Triarii, I love your manner of speaking! the notable 'mileage' this example has seen, from Oz etc! and best of all, the inept restorers....muppets!!!!
Agreed, the 'mortuary' term has become firmly imbedded in collectors jargon for these half basket English hilts, so semantically identifies the form for discussion convenience. The 'backsword' term seems to be of notable vintage in etymology, but does not seem regularly used notably until about 19th c.
It seems the term 'broadsword' was used rather collectively before that toward basically a straight bladed sword.
Whatever the case, the backsword, as single edged arming swords were notably popularized in England during the Civil Wars and of course these mortuary swords.
The grouping of eyelashes on the blade seems unusual, but then with blades being produced in Germany, there was anything but consistency in these times. Thank you for sharing these added pictures and great that you have a number of these fascinating swords!
Keith, as you note the so called 'cavalier' hilts were aligned with the 'dish' hilt rapiers evolving in these transitional periods with the progressive evolution of the bilobate small sword in about second quarter 17th c. It seems that the Royalist factions in these wars were highly traditional and aligned with the court and gentry with noble presence, so they were of course keenly aligned with swordsmanship. In that regard, I would imagine that the 'cavalier' hilts, lighter versions of swept hilt rapiers, were likely in keeping with that case and had narrower blades.
The mortuary style swords, were more aligned with rank and file of the New Model Army of Parliament and Cromwell, with heavier backsword blades and arming swords with the heavier blades as well. Their armor and helmets of course were usually noted as distinctive, but both sides followed similar equipage.
The 'Green Man' lore seems to have been associated with early pagan followings and traditions, but later became filtered into ecclesiastical association, especially in architecture and decoration. This is of course more of a following in tradition than any sort of religious symbolism.
On the Isles, as noted the notable presence of Irish influence and occupation, along with the number of sainted figures in the Hebrides, St. Columba for example of Iona, St. Patrick of course was Irish.
There must have been of course incidental cases of armorers in the Isles, I know that my own ancestors from Jura were noted as of blacksmith families.
It would be understandable that there would have been certain small scale fabricating of hilts, but to produce hilts that were primarily destined for English context (mortuary hilts) seems unlikely and in the Isles even more so.
Whatever the case, it would be interesting to discover just how this particular 'chestnut' arose.