This thread is inspired by the thread "Favorite item from your collection" http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=38537 which I have difficulty posting on because my favourite swords are very much apart from each other.

Hence the question: is, in your opinion:

- a sword mostly a tool, a weapon to be used in war, defence or duelling, and therefore your favourite is the one that fits best to your personal needs and fencing style?

or is

- a sword mostly an ideal construct, a symbol of power, a way to connect with history or an esthetic ideal? And is therefore your favourite sword the one that is a perfect representation of e.g. your favourite historical period, or fantasy genre? I would also include originals / antiques in this category, unless they are relatively recent or common and you still use them for e.g. test cutting.

I suppose that the holy grail would be a union of the two aboves, but unfortunately I have not yet found this holy grail myself. And I fear that I will never reach this either. For me personally, I prefer single edged swords for practical reasons while my favourite periods favoured double edged swords, which I also prefer for esthetic reasons.

Historically I think that in several periods (e.g. the knighly sword, but also the European bronze sword) sword smiths tried to reach the holy grail by combining religiously inpired proportions and designs into a practical tool. But as modern swordsmen we are quite far removed from these traditions, both on a practical and on a spiritual level. But that's perhaps a topic for another thread, as I intended this thread to ask about your perspective as a modern swordsman / swordswoman.

To keep the poll interesting, I did not include this holy grail.

Very interesting question Paul, I'm a little surprised no one has responded yet. I thought about this for some time and I came to the conclusion that a "holy grail" sword does exist for me and it's a claidheamh da laimh. Though I will admit that of all the qualities you mentioned, what matters most to me is the connection to the historical period which most interests me. Lucky for me the claidheamh da laimh is also very appealing aesthetically and fits a fighting style I like. Now all I need to do is get my hands on a good reproduction.

I haven't replied to the poll because I can't choose one or the other properly. My answer is "yes".

For most people the sword was a practical tool of warfare, but at higher levels it had overtones of justice etc. Combining the two gets you something like Excalibur - the mythical ideal sword.

The main reason I collect and assemble weapons (aside from those used in historical reenactment) is because they're extensions of stories, some I thought up and others that I read and liked. That Sheffield Bowie is my version of Lieutenant Mudd's hunting knife from Catch-22. Some day I'd like an Excalibur. Then there's the ones made by Jimmy Bagdasarian and Armlann Gàidhealach, those that were owned by Algernon de Pangim and Caitlin O'Shaunessy... the list is so long that sooner or later I'll have to start selling some off, but the story behind each one is the main reason I'll have acquired it in the first place.

I think it would depend on the culture. Every culture has some sort of stories regarding swords as a mythical object, some culture does more so than others. I personally would like to think the sword as an object that wards off evil, in a sense of fiction that is. In reality the sword is a tool made to kill, and the martial art to wield a sword is the technique to kill.

I don't believe the knightly ideal was to protect the weak. Nor were swords limited by any means to knights (in a medieval context).

I think the sword has an appeal because it is a fusion of practical design elements with a higher aesthetic and a concept of the art of defense.

For a sword to be effective and functional (in a purely practical way) the design elements required it to have a great deal of elegance. Aside from any decoration or embellishment. Just the pure design of it has a sublime grace.

This is what makes a sword on a practical level, superior and more highly respected than most other weapons in so many cultures, even though the sword was not necessarily the best weapon for all circumstances, in fact throughout the length of history the sword was almost always a sidearm and not the primary weapon. The primary weapon was typically a spear, or a lance or a javelin, or a bow or crossbow or gun. The sword was backup.

The main advantage of the sword in fact was it's versatility and efficacy in defense. You can kill with a spear, with a cudgel, with a rock. The sword gives you that extra chance to defend yourself. As do other weapons of course, as does a shield which was also fetishized in many cultures.


The other element that is worth keeping in mind is that the practical elements of the metallurgy, the fabrication, and the design of a sword were based not on modern Cartesian, purely materialist concepts of science, but on the pre-industrial proto science which is inevitably mixed together with spiritual, mystical and superstitious notions. The 'sacred geometry' of the medieval sword (as pointed out by Peter Johnsson and others) is just one example, but one representative of the fusion of many long and complex cultural traditions related to arithmetic, geometry, alchemy, and (at the time, mainly Aristotlean) physics.

So inevitably the spiritual, religious and mystical elements of sword design, including as political or even ethical symbols, were intertwined with the practical. I don't think there is any unraveling it, and I think that is why the traditionally created swords are in fact better than anything we can invent in modern life, just as traditional steel more or less the same as it was smelted 2000 years ago is superior (for making swords) than any modern material yet invented. Titanium doesn't make good swords, nor do other superlative metals like vanadium or tantalum etc. The balance of characteristics you need for a sword are very hard to create. It took generations of cultural development to perfect them.