The baselard was considered an intermediate between a short sword and a long dagger, and became popular also as a civilian weapon.

They suggest instead that both names " may have similarly arisen at a very early date as generic names for a sword "; this sword then became exclusively the property of Arthur in the British tradition.

The spatha as it developed in the Late Roman army became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages developed into the classical arming sword with crossguard.

The sword developed from the dagger when the construction of longer blades became possible, from the late 3rd millennium BC in the Middle East, first in arsenic copper, then in tin-bronze.

During the Middle Ages sword technology improved, and the sword became a very advanced weapon.

In later Japanese feudal history, during the Sengoku and Edo periods, certain high-ranking warriors of what became the ruling class would wear their sword tachi-style ( edge-downward ), rather than with the saya ( scabbard ) thrust through the belt with the edge upward.

This sacred mirror, jewel, and sword collectively became the three Imperial Regalia of Japan.

His armour weighed 60 tons, according to rabbi Hanina ; 120, according to rabbi Abba bar Kahana ; and his sword, which became the sword of David, had marvellous powers.

While swords clearly played an important cultural and religious role in ancient Japan, it is in the Heian period when the globally recognised curved Japanese sword was developed, and when swords became an important weapon, as well as a symbolic item.

At the same time the church became more tolerant of war in the defense of faith, espousing theories of the just war ; and liturgies were introduced which blessed a knight's sword, and a bath of chivalric purification. The first noted support for chivalric vocation, or the establishment of knightly class to ensure the sanctity and legitimacy of Christianity was written in 930 by Odo, abbot of Cluny in the Vita of St. Gerald of Aurillac, which argued that the sanctity of Christ and Christian doctrine can be demonstrated through the legitimate unsheathing of the “ sword against the enemy .” In the 11th century the concept of a " knight of Christ " ( miles Christi ) gained currency in France, Spain and Italy.

After the death of Hector and Paris, Helen became the paramour of their younger brother, Deiphobus ; but when the sack of Troy began, she hid her new husband's sword, and left him to the mercy of Menelaus and Odysseus.

Working throughout his career with a cross section of Hollywood's best fight arrangers, Flynn became noted for his fast-paced sword fights as seen in The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk and Captain Blood.

It is popularly said to be the sword of Olaf the Black, who became King of Mann and the Isles in 1226.

In 1831, the " Mamaluke " sword became a regulation pattern for British general officers ( and is still in use today ).

From around the early 14th century the backsword became the first type of European sword to be fitted with a knuckle guard.

Being easier and cheaper to make than double-edged swords, backswords became the favored sidearm of common infantry, including irregulars such as the Highland Scots, who in Scottish Gaelic were called the claidheamh cuil ( back sword ), after one of several terms for the distinct types of weapons they used.

During the campaign, a British Lieutenant became angry with him and hit him with the flat of his sword.

This sacred sword, mirror and jewel collectively became the three Imperial Regalia of Japan.

In contrast to many other faiths, Sikhs believe that when all other means to achieve justice are exhausted, then it is just to wield the sword.

This statement was likely picked up by the author of the Estoire Merlin, or Vulgate Merlin, where the author ( who was fond of fanciful folk etymologies ) asserts that Escalibor " is a Hebrew name which means in French ' cuts iron, steel, and wood '" (" c ' est non Ebrieu qui dist en franchois trenche fer & achier et fust "; note that the word for " steel " here, achier, also means " blade " or " sword " and comes from medieval Latin aciarium, a derivative of acies " sharp ", so there is no direct connection with Latin chalybs in this etymology ).

Excalibur is by no means the only weapon associated with Arthur, nor the only sword.

Odachi means " Great Sword ", and Nodachi translates to " Field sword ".

The two stories agree on this point: Livy's version is: By this blood-most pure before the outrage wrought by the king's son-I swear, and you, O gods, I call to witness that I will drive hence Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, together with his cursed wife and his whole blood, with fire and sword and every means in my power, and I will not suffer them or any one else to reign in Rome.

It is usually fixed to the scabbard of the sword, providing a fast means of drawing the sword in battle.

" This is opposed to kendo, which means the way of the sword.

" Revelation 13: 13, 14 says, " And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast ; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they sould make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e. g., as a means of murder or execution ; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine.

The Gaelic claidheamh mòr means " great sword "; anglicized as claymore it came to refer to the Scottish type of longsword with V-shaped crossguard.

While there are general trends in the medieval evolution of the sword, it was by no means a linear process.

( Preah Khan means " sacred sword ".

Congress possesses many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force.

The kanji for this means " sword law " ( not " fist law ").

I am sure every Englishman who has a heart in his breast and a feeling of justice in his mind, sympathizes with those unfortunate Danes ( cheers ), and wishes that this country could have been able to draw the sword successfully in their defence ( continued cheers ); but I am satisfied that those who reflect on the season of the year when that war broke out, on the means which this country could have applied for deciding in one sense that issue, I am satisfied that those who make these reflections will think that we acted wisely in not embarking in that dispute.

: By this guiltless blood before the kingly injustice I swear – you and the gods as my witnesses – I make myself the one who will prosecute, by what force I am able, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus along with his wicked wife and the whole house of his freeborn children by sword, by fire, by any means hence, so that neither they nor any one else be suffered to rule Rome.

As an offset to this sword maker, the Royalists had among their adherents Colonel Dud Dudley, who had invented a means of smelting iron by the use of coke, and who claimed he could turn out " all sorts of bar iron fit for making of muskets, carbines, and iron for great bolts ", both more cheaply, more speedily and more excellent than could be done in any other way.

The primary means of defeating monsters is through the use of the four swords scattered throughout the game ( the fifth sword, Crystalis, is only obtained at the very end ).

The elemental nature of each sword also provides a necessary means of traversing otherwise impassable obstacles ; certain barriers succumb to the power blasts of individual swords, and the Sword of Water creates a bridge of ice across some shallow, narrow sections of rivers., also some enemies are immune to certain types of elements and must be killed using their opposite element ( Ice creatures are weak against fire ).

The kanji character may have been adopted from China, but the reading " Ebisu " and " Emishi " were Japanese in origin, and most likely came from either the Japanese " yumishi " which means bowman ( their main weapon ), or " emushi " which is sword in the Ainu tongue.

Daikatanas title is written in Japanese kanji and means " long sword "; however, the characters ' usual reading is in fact " daitō ".

Going through the Imperial Gate in the wall, I entered the grounds of Topkapi Palace, home of the Sultans and nerve center of the vast Ottoman Empire, and walked along a road toward another gate in the distance, past the Church of St. Irene, completed by Constantine in 330 A.D. on my left, and then, just outside the second gate, I saw a spring with a tap in the wall on my right -- the Executioner's Spring, where he washed his hands and his sword after beheading his victims.

She then committed suicide by stabbing herself with the same sword she gave Aeneas when they first met.

The story of Ajax was frequently made use of by ancient poets and artists, and the hero who appears on some Locrian coins with the helmet, shield, and sword is probably this Ajax.

Ajax, " Unconquered ", and furious, falls upon his own sword, " conquered by his sorrow ".

At last, led to the Hippodrome of Constantinople, he was hung up by the feet between two pillars, and two Latin soldiers competed as to whose sword would penetrate his body more deeply, and finally his body, according to the representation of his death, was torn apart.

That he enjoyed warfare there can be no doubt ; yet he was not like the ordinary fighting bishops of the Middle Ages, whose sole indication of their religious role was to avoid the shedding of blood by using a mace in battle instead of a sword.

Later writers were shocked by the incest: in Hyginus, the day Aeolus learned that one of his sons, Macareus, had committed incest with his sister Canace he expelled Macareus and threw the child born of this incestuous union to the dogs, and sent his daughter a sword by which she was to kill herself.

The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off on the day, it is said, that the Battle of Verdun began in 1916.

Arrival or departure of a young warrior or hero, maybe Theseus arriving at Athens and being recognized because of his sword by Aegeus.

Beowulf prepares himself for battle ; he is presented with a sword, Hrunting, by Unferth, a warrior who had doubted him and wishes to make amends.

Bragi generously offers his sword, horse, and an arm ring as peace gift but Loki only responds by accusing Bragi of cowardice, of being the most afraid to fight of any of the Æsir and Elves within the hall.

Chapter 2: 12 contains a succinct but unequivocal message: “ You also, O Ethiopians, / Shall be killed by my sword .”

Some question whether the translation " You, also, O Ethiopians / Shall be killed by my sword " is a good translation, given the fact that Ethiopia is a long way away from Jerusalem.

In this reading, his good nature is so revolted by these thoughts that he gives his sword and dagger to Fleance to be sure they do not come true, but is so nervous at Macbeth's approach that he demands them back.

In addition, training with a bokken does not carry the same mortal risk associated with that of a live sword, both for the user and other practitioners near by.

In pursuit, Jen dives into an adjoining river to retrieve the sword and is then rescued by Fox.

Mu Bai blocks the needles with his sword and avenges his master's death by mortally wounding Fox, only to realize that one of the darts hit him in the neck.

Rong Cai of Emory University asserts that the sword Green Destiny is passed along to men, and is ( with the exception of Jen ) used only by male figures, making the sword a phallic symbol of masculinity and male authority.

For by fire and by his sword the Lord will judge all flesh, and the slain of the Lord will be many.

Air is represented in the Aztec religion by a snake to the Scythians, a yoke to the Hindus and for Greeks as a sword and in Christian iconography as mankind.

The caracole was not particularly successful, however, and the charge ( whether with sword, pistol, or lance ) remained as the primary mode of employment for many types of European cavalry, although by this time it was delivered in much deeper formations and with greater discipline than before.