Castle
received the sword in August of that year. But there are no records to that
effect. Two hundred years later, in 1505, accounts survive which state that at
the command of King James IV of Scotland, the sum of 26 shillings was paid to
an armourer for the "binding of Wallace' sword with cords of silk"
and providing it with "a new hilt and plomet" and also with a
"new scabbard and a new belt". This repair would have been necessary
because, according to legend, Wallace's original scabbard, hilt and belt were
said to have been made from the dried skin of Hugh Cressingham, one of the
English commanders at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
No other written records of the sword are
found for a further three centuries. In 1875 a letter from the War Office
informed that the sword, in 1825 was sent to the Tower of London to be
repaired. At that time it was submitted to a Dr Samuel Meyrick by the Duke of
Wellington for examination.
Dr Meyrick was an authority on ancient swords
but he estimated the age of the sword by examining the mountings only, which as
we know were replaced early in the 16th century. Thus he concluded that the
sword could not date from earlier than the 15th century. However he did not
take account of the blade which must have been of some importance for James IV
to have it bound in silk and give it a new scabbard, hilt and belt and it was
also described then as the "Wallas sword". The sword was recovered
from Dumbarton by Charles Rogers, author of The Book of Wallace. Rogers,
on 15 October 1888 renewed a correspondence with the Secretary of State for
War, with the result that the Major General commanding forces in North Britain
was authorised to deliver the weapon to his care for preservation in the
Wallace Monument.
Historical accuracy:
There is reason to believe that this sword
did not belong to William Wallace. The blade does not possess a fuller — a near
universal feature of blades with this type of cross-section (lenticular) except
in processional swords of the Renaissance. The blade in its original state
would have likely been Oakeshott type XIIIa (also known as Espee de Guerrel or
Grete war sword) which became common by the mid-13th century. Such swords would
have a long, wide blade with parallel edges, ending in a rounded or spatulate
tip. The grip, longer than in the earlier Scottish swords, typically some
15 cm (almost 6 inches), allows good two-handed use. The cross-guards
were probably down-sloping (in the later highland style) or straight, and the
pommel either regularly Brazil-nut or disk-shaped but this case perhaps a lobed
pommel inspired by the Viking style.
Close inspection reveals that it may be made
up from pieces of different swords fitted together. Part of this could have
come from a late 13th century sword.
Check
this two videos to see how the sword was used:
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