THE SWORD: WHAT IS IT?
Having now reached the early Iron Age, which ends prehistoric annals,
it is advisable to answer the question—‘What is a Sword?’
The word—a word which, strange to say, has no equivalent in French—is
the Scandinavian Svärd (Icel. Sverð); the Danish Sværd; the Anglo-Saxon
Sweord and Suerd; the Old German Svert, now Schwert, and the Old
English and Scotch Swerd. The westward drift of the Egyptian Sf,
Sefi, Sayf, Sfet, and Emsetf, gave Europe its generic term for the
weapon.[427] The poetical is ‘brand’ or ‘bronde,’ from its brightness
or burning; another name is ‘laufi,’ ‘laf,’ or ‘glaive,’ derived
through French from the Latin _gladius_. Of especial modern forms
there are the Espadon, the Flamberg, Flammberg, or Flamberge,[428] the
Stoccado, and the Braquemart; the Rapier and the Claymore, the Skeyne
and Tuck, the small-Sword and the fencing-foil, beside other varieties
which will occur in the course of the following pages. ‘Sword’ includes
‘Sabre,’ which may also derive from the Egyptian through the Assyrian
Sibirru and Akkadian Sibir, also written Sapara; our ‘Sabre’ is the
Arabic Sayf with the Scandinavian terminative _r_ (Sayf-r). Ménage
would derive Sabre from the Armoric Sabrenn: Littré has the Spanish
Sable, the Italian Sciabola, Sciabla, and in Venice Sabala, from the
German Sable or Säbel, which again identifies with other languages, as
the Serb Sablja and the Hungarian Száblya. The chief modern varieties
of the curved blade are the Broadsword, the Backsword, the Hanger, and
the Cutlass, the Scymitar and Düsack, the Yataghan and the Flissa.
These several modifications will be considered in the order of their
invention. Lastly the Egyptian ‘Sfet’ originated through Keltic
the word Spata or Spatha[429] (Spatarius = a Swordsman) conserved
to the present day in the neo-Latin names of the straight foining
weapon—espada, espé, espée, épée.
Physically considered, the Sword is a metal blade intended for cutting,
thrusting, or cut-and-thrust (_fil et pointe_). It is usually, but not
always, composed of two parts. The first and principal is the blade
proper (_la lame_, _la lama_, _die Klinge_). Its cutting surface is
called the edge (_le fil_, _il filo_, _die Schärfe_),[430] and its
thrusting end is the point (_la pointe_, _la punta_, _die Spitze_ or
_der Ort_, the latter mostly opposed to the _Mund_ or sheath-mouth).
The second part, which adapts the weapon for readier use, is the hilt,
hilts or heft (_la manche_, _la manica_, _die Hilse_ or _das Heft_),
whose several sections form a complicated and a prodigiously varied
whole. The grip is the outer case of the tang, _alias_ the tongue (_la
soie_, _la spina_, or _il codolo_; _der Stoss_, _die Angel_, _die
Griffzunge_ or _der Dorn_), the thin spike which projects from the
shoulders or thickening of the blade (_le talon_ or _l’épaulement_,
_il talone_, _der Ansatz_ or _die Schulter_) at the end opposed to the
point. Sometimes there are two short teeth or projections from the
angles of the shoulders, and these are called ‘the ears’ in English, in
German, and in the neo-Latin tongues.
The tang, which is of many shapes—long and short, straight-lined or
curvilinear, plain or pierced for attachment—ends in the pommel or
‘little apple’ (_le pommeau_, _il pomolo_, _der Knauf_ or _Knopf_),
into which it should be made fast by rivets or screws. The object of
this globe, lozenge, or oval of metal is to counterpoise the weight of
the blade, to prop the ferient of the hand, and to allow of artistic
ornamentation. The grip of wood, bone, horn, ivory, metal, valuable
stones, and other materials, covered with skin, cloth, and various
substances, whipped round with cord or wire, is protected at the
end abutting upon the ‘chape’[431] or guard proper (_la garde_, _la
guardia_, _die Parirstangen_, _die Leiste_ or _die Stichblätter_)
by the hilt-piece, which also greatly varies. It may, however, be
reduced to two chief types—the guard against the thrust, and the guard
against the cut. The former was originally a plate of metal, flat or
curved, circular or oval, affixed to the bottom of the hilt, dividing
the shoulders from the tang: in fact, it was a shield in miniature
(_la coquille_, _la coccia_, _das Stichblatt_). We still use the term
‘basket-hilt,’ and apply ‘shell’ (_la coque_, _la coccia_, _der Korb_
or _die Schale_) to the semicircular hilt-guards—mostly of worked,
chased, embossed, or pierced steel—which appear to perfection in the
Spanish and Italian rapiers of the sixteenth century. This hilt-plate
has dwindled in the French fencing-foil to a lunette, a double oval
of bars shaped like a pair of spectacles. In the Italian foil, which
preserves the plate, the section of the blade between that and the
grip is called the _Ricasso_ (_a_); the parallel bar is the _Vette
traversale_ (_b_, _b_); and the two are connected by the _archetti d’
unione_ (joining bows, _c_, _c_).
[Illustration: FIG. 106.—THE ITALIAN FOIL.]
The guard against the cut is technically called the cross-guard (_les
quillons_,[432] _le vette_, _die Stichblätter_). This section is
composed of one or more bars projecting from the hilt between tang
and blade, and receiving the edge of the adversary’s weapon should it
happen to glance or to glide downwards. The quillons may be either
straight (fig. 109)—that is, disposed at right angles—or curved (fig.
107). When the two horns bend down from the handle-base towards the
point they are called _à antennes_. Others are turned up towards
the hilt, counter-curved or inversed—that is, faced in opposite
directions—or fantastically deformed (fig. 110).
Opposed to the guard proper is the bow or counterguard (_la
contregarde_, _l’elsa_, _la contraguardia_, _der Bügel_). It is of two
chief kinds. In the first the quillons are recurved towards the pommel:
the second is a bar or system of bars connecting the pommel with the
quillons (fig. 108). The former defends the fingers, the latter serves
to protect, especially from the cut, the back of the hand and the outer
wrist. This modification, unknown to the ancients of Europe, became a
favourite in the sixteenth century, and it is still found in most of
our actual hilts. Another product of the early modern age is the _pas
d’âne_.[433] At the end of the fourteenth century it was composed of
two circular or oval-shaped bars, disposed on both sides of, and partly
over, the fort of the blade. In the sixteenth century it was generally
adopted, and became a complicated and highly-decorated adjunct to the
handle. The _pas d’âne_ is now almost obsolete: a relic remains in our
army-claymore.[434]
[Illustration: FIG. 107.—_a._ POMMEL; _b._ QUILLONS; _c._ PAS D’ÂNE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 108.—DOUBLE GUARD (GUARD AND COUNTERGUARD).]
[Illustration: FIG. 109.—STRAIGHT QUILLONS AND LOOPS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 110.—FANTASTIC FORM.]
We may divide the shapes of blade into two typical forms with their
minor varieties:
I. The curved blade (sabre, shable, broadsword, backsword, cutlass,
hanger, scymitar,[435] Düsack, Yataghan, Flissa, &c.) is
_a._ Edged on both sides (Abyssinian).
_b._ „ concave side (old Greek, Kukkri).
_c._ „ convex (common sabre).
II. The straight blade (Espadon, Flammberg, Stoccado, Braquemart,
rapier, claymore, skeyne, tuck, small-sword, &c.): the varieties are:
_a._ The cut-and-thrust, one- or two-handed.
_b._ The broad and unpointed (headman’s instrument).
_c._ The narrow, used only for the point.
It is hardly advisable to make a third type of the half-curved blade,
adapted equally for _tac et taille_ (cutting and thrusting), which we
find in ancient Assyria, in India, and in Japan. It evidently connects
both shapes.
The following diagram shows the three forms:[436]
[Illustration: FIG. 111.]
I have given precedence to the curved blade because cutting is more
familiar to man than thrusting. Human nature strikes ‘rounders’ until
severe training teaches it to hit out straight from the shoulder.
Again, the sabre-form would naturally be assumed by the sharpened
club during the wooden age of imperfect edges; and the penetrating
power would be weak and almost _nil_ when the point was merely a
fire-hardened stick.
[Heading: _CUT AND THRUST._]
Yet there is no question of superiority between the thrust and the cut.
As the diagram[437] shows, A, who delivers point, has an advantage in
time and distance over B, who uses edge. Indeed, the man who first
‘gave point’ made a discovery which more than doubled the capability
of his weapon. Vegetius tells us that the Roman victories were owing
to the use of the point rather than the cut: ‘When cutting, the right
arm and flank are exposed, whereas during the thrust the body is
guarded, and the adversary is wounded before he perceives it.’ Even
now it is remarked in hospitals that punctured wounds in the thorax or
abdomen generally kill, while the severest incisions often heal. Hence
Napoleon Buonaparte, at Aspronne, ordered the cavalry of the Guard to
give point. General Lamoricière, a scientific soldier, recommended for
cavalry a cylindrical blade, necessarily without edge, and to be used
only for the thrust: practical considerations, however, prevented its
adoption. Moreover, the history of the ‘white arm’ tells us that the
point led to the guard or parry proper, and this ‘defence with the
weapon of offence’ completed the idea of the Sword as now understood in
Europe.
[Illustration: FIG. 112.]
Again, the peoples who fought from chariots and horseback—Egyptians,
Assyrians, Indians, Tartars, Mongols, Turks, and their brethren the
‘white Turks’ (Magyars or Hungarians), Sarmatians, and Slavs—preferred
for the best of reasons the curved type. The straight Sword, used only
for thrusting, is hard to handle when the horse moves swiftly; and the
broad straight blade loses its value by the length of the plane along
which it has to travel. On the other hand, the bent blade collects,
like the battle-axe, all the momentum at the ‘half-weak,’ or centre
of percussion, where the curve is greatest. Lastly, the ‘drawing-cut’
would be easier to the mounted man, and would most injure his enemy.
On the other hand, the peoples of southern latitudes—for instance,
those dwelling around the Mediterranean, the focus of early
civilisation, where the Sword has ever played its most brilliant
and commanding part—are active and agile races of light build and
comparatively small muscular power. Consequently they have generally
preferred, and still prefer, the pointed weapon, whose deadly thrust
can be delivered without requiring strength and weight. For the inverse
reason the sons of the north would choose the Espadon proper, the
long, straight, ponderous, two-edged blade which suited their superior
stature and power of momentum.
Such is the geographical and ethnological view of Sword-distribution,
but it gives a rule so general that a multitude of exceptions must
be expected. As far as we know, the civilised Sword originated in
Egypt, but it had many different centres of development. A gradual
and continuous progress can be traced in its history till it was
superseded by an even older form of attack—the ‘ballistic.’ Yet some of
the earliest blades show the best forms, and the line of advancement
at times becomes distorted or even broken. Again, many Southrons, and
races that fought on foot, have used the curved weapon, although the
converse, the adoption of the straight, pointed Sword by horsemen, is
comparatively rare.
I now proceed to consider various points connected with the curved and
straight forms of blade. The experience of the Sword-cutter has noticed
that the shape of any pattern or model, whether of tool or of weapon,
suggests its own and only purpose. This is what we should expect. A
swordsman chooses his Sword as a sawyer his saw. Show the mechanic a
new chisel, and its form at once explains to him its use: he learns by
the general shape, the edge-angle, the temper, the weight, and similar
considerations, that it is _not_ made to drive nails, nor to bore
holes, and that it is intended to cut wood or soft substances. Thus,
too, the form of the Sword is determined by the duty expected of it.
The Sword has three main uses, cutting, thrusting, and guarding. If
these qualifications could be combined, there would be no difficulty in
determining the single best shape. But unfortunately—perhaps I should
say fortunately—each requisite interferes to a great extent with the
other. Hence the various modifications adopted by different peoples,
and hence the successive steps of progress.
[Heading: _THE CENTRE OF PERCUSSION._]
The simplest and most effective form of trenchant instrument intended
for cutting only is the American broad-axe used by squatters in the
backwoods. This revival of the proto-historic celt and headman’s
instrument is a plain, heavy wedge of steel, fixed on a light, tough
wooden helve or heft, thus concentrating all the force in the head that
strikes the blow. Here there is no uncertainty about the use; and, were
it not necessary in swordsmanship to ‘recover guard’ and to save self
as well as disable the assailant, it would be the best, as it is one of
the oldest, weapons derived from the club. But the cutting Sword, which
in the short curved form is its congener, has a long blade that allows
a choice of cut—a good choice and a bad choice. If the blow be made,
for instance, at a tree-branch with the Sword-point (the ‘whole-weak’),
its sole effect will be to jar wrist and arm unpleasantly. The same
result will follow a blow with the ‘whole-strong.’ In either case the
vibration of the blade shows a waste of strength. By the experiment
of cutting along the entire length, inch after inch, and by comparing
the effect, the swordsman comes at last to a point, about the end of
the ‘half-weak,’ speaking roughly, where there is no jar, and where,
consequently, the whole force of the blow becomes effective. But
our ‘centre of percussion’ must not be confounded with the ‘centre
of gravity.’ This balance-position is situated in the middle of the
‘whole-strong,’ the proper part for guarding, and for guarding only.
The late Mr. Henry Wilkinson, of London, a practical man of science,
first proposed a formula for determining the centre of percussion
without the tedious process of experimenting with each and every blade.
His system was based upon the properties of the pendulum. A light rod,
exactly 39·2 inches long, capped with a heavy leaden ball, and swung
to and fro upon a fixed centre, vibrates seconds or sixty times per
minute in the latitude of London, and the three centres of percussion,
of oscillation, and of gravity are concentrated within the ball. If it
were a mathematical pendulum—a rod without weight—these three points
would lie precisely in the core of the ball, or 39·2 inches from
the place of suspension. The blade, to be graduated, is suspended,
tight-fastened at the point on which it would turn when making a cut,
and is converted by swinging into a pendulum. As the length is shorter,
so the oscillations are quicker: the blade makes eighty movements to
sixty of the pendulum. A simple formula determines the length of such
an eighty-vibrations pendulum to be twenty-two inches. This distance,
measured from the point at which the blade was suspended, is marked on
the back as the centre of percussion, where there is no jar, and where
the most effective cut can be delivered.
[Illustration: FIG. 113.—THE INFANTRY ‘REGULATION’ SWORD. C.G. Centre
of Gravity; C.P. Centre of Percussion.]
Again, an examination of the axe shows that the cutting edge lies
considerably in advance of the wrist and hand, with the effect of
carrying the edge well forward on the ‘line of direction,’ which, in
the Sword, passes directly from pommel to point. If the edge were at
the back the tendency of the weapon would be to fall away from the
line of cut, and this could be overcome only by a certain amount of
wasted force. In nearly all curved Swords, except the Japanese, some
contrivance is made to give the feeling which we express by ‘the edge
leading well forward’; and this point has been carefully studied by
nations whose attack is the cut. Usually the line of hilt is thrown
forward so as to form an angle with the axis of the blade, and the
former is made obtuser or acuter in proportion as the latter is more or
less curved. By balancing the weapon upon the pommel the effect becomes
evident; the edge falls forward like that of the axe.
[Illustration: FIG. 114.—SCYMITAR.]
[Illustration: FIG. 115.—CLAYMORE.]
The superiority of the curved blade for cutting purposes is easily
proved. In every cut the edge meets its object at some angle, and the
penetrating portion becomes a wedge. But this wedge is not disposed
at right angles with the Sword: the angle is more or less oblique
according to the curvature, and consequently it cuts with an acuter
edge. The accompanying figures of a ‘scymitar’ and a claymore, both
trenchant blades, prove that, were the edge to describe a right line (A
B) directed at any object (C), it would act as a wedge (D), measuring
exactly the breadth of the blade. But the curve throws the edge more
forward, and thus the ‘half-weak’ acts like a wedge (E), which is
longer and consequently more acute, the extreme thickness (that of the
back or base) being a fixed measure. Similarly, by cutting still nearer
the ‘weak’ or point, the increased curvature gives a more prolonged and
acuter cuneiform (F). Comparing the three sections of the same blade (D
E F), which differ only in the angle at which the edge is supposed to
meet the obstacle, we see the enormous gain of cutting power.
The difference between the direct and the oblique cut is still better
shown by the annexed diagram: ‘Let A B C D (fig. 116) represent the
portion of a Sword-blade, of which A B is the edge and C D the back,
measuring about one-eighth of an inch in thickness. Now, if the object
to be cut through is presented to the blade at right angles to the
edge, as shown by arrow No. 1, then the section of the blade with which
the cut is to be effected will be as represented in the triangular
section F E G (fig. 117). But if the object be presented to the blade
obliquely, as shown by arrow No. 2, then the section along the line of
the cut will be as represented by the angle C E K. It will readily be
seen that in the latter case the acuteness of the angle at E is greatly
increased, whilst the substance is the same as in the other case. To
effect this it is the custom in many parts of the East to strike with
a drawing cut, but the same purpose is secured by bending the blade
backwards: the curve itself presents the edge obliquely to the object
without entailing the necessity of imparting a drawing motion to the
stroke.’[438]
[Illustration: FIG. 116.]
[Illustration: FIG. 117.]
_Par parenthèse_, it is this drawing motion which, added to the curve
of the weapon and its oblique presentation, increases the trenchant
power. The ‘Talwár,’ or half-curved sabre of Hindustan, cuts as though
it were four times as broad and only one-fourth the thickness of the
straight blade. But the ‘drawing-cut’ has the additional advantage of
deepening the wound and of cutting into the bone. Hence men of inferior
strength and stature used their blades in a manner that not a little
astonished and disgusted our soldiers in the Sind and Sikh campaigns.
[Heading: _SECTIONS OF SWORD-BLADES._]
If we consider the sections of cutting weapons, we find them all
modifications of that most ancient mechanical contrivance, the wedge,
as shown by the following figures:
[Illustration: FIG. 118.—SECTIONS OF SWORD-BLADES.]
The first form (fig. 118) is the wedge that would be produced
by taking for base the dorsal thickness of an ordinary blade, and by
continuing it in an even line to the apex of the triangle—the point.
The two sides meet at an angle of nine degrees; consequently the edge
lacks the thickness, weight, and strength necessary for every cutting
tool. For soft substances it should range from ten to twenty degrees,
as in the common dinner knife. An angle of twenty-five to thirty-five
degrees, being the best for wood-working, is found in the carpenter’s
plane and chisel. For cutting bone the obtuseness rises to forty
degrees, and even to ninety; the latter being the fittest for shearing
metals, and the former for Sword-blades, which must expect to meet with
hard substances. But even an angle of forty degrees will be ineffectual
upon a thick head, unless the cut be absolutely true. No. 2 illustrates
the angle of resistance (forty degrees) and the entering angle (ninety
degrees). No. 3 shows that the true wedge of forty degrees is too thick
and heavy for use, requiring some contrivance for lightening the blade,
while preserving the necessary angle of resistance. The remaining
sections display the principal modes of effecting this object. In
Nos. 4 and 6 the angle is carried in a curved and bulging line, thus
giving the section a bi-convex form. When the back or base is flat
this is the Persian and Khorásáni, vulgarly called the ‘Damascus
blade.’ When baseless and two-edged it is the old ‘Toledo’ rapier—two
shallow-crowned arches meeting (3_a_, fig. 124). In both cases the
weapon is strong, but somewhat overweighted. In the next shapes (Nos.
5 and 7), the two sides are cut away to a flat surface and represent
the ‘Talwár’ of India. When this flat surface is hollowed, as by the
black lines of No. 5 (compare No. 8), we have the bi-concave section,
as opposed to the bi-convex. This hollowing of the wedge into two broad
grooves from the angle of resistance is one of the forms assumed by the
English ‘regulation’ Sword: it was considered the lightest for a given
breadth and thickness, but it is by no means the strongest, and there
are sundry technical objections to it.
The remaining blades in the illustration are grooved in as many
different ways. The function of the _cannelure_ is to obviate
over-flexibility; it also takes from the weight and adds to the
strength. By channelling either side of a thin or ‘whippy’ blade
it becomes stiffer, because any force applied to bend such a blade
sideways meets with the greatest amount of resistance that form can
supply. Mechanically speaking, it is to crush an arch inwards upon its
crown, and the deeper the arch the greater the resistance. Hence the
narrow groove is preferable to a broader channel of the same depth. No.
9, hollowed on each side near the base, is a good old form, superior
to the ‘regulation’ (No. 8): its weak point, the space between the
grooves where the metal is thinnest, lies in the best place—near the
back, where strength and thickness are least required. No. 10, though
somewhat lighter, doubles its weak points. No. 11 is better in this
respect: it has three grooves which are far shallower, and consequently
the metal between them is thicker. The same remark applies to Nos. 12
and 13, which are sections of claymores, single- and treble-grooved.
No. 14 shows an ingenious method of obviating the weakness caused by
deep _cannelures_: it is the section of a blade made at Klingenthal
(not ‘Klegenthal’), the Sword manufactory established by Napoleon
Buonaparte in Elsass-Lothringen. Two very marked grooves are cut in the
metal, but not directly opposite each other, and thus the channels can
touch and even overlap the axial line. This disposition gives great
stiffness, but, as testing shows, the edge is deficient in cutting
power, probably from loss of force by vibration.
Nos. 15 and 16 are experimental blades. The former has the groove
placed in the base, preserving the wedge-sides intact; but there is
great difficulty about grinding this shape, and, the resistance of the
arch-crown being wanting, there is a small increase of stiffening—the
Sword, in fact, ‘springs’ almost as readily as the straight form.
No. 16 has some good points, but, on the whole, the combination is a
failure. Lastly, No. 17, the old ‘ramrod-back’ regulation blade, is
perhaps the worst of all: the sudden change from the thick round base
to the thin sharp edge makes an equal tempering very difficult, and the
weapon cleverly undoes its own work, the base acting as check or stop
to the cut.
[Illustration: FIG. 119.—FOIL WITH FRENCH GUARD.]
[Illustration: FIG. 120.—REGULATION SWORD FOR INFANTRY.]
[Illustration: FIG. 121.—SCYMITAR-SHAPE.]
Remains now to consider the Sword as a weapon for point, a use to
which, as its various shapes show, it was applied in the earliest ages
instinctively, as it were, before Science taught the superiority of the
thrust to the cut. We learn from such hand-thrusting instruments—the
awl, gimlet, needle, and dinner-fork—that the straight weapon may
be considered a very acute wedge with a method of progression
mostly oblique. It is easy to prove that the proper shape for a
thrusting-blade is pre-eminently the straight. Fig. 119 shows the foil
making a hole exactly its own size. The ‘regulation’ Sword (fig. 120),
a shallow curve, opens, when moving in a direct line, about double its
own width; a figure which the scymitar (fig. 121) increases to five or
six times, with a proportionate loss of depth at the same expenditure
of force. This augmented resistance to penetration is one, but only
one, of the many difficulties in using a curved blade for a straight
thrust.
This difficulty probably suggested the ‘curved thrust’ method of
pointing which the foil, as opposed to the rapier, has made popular.
The point is propelled, not in a straight line, but in the arc of a
circle more or less curved to correspond with the blade. The arm makes
this cycloidal movement readily enough, but under a disadvantage; as in
the cut the space traversed is longer than what is absolutely necessary
to reach the object. Moreover, the movement cannot well be applied to
the lunge, so as to throw the weight of the body into the attack. Like
the ‘thrusting-cut,’ it is more fitted for horseback than for foot.
Although doubtless the best way of pointing with a curvilinear blade,
in no case is it better than the straight thrust.
[Illustration: FIG. 122.—YATAGHAN.]
[Illustration: FIG. 123.—ORNAMENTAL YATAGHAN AND SHEATH.]
The ‘curved thrust’ so imposed upon Colonel Marey, of the French army,
that he proposed in an elaborate work on Swords (Strasburg, 1841) to
adopt the Yataghan, whose beautifully curved line of blade coincides
accurately with the motion of the wrist in cutting, and which he
held to be equally valuable for the point. As a regulation Sword for
infantry, it was spoilt by a cheap iron scabbard. As a bayonet it lost
all its distinctive excellence: the forward weight, so valuable in
cutting with the hand, made it heavy and unmanageable at the end of a
musket, and none but the strongest arms could use it, especially when
the thrust had to be ‘lanced out.’ Yet it lasted for a quarter of a
century, and only in 1875 it was superseded by the triangular weapon
attached to the _fusil Gras_.[439]
[Heading: _SECTIONS OF THRUSTING-SWORDS._]
Fig. 124 shows sections of the principal forms of thrusting blades.
No. 1, whose section, a lozenge, is nearly square, consists of two
obtuse-angled wedges joined at the bases, making a strong, stiff,
and lasting, but very heavy, Sword. This form dates from the earliest
times: we find it in the bronze rapiers of France and England, and it
was preserved in many of the Toledan, Bilbao, Zaragosan, Solingen, and
Italian rapiers; it is known to English armourers as the ‘Saxon,’ and
to workmen as the ‘latchen’-blade. Nos. 2 and 3 show two simple methods
of lightening it, the former carrying down the axis a fore-and-aft
groove instead of the raised mid-rib on either face, which was used in
the days of the Trojan war. No. 4 is the so-called ‘Biscayan’ shape,
the _trialamellum_ of more ancient days, with three deep grooves and
as many blunt edges, by which the parries were made. Theoretically
it is good: practically and technically speaking, it is inferior to
either of the preceding. There is so much difficulty in making the
blade straight and of even temper that many professional men have
never seen one which was not either crooked or soft. Yet this is the
‘small-Sword’ proper, the duelling weapon of the last century, which
stood its ground as far as the first quarter of the present century.
It had a curious modification—the Colichemarde blade, so called from
its inventor, Count Königsmark. This was a trialamellum very wide and
heavy in the ‘whole-strong’ quarter near the hilt, and at about eight
inches suddenly passing to a light and slender rapier-section. It
was invented about 1680, and became a favourite duelling-blade, the
feather-weight at the point making it the best of fencing weapons. It
remained in fashion during the reign of Louis XIV. and then suddenly
disappeared.[440]
[Illustration: FIG. 124.—SECTIONS OF THRUSTING-SWORDS.]
The small-Sword was introduced into England during the eighteenth
century, and only after 1789 it ceased to be the almost universal
French weapon in affairs of honour. I believe that the change to the
_épée de combat_ and the foil arose from the popular prejudice that
the triangular blade is too dangerous for fair duelling, and that a
body-wound with it bleeds inwardly and is almost always fatal. This
‘small-Sword,’[441] however, left its descendant in our old bayonet,
the grooves being shallower and the ribs raised higher. No. 6, supposed
to be an experimental Sword from the Klingenthal manufactory, dated
1810–14, is a curious attempt to add cutting power to a quadrangular
thrusting blade; but, as the angles are very acute, the blow will have
hardly any effect. No. 7 is an improvement upon the latter, because it
has more trenchant capacity. The defect of both these Swords is that
they have a tendency to turn over in the hand, and to ‘spring’ at the
flat side when the point meets with the least resistance.
[Illustration: FIG. 125.—PIERCED BLADE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 126.—PIERCED BLADE AND SHEATH.]
[Illustration: FIG. 127.—FLAMBERGE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 128.—GERMAN MAIN-GAUCHE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 129.—PATERNOSTER.]
There are other ways of lightening the blade besides grooving. A
favourite fashion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the golden
age of the Sword, was to break the continuity by open work, which
allowed free play to the ornamenter’s hand. It was also supposed
to render the wound more dangerous by admitting the air. As will
afterwards be shown, certain Eastern and mediæval sabres were hollowed
to contain sections or pennations, which sprang out in small lateral
blades when a spring was touched. A German _main-gauche_ in the Musée
d’Artillerie, Paris (No. J. 485), shows three blades expanding by a
spring when a button is pressed in the handle, and forming a guard of
great length and breadth, in which the opponent’s Sword might be caught
and snapped. Another rare form was the ‘Paternoster blade,’ fitted with
round depressions, which enabled the pious to count the number of his
‘vain repetitions,’ even in the dark (fig. 129).
It has been shown that the material determines the obtuseness or
acuteness of the angle formed by the two planes which meet at the apex
to form the edge. There are many varieties of the _fil_. The edge
proper =V=, formed by the angles of resistance (forty degrees) and
of entrance (ninety degrees), has already been noticed. Besides this
there are the chisel-edge, mostly applied to tools such as the plane;
and lastly bevel-edge, or double-slope, [Symbol], which may be called
the chopper-edge: the obtuser angle is used for blades intended to cut
lead-bars and similar resisting substances.
[Illustration: FIG. 130.—MALAY KRÍS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 131.—WAVE-EDGED DAGGER.]
[Illustration: FIG. 132.—SAW-TOOTH BLADE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 133.—MAIN-GAUCHE.]
[Heading: _OF THE EDGE._]
In the Sword the edge is usually straight. The principal exceptions are
the following. The wavy, cutting surface appears in the ‘flamberge,’
to which flame gave a name[442]: it is nowhere better developed than
in the beautiful Malay krís (crease). The object seems to be that of
increasing the cutting surface. The wave-edged form is well shown
in an iron dagger (end of fourteenth or early fifteenth century) of
the Nieuwerkerke Collection: similar weapons, taken from the Thames,
are found in the British Museum, and they abound in Continental
collections. Often the waves are broken into saw-teeth: this apparently
silly contrivance is found on a large scale in Indian sabres; its
latter appearance farther west is on the precious saw-bayonet, a
theoretical _multum in parvo_ equally useless for flesh and fuel. Of
somewhat similar kind is the toothed edge, which is found in Arab,
Indian, and other Eastern weapons. The deepest indentations are in
the so-called Sword-breakers (_brise-épées_), mostly of the fifteenth
century. It is not easy to explain, except by individual freak, the
meaning of the toothed or broken edge which appears in a dagger of
the fourteenth century (fig. 137). Lastly, there is the hooked-edge,
spur-edge, or prong-edge, whose projections are generally found in the
flammberg (flamberge) proper, or two-handed Sword of wavy contour.
The hooks are either single or double, and the evident intention
was to receive the adversary’s blade. As a rule the hollow of the
half-crescent is towards the point: some project horizontally, but very
few are reversed or hollow towards the hilt, as that shape would lead
the adversary’s blade to the forearm.
[Illustration: FIG. 134.—SWORD-BREAKERS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 135.—ONE-EDGED WAVE BLADE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 136.—COUNTERGUARD.]
[Illustration: FIG. 137.—TOOTHED-EDGE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 138.—HOOKED-EDGE.]
[Heading: _OF THE POINT._]
The point again differs as much as the edge. The natural point would be
the prolongation and gradual convergence of various lines of the solid
body, conical, pyramidal, or polygonal, concurring in a common apex. In
the Japanese blade the edge-line is bent upwards to meet the back-line.
When more strength is wanted the end is bevelled, forming, like the
edge, a compound angle between forty and ninety degrees: it is thus
fitted to meet hard bodies, and the obtuser the angle the stronger the
point.
When edge only is regarded, as in the Schläger and the glaive, the
Sword of justice or the Scharfrichter’s (headman’s) weapon, the point
of the very broad thin blade is rounded off. This, as will be seen,
is the case with the early Kelto-Scandinavian Swords, miscalled
Anglo-Saxon.
[Illustration: FIG. 139.—EXECUTIONER’S SWORD.]
[Illustration: FIG. 140.—JAPANESE TYPE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 141.—CHINESE SABRE-KNIFE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 142.—OLD PERSIAN SWORD.]
[Illustration: FIG. 143.—SCYMITAR.]
There is more variety in the extremities of cutting-blades. The
falchion of Ashanti, Dahome, and Benin, the murderous despotisms of
western intertropical Africa, terminates in a whorl. This is also the
shape of the Chinese sabre-knife, with which criminals were despatched.
The old Persian Sword, often called by mistake the Turkish Sword, ends
in a point beyond a broadening of the blade. The effect is to add
force to the cut; the weapon becomes top-heavy, but that is of little
consequence when only a single slash, and no guarding, is required
of it. This peculiarity was curiously developed in the true Turkish
scymitar, which we see in every picture of the sixteenth century,
and which has now become so rare in our museums. The end gradually
developed to a monstrous size; the length was cut down for the sake of
handiness and the guard was almost abolished, because parrying was the
work of the shield. This exceptional form extended far eastwards and
westwards. Some of the Nepaul Swords have a double wave at the end.
It was adopted by the Chinese, who, as usual in their arms, reduced
it to its simplest expression: the pommel is cap-shaped, the handle
corded, and the guard a small oval of metal insufficient to protect
the hand (fig. 145). Another good specimen of the ‘Turanian blade’ is
the formidable Dáo[443] of the Nágá tribe, south-east of Assam. It is
a thick, heavy backsword, eighteen inches long, with a bevel where the
point should be, worn at the waist in a half-scabbard of wood, and
used for digging as well as killing. The Turkish form also extended to
Europe and America, where it became one of the multitudinous varieties
of the ‘mariner’s cutlass,’ from ‘curtle-axe’—_curtus_ and axe. The
‘Turanian blade’ is well shown in Eastern scutcheons.[444] Its shape
resembles that of a hunter’s horn with a Sword-knot hanging in two
ribbons, a survival from remote antiquity. The tincts are purpure,
gules and sable, upon a fasce tenné (‘on a fess’ or bar) or, vert and
argent. The descriptions are very precise and technical; for instance,
Abu el-Mahásin thus notices the Rank (armorial badges) of Anuk, son of
Abdullah el-Ashraty: ‘The coat was composed of a circle argent cut by a
bar vert, upon which was charged a Sword gules.... This Rank was very
pleasing, and the women of the town had it tattooed upon their wrists.’
The Rank was given when a subject was raised to the dignity of Amir.
[Illustration: FIG. 144.—OLD TURKISH.]
[Illustration: FIG. 145.—CHINESE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 146.—OLD TURKISH SCYMITAR.]
[Illustration: FIG. 147.—THE DÁO.]
[Illustration: FIG. 148.—SAILOR’S CUTLASS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 149.—HINDU KITÁR.]
[Heading: _CHELIDONIAN BLADES._]
Before ending the subject of the point I must briefly notice the forked
or swallow-tailed blade, a curious subject deserving an exhaustive
monograph. The Greeks evidently derived their χελιδὼν or χελιδόνιος
ξίφος,[445] and the Latins their _bidens_, from the two-ended chisels
so common in Egypt. As will be seen, there was a true forked Sword in
Assyria, and the form is commonly found in Indian daggers.
The Chelidonian sabre has two distinct shapes. In one the plates are
welded together, and separate at the third or the fourth section near
the end. Mr. Latham (Wilkinson’s) has a good specimen; the length of
the fork, however, is greater than the united part. In the Prince of
Wales Collection (Kensington) there is a two-bladed Sword, the fork
only eight inches long, with the additional peculiarity of being
saw-edged. In the other form, the Chelidonian proper, the fork is
vertical, one prong being above the other. What use it could have
supplied in cutting is hard to divine, but the Sword is essentially
personal and eccentric. I know only one historical blade of this form,
Zú’l-Fikár (Lord of Cleaving), the weapon given by the Archangel
Gabriel to Mohammed, and by the latter to his son-in-law Ali bin Ali
Tálib, who cleft with it the skull of Marhab, the giant Jew warrior of
Khaybar Fort. It appears upon the arms of the Zeydi princes, lords of
Sana’á in El-Yemen, Southern Arabia[446]: nearer home it may be seen
upon the Turkish standard, some twenty feet long, taken by Don John of
Austria from the Turk at Lepanto.[447] The weapon probably owes this
honour to having been mentioned amongst the Ahádís, or traditional
sayings of the Apostle of El-Islam, ‘la Sayfa illa Zú’l-Fikár wa lá
Fatá illa Ali’ (there is no Sword to be compared, for doing damage to
the foe, with Zú’l-Fikár, and no valiant youth but Ali).
[Illustration: FIG. 150.—GOLD COAST.]
Amongst the Chelidonian blades proper I do not include the double
blade. A fair specimen of the latter is the Orissa Sword[448]: two
slightly oval forms spring from the same hilt, but separate throughout
their length. Another shape is found upon the Gold Coast: the blades
are disposed like the astronomical sign of Aries, and its only use is
to slice off noses and ears.[449] The offending member is placed at the
commissure, and an upward shear effects the mutilation. I reserve for a
future page the ‘split Swords,’ two blades in one scabbard, which were
used in mediæval Europe, and which have been preserved in China.
To conclude this long and technical chapter. The Sword should be
tightly mounted and well shouldered-up before and behind, leaving no
interval between hilt and blade. The grip must be firm, and the tang
secured either by rivets or, better still, by a screw at the pommel: if
this be neglected, the weapon will not deliver a true edge. In trials
both back and edge should be repeatedly struck with force upon a wooden
post. Should the handle show no sign of loosening, and the blade ring
with the right sound, it is a sign that the mounting is satisfactory:
the reverse is the case if the blow jars or stings the hand: this
suggests that the cut will not prove efficient.
• • • • •
NOTE.—The type and model of the straight blade is the form of Rapier
which we call the Toledo. It is probably derived from the Spatha or
long Sword of the Roman cavalryman; but it assumed its present perfect
shape during the reign of Charles Quint (A.D. 1493–1519). The exemplar
of the curved blade is the so-called ‘Damascus’ sabre, dating probably
from the early days of El-Islam (seventh century), when Eastern armies
were chiefly composed of light Bedawi horsemen. Of these in Part II.