baldric

Army band baldric

A cavalryman wearing a mail shirt with a baldric over his right shoulder.

A baldric (also baldrick, bawdrick, bauldrick as well as some other, mostly rare or obsolete, variations) is a belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a weapon (usually a sword) or other implement such as a bugle or drum.^[1][2] The word may also refer to any belt in general, but this usage is poetic and not considered standard.

Baldrics have been used since ancient times. The design offers more support for weight than a standard waist belt, without restricting movement of the arms, and allowing easy access to the object carried. The use of baldrics is traditionally military, but may fill a ceremonial role rather than a practical one. Many non-military or paramilitary organizations include baldrics as part of ceremonial dress. The Knights of Columbus 4th Degree Color Corps uses a baldric as part of their uniform; ^{[3] [4]} it supports a ceremonial sword.

The University of Illinois marching band, the Marching Illini, wear two baldrics as a part of their uniform, with one over each shoulder. They cross in the front and back and are buttoned onto the jacket beneath a cape and epaulets.

The baldric in popular culture

• Benedick, from William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, says "But that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead or hang my bugle in an invisible baldric all women shall pardon me."
• A baldric features prominently in Chapter 2 of Alexandre Dumas, père's The Three Musketeers, in which D'Artagnan has his nearly-disastrous first encounters with Porthos (who is wearing one), Aramis, and Athos.
• The yeoman in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is described as wearing a "baldrick of bright green."
• Jean-Luc Picard admonishes Worf in Star Trek: Insurrection: "Straighten your baldric".
• The baldric of Pallas plays a key part in the Aeneid, leading Aeneas to kill Turnus.
• "On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped with silver that now was laid upon his knees." (A reference to Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring)
• The costume of the character He-Man from Masters of the Universe includes a baldric.
• Baldrick is a character in the BBC comedy series Blackadder played by Tony Robinson.
• A Sam Browne belt is a modern invention similar in function to the baldric.
• A bandolier is a belt worn in a similar fashion, used to carry ammunition for firearms.
• In Morris Dancing a baldric is one of a crossed pair of sashes or ribbons, one worn over each shoulder.
• Alfred Lord Tennyson's 19th-century poem The Lady of Shalott contains the lines

And from his blazon’d baldric slung

A mighty silver bugle hung, [1]

• Baldric is the name of one of the ravens presently residing at The Tower of London ^[5]
• Richard Rahl carries The Sword of Truth on a baldric in Terry Goodkind's epic fantasy series of the same name.

References

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Baldric.

1. ^ baldric. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
2. ^ Baldric - LoveToKnow 1911
3. ^ 4th Degree Color Corps
4. ^ Knights of Columbus, Emblem, Jewels, and Regalia
5. ^ Ravens leaflet