Execution of rebellious tribal leaders in Yemen, 1962.

Execution of rebellious tribal leaders in Yemen, 1962. The tribal leaders are being publicly executed in the town square, by sword. This is the moment of execution of one of the condemned.

Mode of execution by sword decapitation, of the Toucouleur army of enemy soldiers in Sekou, capital on the banks of the Niger River.

Execution of rebellious tribal leaders in Yemen, 1962.

 Engraving to illustrate the voyage to Western Sudan of Lieutenant (Navy) M.Mage, in 1863-1866, published in “Le tour du monde, nouveau journal des voyages”, under the direction of Edouard Charton, 1868, Paris. Selva Collection.

In the Middle Ages, decapitations were executed with regular swords, and the earliest known specifically designed executioner’s sword dates to ca. 1540.

They were in wide use in 17th-century Europe, but fell out of use quite suddenly in the early 18th century. The last executions by sword in Europe were carried out in Switzerland in 1867 and 1868, when Niklaus Emmenegger in Lucerne and Héli Freymond in Moudon were beheaded for murder. Swords known as a sulthan are used to carry out executions in Saudi Arabia

The blades of executioner’s swords were often decorated with symbolic designs. When no longer used for executions, an executioner’s sword sometimes continued to be used as a ceremonial sword of justice, a symbol of judicial power.