The Ultimate Karabela Guide

[Interested Party]

awdaniec666, thanks again for this guide. It has been an interesting and thought provoking read. I have found polish sabers baffling as to which are replicas, which are artificially aged fakes, and then there are the Franken-swords. Confirmation that they are produced in small batches is an interesting insight. Further reading on period decoration is a must for me.

I miss living in an area with HEMA being an option. I tried to get a small club together last year during COVID closures of my neighbors but I couldn't get much sustained interest in the subject. I was interested in disarms and infighting and thought training partners through a Club could be the answer to help me work through some ideas. It was a fail, but a fun experiment. I also found out how rusty my skills were.

Thanks again.
IP

[awdaniec666]

So there you have it!

Looking at what I have written down so far in this very condensed text, I think the reader has now the oppurtunity to obtain a basic understanding about this form of sabers.
For now this guide is completed I will wait for exciting comments and discussion on this thread. I very welcome images of class II sabers in your possesion, especially those battle-versions. There is still very much to talk about.

Since I dont know whether I will continue with an "Advanced Karabela Guide" on this forum or in another form or platform and when exactly this will happen, feel free to contact me directly or post your thoughts on this thread. I will try to keep an eye on that from time to time.

[batjka]

Excellent topic with lots of information. Thank you very much!

For those who have not seen "Zrodzeni do szabli", you can watch it at a link below. Atmosphere of 17th Century PLC and the battle scenes are very well filmed.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7zg9da

[awdaniec666]

As I came back here I realized the lack of sources for the information I provided.
To fix that, here is the literature I used for this work.
Other sources are my own experience examining and handling antique sabers and conclusions I made through olympic and historical fencing.

- Wojciech Zablocki, "Ciecia prawdziwa szabla", Wydawnictwo sport i turystyka, 1989, Warsaw

- Andrzej Nadolski, "Polish Arms - Side Arms", Ossolineum, 1974, Wroclaw

- Zdzislaw Zygulski, "Stara Bron w polskich zbiorach", Krajowa Agencja Wydawnictwa, 1982, Warsaw

- Marian Glosek, "Znaki i napisy na mieczach sredniowiecznych w Polsce", Ossolineum, 1973, Wroclaw

- Wlodzimierz Kwasniewicz, "Szable z polskiej przeszlosci", Bellona, 2015, Warsaw

- Janusz Sekowski, "Konserwacja broni bialej z elementami bronioznawstwa", Semper, 2008, Warsaw

- Stanislaw Ledochowski, "Polskie szable bojowe", Krajowa Agencja wydawnicza, 1980, Warsaw

- Zygmunt Bielicki, "Polskie szable pamiatkowe", Krajowa Agencja wydawnicza, 1980, Warsaw

- Stanislaw Meyer, Articles from "bron i barwa Part I - II", 1934, London, Warsaw

[awdaniec666]

I was working on the newest part of this guide when I realized the ton of images I would like to show, would mean the risk of getting problems with copyright. This is the reason I removed all images. I would ask a Moderator to remove this part 6 because I have no rights to do so in this forum.

Original text:

"Hello again!
I´m happy to have some time to add a little more to this guide. Having the idea to start a series of chapters, each of them including few examples of class II sabers of a particular origin, I start here with Ottoman specimen. Keep in mind that this will not fit into todays borders and different cultures had impacts on regions which were distant from their epicentre. F.e.: Ottoman rule over the Balkans or Ukraine beeing part of the PLC. You will also find some "karabela-ish" weapons here. Your thoughts about those "somehow karabela, but somehow not" swords are very welcome.
I do not own most of the images following and use them for educational purposes here. If you see something what is infringing your copyright, please get in contact with me or the admins so that we can remove it.
If youre reading this on your mobile phone and the image resolution is bad: Sorry!
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OTTOMAN"

[awdaniec666]

POLISH LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH: KARABELA KONTUSZOWA (PARADE)
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[awdaniec666]

POLISH-LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH: BATTLE KARABELA
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