Picture of me holding a copy of the William Wallace Sword

**TheOfficialBren** · 22nd April 13, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by Blupiper

I had the opportunity to examine the Wallace broadsword at the Wallace Monument in 2007. The docent I spoke with there was a retired police detective who had been involved when the original sword was stolen (briefly) in the 70's or 80's--I have forgotten when he said it happened. In those days it simply was "hung on a nail" as the docent said. He said the sword was recovered and he got to transport it back to the Monument (and to a better security setup). You could still hear the thrill in his voice about getting to hold the weapon. He told me that he met Mel Gibson at the premier of the 'Braveheart' movie. The best quote; "...and the sword was several inches longer than Mr. Gibson was tall!" It was a great visit in Stirling for me that day.

JMB

That is a great story, Blupiper! Wow!

Thank you, Nile.

**aonghas** · 22nd April 13, 05:26 PM

Good posts, only thing I have to add...your left sneaker is untied be careful not to trip.

**Nathan** · 22nd April 13, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by TheOfficialBren

...it is NOT a claymore of any kind...Wikipedia is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

It may not be a "claymore" but it sure is a "claidheamh mòr"...

Bren,

Just curious, since "claymore" is just an Anglicized transliteration of the Gaelic words for "Big Sword" i.e. two-handed longsword or broadsword, what else would a Gael have called a sword like this other than a "big sword"?

N

**Pipersson** · 22nd April 13, 07:22 PM

Beware of letting it fall on your feet...

**Urbane Guerrilla** · 29th April 13, 09:54 AM

Claidheamh dà làimh has been popular at Swordforum International for some years now. Just means "two-handed sword." The onehander with the ironmongery is "mòr" relative to either rapier or smallsword, as this Scottish take on the baskethilt swords of the sixteenth and first half seventeenth centuries hung on longer up there, while south of the Humber they were affording more guns and powder and shot. Not quite so, further north.

**TheOfficialBren** · 29th April 13, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Claidheamh dà làimh has been popular at Swordforum International for some years now. Just means "two-handed sword." The onehander with the ironmongery is "mòr" relative to either rapier or smallsword, as this Scottish take on the baskethilt swords of the sixteenth and first half seventeenth centuries hung on longer up there, while south of the Humber they were affording more guns and powder and shot. Not quite so, further north.

***

Claymores are two-handed swords. Basket hilted swords with the same name are a bit of a misnomer. Those are broadswords or backswords, depending on a few features. The name "claymore" has been ascribed errantly for so long that it's become universally accepted.

Another thing to consider is that on occasion the famiy heirloom claymore (the two-handed variety) might be cut down and re-hilted to either make an obsolete sword serviceable again or to make a damaged sword (maybe broken near the hilt for example) useable.

The cut and thrust broadsword was the standard of the day from the late sixteenth cemtury into the late seventeenth century with a period of overlap into the smallsword era. Sword fashions and styles often did overlap and naturally so did the techniques (which we shall not go into) which the contemporary martial arts schools taught. Broadswords and rapiers, smallswords and broadswords...this is consistent throughout the history of the sword from antiquity until the decline of the sword as a viable tool on the battlefield.

The distinction between the two types of swords called "claymore" is very important to remember.

Claidheamh Mòr means great or large sword...that doesn't sound like a basket hilted sword. That sounds like a two-hander to me. Even during the cut-and-thrust era, (we will use the English Civil War period for illustration) foreign visitors to the Highlands remarked that the remoter warriors seemed a bit antiquated with their two-handed swords anf their Lochaber axes. It should be noted that they were not efficient at using them...but they certainy were in what we today might call a "time warp;" they were considered by their contemporaries to be behind the times martially speaking. Partly it was due to the indigence often found among those folk back then to be sure.

I could be wrong but I've been studying swords from the eras discussed for rather a long time and have a special interest in the hand-and-a-half swords (like the claymore). Take it for what it is. Just my tuppence.