Curtana, also known as the Sword of Mercy, is a ceremonial sword used at the coronation of British kings and queens. One of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, its end is blunt and squared to symbolise mercy.
thumb|upright=0.25|alt=Curtana with detailed embellishments on the scabbard|Curtana with scabbard
Description
The sword measures long and wide at the handle. About of the steel blade's tip is missing. The blade features a decorative "running wolf" mark which originated in the town of Passau, Lower Bavaria, Germany. The sheath has been remade several times since the 17th century, and the current one was made in 1937. versus the Francis Sandford's engraving.
History
There are several swords answering to this description. The original is thought to be the same as the unnamed regalia sword purported to be the sword of Tristan, although he may be a fictional character contrived by a bard. The original may also be the sword of Edward the Confessor, although this provenance is debated. The later copy of Curtana was made in the 17th century.
Angevin dynasty
thumb|300px|right|An early 20th-century likeness of Curtana, with ragged tip after a 1661 catalogue by [[Sir Edward Walker, Garter King of Arms.]]
The name Curtana or Curtein (from the Latin Curtus, meaning short A plausible contemporaneous source that Matthew Paris and his circles may have read from the cycle was Chevalerie Ogier (c. 1192–1200), and they may have been inspired to borrow Ogier's sword-name because Ogier, in the later part of the poem adventures in England and marries the daughter of the English king Angart. Loomis deduced that the prose romancer of Tristan must have gained knowledge of the English regalia sword Curtana pretending to be Tristan's sword, Others discount the possibility (E. M. R. Ditmas), and it may have resulted from confusion: there certainly had been St. Edward's effects which were removed from the grave and preserved as regalia, but this did not include a sword.]]
The "current" Curtana was made between 1610 and 1620, likely by Robert South, a member of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers, and was supplied for Charles I's coronation in 1626,
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Bibliography
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