A few things that come to mind: - a hanger is less likely to get into things when sheated and a ship is a very busy place - cutting is more compliant with so and so sight, without glasses I can shoot and cut much better than I can thrust, not many people who needed glasses had them, and you may have problems seeing in dark parts of a ship, in the jungle and everywhere at night - thrust fencing is based on fine motor skills, which evaporate quickly if you drink grog, and are the result of training, which costs time and money and requires a master, whereas some basic cut and parry could be passed from senior operator to junior operator - a point to investigate could be cost, I suspect storta, hangers and the alike could be had more on the cheap than swords
Or to make a similar comparison, choosing cutting blades to issue could be similar to choosing shotguns - you can be moving too frantically to aim precisely, and still hit your target effectively.
All good points. Another point is that a cutting weapon is more likely than a thrusting one to be of use in situations on board and while boarding not directly related to fighting, ie cutting ropes. There would be situations when you might want to employ a sharp edge more than a point.
You partially touched on this but another advantage is using it like a machete. If you're in somewhere like the Caribbean or parts of South America alot of it is jungle and swamp. An axe wouldn't be all that useful at clearing a trail through vines but a Cutlass or hanger would be.
The modern machete, especially In Latin America, is the descendant of these old style of blades. Where in Europe the Bill Hook, Axe and hatchets, and the Saxe Knife were the daily tools; the machete is the general equivalent in the Americas. The machetes designs and uses came from the hangers, sabers, scimitar copies and wide bladed side swords of the day in Europe and evolved into the machete tools used today everywhere on the American continents from the southern tips of Chile and Argentina to the Northern Wilderness of Canada.
Not saying you're wrong, but the Amazon Rainforest is historically (and presently) a very big chunk of South America. Also Central America is rainforests, deciduous forests, cloud forests, and mangrove forests sprinkled with beaches on top of mountainous terrain.
Concerning cuts vs stabs @10:50. My grandfather was a surgeon who served in Burma in WW2 and Vietnam and who worked as what they called a 'General Surgeon" in those days which meant he operated on the chest and abdomen. I asked him about different wounds and their difficulty. He always said wounds similar to those from artillery were the worst and nearly inoperable, being that they essentially tore and shredded. The same could be true with gunshot wounda but he said they could vary greatly. Stab wounds by comparison were easy with modern medicine since they were much cleaner; though location mattered (ie arteries). I don't know if he ever mentioned any cutting type wounds, but based on what he said before I would guess he'd say they'd be the easiest. Of course, this all is with modern medicine, or mid 20th century modern medicine at least! Miss you Granddaddy!
14:20 "There's a very high chance that we'll just thrust each other." I'm frankly surprised no-one else has desired to highlight that gem yet....
6 років тому+49
Also cuting weapons offer more targets. You can cut at extremities, like lower arms easily, while thrusting them is perhaps possible, but a lot harder.
Exactly. Silver even talks about that: "And yet more for the blow: a full blow upon the head, face, arm, leg, or legs, is death, or the party so wounded in the mercy of him that shall so wound him. For what man shall be able long in fight to stand up, either to revenge, or defend himself, having the veins, muscles, sinews of his hand, arm, or leg clean cut asunder? Or being dismembered by such wound upon the face or head, but shall be enforced thereby, and through the loss of blood, the other a little dallying with him, to yield himself, or leave his life in his mercy?" That's part of (but not the only part) why traditional foil target is just the torso, and why smallsword manuals do at times talk about limb attacks but don't give them nearly the credit of something straight to the chest or even face. I've sparred smallsword on occasions where I make it a point to try to get the opponent's weapon hand (probably the only useful limb target with a point like that) and - while possible - found it damn hard to do with regularity.
As a former river sailor, there are times where we needed to cut ropes (we call them lines), especially if they were hard down and impossible to untangle
Marxiavelli24 I think the case for bandit knights is a bit exaggerated. Most of those would probably have been out of work soldiers comming back from campaign or mercenaries between jobs, while the knight would have a lot more recources to draw on.
True. Imagine the younger son of a duke swearing fealty to someone of lesser rank. Somewhat socially awkward, loss of prestige and income. A bit like the owner of a factory having his son working on the production floor, as a laborer.
Cutlasses are one my favourite swords and certainly one of the most popular in this period. Although very posh officers might still carry a rapier, the cutlass was the naval sword. While it came to be an iconic pirate sword, it was the iconic mariner blade. It was ideal for fights on a ship. Shipboard combat in this time was truly CQB, close quarters battle. The hanger was a short sword issues to infantry and support troops during this period. A sword was the sidearm until pistols became sidearms..
One of my favourite cuttoes is the one made for (and carried by) Washington in the Rev. War. Very light, fancy looking but looks like it would work very well in close quarters and looks like a good cutter.
I remember the first time I came across the word 'hanger' (as a weapon) was in Gulliver's Travels, where Gulliver has to draw his hanger to defend himself against huge animals like wasps and rats - in Brobdingnag, of course. I don't think I had to look it up in a dictionary, because it was obvious from the *context* that it must be some kind of sword.
It may be from Italian or French. We know of several types of cutting weapons and long knives from 14th century Italy, Cultelo or Coltelo, Cortelas, Coltellaccio, Cultellesia, Cultella, and also in old french, Coutelas. This is probably where it stems from.
Hmmm. You mentioned quite a bit about the difference between a thrust from a spadroon and a slash from the hanger, but you didn’t seem to have mentioned anything about the different type of wound one would suffer getting stabbed with the cutlass. That might’ve been an interesting bit to add. Cheers!
This is the first good resource dealing with the cutoe that I've been able to find. I live in a Suburb of Cleveland Ohio, in the United States, and we've got a few cutoe exhibited at a local museum, but very little information is given at the exhibit. In addition, our first president, and Revolutionary War general, George Washington carried a cutoe -he had previously carried a small sword- which is in some museum somewhere. Despite perhaps our most prominent historical figure carrying one, there is very, very little information available here about that style of weapon. Thank you for making this video. You've answered a lot of questions that I had about cutoe, but was previously unable to find answers to.
It's always interesting to me when you describe something like that as short or describe it as a good close quarter weapon. In the circles I travel people debate weather a 6inch blade is too long at grappling distance. Just goes to show how things can change. I would not want to go up against what you are holding with a 6 inch blade... but then again no one is walking around with one of those today. You just can't get away from fighting systems. No matter how much you think you are getting away from martial arts and into "real world" fighting you are still hopelessly looked into the marshal discipline of your time. One day people will be practicing early 21st century marshal arts and debating the value of drop leg holsters or some nonsense 😂
Gawd only knows what they will make of the knife crime epidemic in London. I don't think there is any martial arts or finesse there, first to shank your opponent with a kitchen knife wins, stabity stabity stab.
However, Karambits have get a corollary to it, I've been training with them and finding them to be the optimal grappling blade due to ergonomic design which allows for the hand to be opened while the weapon retained ready and can be used to hook and do draw cuts from various angles, and their size is generally related to your hand size and are usually about 3-4 inches only even though the curve gives them a longer cutting surface. However, with other Filipino weapons you can get up to 28" to 34" total length and still comfortably clear in grapple distance.
I think I've got a wrench to throw into your etymology here. In the late 16th century you can already find a lot of english mentions of a weapon called the "curtal-axe" or "curtilace" (albiet I've occasionally just seen it translated as "falchion"). It was a sort of curved broadsword which became extremely popular among French and Spanish heavy cavalry during the second half of the 16th century as an anti-armor weapon. You can see these "curtilaces" feature prominently in a number of Hogenburg's illustrations, in particluar his illustration of the battle of Dreux, and they do look a whole lot like the stereotypical pirate cutlass. How exactly the cutlass would have gone from being essentially a knightly weapon, intended to be used against opponents in heavy armor like the horseman's mace or battle axe, to a pirate weapon though I don't really know.
Lots of 18th century officers complained about men using their hangers to cut firewood in the written records. Avoiding that and hatchets being more good for land clearing seems to be why most regular British Army units in the French and Indian War were ordered to leave their hangers in storage in whatever port they landed in and were issued hatchets instead before going off to the American frontier.
The main advantage is the intimidation factor. Small swords aren’t as intimidating looking as a cutlass and for pirates the main goal is to get your target to give up without a fight. That’s very different from a battlefield context where there’s very little chance of scaring the other side into backing down.
Intimidation could be a factor. Maybe. But a Smallsword when pointed at you is still intimidating. It's not a toy. Intimidation relies upon psychology mostly. A shopkeeper would very much be intimidated by just about anything. A pirate, sailor or privateer may need a bit more to be intimidated. Like a blunderbuss. Maybe a Pappenheimer rapier would be more intimidating than a Smallsword. At least it has more reach and protection. Both are deadly if used correctly. We are talking about combat troops after all. You are going to need more to intimidate them. They've seen it all. Cannons. Swords. Guns. Keelhauling. Torture.
Only Matt would describe a two foot long broad blade as light and dainty ;-) Mind you, there is a zwiehander in the background ..... Ive seen it suggested that sailors / pirates preferred shorter blade cutlasses as they were easier to use on the decks, and especially below decks, on a ship where space is confined and a short blade is more suited to the potential fighting environment. Having been on a couple of tall masters I could see the point - below decks is cramped and above deck there are ropes and tangle risks everywhere. What do you think Matt? Also....potential for a follow up on the use of boarding pikes and axes.
Yeah, basically half-pikes that are a bit handier in combat. While a musket is better of course, they had their uses for repelling boarders and clearing decks.
@@Tareltonlives For a cool story about their use, look up the the Taking of Banda, when Captain Christopher Cole captured a Dutch outpost while greatly outnumbered by giving his men boarding pikes during a torrential rain. Apparently bayonets and swords were a poor match against a small band of pike wielding Brits.
As a sometime tall ship sailor myself, I'm ashamed that the point about the rigging had not occurred to me. OTOH, it is easy to overstate how much rigging is even within twice an arm's reach.
Dear Matt. It would be very nice of you to give some stats of the weapon. Length, width, thickness of the blade at the hilt and distal taper are very important. Thank you!
awesome video! i love the detailed visual combat analysis videos like this (stab sword vs swing sword) and sword vs axe and the like. I hope you do more videos like this!
Another disadvantage of thrusts is that it can take a moment to withdraw a blade from an injured/dying enemy. That could be a problem if his buddy is arm's length away trying to kill you.
You noted that that sword could be a tool, but only for cutting meat. The first buccaneers came to the Caribbean to hunt cattle and wild pigs and trade the meat, so those swords would have been excellent tools for them.
@@jordanhicks5131 here in FL and south Ga. A lot of hog hunters still use knifes that look alot like his cutoe\ hanger. Or still alot of bowies. Knifes.
@@tbjtbj4786 they also work well for clearing light brush to set up a shooting hide. I also carry a folding saw for that, kinda like how british empire pioneer short swords had a sawback
The modern machete, especially In Latin America, is the descendant of these old style of blades. Where in Europe the Bill Hook, Axe and hatchets, and the Saxe Knife were the daily tools; the machete is the general equivalent in the Americas. The machetes designs and uses came from the hangers, sabers, scimitar copies and wide bladed side swords of the day in Europe and evolved into the machete tools used today everywhere on the American continents from the southern tips of Chile and Argentina to the Northern Wilderness of Canada.
Even the lewis and Clark expedition carried a version of 24"ish blade cutlasses with T guards. It's basically the original explorer's machete. I recently commissioned a 22"blade hand and a half t guard cutlass and I am really surprised at the versatility and ease of use, it can slice clean through 2"saplings with a good swing, and it's compact enough to not get in the way when stowed.
In ship fighting on or below decks apart from the general press of sweaty scrapping matelots, the cramped structure of the ship is an issue too. You don't want to thrust ,overpenetrate and get your point stuck in the hull bulkheads or have your strike parried by the deckbeams above your head.
Such swords were also widely used by Americans during the Revolution, both regulars and militia. George Washington's famous main battle sword, made at Fishkill, NY, was a cutoe. It survives in amazing condition, and is truly a thing of beauty, with its green ivory grip, and silver mountings. This is a link to a video from where it's currently kept in D.C. - ua-cam.com/video/PiClfS5MfI0/v-deo.html Also, Matt, could you please do a video on tomahawks and their use? There is so much you can talk about! You could also include various other 17th-18th century one-handed axes, such as boarding axes, as well as the various one-handed war axes used by the Ottomans during the same period. But, PLEASE do a video on tomahawks no matter what! Thank you! 😁
I think that cuthoe is just about the perfect sword for the 21st century. The same things they wanted then is what you need now, quick to draw, easy to wear/conceal, good for CQB and multi-directional attacks, and capable of opposing much larger weapons. I'd prefer a Zombie Tools gladius tho
Thrusting swords are very good in a 1-1 duel but in a situation where there can be multiple people closing the distance from all directions is less advantageous.
As a sailor and having been on both modern men of war and ships of the age of sail, they are compact spaces. In combat densely packed spaces especially in the age of sail. I would take a cutoe cutlass or hanger over small sword spaldroon or rapier any day. If you thrust there is a good chance your blade will stick inside them and you have a lot of people all around you and no other weapon. No to mention the need to probably cut downed rigging, gun tackles ect.
A point that seems to really not come up looking at these historical examples is around the stress and chaos of a life or death brawl in a very close space. One of my conceptual benchmarks for self-defense is “can I envision something working in a world war one trench raid or in a celler in Stalingrad?” Maybe add to this short list a packed deck of a 17th century ship, or storming or defending period fortifications. What these kinds of scenarios have in common is a lack of space. No real room to fence. And I’m also assuming a level of fear rage and intensity. Using my imagination, I can see a cutlass being as useful as a trench knife, or sharpened shovel. But I don’t see jumping into an enemy trench with a small sword.
A sword looking very similar to your cutoe was found in the shipwreck of the Golden Fleece, the ship of Pirate Captain Joseph Bannister that was destroyed by the Royal Navy in an epic battle in 1686.
Your comment about the small sword being better than the cutlass brought to mind the battle that saw the death of blackbeard. I read the attackers acknowledged the cutting power of the cutlass and its ability to overpower the smallsword and the strategy they developed was to simply keep pouring men at the pirates until their heavier weapons wore them down.
Considering what you said about the distinction in potential lethality between cutting and thrusting: In a modern self-defense context, could the distinction between a cutter and a stabber be enough to be perceived as two distinguishable levels of force?
Mark Suarez probably depends on the jurisdiction and the people doing the investigation's level of knowledge in such matters. But regardless it will still probably boil down to assault with a deadly weapon
He is off on the gun shot vs sword damage effects. A bullets damage wound path closes behind it and knife or sword wound is open longer and allows a greater blood flow.
More of this era please. Can you do a detailed video on police hangers please? with lots of rambling and context, and possibly give your opinion on Terry Pratchetts Night Watch series, do you think the police force in the night watch (Vimes etc) carried police Hangers? Serious question its very important to me for recreating the swords from Discworld for my Channel.
I wonder if the smaller swords/sabers would also have been used as a machete-like everyday tool. that hunting hanger looks like a good fit for all around multi-tool/weapon as you said-->back-up/bowie knife --> the extra weight for a tertiary weapon would be minimized by its [utility] value.
With regards to gunshots from the period the most lethal aspect is probably secondary infection. At the time, bear grease was the go-to lube for musket balls. This was a rendered tallow that would go rancid pretty fast. So these balls-which were by no means perfectly spherical-were travelling relatively slow by modern ballistic standards and were covered in all of these little pits and crevices. That rancid tallow would stick pretty well to it all the way downrange. You would not even live long enough most times for lead poisoning to set in because of sepsis or "blood poisoning".
A slash or strike is rarely intended to be a killing blow. Instead it is about creating a weakness that can then be exploited. A slash delivered with a cutlass during an aggressive charge will easily knock back the lighter smallsword and put you in a face to face scenario where the cutlass now can deliver a killing blow.
Well, simply given that every infantryman was issued a bayonet (and the long musket to mount it on) whereas the Marine contingent was AFAIK the only sizeable part of a ship's company to be issued long muskets at all... I'm very sure bayonets at sea were comparatively rare. To the best of my knowledge, they were also rarer in more general terms too.
Another point on the stopping power of a cut. Can't say from experience, but I imagine on average it hurts more to be cut than stabbed (particularly with a narrow point) because the damage of the thrust is much more localized while the cut is damaging many more nerves on the surface. Thus it would be much easier in the heat of the moment to not immediately realize the extent of the damage from the thrust and fight on after being run through, with the reaction to a cut typically being much more immediate. Disclaimer: I'm not on expert on pain and reactions to it. If anyone knows of research on this, please share.
Having a short and thin small sword ⚔️ that is easily maneuverable that can thrust and slash would be better than having a shorter and broader blade sword 🗡️ that is heavier and is mainly used for cutting and chopping. They both have their strengths but the more nimble the better for CQB. The faster you can attack the better.
This is a bit off-topic, but looking at the condition of the shortsword blade, it got me thinking about the issues of condition and restoration of swords and how they affect value. I know that you frequently clean and restore antique swords, but I remember seeing many cases on Antiques Roadshow where they talk about antique weapons (especially firearms), and the impression I got is that original condition is an important factor for value, and even cleaning a weapon can dramatically reduce its value. Are there different rules for swords?
Arioch IV there are definitely different rules for swords. Bad restoration can reduce the value of a sword, but swords in damaged "relic" condition don't fetch nearly as much as cleaner examples. The better condition it's in the higher prices is. I think the US antiques Roadshow has a huge bias for "Americana", so a gun that really looks like it was part of US history is consequently worth a lot.
Two cases of Americana from the US version of the Antiques Roadshow: I remember seeing an old pair of decayed leather boots and also a muddy old rotting tricorn hat that'd been dug out of ditches. Because of their connection with early American history they were worth thousands! Clothing from that era found in that condition in the UK probably wouldn't be wortgh more than a few dollars.
Very interesting, Matt. I could of course look it up myself, but I'm not sure what a 'hanger' is, as opposed to a standard cutlass. Perhaps it's to do with blade length ...
Many thanks, John. I got around to looking it up on Wikipedia, and I was interested to learn that cutlasses may be the forerunners of machetes, and that they were used as agricultural tools.
It will be very good for backup weapons if you can use it as a tool. For daggers or knives it is possible. Can they use this thing as a tool? for cutting ropes or meat, maybe ....
is it just me or does that shortsword look like its sharp on the inner edge, not the outer edge? also, I think one thing to consider about the popularity of cuttoes and the like is that sailors and pirates don't fight in particularly convenient environements. The deck of a ship is crowded, its moving due to the wind and waves, and its probably somewhat wet and slippery. Not to mention that most ships of the time were fairly cramped inside, so you'd likely not have much room below decks. Also, there is some small possibility that you might be fighting in the rigging of the ship, where you want a lighter, shorter weapon so you have a lower chance of losing your balance. On that note- since cuttoes were carried as se;f defense weapons day to day, their small size would make them very convenient when you have to set the sails and all.
I just recently got my first Calvary saber and I love it generally I was more into katana type weapons and then I found long sword 🗡️ and now the sabre man I'm not going to have any more room on my walls
We know of several types of cutting weapons and long knives from 14th century Italy, Cultelo or Coltelo, Cortelas and Coltellaccio, Cultellesia, Cultella. Also, we know of old french term Coutelas, its probably where it stems from.
Could you make a close-up of this cutlass? Because I've think for half the video that it was a inverse recurve blade due to the type of grind lines that can be seen on it. I can't picture what the cross-section would be like...
Would you do a review of some of the weapons/historical authenticity/fight scenes of the first (and only the first) pirates of the Caribbean film. I'd love to get your take on that.
Isn't fighting aboard a ship somewhat similar to fighting in trenches? In the trenches they also took to shorter blades and cudgels and stuff, and less to long swords. Trenches are probably more cramped than a deck, but especially on military ships there were an awful lot of people aboard.
You keep saying that cuts are (generally) less lethal than thrusts, and I'm broadly inclined to agree, but we also have historical accounts of people having limbs amputated or having their skulls and torsos split. No modern knife can split a person in two or chop off a head, yet we read about this often in historical sources. Nobody who's had their head chopped off or had their torso split is going to make it back for doctors to complain about their wounds.
Matt, surely the fact that multiple opponents in a melee are better dealt with using a cutting weapon than with a point weapon is a significant factor in their popularity... Not mentioned in this video, but something I know that you are very aware of.
Very interesting video. I gather that both French and British line infantry in the French and Indian War were equipped with hangers but I'm curious if these weapons were used regularly in combat (I.e.: in comparison to war club, tomahawk and knife) during that period?
I suppose another element to cutting rather than stabbing is that you might not always want to kill your opponents in ship to ship combat or raiding parties. Sometimes you might want to take prisoners for ransom and they're worth a lot more if they're still breathing, you also might want to enlist new crew members or to simply take slaves for later sale. A couple of nasty cuts or lost fingers might be enough to take the fight out of merchant sailor without making them either a death waiting to happen or a useless cripple, in either case they're more valuable/useful to you as a pirate.
I have seen several spellings and pronunciations of this type of sword. The title of this video uses cutoe. However, the spelling I believe to be most accurate is the French word, couteau. The exact translation of couteau is knife.
Personnaly I think cutlass came from the french "coutelas" , the pronotiation is close. We use the term "coutelas" for naming a big large knife. Many terms of the pirate world cames from french, like bucanneers , barbecue ( embrocher de la barbe à la queue ) .
From my experience thrusts are only difficult to deal with from spears. Thrusting with a sword requires too much body movement making it too telegraphed. In most cases easy to cut aside and close or in some cases like your spadroon you could displace it with your arm and be fine and close range to where you're dangerous and they're not.
If you've ever seen modern fencing, thrusts should not require a lot of body movement. In fact, I'd argue it should require less movement than cutting. If the thrust is telegraphed, you're doing it wrong. The hand should always move first, just like in cutting. Also, there are feints in thrusts as well.
That is true but thrusting with a sword requires the whole arm to move from a potion of safety which is telegraphic, with a spear or other similar pole arm only the rear hand needs to move which is often obscured by the body. Also a spear is less telegraphic because the hands move on the shaft whereas with a sword the blade is always present making the judge of distance easier for the opponent. Feinting is a factor but so is the fact that 2 people using a spadroon vs a cutoe are closer to each other than a swordsman and a spearman would be, making it easier to close the distance before a feint is pulled off. On top of that feinting is is more a dual thing. Whilst they can be used in combat they're a lot harder to pull off because of external stress and the need to be more wary of your surroundings. A battle is more likely to force you to be direct. The way I see the fight between these two swords I see it as the spadroon user being the aggressor while the cutoe user is on the defensive (If he were on the offensive he would most likely be destroyed yes) staying out of range and parrying attacks baiting the spadrooner to be more aggressive and only closing the distance once he see's the right chance. Obviously not 100% effective but in that dual situation I think they're on par with each other. Unless of course the cutoe user is an idiot and/ or is incapable of fighting defensively. In a battle scenario I think they're equal as well as feints are less likely to happen.
The point has a lot less far to move in a thrust than a cut. A thrust from a smallsword or a fencing foil (which is my are of experience) is lighting fast, and it can very quickly be delivered from and to a number of directions, again much faster than a cut can.
If we compare a cutlass like a "cuillère à pot" to a standard saber , we notice that the blade is shorter, quite the size you show. I think swinging a shorter blade is an advantage in a ship combat as it is less likely to be stuck in ropes and all sort of thing , especialy if your are INSIDE
I wish I had had you to argue my case with Australia Customs a decade ago! I spent nearly a week's wages on a beautiful hanger with shell guard, acorn finials on the quillons, made in Solingen and purchased overseas. Australian Law at that time required paperwork for daggers, but NOT swords or Bayonets, so I had no permit for my Hanger, or Cuttoe, or Smallsword; believing obviously that it was a SWORD! Some Idiot in Customs who apparently had never seen one before decided that as swords were big, long things; this wasn't, ergo it had to be a large dagger and so confiscated it! I had to argue my case in writing, but after a lot of time wasted, the senior bureaucrat couldn't rescind his minion's decision, so I said as a collector I would put in the paperwork for a dagger; only to be told I had just 28 days after importing to apply, and 30 days had passed!!! I'll bet it's in someone else's collection now!
A cut is a large, shallow wound. A stab is a smaller, deeper wound. Considering humans have evolved to have most of our important bits held deep within our bodies, mainly due to animals making large surface wound type attacks via teeth and claws, a stab is always going to be more dangerous as it has a better chance of getting to the important bits. You can tell nature has evolved this way by simply looking at a rib cage. Against a slash it's amazing defense. But against something like a smallsword or triangular bayonet it can actually almost funnel the blow through since ribs are round. Try poking a round metal signpost to see what I mean. It's also why bullets are so effective.
I think you'll find although a stab may be more lethal, a cut is far more incapacitating. In close combat you want your opponent out of the way as soon as possible before he deals you a lethal blow, hence the cutloe/cutlass being a more popular weapon.
Robert Rogers' Standing Orders mentions the use of cutlass by his men, Their operating environment is the wilderness of New England and Lower Canada. I assume these men used personal weapons, and brought them mainly to be used as machete, Does anyone have further information on this?
2:40 -- *LULZ* so I find it a bit funny that you pointed out the etymological linkages between Cutlers and Cutlasses, but missed the Spadroon connection to the suit of Spades, in a deck of playing cards. Swords and Spades are essentially interchangeable for symbolic purposes.
A cutting weapon like a hanger can also be better against multiple opponents(most context in war) because when you thrust someone you often immobilize yourself or your weapon
A few things that come to mind:
- a hanger is less likely to get into things when sheated and a ship is a very busy place
- cutting is more compliant with so and so sight, without glasses I can shoot and cut much better than I can thrust, not many people who needed glasses had them, and you may have problems seeing in dark parts of a ship, in the jungle and everywhere at night
- thrust fencing is based on fine motor skills, which evaporate quickly if you drink grog, and are the result of training, which costs time and money and requires a master, whereas some basic cut and parry could be passed from senior operator to junior operator
- a point to investigate could be cost, I suspect storta, hangers and the alike could be had more on the cheap than swords
Your point about training seems especially relevant.
To your point -slicing would be the equivalent of spray and pray automatic fire
Or to make a similar comparison, choosing cutting blades to issue could be similar to choosing shotguns - you can be moving too frantically to aim precisely, and still hit your target effectively.
All good points. Another point is that a cutting weapon is more likely than a thrusting one to be of use in situations on board and while boarding not directly related to fighting, ie cutting ropes. There would be situations when you might want to employ a sharp edge more than a point.
You partially touched on this but another advantage is using it like a machete. If you're in somewhere like the Caribbean or parts of South America alot of it is jungle and swamp. An axe wouldn't be all that useful at clearing a trail through vines but a Cutlass or hanger would be.
Mitchell Line they still call machetes "cutlasses" there apparently.
The modern machete, especially In Latin America, is the descendant of these old style of blades. Where in Europe the Bill Hook, Axe and hatchets, and the Saxe Knife were the daily tools; the machete is the general equivalent in the Americas. The machetes designs and uses came from the hangers, sabers, scimitar copies and wide bladed side swords of the day in Europe and evolved into the machete tools used today everywhere on the American continents from the southern tips of Chile and Argentina to the Northern Wilderness of Canada.
a lot of it is jungle and swamp?? im sorry but beyond the amazonas there's very little jungle, South America is like 80% mountains and a few plains
Not saying you're wrong, but the Amazon Rainforest is historically (and presently) a very big chunk of South America.
Also Central America is rainforests, deciduous forests, cloud forests, and mangrove forests sprinkled with beaches on top of mountainous terrain.
Mountains, with forests on them.
0:18 length of time required for Matt to say context
He's slowing down with age.
omega a chain-saw isn't quick to handle, but it still makes for a formidable defensive weapon.
>not wearing a superdry shirt
You okay, Matt?
Giga Baidoshvili the lancastrian scum won the war though
Concerning cuts vs stabs @10:50. My grandfather was a surgeon who served in Burma in WW2 and Vietnam and who worked as what they called a 'General Surgeon" in those days which meant he operated on the chest and abdomen. I asked him about different wounds and their difficulty. He always said wounds similar to those from artillery were the worst and nearly inoperable, being that they essentially tore and shredded. The same could be true with gunshot wounda but he said they could vary greatly. Stab wounds by comparison were easy with modern medicine since they were much cleaner; though location mattered (ie arteries). I don't know if he ever mentioned any cutting type wounds, but based on what he said before I would guess he'd say they'd be the easiest. Of course, this all is with modern medicine, or mid 20th century modern medicine at least! Miss you Granddaddy!
14:20 "There's a very high chance that we'll just thrust each other."
I'm frankly surprised no-one else has desired to highlight that gem yet....
Also cuting weapons offer more targets. You can cut at extremities, like lower arms easily, while thrusting them is perhaps possible, but a lot harder.
Exactly. Silver even talks about that: "And yet more for the blow: a full blow upon the head, face, arm, leg, or legs, is death, or the party so wounded in the mercy of him that shall so wound him. For what man shall be able long in fight to stand up, either to revenge, or defend himself, having the veins, muscles, sinews of his hand, arm, or leg clean cut asunder? Or being dismembered by such wound upon the face or head, but shall be enforced thereby, and through the loss of blood, the other a little dallying with him, to yield himself, or leave his life in his mercy?"
That's part of (but not the only part) why traditional foil target is just the torso, and why smallsword manuals do at times talk about limb attacks but don't give them nearly the credit of something straight to the chest or even face. I've sparred smallsword on occasions where I make it a point to try to get the opponent's weapon hand (probably the only useful limb target with a point like that) and - while possible - found it damn hard to do with regularity.
Like 9mm sub machine gun vs 7.62mm rifle.
Everytime somebody is talking about cutting ropes Lindybeige is crying
Beskad Manda throwback
Exediency is combat and safe voyages trump incurring the wrath of a rope maker.
Lindybeige tears cure cancer, haven't you heard? ;)
PobortzaPl if they did i would be the first one in newcastle with a a load of antique rope
As a former river sailor, there are times where we needed to cut ropes (we call them lines), especially if they were hard down and impossible to untangle
Sir, that's a suspiciously white flower on your t-shirt. Are you trying to start second war of certain pretty plants ?
I'm with the radishes, if that happens.
Heretic ! Traitor ! Carrots for life!
Where are my pills, goddammit.
Carrots? Ginger genocide of the house of carrot.
@@mackymccallum8652
You're not a Papist, now, are you...?
Good one dude.
I LOVE watching you manipulate that blade from 9:10 onward, you make it look so effortless.
This is the sort of talk that you do best Matt. No long rambling side offshoots, full and clear explanations. Just the job.
Could you please do a video on the kinds of weapons used by outlaws/bandits in the Middle Ages?
Marxiavelli24 I think the case for bandit knights is a bit exaggerated. Most of those would probably have been out of work soldiers comming back from campaign or mercenaries between jobs, while the knight would have a lot more recources to draw on.
I agree interested in 18th and 19th century highwayman
There was also the effect of primogeniture. Eldest son inherits everything what is left for the younger? The Church or banditry.
Or joining the retinue of other nobles.
True. Imagine the younger son of a duke swearing fealty to someone of lesser rank. Somewhat socially awkward, loss of prestige and income. A bit like the owner of a factory having his son working on the production floor, as a laborer.
Cutlasses are one my favourite swords and certainly one of the most popular in this period. Although very posh officers might still carry a rapier, the cutlass was the naval sword. While it came to be an iconic pirate sword, it was the iconic mariner blade. It was ideal for fights on a ship. Shipboard combat in this time was truly CQB, close quarters battle. The hanger was a short sword issues to infantry and support troops during this period. A sword was the sidearm until pistols became sidearms..
can you make a video make about Katzbalgars
Bump
Spadroons are awesome! More hand protection than smallswords, wide enough to challenge saber, can cut and thrust, light and very pointable.
One of my favourite cuttoes is the one made for (and carried by) Washington in the Rev. War. Very light, fancy looking but looks like it would work very well in close quarters and looks like a good cutter.
I remember the first time I came across the word 'hanger' (as a weapon) was in Gulliver's Travels, where Gulliver has to draw his hanger to defend himself against huge animals like wasps and rats - in Brobdingnag, of course. I don't think I had to look it up in a dictionary, because it was obvious from the *context* that it must be some kind of sword.
yeah me too, fighting the giant wasp
Couteau is French for knife.
SchwarzeBananen beat me to it
Maybe "couteaux"? French for a cutting thing?
camouflet Precisely what I had been given to understand.
It may be from Italian or French. We know of several types of cutting weapons and long knives from 14th century Italy, Cultelo or Coltelo, Cortelas, Coltellaccio, Cultellesia, Cultella, and also in old french, Coutelas. This is probably where it stems from.
Counteauxt?
It means knife, I'm thinking cutoe is just English changing he French word to be more phonetically pleasing to themselves.
Hmmm. You mentioned quite a bit about the difference between a thrust from a spadroon and a slash from the hanger, but you didn’t seem to have mentioned anything about the different type of wound one would suffer getting stabbed with the cutlass. That might’ve been an interesting bit to add. Cheers!
This is the first good resource dealing with the cutoe that I've been able to find. I live in a Suburb of Cleveland Ohio, in the United States, and we've got a few cutoe exhibited at a local museum, but very little information is given at the exhibit. In addition, our first president, and Revolutionary War general, George Washington carried a cutoe -he had previously carried a small sword- which is in some museum somewhere. Despite perhaps our most prominent historical figure carrying one, there is very, very little information available here about that style of weapon. Thank you for making this video. You've answered a lot of questions that I had about cutoe, but was previously unable to find answers to.
It's always interesting to me when you describe something like that as short or describe it as a good close quarter weapon. In the circles I travel people debate weather a 6inch blade is too long at grappling distance. Just goes to show how things can change. I would not want to go up against what you are holding with a 6 inch blade... but then again no one is walking around with one of those today. You just can't get away from fighting systems. No matter how much you think you are getting away from martial arts and into "real world" fighting you are still hopelessly looked into the marshal discipline of your time. One day people will be practicing early 21st century marshal arts and debating the value of drop leg holsters or some nonsense 😂
I sometimes cringe at future anthropologists trying to interpret the "tacticool" type weapons of today as legit weapons.
Gawd only knows what they will make of the knife crime epidemic in London. I don't think there is any martial arts or finesse there, first to shank your opponent with a kitchen knife wins, stabity stabity stab.
inregionecaecorum staby staby... cruder but effective 😂😂😂
Pomai Kajiyama what do you consider a good blade length for grappling distance? Just curious. Have a good one.
However, Karambits have get a corollary to it, I've been training with them and finding them to be the optimal grappling blade due to ergonomic design which allows for the hand to be opened while the weapon retained ready and can be used to hook and do draw cuts from various angles, and their size is generally related to your hand size and are usually about 3-4 inches only even though the curve gives them a longer cutting surface. However, with other Filipino weapons you can get up to 28" to 34" total length and still comfortably clear in grapple distance.
I think I've got a wrench to throw into your etymology here. In the late 16th century you can already find a lot of english mentions of a weapon called the "curtal-axe" or "curtilace" (albiet I've occasionally just seen it translated as "falchion"). It was a sort of curved broadsword which became extremely popular among French and Spanish heavy cavalry during the second half of the 16th century as an anti-armor weapon. You can see these "curtilaces" feature prominently in a number of Hogenburg's illustrations, in particluar his illustration of the battle of Dreux, and they do look a whole lot like the stereotypical pirate cutlass.
How exactly the cutlass would have gone from being essentially a knightly weapon, intended to be used against opponents in heavy armor like the horseman's mace or battle axe, to a pirate weapon though I don't really know.
Lots of 18th century officers complained about men using their hangers to cut firewood in the written records. Avoiding that and hatchets being more good for land clearing seems to be why most regular British Army units in the French and Indian War were ordered to leave their hangers in storage in whatever port they landed in and were issued hatchets instead before going off to the American frontier.
The main advantage is the intimidation factor. Small swords aren’t as intimidating looking as a cutlass and for pirates the main goal is to get your target to give up without a fight. That’s very different from a battlefield context where there’s very little chance of scaring the other side into backing down.
This may be due to popular imagination. I doubt that smallswords weren't intimidating in their time, especially when pointed at you.
Any sword is intimidating , if you don't have one , or even if yours is not in your hand when needed .
Intimidation could be a factor. Maybe.
But a Smallsword when pointed at you is still intimidating. It's not a toy.
Intimidation relies upon psychology mostly.
A shopkeeper would very much be intimidated by just about anything.
A pirate, sailor or privateer may need a bit more to be intimidated. Like a blunderbuss.
Maybe a Pappenheimer rapier would be more intimidating than a Smallsword. At least it has more reach and protection.
Both are deadly if used correctly.
We are talking about combat troops after all. You are going to need more to intimidate them. They've seen it all.
Cannons. Swords. Guns. Keelhauling. Torture.
Great video I love the detail of your explanations!
These are my favorite Scholagladiatoria vids
Great video. I was excited to see this as it seems that there are far fewer videos about hangers than most other sword types.
Only Matt would describe a two foot long broad blade as light and dainty ;-) Mind you, there is a zwiehander in the background .....
Ive seen it suggested that sailors / pirates preferred shorter blade cutlasses as they were easier to use on the decks, and especially below decks, on a ship where space is confined and a short blade is more suited to the potential fighting environment. Having been on a couple of tall masters I could see the point - below decks is cramped and above deck there are ropes and tangle risks everywhere.
What do you think Matt?
Also....potential for a follow up on the use of boarding pikes and axes.
sandmanhh67 Boarding pikes sound like a nasty bit of business, hadn't heard the term before.
Yeah, basically half-pikes that are a bit handier in combat. While a musket is better of course, they had their uses for repelling boarders and clearing decks.
@@Tareltonlives For a cool story about their use, look up the the Taking of Banda, when Captain Christopher Cole captured a Dutch outpost while greatly outnumbered by giving his men boarding pikes during a torrential rain. Apparently bayonets and swords were a poor match against a small band of pike wielding Brits.
As a sometime tall ship sailor myself, I'm ashamed that the point about the rigging had not occurred to me. OTOH, it is easy to overstate how much rigging is even within twice an arm's reach.
@@Tareltonlives And, of course, as boathooks.
Dear Matt. It would be very nice of you to give some stats of the weapon.
Length, width, thickness of the blade at the hilt and distal taper are very important.
Thank you!
awesome video! i love the detailed visual combat analysis videos like this (stab sword vs swing sword) and sword vs axe and the like.
I hope you do more videos like this!
He has a ton of comparisons in his past videos. Check them out since they'll never be irrelevant for historical context.
I KNOW. I'VE ALREADY WATCHED ALL OF THEM...
Interesting discussion on effectiveness of weapons!
I have learned a lot.
Another disadvantage of thrusts is that it can take a moment to withdraw a blade from an injured/dying enemy. That could be a problem if his buddy is arm's length away trying to kill you.
Great video. Ive been waiting for this content for awhile. Thank you
All of this wonderful information aside the way Matt speaks to the camera almost feels as though he’s giving me a sales pitch
You noted that that sword could be a tool, but only for cutting meat. The first buccaneers came to the Caribbean to hunt cattle and wild pigs and trade the meat, so those swords would have been excellent tools for them.
Purpose-made for butchering Long Pig.
@@johnladuke6475 and a big knife like a cuttoe is purpose made for butchering short pigs too
@@jordanhicks5131 here in FL and south Ga. A lot of hog hunters still use knifes that look alot like his cutoe\ hanger. Or still alot of bowies. Knifes.
@@tbjtbj4786 we use large bowie knives to quarter mule deer out here in the southwest.
@@tbjtbj4786 they also work well for clearing light brush to set up a shooting hide. I also carry a folding saw for that, kinda like how british empire pioneer short swords had a sawback
The modern machete, especially In Latin America, is the descendant of these old style of blades. Where in Europe the Bill Hook, Axe and hatchets, and the Saxe Knife were the daily tools; the machete is the general equivalent in the Americas. The machetes designs and uses came from the hangers, sabers, scimitar copies and wide bladed side swords of the day in Europe and evolved into the machete tools used today everywhere on the American continents from the southern tips of Chile and Argentina to the Northern Wilderness of Canada.
Even the lewis and Clark expedition carried a version of 24"ish blade cutlasses with T guards. It's basically the original explorer's machete. I recently commissioned a 22"blade hand and a half t guard cutlass and I am really surprised at the versatility and ease of use, it can slice clean through 2"saplings with a good swing, and it's compact enough to not get in the way when stowed.
"One final thing..."
I don't think this phrase means what you think it does. :)
That's gotta be the best pirate I've ever seen
Aldor *Insert ear rape*
First one in this compilation, for real: ua-cam.com/video/6_0g-YtwZ4g/v-deo.html
In ship fighting on or below decks apart from the general press of sweaty scrapping matelots, the cramped structure of the ship is an issue too. You don't want to thrust ,overpenetrate and get your point stuck in the hull bulkheads or have your strike parried by the deckbeams above your head.
Such swords were also widely used by Americans during the Revolution, both regulars and militia. George Washington's famous main battle sword, made at Fishkill, NY, was a cutoe. It survives in amazing condition, and is truly a thing of beauty, with its green ivory grip, and silver mountings. This is a link to a video from where it's currently kept in D.C. - ua-cam.com/video/PiClfS5MfI0/v-deo.html
Also, Matt, could you please do a video on tomahawks and their use? There is so much you can talk about! You could also include various other 17th-18th century one-handed axes, such as boarding axes, as well as the various one-handed war axes used by the Ottomans during the same period. But, PLEASE do a video on tomahawks no matter what! Thank you! 😁
I think that cuthoe is just about the perfect sword for the 21st century. The same things they wanted then is what you need now, quick to draw, easy to wear/conceal, good for CQB and multi-directional attacks, and capable of opposing much larger weapons. I'd prefer a Zombie Tools gladius tho
Thrusting swords are very good in a 1-1 duel but in a situation where there can be multiple people closing the distance from all directions is less advantageous.
As a sailor and having been on both modern men of war and ships of the age of sail, they are compact spaces. In combat densely packed spaces especially in the age of sail. I would take a cutoe cutlass or hanger over small sword spaldroon or rapier any day. If you thrust there is a good chance your blade will stick inside them and you have a lot of people all around you and no other weapon. No to mention the need to probably cut downed rigging, gun tackles ect.
A point that seems to really not come up looking at these historical examples is around the stress and chaos of a life or death brawl in a very close space. One of my conceptual benchmarks for self-defense is “can I envision something working in a world war one trench raid or in a celler in Stalingrad?” Maybe add to this short list a packed deck of a 17th century ship, or storming or defending period fortifications. What these kinds of scenarios have in common is a lack of space. No real room to fence. And I’m also assuming a level of fear rage and intensity. Using my imagination, I can see a cutlass being as useful as a trench knife, or sharpened shovel. But I don’t see jumping into an enemy trench with a small sword.
I suppose the same features of ease of wear, and usefulness in close quarters were what made the Grosse Messer popular in the 14th and 15th centuries.
A sword looking very similar to your cutoe was found in the shipwreck of the Golden Fleece, the ship of Pirate Captain Joseph Bannister that was destroyed by the Royal Navy in an epic battle in 1686.
Your comment about the small sword being better than the cutlass brought to mind the battle that saw the death of blackbeard. I read the attackers acknowledged the cutting power of the cutlass and its ability to overpower the smallsword and the strategy they developed was to simply keep pouring men at the pirates until their heavier weapons wore them down.
Considering what you said about the distinction in potential lethality between cutting and thrusting: In a modern self-defense context, could the distinction between a cutter and a stabber be enough to be perceived as two distinguishable levels of force?
Mark Suarez probably depends on the jurisdiction and the people doing the investigation's level of knowledge in such matters. But regardless it will still probably boil down to assault with a deadly weapon
With small blades, maybe. Of course a stab from four-inch folder or kitchen knife is going to be much more likely to kill than a cut from the same.
He is off on the gun shot vs sword damage effects. A bullets damage wound path closes behind it and knife or sword wound is open longer and allows a greater blood flow.
More of this era please. Can you do a detailed video on police hangers please? with lots of rambling and context, and possibly give your opinion on Terry Pratchetts Night Watch series, do you think the police force in the night watch (Vimes etc) carried police Hangers?
Serious question its very important to me for recreating the swords from Discworld for my Channel.
I never caught part 2, didn't notice it, I watched part 1 about the truncheons, thanks ever so much. I'll watch it now.
Thanks again Leo, you are a legend.
lol, cheers.
Interesting. The close-to-body cuts you demonstrated remind me of how the dao (saber) is used in some Chinese martial arts
Picture quality is looking fantastic!
I’ve got a C19th police sabre which fits pretty much all of the above criteria. The last record of the police cutlasses is dated to the 1950s!
I wonder if the smaller swords/sabers would also have been used as a machete-like everyday tool. that hunting hanger looks like a good fit for all around multi-tool/weapon as you said-->back-up/bowie knife --> the extra weight for a tertiary weapon would be minimized by its [utility] value.
With regards to gunshots from the period the most lethal aspect is probably secondary infection. At the time, bear grease was the go-to lube for musket balls. This was a rendered tallow that would go rancid pretty fast. So these balls-which were by no means perfectly spherical-were travelling relatively slow by modern ballistic standards and were covered in all of these little pits and crevices. That rancid tallow would stick pretty well to it all the way downrange. You would not even live long enough most times for lead poisoning to set in because of sepsis or "blood poisoning".
Lead poisoning 😂😂😂😂 you clown.
It really does not matter if a wound is eventually fatal or not. The only thing in a fight is that the wound stops the attacker.
A slash or strike is rarely intended to be a killing blow. Instead it is about creating a weakness that can then be exploited. A slash delivered with a cutlass during an aggressive charge will easily knock back the lighter smallsword and put you in a face to face scenario where the cutlass now can deliver a killing blow.
Scholagladiatoria: Swords are sidearms
Ottomans till the 1500s: Imma pretend I didn't see that.
Another exceptional video matt, I enjoyed it! One question though, would you say that bayonets were more common on land battles than sea battles?
Well, simply given that every infantryman was issued a bayonet (and the long musket to mount it on) whereas the Marine contingent was AFAIK the only sizeable part of a ship's company to be issued long muskets at all...
I'm very sure bayonets at sea were comparatively rare. To the best of my knowledge, they were also rarer in more general terms too.
The length is similar to many Confederate knives, Filipino weapons & Viking long saxes....
Clearly it is a useful size weapon in many times & contexts
Another point on the stopping power of a cut. Can't say from experience, but I imagine on average it hurts more to be cut than stabbed (particularly with a narrow point) because the damage of the thrust is much more localized while the cut is damaging many more nerves on the surface. Thus it would be much easier in the heat of the moment to not immediately realize the extent of the damage from the thrust and fight on after being run through, with the reaction to a cut typically being much more immediate.
Disclaimer: I'm not on expert on pain and reactions to it. If anyone knows of research on this, please share.
Beautiful hanger!
Having a short and thin small sword ⚔️ that is easily maneuverable that can thrust and slash would be better than having a shorter and broader blade sword 🗡️ that is heavier and is mainly used for cutting and chopping. They both have their strengths but the more nimble the better for CQB. The faster you can attack the better.
This is a bit off-topic, but looking at the condition of the shortsword blade, it got me thinking about the issues of condition and restoration of swords and how they affect value. I know that you frequently clean and restore antique swords, but I remember seeing many cases on Antiques Roadshow where they talk about antique weapons (especially firearms), and the impression I got is that original condition is an important factor for value, and even cleaning a weapon can dramatically reduce its value. Are there different rules for swords?
Arioch IV there are definitely different rules for swords. Bad restoration can reduce the value of a sword, but swords in damaged "relic" condition don't fetch nearly as much as cleaner examples.
The better condition it's in the higher prices is.
I think the US antiques Roadshow has a huge bias for "Americana", so a gun that really looks like it was part of US history is consequently worth a lot.
Two cases of Americana from the US version of the Antiques Roadshow: I remember seeing an old pair of decayed leather boots and also a muddy old rotting tricorn hat that'd been dug out of ditches. Because of their connection with early American history they were worth thousands! Clothing from that era found in that condition in the UK probably wouldn't be wortgh more than a few dollars.
I love that you don't dismiss the Bowie Knife as a weapon.
Very interesting, Matt. I could of course look it up myself, but I'm not sure what a 'hanger' is, as opposed to a standard cutlass. Perhaps it's to do with blade length ...
Matt Easton defines it by hilt type and maybe history or purpose. Blade length has nothing to do with it.
Many thanks, John. I got around to looking it up on Wikipedia, and I was interested to learn that cutlasses may be the forerunners of machetes, and that they were used as agricultural tools.
Could you make a video on the confederate "d" guard bowie knives? I have seen some originals that are in the realm of a hanger or short cutlass...
It will be very good for backup weapons if you can use it as a tool. For daggers or knives it is possible. Can they use this thing as a tool? for cutting ropes or meat, maybe ....
is it just me or does that shortsword look like its sharp on the inner edge, not the outer edge?
also, I think one thing to consider about the popularity of cuttoes and the like is that sailors and pirates don't fight in particularly convenient environements. The deck of a ship is crowded, its moving due to the wind and waves, and its probably somewhat wet and slippery. Not to mention that most ships of the time were fairly cramped inside, so you'd likely not have much room below decks. Also, there is some small possibility that you might be fighting in the rigging of the ship, where you want a lighter, shorter weapon so you have a lower chance of losing your balance. On that note- since cuttoes were carried as se;f defense weapons day to day, their small size would make them very convenient when you have to set the sails and all.
I just recently got my first Calvary saber and I love it generally I was more into katana type weapons and then I found long sword 🗡️ and now the sabre man I'm not going to have any more room on my walls
We know of several types of cutting weapons and long knives from 14th century Italy, Cultelo or Coltelo, Cortelas and Coltellaccio, Cultellesia, Cultella. Also, we know of old french term Coutelas, its probably where it stems from.
Could you make a close-up of this cutlass? Because I've think for half the video that it was a inverse recurve blade due to the type of grind lines that can be seen on it.
I can't picture what the cross-section would be like...
I loved the sword! Which by the way has a curious resemblance to a wakisashi, very interesting.
Would you do a review of some of the weapons/historical authenticity/fight scenes of the first (and only the first) pirates of the Caribbean film. I'd love to get your take on that.
And all those reasons are why I'm trying to find or make a thick bladed, knuckle-bowed hanger to keep in my truck.
Isn't fighting aboard a ship somewhat similar to fighting in trenches? In the trenches they also took to shorter blades and cudgels and stuff, and less to long swords. Trenches are probably more cramped than a deck, but especially on military ships there were an awful lot of people aboard.
You keep saying that cuts are (generally) less lethal than thrusts, and I'm broadly inclined to agree, but we also have historical accounts of people having limbs amputated or having their skulls and torsos split. No modern knife can split a person in two or chop off a head, yet we read about this often in historical sources. Nobody who's had their head chopped off or had their torso split is going to make it back for doctors to complain about their wounds.
Matt, surely the fact that multiple opponents in a melee are better dealt with using a cutting weapon than with a point weapon is a significant factor in their popularity... Not mentioned in this video, but something I know that you are very aware of.
Very interesting video. I gather that both French and British line infantry in the French and Indian War were equipped with hangers but I'm curious if these weapons were used regularly in combat (I.e.: in comparison to war club, tomahawk and knife) during that period?
I suppose another element to cutting rather than stabbing is that you might not always want to kill your opponents in ship to ship combat or raiding parties. Sometimes you might want to take prisoners for ransom and they're worth a lot more if they're still breathing, you also might want to enlist new crew members or to simply take slaves for later sale. A couple of nasty cuts or lost fingers might be enough to take the fight out of merchant sailor without making them either a death waiting to happen or a useless cripple, in either case they're more valuable/useful to you as a pirate.
I have seen several spellings and pronunciations of this type of sword. The title of this video uses cutoe. However, the spelling I believe to be most accurate is the French word, couteau. The exact translation of couteau is knife.
cutlery.... ahem, messer?
Yes, but in French
Cut and thrust weapons gives you more options in a duel or brawl.
Awesome video. Thanks for making it. Wish I could have bought that hanger but my financial situation wouldn't allow it. Maybe someday........
Personnaly I think cutlass came from the french "coutelas" , the pronotiation is close. We use the term "coutelas" for naming a big large knife. Many terms of the pirate world cames from french, like bucanneers , barbecue ( embrocher de la barbe à la queue ) .
I always knew you love THE sparring gloves :)
Pleaasssee make a review of swords and weapons used during the spanish conquest in the americas. peleeassseeee!!
From my experience thrusts are only difficult to deal with from spears. Thrusting with a sword requires too much body movement making it too telegraphed. In most cases easy to cut aside and close or in some cases like your spadroon you could displace it with your arm and be fine and close range to where you're dangerous and they're not.
If you've ever seen modern fencing, thrusts should not require a lot of body movement. In fact, I'd argue it should require less movement than cutting. If the thrust is telegraphed, you're doing it wrong. The hand should always move first, just like in cutting. Also, there are feints in thrusts as well.
That is true but thrusting with a sword requires the whole arm to move from a potion of safety which is telegraphic, with a spear or other similar pole arm only the rear hand needs to move which is often obscured by the body. Also a spear is less telegraphic because the hands move on the shaft whereas with a sword the blade is always present making the judge of distance easier for the opponent.
Feinting is a factor but so is the fact that 2 people using a spadroon vs a cutoe are closer to each other than a swordsman and a spearman would be, making it easier to close the distance before a feint is pulled off. On top of that feinting is is more a dual thing. Whilst they can be used in combat they're a lot harder to pull off because of external stress and the need to be more wary of your surroundings. A battle is more likely to force you to be direct.
The way I see the fight between these two swords I see it as the spadroon user being the aggressor while the cutoe user is on the defensive (If he were on the offensive he would most likely be destroyed yes) staying out of range and parrying attacks baiting the spadrooner to be more aggressive and only closing the distance once he see's the right chance. Obviously not 100% effective but in that dual situation I think they're on par with each other. Unless of course the cutoe user is an idiot and/ or is incapable of fighting defensively. In a battle scenario I think they're equal as well as feints are less likely to happen.
The point has a lot less far to move in a thrust than a cut. A thrust from a smallsword or a fencing foil (which is my are of experience) is lighting fast, and it can very quickly be delivered from and to a number of directions, again much faster than a cut can.
I have serious doubts as to the forward hand on a spear not moving with the thrust in actual combat.
Hand moves before body
Have you seen Forged In Fire: Knife Or Death (a cutting competition)? I would be interested to hear your opinions on the show.
He has.
Excellent! Thank you!
Messers, cutlass, hanger, falchion, Seax. Seems like it’s a form that’s been popular for thousands of years
If we compare a cutlass like a "cuillère à pot" to a standard saber , we notice that the blade is shorter, quite the size you show. I think swinging a shorter blade is an advantage in a ship combat as it is less likely to be stuck in ropes and all sort of thing , especialy if your are INSIDE
I wish I had had you to argue my case with Australia Customs a decade ago! I spent nearly a week's wages on a beautiful hanger with shell guard, acorn finials on the quillons, made in Solingen and purchased overseas. Australian Law at that time required paperwork for daggers, but NOT swords or Bayonets, so I had no permit for my Hanger, or Cuttoe, or Smallsword; believing obviously that it was a SWORD! Some Idiot in Customs who apparently had never seen one before decided that as swords were big, long things; this wasn't, ergo it had to be a large dagger and so confiscated it! I had to argue my case in writing, but after a lot of time wasted, the senior bureaucrat couldn't rescind his minion's decision, so I said as a collector I would put in the paperwork for a dagger; only to be told I had just 28 days after importing to apply, and 30 days had passed!!! I'll bet it's in someone else's collection now!
A cut is a large, shallow wound. A stab is a smaller, deeper wound. Considering humans have evolved to have most of our important bits held deep within our bodies, mainly due to animals making large surface wound type attacks via teeth and claws, a stab is always going to be more dangerous as it has a better chance of getting to the important bits. You can tell nature has evolved this way by simply looking at a rib cage. Against a slash it's amazing defense. But against something like a smallsword or triangular bayonet it can actually almost funnel the blow through since ribs are round. Try poking a round metal signpost to see what I mean. It's also why bullets are so effective.
I was told it was called a cutlass because it was a single edged blade and hence one side of the sword was "cutless". That's probably incorrect.
I think you'll find although a stab may be more lethal, a cut is far more incapacitating. In close combat you want your opponent out of the way as soon as possible before he deals you a lethal blow, hence the cutloe/cutlass being a more popular weapon.
Robert Rogers' Standing Orders mentions the use of cutlass by his men, Their operating environment is the wilderness of New England and Lower Canada. I assume these men used personal weapons, and brought them mainly to be used as machete, Does anyone have further information on this?
2:40 -- *LULZ* so I find it a bit funny that you pointed out the etymological linkages between Cutlers and Cutlasses, but missed the Spadroon connection to the suit of Spades, in a deck of playing cards. Swords and Spades are essentially interchangeable for symbolic purposes.
A cutting weapon like a hanger can also be better against multiple opponents(most context in war) because when you thrust someone you often immobilize yourself or your weapon