Falchions, Messers, and the Middle East -- myArmoury.com

Craig Peters

Many of the people of this forum are undoubtedly aware that in public perception, people from the Middle East carried curved swords like falchions and messers. One need look no farther than the cover of the Super Nintendo game for Aladdin to see an example of this:

Yet, as we also know, these weapons are European, rather than Middle Eastern, in origin.

How did this association between curved European swords and Middle Eastern people begin? I was looking through a book that discussed how Jews, heretics and Muslims were discussed and characterized in terms of monsters or the monstrous in the Middle Ages, and the book included numerous period images. One thing thing that I noticed which I had not previously been conscious of was the fact that Muslims were often depicted carrying falchions and messers in late medieval/renaissance artwork. In other words, this association between Middle Easterners and curved swords already existed in the minds of Europeans during the Middle Ages.

What lead to this?

Robert Subiaga Jr. · Posted: Mon 29 Jun, 2009 11:49 am Post subject:

There are probably many, many factors, but one I can think of that may play a large role is symbolism. The straight European sword has the general shape of a cross, and was sometimes used as one upon which a Christian knight might swear. The crescent moon, on the other hand, has great symbolism is Islam, even to this day on things like the flag of Saudi Arabia. Once the idea of sword shape as symbolic of a religion caught on, it became self-perpetuating; and once popular images were predominantly of that sword type, even the consciousness of the religious symbolism often became moot.

Elling Polden · Posted: Mon 29 Jun, 2009 11:58 am Post subject:

During the medevial period, there was contact between the middle east and Europe. However, this mostly took the form of somebody going to the other region to trade or fight.
These could give oral acounts of what the place they had visted looked like, but this would of course not be all that accurate.

Single edged swords and sabres where in use in the middle east in the middle ages, so it is reasonable to belive that someone mentioned "single edged swords" or even "curved single edged swords" when they got home.
This would be overheard by the cousin of a friend of an illuminator, resulting in the illuminator drawing the arabs with a single edged sword. Which would of course look like a falchion, since that was how he knew them.

George P. · Posted: Mon 29 Jun, 2009 12:09 pm Post subject:

Sabres were in use in Serbia during the 14th century, but I'm not sure about earlier. There is evidence of its usage in Ragusa from 1363 onwards.

David Sutton · Posted: Mon 29 Jun, 2009 1:40 pm Post subject:

Is it possible that there may have been a mistaken association by some western medieval artists of the Mongols (who IIRC used curved swords) with Muslims?

Werner Stiegler · Posted: Mon 29 Jun, 2009 2:08 pm Post subject:

Craig Peters · Posted: Mon 29 Jun, 2009 3:18 pm Post subject:

Steven H · Posted: Mon 29 Jun, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject:

Elling Polden · Posted: Tue 30 Jun, 2009 5:46 am Post subject:

The byzantines used sabres from the 9th century on, having adopted them from nomad mercenaries. The arabs probably adopted them from the byzantines, in turn.

Michael G. · Posted: Tue 30 Jun, 2009 9:35 am Post subject:

Don't quote me on this, but I think I have heard that the various Middle Eastern "scimitar" type weapons, like the shamshir, kilij, etc., were originally introduced by the Turks. By the time of the Crusades, the various Turkish groups were the major Muslim miitary powers in the Middle East, so the use of these weapons by the Muslim Turks may well have stuck in the minds of Europeans.

Add in the symbolism (cross vs. crescent) mentioned by Robert, and illustrators had all the excuse they needed. As Elling mentioned, the European illustrators would simply draw the curved swords they knew first hand--falchions--just as Muslim warriors are often shown in European-style armor (though sometimes with a turban for effect).

Samuel Bena · Posted: Wed 01 Jul, 2009 5:44 am Post subject:

Samuel Bena · Posted: Wed 01 Jul, 2009 5:59 am Post subject:

George P. · Posted: Wed 01 Jul, 2009 12:39 pm Post subject:

Robin Palmer · Posted: Wed 01 Jul, 2009 2:35 pm Post subject:

Hi all

From what I have read the Muslims of the crusader period used straight swords very little different from the western knights the sabre came in with the Mongles and Turkerman later. As to the origins of single edged curved blades in Europe there are examples dating back to the bronze age not huge numbers but enough to say the idear was not unique to the east.

Your bob palmer

Elling Polden · Posted: Wed 01 Jul, 2009 11:29 pm Post subject:

As far as I remember, the sabre that "won the middle east" in the 16th century, replacing the straight sword almost completely, was the indian Samshir, wich has a much deeper curve than earlier magyar/turk/byzantine sabres.
http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/shamshir/index.html
Previous to this, sabres where around but where not THE sword of the region. However they must have been common enough for medevial european to notice.

Samuel Bena · Posted: Thu 02 Jul, 2009 5:03 am Post subject:

Samuel Bena · Posted: Thu 02 Jul, 2009 5:32 am Post subject:

George P. · Posted: Thu 02 Jul, 2009 5:57 am Post subject:

Samuel Bena · Posted: Thu 02 Jul, 2009 1:50 pm Post subject:

Lafayette C Curtis · Posted: Sun 05 Jul, 2009 11:01 am Post subject:

The association probably didn't crystallize before the 15th century or so; wasn't there a fairly recent thread about medieval European representations of Crusading-era Saracens that looked just like the knights of Christendom--including straight swords--with the exceptions of round shields and/or weird hats or turbans?