<div class="description">
Although the axe was favored in England, for centuries swords were used throughout Central Europe for beheadings. The blades were often etched with moralizing inscriptions and designs representing Justice (as here), the gallows, the rack, or the Crucifixion. By the early 1700s swords were no longer used in Europe for executions, but they still functioned as symbols of power. This sword was probably ceremonial.</div>
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