Location

210A Armor Court

Fun Fact

The inscription on this sword reads, "When I raise this sword, so I wish that this poor sinner will receive eternal life."

Description

Execution by decapitation was generally reserved for the nobility during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Although the axe was favored in England, for centuries swords were used throughout Central Europe. The blades were often etched with moralizing inscriptions and designs representing Justice (as here), the gallows, the rack, or the Crucifixion. By the early 1700s swords were no longer primarily used in Europe for executions, but they still functioned as symbols of power. This sword was probably ceremonial for a formal procedure or procession.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Wan ich Das Schwerdt thu auff heben so / Wunch ich Dem armen sunder das Ewege Leben

Inscription Translation

When I raise this sword, so I wish that this poor sinner will receive eternal life.

Inscription Remark

On the Blade

Provenance

Edwin J. Brett (1828-1895), London, England

-1916

Frank Gair Macomber, Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1916-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh

Citations

Catalogue of Arms and Armour. Vol. 4, 17th to 19th century and a few pieces of iron work. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], [1900-1915]. Mentioned and Reproduced: No. (209) 228 archive.org

Gilchrist, Helen Ives. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924. Mentioned: pp. 129-130, E97 archive.org

Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998. pp. 112, 171; cat. no. 165

Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. cat. no. 142, p. 189

Exhibition history

Armor Court Reinstallation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

The Cleveland Museum of Art