Claymores
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Claymores are huge double-handed swords that the Scots used in battle during the middle ages. These swords being very large and heavy were obviously pretty scary for the other guy when having a wee altercation not least because once the opponent swung his sword, there was b****r all chance he could stop it before doing catastrophic, not to mention distressing, damage to his sparring partner. During clan battles, men would often be cut from head to waist by a single blow of a claymore and then lie on the field of battle for days before finally popping their clogs.
The name claymore enjoyed a brief resurgence in the early modern period when it was sometimes used to describe the basket-hilted broadsword that the Highlanders were so fond of hacking people to bits with. This was the main weapon of choice for the Highland soldiers of both the 1715 and 1745 jacobite rebellions. Although calling those swrods "claymores" wasn't really correct, it was probably better for poor English b****rs on the receiving end to say "Help! This guy has a claymore" than "Excuse me, I appear to have been accosted by a large man with, what I believe to be a basket hilted broad - argh".
Nowadays there's an American Fitba team in Edinbrugh called the Scottish Claymores who won the World Series a couple of years ago. Unfortuantely as soon as Gavin Hastings (former Scottish rugby captain) left, they suddenly turned into a bag of shite and the Scots have been doing their utmost best to ignore the embarassing b*****ds ever since.
The name claymore enjoyed a brief resurgence in the early modern period when it was sometimes used to describe the basket-hilted broadsword that the Highlanders were so fond of hacking people to bits with. This was the main weapon of choice for the Highland soldiers of both the 1715 and 1745 jacobite rebellions. Although calling those swrods "claymores" wasn't really correct, it was probably better for poor English b****rs on the receiving end to say "Help! This guy has a claymore" than "Excuse me, I appear to have been accosted by a large man with, what I believe to be a basket hilted broad - argh".
Nowadays there's an American Fitba team in Edinbrugh called the Scottish Claymores who won the World Series a couple of years ago. Unfortuantely as soon as Gavin Hastings (former Scottish rugby captain) left, they suddenly turned into a bag of shite and the Scots have been doing their utmost best to ignore the embarassing b*****ds ever since.
