Curtana known as the Sword of Mercy, is a ceremonial sword used at the coronation of British kings and queens. One of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, its end squared to symbolise mercy; the current sword is a copy made in the 17th century. The original is thought to be the same as the unnamed regalia sword purported to be Tristan's sword; the claim of Curtana being the sword of Edward the Confessor is spurious. The sword measures 19 cm wide at the handle. About 2.5 cm of the steel blade's tip is missing. The blade features a decorative "running wolf" mark which originated in the town of Passau, Lower Bavaria, Germany, it has a gilt-iron hilt, a wooden grip bound in wire, a leather sheath bound in crimson velvet with gold embroidery. The sheath has been remade several times since the 17th century, the current one was made in 1937; the Curtana has a squared tip. It is used in the procession alongside two other pointed swords; the Curtana once had a jagged edge like a broken tip, but this was squared off at some time.

At one time, the other two could be distinguished by their points: the sharply-pointed Sword of Temporal Justice, the more obtuse Sword of Spiritual Justice. The name Curtana or Curtein appears on record for the first time in accounts of the coronation of Queen Eleanor of Provence in 1236 when Henry III of England married the queen, it occurs as "Curtana" in the "Red Book of the Exchequer" as one of the three swords used in the services. This sword may be the same as the so-called "Tristram's sword", kept as part of the regalia according to earlier Angevin dynasty records. An inventory for two swords, "namely Tristan's sword" and one other, is recorded in the patent roll for the year 1207, where King John issued a receipt for them. Any credible relic claiming to be "Tristram's sword" would have to be broken-tipped, since the Tristan of romance had his sword damaged in combat with Morholt, with the tip lodged in the enemy's skull; therefore the inference can be made with "little doubt" that this was in fact the sword called Curtana, according to Roger Sherman Loomis.

Although Tristan's sword had no name in early Tristan and Iseult romances, in the Prose Tristan Tristan's broken sword was inherited and called "Cortain" by Ogier the Dane, one of Charlemagne's paladins. This has been regarded as corroborative evidence by Loomis for his theory. E. M. R. Ditmas had called Loomis's theory "attractive", but contextualized the relevance of the prose Tristan differently than Loomis in a paper, it has been suggested that the name of the regalia sword "Curtana" might have been borrowed directly from Ogier's sword "Cortain", spelt "Cortana" or "Curtana" in Italian renditions. The original sword's dating cannot be fixed, opinions vary among commentators on since when it may have existed. According to Matthew Paris, the sword was known as that of Edward the Confessor; some have taken this at face value, for example, James Planché Others discount the possibility, it may have resulted from confusion: there had been St. Edward's effects which were removed from the grave and preserved as regalia, but this did not include a sword.

Martin Aurell suggests in his New Interpretation the sword was made by Henry II for his son John Lackland, on occasion of investing John with lordship over Ireland, the sword being the one with which the Irish giant Morholt was defeated. Matthew Strickland thought it was "probably" used in the two coronations of Henry the Young King, in 1154 and 1170, it is known that at Richard I's coronation "three royal swords.. from the king's treasury", with scabbards covered in gold were carried by three earls in the procession. Until the 14th century, it was the job of the Earl of Chester to carry the sword before the monarch at his or her coronation. Today, another high-ranking peer of the realm is chosen by the monarch for this privilege; when not in use, the sword is on display with the other Crown Jewels in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. The meaning attributed to Curtana and the other two British coronation swords shifted over time. During Henry IV meanings were assigned to the swords of the coronation ceremony, but Curtana was said to signify the "Sword of Justice".

However, Curtana's blunt edge was taken to represent mercy, it thus came to be known as the Sword of Mercy, as it is known today. Curtana's designation as the "Sword of Mercie" goes at least as far back as Henry VI's coronation; the current sword was made between 1610 and 1620 by Robert South, a member of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers, was supplied for Charles I's coronation in 1626, whereafter it joined the coronation regalia kept at Westminster Abbey. For 200 years until a new sword had been made for each coronation, its blade was created in the 1580s by Italian bladesmiths Giandonato and Andrea Ferrara and imported into England from Italy. Together with two Swords of Justice and the Coronation Spoon, it is one of the few pieces of the Crown Jewels to have survived the English Civil War intact, having been sold to Roger Humphreys for £5 in 1649, it is not clear if the swords were used by Charles II, but they have been used continuously since the coronation of his successor James II in 1685

North Woodbury Township is a township in Blair County, United States. It is part of PA Metropolitan Statistical Area; the population was 2,644 at the 2010 census. North Woodbury Township is located in the southeast corner of Blair County, with Bedford County to the south and east, a small portion of Huntingdon County to the northeast; the township surrounds the borough of Martinsburg. According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 20.8 square miles, all of it land. North Woodbury Township is to the south of Blair County; this geographical quirk is because the Township was part of Bedford County, is indeed north of Woodbury Township, Bedford County. The eastern border of the township follows the ridgecrest of Tussey Mountain. A portion of Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 73 is located on the eastern border of the township; as of the census of 2000, there were 2,276 people, 886 households, 649 families residing in the township. The population density was 109.4 people per square mile.

There were 919 housing units at an average density of 44.2/sq mi. The racial makeup of the township was 99.38% White, 0.18% African American, 0.04% Asian, 0.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.26% of the population. There were 886 households, out of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.8% were married couples living together, 5.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 26.7% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, 14.2% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.07. In the township the population was spread out, with 25.2% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.7 males. The median income for a household in the township was $37,229, the median income for a family was $44,153.

Males had a median income of $30,142 versus $24,028 for females. The per capita income for the township was $17,386. About 5.3% of families and 8.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.5% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over

Christina Marie Burkenroad is an American soccer player playing for Sparta Prague in the Czech First Division. In January 2016, she was drafted by the Orlando Pride in the National Women's Soccer League. Burkenroad was born in San Diego to William Burkenroad and Elizabeth Noriega, she was only four years old when her mother died – her father suffered from depression and she became homeless for a time. Until Mission Bay High School she had only played soccer with boys clubs, she excelled in many sports and won a scholarship to California State University, Titans She signed with the Orlando Pride on May 18, 2016, appeared in 8 matches before being waived on June 21, 2017, to make room for returning forward Alex Morgan. She signed with IK Grand Bodø in Norway's Toppserien. On February 6, 2018, Burkenroad joined Czech side Sparta Prague. Christina helped Sparta win their first Czech First Division title in five years and 9th Czech Women's Cup. In the 2018–19 season Sparta won both competitions again.

Sparta player profile Fullerton player profile Christina Burkenroad at Soccerway