Hello, this is IPostSwords, and today is day 4 of a week of small swords
Today we're going to be revisiting Colichemardes, which we discussed on Day 2
However this video is going to have a slight twist to it
For any regular visitors to my social media particularly rather than imgur, you will recognize a sword that is about to come into frame
From what you can see here. This is a completely regular colichemarde and small sword
characterized by the extremely broad blade at the base and
in the case of this actual antique
a hollow ground Triangular Cross-section
the hilt is of cut steel and the blade is of the typical form
Having said that let me adjust your perspective on the matter just a little bit
this blade is not a colichemarde in the traditional sense as
It does not narrow after the forte but stays broad is entire length
in fact here at the base of the blade it is over an inch in width and
Even here closer to the tip - only lost half an inch being about an inch wide
The tip is also not broken off or tampered with - it is intentionally made this way.
if you see here the fuller continues to here where it neatly terminates
leaving this area completely untampered with
as can be evidenced by the fact that it has not been reground to form a new tip
this rather spatulate yet still pointed tip is the original shape for this sword.
As you can see there is a fuller running the entire length of this sword
normally on colichemarde
you would see that the swelled section does not have a fuller at all and
only the thrusting section does
however in this case the entire blade is lightened the
Edge is extremely fine with a very steep angle to the spine
As you can see the spine has a very acute ridge
The hilt is made of cut steel and features many lightened components - as you can see here
the pommel itself is hollow and
Is permanently affixed to this knuckle bow, Which attaches to this cover on the ricasso, Which is also hollow.
the finger rings, while large enough to use are
Not necessarily made to be used. They lack the very traditional circular shape that you see on fingerings on small swords
The guard is very exquisitely wrought from steel or iron
It features a spiral motif that is rather in the form of fern leaves - a very popular styling at the time
Each side of this below a guard is symmetrical to the other side, featuring three ferns and vine work on the outside
This hilt is one of the earlier examples I have seen
Featuring a cut steel handle made in the very distinctive faceted style
the hilt is blued it is attached Via ferrules to the pommel and
The connected ricasso covering which is very wide?
if
You've watched mat Eastern of schola Gladiatoria's video on the matter, he notes that these sorts of
reinforced steel connections on the ricasso are indicative of military small swords and that brings us into a topic of
philosophy of Use
in order to examine
Philosophy of use we have to look at the only other extant example of a blade of this type of a small sword
and that requires us to go to the Mount vernon collection which contains the
1753 Silver Hilted small Sword owned by what was at the time Major and then General, Washington
When Washington was serving in the Army
he was using a sword with a gadroomed silver hilt and
A blade in a very similar Format to this which you can currently see on your screen
His blade however tapers is slightly more sharply than our example
The benefits of this blade shape are clear in two particular contexts if you are to use it as a military sword
the extra width and cutting capacity
Confer significant benefits when in the bind against other swords and when thrust into the flesh of an opponent
This blade is extremely stiff being the stiffest sword I own
Stiffer than even my sharp cutting swords made for modern practice I cannot bend this even three centimeters offline
when applying significant pressure however I will not do that as this is a very old and very rare antique as
mentioned the other extant example was owned by General
Washington in his time in the French and Indian war - there are facts have real battles which he would have been wearing it
The mount Vernon website notes that the blade is likely older than the hilt in that circumstance
And it was refitted perhaps from one of his relatives and that concurs with my tentative dating of this
coming from the first half of the 18th century in
the first half of the 18th century
Duelling was of course outlawed as it had been for quite a while and this applied to all of Europe including the British isles
And that brings us to our other possible philosophy of use
This sort of design is very conducive to Duelling
The still sharp blade with very fine edges is able to do push and draw cuts very
Effectively, I have in fact cut myself on this blade whilst cleaning it once before
This is very unusual for a small sword the ability to cut is something that was decidedly removed in all of them
from your typical colichemarde
Which tapered down to a thin blade
To your typical triangular cross-section blades which have no cutting ability whatsoever
In a first blood duel this extremely stiff blade has a physical and mechanical
Advantage in the bind against other swords it also has the advantage of being able to draw blood on something other than a thrust
it's also a very light sword this sword comes in at
415 Grams and that's Due to the lightening performed on the hilt the work however later blades in a very similar style to this
These were called préval blades
after generalClaude antoine de hippolyte de préval
who in 1831
Instated a sword with a basket like hilt and blade similar to these
Which did taper slightly more aggressively and were rather long.
This is over a century later than the styling of this hilt
and it's
Incredibly unlikely that this blade is rehilted
considering the reworking that would have to be done in order to make it light enough to be suitable in a small sword package as
These Preval blades were significantly heavier than what you see here
They're also not widely adopted
Many of the benefits of this sword being stiff and light can be conferred into those
however having a pronounced ridge like this of course limits your cutting capacity in a
Battle Scenario, this is of course a problem as we do devolve into our natural instincts. Which is to hack and slash
However in a duel when you are very trying very hard not to have yourself cut this is an ideal weapon
We can only speculate as to who have made or owned this however
I would venture to say is probably British in manufacturer being one of the places where cut steel was popular
Where the firmly motive was popular and where similar hilts have been found one should be on your screen right now
This sword probably hasn't seen very much use there are free very fine nicks on the blade each less than half a millimeter in any
Dimension these are likely from contact with another blade. They are not the sort of damage you see from storage or from cleaning it
Is obvious that they are not particularly deep
This likely happened during a very quick short exchange. if we return to the design of this blade
the full-length Fuller going all the way down
Provide this blade with exceptional lightness. Tt balances approximately
three inches from the guard in the same pace as you'd expect other small swords and weighs a total of 415 grams
This is even on the light side for small swords. however this is a full length sword
being just within the range that you'd expect a small sword having a blade length a little over 70 centimeters and
Might shorter than the average 80 centimeters, but well within historical ranges
The elaborate guard may serve to offset the very specialized nature of this sword
if you saw someone wearing this in a scabbard you may have assumed it was simply the
previously discussed epee du soldat - a modern term describing a wide bladed small sword that was used by soldiers from
1680s onwards in France. they share very similar features having rather robust hilts
fingerings on most of them and
broader blades than your average small sword
The extremely specialized form you see here can be used for one of the two or four mentioned reasons
either for battle as an officer or for duelling and
another bit of Evidence towards the duelling
hypothesis is that when held in a right handed grip the flat faces up
This is something you only see on dueling swords due to the way. They were meant to flex in practice with their paired sharps
The Sharp pointed version of a duelling sword will also have the flat facing upwards
I'll attach an article which talks about some rare examples
Which are made like more modern court swords which have the spine facing upwards however this was very much not the norm
especially in the 18th century
This example thus has many specializations to make it more effective
It is extremely stiff extremely light has very fine edges and while it cannot cut deeply due to the spine is
Able to perform push a draw cuts
The hilt is very elaborate and extremely lightened. this helps with the balance of the sword leaving in the typical position
regardless of the fact that blade is highly modified
the hilt offsets the extremely utilitarian
Nature of the blade and may have served as a disguise for this sword keeping it from drawing too much attention
However, what the sword was unsheathed
It would be clear that whoever owned it possess both the temperament and perhaps the inclination to duel
Regardless of the Legality or Rather illegality of this activity at the time
I have spoken to Museum curators Via email
Asking if they've seen any other swords of this type and borrowing the preval swords and general Washington's I
Cannot find other historical examples of this type
However, it is somewhat common to see its cousin in the standard Colichemarde
like this Castille Armoury example. the differences are rather clear the narrowing of the blade past the fort
Means that while they are almost equally as stiff although not quite as stiff as this having more material to it in a very different
Configuration they lack or cutting capacity this has some although it is of course limited
another distinctive difference, you'll see on colichemardes is
that in most cases the edges will not be so thin
this Spine is
Extremely acutely shaped
This makes the blade very light whereas clear marks on average are heavier than your standard small swords
So we have now looked at what may have been the cousin to a sword made in Britain for General, Washington
It exhibits many of the same features with a unique blade that cannot be found on any other swords
it's also worth noting that there is no point to make a blade like this for any other sword if
You are making a full broadsword. It is not sensible to use a blade which limits your cutting capacity
This is rather like a side sword modernized to 18th century standards
The side sword of course would have had a regular cross guard rather than the clamshell you see here
Or it would have had swept rings however in other ways
It was quite similar with the fingerings knuckle burr and pommel in the typical arrangement you'd see here
In fact tomorrow we're going to look at hills that very much resembles and earlier sideslip hilt
but that of course is a topic for another day until
Then this has been I both thought talking about one of the rarest swords in my collection
This has been day four of my week of small sword videos if you've enjoyed this video, please
consider liking the video
Subscribing to my channel and leaving a comment with any questions in the description as I'm sure you'll have some with this very unique blade
That's all for today until next time stay sharp