I should add that the Sieniawski family are doing really cool stuff, but let's not forget that there are no original technical treatises for the use of the pre-1830 Polish sabre, unfortunately. What people are doing is educated guess work from limited resources - different people are coming up with differing systems as a result, though they share some similarities. I do not know how the Sieniawski system stands up to competitive use, though their use of distance appears a bit strange to me. But I haven't met or spoken to them about it.
Having met the Sieniawski family and seen a presentation they did a couple of weeks ago, together with practical demonstration, I was impressed with their seriousness and their conditioning as well as the techniques shown (based on my studies in Japanese kenjutsu). Well worth looking up and making contact with.
Establishment of Polish saber is associated with completely different combat tactic the Polish cavalry. Polish cavalry attacked at full gallop straight. Discipline while driving, variable arrays, changing the density, riding in close range of - that was the difference that made the Polish cavalry this extraordinary cavalry. Let the example of this will be that the Cossacks in the Polish army served as a great infantry, cavalry not. Cossack cavalry was in meetings with Polish too weak. This tactic in other armies was adopted only in the nineteenth century. Charge of the Polish cavalry required two weapons: lance and saber. The difference was also in the process of seat on a horse (saddle shifted firmly to the front, pounce with your knees bent, which allowed to stand up and cut from the top). Polish saber was extremely light (from 400 grams to 600 grams) and fast weapon with a pointed double-blade. In the film, is not represented Polish saber. The differences are enormous. Intelligence and reconnaissance used the lightest Polish cavalry armed like the Polish lansjers during the Napoleonic era. An example of such Horse Riding Stance is the image of Rembrandt "The Polish Rider". Cavalry (Lisowczycy) is serving as a mercenary army was feared all over Europe during the war, 30-year (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisowczycy). Polish husiaria lance was the longest weapon of all time. The museum in Vienna is a Polish lance of the Battle of Vienna in 1683 with a length of 6.10 meters.It was the weapon that killed several enemy soldiers at once . In battle of Polonka (1660) Polish nobleman killed six Russian musketeers at the same time. The other end of the lance was in a special basket that was attached to the saddle horse. Hitting the lance were moving on the horse, not the rider.
Polish winged hussars had lances assembled and can use so-called half-lance. After the liquidation of the winged hussars appeared Lancers (Lancers), who used a lance similar to that before the medieval original (length 2650 mm and was made of wood ash). After the famous duel Polish lancjer vs three dragoons, Napoleon introduced the lances to be armed French army. Training cavalry was modeled on the Polish training. The British Army until the final liquidation of the lance in 1927, it has retained its classic length - 9 feet and 1 inch. The only difference from the Polish prototype consists in the fact that the lance British was bamboo ash. This is precisely the lance Poles saw with own eyes in 1949 in Edinburgh. He trained her on the show 9th regiment of lancers Queen, trained by foot of course, because horses had long since gone. The attitude of "lance toe" actually pennants fluttered just above the caps ulan's (as in the description of Polish). This fidelity to the original is all the more admirable that the British, with their traditionalism, long time could not understand the difference between a medieval copy, and a new lance. When, in 1816, four regiments of dragoons was renamed the "Lancers" were given lances 16 (!) Feet long. Poor British lancer already loaded down with rifle, a sword and a pair of pistols, did not know what to do bough. This was too much even for the proverbial phlegm English and after thirteen years, it was found that this extra burden can not be justified ("hardly Justified"). Fortunately, someone remembered that the British Museum lies lance Poland from the battlefield at Waterloo. It was loaned War Office and has long been measured, weighed and analyzed for so long, until she disappeared without a trace and the museum she never received back. But as a result of these studies they get the Lancers Polish lance described above. At the same time introduced Polish regulations wielding a lance, decorated horse-drawn portrait of the Jozef Poniatowski. Also uniforms in the style of Polish lancers. And there appeared over the misty silhouette Thames closely resembling the figure of Mars rakish and Polish veterans, the more we all ventured severe, truly Mazury mustache. The British not only withdrawing the lance believe in, they felt her heart; heart to heart horse and lance go hand in hand. Who knows whether the British lancer was not the most worthy deputy Polish uhlan missing. Lancers are known successes in the Crimean War, and even in the First World War. Lance in the British Army survived to 1927, the same uniform, the most faithful replica uniform uhlan Polish ...*****
Oh, I'm working on a Polish Saber book, along with Daria, Keith and an international gang. We've gathered more material and hope to present a nice interpretation based on what we have.
John Richter In practice, not much. Modern interpretations of Polish saber techniques are comprised almost entirely of non-Polish sources, so there is a lot of overlap with many styles, British included. In general though, Polish parties tend to have the hand farther forward, and there is a strange focus on shoulder moulinets.
Hey, Polish is the second most spoken language of London, I'm sure you can get some Pole somewhere there to help you with your book :D Jezyk polski jest bardzo trudny :(
Hurray! Polish sabers! (couldn't resist myself..:P) "Sieniawski fencing" videos definitely comes to mind - here is one with cross cutting demo Polish cross cutting art seminar 2013 . And the drills: (1) Polish sabre long cuts drill 1 (2) Polish sabre long cuts drill 2 .
I know this video is years old, but Richard Marsden has a book where he basically takes the information from polish sources/books and converts them to English. He seems pretty passionate about polish sabre as well.
Finally!! Some about our national weapon!!! Not much, but You have tried hard ;) Highly recomended : Fencing (фехтование, Fechten) Polish Sabre Training (short demo) Sieniawski & Sons
Polak, Węgier dwa bratanki I do szabli i do szklanki;) Polish and hungarian sabers were very similar. Only actual diffrence is the tip: the Hungarian one has more like a hook tip and polish has more of a feather. _ / / /\ |/ | / || || \\ \\
I remember watching a scene from Jerzy Hoffmann's film adaptation of Senkiewicz's The Deluge, and there's this scene where these two guys are dueling with sabers, and they're using this clichéd eppé fencing stance, with the blades making this almost tap-dancing sounding "rickety-rackety" sound against each other, and it looked like the blades were made of aluminum. Took me right out of the moment. I remember seeing a picture of some diagrams of 16th century Polish weapons, and the saber that was depicted looked somewhat heavy, a substantial chunk of steel that wouldn't "rickety-rackety" very easily.
Polish sabers usualy weigh around 500 to 700 grams, depending on type and use, cavalary sabers were longer and heavier. The sound you can hear in the movie is an actual sound those weapons made while fencing. This comes from the construction of the grip and gard rather than the blade itself. Actors seen in this scene used historicly accurate replikas and the sound was recorded there in the field rather than in the studio. This is part of polish film making school.
Sabres have been discovered in the 6th and 7th century archaeology in Carpathian Basin in Avar cemeteries and also the Alans of Caucus region , who later joined the Hungary as a tribe. I was at a lecture with Dr Csaba Laszlo Hidan, he has the resources, and he also can speak English, if you like I may help you get in contact, or he also has details available online, a very passionate historian.
belive it or not but ther was not a single school in poland of saber fighting in middle ages,all the skill was taught "from grandfather to father to son" it was design and developed in many wars for battle totaly oposite to french styles taught is many schools for dueling to first blood not like in
Absimilliard78 There was no actual fencing techniques. That's because Sabre was the insingnium of noblety. That means that only nobles could use them. And they were mostly rich (in early times,). And being rich they could afford having horse. And that explaines a lot. Being on horse you generally cut not thrust (and curved swords are better for cutting). There were duels. But USUALLY, they just hacked and bashed each outher with sabres. Real fencing was straight "pałasz".
+KillmanPit Actually, no. The sabre was the insignium of Nobility, true, but that doesnt mean they didnt train in using it on foot. When you charge in on a horse, you have to account for the eventuality of losing said horse. They trained quite a lot, and there were advanced techniques and dueling styles for fighting with the sabre.
Dark Spectre Gaming I agree with "they trained quite a lot". That's true because training was 80% of nobles time in XIV and XV century in Poland. But advanced techniques? It was more of fast spinning and keeping enemy away. Of course you could kill with that. But comparing to fencing techniques with rapier it's kind of childplay. Saber was main weapon of light cavalry and second weapon of heavy cavalry. Thats it. Using saber while on foot on purpouse is ridiculous. There were army swords called in Poland "pałasz" which are more suitable for infantry use.
KillmanPit It was a Noble's privilege that he could carry a Sabre, and they were rightly proud of it. If a duel happened between two Nobles, they always used Sabres, and obviously used a specialised and refined dueling stance as opposed to what common peasant infantry was doing, or how you would fight on horseback. And yes, I know what a Pałasz is, im Polish myself.
Your french saber is a handsome weapon indeed! Though the way you offhandedly wave it about gives me chills, I can so easily seeing someone's arm getting accidentally lopped off... you are too well trained for your every movement not to be lethal with a blade in your hand!
I attended a seminar put on by Richard Marsden from Phoenix Society and hosted by Lee Smith of Blood and Iron in Vancouver Canada. Richard is a very charismatic teacher and I enjoyed his class immensely. He's just released a book recently "Polish Saber - The Use of the Polish Saber on Foot in the 17th Centuruy". Im currently waiting my copy to arrive but from what I saw in the class it was a very well put together compilation of his research and reconstruction work. Skallagrim was at the event and has posted some clips on his channel of both the seminar and the sparring between Marsden and Smith. There was also a day focused on Italian Longsword (Fiore) which was at first my main interest, there are some vids of that as well on Skalls channel if you're interested.
Hi there, speaking on this topic, I would think that the polish were using the same style as the Turks, Tatars, Persians, Caucasians and Cossacks would. There is a video on YT about the siege of Malta, where it is actually reenacted. It looks that it makes use of the advantage of the curve blade, to deliver wicked angled hooked thrusts, and the push cut, with the left hand guiding the back of the blade.
yes, in the XVII century we were fascinated with oriental culture and this type of sword was called sarmatian sword as well. The same sword was used on the russian lands, Ukraine, Crymea, Romania, current Moldova and Hungary.
hello sir easton.. i'm a fan of ur channel and swords in general. i'm just wondering where do u usually get ur sabers for training and antiques? which blacksmiths did u go? thx
May I ask you to cover what knowledge you have about Russian swords. Possibly featuring a Shashka if you might possess one. With a please and a thanks anyhow.
Polish sabres are probably the most effective fighting blade in history, its most comfy and universal blade, for cutting , thrust.. maneuverability with sabre is ennormus, you can easly defeat enemy with any other type of singlehanded blade weapon even if you not master-skilled with sabre
Paweł Andonis Gawralidis Dobrzański herbu Leliwa what dragons? the only thing which I may think of by "dragon" name, was a guy on horse with a pistol ... so?
I don't know if they are still on UA-cam, but there were some videos that were digitally formatted of early 20th century Russian officers training in cross cutting.
I ve watched a few of these cross cutting polish fencing videos and since Ive never practiced fencing professionally, only trained a little with people who were in Clubs, Im not sure about my own judgement. But it seems to me as if these "Cross Cutters" were badly neglecting their defense. Am I right? There is no guarded stance from which they launch attacks. Instead they go into measure completely uncovered.
Regarding your book, I know it's basically been a year (literally, to the day) since you uploaded this and much could have changed but: 1) I'm Polish 2) I've studied translations 3) I practise HEMA myself a little and I could try and help you with the book by translating it piece by piece, a little, or maybe the bits that interest you the most. I can't offer a full translation due to lack of time, but still, write me up if you'd want that ;)
so interesting, is there some influence of sword design even going back to Middle eastern times? ancient Poland? .. bearing in mind how good Poles are on horses? archery etc?
I believe that some Turkish sources would be worth to look into. Polish saber and overally swordsmanship were heavily influenced by the Tatars. I think that one of the most characteristic trait of a Polish sabre was a thumb guard, which improved controll over the blade.
Gotta say that the one you have in your hand is a pretty heavy and quite a big one... it's quite strange (shape-apart) - is it DOUBLE-EDGED?...
8 років тому+1
i was shown polish szabla in poland some years back. The guy Who showed me talked a lot about a thumb ring on the polish szabla. He had some specific techniques with it. do you know more?
Well, in most documented historical fencing styles distance is very important - the attacker will start out of measure (beyond hitting distance), move into distance as they attack, either with a lunge or with a passing step, and then either keep moving closer or move back out of measure, either straight back or at a tangent. It is unusual for historical fencing manuals to recommend staying at hitting distance for more than one or two actions, because it is the most dangerous distance to be at. In the systems I work with that would be considered bad and something that beginners often do. Yet when I watch the above mentioned videos I see people being taught to stand in hitting distance and exchange dozens of blows, without any real into or out of 'measure'. That runs contrary to every style of historical fencing I have personally studied. The exceptions would be sporting/duelling systems like the German mensur or British sporting singlestick, which is a test of skill and not really a combat system. That's not to say that this was not done in old Polish sabre fencing, but if it was, then it is highly unusual and I would want to see the documentary support for it. I fear that it may be due to stage fencing training rather than historical research.
Would you like a Hungarian book about Hungarian sabres written in Hungarian? Would probably look great next to the Polish one..... Here in Hungary we don't need to reconstruct the traditional military sabre fencing method, we were fortunate enough to have preserved it. We even have some schools in Poland. Now that I am checking, we even have one school in London, lol. www.fencing-london.co.uk/en/home/
This club seems to be a modern sport or classical fencing one? I'm sorry to say that these methods are not very similar to earlier centuries. No more than modern foil is like 17th century rapier anyway.
@@scholagladiatoria Nah, we do both, modern sport fencing and traditional (cavalry) sabre. We follow the fencing methods from Military officers, the origin of our school dates back to the 18th century. We strive to be good with the modern sport fencing method as well as with the traditional military fencing method. Tho if we go further back in history, as in the late medieval period, then there might certainly be a difference, but what we do, at least here in Hungary, is the actual method with which sabre combat was fought in the 18th and 19th century. I didn't even know we had a school in London affiliated with us, so I do not know how closely they follow the combat sabre methods.
@@scholagladiatoria PS: I am not trying to say that our method is the only true and real out there. I just know that our organization had an unbroken chain of teachers and students dating back to the start of the 19th century when combat training for sabre fencing was still an integral part of the military. In my opinion the best option would be just to see physically for yourself. I can't vouch for the guys in London, I don't know them, we have people who prefer traditional sabre and other who prefer sports sabre, but I think a short visit wouldn't hurt. In the end it's always good to be open minded, as someone who watches your videos I am a person who has a high opinion of you and I think you certainly know what you are doing. If you'd ever happen to be in Budapest for any reason, I'd be more then happy for you to come around as in the end we have a shared passion and I am sure we could learn from each other.
scholagladiatoria A questioncame to my mind that you might be able to answer with your broader historical knowledge. What is the rationale by which the Longsword/Buckler and Shortsword/Messer got replaced by the Rapier and why did the saber replace the Rapier. Or did it happen like that at all...what is the simplified story of bladed weapons 1000 to 1914?
In a museum in Rotenberg ob der Tauber, I saw an exhibit of a Polish soldier's equipment. In addition to the curais with the eagle feather "wings" there was a long straight sword that was probably about 5 feet long. It seemed to me that it would be too long for use on foot but that it might be used from horseback as a sort of one handed lance. Either that or as a rapier on steroids.
This what you are talking about is called 'koncerz'. It was used on horseback against foot soldier and cavalry. It was about 2 meters long and was used to pierce an armour..
Yeah. The "koncerz" weapon type was used to thrust and pierce enemy cuirasses, kill horses etc - on foot it was quite useless because of its length and the fact that it didn't have sharp edges for cuttting.
Polish winged hussars I used a lance (or short carbine), sabers, koncerz (or palas), guns. Koncerz is a long rapier (1.6m -1.8 m) to kill sitting on a horse lying by the prick of a soldier in the head or in the chamber of the heart. It is a long, thin and supple weapon triangular. Koncerz is used instead of lance handle on the front of the saddle.Was based kocerz then handle the front of the horse's saddle. Koncerz easily broke
Is it only me, who found it strange that when people are talking about saber fencing they only cover this fighting art on foot. In Eastern Europe cavalary was a very important unit, and sabers were designed mainly for horseback. Pols,Hungarians, Cossack etc had/have a long historical horse culture. Many duels were fought on horseback. Horse back archery needs totally different skillset than just footarchery. So what I am saying is that we are missing a large part of saber fencing here. Unfortunately to practice this part of the art you would need horses, and space, that is limiting the popularity.
Franciszek Ignacy Salezy wrote a intersting thing. I will allow myself to translate it to English: "It appears that like hapiness have it's outside signs, who are (reflect) haracters of nations in dances, this same react in anger has reflect in dawing a sword, Hungarian cuts from left, Muscovite (they call Russians like this, from name of Moscow) from above, Turkish to himselsf, and Pole on cross swings his sabre"
Neat stuff! If you get the chance, I would love to see a video talking about the various swords and other weapons used throughout antiquity. Especially the various types of "short-swords" that were used by the greeks and romans. That would be a really interesting video. I really enjoy your content! -Rob
also, wanted to ask, what is the difference between palaš and backsword? (until this point I though it was just another term for the same kind of weapon...)
Not exactly, because palash (in polish "Pałasz") uses the same hilt as eastern European sabres and if you classify weapons by etymology, then 'palash' should be applied only to eastern European and Turkish broadswords. That's why Poles call every broadsword a "pałasz", even schiavona and claymore, which is wrong if you look at etymology and derivation of broadswords and their names. I often call palash a "straightened polish sabre", which is of course a big simplification.
This is same for Czech. Though our etomology is not always completely clear, the term "palaš" is used for late heavy cavalery straight bladed heavy sword with saber hilt. I guess this is caused by not copletely clear terminology, when we are speaking about weapons.... (for better example of this problem, take a look on polearms, or even try to translate their names into different langueages (witch reminds me, how you say "poleaxe" in polish?))
Łukasz Kos The heavy prussian cav. used palashs (german ,,Pallasch") which look not really like eastern eur. or turkish specimens. Those are my thoughts beeing not an expert on that matter. Im more the Longsword, Messer and Rapier fencer. ^^
Blank- blade As I'm concern Germans use this term like Poles - to describe every straight broadsword. And they drew this word from Slaves: Poles or Hungarians.
hey, Mat, I was just wondering if you'd been able to make any headway on this? Since it's been almost a decade, maybe they've made progress you could discuss with them in an interview?
Was looking around the internet trying to identify the sword my grand-Uncle gave me, he said it was from U.S. troops in India in WWI (Except there were no U.S. troops in India), then i find your channel, two days later in my featured feed what else do i see but a familiar looking sword. Thank you! Now i just need to Know what sword it is.
I second the Russian thing. I'm also interested in how Russian/FarEasternEuropean fighters used the older European swords; longswords did not make as huge of an appearance there, as far as I know, but did, occasionally. They seem pretty quick to have adopted firearms, idk. I know there are suits of full plate similar to those in Western Europe worn occasionally, though lighter (but more layered) protection seems to have been common (lamellar in layers with other, especially in the winter).
Polish saber ??? Dear comrades from UK, this saber is not Polish saber. The handle is wrong shape and the construction of the blade is ...I have not seen something like this before. I admire the enthusiasm and encourage to buy beter equipment, but I'm not a blacksmith :) Regards from Cracow, the capital of Polish Saber.
scholagladiatoria I know that this is a controversial and very complex topic, but would you say that generally on foot straight swords are more versatile and has greater advantage (reach especially) when compared to curved swords? That the primary advantage of curved swords were for mounted fighting, against unarmored and lightly armored opponents? Looking from history, military cultures that used swords a lot on foot like the Greeks, Romans, Early Arabs before the coming of the Turks, Gauls, Hindu Indians prior to 1000 AD and Vikings tended to use primarily straight double edged swords, while the curved cutting sword originated primarily from Central Asia, brought elsewhere by Central Asian mercenaries. Thanks
Curved swords are much better for tip-cuts than most straight ones, so when you think about distance you must take this into account. Europe has its own lineage of curved swords starting from kopis/falcata then dussack, falchion, messer, katzbalger and all that. They were used and useful against well armored opponents, so it's all quite complicated actually.
bakters I agree that curved swords are better at tip cuts, however most straight double edged swords that are meant for fighting lightly armored opponents on foot (gladius, khanda, viking swords, etc) are designed for cutting close to the tip anyway, and the range advantage is primarily conferred for the thrust. Why would a curved sword be useful against armored opponents? If we are to agree that the primary advantage of the curved sword was for the draw cut, and the draw cut was for the most part not very effective against metallic armor, then curved swords with their (theoretically) inferior thrusting ability would be less preferred to straight ones. The falcata/kopis was obviously different, due to the weight concentration that made it more similar to an axe, capable of powerful blunt trauma.
John Huang It's a bit easier to cut with a curved blade. Edge alignment becomes slightly easier if there is some mass behind opposing the motion forward, which automatically aligns the blade, so there is some other advantage apart from better draw-cutting performance. Besides, swords like falchions or messers were capable of delivering very strong chops too, because they were built blade-heavy. They were not cavalry sabers, neither in use nor performance.
bakters I see, thanks a lot that is truly informative. I still think though that cutting oriented blades were primarily meant for fighting lightly armored opponents, up to mail, because the cut was the least effective type of attack for compromising any type of metallic armor, compared to thrust and blunt trauma. Another major advantage of single edged swords (most curved swords) was the fact that they were generally easier and quicker to made than double edged straight swords, and I believe during the Medieval period the messer and falchion were associated more with the lower class, although there were some high end examples of these found as well. I believe this was a huge boon for armies in which equipment has to be mass-produced, certainly Chinese armies from the Han Dynasty period onward equipped practically all of their soldiers with various types of Daos. Plus the cut was the more instinctive move during the stress of battle, so if you have large numbers of conscripts with fairly low level of training, it made a lot of sense to arm them with cutting oriented blades.
John Huang Regarding "cut being ineffective against metal armor". Good maile will withstand both cuts and thrusts. Even couched lance may not go through. But a cut does not need to go through maile to be effective. A sword cut will deliver substantial amount of blunt trauma to the flesh underneath. Sword blade "bites" into maile so it's actually very efficient at transferring energy through it. A thrust would be generally less effective at delivering blunt trauma through maile, because the point moves only as fast as the hand, while in a cut the tip would travel much faster. But an acute point will slide in between rings, and maybe even burst some, so it also works, albeit differently. It can also slide along plate reinforcements and find the gaps between them, while a cut will generally be rendered ineffective even by a fairly incomplete plate coverage.
+Robert R Depends on how you define "normal sabre." Sabers in general vary a lot depending on time period and region. That said, Polish sabers tend to be fairly deeply curved, very clearly designed for cutting. They usually have hatchet points and will sometimes but not always feature a yelman - that is to say a raised false edge. The hilts tend to be fairly simple, with knuckle-bows and sometimes thumb-rings but no side bars or the like. Some had these very distinctive sorta L-shaped guards with all straight angles that I don't think appear on any other type of sword I've ever seen.
Is it true that Polish sabre, beside giving more dangerous techniques possibilities to a fighter would break that famous katana, probably thanks to the shape and kind of metal?
migkillerphantom I agree, 1 is sure (physics) if we hit any 2 stics, 2 legs (football players, karate) swords, sabres each other the only 1 will break - it's such principle of physics. Which - yes, it depends IMO on structure/metal and shape.
Andy Reasoner The forces involved are generally not enough to break another sword, simple as that. There can be fatigue failures, bending, chipping, but actually breaking most swords on purpose with another sword would be fairly difficult. Matt even did a video, trying to break a rapier by smashing it with another sword. He only managed to deform it after many attempts.
migkillerphantom Thank You, I believe it, it's very probable without watching this film. Have You information about basic books on fighting using Polish sabre?
scholagladiatoria This particular model, or should I say type, was used by Polish cavalry in early 20s of XX century ;) And, as a reenactor (actually not reenactor but English has no word suitable) of this period, I can assure it s perfectly fine to use this weapon to show what you have shown.
the russian use at of the sabre around that time was a hybrid of the more modern european polish and hungarian etc method merged with the much older cossack method, stemming from the time when peter the great decided russia was to backwards and needed to catch up with the new technologies and ideas emerging from the rest of europe, especially in military matters.
If I recall correctly: In the battle of waterloo the french heavy cavalery used straight sabre and the english used a curved sabre. If you look at the wounds inflicted by these weapons, a lot of people seem to agree that the straght sabre was more deadly and the curved sabre inflicted more wounds.. Any thoughts on this?
Actually the heavy cavalry of both sides used straight swords and the light cavalry of both sides used curved swords. The French were taught to thrust more and the British to cut more (this is a big generalisation!). Therefore this was used as an example of 'cut vs. thrust', which I cover in some of my other videos and is very well addressed in 'Swordsmen of the British Empire', which I contributed to. In short, yes thrusts are usually more deadly, but cuts are generally safer to do and can have more immediate stopping power.
How so does it have more stopping power? i can understand what you are saying but if you just kill the guys he wont move ? So would you prefer a trusting weapon or a curved weapon?
kidage22 I've addressed this in other videos - it is very rare for a person to die *instantly* from being thrust through. It doesn't happen with knives now and it didn't happen with swords, spears and arrows then. It often doesn't happen even with bullets. There are many examples featured in Swordsmen of the British Empire of a person getting thrust through the body and cutting down their opponent before dying.
From my experience I know, that everyone in Great Britain knows a few polish words. One tine I've been drive by bus in Manchester. And because of humpon the road this bus jumped suddenly. So I used one polish word which is usually used in the situation like this. It means - "kurwa". Bad word (once it mean - "bitch", now means nothing) , but very useful when you are angry to express your anger. In Poland, of course, I don't use this one in public situations. And if... rather accidentally. But it was England. Bus full of English people. So I thought, nobody knows what I said... Huge mistake! One old gentleman told me: "No "kurwa"! No"kurwa"! This is England! Speak in English! Next time you should say "O f..k"! Until this time I'm e more careful when I'm visiting your beautiful country! By the way, it is really old polish word. Once I found the graffiti in one of churches in Poland, made in probably XVI century! Somebody called in this one, his neighbor wife - "kurwa". Very old and traditional...
about that book - it will take time and effort but i do love ur vids and i do willing to translate it for you - it will juyst take time - if we can take it page by page or larger parts by larger parts
Well no. In 14th century - yes . But after "union" ( which was really peacefull conquest of Lithuania ), Poland was bigger, more powerfull, richer, and polish became a lingua franca for countries east from Poland.
The same applied to XVc. Poland. I can't stop marveling how fashion, weapons and culture change in Poland between XV and XVIc. It's like comparing XVc. 'German' lands to XVIc. Ottoman Empire.
OMG Matt Easton suggests that people are supposed to take into consideration and appreciate something Russian in order to address something Polish?! I guess he hasn't got much experience with Polish nationalism yet... lucky guy. (On the other hand since he's Western European Poles might kinda tolerate that, if a Russian would suggest that, they would all start ranting and spitting)
Ten film to totalne dno zarówno pod względem merytorycznym jak i wiadomości historycznych. Pokazywać jako "polską szablę", turecką "Jatagankę", czy wzorowaną na niej kropka w kropkę niemiecką "meklęburkę" z przełomu XVIII i XIX wieku jest tym samym, co porównywać rower do sportowego Ferrari!
Chyba kolega nie zna angielskiego, nie rozumie ani słowa z tego, co ów człek gada i to właśnie to sprawia, że potrzebna mu pewna specjalna maść na pewien specjalny ból...
Autor na wstępie zaznacza, że: Primo: o polskiej szabli wie niewiele a filmik tworzy tylko ze względu na powtarzające się prośby, Secundo: trzymana przez niego broń nie jest polską szablą bo takiej nie posiada. Stwierdza także, że polski styl walki szablą był unikalny i dostosowany do walki zakrzywionym ostrzem (w przeciwieństwie do zachodniego stylu walki szablą, który kopiował techniki walki prostym ostrzem). Na koniec wspomina o działających grupach, starających się odtworzyć tradycyjne polskie techniki na podstawie dostępnych źródeł oraz metody prób i błędów (ze względu na małą ilość informacji w tychże źródłach). Wyraża nadzieję, że w przyszłości uda mu się nagrać wywiad z członkami takich grup. Taki mały skrót dla kolegi, który komentuje ewidentnie nie wiedząc co filmik zawiera.
miroe33 Wystarczająco dobrze znam angielski, by w pełni świadomie komentować treść tego gniota reklamującego prywatną szkółkę machania plastikowymi replikami broni białej, oczywiście nie za darmo. To po pierwsze, a po drugie; Jeśli ktoś chce dowiedzieć się czego naprawdę konkretnego na temat polskiej szabli i polskiej sztuce bojowego fechtunku krzyżowego to polecam udział w seminariach organizowanych przez p. Janusza Sieniawskiego i jego synów, poświęconych tym zagadnieniom. Zaznaczam jednakże, iż seminaria te są płatne i w ich trakcie odbywają się również zajęcia praktyczne. Innymi słowy, można nie tylko przyswoić masę bardzo konkretnych wiadomości historycznych, lecz także "poczuć na własnej skórze" jak to drzewiej w Polsce szablą robiono.
I'm Polish, living in New Zealand and enjoyed this video very much. Thank you for making it!
Keyser Söze you must back to your fatherLand my ffrend sorry me englisch;(
I recommend -Fencing Cross Cutting Art Polish Sabre; ua-cam.com/video/7ANGHO096-Y/v-deo.html
I should add that the Sieniawski family are doing really cool stuff, but let's not forget that there are no original technical treatises for the use of the pre-1830 Polish sabre, unfortunately. What people are doing is educated guess work from limited resources - different people are coming up with differing systems as a result, though they share some similarities. I do not know how the Sieniawski system stands up to competitive use, though their use of distance appears a bit strange to me. But I haven't met or spoken to them about it.
bakters Interesting, thanks.
Having met the Sieniawski family and seen a presentation they did a couple of weeks ago, together with practical demonstration, I was impressed with their seriousness and their conditioning as well as the techniques shown (based on my studies in Japanese kenjutsu). Well worth looking up and making contact with.
Establishment of Polish saber is associated with completely different combat tactic the Polish cavalry. Polish cavalry attacked at full gallop straight. Discipline while driving, variable arrays, changing the density, riding in close range of - that was the difference that made the Polish cavalry this extraordinary cavalry. Let the example of this will be that the Cossacks in the Polish army served as a great infantry, cavalry not. Cossack cavalry was in meetings with Polish too weak.
This tactic in other armies was adopted only in the nineteenth century. Charge of the Polish cavalry required two weapons: lance and saber. The difference was also in the process of seat on a horse (saddle shifted firmly to the front, pounce with your knees bent, which allowed to stand up and cut from the top). Polish saber was extremely light (from 400 grams to 600 grams) and fast weapon with a pointed double-blade. In the film, is not represented Polish saber. The differences are enormous.
Intelligence and reconnaissance used the lightest Polish cavalry armed like the Polish lansjers during the Napoleonic era.
An example of such Horse Riding Stance is the image of Rembrandt "The Polish Rider". Cavalry (Lisowczycy) is serving as a mercenary army was feared all over Europe during the war, 30-year (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisowczycy).
Polish husiaria lance was the longest weapon of all time. The museum in Vienna is a Polish lance of the Battle of Vienna in 1683 with a length of 6.10 meters.It was the weapon that killed several enemy soldiers at once . In battle of Polonka (1660) Polish nobleman killed six Russian musketeers at the same time. The other end of the lance was in a special basket that was attached to the saddle horse. Hitting the lance were moving on the horse, not the rider.
Polish winged hussars had lances assembled and can use so-called half-lance. After the liquidation of the winged hussars appeared Lancers (Lancers), who used a lance similar to that before the medieval original (length 2650 mm and was made of wood ash). After the famous duel Polish lancjer vs three dragoons, Napoleon introduced the lances to be armed French army. Training cavalry was modeled on the Polish training.
The British Army until the final liquidation of the lance in 1927, it has retained its classic length - 9 feet and 1 inch. The only difference from the Polish prototype consists in the fact that the lance British was bamboo ash. This is precisely the lance Poles saw with own eyes in 1949 in Edinburgh. He trained her on the show 9th regiment of lancers Queen, trained by foot of course, because horses had long since gone. The attitude of "lance toe" actually pennants fluttered just above the caps ulan's (as in the description of Polish).
This fidelity to the original is all the more admirable that the British, with their traditionalism, long time could not understand the difference between a medieval copy, and a new lance. When, in 1816, four regiments of dragoons was renamed the "Lancers" were given lances 16 (!) Feet long. Poor British lancer already loaded down with rifle, a sword and a pair of pistols, did not know what to do bough. This was too much even for the proverbial phlegm English and after thirteen years, it was found that this extra burden can not be justified ("hardly Justified"). Fortunately, someone remembered that the British Museum lies lance Poland from the battlefield at Waterloo. It was loaned War Office and has long been measured, weighed and analyzed for so long, until she disappeared without a trace and the museum she never received back. But as a result of these studies they get the Lancers Polish lance described above. At the same time introduced Polish regulations wielding a lance, decorated horse-drawn portrait of the Jozef Poniatowski. Also uniforms in the style of Polish lancers. And there appeared over the misty silhouette Thames closely resembling the figure of Mars rakish and Polish veterans, the more we all ventured severe, truly Mazury mustache.
The British not only withdrawing the lance believe in, they felt her heart; heart to heart horse and lance go hand in hand. Who knows whether the British lancer was not the most worthy deputy Polish uhlan missing. Lancers are known successes in the Crimean War, and even in the First World War. Lance in the British Army survived to 1927, the same uniform, the most faithful replica uniform uhlan Polish ...*****
Oh, I'm working on a Polish Saber book, along with Daria, Keith and an international gang. We've gathered more material and hope to present a nice interpretation based on what we have.
Great :-)
What are the major differences between polish and British sabre?
John Richter
In practice, not much. Modern interpretations of Polish saber techniques are comprised almost entirely of non-Polish sources, so there is a lot of overlap with many styles, British included. In general though, Polish parties tend to have the hand farther forward, and there is a strange focus on shoulder moulinets.
I recommend -Fencing Cross Cutting Art Polish Sabre; ua-cam.com/video/7ANGHO096-Y/v-deo.html
Polish sabre the best of them all!
The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight from the beginning of the 19th century
ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
Hey, Polish is the second most spoken language of London, I'm sure you can get some Pole somewhere there to help you with your book :D
Jezyk polski jest bardzo trudny :(
Is it that hard though? Even little kids speak Polish... in Poland. ;)
I'm so jealous of those darn children xD
@@RafaelusOptimus I speak Polish because I am Polish.
@Ada Pieńkowska na prawdę?
@Ada Pieńkowska a czy charakter pisma jest czytelny?
I love how readily Matt admits what he doesn't know and directs you to people who know better. Learning > ego, very good.
That french saber looks very fashionable. Thanks for the new batch of videos, by the way!
I still prefer Polish "black" or "wz. 34" ones.
Personally, I love the broadsword or backsword's designs. Absolutely beautiful.
Hurray! Polish sabers! (couldn't resist myself..:P)
"Sieniawski fencing" videos definitely comes to mind - here is one with cross cutting demo Polish cross cutting art seminar 2013 . And the drills: (1) Polish sabre long cuts drill 1
(2) Polish sabre long cuts drill 2 .
The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight from the beginning of the 19th century are here:
ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
Great video, thank you and all the best from Poland :)
I know this video is years old, but Richard Marsden has a book where he basically takes the information from polish sources/books and converts them to English. He seems pretty passionate about polish sabre as well.
Finally!! Some about our national weapon!!! Not much, but You have tried hard ;) Highly recomended : Fencing (фехтование, Fechten) Polish Sabre Training (short demo) Sieniawski & Sons
Soooo... a dedicated video about the Winged Hussars someday, maybe?
Polak, Węgier dwa bratanki
I do szabli i do szklanki;)
Polish and hungarian sabers were very similar. Only actual diffrence is the tip: the Hungarian one has more like a hook tip and polish has more of a feather.
_
/ / /\
|/ | /
|| ||
\\ \\
And we both become very emotional when we see a saber. Nothing is lovelier than a saber ;) . Greetings bro!
Lengyel, Magyar - két jó barát, együtt harcol, s issza borát. ;)
Witaj...
I remember watching a scene from Jerzy Hoffmann's film adaptation of Senkiewicz's The Deluge, and there's this scene where these two guys are dueling with sabers, and they're using this clichéd eppé fencing stance, with the blades making this almost tap-dancing sounding "rickety-rackety" sound against each other, and it looked like the blades were made of aluminum. Took me right out of the moment. I remember seeing a picture of some diagrams of 16th century Polish weapons, and the saber that was depicted looked somewhat heavy, a substantial chunk of steel that wouldn't "rickety-rackety" very easily.
Polish sabers usualy weigh around 500 to 700 grams, depending on type and use, cavalary sabers were longer and heavier. The sound you can hear in the movie is an actual sound those weapons made while fencing. This comes from the construction of the grip and gard rather than the blade itself. Actors seen in this scene used historicly accurate replikas and the sound was recorded there in the field rather than in the studio. This is part of polish film making school.
Sabres have been discovered in the 6th and 7th century archaeology in Carpathian Basin in Avar cemeteries and also the Alans of Caucus region , who later joined the Hungary as a tribe. I was at a lecture with Dr Csaba Laszlo Hidan, he has the resources, and he also can speak English, if you like I may help you get in contact, or he also has details available online, a very passionate historian.
belive it or not but ther was not a single school in poland of saber fighting in middle ages,all the skill was taught "from grandfather to father to son" it was design and developed in many wars for battle
totaly oposite to french styles taught is many schools for dueling to first blood not like in
Well 1,5 year has passed. Do you now know more about polish saber fencing? :)
Absimilliard78 No :-)
Absimilliard78 There was no actual fencing techniques. That's because Sabre was the insingnium of noblety. That means that only nobles could use them. And they were mostly rich (in early times,). And being rich they could afford having horse. And that explaines a lot. Being on horse you generally cut not thrust (and curved swords are better for cutting). There were duels. But USUALLY, they just hacked and bashed each outher with sabres. Real fencing was straight "pałasz".
+KillmanPit Actually, no. The sabre was the insignium of Nobility, true, but that doesnt mean they didnt train in using it on foot. When you charge in on a horse, you have to account for the eventuality of losing said horse. They trained quite a lot, and there were advanced techniques and dueling styles for fighting with the sabre.
Dark Spectre Gaming I agree with "they trained quite a lot". That's true because training was 80% of nobles time in XIV and XV century in Poland. But advanced techniques? It was more of fast spinning and keeping enemy away. Of course you could kill with that. But comparing to fencing techniques with rapier it's kind of childplay. Saber was main weapon of light cavalry and second weapon of heavy cavalry. Thats it. Using saber while on foot on purpouse is ridiculous. There were army swords called in Poland "pałasz" which are more suitable for infantry use.
KillmanPit
It was a Noble's privilege that he could carry a Sabre, and they were rightly proud of it. If a duel happened between two Nobles, they always used Sabres, and obviously used a specialised and refined dueling stance as opposed to what common peasant infantry was doing, or how you would fight on horseback. And yes, I know what a Pałasz is, im Polish myself.
Your french saber is a handsome weapon indeed! Though the way you offhandedly wave it about gives me chills, I can so easily seeing someone's arm getting accidentally lopped off... you are too well trained for your every movement not to be lethal with a blade in your hand!
Excellent information and thank you .
I attended a seminar put on by Richard Marsden from Phoenix Society and hosted by Lee Smith of Blood and Iron in Vancouver Canada. Richard is a very charismatic teacher and I enjoyed his class immensely. He's just released a book recently "Polish Saber - The Use of the Polish Saber on Foot in the 17th Centuruy". Im currently waiting my copy to arrive but from what I saw in the class it was a very well put together compilation of his research and reconstruction work. Skallagrim was at the event and has posted some clips on his channel of both the seminar and the sparring between Marsden and Smith. There was also a day focused on Italian Longsword (Fiore) which was at first my main interest, there are some vids of that as well on Skalls channel if you're interested.
Good film. The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight :
ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
Hi there, speaking on this topic, I would think that the polish were using the same style as the Turks, Tatars, Persians, Caucasians and Cossacks would. There is a video on YT about the siege of Malta, where it is actually reenacted. It looks that it makes use of the advantage of the curve blade, to deliver wicked angled hooked thrusts, and the push cut, with the left hand guiding the back of the blade.
yes, in the XVII century we were fascinated with oriental culture and this type of sword was called sarmatian sword as well. The same sword was used on the russian lands, Ukraine, Crymea, Romania, current Moldova and Hungary.
Plus, karabelas just look plain cool.
"Potop" the title of Polish film, watch it. :-)
The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight :
ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
Any rough estimation on when curved swords began to appear in eastern Europe?
Pozdrowienia z Polski!
W temacie wielkiej historii SZABLi polskiej zapraszam więcej jest tuu szablotłuk polski
@@szablotukpolski5201 subskrybowałem do ciebie.
Dzięki. Pozdrawiam
@@szablotukpolski5201 masz bardzo ciekawe filmiki.
hello sir easton.. i'm a fan of ur channel and swords in general. i'm just wondering where do u usually get ur sabers for training and antiques? which blacksmiths did u go? thx
What's the difference between a saber and a scimitar?
May I ask you to cover what knowledge you have about Russian swords. Possibly featuring a Shashka if you might possess one. With a please and a thanks anyhow.
Polish sabres are probably the most effective fighting blade in history, its most comfy and universal blade, for cutting , thrust.. maneuverability with sabre is ennormus, you can easly defeat enemy with any other type of singlehanded blade weapon even if you not master-skilled with sabre
What about the dragons
Paweł Andonis Gawralidis Dobrzański herbu Leliwa
what dragons? the only thing which I may think of by "dragon" name, was a guy on horse with a pistol ...
so?
...
@@paweandonisgawralidisdobrz2522 witaj, widzę że jesteś widzem Shadiversity. Ale co ze smokami?
I think you may have your work cut out up against a Rapier.
I don't know if they are still on UA-cam, but there were some videos that were digitally formatted of early 20th century Russian officers training in cross cutting.
Thanks for the comment! - Richard Marsden.
Hi man :-)
Is it true that the Polish sabres were made of "cold steel"? What does it mean?
How does it differ from Tulwars?
I ve watched a few of these cross cutting polish fencing videos and since Ive never practiced fencing professionally, only trained a little with people who were in Clubs, Im not sure about my own judgement. But it seems to me as if these "Cross Cutters" were badly neglecting their defense. Am I right?
There is no guarded stance from which they launch attacks. Instead they go into measure completely uncovered.
what type of french sabre just that Matt?
Regarding your book, I know it's basically been a year (literally, to the day) since you uploaded this and much could have changed but: 1) I'm Polish 2) I've studied translations 3) I practise HEMA myself a little and I could try and help you with the book by translating it piece by piece, a little, or maybe the bits that interest you the most. I can't offer a full translation due to lack of time, but still, write me up if you'd want that ;)
so interesting, is there some influence of sword design even going back to Middle eastern times? ancient Poland? .. bearing in mind how good Poles are on horses? archery etc?
I believe that some Turkish sources would be worth to look into. Polish saber and overally swordsmanship were heavily influenced by the Tatars.
I think that one of the most characteristic trait of a Polish sabre was a thumb guard, which improved controll over the blade.
Turks best know Polish saber at Vienna in 1683
Gotta say that the one you have in your hand is a pretty heavy and quite a big one... it's quite strange (shape-apart) - is it DOUBLE-EDGED?...
i was shown polish szabla in poland some years back. The guy Who showed me talked a lot about a thumb ring on the polish szabla. He had some specific techniques with it. do you know more?
kuntaosilat sweden The weird thing about those rings is Starzewski talks about it being for the index finger.
Could You please elaborate a bit about why use of distance in Cross technique seems strange for you? It's very interesting.
Well, in most documented historical fencing styles distance is very important - the attacker will start out of measure (beyond hitting distance), move into distance as they attack, either with a lunge or with a passing step, and then either keep moving closer or move back out of measure, either straight back or at a tangent. It is unusual for historical fencing manuals to recommend staying at hitting distance for more than one or two actions, because it is the most dangerous distance to be at. In the systems I work with that would be considered bad and something that beginners often do. Yet when I watch the above mentioned videos I see people being taught to stand in hitting distance and exchange dozens of blows, without any real into or out of 'measure'. That runs contrary to every style of historical fencing I have personally studied. The exceptions would be sporting/duelling systems like the German mensur or British sporting singlestick, which is a test of skill and not really a combat system. That's not to say that this was not done in old Polish sabre fencing, but if it was, then it is highly unusual and I would want to see the documentary support for it. I fear that it may be due to stage fencing training rather than historical research.
Would you like a Hungarian book about Hungarian sabres written in Hungarian?
Would probably look great next to the Polish one.....
Here in Hungary we don't need to reconstruct the traditional military sabre fencing method, we were fortunate enough to have preserved it.
We even have some schools in Poland.
Now that I am checking, we even have one school in London, lol.
www.fencing-london.co.uk/en/home/
This club seems to be a modern sport or classical fencing one? I'm sorry to say that these methods are not very similar to earlier centuries. No more than modern foil is like 17th century rapier anyway.
@@scholagladiatoria Nah, we do both, modern sport fencing and traditional (cavalry) sabre.
We follow the fencing methods from Military officers, the origin of our school dates back to the 18th century.
We strive to be good with the modern sport fencing method as well as with the traditional military fencing method.
Tho if we go further back in history, as in the late medieval period, then there might certainly be a difference, but what we do, at least here in Hungary, is the actual method with which sabre combat was fought in the 18th and 19th century.
I didn't even know we had a school in London affiliated with us, so I do not know how closely they follow the combat sabre methods.
@@scholagladiatoria PS: I am not trying to say that our method is the only true and real out there. I just know that our organization had an unbroken chain of teachers and students dating back to the start of the 19th century when combat training for sabre fencing was still an integral part of the military.
In my opinion the best option would be just to see physically for yourself. I can't vouch for the guys in London, I don't know them, we have people who prefer traditional sabre and other who prefer sports sabre, but I think a short visit wouldn't hurt.
In the end it's always good to be open minded, as someone who watches your videos I am a person who has a high opinion of you and I think you certainly know what you are doing.
If you'd ever happen to be in Budapest for any reason, I'd be more then happy for you to come around as in the end we have a shared passion and I am sure we could learn from each other.
I'm Polish. I'd like to learn about the weapons my ancestors used.
scholagladiatoria A questioncame to my mind that you might be able to answer with your broader historical knowledge. What is the rationale by which the Longsword/Buckler and Shortsword/Messer got replaced by the Rapier and why did the saber replace the Rapier. Or did it happen like that at all...what is the simplified story of bladed weapons 1000 to 1914?
In a museum in Rotenberg ob der Tauber, I saw an exhibit of a Polish soldier's equipment. In addition to the curais with the eagle feather "wings" there was a long straight sword that was probably about 5 feet long. It seemed to me that it would be too long for use on foot but that it might be used from horseback as a sort of one handed lance. Either that or as a rapier on steroids.
This what you are talking about is called 'koncerz'. It was used on horseback against foot soldier and cavalry. It was about 2 meters long and was used to pierce an armour..
Yeah. The "koncerz" weapon type was used to thrust and pierce enemy cuirasses, kill horses etc - on foot it was quite useless because of its length and the fact that it didn't have sharp edges for cuttting.
Polish winged hussars I used a lance (or short carbine), sabers, koncerz (or palas), guns. Koncerz is a long rapier (1.6m -1.8 m) to kill sitting on a horse lying by the prick of a soldier in the head or in the chamber of the heart. It is a long, thin and supple weapon triangular. Koncerz is used instead of lance handle on the front of the saddle.Was based kocerz then handle the front of the horse's saddle. Koncerz easily broke
Jędrek o husarii - Odc. 1 - Uzbrojenie Husarza
maybe you can make video about polish hussars?
Ten mówi że nie wie za dużo polskiej szabli a ty jeszcze go o formacje wypytujesz
+Paweł Andonis Gawralidis Dobrzański herbu Leliwa.
Hahahahha!
W temacie wielkiej historii SZABLi polskiej zapraszam więcej jest tuu szablotłuk polski
Well I do read Polish and would be greatly interested in books on Polish sabre fencing. What is this book you have ?
Maybe "Cięcia prawdziwą szablą" by Polish olimpic sabre master W. Zabłocki? Many pics, many dates :D
Is it only me, who found it strange that when people are talking about saber fencing they only cover this fighting art on foot. In Eastern Europe cavalary was a very important unit, and sabers were designed mainly for horseback. Pols,Hungarians, Cossack etc had/have a long historical horse culture. Many duels were fought on horseback.
Horse back archery needs totally different skillset than just footarchery. So what I am saying is that we are missing a large part of saber fencing here.
Unfortunately to practice this part of the art you would need horses, and space, that is limiting the popularity.
Franciszek Ignacy Salezy wrote a intersting thing. I will allow myself to translate it to English:
"It appears that like hapiness have it's outside signs, who are (reflect) haracters of nations in dances,
this same react in anger has reflect in dawing a sword,
Hungarian cuts from left,
Muscovite (they call Russians like this, from name of Moscow) from above,
Turkish to himselsf,
and Pole on cross swings his sabre"
The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight : ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
A pallasch/palasz/palash is just a broadsword or backsword.
A long one
Neat stuff! If you get the chance, I would love to see a video talking about the various swords and other weapons used throughout antiquity. Especially the various types of "short-swords" that were used by the greeks and romans. That would be a really interesting video. I really enjoy your content! -Rob
I recommend -Fencing Cross Cutting Art Polish Sabre; ua-cam.com/video/7ANGHO096-Y/v-deo.html
Richard Mardsen's book is awesome
also, wanted to ask, what is the difference between palaš and backsword? (until this point I though it was just another term for the same kind of weapon...)
Not exactly, because palash (in polish "Pałasz") uses the same hilt as eastern European sabres and if you classify weapons by etymology, then 'palash' should be applied only to eastern European and Turkish broadswords.
That's why Poles call every broadsword a "pałasz", even schiavona and claymore, which is wrong if you look at etymology and derivation of broadswords and their names.
I often call palash a "straightened polish sabre", which is of course a big simplification.
This is same for Czech. Though our etomology is not always completely clear, the term "palaš" is used for late heavy cavalery straight bladed heavy sword with saber hilt. I guess this is caused by not copletely clear terminology, when we are speaking about weapons.... (for better example of this problem, take a look on polearms, or even try to translate their names into different langueages (witch reminds me, how you say "poleaxe" in polish?))
Łukasz Kos The heavy prussian cav. used palashs (german ,,Pallasch") which look not really like eastern eur. or turkish specimens.
Those are my thoughts beeing not an expert on that matter. Im more the Longsword, Messer and Rapier fencer. ^^
Blank- blade Well in terms of entymolgy word "pałasz" is older than Prussia, by circa 200 years.
Blank- blade
As I'm concern Germans use this term like Poles - to describe every straight broadsword. And they drew this word from Slaves: Poles or Hungarians.
could you give me the name of the polish sabre book please
Sure, it is 'Szabla Polska, od XV do konca XVIII wieku' by Wlodzimierz Kwasniewicz.
hey, Mat, I was just wondering if you'd been able to make any headway on this? Since it's been almost a decade, maybe they've made progress you could discuss with them in an interview?
I recommend -Fencing Cross Cutting Art Polish Sabre; ua-cam.com/video/7ANGHO096-Y/v-deo.html
Was looking around the internet trying to identify the sword my grand-Uncle gave me, he said it was from U.S. troops in India in WWI (Except there were no U.S. troops in India), then i find your channel, two days later in my featured feed what else do i see but a familiar looking sword. Thank you! Now i just need to Know what sword it is.
I second the Russian thing.
I'm also interested in how Russian/FarEasternEuropean fighters used the older European swords; longswords did not make as huge of an appearance there, as far as I know, but did, occasionally. They seem pretty quick to have adopted firearms, idk. I know there are suits of full plate similar to those in Western Europe worn occasionally, though lighter (but more layered) protection seems to have been common (lamellar in layers with other, especially in the winter).
Keep them shiny!
Polish cross cutting art seminar 2013
Polish saber ???
Dear comrades from UK, this saber is not Polish saber. The handle is wrong shape and the construction of the blade is ...I have not seen something like this before. I admire the enthusiasm and encourage to buy beter equipment, but I'm not a blacksmith :) Regards from Cracow, the capital of Polish Saber.
and more en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szabla_wz.34
Where can i find these Russian sources you speak of?
scholagladiatoria
I know that this is a controversial and very complex topic, but would you say that generally on foot straight swords are more versatile and has greater advantage (reach especially) when compared to curved swords? That the primary advantage of curved swords were for mounted fighting, against unarmored and lightly armored opponents?
Looking from history, military cultures that used swords a lot on foot like the Greeks, Romans, Early Arabs before the coming of the Turks, Gauls, Hindu Indians prior to 1000 AD and Vikings tended to use primarily straight double edged swords, while the curved cutting sword originated primarily from Central Asia, brought elsewhere by Central Asian mercenaries.
Thanks
Curved swords are much better for tip-cuts than most straight ones, so when you think about distance you must take this into account. Europe has its own lineage of curved swords starting from kopis/falcata then dussack, falchion, messer, katzbalger and all that. They were used and useful against well armored opponents, so it's all quite complicated actually.
bakters
I agree that curved swords are better at tip cuts, however most straight double edged swords that are meant for fighting lightly armored opponents on foot (gladius, khanda, viking swords, etc) are designed for cutting close to the tip anyway, and the range advantage is primarily conferred for the thrust. Why would a curved sword be useful against armored opponents? If we are to agree that the primary advantage of the curved sword was for the draw cut, and the draw cut was for the most part not very effective against metallic armor, then curved swords with their (theoretically) inferior thrusting ability would be less preferred to straight ones. The falcata/kopis was obviously different, due to the weight concentration that made it more similar to an axe, capable of powerful blunt trauma.
John Huang It's a bit easier to cut with a curved blade. Edge alignment becomes slightly easier if there is some mass behind opposing the motion forward, which automatically aligns the blade, so there is some other advantage apart from better draw-cutting performance. Besides, swords like falchions or messers were capable of delivering very strong chops too, because they were built blade-heavy.
They were not cavalry sabers, neither in use nor performance.
bakters
I see, thanks a lot that is truly informative. I still think though that cutting oriented blades were primarily meant for fighting lightly armored opponents, up to mail, because the cut was the least effective type of attack for compromising any type of metallic armor, compared to thrust and blunt trauma.
Another major advantage of single edged swords (most curved swords) was the fact that they were generally easier and quicker to made than double edged straight swords, and I believe during the Medieval period the messer and falchion were associated more with the lower class, although there were some high end examples of these found as well.
I believe this was a huge boon for armies in which equipment has to be mass-produced, certainly Chinese armies from the Han Dynasty period onward equipped practically all of their soldiers with various types of Daos. Plus the cut was the more instinctive move during the stress of battle, so if you have large numbers of conscripts with fairly low level of training, it made a lot of sense to arm them with cutting oriented blades.
John Huang Regarding "cut being ineffective against metal armor". Good maile will withstand both cuts and thrusts. Even couched lance may not go through.
But a cut does not need to go through maile to be effective. A sword cut will deliver substantial amount of blunt trauma to the flesh underneath. Sword blade "bites" into maile so it's actually very efficient at transferring energy through it.
A thrust would be generally less effective at delivering blunt trauma through maile, because the point moves only as fast as the hand, while in a cut the tip would travel much faster. But an acute point will slide in between rings, and maybe even burst some, so it also works, albeit differently.
It can also slide along plate reinforcements and find the gaps between them, while a cut will generally be rendered ineffective even by a fairly incomplete plate coverage.
Was there anything distinctive about Polish sabres themselves or were they basically normal sabres?
+Robert R
Depends on how you define "normal sabre." Sabers in general vary a lot depending on time period and region.
That said, Polish sabers tend to be fairly deeply curved, very clearly designed for cutting. They usually have hatchet points and will sometimes but not always feature a yelman - that is to say a raised false edge. The hilts tend to be fairly simple, with knuckle-bows and sometimes thumb-rings but no side bars or the like. Some had these very distinctive sorta L-shaped guards with all straight angles that I don't think appear on any other type of sword I've ever seen.
Curious on what you think about Chanbara tournaments.
I don't really understand the point of them, but they look fun :-)
Is it true that Polish sabre, beside giving more dangerous techniques possibilities to a fighter would break that famous katana, probably thanks to the shape and kind of metal?
Breaking one combat sword with another seems very unlikely unless a lot of things go wrong at the same time. It's a matter of physics.
migkillerphantom I agree, 1 is sure (physics) if we hit any 2 stics, 2 legs (football players, karate) swords, sabres each other the only 1 will break - it's such principle of physics. Which - yes, it depends IMO on structure/metal and shape.
Andy Reasoner The forces involved are generally not enough to break another sword, simple as that. There can be fatigue failures, bending, chipping, but actually breaking most swords on purpose with another sword would be fairly difficult. Matt even did a video, trying to break a rapier by smashing it with another sword. He only managed to deform it after many attempts.
migkillerphantom Thank You, I believe it, it's very probable without watching this film. Have You information about basic books on fighting using Polish sabre?
I don't. All I have is a WIP mechanical engineering degree
any progress on those interviews?
scholagladiatoria This particular model, or should I say type, was used by Polish cavalry in early 20s of XX century ;)
And, as a reenactor (actually not reenactor but English has no word suitable) of this period, I can assure it s perfectly fine to use this weapon to show what you have shown.
Yano what type of sword is he using as an example?
billyboy3404 French sabre of late XIX beginning of early XXth century.
Still waiting for the interview! 😄
I recommend -Fencing Cross Cutting Art Polish Sabre; ua-cam.com/video/7ANGHO096-Y/v-deo.html
sieniawskifencing channel. the master of polish sabre. his videos have english subtitles.
The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight ...
ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
the russian use at of the sabre around that time was a hybrid of the more modern european polish and hungarian etc method merged with the much older cossack method, stemming from the time when peter the great decided russia was to backwards and needed to catch up with the new technologies and ideas emerging from the rest of europe, especially in military matters.
TeamLamellarArmorIn16Centry
If I recall correctly:
In the battle of waterloo the french heavy cavalery used straight sabre and the english used a curved sabre. If you look at the wounds inflicted by these weapons, a lot of people seem to agree that the straght sabre was more deadly and the curved sabre inflicted more wounds..
Any thoughts on this?
Actually the heavy cavalry of both sides used straight swords and the light cavalry of both sides used curved swords. The French were taught to thrust more and the British to cut more (this is a big generalisation!). Therefore this was used as an example of 'cut vs. thrust', which I cover in some of my other videos and is very well addressed in 'Swordsmen of the British Empire', which I contributed to. In short, yes thrusts are usually more deadly, but cuts are generally safer to do and can have more immediate stopping power.
How so does it have more stopping power? i can understand what you are saying but if you just kill the guys he wont move ? So would you prefer a trusting weapon or a curved weapon?
kidage22 I've addressed this in other videos - it is very rare for a person to die *instantly* from being thrust through. It doesn't happen with knives now and it didn't happen with swords, spears and arrows then. It often doesn't happen even with bullets. There are many examples featured in Swordsmen of the British Empire of a person getting thrust through the body and cutting down their opponent before dying.
thank you for your info!
Shashka swordfighting seems to still be around as a martial art in the caucasus.
From my experience I know, that everyone in Great Britain knows a few polish words. One tine I've been drive by bus in Manchester. And because of humpon the road this bus jumped suddenly. So I used one polish word which is usually used in the situation like this. It means - "kurwa". Bad word (once it mean - "bitch", now means nothing) , but very useful when you are angry to express your anger. In Poland, of course, I don't use this one in public situations. And if... rather accidentally. But it was England. Bus full of English people. So I thought, nobody knows what I said... Huge mistake! One old gentleman told me: "No "kurwa"! No"kurwa"! This is England! Speak in English! Next time you should say "O f..k"! Until this time I'm e more careful when I'm visiting your beautiful country! By the way, it is really old polish word. Once I found the graffiti in one of churches in Poland, made in probably XVI century! Somebody called in this one, his neighbor wife - "kurwa". Very old and traditional...
W temacie wielkiej historii SZABLi polskiej zapraszam więcej jest tuu szablotłuk polski
about that book - it will take time and effort but i do love ur vids and i do willing to translate it for you - it will juyst take time - if we can take it page by page or larger parts by larger parts
thx very much for this video. something about polish sabers en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szabla
As far, as I know, Bohemia was more influenced by the rest of the Empire, than by Poland in 15th century..
Well no. In 14th century - yes . But after "union" ( which was really peacefull conquest of Lithuania ), Poland was bigger, more powerfull, richer, and polish became a lingua franca for countries east from Poland.
The same applied to XVc. Poland. I can't stop marveling how fashion, weapons and culture change in Poland between XV and XVIc. It's like comparing XVc. 'German' lands to XVIc. Ottoman Empire.
The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight : ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
50/5000 I'm sorry, but you do not show polish saber
W temacie wielkiej historii SZABLi polskiej zapraszam więcej jest tuu szablotłuk polski
I am Polish.
.. if anyone would like to hear about the great history polish saber . . .. szablotłuk polski
communists did all they could to kill polish traditions but surprisigly Polish Saber came back as a Symbol and a Legend. One of a kind in Europe. :)
Polish sabre&Japanese katana
Jan Osik being half polish and half japanese, I can get behind this :D
Christopher Yonemitsu Katana is great. Im a big fan of Japanese martial arts.
The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight : ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
I you want. I can translate this book for you.
The oldest instructions about the Polish saber fight from the beginning of the 19th century are here:
ua-cam.com/video/S8SauT2DfuY/v-deo.html
No need to a-Pole-ogize, Matt.
I recommend -Fencing Cross Cutting Art Polish Sabre; ua-cam.com/video/7ANGHO096-Y/v-deo.html
OMG Matt Easton suggests that people are supposed to take into consideration and appreciate something Russian in order to address something Polish?! I guess he hasn't got much experience with Polish nationalism yet... lucky guy. (On the other hand since he's Western European Poles might kinda tolerate that, if a Russian would suggest that, they would all start ranting and spitting)
HUSARIA BEST KAWALERIA IN THE WORLD
W temacie wielkiej historii SZABLi polskiej zapraszam więcej jest tuu szablotłuk polski
talk, talk, talk
W temacie wielkiej historii SZABLi polskiej zapraszam więcej jest tuu szablotłuk polski
How can people who do not know Polish somewhere in the USA or Scotland reconstruct Polish sabre? Better learn from Sieniawski and the Polish guys!
si lafuyang There is now Daria Izdebska's English translation of Starzewski's treatise. I don't remember where I downloaded mine.
Husars kis him i as
Say „pawasz” not palasz,
ł = english w
Ten film to totalne dno zarówno pod względem merytorycznym jak i wiadomości historycznych. Pokazywać jako "polską szablę", turecką "Jatagankę", czy wzorowaną na niej kropka w kropkę niemiecką "meklęburkę" z przełomu XVIII i XIX wieku jest tym samym, co porównywać rower do sportowego Ferrari!
Luzuj majty.
Chyba kolega nie zna angielskiego, nie rozumie ani słowa z tego, co ów człek gada i to właśnie to sprawia, że potrzebna mu pewna specjalna maść na pewien specjalny ból...
jatagankę to masz w dupie łosiu
Autor na wstępie zaznacza, że:
Primo: o polskiej szabli wie niewiele a filmik tworzy tylko ze względu na powtarzające się prośby,
Secundo: trzymana przez niego broń nie jest polską szablą bo takiej nie posiada.
Stwierdza także, że polski styl walki szablą był unikalny i dostosowany do walki zakrzywionym ostrzem (w przeciwieństwie do zachodniego stylu walki szablą, który kopiował techniki walki prostym ostrzem).
Na koniec wspomina o działających grupach, starających się odtworzyć tradycyjne polskie techniki na podstawie dostępnych źródeł oraz metody prób i błędów (ze względu na małą ilość informacji w tychże źródłach). Wyraża nadzieję, że w przyszłości uda mu się nagrać wywiad z członkami takich grup.
Taki mały skrót dla kolegi, który komentuje ewidentnie nie wiedząc co filmik zawiera.
miroe33 Wystarczająco dobrze znam angielski, by w pełni świadomie komentować treść tego gniota reklamującego prywatną szkółkę machania plastikowymi replikami broni białej, oczywiście nie za darmo. To po pierwsze, a po drugie; Jeśli ktoś chce dowiedzieć się czego naprawdę konkretnego na temat polskiej szabli i polskiej sztuce bojowego fechtunku krzyżowego to polecam udział w seminariach organizowanych przez p. Janusza Sieniawskiego i jego synów, poświęconych tym zagadnieniom. Zaznaczam jednakże, iż seminaria te są płatne i w ich trakcie odbywają się również zajęcia praktyczne. Innymi słowy, można nie tylko przyswoić masę bardzo konkretnych wiadomości historycznych, lecz także "poczuć na własnej skórze" jak to drzewiej w Polsce szablą robiono.
And that's when he left Ukraine behind. Matt, you're such a bad person ;)