Smallsword Info (named Sebastian Ernandes)

[Radboud]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

The 'arches' mentioned are the pas d'ane rings, which were typically vestigial, that is somewhat flatter, in this late period.

This is a common mistake that has been reprinted in several books. “Pas d’ane” is a French term which literally translates to ‘donkey’s hoof’ that is used for a specific style of sword guard, because of its appearance from above. In English we would call it a clamshell guard, because from above it looks like an opened clamshell.

The half rings between the crossguard / knuckle bow and shell guard are called ‘Annulets’.

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

May I ask which reference is 'Rowarth' ? the name is not familiar.
The term 'ward iron' is intriguing!
Other terms are fascinating as well, such as pas d'ane

Charles Roworth was the author of the late 18th Century treatise on sword fighting titled “The Art of Defence on Foot”. It is a popular training manual for HEMA practitioners of late 18th and early 19th Century fencing.

Copies of the treatise are available online for free.

[Radboud]

for reference (source):

[Jim McDougall]

That is EXCELLENT elucidation Radboud!
Its great to have the proper updates on terms, I saw the donkey hoof thing in Egerton Castle (1885).

[fernando]

A great input by Radboud. In fact, the widespread notion of what the pas d'ane would be, is wrong; still we can see it being used by countless authors. In the same source provided (now uploaded) we have a drawing of how this part is usually wrongly named.
But while this the pas d'ane gallicism was adopted all over, other parts of the guard were visibly not imported, such as the term "revers" (translating to "reverse") for knuckle bow, or knuckle guard.
Remember the image shown above was taken from the Fort Ticonderoga, one of French origin. Could this be the reason for the rare appearance of the "revers" term ?.



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[toaster5sqn]

Thanks to Radbound for answering Jim's question to me before I got to it.

Robert