Swords and Daggers
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Swords and Daggers Swords are weapons formed by a blade (the part intended for striking) and a hilt (from which the sword is held) [Fig. 1]. While there have been swords made of wood and stone, the more predominant and effective examples have been made of some sort of metal. Bronze was used in ancient times, followed by iron and then steel. Daggers are a more primitive, much smaller weapon which share many features with the sword. As a general rule, knives have a single edge. Blade The sword’s blade can be divided between the forte (third of the blade closer to the hilt) and the foible (third of the blade closer to the tip). This refers to how much strength the wielder can put into each area of the blade when used as a lever. The part of the blade that becomes narrow and goes into the grip is called the tang [Fig. 2]. The point of balance [Fig. 3] is the sword’s center of gravity, often found on the blade very close to the hilt, and influences the handling of the weapon. The center of percussion [Fig. 3] is the area of the blade that produces the least amount of vibration when striking a target, and thus is the ideal place with which to strike. The cross-section of the blade [Fig. 4] is the shape it has when cut at the guard. The fullers, incorrectly called blood grooves in modern times, were used to reduce the weight of the blade and give it structural strength. Blades taper in two ways. The distal taper [Fig. 5] is the reduction in blade thickness the closer it is to the point. The profile taper [Fig. 6] is how narrow the blade becomes the closer it is to the point. Blades had to be hard enough to keep an edge and rigid enough to pierce, but flexible enough to resist impacts. This was achieved by tempering the steel: heating it up in the forge and quenching it in water until it had the desired hardness. Some blades have an unsharpened portion near the guard called ricasso. Some knives and single-edged daggers have jimping on their blades. This is a series of notches filed on the spine, near the tang, to improve gripping. Some single-edged blades had a false edge on their foible, opposed to the primary edge. This could be dull or sharpened, to reinforce the point or simply to add another cutting surface. Some European straight double-edged blades from the Renaissance and later periods presented a consistently undulating blade. These were called flame-bladed swords. Allegedly this shape would transmit unpleasant vibrations to the opponent’s blade upon impact. The most common flame-bladed swords were rapiers and zweihanders. One-handed flame-bladed swords were called flamberges, while two-handed swords were called flambards or flammards. Hilt The sword's hilt is composed of a grip, a pommel and a guard (often called cross-guard or cross) [Fig. 1]. Daggers generally follow the same formula, but they often don't have guards. The tang of the blade goes through the guard and into the grip, and is then attached to the pommel. An exception to this is the hilts in the messer-type swords, which have a similar construction to a knife's handle [Fig. 2]. The tang is sandwiched between two slabs of wood or horn and the pommel is attached to it in a similar way. Hand guards became more elaborate as time went by. Some of the extra elements added to protect the hand were knuckle-guards/bows (curved bars extending from the quillons to the pommel to protect the fingers), finger-rings (rings to protect the finger when placed on the guard or to give it more control), side-rings (rings attached to the sides of the guard), nagels (short metal bars perpendicular to the quillons), bell-guards (round domes surrounding the hilt) and shell-guards (curved metallic plates covering the hand). Scabbard A sheath is a sleeve for safely keeping a bladed weapon or tool. A scabbard is a sheath designed for a sword or dagger. The place where the sword enters the scabbard is called the throat. Scabbards in early medieval Europe were made of wood covered with leather. Some scabbards had fur-lined throats, which were allegedly kept wet with oil to apply it to the blade upon sheathing. The end of the scabbard was sometimes protected by a metal tip called chape, and the throat was also often covered in soft metal. Flexible leather scabbards were much more common in the Renaissance than in the Middle Ages. In the early modern era scabbards began being covered with metal, often brass, and in some cases they were entirely metallic. The sound often associated with the drawing of a sword was caused when the blade made contact with this metal in the throat. This was much more common in modern scabbards than in medieval examples. European Swords and Daggers The following weapons will be categorized according to their place in the historical periods of medieval and modern Europe. Early Middle Ages (VIII to XIII century): Gladius: A one-handed sword with a broad, double-edged steel blade and a knobbed hilt. The hilt was generally made from wood, but bronze and ivory were also used. Finger grooves were a popular feature, if not universal. The blade was usually 20 to 25 inches (50 to 63 centimeters) in length, with or without a fuller. Some gladii had leaf-shaped blades, especially those from the Iberian Peninsula. It was issued to Roman foot soldiers. Spatha: A sword shaped similarly to the gladius, but with a longer blade. It had from 25 to 33 inches (64 to 84 centimeters) of length. It was issued to Roman cavalry. Pugio: A dagger with a broad, leaf-shaped blade and a thin grip. It was issued to Roman soldiers as a backup weapon. Falcata: A one-handed sword with a single-edged blade. Its blade had a convex curve near the hilt and became broader towards the tip. It had no guard, but its hilt was hook-shaped on both ends. The tips of these hooks were sometimes linked with a thin chain. The blade was made of laminated iron and was forged at very high temperatures to rid the iron from impurities. The hilt could be made of wood or metal, and was sometimes heavily carved and decorated. It was commonly used in the Iberian Peninsula by warriors and mercenaries. The name falcata was given to it during the modern age. In its time it was called machaera Hispana by Roman soldiers. Viking/Anglo-Saxon/Migration Period Sword: A sword with a long iron blade and a hilt formed of a tang, a hand guard and a pommel. The blade was usually broad and similar in length to the spatha. Most models were double-edged, but there were some single-edged examples. The quillons were generally small, often just an inch wider than the blade. Some late Viking and Anglo-Saxon swords had longer quillons similar to those of cruciform high-medieval swords. The blade itself was made of iron, pattern-welded to make up for the inferior materials and tended to have a very gradual profile tapering. The grip was made of wood and sometimes wrapped in leather. These weapons were significantly blade-heavy compared to later swords. Because of the difficulty involved in forging them, these swords were used only by the best and most notorious of Anglo-Saxon and Viking warriors. Seax/Sax/Scramasax: A dagger with a long, single-edged blade and a simple grip of wood or horn. The blade was sometimes wider at the tip, with a sharp forward angle, in a style called broken-back seax. These knives were made of iron and often pattern-welded. They were commonly carried by Anglo-Saxon and Viking warriors alike. Knives/By-knives and Picks/Prickers: These were the most common tools carried by soldiers in the entire medieval period. The knives were cutting tools and/or eating implements of simple construction and varied size and shape, but they could be used as weapons in a pinch. The pick was a small thin spike used for detailed carving work, medical purposes or punching holes though fabric. In later times these tools were often kept in small pockets sewn into the scabbard of larger daggers or swords. Pocket/Folding Knife: These tools have been found in the Iberian Peninsula and central Europe since the time of the Roman Empire, even though they weren't as common as they became during the Renaissance. In later periods the designs became more complex, like the Spanish navaja and the English Barlow knife. They were used in similar way as fixed-blade knives, though they were usually not as fit to handle heavy-duty tasks. High Middle Ages (XII to XIV century): Arming Sword: A one-handed sword with a cruciform hilt and a straight, double-edged blade. The length of the blade was usually between 23 to 32 inches (58 to 82 centimeters) and it was usually forged from high-carbon steel. The hand guard was a pair of quillons perpendicular to the blade, though they were sometimes curved towards the tip. The grip was usually wrapped in leather. Early swords had fullers to reduce weight and gradual tapering, but later designs favored ridges, hollow-ground blades, acute tapering and awl-shaped tips. It was the sword of professional soldiers and knights, and it was often called knightly sword for that reason.