I'm reading an academic work called "Dressed to Kill", by Paulo Jorge Simões Agostinho which deals with 15th-century military sources for references of arms and armor in Portuguese Chronicles. Eventually, I came across some written references for a "Terçado". My notes are in parenthesis

Quote:

"The fourth type of sword found in the chronicles was the Terçado. It refers to a sword, shorter and lighter than the 'belt-sword' (medieval Portuguese name for an arming sword). It's was equivalent to two-thirds of a sword, thus given its name [...]. This weapon is referred only to events in North Africa (starting by 1415/1420), of which indicates a relatively recent sword. Perhaps, African context might have led to a greater search for lighter weapons. "

My question is: can a Terçado be related to any existing shorter sword in Europe? Could it be a Cinquedea? Other European regions actually gave a name for a "two-thirds" sword? I hardly think Terçado means a Falchion, as we have evidence for their use in the Peninsula long before the 15th century.

You might find this old thread on another site interesting.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?...&pp=30

Essentially it seems like we're looking at a sword that is 'a third' shorter than normal swords. A lot of Central European messer's have a blade round about 60 centimeters in length and some have a somewhat curved tip.

Quite a bit of 15th century art made in the Low Countries such as tapestries and paintings, some of them ordered by Portuguese, tend to show the Moors with short swords that often have a knucklebow. Some later 16th century indigenous works also show such weapons.

For example the Capture of Oran shows both normal swords and shorter ones.

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The depicted Moorish swords might be Nimcha, if those were already around at that time and (bigger) IF the artist has actually ever seen a Moorish soldier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimcha
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/NG-NM-10412
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/NG-NM-6095

Nimcha is possible I suppose, but some depictions (as one above) show straight, shortish, presumably two sided blades with knuckle bows. I find it pretty interesting as I haven't personally seen historical examples.

Just noticed it has been 3 whole years. But good news, I SOLVED IT.

I recently realized this sword was of North African rather than Portuguese/European invention because it's mentioned in numbers among the loot taken by the Portuguese which included other Morrocan arms such as adargas. Just to remember: the Terçado only appears in 15th century sources about African campaigns ...

So, I was looking at the etchings made by Pedro Nissart for a church in Palma, Mallorca (Kingdom of Mallorca, part of the Crown of Aragon, conquered by Christians from the Muslims in the 13th century) made at 1468-70, as I was searching for Balearic Islands or Aragonese armor. And one of the Muslim defenders uses a shortsword, straight. This dismisses the possibility that the Terçado could be curved (in fact many modern sabers are called terçado in the Portuguese language).

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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/La_Roqueta_-_Entrada_del_Rey_en_Jaume_a_la_ciutat_de_Mallorca.jpg?fbclid=IwAR0Rm0v2HaaGXGuF6HLX-CroM5z1lwFi99mPsu8P33PCsnz-Y_B0OxZIweg

Nissart depicted very well the arms of soldiers in the main St. George pannel, and while I would argue the plate armor is made in Flemish style (many disagreed, but ok), the weapons are fine. Especially the muslim ones.

Terciado in Spanish is usually understood as a sort of short sword, not like a ropera, but probably more cutting oriented.

In early XVIIth century Cervante's novel "Rinconete y Cortadillo" the later has one, which is clear that is a short sword (literally described as a "half sword").

"el uno tenía media espada puesta en un puño de palo"
"poniendo mano el uno a su media espada"
"Cortadillo a su espada media o terciado"
"que no tenía sino su media espada"

https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/novela-de-rinconete-y-cortadillo-version-porras-de-la-camara--0/html/ffbaddb6-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_16.html

Sadly, it lacked the glamour of the ropera, which we have originals by the hundreds, unlike the terciado...