Hank Reinhardt's The Book of the Sword (23 page)

But the main gauche was not only an important adjunct to the rapier, but to the sword, and sword rapier as well. It is always better to use both hands, and if you don't have a shield or a good buckler with you, then a good dagger is quite nice.

The cross-section of most rapier blades was a diamond shape, although there are triangular cross sections as well (in the forerunner of the small sword), some square, some square with deeply hollowed faces. All of the blades were straight. However, there was one variety that is quite interesting.

Rapier with flamberge blade.

This is the rapier that is often called a "flamberge rapier." The sword has a blade that is a series of S curves that gives it a serpentine look. These types of blades are found a great deal in two-handed swords, in straight swords, sword rapiers and, of course, daggers. It was thought that the curved blades inflicted a deeper and more serious wound (more on this in the section dealing with the geometry of swords). A few years ago I got a good copy of a rapier that had one of these curved blades. In playing with it with some of my friends I made a rather interesting discovery: when you first lunge, and your sword is parried by a flamberge blade, it can cause you to lose your concentration if you're not careful. The parry causes your sword to vibrate, and although the effect is slight, it is still disconcerting. After a few times you get use to it, and it no longer matters. Of course, the reverse is also true, that it takes a short while to get used to using one of these rapiers. So hey, anything to gain an edge or, in this case, a point.

In popular works, such as the movies of
Cyrano
and
The Three Musketeers
, the rapier is shown with a cup hilt. It is surprising how long it took for this eminently practical hilt to be developed and used. Most authorities believe that the cup hilt was developed in the first quarter of the 17th century. (Still, there is a cup hilt in the Spanish Naval Museum in Madrid that is listed as belonging to an admiral who died in 1571. In this, I am inclined to believe the authorities rather than the museum, as the museums in Spain have frequently mislabeled some of their weaponry.)

Cup hilt with rompepuntas.

Many of the cup hilts possess a turned over lip around the cup called a "rompepuntas." If a strong thrust is aimed at the cup, it is possible for the blade to slip over the cup and strike the arm or even the body of the swordsman. This lip is designed to prevent that from happening. In play with blunted fencing weapons we found that this works. A hard thrust to the top of the cup can frequently cause the blade to slide off and into the arm of your opponent.

Aside from the rompepuntas, the majority of the early cups also had a great deal of pierced work. This is really beautiful work, often cut steel. This open work serves the same purpose of the rompepuntas, as it provides many opportunities for any thrust to the hilt to be caught.

Reproduction rapier with swept hilt. HRC14.

The cup hilt quickly spread throughout Europe and was quite fashionable, but of course, the swept hilt remained in use.

By the middle of the 17th century, the long rapier was undergoing some changes. The blade was getting shorter, somewhat lighter, and the hilt was also being simplified. In Spain, the long rapier remained popular, and this reduction in size was less notable. At the same time, due to many factors—and fashion most assuredly played a part—the main gauche was being used less and less. Single combat was taking more and more of the aspects of pure fencing, and the small sword was coming into its own.

I find it hard to understand why the main gauche was abandoned. In any dueling system you can set up whatever rules you wish, and duels were frequently fought under some really absurd rules. Consider the duel fought in Europe (France, I believe), where the two men did not possess any weapons other than helmets with sharp beaks, and were required to butt and peck at each other. Or a man put in a pit to his waist having to fight a woman who was free standing. But as a self-defense item the rapier alone leaves a lot to be desired when confronted by more than one attacker.

Take the death of Pizarro, the Conqueror of Peru. He and his brother were attacked at dinner by a group of assassins. Pizarro did not have time to put on any armor; instead he seized his cloak, wrapped it around his left arm and attempted to fight off his attackers. He and his brother were doing pretty well when Pizarro stabbed one of his attackers. As he attempted to withdraw his sword, one of the attackers in back pushed the unfortunate pierced assassin forward. Pizarro could not clear his sword in time and was himself stabbed in the throat. We do not know exactly what sword Pizarro was using at the time, but more than likely it was a type typical of the time and origin, and would be a straight-bladed sword, relatively narrow in blade width and excellent for thrusting.

Not that I think he would have survived, but I do think he would have been able to take more of his assailants with him had he an additional weapon. Pizarro was far from a nice man; in fact, calling him treacherous, murderous scum might be harsh. Accurate, but harsh. However, there is one thing he was, and that was tough.

My point (maliciously intended pun) is that with a long weapon a thrust can penetrate too deeply, and present problems in the withdrawal. A second weapon, such as a main gauche, still allows you to be defend and attack while regaining use of the weapon.

In the third quarter of the 17th century, the small sword gained great acceptance and dominated the field of civilian swordplay almost exclusively. It also became a very necessary item of male jewelry, and some of the hilts of these weapons are incredible works of art! You can find examples with cut and pierced work, tiny granules of gold and silver, and incredibly detailed figures, some holy, some erotic, all beautiful. It would seem almost a crime to use one of these swords in combat, but they did. Of course they were also worn by men who really had no idea of how they were used, nor any desire to learn. Although there were duels aplenty, there really weren't as many as books and movies seem to suggest.

A gaudy small sword.

Many have considered these early small swords the most deadly sword ever developed. But these are people who consider classic fencing as the only "proper" method for fighting with a sword. I hear the same thing from devotees of the katana, who think that small swords and rapiers are silly effeminate sticking toys. Sigh. I also do a lot of shooting, and hear pretty much the same thing about the different calibers of handguns.

I'm a heretic in both fields. The best weapon is the one that you have with you at the time you need it.

But back to the subject at hand.

The wearing of the small sword as an item of male fashion was beginning to fade by the mid-18th century, and soon was to pass away completely except for ceremonial occasions. By the time of its passing, the blade had degenerated into a small, thin and unimpressive sword very similar to the swords such as those of the Knights of Columbus and other modern fraternal orders.

Colichmarde.

At its peak, say from 1660 to 1720 for rough dates, the sword was long, slim and quite light, with very little hand protection. The most effective of these small swords had beautiful triangular blades, with very deep hollow facings. This made for a stiff, light, and really quick sword blade. There was an interesting development, called the colichemarde, which came close to turning the small sword into an actual military weapon, although I do not think that was its purpose. The colichmarde blade was triangular, quite wide for at least a third of the blade, and then tapered abruptly to the standard triangular cross section. The wide blade, being deeply hollowed, had a balance point close to the hilt, which allowed the blade to be exceedingly quick. However, its width allowed the blade to be used to block cuts from heavier swords such as a saber. Since there is a real possibility that a normal blade might break under the impact, this allowed the sword to be carried in circumstances where a heavier blade might be called for. It really is an attractive weapon, and I must confess, it's the only small sword that I like.

The colichmarde was supposed to have been invented by Philip Von Konigsmark (1656–1694), a Swede of German origin. He was quite the adventurer, and was reported to be the lover of Sophia Dorothea, the wife of George, Crown Prince of Hanover, who later became George I, King of England. Von Konigsmark was murdered when the affair was discovered—and I think we can safely assume it was German Georgie who had it done—and Sophie Dorothea was shut up in a castle. Kings can be hard to get along with.

It's a great legend about the invention, but probably untrue, since small swords with this shape were showing up before Philip was born—but I have no doubt about his affair. All women love a good swordsman.

Rapier and small sword play are the forerunners of modern fencing. I first encountered fencing in the mid 1950s at the Atlanta YMCA. At the time I was wrestling, boxing, rope climbing, and I wanted to learn to fence, too. The instructor they provided us was Professor Morenus. He was retired from Georgia Tech, and was about 70–72 at the time. He was a disengage fencer, and he always reminded me of a large white spider. He informed me once that I might make a good swordsman, but that I would never make a good fencer. Now, I do not know how good a swordsman I have ever been, considering that it has to all be in sport or play, but I do know that I was a lousy fencer.