Does anyone know how common it was for a civilian to own a sword in Puritan New England in the 1600's? I ask because I have an ancestor who died in the 1650's in Massachusetts, who in his will left two guns and a sword behind to his sons. He wasn't in the militia, though he served as town constable, and the representative to the general court for his town a few times. There is a story though repeated in branches of the family and in a lot of genealogy books from even the 1800's saying that he had fought in the 30 Years War, that he had gone from Britain to Leiden, Holland (where a lot of Puritans ran), then served in some Protestant continental force or another for a while before going to Massachusetts from Leiden around 1636. I was wondering if that sounds plausible or if it was just some story developed to rationalize his leaving a sword behind. How common was it for a regular citizen to have a sword in that time and place? The South I can get, being a little more martial and Cavalier influenced, but I thought the Puritans might think a civilian sword a mark of pride or something, I don't know, I don't know that much about their everyday practices.
New Englanders who fought in the Pequot War were armed with swords, as John Underhill relates, "our men being compleatly armed, with Corslets, Muskets, bandileeres, rests, and swords (as they themselves related afterward) did much daunt them".
Swords were cheap enough that anyone but a servant or beggar could afford one if he wanted one.
The story of fighting in the 30 years war before going to Massachusetts does no seem unreasonable at all to me. Lots of British fought in the TYW. Wikipedia; "Frederick V's cause became seen as that of Elizabeth Stuart, described by her supporters as "The Jewell of Europe" leading to a stream of tens of thousands of volunteers to her cause throughout the course of the Thirty Years' War. In the opening phase this saw an Anglo-Dutch regiment under Horace Vere head to the Palatinate, a Scots-Dutch Regiment under Colonel John Seton move into Bohemia, and that to be joined by a mixed "Regiment of Brittanes" (Scots and English) led by the Scottish Catholic Sir Andrew Gray."
In 1640 it was ordered in Massachusetts that in every township the attendants at church should carry a "competent number of peeces, fixed and compleat with powder and shot and swords every Lords-day to the meeting-house;" one armed man from each household was then thought advisable and necessary for public safety. In 1642 six men with muskets and powder and shot were thought sufficient for protection for each church. In Connecticut similar mandates were issued, and as the orders were neglected "by divers persones," a law was passed in 1643 that each offender should forfeit twelve pence for each offence. In 1644 a fourth part of the "trayned hand" was obliged to come armed each Sabbath, and the sentinels were ordered to keep their matches constantly lighted for use in their match-locks. They were also commanded to wear armor, which consisted of "coats basted with cotton-wool, and thus made defensive against Indian arrows." In 1650 so much dread and fear were felt of Sunday attacks from the red men that the Sabbath-Day guard was doubled in number. In 1692, the Connecticut Legislature ordered one fifth of the soldiers in each town to come armed to each meeting, and that nowhere should be present as a guard at time of public worship fewer than eight soldiers and a sergeant. In Hadley the guard was allowed annually from the public treasury a pound of lead and a pound of powder to each soldier.
