Posts: 2 Location: Nova Scotia
Mon 30 Jul, 2012 3:44 pm
Of Swords and Chickens
I live on a homestead in the northwoods and it's chicken killing time, and as I was lobbing heads it got me thinking about the Riding Sword, a weapon I find especially intriguing because while many are perplexed by it's smallness, my lifestyle causes me to see it as eminently practical. When I kill chickens I keep my large puukko on me (or
seax, if you please, it's a modern design something like both), a beefy 15" knife with a lot of heft. If a chicken squirms at the last moment so I don't make a clean chop and it's flopping around too much to finish the job quickly, I don't want it to suffer needlessly, so I use the puukko with it's long cutting area to quickly put it down, either by taking the head with it where the hatchet's narrower blade might miss, or by thrusting into the chicken's vitals if need be. End result is the same: a fast kill and a minimum of suffering.
The Riding Sword: I can see this weapon having similar usefulness. I'm not a historical expert on the subject, but I do hunt with primitive technology, often on foot, sometimes mounted, nearly always with my longbow. More than once I've taken big game and had to run it down and put several more arrows into it to drop it. I've often wanted to approach a downed deer and end it quickly with a throat cut or heart thrust with the puukko for mercy's sake, but a big deer is a powerful animal, especially if it's thrashing around with a set of antlers. I wonder if the original of this sword may have been a gentleman's hunting weapon--a coup de grace solution that could also serve as a knightly combat weapon should the need arise. In a hunt using archery or spears, animals do not just drop like they do in movies. I know from experience. With such a sword I could make a quick throat cut or thrust to the heart or liver of a large animal with a bit of safety. The shortness would allow for greater accuracy and maneuverability, important when dealing with injured game.
Even the large hilt makes sense in that sense. I like my puukko because the hilt is larger than you usually see on knives. If I need to make an accurate power cut to kill a farm animal, it allows for it. Likewise, with the Riding Sword, the large hilt would allow for powerful throat cuts or thrusts into the heart or liver, which would be essential to put down a large game animal.
The deer hunt is fast approaching and I may get a chance to test this theory, but to me it makes perfect sense, especially if you see this weapon as a tool for the day-to-day service of an outdoorsman.
The guard is interesting, too. It's turned up and long. I can see this having several advantages, chiefly a powerful parry with a chance to twist an opponent's weapon from his hands--a defense best executed with a shorter, nimbler weapon (reference the sai or parry dagger). As well, the longer hilt combined with the shorter blade would allow the wielder tremendous leverage for knocking longer weapons (which would have weaker leverage at distance) out of the way to get in close for the kill. An extremely useful weapon if one's strategy is to get in close. Again, that seems to make sense of the sword of an outdoorsman or gentleman hunter who might want a multi-purpose weapon/tool on his rambles.
Just my thoughts on a very intriguing sword.