Basket-Hilt Broadsword

Timeline

1. 1641–1643Glasgow · GlasgowLowland Scottish swordsmiths combined a cage guard with a double-edged broad blade, forming the standard basket-hilt broadsword form suitable for mixed use by cavalry and infantry, and carried it south with the Covenanter armies to war.
2. 1644–1646Naseby · NorthamptonshireParliamentarian and Royalist cavalry, as well as Scottish allied forces, were all heavily equipped with basket-hilt broadswords, used as a standard sidearm during lulls in musketry and in the melee of charges.
3. 1647–1650Tower of London Armouries · LondonAfter the Civil War, English arsenals continued to purchase and refurbish basket-hilt broadswords; the form influenced the sword-wearing traditions of officers and militia across the British Isles for decades thereafter.