[Houston P.]

Hello everyone! This is my first post, so I hope everything is correct ( and knowing me and technology, it probably isn't). I noticed in the reviews section that there was a review of a sword by windlass labeled as a German falchion and was very confused, as I was under the impression that falchions never became popular in Germany, but that they mounted that manner of blade on messers and such. So my question is simply were falchions used in Germany? If so, were they civilian weapons like messers often were? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[Sean Flynt]

I'll chime in since I'm the author of that ancient review.

I just skimmed over the issue of the name, so I'll repeat here that the Windlass name "German Falchion" is 50 percent wrong or at least 50 percent in question. It's a falchion, but it's inspired by a famous weapon from a certain English context (i.e., fished from the river Yare). Could it have been imported from Germany? Perhaps.

As you note, single edged weapons of this size are most often shown as messers, with scale grips, in German/Austrian artwork of the medieval period. I've sifted through thousands of images at ImaReal, and I'm not recalling a falchion. I wasn't looking for any, though, so take my observation with a grain of salt.

There's no question that the falchion was popular in the Italian context, and it seems unlikely that the form would have simply stopped at the Alps when we know there was armour influence bouncing around the region.

Many years ago, Peter Johnsson recreated a falchion that lives in the Deutsches Klingenmuseum in Solingen. It appears to have a clear maker's mark, so it might be possible to pin down a region for its manufacture. I was recently reminded of that piece, as Peter seems to have reunited with it in advance of the upcoming exhibit.

[Mark Lewis]

There are falchions held in museums in Hamburg and Nuremberg also, no idea as to their provenance though. Photos of these (and many others) can be found in this thread:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15100

[Houston P.]

Ahh. I suspected that windlass had missed it. Thanks.