A Good Musketeer's Rapier, Probably Saxony, ca. 1600

[Chris Evans]

Jim,

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

It is interesting to know more on the use of the rapier in a military sense as well, since it is commonly misperceived that these were only civilian weapons.

This is a can of worms, but a lot of confusion arises out of calling rapiers any sword with a complex hilt. A lot of renaissance era military swords with heavy curt&thrust blades and completely unsuited to fencing were fitted with complex hilts and in paintings are easily confused with the much more slender bladed and elegant rapier. The much later Spanish 1796 pattern sword, fitted with a cup hilt is probably one of the best examples of this - The English, during the Napoleonic era confused them with rapiers, yet it was a cavalry weapon!

Just what exactly is a rapier is very contentious, but I for one, subscribe to the English Elizabethan use of the word, as on the continent the term had other connotations, that of a sword used in the Spanish/Italian style of fencing with the point and either unable to dispense cuts, or poorly suited for this purpose.

No doubt, a few made it to the battlefields, but generally it was unsuited to warfare, as biliously asserted by that old grump, Geroge Silver.

Cheers
Chris