Cleveland Museum of Art

Executioner's Sword

Date

late 1600s

Medium

steel, wood, brass and copper wire

Culture

Germany, late 17th Century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Execution by decapitation was generally reserved for the nobility during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Although the axe was favored in England, for centuries swords were used throughout Central Europe. The blades were often etched with moralizing inscriptions and designs representing Justice (as here), the gallows, the rack, or the Crucifixion. By the early 1700s swords were no longer primarily used in Europe for executions, but they still functioned as symbols of power. This sword was probably ceremonial for a formal procedure or procession. The inscription on this sword reads, "When I raise this sword, so I wish that this poor sinner will receive eternal life."

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