Lethaby, William Richard: Westminster Abbey and the antiquities of the coronation (London: Duckworth & Co., 1911)

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THE SWORDS
Already at the Coronation of Richard
the First three swords were carried in the
procession, and at the Coronation of
Queen Eleanor in 1236 one of them is
called “ Curtana.” This was pointless, and
is later called the Sword of Mercy. As in
early forms of the Coronation oath, the
King promised to exercise justice and
mercy and to be a defender of the Church,
the three swords may very well always
have been what they were later said to
be. At the Coronation of Richard the
Third, the pointless sword was interpreted
as signifying mercy, the second justice
to the temporality, and the third justice
to the clergy. There was also, at this
time at least, a fourth sword—the sword
of state. According to the Liber Regalis,
the King, after the sandals, buskins, and
spurs were put on, was girded with the
sword, “knowing that with it the King-
dom hath been given him.” Later in the
ceremony he offered his sword on the
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