BUT INWARDLY THEY ARE RAVENING WOLVES

German Broadsword from The Thirty Years’ War

Dated: circa 1620-1630

Culture: German

Measurements: overall length: 110.3 cm; blade length: 94 cm

A German broadsword from The Thirty Years’ War carried by a Swedish officer in the army of King Gustavus Adolphus II. Featuring a double-edged hollow-ground blade tapering to a short point, the blade is lightly etched with scrolling foliage together with the bust portrait of Gustavus Adolphus II.

On one side there is the motto “PRO ARIS ET FOCIS” and on the other side "SOLI DEO GLORIAS". The sword has a narrow ricasso, iron hilt silvered and engraved with flowers, foliage and grotesque masks in the characteristic North German style.

"The villains were always ugly in books and movies. Necessarily so, it seemed. Because if they were attractive—if their looks matched their charm and their cunning—they wouldn’t only be dangerous.

They would be irresistible.”