Today is the 487th anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution. Today, courtesy of Dr. Owen Emmerson’s FB feed, I learned that a beheading sword would be blunted at the end, almost squared off, to mark it as different from swords used in the “honorable” field of warfare.
Picture of Dr. Owen Emmerson holding a circa-16th century beheading sword, of the type that would have been used at Anne’s execution.