Edged Weapons
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 430 edged weapons which date broadly from around 2500 BC to the 20th century. This collection includes approximately 300 swords, 50 daggers, and 80 staff weapons, such as spears and halberds. These range in date from Bronze Age weapons to officers' swords from World Wars I and II. The medieval period is very well represented by around 20 arming swords and longswords, many of which may well have been wielded in battle. Medieval daggers such as basilards and ballock daggers are also included. There are approximately 70 rapiers of the 17th to early 18th centuries, reflecting the increasing use of such weapons by civilians. Many of these swords would have been used with parrying daggers of which there are around 20 in the collection. The large two-handed swords and staff weapons reflect changing battlefield tactics. There is a wide variety of staff weapon types, from bills to partisans. The largest swords are the bearing swords used purely for ceremonial purposes. There is a group of 20 smallswords with exquisitely decorated hilts. These were carried by fashionable 18th century gentlemen to defend themselves from vagrants and to defend their honour in duels. Military regulations ensured that officers wore swords and there are many fine examples of these from the 18th to 20th centuries.
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