Yea... I've once actually been party to a conversation where I had to explain to someone that when I said "Rapier Wit" it wasn't in reference to wit which was "More rapey."
CrazyToastie - I don't think it is really possible to differentiate rapiers as being military or civilian in purpose, in 99% of cases. We could guess that the heavier ones are more for war and the lighter ones more for civilian life, but we are only ever guessing - in some cases a person might only own one rapier and that would be their sword in all aspects of life. There were broader and narrower ones, longer and shorter ones. Most real antique rapiers are quite stiff, regardless of their length or width - and of course their narrow width means they encounter less resistance entering a target than broader types of sword.
I think people frequently mistaken military style cut-and-thrust swords that have similar protective guard with rapiers. The former were mentioned in your previous videos as basket-hilt swords which function the same way as earlier one-handed arming swords. Rapiers on the other hand, were more of a civilian weapon though some sources suggest it would be fine to use it in the battlefield ( and some sources were against that). In movie Alatriste, 17th century soldiers did carry rapier into the battlefield.
Tyler Lalonde One may consider linguistic distinctions that we have as modern English speakers that may not have existed in period. That is to say, (if I recall correctly) the demarcation between a side-sword and a rapier is a relatively contemporary one. Though I would not suggest you tell Georg Silver that the rapier qualifies as a battlefield weapon. :)
Tyler Lalonde The same thing basically, the swords that had very similar characteristics as medieval arming swords with addition of more elaborate hilts. They are mostly associated with military swords of the 16 and 17th century while rapiers were mostly used outside battlefield.
ive seen some 'military' rapiers they had wider blades not as wide as a broad or long sword still narrow and thin but it was explained to me that the wider blade was harder to break so more suitable for battlefield use. i dont know much about rapiers myself but thats what i was told
I think the misconception comes from the difference in the balancing. The rapier can feel a lot lighter than other swords even if it isnt. Also it just looks far lighter, esspecialy the ones with fancy and fragile looking handles it think.
scholagladiatoria Yeah, I know. Which is pretty cool. I hear that in the book it's based on, they actually discuss the tactics written in those treatises as well.
Could you do a video on the difference between the early estocs and tuck swords, and later renaissance rapiers? Rapiers and small swords are rare enough in modern reproductions but you basically never see estocs or tucks except from custom creators. Many people think they're the same kind of weapon. But from what I understand, they're actually polar opposites in terms of design, with the 13th and 14th century estocs being very tough, stiff blades with squared or triangular cross-sections designed to punch through and beat on armoured enemies, whilst the 17th and 18th century rapiers were flat bladed, lighter, and more flexible, with much more cutting capability and designed specifically for combating lightly armoured or unarmoured enemies. Would be neat to see them compared professionally.
my personal preference was the colichmarde which was the gap covering between the rapier and small sword. because it has the length of the rapier and can parrie a heavy sword like the triangular cross section small sword.
I've been seriously thinking of taking up fencing for a hobby and have always been interested in collecting real swords and armor. I came across your channel and have learned a lot more in the past week or so about swords than in my entire life. I'm hooked and subbed. This was particularly interesting as I was considering buying a rapier for my first real historical sword, but your channel has made me think that a sabre would be the better choice for my tastes. Love the videos and keep'em coming. Thanks :)
This is really very educational. Told me a lot about rapiers i didn't know. For at start, I thought modern fencing foils were basically toned-down rapiers. Keep the videos coming! :-D
Espada ropera - sword of a dress as the original name tells it was weapon that could be comfortably worn as part of dressing code of time and same time being effective general type of weapon with some civility in it since it was not made for hacking off limbs. Just weapon one would expect see at dawning of age of enlightment and quite ideal weapon in La Verdadera Destreza for its greater reach over side-sword.
I've always loved that in the Three Musketeers (the 90's one with Charlie Sheen and Tim Curry, I haven't seen the new one) the only muskets used in the entire movie are by the mercenaries that pin down Athos and the sniper that tries to kill the king.
The rapier is relatively faster due to the way it is used. A broadsword for example would be used in a hacking or swinging motion. A rapier is a thrusting weapon with a bit of a slashing action. A thrust is faster than a swing and can penetrate deeper into the body. Look at the last dueling scene in the movie Rob Roy; a rapier vs a scottish claymore.
Very good point. They also feel even heavier than they are when you hold them outstretched. There is a nice rapier in the Royal Armouries with an extendible blade. It was made to bypass laws passed to limit sword length.
Finally somebody does his homework.I wouldd expect no less from your Chanel... "rapiers where used in battle" preaty much all battles where the Spanish " Tercios de Flandes" where involved in.thank you. cheers..
Very informative vid, man. Its really enlightening. Will you be doing a video on the different rapier systems? specifically between Italian rapier and spanish rapier fencing? thanks
Just a note: During the 17th C in England, there was a shorter, simpler sword referred to the 'Tuck' or pikeman's tuck that was supposedly the sidearm for pikemen, not the rapier. A rapier would be risky to carry in a pike block as the longer blade would hit the legs of fellow pike when you close up to present point of pike. For muskets, they'd keep spaced out more due to the powder flash and risk of apostles or flask flashing (spark getting into a poorly sealed flask or apostle = ignition), so the rapier wasn't such an issue... although it was sometimes necessary to keep one hand on the hilt when marching. References can be found in the regimental records from the period, and from the stores records for the New Model Army.
The rapier is long for the same reason a lightly armored soldier would use a longer spear than a heavier armored one, I presume. The word "rapier" does come from french rapière, from spanish espada ropera, or roughly "sword for cloth", as opposed to armor. Also, I imagine that, considering how slow to reload muskets were, musketeers might have used these more than their muskets, in war, but specially in other scenarios, like when acting as guards and such. Carrying a musket arround all day is not very practical, after all. Edit: I would argue that, despite their obvious differences, they're comparable to katanas (in latter ages) in what they are for. War sidearms and non armored personal defence combat weapons, in times where duelling was very common. Well, I think they're very comparable, more so than katana and longsword. I wonder which would fulfill that role better. Something tells me the rapier, though.
Jonathan Allen Well, you see, I speak all of those languages. The origin I gave, which I did not make up myself, but read it somewhere, I believe makes more sence because the spanish word is the most direct meaning to word. "Rasper" is quite a longer stretch than the fact it's a weapon used wih clothes. Ropera and Rapière are quite similar words.
Altrantis Actually guys, nobody knows the origin of the word rapier for sure. It appears in several languages at about the same time. So the jury is still out on this one and has been for a long time.
Note that most musketeers of the famous French guards corp did not actually carry rapiers, they carried side-swords instead, since in military conflict the versatility of being able to deal disabling cuts were thought of as being much more important.
John Huang Hm, but the distinction is iffy. Enough that in spanish the word for both swords is the same. It's like the distinction between longsword and a 2 hander, it's hard to say when one starts and the other ends.
The sword carried by the Musketeers during the 17t century had a broad non-tapering blade about 36-37 inches long and about 1.6 inches wide, definitely a cutting weapon and not by any definition a rapier, they were sometimes even single edged and slightly curved. Later period musketeers (18th century) devolved into a ceremonial role, and here they often carried an epee with blades of similar length and about 1.3 inches wide, still rather too broad-bladed to be called a true rapier.
Interesting take on the rapier. Rapiers have been my personal focus for some time. I am always amused by people who have hold my schlager or my live steel rapier commenting how heavy it is (especially from modern fencing backgrounds). I do however respectfully differ on the effectiveness of the cuts, while concussive blows are limited in most rapiers, a draw cut is an extremely damaging to soft tissue. While the light tip cuts are often the subject of hollywood fodder (Zorro movies especially) the under-valued draw cuts are actually quite damaging.
It is interestin that the straight translation of smallsword to Finnish is "suit sword" (pukumiekka), which clearly states that it was used by noble people to carry, also for decorative use.
I've always wondered which would be more superior, not saying that one is better than the other 100% of the time, but in terms of form and sword details, which would be the more efficient sword: A Rapier with fencing or a chinese Jian with the tai chi/kung fu form.
Hey Man Love the video, just wondering What would be the BEST overall 1 handed cutting weapon? (maybe an axe as it can also do SOME damage to a heavy armored knight?) Keep up the interesting videos!
I wouldn't have thought it's a very good choice of sword for cavalry. Most cavalry sword work is hacking type cuts rather than thrusts...hence the cavalry saber. Plus the long blade on a rapier would make it a bit more difficult to maneuver from side to side on a horse. That said it's my favorite sword type still :-)
There's also another good point that if you ignore the elegant "basket" on a rapier, you can still see that many still have the Cross shape of arming swords
The rapier was optimized more for dueling and self defense than for warfare. While its thinner blade would be ineffective in fending off blows from heavier weapons, the main reason is the fighting style behind the rapier. Delivering a thrust is very linear, and a linear fighting style would be disadvantageous on a chaotic battlefield, especially on foot, where one would need to fend off multiple foes from multiple directions.
i as a blacksmith and historic rapier fencer might ad that most historic weapons of the size of rapier, or any other one handet sword come in weightwise just arount 2 pounds... my first selfmade rapier was a pappenheimer and in fencing class we all called it just "the monster" because it was just realy long, wide and heavy,... it was at 1785gramm so just over 3 and a half pounds... so please keep in mind that all weapons we nowadays use for historic fencing are a fair bit havyer than the real thing, simply becaus a sharpend blade of the same dimecions as a blunt one is between 20 and 50 % less material!
Interesting how Matt seems to unconsciously keep that point dead on the camera for most of the video. He very obviously perceives that rapier as a weapon instead of a prop. I've been learning foil with a local club for just a few months, but my goal is to graduate up to rapier & dagger at some point. Our instructor has a rapier similar to Matt's, and I was shocked at the weight, but can't wait to try it.
Were military rapiers shorter than most other types of rapier? I'm asking because, unless I'm mistaken, the longer blades are usually more flexible, and so they lose their thrusting potential against an opponent with some degree of body protection, whereas the longer blades are more beneficial in dueling as a sport, or against someone in minimal or no protection.
the entire point was armor. the idea was to get into the gaps on armor. wgaf about 'cutting' when you've jammed a spike through the visor - and thus eyeball -of a dickhead in plate armor?
Just wanted to say: really awesome channel, much enjoying your vids. Also what are your opinions on the degree of flex found in modern replica blades? i have a Hanwei rapier blade (sharp version) and found it way too flexible to be truly effective for thrusts. After shortening the blade by some 4 inches i got significant improvement in thrusting. I believe the originals must've been more rigid. Sorry if you've already covered this topic.
Thanks. Yes it is tricky to get a practice blade that is flexible enough to be safe and stiff enough to simulate a real blade. The Hanwei are generally too floppy. The Darkwood and Danelli blades seem really good in my experience.
This site says that the rapier is of Spanish origin. This is a mistake, the 17th-century dueling sword descends from the Italian "spada de lato", the Spanish rapier swords is a later version. En este sitio se dice que el rapier es de origen español. Esto es un error, la espada de duelo del siglo XVII desciende de la "spada da lato" italiana, la espada ropera española es una versión posterior.
That always cracked me up about the Three Musketeers...you never see them using muskets. Wouldn't they have fought as line infantry in combat with muskets instead of singly, usually with swords, as you always see them doing in the movies?
It seems to me weird that a rapier, which has a narrow blade for thrusting, would have a wire basket hilt (or whatever you'd call that). Wouldn't other rapier pokes go right through it?
Only if your doing it wrong. Those are called swept hilt because they have sweeping rings. There are also papenheimer and cup hilt rapiers which have a dish or cup respectively that protect you from this but if you get stabbed through the guard you are generally doing something wrong. The problem we run into is that a person will raise their hand too much while thrusting and run their own hand onto the opponents point.
I considered that too, and it's probably why the rapier hilt evolved into the clam and cup style. The swept wire style, I believe, is a transition from quillons, nails, finger-rings and knuckle-bows to eventually the cup hilt.
You forgot mentioning (as I'm sure you mention in other videos) that cutting with it is also difficult because of the balancing point being so close to the hand. The fact that you do not have enough angular momentum and energy to transmit to the target makes the forces involved smaller, even if the blade is thinner and very sharp. You can always slash with it a little, but pure pulling/friction cuts less efficiently than a blow with a little pull (for curved and asymmetrical blades) of than a pure blow. Unfortunately I do not know of a scientifically good way to measure such cut capabilities, but using ballistic gel (historically unrealistic, and more frictiony as a material when compared to humans or fresh kills) and a programmable robotic arm could suffice.
Well... kind of. The rapier was pretty much contemporary with the matchlock and wheelock firearms; gunpowder, cannon, and handcannons (and primitive early matchlocks) predate the rapier, not the other way around. the rapier was discarded not because it was replaced by guns, but because it became cumbersome to use with the more modern flintlock guns and against the smallsword and saber, which were used by officers in conjunction with volley-firing, close-ordered massed infantry formations whose close order movements made longer-bladed swords such as the rapier something of a liability.
True but really they were all variations of the rapier, one handed, short light thrusting weapons. They never went back to duel handed broadsword style weapons.
Smallswords were heavily influenced by the rapier, yes. If I'm not mistaken, however, the saber is/was an weapon of eastern or far eastern origin; reference the Cossack sabers, Tartar swords and the Indian tulwars, the former being more or less contemporary to the rapier, the latter predating it by a bit if memory serves. I could be mistaken, however.
Gungriffen The broadsword is a single, not doublehanded weapon, and the rapier was of not much use on the battlefield, the swords carried being the broadsword or backsword and later, the sabre, particularly by cavalry. Variations on the backsword were carried by some cavalry units until WW1, and the double-edged broadsword was and still is the Officer's sidearm in Highland units, although not seeing much use after the Victorian era.
I suspect most RPG authors, knowingly or through ignorance, use “rapier” when they are really thinking “smallsword”. Also, the word “light” in an RPG may often be simply a keyword that indicates what rules apply to the weapon rather than intending to suggest anything about its weight. (And when RPGs list weights for weapons, they are usually off anyway. Sometimes because the “weight” is meant to indicate not just weight but also size. Sometimes because they just get it wrong.)
Agreed. Although in many cases the RPG author, having an interest in these things, does know the difference. But they are writing for an audience that doesn’t, so they use their audience’s language. And there’s nothing wrong with that. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people act like the technical meaning of a word in one context overrides the common meaning outside that context.
Actually, in Dungeons and Dragons and all its bastard children (pathfinder, Dragonlance, Dragonstrike) the Rapier is ALWAYS a Medium Weapon. It Just has a weapon feature that allows you to use it with the feat Weapon Finesse if you have it. and weapon finese allows you to use dexterity instead of strenght to attack with light weapons. altho its true description is "use dexterity to attack with light weapons OR the Rapier." since the Rapier is a Medium weapon that is an oddball in that allowing weapon finesse. so yeah, rapier is NOT light in RPG's its just so specialized it can use a feat no other weapon can use in its weight class. Its also As long as the 42 inch longsword in the graphics of the computer dnd games.
ZarlanTheGreen My ADnD2 and DnD 3 books have the rapier Weigh 3.0 pounds. more than 2.2 so yeah... if anything, is heavier than the real ones in the RPG. :P
ZarlanTheGreen Longswords (40 inch, thick blade) stand at about 4.5 lbs, and Bastard swords weigh a solid 6 lbs, and the greatsword a very reasonable 10, seeing how its 3 to 4 feet long in this game. Short swords are 2.5, and daggers 1.5 with a quarterstaff being 4.0, as there steel reinforced. a spear weights about 5.0 with the Mace weighing 6.0, club 5.0, and Flail 6.0. with the hammer weighing 4.0 and the warhammer 8.0 (its huge) And the handaxe being 6.0, Waraxe 10.0 (it has a feet-long axehead) but yeah, rapier Sits neatly inbetween the Short Sword and Long Sword in terms of weight, and in game it does short sword ammounts of damage, with a higher chance of a deadly strike than the regular short sword. DnD is very well researced. dont bundle it with the stupid JRPG's that make the rapiers into feathers with pointy blades.
ZarlanTheGreen i must Appologize, i did not have my books on hand on last comment so the weights are from neverwinter nights, which is a non-accurate computer game based on dnd. for the sake of brevity, let me list crucial weighs right now. Dagger (Tiny Weapon) .8 lb Short Sword (light Weapon) 1.3 lb. Rapier (Medium Weapon) 2.1 lb. Longsword (Medium Weapon) 4 lb. Bastard Sword (Medium Weapon) 6 lb. Great Sword (Heavy Weapon) 8 lb. tho it IS worth noting that the bastard sword can only be used with 2 hands UNLESS you have Exotic weapons proficiency, which assumes special training. Also, the greatsword is 6 feet long. the bastard sword is 4. so yes, the Rapier is lighter than the long sword. Thats because the Long Sword in the game is 43 inches long blade, 1.6 inches wide, with a wide guard and thick blade. Such a longsword would measure 1.8 kilos, i would think. In Comparison the rapier is the 39 inch, 1 inch wide rapier, and a spritely 2.2, but still not a "light weapon" at elast when gam,e mechanics are concerned. hell, i have NOT found a valid reason to ever use a rapier, other than maybe a cool referee that allows you to do 10 feet lunges with it, otherwise its fairly useless and supplanted by the short sword in every way.
As far as I understand, a rapier + shield will be a great combination for dueling, right? We get the reach of a two handed sword with the protection of a shield. And it's good for thrusting which is the easier way of conflicting lethal wounds. It looses cutting but cutting isn't the preferred way as it's difficult to kill people with a cutting move so that's a fare trade off, isn't it?
Well, it depends on what weapon your opponent is using. For a lot of swords, yes, a shield in the offhand would be very useful. However, against another weapon with fine point control, a parrying dagger is better, as a shield obstructs your view to an extent, and a sword with excellent point control can 'sneak' around that obstruction. And yes, this information does come from one of the historical UA-camrs (forget which).
I'm beginning to think that the term "rapier" is misleading. First of all, it has a lot of baggage that was picked up in old hollywood movies. Also, when I see what are termed rapiers on the antique arms auction sites, or in books such as Castle's Schools & Masters of Fencing, I find a vast range of blade geometries & hilt styles. This may reflect the fact that a great many of these weapons were custom made, or done in small batches, as manufacturing on an industrial scale was not possible until late in period. Another point I'd like to make is that we have no first hand knowledge of what these weapons can do other than from accidents with simulators. I've talked to two people who were foolish enough to fence with un-tipped practice rapiers. In both instances the bated tip punctured the clothing & skin easily before entering the body. Bear in mind that the blades of practice swords, including my own Darkwood rapier, are rated at a rockwell hardness of 50 - 53. They are quite flexible. Not so for period weapons. In cases where museums list blade rockwell hardness values I have seen many with values around 60 - 66 while some are as high as 80. Also, a few of the blades even had differential tempering which allows for a very hard edge with a more flexible core. This would make for an excellent weapon to penetrate the billowy, yet heavy, layered clothing of the period that would tend to resist cuts. Finally, as Matt so aptly pointed out, there is as much, or more, metal in a rapier as there is in a typical arming sword. The solid forte & hilt allow parries than are not possible with a plain cross. The hilt itself is three weapons in one. The pommel acts as a mace, the guard is a handy brass knuckle & the quillions allow the sword to be swung as a pick. You can also hold the weapon in the half sword position to block & spear. I believe all this reflects the rapier's origin as a practical all round weapon. The Italian masters never used the term "rapier". Many specified only that the sword/spada have a point and two edges. They assumed the scholar was already familiar with cutting techniques so they strove only to teach a thrust centric variation on what appeared to be a standard cut & thrust style. Di Grassi, in particular, taught the "spada" as the basis for a martial system that also included the use of the dagger, cloak, buckler, targa, rotella, two handed sword, & five types of pole arms. I know this post is a lengthy detour off topic but in reading the other posts I've had to reevaluate my own attitudes towards the rapier as a civilian only weapon.
The misconception about weight is understandable: the average movie sword is usually some manner of broadsword or longsword with a wide blade, typically swung about in dramatic Flynning by a strong-looking actor wearing fur and armor. A rapier is long and slender, used by actors who look more appropriate on the dance floor.
You briefly touch on the size of the weapon in this video, but I was wondering if there was a common length for rapiers. I've seen some that peaked around 48 inches, but then I've seen other historical examples that were noticeably smaller.
Very difficult to give an average for all rapiers, because it depends on region and time period. And even in the same region and time period you find a lot of variation of length, width, weight etc. But in the classic rapier era of c.1570-1650 I would say that blades from 37-45 inches were common. Shorter or longer than that was relatively uncommon. It is no coincidence that most good quality replicas have blades of 42-45 inches, as that seems to have been a popular length range.
Thanks for the info! I was assuming that to be the case since, as you noted, so many modern examples are within that length range, but was never really sure about it myself.
Which treatises? I've read DiGrasse and Capo Ferro. Both are strictly civilian. While there are heavier and wider blades with similar hilts that were used for military purposes, but to so they are rapiers isn't quite accurate.
Kia Ora from New Zealand, good sir... I really like listening to your views on swordsmanship, and would appreciate if you can to hear your views at some point on some of the fight scenes in the Mask of Zorro and the Legend of Zorro movies. I would like to know what kind of sword and sword-fighting style is optimal for taking on multiple opponents, as Zorro often does. Kind Regards, KB. :o)
The only Rapier that comes to mind that cuts really well is the German Flamberg Rapier, I've seen a couple of those floating about and many Rapier purists have told me they cut almost as well as they thrust and that in the early days of the Rapier, it was a Cut and Thrust sword that became more and more developed and focused to the thrust, which is why Cup hilts came to be. Not entirely sure just how much of that is true but I don't find it really far fetched either.
It makes sense a flamberg would cut well, considering it's sawlike and proper cuts with non-curved swords involved dragging the blade across your opponent.
scholagladiatoria So why did you think the cut and thrust medieval arming sword evolve into the thrust oriented rapier during the Renaissance period? I'd say the fact that carrying a sword on a daily basis became an accepted societal norm among gentlemen has something to do with that. Although you did mention that the rapier could be used in a military capacity, the fact that the modern word rapier likely originated from the French term 'epee rapiere', itself coming from the Spanish term 'espada ropera' or 'dress sword', seemed to suggest that it was originally conceived as a sword type better suited for civilian dueling than war. For which a thrust oriented sword that gave its used greatly increased range was highly useful.
Essentially, although many heavy cavalry units in the 19th century carried rapier-like swords as their primary weapon (although it could be argued that their horse were actually their primary weapon...)
rapiers cut just fine......just not a percussive cut I.E. hitting and making a cut. You have to apply pressure and push like you would when cutting a piece of meat. The push cut being much more powerful than a draw cut.
Ease of carry and firearms becoming more reliable and with actual bayonets. During the rapier period the true flintlock design hadn't come into widespread use, nor had the socket bayonet. Firearms were used, but not to the extent that was seen in the 18th century. By that point the sword was relegated to either naval cutlasses or cavalry as a primary weapon since line infantry could simply fix bayonets and had no need of a sidearm. Officers carried them more as a badge of rank than anything else. Yes, you would still fight with them, but it was primarily a gentleman's dueling weapon at that point.
So on the topic of rapiers, have you ever handled, or spoken with anyone who has handled the Cold Steel Rapier at all? If so, how would you say it handles? I understand it is a little heavier, but how well balanced is it, as far as rapiers are concerned?
I always thought the rapier was not on the battlefield. But i suppose the time period that it was used in, you didnt have full plate armour guys on the battlefield either. A long thrusting weapon seems like it would be good on horseback as well.
Whilst that may be true in theory, that doesn't seem to have stopped them using basket hilts, finger rings and thumb rings on cavalry swords for a few hundred years.
scholagladiatoria Some of those swords earned a nickname of wristbreaker. ;-) Wholesale adoption of Central European model of cavalry must have hurt a little. I'm not surprised that in some cases cultural reasons prevailed over practicalities.
Why is your rapier blunted, your other swords aren't? Your videos are excellent and very informative. I've seen some old Spanish rapiers that appeared to have a wider, slightly heavier blade...
I'm pretty certain its made as fencing / practice weapon, so you know, you don't accidentally run your sparring partner through the chest. That tends to put a dampener on practice lol
Not very much armour was still worn in the era of the rapier, thanks mostly to firearms. However, the simple answer is that you just stab where the armour isn't - a standard pikeman's armour is a breastplate and helmet, so you stab around that - in the face, neck, shoulder, arm-pit or groin for example.
How well would a rapier perform against an armored opponent? I have mixed perceptions about this, on one hand I feel that the stiff blade would pierce cloth, leather and chain with relative ease. However that against an opponent in plate, while you could shove it in the venerable spots, you would be better served with a long sword that you could half sword more easily, or a percussion weapon.
I suspect a rapier would perform very poorly against someone in plate armour but then again most swords would. However you must consider when the rapier was in use and it was when the use of armour was greatly reduced. I am not sure but I would not be surprised if a rapier would have great difficulty penetrating riveted mail. During the second half of the 1500's only the heaviest cavalry were wearing full plate armour. Even 3/4 plate was considered very well armoured. Most western European cavalry were in breast and backplate over a buff coat with a helmet. Pikemen may well be in breastplate with tassets and a helmet but many were also ditching their armour for comfort on the march and mobility. Firearm armed infantry generally wore nothing more than thick wool or leather and often with no helmet.
MSG HEMA Training Videos It would be interesting to see how well they work against rivited chain. I've seen long sword cutting against chain and it held up surprisingly well considering they had the chain over a stump. The steak underneath it however looked like hamburger meat. Not the best test in the world since a real opponent would be moving away from the blow. I'm still studying up on armor. I love how the European arms and armor constantly evolved. Always meeting the next advancement.
Since the term rapier didn't come about until much later, were they called something specific to differentiate them to the broad class of sideswords they came from?
I'm a little confused about how a rapier can be "all purpose" yet specialised? As you said in your video they're really not massively effective cutters and yes, while they can give light fleshwounds they're really not designed for this task. Surely to be all purpose a tool needs to do many tasks at least "well" without being especially great at any of them whereas a cut with a rapier seems almost an afterthought in its design?
+Angelsilhouette My understanding is that we are not really sure what purpose a flamberg blade served. It may have been purely decorative with no practical purpose at all or it may have been seen as assisting with cutting and push/draw cuts. However I cannot see any advantage in a rapier having a flamberg blade, if anything it may be a disadvantage to thrusting. This may be reinforced by the fact that flamberg bladed rapiers are rare.
Speaking from the RPG side, I can tell you it's usually a misunderstanding of the game rules. In D&D or Pathfinder, there's an ability called Weapon Finesse that lets you use Dexterity instead of Strength for hitting with certain weapons. These include weapons in the "light" category, but also certain others that aren't light. The rapier is is among the latter, but some players mistake this to mean rapiers are light weapons. Add to that the fact that many players only know weapons and armor from the game rules and not from research and use, and you can see the problem.
The Rapier in the manual is categorized as a Medium Weapon. It just has being able to be used with Weapon Finesse as a special feature. A rapier being used offhand under the rules is just like using a longsword offhand. a longsword that has d6 damage and weapon finesse active, but in terms of dual wield penalties a longsword nontheless. X'D
I realize that this video is nearly a year old, but I was wondering if you were aware of anybody who makes a "battle ready" Rapier in the 45" blade length? I haven't been able to find anyone on the web who makes a really nice blade in that length.
+MASTER deBATER. Darkwood armouries make rapiers with a 39", 42" or 45" blade. They are not cheap but I have heard that they are good quality for a weapon to use for rapier fighting.
I have seen a guy in my local M.A club who uses a fairly standard triangle rapier and a short, fairly light, medium curved saber in the off hand.(forgive me, I don't know the specific names of these weapons). In dual wield, is it better for the weapons to be more similar in use and reach, or more different? Also opinions of dual wield vs sword and shield?
From my experience dual wield works much better with different weapons. Rapier + parrying dagger and such connections. When wielding same weapons that are long you might get blocked by your own blades. Also usually one hand is dominant. I guess its a little bit confusing using 2 identical weapons. One longer for attack and short sturdy for protection gives you structure but is also more predictable I guess.
I have on occasion seen SCA members fight with a rapier in each hand. They refer to this as a "case" of rapiers. I was told this was historically accurate but rare and only used in dueling, and was covered in rapier treatises. This is second-hand information, so I may be misinformed. This is the only time I have ever seen two weapons of the same length used in historical fencing.
+junoguten Rapiers could historically be used with one in each hand (normally a matching pair called a "brace of rapiers") however it was far far more common to use a rapier in conjunction with an off hand parrying dagger. This may have been simply because most people found the rapier/dagger combo to be more effective but may also have been because wearing two rapiers was inconvenient or that fighting with two rapiers was more difficult.
+Arturas Milasius Typically serrated blades are a bad idea in combat. You want your blade to quickly go in and come back out so you can keep using it. A serrated blade is harder to extract and could easily get stuck on something while you're trying to pull and rip it at it while another opponent is closing in on you.
Tends to get caught on thin pieces of cloth. There's a good skallagrim video demonstrating it. He cuts a piece of foam with each, then a piece of foam covered in soft thin cloth. No depth on the "armored" foam with teeth.
Its a training rapier, hence its made with a very flexible blade to enhance safety - note that it has a dull and broad tip. Real fighting rapiers have very stiff blades - much stiffer than most cutting oriented swords
Wasn't the smallsword used by SOME armies in the napolionic era? Just as a self defence weapon for artillery men? Thought i saw a axample of a smallsword being used by a french canoneer? can you explain plz?
Do you mean short sword? Various forms of short sword were used by artillery crews and some infantry. The smallsword was a late evolution of the rapier, a purely thrusting sword, with a thin blade. As such they were the weapons of gentlemen and therefore were sometimes carried by officers in the 18th century.
Well i meant it as a form of smallsword. I read some forum pages so i was wondering if it was true. I myself as a épée fencer am fond of stabbing weapons. Do you have any idea if fencing with a smallsword is do-able with modern fencing techniques?
kidage22 Foil and epee are quite similar to smallsword fencing, except that in real smallsword fencing they were not obliged to stay on a piste of course, they could use the left hand to defend and grab the opponent's weapon, they included grappling and disarming techniques and after thrusting the opponent you had to expect them to try and stab you in return, as sword wounds hardly ever resulted in instant death (that is Hollywood). There are many historical examples of a person thrusting their opponent through the body and then getting thrust through themselves as well, and therefore both people died. This is one of the main differences between modern fencing, where the first hit wins, and historical fencing where you must hit and not get hit afterwards.
Well i d think that in epee that option is included? Coup double is when you both hit at about the same time so i feel that its more realistic then foil.. but thank you for your info !
Yeah Bee It's a training rapier, so it has to be flexible lest it actually does damage in a bout. A rapier intended to kill someone would be far stiffer.
If it's up against another rapier like that one, and the point goes at the guard(which is entirely possible, that's why the guard exists), I don't see how being that open isnt a liability.
It's there to protect the hand when you parry an attack, and it does that fairly well (I know - I've used a swept hilt rapier often enough). Besides, who's going to try stabbing their opponent in the hand? Most people will be going for the torso. Unless you're practicing and then you're using blunted blades mostly.
Didn't you watch any of the video? The rapier is capable of slashing and cutting. It's easier to slash than thrust at a fast, moving target like the hand. Now what happens to your sword grip and your tactile perception, if you get a long cut to the bone along your hand? Try it out yourself (just use a kitchen knife) or just google anatomy and injuries of a hand.
How much can all this be related to weapons of our era? It seems like rapiers are like pistols, personal weapons carried on a belt rather than in arms.
The Rapier, and later SmallSword, were the MP7 of there time. a personal Defense weapon with good reach and some sick piercing power. As for the Handgun analogy, thats the Dagger. and NO. daggers are not Knives. a dagger has a 6 to 14 INCH blade.
I've always differentiated knives and daggers by their primary use. Daggers are primarily fighting weapons and Knives are primarily utilitarian, though could be used in a fight. For example, an italian stiletto would not be considered a knife because its thin blade would be ineffective for anything other than stabbing a person. A bowie knife, however, could be considered a knife because it was used in the American frontier for a variety of different everyday tasks, but could also be used to cut and stab in a fight.
Papercut337 Wait, so if someone pulls out a switchblade and threatens you, you really can say: "That's not a knife" And then pull out a dictionary and define a knife as only a short bladed tool with utilitarian rather than combat purposes. Really, knife is a broad umbrella term for short bladed tools, and a dagger is a certain type-of-knife.
Your rapier is quite "limp" and bends by merely the force of gravity. Is this commonplace with swords meant for saving your life?! I would think a bladed object that was that flimsy would be almost as much a hazard to you as to your foe (keeping in mind I have never wielded one) and trying to precisely stab that point into a target while that thing is whipping around would be damn near impossible, no? Are most rapiers like that or is it just an exception?
scholagladiatoria Isn't it impractical to use a training sword that, because of the "floppiness", handles so wildly different than your actual armament? Why is the sword not stiffer, as the real weapon would be? Do you prefer sparring with this kind of tool or one that more closely resembles the real thing?
scholagladiatoria On top of my second comment I also thought that I should have lead with the "I really like your videos and have been subbed for weeks" line to set the tone so you didn't think that I was being too critical, so as to lead to a better exchange of intelligence. Thought it was worth saying. Off to watch your "warhammers" video and probably 5 others lol...
Christian Rankin problem with sparring swords is that you euther have blunted everything on it or its a piece of rebar covered in wood mimicking the weight of the weapon you are training for, and with rapiers. the blunted ones are SAFER. a proper thrust with a piece of wood can leave a NASTY bruise if it cleanly connects, while the sparring sword will just flop and bend, and conversly, having a floppy sparring weapon IS advantageous, cause when you draw the real one in a life or death situation, you no longer have the floppyness to contend with and your motions are THAT much more deft and deadly.
if rapiers aren't very good cutting swords how exactly where they used in cavalry? can you give me any examples of when this occurred ? im just curious
+FiisforMichael Using the point is very effective when using a sword mounted and there are examples af late 19th century cavalry swords that did not have an efeective edge and were designed to specifically use the point. That being said the rapier would be my first choice if I was a 17th century cavalryman.
I'm sure you've answered this already somewhere, but given the rapier's ineffectiveness at cutting, why are cuts so prominently featured in the Spanish school?
cellomon09 Well, there are rapiers and there are rapiers.... Some rapiers actually have quite good cutting blades - some Spanish cup-hilts do for example. But of course when you make a rapier better at cutting that means making it more hefty in the end of the blade, which means it is a little slower and not so nimble with the point. As always, there is a trade-off.
cellomon09 In Spain itself, once Geronimo Carranza codified what we now know as the Spanish school, a legal limitation was placed on the length of a gentleman's blade within the kingdom. 5/4 Vara (vara being the length of an arm.) Or right around 41 inches. Leaving about 39 inches in front of the guard. I find this, or even a little shorter, to be an excellent length for the types of cuts employed in Destreza. When I practice Italian schools of fence, I wield a 42 inch rapier, and that's proportionately correct for my height. Many historical examples of Italian blades exceed 45 inches, and even some nearing 48 inches.
Remember to never call someone who uses rapiers a rapist...
Yea... I've once actually been party to a conversation where I had to explain to someone that when I said "Rapier Wit" it wasn't in reference to wit which was "More rapey."
Could you call them a rapiest? Just be sure not to say "the rapiest" to pick them out of a group.
@@JustOneEarth I think 'a rapierist' would be better.
CrazyToastie - I don't think it is really possible to differentiate rapiers as being military or civilian in purpose, in 99% of cases. We could guess that the heavier ones are more for war and the lighter ones more for civilian life, but we are only ever guessing - in some cases a person might only own one rapier and that would be their sword in all aspects of life. There were broader and narrower ones, longer and shorter ones. Most real antique rapiers are quite stiff, regardless of their length or width - and of course their narrow width means they encounter less resistance entering a target than broader types of sword.
I think people frequently mistaken military style cut-and-thrust swords that have similar protective guard with rapiers. The former were mentioned in your previous videos as basket-hilt swords which function the same way as earlier one-handed arming swords. Rapiers on the other hand, were more of a civilian weapon though some sources suggest it would be fine to use it in the battlefield ( and some sources were against that). In movie Alatriste, 17th century soldiers did carry rapier into the battlefield.
Joe Skooma i think you mean side-sword or i would if i was talking about cut and thrust military swords of that period.
Tyler Lalonde
One may consider linguistic distinctions that we have as modern English speakers that may not have existed in period. That is to say, (if I recall correctly) the demarcation between a side-sword and a rapier is a relatively contemporary one.
Though I would not suggest you tell Georg Silver that the rapier qualifies as a battlefield weapon. :)
Tyler Lalonde The same thing basically, the swords that had very similar characteristics as medieval arming swords with addition of more elaborate hilts. They are mostly associated with military swords of the 16 and 17th century while rapiers were mostly used outside battlefield.
ive seen some 'military' rapiers they had wider blades not as wide as a broad or long sword still narrow and thin but it was explained to me that the wider blade was harder to break so more suitable for battlefield use. i dont know much about rapiers myself but thats what i was told
I know I'm pretty late getting on this train, but this was a fantastic, enlightening video. You've got a great channel.
I think the misconception comes from the difference in the balancing. The rapier can feel a lot lighter than other swords even if it isnt. Also it just looks far lighter, esspecialy the ones with fancy and fragile looking handles it think.
Hmm... Agrippa... That name sounds familiar. Oh yeah, the fight in The Princess Bride. "I see you have been studying your Agrippa!"
All of the fencing masters named in the film are actual fencing masters who wrote actual fencing treatises.
scholagladiatoria Yeah, I know. Which is pretty cool. I hear that in the book it's based on, they actually discuss the tactics written in those treatises as well.
@@scholagladiatoria this fact makes me very happy
Could you do a video on the difference between the early estocs and tuck swords, and later renaissance rapiers? Rapiers and small swords are rare enough in modern reproductions but you basically never see estocs or tucks except from custom creators.
Many people think they're the same kind of weapon. But from what I understand, they're actually polar opposites in terms of design, with the 13th and 14th century estocs being very tough, stiff blades with squared or triangular cross-sections designed to punch through and beat on armoured enemies, whilst the 17th and 18th century rapiers were flat bladed, lighter, and more flexible, with much more cutting capability and designed specifically for combating lightly armoured or unarmoured enemies.
Would be neat to see them compared professionally.
my personal preference was the colichmarde which was the gap covering between the rapier and small sword. because it has the length of the rapier and can parrie a heavy sword like the triangular cross section small sword.
I've been seriously thinking of taking up fencing for a hobby and have always been interested in collecting real swords and armor. I came across your channel and have learned a lot more in the past week or so about swords than in my entire life. I'm hooked and subbed. This was particularly interesting as I was considering buying a rapier for my first real historical sword, but your channel has made me think that a sabre would be the better choice for my tastes. Love the videos and keep'em coming. Thanks :)
Just wondering, did you ever take up fencing?
Thanks, this'll be the goto link if I get in another of those daft debates with someone on a roleplay forum again.
People tend to think rapiers are car antennas.
Likely because that's what fencing foils are lol
I'm pretty sure foils were for the small sword or epee
@@fritzious737 he literally just said that they weren’t
@@joehartman5543 i think he means that when people watch fencing, you see them bending a lot, so people automatically assume its bendy
@@naffal1538 yeesh I guess I can’t fucking read at all.
This is really very educational. Told me a lot about rapiers i didn't know. For at start, I thought modern fencing foils were basically toned-down rapiers. Keep the videos coming! :-D
Espada ropera - sword of a dress as the original name tells it was weapon that could be comfortably worn as part of dressing code of time and same time being effective general type of weapon with some civility in it since it was not made for hacking off limbs. Just weapon one would expect see at dawning of age of enlightment and quite ideal weapon in La Verdadera Destreza for its greater reach over side-sword.
I've always loved that in the Three Musketeers (the 90's one with Charlie Sheen and Tim Curry, I haven't seen the new one) the only muskets used in the entire movie are by the mercenaries that pin down Athos and the sniper that tries to kill the king.
Great video. Always love the excellent historical perspectives!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but despite weight the rapier is still faster due to its more rearward balance, correct?
You're right.
And also its length. Being longer means that the same hand motion moves the tip further.
The rapier is relatively faster due to the way it is used. A broadsword for example would be used in a hacking or swinging motion. A rapier is a thrusting weapon with a bit of a slashing action. A thrust is faster than a swing and can penetrate deeper into the body. Look at the last dueling scene in the movie Rob Roy; a rapier vs a scottish claymore.
Bjorn Arnesen A Broadsword was referred to as a claymore in that period
@@michaelcombs7472 generally slashes are quicker than thrusts
Very good point. They also feel even heavier than they are when you hold them outstretched.
There is a nice rapier in the Royal Armouries with an extendible blade. It was made to bypass laws passed to limit sword length.
Finally somebody does his homework.I wouldd expect no less from your Chanel... "rapiers where used in battle" preaty much all battles where the Spanish " Tercios de Flandes" where involved in.thank you. cheers..
Very informative vid, man. Its really enlightening. Will you be doing a video on the different rapier systems? specifically between Italian rapier and spanish rapier fencing? thanks
Just a note: During the 17th C in England, there was a shorter, simpler sword referred to the 'Tuck' or pikeman's tuck that was supposedly the sidearm for pikemen, not the rapier. A rapier would be risky to carry in a pike block as the longer blade would hit the legs of fellow pike when you close up to present point of pike. For muskets, they'd keep spaced out more due to the powder flash and risk of apostles or flask flashing (spark getting into a poorly sealed flask or apostle = ignition), so the rapier wasn't such an issue... although it was sometimes necessary to keep one hand on the hilt when marching.
References can be found in the regimental records from the period, and from the stores records for the New Model Army.
The rapier is long for the same reason a lightly armored soldier would use a longer spear than a heavier armored one, I presume. The word "rapier" does come from french rapière, from spanish espada ropera, or roughly "sword for cloth", as opposed to armor.
Also, I imagine that, considering how slow to reload muskets were, musketeers might have used these more than their muskets, in war, but specially in other scenarios, like when acting as guards and such. Carrying a musket arround all day is not very practical, after all.
Edit: I would argue that, despite their obvious differences, they're comparable to katanas (in latter ages) in what they are for. War sidearms and non armored personal defence combat weapons, in times where duelling was very common. Well, I think they're very comparable, more so than katana and longsword. I wonder which would fulfill that role better. Something tells me the rapier, though.
Jonathan Allen
Well, you see, I speak all of those languages. The origin I gave, which I did not make up myself, but read it somewhere, I believe makes more sence because the spanish word is the most direct meaning to word. "Rasper" is quite a longer stretch than the fact it's a weapon used wih clothes. Ropera and Rapière are quite similar words.
Altrantis Actually guys, nobody knows the origin of the word rapier for sure. It appears in several languages at about the same time. So the jury is still out on this one and has been for a long time.
Note that most musketeers of the famous French guards corp did not actually carry rapiers, they carried side-swords instead, since in military conflict the versatility of being able to deal disabling cuts were thought of as being much more important.
John Huang
Hm, but the distinction is iffy. Enough that in spanish the word for both swords is the same. It's like the distinction between longsword and a 2 hander, it's hard to say when one starts and the other ends.
The sword carried by the Musketeers during the 17t century had a broad non-tapering blade about 36-37 inches long and about 1.6 inches wide, definitely a cutting weapon and not by any definition a rapier, they were sometimes even single edged and slightly curved. Later period musketeers (18th century) devolved into a ceremonial role, and here they often carried an epee with blades of similar length and about 1.3 inches wide, still rather too broad-bladed to be called a true rapier.
Interesting take on the rapier. Rapiers have been my personal focus for some time. I am always amused by people who have hold my schlager or my live steel rapier commenting how heavy it is (especially from modern fencing backgrounds). I do however respectfully differ on the effectiveness of the cuts, while concussive blows are limited in most rapiers, a draw cut is an extremely damaging to soft tissue. While the light tip cuts are often the subject of hollywood fodder (Zorro movies especially) the under-valued draw cuts are actually quite damaging.
Matt, could you do a video on different rapier styles? Like differences between Italian, Spanish, French, English etc?
It is interestin that the straight translation of smallsword to Finnish is "suit sword" (pukumiekka), which clearly states that it was used by noble people to carry, also for decorative use.
You just foiled my beliefs about the rapier.
Badum bum chi.
I've always wondered which would be more superior, not saying that one is better than the other 100% of the time, but in terms of form and sword details, which would be the more efficient sword: A Rapier with fencing or a chinese Jian with the tai chi/kung fu form.
The rapiers in movies and fencing are extremely thin and commonly only sharp at the end which does make it very light.
Hey Man Love the video, just wondering What would be the BEST overall 1 handed cutting weapon? (maybe an axe as it can also do SOME damage to a heavy armored knight?)
Keep up the interesting videos!
I wouldn't have thought it's a very good choice of sword for cavalry. Most cavalry sword work is hacking type cuts rather than thrusts...hence the cavalry saber. Plus the long blade on a rapier would make it a bit more difficult to maneuver from side to side on a horse.
That said it's my favorite sword type still :-)
There's also another good point that if you ignore the elegant "basket" on a rapier, you can still see that many still have the Cross shape of arming swords
It was an evolution of that very sword. Similar to how automatic pistols have effectively replaced revolvers in modern usage.
The rapier was optimized more for dueling and self defense than for warfare. While its thinner blade would be ineffective in fending off blows from heavier weapons, the main reason is the fighting style behind the rapier. Delivering a thrust is very linear, and a linear fighting style would be disadvantageous on a chaotic battlefield, especially on foot, where one would need to fend off multiple foes from multiple directions.
i as a blacksmith and historic rapier fencer might ad that most historic weapons of the size of rapier, or any other one handet sword come in weightwise just arount 2 pounds... my first selfmade rapier was a pappenheimer and in fencing class we all called it just "the monster" because it was just realy long, wide and heavy,... it was at 1785gramm so just over 3 and a half pounds... so please keep in mind that all weapons we nowadays use for historic fencing are a fair bit havyer than the real thing, simply becaus a sharpend blade of the same dimecions as a blunt one is between 20 and 50 % less material!
Interesting how Matt seems to unconsciously keep that point dead on the camera for most of the video. He very obviously perceives that rapier as a weapon instead of a prop.
I've been learning foil with a local club for just a few months, but my goal is to graduate up to rapier & dagger at some point. Our instructor has a rapier similar to Matt's, and I was shocked at the weight, but can't wait to try it.
Were military rapiers shorter than most other types of rapier?
I'm asking because, unless I'm mistaken, the longer blades are usually more flexible, and so they lose their thrusting potential against an opponent with some degree of body protection, whereas the longer blades are more beneficial in dueling as a sport, or against someone in minimal or no protection.
Proper hardening and a dedicated thrusting cross section would easily solve that issue.
the entire point was armor. the idea was to get into the gaps on armor. wgaf about 'cutting' when you've jammed a spike through the visor - and thus eyeball -of a dickhead in plate armor?
Just wanted to say: really awesome channel, much enjoying your vids. Also what are your opinions on the degree of flex found in modern replica blades? i have a Hanwei rapier blade (sharp version) and found it way too flexible to be truly effective for thrusts. After shortening the blade by some 4 inches i got significant improvement in thrusting. I believe the originals must've been more rigid. Sorry if you've already covered this topic.
Thanks. Yes it is tricky to get a practice blade that is flexible enough to be safe and stiff enough to simulate a real blade. The Hanwei are generally too floppy. The Darkwood and Danelli blades seem really good in my experience.
This site says that the rapier is of Spanish origin. This is a mistake, the 17th-century dueling sword descends from the Italian "spada de lato", the Spanish rapier swords is a later version.
En este sitio se dice que el rapier es de origen español. Esto es un error, la espada de duelo del siglo XVII desciende de la "spada da lato" italiana, la espada ropera española es una versión posterior.
Looks like your sword is just a little bit bent. Oh yeah, good info too. Thank you for teaching us.
I am doing fine, thank you for answering.
_What a beautyful rapier._
That always cracked me up about the Three Musketeers...you never see them using muskets. Wouldn't they have fought as line infantry in combat with muskets instead of singly, usually with swords, as you always see them doing in the movies?
It seems to me weird that a rapier, which has a narrow blade for thrusting, would have a wire basket hilt (or whatever you'd call that). Wouldn't other rapier pokes go right through it?
The swept hilt protects your hand from the same thing as the guard on a long sword, it just offers more protection
Only if your doing it wrong. Those are called swept hilt because they have sweeping rings. There are also papenheimer and cup hilt rapiers which have a dish or cup respectively that protect you from this but if you get stabbed through the guard you are generally doing something wrong. The problem we run into is that a person will raise their hand too much while thrusting and run their own hand onto the opponents point.
I considered that too, and it's probably why the rapier hilt evolved into the clam and cup style. The swept wire style, I believe, is a transition from quillons, nails, finger-rings and knuckle-bows to eventually the cup hilt.
@@SwordGoat Rapiers you're generally thrusting at an upwardish angle from what I've seen, unlike with a saber or cutlass.
You forgot mentioning (as I'm sure you mention in other videos) that cutting with it is also difficult because of the balancing point being so close to the hand. The fact that you do not have enough angular momentum and energy to transmit to the target makes the forces involved smaller, even if the blade is thinner and very sharp. You can always slash with it a little, but pure pulling/friction cuts less efficiently than a blow with a little pull (for curved and asymmetrical blades) of than a pure blow.
Unfortunately I do not know of a scientifically good way to measure such cut capabilities, but using ballistic gel (historically unrealistic, and more frictiony as a material when compared to humans or fresh kills) and a programmable robotic arm could suffice.
All I'm can say on the usefulness of the Rapier is for the most part it replaced all other swords till guns replaced it itself...
Well... kind of. The rapier was pretty much contemporary with the matchlock and wheelock firearms; gunpowder, cannon, and handcannons (and primitive early matchlocks) predate the rapier, not the other way around. the rapier was discarded not because it was replaced by guns, but because it became cumbersome to use with the more modern flintlock guns and against the smallsword and saber, which were used by officers in conjunction with volley-firing, close-ordered massed infantry formations whose close order movements made longer-bladed swords such as the rapier something of a liability.
True but really they were all variations of the rapier, one handed, short light thrusting weapons. They never went back to duel handed broadsword style weapons.
Smallswords were heavily influenced by the rapier, yes. If I'm not mistaken, however, the saber is/was an weapon of eastern or far eastern origin; reference the Cossack sabers, Tartar swords and the Indian tulwars, the former being more or less contemporary to the rapier, the latter predating it by a bit if memory serves. I could be mistaken, however.
The Saber was kinda like a Rapier combines with a Scimitar
Gungriffen The broadsword is a single, not doublehanded weapon, and the rapier was of not much use on the battlefield, the swords carried being the broadsword or backsword and later, the sabre, particularly by cavalry. Variations on the backsword were carried by some cavalry units until WW1, and the double-edged broadsword was and still is the Officer's sidearm in Highland units, although not seeing much use after the Victorian era.
But thw rapiers center of balance is somewhere ideally inside the grip and so it should be very fast and feel light as fluff.
I suspect most RPG authors, knowingly or through ignorance, use “rapier” when they are really thinking “smallsword”. Also, the word “light” in an RPG may often be simply a keyword that indicates what rules apply to the weapon rather than intending to suggest anything about its weight. (And when RPGs list weights for weapons, they are usually off anyway. Sometimes because the “weight” is meant to indicate not just weight but also size. Sometimes because they just get it wrong.)
Agreed. Although in many cases the RPG author, having an interest in these things, does know the difference. But they are writing for an audience that doesn’t, so they use their audience’s language.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people act like the technical meaning of a word in one context overrides the common meaning outside that context.
Actually, in Dungeons and Dragons and all its bastard children (pathfinder, Dragonlance, Dragonstrike) the Rapier is ALWAYS a Medium Weapon. It Just has a weapon feature that allows you to use it with the feat Weapon Finesse if you have it. and weapon finese allows you to use dexterity instead of strenght to attack with light weapons. altho its true description is "use dexterity to attack with light weapons OR the Rapier." since the Rapier is a Medium weapon that is an oddball in that allowing weapon finesse. so yeah, rapier is NOT light in RPG's its just so specialized it can use a feat no other weapon can use in its weight class. Its also As long as the 42 inch longsword in the graphics of the computer dnd games.
ZarlanTheGreen My ADnD2 and DnD 3 books have the rapier Weigh 3.0 pounds. more than 2.2 so yeah... if anything, is heavier than the real ones in the RPG. :P
ZarlanTheGreen Longswords (40 inch, thick blade) stand at about 4.5 lbs, and Bastard swords weigh a solid 6 lbs, and the greatsword a very reasonable 10, seeing how its 3 to 4 feet long in this game. Short swords are 2.5, and daggers 1.5 with a quarterstaff being 4.0, as there steel reinforced. a spear weights about 5.0 with the Mace weighing 6.0, club 5.0, and Flail 6.0. with the hammer weighing 4.0 and the warhammer 8.0 (its huge) And the handaxe being 6.0, Waraxe 10.0 (it has a feet-long axehead) but yeah, rapier Sits neatly inbetween the Short Sword and Long Sword in terms of weight, and in game it does short sword ammounts of damage, with a higher chance of a deadly strike than the regular short sword. DnD is very well researced. dont bundle it with the stupid JRPG's that make the rapiers into feathers with pointy blades.
ZarlanTheGreen i must Appologize, i did not have my books on hand on last comment so the weights are from neverwinter nights, which is a non-accurate computer game based on dnd. for the sake of brevity, let me list crucial weighs right now.
Dagger (Tiny Weapon) .8 lb
Short Sword (light Weapon) 1.3 lb.
Rapier (Medium Weapon) 2.1 lb.
Longsword (Medium Weapon) 4 lb.
Bastard Sword (Medium Weapon) 6 lb.
Great Sword (Heavy Weapon) 8 lb.
tho it IS worth noting that the bastard sword can only be used with 2 hands UNLESS you have Exotic weapons proficiency, which assumes special training. Also, the greatsword is 6 feet long. the bastard sword is 4.
so yes, the Rapier is lighter than the long sword. Thats because the Long Sword in the game is 43 inches long blade, 1.6 inches wide, with a wide guard and thick blade. Such a longsword would measure 1.8 kilos, i would think. In Comparison the rapier is the 39 inch, 1 inch wide rapier, and a spritely 2.2, but still not a "light weapon" at elast when gam,e mechanics are concerned. hell, i have NOT found a valid reason to ever use a rapier, other than maybe a cool referee that allows you to do 10 feet lunges with it, otherwise its fairly useless and supplanted by the short sword in every way.
As far as I understand, a rapier + shield will be a great combination for dueling, right?
We get the reach of a two handed sword with the protection of a shield. And it's good for thrusting which is the easier way of conflicting lethal wounds. It looses cutting but cutting isn't the preferred way as it's difficult to kill people with a cutting move so that's a fare trade off, isn't it?
Well, it depends on what weapon your opponent is using. For a lot of swords, yes, a shield in the offhand would be very useful. However, against another weapon with fine point control, a parrying dagger is better, as a shield obstructs your view to an extent, and a sword with excellent point control can 'sneak' around that obstruction. And yes, this information does come from one of the historical UA-camrs (forget which).
I'm beginning to think that the term "rapier" is misleading. First of all, it has a lot of baggage that was picked up in old hollywood movies. Also, when I see what are termed rapiers on the antique arms auction sites, or in books such as Castle's Schools & Masters of Fencing, I find a vast range of blade geometries & hilt styles. This may reflect the fact that a great many of these weapons were custom made, or done in small batches, as manufacturing on an industrial scale was not possible until late in period.
Another point I'd like to make is that we have no first hand knowledge of what these weapons can do other than from accidents with simulators. I've talked to two people who were foolish enough to fence with un-tipped practice rapiers. In both instances the bated tip punctured the clothing & skin easily before entering the body. Bear in mind that the blades of practice swords, including my own Darkwood rapier, are rated at a rockwell hardness of 50 - 53. They are quite flexible. Not so for period weapons. In cases where museums list blade rockwell hardness values I have seen many with values around 60 - 66 while some are as high as 80. Also, a few of the blades even had differential tempering which allows for a very hard edge with a more flexible core. This would make for an excellent weapon to penetrate the billowy, yet heavy, layered clothing of the period that would tend to resist cuts.
Finally, as Matt so aptly pointed out, there is as much, or more, metal in a rapier as there is in a typical arming sword. The solid forte & hilt allow parries than are not possible with a plain cross. The hilt itself is three weapons in one. The pommel acts as a mace, the guard is a handy brass knuckle & the quillions allow the sword to be swung as a pick. You can also hold the weapon in the half sword position to block & spear.
I believe all this reflects the rapier's origin as a practical all round weapon. The Italian masters never used the term "rapier". Many specified only that the sword/spada have a point and two edges. They assumed the scholar was already familiar with cutting techniques so they strove only to teach a thrust centric variation on what appeared to be a standard cut & thrust style. Di Grassi, in particular, taught the "spada" as the basis for a martial system that also included the use of the dagger, cloak, buckler, targa, rotella, two handed sword, & five types of pole arms.
I know this post is a lengthy detour off topic but in reading the other posts I've had to reevaluate my own attitudes towards the rapier as a civilian only weapon.
The misconception about weight is understandable: the average movie sword is usually some manner of broadsword or longsword with a wide blade, typically swung about in dramatic Flynning by a strong-looking actor wearing fur and armor. A rapier is long and slender, used by actors who look more appropriate on the dance floor.
You briefly touch on the size of the weapon in this video, but I was wondering if there was a common length for rapiers. I've seen some that peaked around 48 inches, but then I've seen other historical examples that were noticeably smaller.
Very difficult to give an average for all rapiers, because it depends on region and time period. And even in the same region and time period you find a lot of variation of length, width, weight etc. But in the classic rapier era of c.1570-1650 I would say that blades from 37-45 inches were common. Shorter or longer than that was relatively uncommon. It is no coincidence that most good quality replicas have blades of 42-45 inches, as that seems to have been a popular length range.
Thanks for the info! I was assuming that to be the case since, as you noted, so many modern examples are within that length range, but was never really sure about it myself.
Matthew Sanders here is some good unbiased info on rapiers
Which treatises? I've read DiGrasse and Capo Ferro. Both are strictly civilian. While there are heavier and wider blades with similar hilts that were used for military purposes, but to so they are rapiers isn't quite accurate.
Kia Ora from New Zealand, good sir... I really like listening to your views on swordsmanship, and would appreciate if you can to hear your views at some point on some of the fight scenes in the Mask of Zorro and the Legend of Zorro movies. I would like to know what kind of sword and sword-fighting style is optimal for taking on multiple opponents, as Zorro often does.
Kind Regards,
KB. :o)
The only Rapier that comes to mind that cuts really well is the German Flamberg Rapier, I've seen a couple of those floating about and many Rapier purists have told me they cut almost as well as they thrust and that in the early days of the Rapier, it was a Cut and Thrust sword that became more and more developed and focused to the thrust, which is why Cup hilts came to be. Not entirely sure just how much of that is true but I don't find it really far fetched either.
It makes sense a flamberg would cut well, considering it's sawlike and proper cuts with non-curved swords involved dragging the blade across your opponent.
scholagladiatoria
So why did you think the cut and thrust medieval arming sword evolve into the thrust oriented rapier during the Renaissance period? I'd say the fact that carrying a sword on a daily basis became an accepted societal norm among gentlemen has something to do with that.
Although you did mention that the rapier could be used in a military capacity, the fact that the modern word rapier likely originated from the French term 'epee rapiere', itself coming from the Spanish term 'espada ropera' or 'dress sword', seemed to suggest that it was originally conceived as a sword type better suited for civilian dueling than war. For which a thrust oriented sword that gave its used greatly increased range was highly useful.
Great video, as usual! Thanks!
Question: if the rapier was used on the battlefield, how do you think they might have gone about using it? As a sidearm?
Essentially, although many heavy cavalry units in the 19th century carried rapier-like swords as their primary weapon (although it could be argued that their horse were actually their primary weapon...)
rapiers cut just fine......just not a percussive cut I.E. hitting and making a cut. You have to apply pressure and push like you would when cutting a piece of meat. The push cut being much more powerful than a draw cut.
I wonder if you might discuss the reasoning behind the switch to the small sword at some point. Thanks.
Ease of carry and firearms becoming more reliable and with actual bayonets. During the rapier period the true flintlock design hadn't come into widespread use, nor had the socket bayonet. Firearms were used, but not to the extent that was seen in the 18th century. By that point the sword was relegated to either naval cutlasses or cavalry as a primary weapon since line infantry could simply fix bayonets and had no need of a sidearm. Officers carried them more as a badge of rank than anything else. Yes, you would still fight with them, but it was primarily a gentleman's dueling weapon at that point.
Matt, what rapier do you recommend and who would you buy it from? I
So on the topic of rapiers, have you ever handled, or spoken with anyone who has handled the Cold Steel Rapier at all? If so, how would you say it handles? I understand it is a little heavier, but how well balanced is it, as far as rapiers are concerned?
5:39 "the rapier runs all the way through..." lol
I always thought the rapier was not on the battlefield. But i suppose the time period that it was used in, you didnt have full plate armour guys on the battlefield either.
A long thrusting weapon seems like it would be good on horseback as well.
Long thrusting weapon has obvious benefits on horseback, but not with a composed hilt. You hit something and your wrist is broken.
bakters Why would that be true of a rapier hilt, but not a backsword, sabre or medieval hilt?
scholagladiatoria If your weapon gets stuck in a target, you can't immediately drop it. Especially with tightly fitting complex hilts.
Whilst that may be true in theory, that doesn't seem to have stopped them using basket hilts, finger rings and thumb rings on cavalry swords for a few hundred years.
scholagladiatoria Some of those swords earned a nickname of wristbreaker. ;-)
Wholesale adoption of Central European model of cavalry must have hurt a little. I'm not surprised that in some cases cultural reasons prevailed over practicalities.
so what is the epee trying to simulate? what type of sword?
+Kaese Vanoostrum smallsword
those cort swords are nasty
Why is your rapier blunted, your other swords aren't? Your videos are excellent and very informative. I've seen some old Spanish rapiers that appeared to have a wider, slightly heavier blade...
I'm pretty certain its made as fencing / practice weapon, so you know, you don't accidentally run your sparring partner through the chest. That tends to put a dampener on practice lol
LoricSwift It just stood out alongside your other blades....looked odd...
Ammo08 was bad for the video to have the prop really, as it was all flopping and real rapiers don't flex so easily.
Could you do a video talking about how rapiers were used in a battlefield context? i.e. How would you use one against an opponent in armor?
Not very much armour was still worn in the era of the rapier, thanks mostly to firearms. However, the simple answer is that you just stab where the armour isn't - a standard pikeman's armour is a breastplate and helmet, so you stab around that - in the face, neck, shoulder, arm-pit or groin for example.
How well would a rapier perform against an armored opponent? I have mixed perceptions about this, on one hand I feel that the stiff blade would pierce cloth, leather and chain with relative ease. However that against an opponent in plate, while you could shove it in the venerable spots, you would be better served with a long sword that you could half sword more easily, or a percussion weapon.
I suspect a rapier would perform very poorly against someone in plate armour but then again most swords would. However you must consider when the rapier was in use and it was when the use of armour was greatly reduced. I am not sure but I would not be surprised if a rapier would have great difficulty penetrating riveted mail.
During the second half of the 1500's only the heaviest cavalry were wearing full plate armour. Even 3/4 plate was considered very well armoured. Most western European cavalry were in breast and backplate over a buff coat with a helmet. Pikemen may well be in breastplate with tassets and a helmet but many were also ditching their armour for comfort on the march and mobility. Firearm armed infantry generally wore nothing more than thick wool or leather and often with no helmet.
MSG HEMA Training Videos It would be interesting to see how well they work against rivited chain. I've seen long sword cutting against chain and it held up surprisingly well considering they had the chain over a stump. The steak underneath it however looked like hamburger meat. Not the best test in the world since a real opponent would be moving away from the blow.
I'm still studying up on armor. I love how the European arms and armor constantly evolved. Always meeting the next advancement.
What are some thin bladed swords similar to the rapier that may have been used in a battle? If not in a battle, what are some others in general?
The estoc, the koncerz, the French and Russian Napoleonic cuirassier and dragoon 'sabers'.
Since the term rapier didn't come about until much later, were they called something specific to differentiate them to the broad class of sideswords they came from?
Could be estoc. That was developed to puncture armor, or at least puncture weak points in armor, as plate become more and more prominent.
I think a lot of people confuse foil with rapier.
Wait...?
My fucking keyboard weighs more than a sword?
3 fucking pounds?
Thats one heavy ass keyboard
***** yes, it's a Razer Blackwidow
somehow it weighs more than a kg
scholagladiatoria what would be a good budget rapier for less than 300 that is good at stabby stabby
If your rapier isn't good at "stabby stabby" you might have a bit of a problem
Does anyone know of any channels or sources that deal primarily with rapier or rapier and dagger fencing?
Robert Childs is the world's best rapier swordsman
I'm a little confused about how a rapier can be "all purpose" yet specialised? As you said in your video they're really not massively effective cutters and yes, while they can give light fleshwounds they're really not designed for this task. Surely to be all purpose a tool needs to do many tasks at least "well" without being especially great at any of them whereas a cut with a rapier seems almost an afterthought in its design?
What are your thoughts on the flambard rapier?
+Angelsilhouette My understanding is that we are not really sure what purpose a flamberg blade served. It may have been purely decorative with no practical purpose at all or it may have been seen as assisting with cutting and push/draw cuts. However I cannot see any advantage in a rapier having a flamberg blade, if anything it may be a disadvantage to thrusting. This may be reinforced by the fact that flamberg bladed rapiers are rare.
Speaking from the RPG side, I can tell you it's usually a misunderstanding of the game rules. In D&D or Pathfinder, there's an ability called Weapon Finesse that lets you use Dexterity instead of Strength for hitting with certain weapons. These include weapons in the "light" category, but also certain others that aren't light. The rapier is is among the latter, but some players mistake this to mean rapiers are light weapons. Add to that the fact that many players only know weapons and armor from the game rules and not from research and use, and you can see the problem.
The Rapier in the manual is categorized as a Medium Weapon. It just has being able to be used with Weapon Finesse as a special feature. A rapier being used offhand under the rules is just like using a longsword offhand. a longsword that has d6 damage and weapon finesse active, but in terms of dual wield penalties a longsword nontheless. X'D
OK, videos from 2014-15 had great content as they do today - but audio is much better now days =)
I just realized this is the first video with Matt not wearing a wedding ring (see the videos immediately before this one). What happened?
One of two things can have happened:
1. He's divorced
2. He doesn't want to get his ring trapped in the swords/ harm his swords.
Peter Javi Divorces are sad.
Noah Weisbrod
He still has HEMA Stig.
What's the difference between a basket hilted broadsword and backsword?
Mike Lee The broadsword is double edged. While a backsword is single edged.
I realize that this video is nearly a year old, but I was wondering if you were aware of anybody who makes a "battle ready" Rapier in the 45" blade length? I haven't been able to find anyone on the web who makes a really nice blade in that length.
+MASTER deBATER. Darkwood armouries make rapiers with a 39", 42" or 45" blade. They are not cheap but I have heard that they are good quality for a weapon to use for rapier fighting.
+MSG HEMA Training Videos Thank you, I just checked them out, and yes they appear to be exactly what I am looking for. Thanks again!
It’s a quick-draw-one-handed-short-spear
I have seen a guy in my local M.A club who uses a fairly standard triangle rapier and a short, fairly light, medium curved saber in the off hand.(forgive me, I don't know the specific names of these weapons).
In dual wield, is it better for the weapons to be more similar in use and reach, or more different?
Also opinions of dual wield vs sword and shield?
From my experience dual wield works much better with different weapons. Rapier + parrying dagger and such connections. When wielding same weapons that are long you might get blocked by your own blades. Also usually one hand is dominant. I guess its a little bit confusing using 2 identical weapons. One longer for attack and short sturdy for protection gives you structure but is also more predictable I guess.
EnhancedNightmare depends entirely on whether you are ambidextrous or not
I have on occasion seen SCA members fight with a rapier in each hand. They refer to this as a "case" of rapiers. I was told this was historically accurate but rare and only used in dueling, and was covered in rapier treatises. This is second-hand information, so I may be misinformed. This is the only time I have ever seen two weapons of the same length used in historical fencing.
Skallagrim did a long video about dual wielding weapons
/watch?v=hGbWli1-Q0g
In general, you're better off using a sword and shield.
+junoguten Rapiers could historically be used with one in each hand (normally a matching pair called a "brace of rapiers") however it was far far more common to use a rapier in conjunction with an off hand parrying dagger. This may have been simply because most people found the rapier/dagger combo to be more effective but may also have been because wearing two rapiers was inconvenient or that fighting with two rapiers was more difficult.
HAVE to say it.......IT'S JUST A FLESH WOUND!!
'TIS BUT A FLESH WOUND
would the "teeth" similar to the ones on bread knife increase its efectivnes ( like cutting , once u miss trust ? )
Not really.
+Arturas Milasius Typically serrated blades are a bad idea in combat. You want your blade to quickly go in and come back out so you can keep using it. A serrated blade is harder to extract and could easily get stuck on something while you're trying to pull and rip it at it while another opponent is closing in on you.
Tends to get caught on thin pieces of cloth. There's a good skallagrim video demonstrating it. He cuts a piece of foam with each, then a piece of foam covered in soft thin cloth. No depth on the "armored" foam with teeth.
+Kevin Krupp oh i see , i just thought that they are not pointy so they wouldnt get cought or efect the extraction .
Many examples of spanish rapiers have periodic short blunt portions along the blades, effectively serrations.
How about the Spanish Espada? What are your thoughts on that sword
+andrew w The rapier is the Spanish Espada. In fact, rapiers ("espadas roperas" in spanish) originated in Spain.
@@GhostSpa This is false, they originated in Italy. The Spanish sword is a type of rapier.
Could you recommend me good websites that discusses ancient weapons like these?
MyArmoury is the best overall resource for talk about ancient, medieval and renaissance weapons and armour.
Not sure how that rapier is intended for thrusting when it was bending under its own weight just being held horizontally.
Its a training rapier, hence its made with a very flexible blade to enhance safety - note that it has a dull and broad tip. Real fighting rapiers have very stiff blades - much stiffer than most cutting oriented swords
Wasn't the smallsword used by SOME armies in the napolionic era?
Just as a self defence weapon for artillery men?
Thought i saw a axample of a smallsword being used by a french canoneer?
can you explain plz?
Do you mean short sword? Various forms of short sword were used by artillery crews and some infantry. The smallsword was a late evolution of the rapier, a purely thrusting sword, with a thin blade. As such they were the weapons of gentlemen and therefore were sometimes carried by officers in the 18th century.
Well i meant it as a form of smallsword. I read some forum pages so i was wondering if it was true. I myself as a épée fencer am fond of stabbing weapons. Do you have any idea if fencing with a smallsword is do-able with modern fencing techniques?
kidage22 Foil and epee are quite similar to smallsword fencing, except that in real smallsword fencing they were not obliged to stay on a piste of course, they could use the left hand to defend and grab the opponent's weapon, they included grappling and disarming techniques and after thrusting the opponent you had to expect them to try and stab you in return, as sword wounds hardly ever resulted in instant death (that is Hollywood). There are many historical examples of a person thrusting their opponent through the body and then getting thrust through themselves as well, and therefore both people died. This is one of the main differences between modern fencing, where the first hit wins, and historical fencing where you must hit and not get hit afterwards.
Well i d think that in epee that option is included?
Coup double is when you both hit at about the same time so i feel that its more realistic then foil.. but thank you for your info !
kidage22 Though in real historical fencing you tend not to get people risking their face or chest in order to stab the opponent in the toe LOL
Can one do a mordhau with it?
Thank you
it looks so flimsy? how easy would it bend and brake? why isn't a regular sword better for thrusting even thou it is stiffer?
Yeah Bee It's a training rapier, so it has to be flexible lest it actually does damage in a bout. A rapier intended to kill someone would be far stiffer.
Oh dear, i just read your comment below. I guess that answers my question XD
That handguard looks worthless if you're defending against another rapier or rapier-like weapon.
The guard isn't worthless - it protects the hand quite nicely. Yes, you could thrust through the guard but it's not as easy as you might think.
If it's up against another rapier like that one, and the point goes at the guard(which is entirely possible, that's why the guard exists), I don't see how being that open isnt a liability.
It's there to protect the hand when you parry an attack, and it does that fairly well (I know - I've used a swept hilt rapier often enough).
Besides, who's going to try stabbing their opponent in the hand? Most people will be going for the torso. Unless you're practicing and then you're using blunted blades mostly.
Hunter Cat I said you might "accidentally" hit them in the hand, but if you say it's sufficiently protective, then I'll trust your judgement.
Didn't you watch any of the video? The rapier is capable of slashing and cutting.
It's easier to slash than thrust at a fast, moving target like the hand. Now what happens to your sword grip and your tactile perception, if you get a long cut to the bone along your hand? Try it out yourself (just use a kitchen knife) or just google anatomy and injuries of a hand.
How much can all this be related to weapons of our era?
It seems like rapiers are like pistols, personal weapons carried on a belt rather than in arms.
The Rapier, and later SmallSword, were the MP7 of there time. a personal Defense weapon with good reach and some sick piercing power. As for the Handgun analogy, thats the Dagger. and NO. daggers are not Knives. a dagger has a 6 to 14 INCH blade.
I've always differentiated knives and daggers by their primary use. Daggers are primarily fighting weapons and Knives are primarily utilitarian, though could be used in a fight. For example, an italian stiletto would not be considered a knife because its thin blade would be ineffective for anything other than stabbing a person. A bowie knife, however, could be considered a knife because it was used in the American frontier for a variety of different everyday tasks, but could also be used to cut and stab in a fight.
Papercut337 Wait, so if someone pulls out a switchblade and threatens you, you really can say:
"That's not a knife"
And then pull out a dictionary and define a knife as only a short bladed tool with utilitarian rather than combat purposes.
Really, knife is a broad umbrella term for short bladed tools, and a dagger is a certain type-of-knife.
Treblaine Why would I pull out a dictionary to quibble about terminology during a fight?
Papercut337 Well Crocodile Dundee wouldn't.
Your rapier is quite "limp" and bends by merely the force of gravity. Is this commonplace with swords meant for saving your life?! I would think a bladed object that was that flimsy would be almost as much a hazard to you as to your foe (keeping in mind I have never wielded one) and trying to precisely stab that point into a target while that thing is whipping around would be damn near impossible, no?
Are most rapiers like that or is it just an exception?
This is not a real (sharp) rapier it is a sparring weapon. Hence the floppiness,
scholagladiatoria
Isn't it impractical to use a training sword that, because of the "floppiness", handles so wildly different than your actual armament? Why is the sword not stiffer, as the real weapon would be? Do you prefer sparring with this kind of tool or one that more closely resembles the real thing?
scholagladiatoria
On top of my second comment I also thought that I should have lead with the "I really like your videos and have been subbed for weeks" line to set the tone so you didn't think that I was being too critical, so as to lead to a better exchange of intelligence.
Thought it was worth saying. Off to watch your "warhammers" video and probably 5 others lol...
Christian Rankin problem with sparring swords is that you euther have blunted everything on it or its a piece of rebar covered in wood mimicking the weight of the weapon you are training for, and with rapiers. the blunted ones are SAFER. a proper thrust with a piece of wood can leave a NASTY bruise if it cleanly connects, while the sparring sword will just flop and bend, and conversly, having a floppy sparring weapon IS advantageous, cause when you draw the real one in a life or death situation, you no longer have the floppyness to contend with and your motions are THAT much more deft and deadly.
JSHADOWM
I'm still not convinced - the difference SEEMS to large, but I guess the only thing to do is feel and maneuver one in hand.
THAT'S MY LAST NAME!!!!
Is it a real rapier with added a safe tip or is it a rapier made for training only?
It is a practice rapier.
Basically Rapiers cut they can't chop
if rapiers aren't very good cutting swords how exactly where they used in cavalry? can you give me any examples of when this occurred ? im just curious
+FiisforMichael Using the point is very effective when using a sword mounted and there are examples af late 19th century cavalry swords that did not have an efeective edge and were designed to specifically use the point. That being said the rapier would be my first choice if I was a 17th century cavalryman.
I'm sure you've answered this already somewhere, but given the rapier's ineffectiveness at cutting, why are cuts so prominently featured in the Spanish school?
cellomon09 Well, there are rapiers and there are rapiers.... Some rapiers actually have quite good cutting blades - some Spanish cup-hilts do for example. But of course when you make a rapier better at cutting that means making it more hefty in the end of the blade, which means it is a little slower and not so nimble with the point. As always, there is a trade-off.
cellomon09 In Spain itself, once Geronimo Carranza codified what we now know as the Spanish school, a legal limitation was placed on the length of a gentleman's blade within the kingdom. 5/4 Vara (vara being the length of an arm.) Or right around 41 inches. Leaving about 39 inches in front of the guard. I find this, or even a little shorter, to be an excellent length for the types of cuts employed in Destreza.
When I practice Italian schools of fence, I wield a 42 inch rapier, and that's proportionately correct for my height. Many historical examples of Italian blades exceed 45 inches, and even some nearing 48 inches.
whats the difference between fighting a fencing epee and a rapier???
Matei Tudor A rapier is far longer and heavier than an epee. The rapier can cut and thrust.
One is a piece of sporting equipment and one is a weapon..
TNAT STRAT Bingo, we have a winner.