I do not think this function - where the depictions of the sword-carrying Herod can be seen as a critique of contemporary monarchs - was an intended part of these works of art. But they can be used by us today to remember that sword-wielding Herods can be found in all ages.

These thoughts are brought to you by my encounter with a Romanesque capital at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid, which I am not going to show because the medieval renditions of this scene are always harrowing.