Claymore

Claymore
Claymore replica
Type	Sword
Place of origin	Scotland
Service history
In service	ca. 1400–1700
Used by	Highlanders
Specifications
Weight	≈2.2–2.8 kg (4.9–6.2 lb)
Length	≈120–140 cm (47–55 in)
Blade length	≈100–120 cm (39–47 in)
Blade type	Double-edged
Hilt type	Two-handed cruciform, with pommel

Engraving of a claymore and armour at Dunvegan Castle (from Footsteps of Dr. Johnson, 1890).

A claymore (/ˈkleɪmɔər/; from Scottish Gaelic claidheamh-mòr, "great sword")^[1] is the Scottish variant of the late medieval two-handed sword. It is characterised as having a cross hilt of forward-sloping quillons with quatrefoil terminations. It was in use from the 15th to 17th centuries.

From the 18th century onwards the word claymore began to be used in Scotland and parts of England to refer to basket-hilted swords. This description was probably not used during the 17th century, when basket hilted swords were the primary military swords across Europe, but these broad-bladed swords remained in service with Scottish regiments for some time longer. After the Acts of Union in 1707 when Scottish and English regiments were integrated together, the swords were seen as a mark of distinction by Scottish officers over the more slender sabres used by their English contemporaries: a symbol of physical strength and prowess, and a link to the historic Highland way of life. Although these swords were no longer recognizable as the historical claymore, they were the broadsword of the era and so were referred to using the term. Such swords remained in service with Scottish regiments into the 19th century.

Terminology

The term claymore is an anglicisation of the Gaelic claidheamh-mór "great sword", attested in 1772 (as Cly-more) with the gloss "great two-handed sword".^[2] The sense "basket-hilted sword" is contemporaneous, attested in 1773 as "The broad-sword now used [...] called the Claymore, (i.e., the great sword)."^[3] OED observes that the latter usage is "inexact, but very common". The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica likewise judged that the term is "wrongly" applied to the basket-hilted sword.^[4]

Countering this view, Paul Wagner & Christopher Thompson argue that the term "claymore" was applied first to the basket-hilted broadsword, and then to all Scottish swords. They provide earlier quotes than those given above, in support of its use to refer to a basket-hilted broadsword and targe: "a strong handsome target, with a sharp pointed steel, of above half an ell in length, screw'd into the navel of it, on his left arm, a sturdy claymore by his side" (1715 pamphlet). They also note its use as a battle-cry as early as 1678.^[5]

Authors arguing that the basket-hilted sword is "incorrectly" called claymore have been known to suggest that claybeg (from a purported Gaelic claidheamh-beag "small sword") should be used instead.^[6]

This does not parallel Scottish Gaelic usage. According to the Gaelic Dictionary by R. A. Armstrong (1825), claidheamh-mòr translates to "broadsword", and claidheamh dà làimh to "two-handed sword", while claidheamh-beag is given as a translation of "Bilbo".^[7]

The term "claymore" became part of vocabulary of the Victorian era sentimental or Romanticist "retro-Jacobite" literature and poetry such as the Skye Boat Song (1870).

Other contemporary Gaelic descriptives of swords include claidheamh-cùil or back sword, referring to a single-edged sword with a flat "spine" (not one worn on the back, a common misinterpretation), the claidheamh-crom or crooked sword, which could describe either a typical sabre style blade (such as that worn by Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, in the painting by Medina) or a scimitar style blade known as a "Turcael" ("Turkish" blade) such as that brandished by Alasdair Mòr, the Champion of Clan Grant, in the c. 1715 portrait by Waitt, or the claidheamh-caol or narrow sword, usually describing a rapier or small-sword.

The term claybeg, purportedly from Scots Gaelic claidheamh-beag meaning "little sword" is not seen in clan-era Gaelic song or poetry, 'Dwelly's' [ibid.], or other authorities, and seems to be a fairly recent invention.

Two-handed (Highland) claymore

A mid-16th-century tomb effigy from Finlaggan

The two-handed claymore was a large sword used in the late Medieval and early modern periods. It was used in the constant clan warfare and border fights with the English from circa 1400 to 1700.^[8] Although Claymores existed as far back as the Wars of Scottish Independence they were smaller and few had the typical quatrefoil design (as can be seen on the Great Seal of John Balliol King of Scots).^[9] The last known battle in which it is considered to have been used in a significant number was the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689. It was somewhat longer than other two-handed swords of the era. The two-handed claymore seems to be an offshoot of Early Scottish medieval longswords (similar to the Espee de Guerre or Grete war sword) which had developed a distinctive style of a cross-hilt with forward-angled arms that ended in spatulate swellings.The lobed pommels on earlier swords were inspired by the Viking style. The spatulate swellings were later frequently made in a quatrefoil design.^[10]

The average claymore ran about 140 cm (55 in) in overall length, with a 33 cm (13 in) grip, 107 cm (42 in) blade, and a weight of approximately 5.5 lb (2.5 kg). For instance, in 1772 Thomas Pennant described a sword seen on his visit to Raasay as: "an unwieldy weapon, two inches broad, doubly edged; the length of the blade three feet seven inches; of the handle, fourteen inches; of a plain transverse guard, one foot; the weight six pounds and a half."^[11]

Fairly uniform in style, the sword was set with a wheel pommel often capped by a crescent-shaped nut and a guard with straight, forward-sloping arms ending in quatrefoils, and langets running down the centre of the blade from the guard. Another common style of two-handed claymore (though lesser known today) was the "clamshell hilted" claymore. It had a crossguard that consisted of two downward-curving arms and two large, round, concave plates that protected the foregrip. It was so named because the round guards resembled an open clam.

See also

• Historical fencing in Scotland

Notes

References and further reading

• Claude Blair, "Claymore" in David H. Caldwell (ed.), Scottish Weapons and Fortifications (Edinburgh 1981), 378–387
• David H. Caldwell, The Scottish Armoury (Edinburgh 1979), 24–26
• Fergus Cannan, Scottish Arms and Armour (Oxford 2009), 29–31, 79, 82
• Tobias Capwell, The Real Fighting Stuff: Arms and Armour at Glasgow Museums (Glasgow 2007), 84
• Ross Cowan, 'Weapon of Deeds: The Two-Handed Scottish Highland Sword', Medieval Warfare 1(3) (2011), 24–25
• Ross Cowan, 'Lairds of Battle', Military History Monthly 32 (2013), 47–48
• G. A. Hayes-McCoy, 'Sixteenth Century Swords Found in Ireland', Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 78 (1948), 38–54
• J. G. Mann, 'A Late Medieval Sword from Ireland', Antiquaries Journal 24 (1944), 94–99
• Dwelly's Illustrated Gaelic to English Dictionary (Gairm Publications, Glasgow, 1988, p. 202)
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Claymore". Encyclopædia Britannica 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 474. 

External links

• Scottish hand-and-a-half and two-handed swords
• Two-handed Highland swords in the collections of Glasgow Museums, the National Museum of Scotland, and the British Museum.
• Scottish two-handed swords with clam shell guards in Kelvingrove, the National Museum of Scotland and Dean Castle (Kilmarnock).
• Scottish swords image resource