two swords

noun

Spiritual and temporal power, church and state.

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Meanings

nounthe two swords pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlyCatholicismSpiritual and temporal power, church and state.

    In the crusader theology, the two swords were totally united and not divided as Bernard would have it.

    2009, Peter Lodberg, Religion, Politics, and Law, →ISBN, page 146
    2 more examples

    The most clear-cut definition of the Pope's possession of the two swords was given in Boniface VIII’s famous bull Unam Sanctam, which stressed the unity of Christendom under its single head.

    1952, C. W. Previté-Orton, The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, volume 2, page 943

    […] the dispute between the two swords cut deep into the countryside in ways that the authors of ecclesiastical and revolutionary policy neither intended nor anticipated.

    2004, Matthew Butler, Popular Piety and Political Identity in Mexico's Cristero Rebellion: Michoacán, 1927–29, →ISBN, page 3
  2. pluralplural onlyUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see two, sword.

Origin

Allegorical interpretation of Luke 22:38, “Behold, here are two swords”.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with two swords

boardstowardsswordscordsfordsmeasure swords
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

two swords. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two%20swords

MLA

“two swords.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two%20swords. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “two swords,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two%20swords.

Source: two swords on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.