{{Short description|Sword used for decapitation of criminals}} {{One source|date=October 2023}} thumb|A 16th century executioner's sword from Switzerland [[Image:Beheading Fac simile of a Miniature on Wood in the Cosmographie Universelle of Munster in folio Basle 1552.png|thumb|A decapitation scene as shown in ''Cosmographia universalis'' of Sebastian Münster (1552).]] An '''executioner's sword''' is a sword designed specifically for decapitation of condemned criminals (as opposed to combat).
==Design== These swords were intended for two-handed use, but were lacking a point, so that their overall blade length was typically that of a single-handed sword (ca. {{convert|80|–|90|cm|in|abbr=on}}). The quillons were quite short, and mainly straight, and the pommel was often pear-shaped or faceted.
Some have 3 holes near the tip, or more rarely 2 or 4, referred to as "bloody" but by 2012 its purpose is considered a mystery.<ref name=knoll2012>{{cite journal |last = Knoll |first = Vilém |date = 2012 |title = Executioner’s Swords – their Form and Development Brief summary |url = http://historyoflaw.eu/english/JHL_01_2012.pdf |journal = Journal on European History of Law |volume = 3 |issue = 1 |publisher = STS Science Centre Ltd. |pages = 158–161 |issn = 2042-6402 |access-date = November 16, 2025 }}</ref>
The blades of executioner's swords were often decorated with symbolic designs. When no longer used for executions, an executioner's sword sometimes continued to be used as a ceremonial sword of justice, a symbol of judicial power.
==History== In the Middle Ages, decapitations were performed with regular swords.
Most specifically designed executioner's sword are from the early 16th century up to mid 18th.<ref name=knoll2012 /> The earliest known example dates to ca. 1540. They were in wide use in 17th-century Europe, but fell out of use quite suddenly in the early 18th century.
In 1792, official Paris executioner Charles-Henri Sanson produced a memo on decollation and its humane and practical issues when performed by swords to Minister Duport du Tertre, which were raised to the National Assembly and lead to the implementation of the guillotine: Sanson owned two swords given by the Parliament, worth 600 ₶ each, they needed to be sharpened after each beheading and broke often.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Croker |first1=John Wilson |author-link=John Wilson Croker |date=1857 |title=Essays on the Early Period of the French Revolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQZoAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA534 |location=London |publisher=John Murray |chapter=The Guillotine |pages=534–535 |access-date=February 1, 2025}}</ref>
The last executions by sword in Europe were carried out in Switzerland in 1867 and 1868, when Niklaus Emmenegger in Lucerne and Héli Freymond in Moudon were beheaded for murder. Swords known as a ''sulthan'' are used to carry out executions in Saudi Arabia (''see Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia'').
==Gallery== <gallery> Image:Scharfrichterschwert-ffm002.jpg| 15th century, "Heimatmuseum" at Frankfurt-Bergen-Enkheim Image:Scharfrichterschwert-ffm001.jpg| Early Modern German inscription on the blade: ''Wan Ich Das Schwert thue Auffheben - So Wünsche Ich Dem Sünder Das Ewige Leben'' "When this sword I do lift, - I wish the sinner eternal life as gift." </gallery>
==See also== *Guillotine *Muhammad Saad al-Beshi, Saudi Arabian executioner *Terminus Est, a fictional executioner's sword wielded by Severian in the novel series ''The Book of the New Sun''
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Executioner's swords}} *[https://royalarmouries.org/collection/object/object-24513 German executioner's sword dated to 1674] at the Royal Armouries.
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Category:Decapitation Category:Early Modern European swords Category:European swords Category:Execution equipment Category:Renaissance-era swords Category:Renaissance-era weapons