The City of London swords are five two-handed ceremonial swords owned by the City of London, namely the Mourning (or Black) Sword, the Pearl Sword, the State (or Sunday) Sword, the Old Bailey Sword and the Mansion House Justice Room Sword. A sixth sword, the Travelling Sword of State, replaces the Sword of State for visits outside the City. They are part of the plate collection of Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London.
Mourning Sword
The Mourning Sword is used on occasions of ceremonial mourning and has also been known as the Black Sword and the Lenten Sword. Its history is somewhat uncertain—The Telegraph reports that it is believed to be 16th century and that there is a rumour that it was found in the River Thames, but there has been more than one Mourning Sword through time.
Samuel Pepys describes in his diary entry for 2 September 1663 a conversation with the then-Lord Mayor Anthony Bateman as follows:
In his footnote to that entry in his 1893 transcription, Henry Benjamin Wheatley quotes William St John Hope, assistant secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, who had read a paper on the history of the insignia of the City of London to the society on 28 May 1891, as saying "It has long been the custom in the City as in other places to have a sword painted black and devoid of ornament, which is carried before the Lord Mayor on occasions of mourning or special solemnity. ... The present mourning sword has an old blade, but the hilt and guard, which are of iron japanned black, are of the most ordinary character and seemingly modern. The grip and sheath are covered with black velvet."
In Ceremonial Swords of Britain: State and Civic Swords (2017), Edward Barrett dates the current Mourning Sword to 1615 or 1623. It has a blade long and wide, and a hilt. While the velvet on the scabbard looks black, it is actually very deep maroon.
The Mourning Sword was carried by then-Lord Mayor Roger Gifford at the funeral of Margaret Thatcher in 2013, leading the Queen and Prince Philip in and out of St Paul's Cathedral for the ceremony. It had not previously been used at a funeral since the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. In addition to its use at funerals, it is used on Good Friday, feast days and the anniversary of the Great Fire of London.
Pearl Sword
According to tradition, the Pearl Sword was presented to the City of London Corporation by Elizabeth I of England in 1571 on the occasion of the opening of the Royal Exchange. There are approximately 2,500 pearls on the sword's scabbard, from which it gets its name. In his footnote to the Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wheatley quotes Hope as saying that it is a "fine sword said to have been given to the city by Queen Elizabeth on the occasion of the opening of the Royal Exchange in 1570." but continues: "There is, however, no mention of such a gift in the City records, neither do Stow nor other old writers notice it. The sword is certainly of sixteenth century date, and is very possibly that bought in 1554, if it be not that "verye goodly sworde" given by Sir Ralph Warren in 1545."
Its blade is long and wide, and it has a hilt. It weighs without the scabbard. The first of the blade have been blued and etched with images of fruit, trophies of arms, a quiver of arrows, the city arms and a ship at sail. Its scabbard dates back to at least 1808.
When the Queen comes to the City in State, she is ceremonially welcomed at the boundary with Westminster, where Temple Bar used to be, by the Lord Mayor of London, who offers her the hilt of the Pearl Sword to touch. Before 1641, the monarch would take the sword for the duration of their visit, but in 1641 Charles I was offered it and immediately returned it to the Lord Mayor, a practice that was then carried on. The ceremony as a whole dates back to 1215 and the Royal Charter allowing direct election of the mayor (now the Lord Mayor). A similar ceremonial surrendering of the local Sword of State (a sword granted by royal gift or authorised by royal charter) is performed on royal visits to certain other cities, including York.
At the coronation of George III on 22 September 1761, the royal Sword of State was forgotten and instead Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon, carried the Lord Mayor's Pearl Sword for the ceremony.