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apieters · 2 years

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The Super Mega Awesome Rapier and Smallsword Timeline!

What’s up, fellow nerds. Do you love long, stabby swords? Do you like swashbuckling adventure stories? Ever wondered what your favorite book and movie characters’ swords are actually supposed to look like? Do you do Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and have you ever self-consciously wondered if your practice weapon is really from the same time period as the style you’re studying (it is? Are you sure about that?)? Ever wanted to get a sword to train with that your favorite character plausibly could have wielded?

Well look no further! After way too many nights of copiously poring over descriptions in my favorite novels, Wikipedia pages, and the great AVB Norman’s The Rapier and the Smallsword, I have created a timeline of all 113 rapier and smallsword hilt types in Norman’s typology and plotted them on a timeline of the years 1470-1820. Also included are a timeline of the major Western wars in which these weapons would have been used on the battlefield, and a timeline of as many known historical fencing masters as I know of who taught the use of the rapier and smallsword, including their known years active if that information was available.

The centerpiece of this project, however, are the character timelines. Based on available evidence from their stories (either in the novels or movies themselves or gleaned from Wikipedia), I was able to create date ranges for the swords different characters would have used. By trimming copies of the Master Reference sheet, I could isolate the viable options for the swords of different characters, as well as contemporary historical sources that could be used as the basis for their fencing styles.

Characters analyzed include:

Inigo Montoya and Wesley from The Princess Bride

Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan from The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.

Cyrano de Bergerac

Señor Zorro from the original Zorro story, The Curse of Capistrano

Rapiers from the time of William Shakespeare

And so much more!

I also created pages for major HEMA disciplines, such as Italian rapier (Fabris, Giganti, Capoferro, and Alfieri), Destreza, and Bolognese sidesword, including individual authors for Destreza (my personal fencing style). Each hilt, if applicable, also has a list of modern HEMA training swords that conform to that type, so that you can see what your current training weapon is good for or find a training weapon to suit your discipline, aesthetic, or fantasy!

Feel free to peruse my work, or download your own copy to edit.

Pictures are not included, but can be found online with a quick google search. Or you can search “a.v.b. Norman rapier typology” in the tags and find reference images of most of these weapons that I’ve previously reblogged.

Also, @we-are-swashbuckler @historicalfightingguide @prideknights @malaguttifederico @we-are-knight I’m tagging y’all because I think y’all might enjoy this.

#AVB Norman #a. v. b. norman rapier typology #sword design #rapier #smallsword

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