[Greg Griggs]

Allrighty then. The Albion Gallowglass will be here soon and now I need to make a scabbard for this beauty. Being the anal person that I am, it behooves me to make one as period correct as possible. Unfortunately, all my books, pictures, links, etc, deal with dark age to middle age stuff, and this baby is a 14th C creature. Not only that but it also represents the Scots in Ireland, as an Irish sword. Anyone have any books, pictures, prints, ideas on what a scabbard and associated belting would have looked like? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers and thanks in advance,
-Greg

[Greyson Brown]

My understanding was that the Gallowglass sword design was actually a little later than that. I haven't studied it real close though.

In Tim Newark's, Warriors: Ancient, Celtic, and Medieval (which is just a compilation of Ancient Warriors, Celtic Warriors, and Medieval Warriors), there are some paintings by Angus McBride showing Gallowglass warriors wearing roughly similar swords, and the suspention on there scabbards is very similar to the style that Albion, Christian Fletcher, etc. use on their 15th century longswords. Also, they do not seem to have the triangular flap at the throat of the scabbard. Of course this is all based on one artist's interpretaion of things, and he may not be right at all.

I'll look through my books when I get home tonight, and see what I can find.

-Grey

[Richard Fay]

Hello all!

Greg,
This may be way outside of the period you're looking at, but the Osprey book The Irish Wars 1485-1603 shows kerns and a galloglass or two in some woodcuts wearing their swords in very boxy looking scabbards with a "fringe" at the end. I believe these are 16th century, so probably not much of a help for you. One of the colour plates depicts a 15th century galloglass bearing a Scottish style sword with a "lobed" pommel in a plain leather scabbard with some criss-cross tooling or thonging at the chape end. On the same plate, a Queen Majesty's galloglass of 1583 wears a "boxy" scabbard trimmed in fringe.

Sorry if this wasn't quite what you were looking for, but I hoped it might have helped a bit!

I'll dig through my library, too, and see what I come up with!

Stay safe!

[Allen W]

I have seen three relevant contemporary illustrations, one of which is the famous Durer Galloglass Drawing and all of which are are currently unavailable so I'm forced to rely upon memory. I have seen nothing informative regarding suspension but all sword scabbards in these three illustrations have completely square chapes or in one case a chape that flares outward with the rest of the scabbard (as in reverse profile taper all the rest were parallel sided with square chapes). One even looked two-tone with a different color for each edge. This was a black and white picture so think one dark edge and one light.

[Richard Fay]

Hello all!

Greg,
I've found a couple more images that may be of assistance. I wish I could post them, you'll just have to put up with my description. I found the original image from Queen Elizabeth's charter to the city of Dublin that was used as the basis for the one Osprey plate. It's in the colour plates in Wars of the Irish King, edited by David Willis McCullough. The illustration from the charter depicts what may be a Scot gallowglass instead of an Irish kern, because the man wears shoes. He holds a scabbarded sword in his right hand, with no apparent suspension belt. The scabbard is very "boxy" in shape, square at the tip (bottom) instead of rounded or pointed. It is red in color, completely trimmed along the sides and bottom with a fringed green trim. It's later than you're looking for, but it shows the inspiration for the Osprey plate.

I've found a rough drawing in David Nicolle's Arms & Armour of the Crusading Era 1050-1350: Western Europe and the Crusader States that may show that the "boxy" type scabbards were also used in an ealier period. He shows a simple line drawing from the Irish Magauran Duanaire manuscript of the late 14th or early 15 centuries. He says the manuscript is from the 14th century, but the illustration may as late as the 15th. The rider with a typical gallowglass "pointed helm" (although I don't know if the "pointed helm was specifically typical of the gallowglass of this period) wears a sword with a "bent" cross of Scottish style in a very "boxy" looking scabbard. The drawing is too rough to discern details, but the end of the scabbard is definitely squared off instead of rounded, and it has a couple of lines that may be interpreted as "fringes".

I hope this helped a bit. Even if the information is outside of the period you were looking at, at least it might give you an idea of where to start looking!

I'll see if I can come up with any more, but this is unfortunately a time period and area not covered in most of my books.

Stay safe!

[Nathan Robinson]

I'm running out of time over here so I'm in a hurry. This is the wrong time period and perhaps not very helpful, but nonetheless, I'll share this link with you as it shows some 16th century Irish stuff.

[Greg Griggs]

Thanks guys.
I've seen the squared-off scabbards before but couldn't remember where. I'll have to check the Osprey books mentioned. Nathan, thanks for the link! It was interesting and one of the woodcuts actually gave me an idea for a future scabbard.
Grey - It is my understanding that this sword will fit anywhere from mid-14th C up through late 16th C, so what you guys have given is not out of reason time-line wise. I'm just stuck more in the 14th C for a certain kit I was thinking of doing. It comes from a book I once read of a Scot mercenary in Ireland during the 1370's and 80's which gives a description of his clothing, arms, and armor, but no pictures.
I'm wondering what the boxy scabbard would look like on such a sleek, narrow-bladed, sword. Guess I'll just have to try and get a view in my head and go from there. Thanks again, and take care all.

-Greg

[Nathan Robinson]

Okay, in that case...

More links that might be good starting points:

There is, of course, our own article on the Irish.

And there is this article on history and equipment.

Here is another link, but the images aren't very clear.

Also, look for Albrecht Durer's woodcuts of the Gallowglass.

[Greg Griggs]

Oh...btw......The Gallowglass showed up today and "YEAH BABY"! Sweet looking and feeling sword. I'll post some pics and things after I have the chance to play with it a bit.

Thanks for the other links again, Nathan.

-Greg