Sword of Justice
Encyclopedia
A Sword of Justice, or executioner's sword, was used by trained executioner
Executioner
A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...

s for carrying out capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 in many cultures. Given their special 'ceremonial' purpose, they were usually very well-made of the highest quality metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

 and were extremely sharp. Though otherwise unadorned, many were engraved with simple prayers akin to last rites
Last Rites
The Last Rites are the very last prayers and ministrations given to many Christians before death. The last rites go by various names and include different practices in different Christian traditions...

, asking mercy for both the executioner and the soul of the accused. In their purest form in medieval Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, they were only used for capital punishment, and only touched and maintained by sanctioned executioners. Sword execution, while not common, is still an accepted form of capital punishment by some modern cultures like Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

.

Swords of execution were specifically designed for the purpose of severing the head of an unresisting victim as quickly as possible. To this end, they were often considerably different from conventional swords intended for combat or training; European examples often had a blunt end and ~100 cm long blade ~5 cm in width. Sometimes they would be inscribed with an appropriate motto; a German example reads "Whenever I raise the sword I wish the sinner everlasting life."

See also

  • Scharfrichter
    Scharfrichter
    The term Scharfrichter refers specifically to a tradition of executioners in the German states...

  • Coronation of the British monarch
    Coronation of the British monarch
    The coronation of the British monarch is a ceremony in which the monarch of the United Kingdom is formally crowned and invested with regalia...

    , in which a symbolic Sword of Justice is carried
  • Terminus Est
    Terminus Est
    Terminus Est is a sword in the science fiction series The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. It is wielded by Severian, a torturer and the narrator of the series.-Terminus Est and Severian:...

  • Executioner's sword
    Executioner's sword
    An executioner's sword is a sword designed specifically for decapitation of condemned criminals . These swords were intended for two-handed use, but were lacking a point, so that their overall length was typically that of a single-handed sword...

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