One of the worlds most instantly recognizable swords has to be the Scottish Basket Hilt Broadsword, it was the traditional weapon of the highland clansman.  This sword was used in battles against the English for a few hundred years and it was an excellent cut and thrust weapon.


This sword has a ray skin handle with wire wrap and the felt is traditionally backed to black leather with the fancy and ornate pommel attached to the end of the handle in customary style.


It was quite long, with blade lengths from 31 to 34 inches commonly being employed.  The Scottish Basket Hilt also incorporated a sharp double edged blade protruding from its distinctive basket hilt, when the Scots fought with this sword they usually held a 'targe' (small shield) and a 'dirk' in their free hand.

Below is seen a targe, it was about 1 foot 8 inches in diameter and often had a sharp 1 foot long spike protruding from the center to ram into the enemies face, throat or upper chest...the art of warfare is often very unpleasant !

The dirk as pictured below was also held in the same hand as the targe and together they offered both defence and attack.  An opposing sword fighter would have to keep checking his stance and distance, an enemy soldier moving in too quick or missing with a sword swipe was all the Scotsman needed to either cut and thrust with the basket hilt or get a dagger jab in to end the fight decisively.
         
The beauty of  the basket hilts double edged sword is that if you were to miss on the initial strike, you could get a quicker second hit in when slashing back, but unfortunately at the time of these conquests the opposing English forces also had double edged swords.  The saying " it cuts both ways " is derived from this.

Below is a Youtube video (on TV !) about the Scottish Basket Hilt Broadsword, as made by Cold Steel.  Please do not attempt these practise methods at home yourself.


Below is an 18th century style broadsword with the Glasgow basket hilt,  and the historic swordsmith makers name of " Andrea Ferara" can be seen engraved on the blade between the twin fullers that ran down the length of it.  This particular sword had an overall length of 39 ¾ inches the blade was 33 ½inches long and the weight was slightly heavy at over 3lbs.

The heavier the sword the deeper the cut with the least effort but the drawback was that it was a bit more difficult to wield in a sword fight.  So hours of sword practice was the order of the day for all combatants in times gone by.

Below is the Paul Chen Hanwei SH2002 version that is battle ready.

The Scottish basket hilt sword also had various versions of the basket in that the configuration of the steel was cut out in different patterns.  The basket was ornamental but also served as hand protection and doubled as a 'knuckleduster' in that it could deliver quite a hard smashing blow to the enemies face.  All sword fights were CQB close quarters battle, where the best swords won the day and the Scottish basket hilt was no exeption.

BASKET HILT BACKSWORD

The Basket Hilt Backsword was first seen around 1760, it had an unusual basket with twin engraved horned beast plaques.  The top of the blade had two fullers, (narrow grooves) that ran down almost the entire length to end short of the tip, these fullers also signified at first glance that it was a backsword.

It was called a backsword as unlike the traditional Scottish broadsword, the blade was only sharpened on one side.  The blade itself, quite surprisingly was German in origin but the basket hilt was still firmly Scottish through and through.  Highland swords such as these were usually crafted as double edged weapons in the broadsword tradition but the backsword as shown above was just as popular, specially at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 where the backsword saw favorable action.

A scene from the battle is depicted below, a lot of basket hilts, targe's and dirks present, along with a few halberd's poised for action amongst the massed ranks.

The Battle of Culloden was fought on Drumossie Moor, to the north east of Inverness, on April 16, 1746. It was the last of the great Jacobite uprisings, in attempt to reinstate Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender on the throne of England.  The attempt failed, the Jacobites and the clans were defeated.

The Broadsword and Backsword did their part in resisting the English and they were praised by combatants on both sides, in fact quite a fair few English Officers actually started to carry them after the battle stating they were war trophies but they actually replaced their own standard issue swords.

Scottish Basket-Hilt Broadsword

The renowned Spanish swordsmith " Andrea Ferara" created quite a few of the sword blades that were used in this battle and they can still be found today, recognisable by his swordsmith's makers mark on the top of the blade, usually from the hilt downwards.  Unfortunately many good quality blades made by other swordsmith's were also marked with this makers name to attract a better price.

The blades were forged in fully tempered high carbon steel with either a solid brass or steel basket.  The handle was of animal hide that was wire wrapped and there was the customary crimson velvet covered leather or felt covered leather lining attached to the inside of the basket.  This was also functional in that it kept the hand warm on cold Scottish highland days.

The blade length of the backsword was 32½ inches with a 6½ inch handle that gave an overall length of 39 inches.  The sword was quite easy to fight with in combat as it was well balanced and a reasonable weight of 2.8 lb.  Heavier blades had more inertia and kinetic energy than lighter blades, requiring a stronger arm to wield them.  But wield them they did, and the red leather and felt lined basket hilt has created a Scottish icon that promotes Scottish history through the ages.

The basket hilt swords as featured on this page and the Paul Chen SH2002 are available here...

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