Hi again,

I stumbled over this old postcard rendering of Swedish and Danish-Norwegian troops clashing at the walls of Copenhagen during the failed Swedish assault on the city in 1659.

Depicted among the halberds and pikes one can clearly see several images of swords. Does anyone have any comments as to what type and style of sword would have been in use at the time, especially regarding the weapons depicted here? I have difficulty making out details due to the small size of the image, so I will leave the floor open to you experts as to exactly what types of swords these are/could be. Pappenheimer cut-and-thrusts, perhaps?

Tormod

---

 Attachment: 30.34 KB

Take a look at http://www.armemuseum.org/foremal/blankvapen/varja/varja.html
There are a couple of different models from the early 1600 that could fit..
However, the link only shows some Swedish models..

I've been studying Renaissance era weapons for about 12 years, and I don't think you're going to find much on distinctly "Swedish" designs. They are pretty firmly entrenched in the "Saxon" school of military thought and style, and will pretty much reflect the same weapon styles as the Hapsburg-influenced regions (Germany/Austria/Spain/Holland/Switzerland).

It is also quite possible that the Swedish arms may have even been coming from Germany (they were after all providing damn near everyone else their blades... :)

I'm not thinking the search will be too fruitful, but good luck, and I'd love to hear what you find,
Matthew