phoenix shadowwolf
what would be the history behind that kind of blade? when was its heyday? where was it primarily used?
Well, the falchion was a pretty popular sword thru most of western Europe and saw a very long history of use and many incarnations. Twas especially popular in England (the Conyers Falchion being an excellent earlier example of a straight backed cleaver type blade), France (the Badelaire is a fairly common sidearm, and hunting blade of the more curved variety.) and Italy (which just made gorgeous weapons of all kinds).
That particular shape of hilt, with the partial swept gard, and especially the side ring, place it in a later period, probably after the 1400.
The wheel pommel, however, offers me no insight, as wheel pommels were popular in many areas, for a long period.
Overall, it is either a Western Continental, or English style hilt tho.
In the Holy Roman Empire, and farther East, the hilts on such blades would more resemble knife hilts, and less resemble sword hilts. This is demonstrated in the Deutsches term for a Falchion like blade,
Grosse Messer... literally,
Big Knife.
The blade of the backsword itself is only slightly telling, as the fuller was not a terribly time specific innovation, and had centuries of use. Also, as the weapon was a modern reproduction, it may have been added to shave off some weight from the blade for reinactors.
The rounded point, as opposed to being clipped or swept makes me want to say it would not be Italian.
Ultimately, I would put it English 1400-1550, but that is just a wild guess.
Madame Brill, I have interacted with some Living History persons, however, am not a memeber.
I am an ardent foe of the SCA. (Society for Creative Anachronisms)
I have some tiny amount of ARMA (Association for Renaisance Martial Arts) training.
Mostly, this is a personal passion.
And yes, PhantomPhoenix0 is correct, TTFN, TaTa For Now, as Tigger once said in a tale of a Pooh.
3nodding
