Technology and Engineering Atlas

How Things Are Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Invention

Claymore

Materials Engineering

Claymore, from the Scottish Gaelic claidheamh-mor, or great sword, names two distinct Scottish weapons from different periods. The earlier and more historically significant is the Scottish variant of the late medieval two-handed sword, with a cross hilt whose forward sloping quillons end in quatrefoil shapes, an overall length of about 120 to 140 centimeters, a blade of 100 to 120 centimeters and a weight of roughly 2.2 to 2.8 kilograms; Highland Scots used it from about 1400 to 1700, including in clan warfare and border conflicts with England, with its last major battle use at Killiecrankie in 1689. After the 1707 Acts of Union, the name claymore was applied instead to the Scottish basket hilted sword, which Scottish military officers adopted as a mark distinguishing them from English soldiers and which endures as an emblem of Highland military tradition. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Sources
Claymore (Wikipedia)
Lead section
Quote, Lead section
A claymore (; from Scottish Gaelic: claidheamh-mòr, "great sword") is either the Scottish variant of the late medieval two-handed sword or the Scottish variant of the basket-hilted sword.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.