A Most Fine, Original, English Civil War 'Mortuary Form' Basket Hilted Cavalry Sword, Bearing The Images of King Charles Ist & Queen Henrietta Maria. Such As was Used At The Battle of Edgehill & And All The Major Battles of The War.

A superb museum grade piece, a 1640 basket hilted cavalry horseman officer's sword with traditional so-called 'mortuary' hilt that bears the twin stylised visages of King Charles 1st and Queen Henrietta Maria on the under basket and a large portrait bust of King Charles on the front basket. A triple then double fullered for two thirds of the blade's length blade. Exceptional, nicely patinated spiral multi wire bound wooden grip.
An absolute beauty and in very good condition indeed for it age. Some might assume it would have been the sword of a Royalist Cavalier, and what would a Roundhead be doing possessing a presumably Cavalier sword, however, there are several such examples in the Tower Collection and others, including Oliver Cromwell's very own similar mortuary hilted sword.

The swords bearing the King's head were often made before the civil war, and at that time all cavalry officers, including those that 'turned coat', were loyal subjects of the King. Such as at the Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in Southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642.

All attempts at constitutional compromise between King Charles and Parliament broke down early in 1642. Both King and Parliament raised large armies to gain their way by force of arms. In October, at his temporary base near Shrewsbury, King Charles decided to march on London in order to force a decisive confrontation with Parliament's main army, commanded by the Earl of Essex.

Late on 22 October, both armies unexpectedly found the enemy to be close by. The next day, the Royalist army descended from Edge Hill to force battle. After the Parliamentary artillery opened a cannonade, the Royalists attacked. Both armies consisted mostly of inexperienced and sometimes ill-equipped troops. Many men from both sides fled or fell out to loot enemy baggage, and neither army was able to gain a decisive advantage.

After the battle, King Charles resumed his march on London, but was not strong enough to overcome the defending militia before Essex's army could reinforce them. The inconclusive result of the Battle of Edgehill prevented either faction gaining a quick victory in the war, which eventually lasted four years.
In the Civil War, the opening of the battle usually involved groups of cavalry, with the officers carrying these very form of swords. The main objective was to make the opposing cavalry run away. When that happened, the victorious cavalry turned on the enemy infantry. Well-disciplined pike men, brave enough to hold their ground, could do tremendous damage to a cavalry charging straight at them. There are several examples of cavalry men having three or four horses killed under them in one battle. At the start of the war the king's nephew, Prince Rupert, was put in charge of the cavalry. Although Rupert was only twenty-three he already had a lot of experience fighting in the Dutch army. Prince Rupert introduced a new cavalry tactic that he had learnt fighting in Sweden. This involved charging full speed at the enemy. The horses were kept close together and just before impact the men fired their pistols, then arming themselves with their swords for the all too fearsome hand to hand combat

During the early stages of the Civil War the parliamentary army was at a great disadvantage. Most of the soldiers had never used a sword or musket before. When faced with Prince Rupert's cavalry charging at full speed, they often turned and ran.

One of the Roundhead officers who saw Prince Rupert's cavalry in action was a man called Oliver Cromwell. Although Cromwell had no military training, his experience as a large landowner gave him a good knowledge of horses. Cromwell became convinced that if he could produce a well-disciplined army he could defeat Prince Rupert and his Cavaliers. He knew that pike men, armed with sixteen-foot-long pikes, who stood their ground during a cavalry attack, could do a tremendous amount of damage.

Oliver Cromwell also noticed that Prince Rupert's cavalry were not very well disciplined. After they charged the enemy they went in pursuit of individual targets. At the first major battle of the civil war at Edge hill, most of Prince Rupert's cavalrymen did not return to the battlefield until over an hour after the initial charge. By this time the horses were so tired they were unable to mount another attack against the Roundheads.

Cromwell trained his cavalry to keep together after a charge. In this way his men could repeatedly charge the Cavaliers. Cromwell's new cavalry took part in its first major battle at Marston Moor in Yorkshire in July 1644. The king's soldiers were heavily defeated in the battle. Cromwell's soldiers became known as the Ironsides' because of the way they cut through the Cavaliers on the battlefield. The Mortuary hilted swords actually gained their unusual name some considerable time after the Civil War. For, as they bore representational portraits of King Charles Ist, it was believed in Victorian times that they were to symbolize the death of the King, however, as these swords were actually made from 1640, long before he was executed, it was an obviously erroneous naming, that curiously remains to this day. This example is a beautiful, fine and singularly handsome piece and would certainly be a fine addition to any collection of rare English swords. There are a few examples near identical to this sword in the Royal Collection and the Tower of London Collection.

One picture in the gallery is of William Hiseland of Wiltshire (1620–1733). His tomb’s inscription at the burial ground of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea stated that he was born on 6 August 1620 and died aged 112 on 7 February 1733. Hiseland claimed to have fought at Edgehill in 1642 and after a long career in soldiering, with the Royal Scots at Malplaquet, despite being 89 years old in 1709. Hiseland was rewarded with a place at Chelsea Hospital until he became an out-pensioner following his marriage at the age of 100 in 1720. He sat for a portrait by George Alsop in 1730, in which a sturdy appearance is strikingly fashioned for a man of 110 years of age, holding his Mortuary Hilted sword that he used at the Battle of Edge Hill


Blade length 36 inches. one small break in the hilt's small side bar

Code: 25460