Detail View: The AMICA Library: Executioner's Sword
|
AMICA ID:
|
CMA_.1916.1620
|
|
AMICA Library Year:
|
1998
|
|
Object Type:
|
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
|
|
Creator Nationality:
|
European; Northern European; German
|
|
Creator Dates/Places:
|
Germany
|
|
Creator Name-CRT:
|
Germany, late 17th Century
|
|
Title:
|
Executioner's Sword
|
|
Title Type:
|
Primary
|
|
View:
|
Full View
|
|
Creation Date:
|
late 17th Century
|
|
Creation Start Date:
|
1666
|
|
Creation End Date:
|
1699
|
|
Materials and Techniques:
|
steel, wood, brass and copper wire
|
|
Classification Term:
|
Armor
|
|
Classification Term:
|
Arms
|
|
Classification Term:
|
Arms
|
|
Dimensions:
|
Overall: , Blade: , Quillions: 22.5cm, Grip: 0cm
|
|
AMICA Contributor:
|
The Cleveland Museum of Art
|
|
Owner Location:
|
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
|
|
ID Number:
|
1916.1620
|
|
Credit Line:
|
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance
|
|
Inscriptions:
|
inscribed on blade: Wan ich Das Schwerdt thu auff heben so / Wunch ich Dem armen sunder das Ewege Leben
|
|
Rights:
|
|
|
Context:
|
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, execution by decapitation was generally reserved for the nobility. While the axe was favored in England, swords were widely used throughout Central Europe for beheadings. The blades of executioner's swords were often etched with designs representing Justice (like this example), the gallows, the rack, the Crucifixion, or moralistic inscriptions. This blade is etched with the following inscription in Old German: When I raise this sword, so I wish that this poor sinner will receive eternal life. The use of swords for executions ceased entirely in Europe by the early 18th century, after which time they sometimes continued to be used in ceremonies and processions as symbols of power. This sword was probably ceremonial.
|
|
Related Image Identifier Link:
|
CMA_.1916.1620.tif
|