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A 'rapier' is a relatively slender, sharply pointed sword, used mainly for thrusting attacks, in use in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Contents

Description

Parts of the sword

Blade

Hilt

History

Historical schools of rapier fencing

Italian

Spanish

French

The classical fencing tradition

Modern practitioners

Popular culture and entertainment

More information

External links

Description

Rapier generally refers to a relatively long-bladed sword characterized by a complex hilt which is constructed to provide protection for the hand wielding it. While the blade might be broad enough to cut to some degree (but nowhere near that of the thicker, heavier swords in use around the middle ages), the strength of the rapier is its ability as a thrusting weapon. The blade might be sharpened along its entire length, sharpened only from the center to the tip (as described by Capoferro), or completely without a cutting edge as called "estoc" by Pallavicini, a rapier master who, in 1670, strongly advocated using a weapon with two cutting edges. A typical example would have a relatively long and slender blade of 2.5 centimetres or less in width, 1 meter or more in length and ending in a sharply pointed tip.
The term ''rapier'' generally refers to a thrusting sword with a blade longer and thinner than that of the so-called side-sword but heavier than the smallsword, an Italian dueling sword that would follow in the 18th century and later, but the exact form of the blade and hilt often depends on who is writing and when. It can refer to earlier ''spada da lato'' (much like the ''espada ropera'') through the high rapier period of the 17th century through the smallsword and dueling swords, thus context is important in understanding what is meant by the word. (The term side-sword, used among some modern historical martial arts reconstructionists, is a translation from the Italian ''spada da lato''--a term coined long after the fact by Italian museum curators--and does not refer to the slender, long rapier, but only to the early 16th-century Italian sword with a broader and shorter blade that is considered both its ancestor and contemporary.)
It is important to remember that the word "rapier" was not used by Italian, Spanish and French masters during the apogee of this weapon, the terms spada, espada and epee (or espee) being instead the norm (generic word for "sword"). Because of this as well as the great variation of late-16th and 17th century swords, some like Tom Leoni simply describe the rapier as a straight-bladed, two-edged, single-handed sword of that period which is self-sufficient in terms of both offense and defense, not requiring a companion weapon.

Parts of the sword

Blade

Capoferro defines the forte as the blade from the hilt to the middle. From the middle to the top is known as the debile. The Ricasso is that portion of the blade within the rings that extend forward from the crosspiece or quillons.

Hilt

Rapiers often had complex, sweeping hilts designed to protect the hand wielding the sword. Rings extended forward from the crosspiece. Later these rings were covered with metal plates, eventually evolving into the cup hilts of many later rapiers. A knuckle bow extended back from the crosspiece protecting the hilt, which was usually wood wrapped with leather or wire. A fat pommel (often decorated) secured the hilt to the weapon and provided a balance to the long blade.

History

The rapier began to develop around 1500 as the Spanish ''espada ropera'', or "dress sword" ''(citation needed)''. The espada ropera was a cut-and-thrust civilian weapon for self-defense and the duel, while earlier weapons were equally at home on the battlefield. Throughout the 16th century, however, a variety of new, single-handed civilian weapons were being developed, including the German ''Rappier'', another cut-and-thrust weapon used for sportive fencing, as described in Joachim Meyer's ''Fechtbuch'' of 1570. Nevertheless, the English word "rapier" generally refers to a primarily thrusting weapon, developed by the year 1600 as a result of the geometrical theories of such masters as Camillo Agrippa and Ridolfo Capoferro.
The rapier became extremely fashionable throughout Europe with the wealthier classes, but was not without its detractors. Some people, such as George Silver, disapproved of its technical potential and the duelling use to which it was put.
By the year 1700, the rapier had been replaced by the lighter smallsword throughout most of Europe.
The etymology of the word ''rapier'' is uncertain. Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange uses the word ''Rapparia'' in 1484 to describe an ''espée'' in his ''Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis''. He proposes that the origin of the word may stem from the Greek ''ραπίξειν'', to cut. However, Walter William Skeat suggests that "rapiér" may derive from ''raspiére'', a poker, and that this may be a contemptuous term developed by older cut-and-thrust fencers for the new weapon.
The most probable root of this term, however, appear to be from the Spanish ''ropera'' that cames from ''ropa'', or elegant dress, thus a "dress Sword".

Allowing for fast reactions, and with a long reach, the Rapier was well suited to civilian combat in the 16th-17th centuries. As military style cutting and thrusting swords continued to evolve to meet needs on the battlefield, so did Rapiers continue to evolve to meet the needs of civilian combat and duels, eventually becoming lighter and shorter. This is when the rapier began to morph into the smallsword.

Historical schools of rapier fencing

Italian

Main articles: Italian school of swordsmanship, Dardi school


★ Antonio Manciolino, ''Opera Nova per Imparare a Combattere, & Schermire d'ogni sorte Armi'' - 1531

★ Achille Marozzo, ''Opera Nova Chiamata Duello, O Vero Fiore dell'Armi de Singulari Abattimenti Offensivi, & Diffensivi'' - 1536

★ Anonimo Bolognese, L'Arte della Spada (M-345/M-346 Manuscripts) - (early or mid 1500s^[1])

★ Giovanni dall'Agocchie, ''Dell'Arte di Scrimia'' - 1572

★ Angelo Viggiani dal Montone, ''Trattato dello Schermo'' - 1575

★ Camillo Agrippa, ''Trattato di Scientia d'Arme con un Dialogo di Filosofia'' - 1553

★ Giacomo di Grassi, ''Ragion di Adoprar Sicuramente l'Arme si da Offesa, come da Difesa'' - 1570

★ Marco Docciolini, ''Trattato in Materia di Scherma'' - 1601

★ Salvator Fabris, ''De lo Schermo ovvero Scienza d'Armi'' - 1606

★ Nicoletto Giganti, ''Scola overo Teatro'' - 1606

★ Ridolfo Capo Ferro, ''Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'Uso della Scherma'' - 1610

★ Francesco Alfieri, ''La Scherma di Francesco Alfieri'' - 1640

★ Giuseppe Morsicato Pallavicini, ''La Scherma Illustrata'' - 1670

★ Francesco Antonio Marcelli, ''Regole della Scherma'' - 1686

★ Bondi' di Mazo, ''La Spada Maestra'' - 1696

Spanish

Main articles: Destreza


★ Hieronimo de Caranza, ''De la Philosofia de las Armas'' (1569).

★ Don Luys Pacheco de Narvaez, ''Libro de las Grandezas de la Espada'' (1599).

★ Girard Thibault, ''Academie de l'Espee, ou se demonstrant par Reigles mathematiques, sur le fondement Cercle Mysterieux'' (1628).

French

★ Charles Bisnard (1653)

★ Monsieur L'Abbat (1669)

The classical fencing tradition

Classical fencing schools claim to have inherited aspects of rapier play in their systems.

Modern practitioners

In the recent past, there has been a increased interest in the recreation of the fighting arts of the European Renaissance, including the numerous systems of rapier play. Practitioners face a difficulty in their study as, unlike some eastern martial arts, there is no unbroken tradition reaching back to the time when these arts were put into martial practice. Because of this, most practitioners draw technique from the few remaining period texts written by masters such as Ridolfo Capoferro.

Popular culture and entertainment

★ A common usage of the word is in the popular phrase "rapier wit".

★ In Soul Calibur II, one of Raphael Sorel's alternate weapons is a Rapier.

More information

For a more detailed explanation of the primary use of the rapier-- dueling-- see European dueling sword.

External links

★ Call to Arms: The Italian Rapier by Bill Grandy

★ Italian Rapier--The Weapon by Tom Leoni

★ Questions and Answers About the Rapier by John Clements

★ The Rapier of Gustav Vasa, King of Sweden by Björn Hellqvist