Origin of Scottish Claymore Swords

A Claymore is a word which is associated with “great military swords” and was patented in the year 1772. At that time the big swords which were used by two handed were considered as Claymore sword. Broadly, A Claymore can be considered as a Scottish type of the late medieval long swords which were applied for two handed use. These swords were basically being used between 15^th to 17^th centuries mainly by the Scottish & British military personnels.

Today I am here to brief about the Origin of the Scotiish Claymore swords and what were the various changes to the definition of the Claymore with the time change.

The designed of the Scottish swords are mainly recognized as Claymores and in fact the great Scottish swords which were known as Claymore were somewhat smaller as compared than the contemporary swords in Scotland running around 55 inches in all. 

Actually the reality is that, the Claymore was used in the operations from early as the 14^th century and the term of “Claymore” was applied at the beginning of the 17^th century.  It is characterized as having a cross hilt of forward-sloping quillons with quatrefoil terminations. In 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica judged that the term “Claymore” was wrongly applied to the “basket-hilted sword”. 

After that, the “basket-hilted sword” was contemporaneous attested in 1773 as the broad long sword now called as the Claymore (the great sword). The Claymore was considered as an awesome weapon on the war fields and they were having an amazing reach (as much as 60 inches, which is the length of a standard Claymore) made it very difficult for the opponent to close with the welder.

After the 17^th century , the Claymore has begun to be used in parts of England & Scotland and they were referred to as basket-hilted swords.  These swords were considered as a mark of distinction by the Scottish Officers over the other more slender Sabres after the act of Union in 1707 when the Scottish & English regiments were integrated together.

Legend has it that a Claymore was hurled into the field of battle, toward an opposing army before combat, to signify that the Scottish troops were ready to fight. No real evidence of this, but it’s cool and fits the Highlander idiom, so we thought we’d pass it along.

And one more thing I want to specify, the heavy military swords were seen as 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 and they are considered as the Broadsword of that era and so were referred to using the same word.

These Scottish Claymore were used in the Scottish regiments till the 18^th Century.

So, that’s my take on the origin of the Scottish Claymore swords.

I also want to conclude that there might be several information and facts about these Scottish Claymore swords which I might have skipped. But I have made my own assumption for these facts and information would be enough for a newbie to get some crucial information regarding these Claymore.

Today there Claymore swords are used as presentation swords and ceremonial swords  in the National day or any other military ceremonies. There are many places where you can buy swords online but the thing is that you should check the history before getting the same. I would definitely appreciate any views of yours in the above context or any points I might be missing.