Baldric

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. 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, usually as part of military dress. 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. For example, the late 18th-century British Army's distinctive "Red coat" uniform pattern featured a pair of white baldrics crossed at the chest, with a soldier's bayonet sheath suspended from one and his canteen suspended from the other. Alternatively, and especially in modern times, the baldric 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; it supports a ceremonial sword.

The University of Illinois marching band, the Marching Illini, wore two baldrics as a part of their uniform until 2009, with one over each shoulder. They crossed in the front and back and were buttoned onto the jacket beneath a cape and epaulets.

Roman balteus
During ancient Roman times the balteus (plural baltei) was a type of baldric commonly used to suspend a sword. It was a belt generally worn over the shoulder, passing obliquely down to the side, typically made of leather, often ornamented with precious stones, metals or both. There was also a similar belt worn by the Romans, particularly by soldiers, called a cintus (pl. cinti) that fastened around the waist. The word accintus meaning a soldier (literally, "girt" as for battle) attests to this differing usage.

The baldric in popular culture
The baldric appears in the literary canon. Britomart, in Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, clothes herself in a borrowed armor "with brave bauldrick garnished" before embarking on her quest (Book III, canto iii). 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 4 of Alexandre Dumas, père's The Three Musketeers. The yeoman in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is described as wearing a "baldrick of bright green." The baldric of Pallas plays a key part in the Aeneid, leading Aeneas to kill Turnus. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Boromir is described: "On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped with silver that now was laid upon his knees." In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Gawain returns from his battle with the Green Knight wearing the green girdle "obliquely, like a baldric, bound at his side,/ below his left shoulder, laced in a knot, in betokening the blame he had borne for his fault."

Some Klingons wear baldrics in Star Trek. The character Worf does so in almost every one of his appearances through two series and four films. In The Next Generation episode "Conundrum", Worf mistakenly believes that the baldric indicates his rank or authority, so he briefly assumes command of the Enterprise.

A crossed pair of baldrics is often worn as part of uniform of Morris Dance sides; different colours of baldric help to distinguish different sides.

Baldrick is a character in the BBC comedy series Blackadder played by Tony Robinson.