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Salomé (Detail), 1909 - Paul Antoine De Laboulaye

calvariam1723

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suicide of Saul

Bible, England 13th century

Angers, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 9, fol. 62r

saint-rouge

1573 Italian translation of the Iliad. Carefully rebound to period-style. IG : saint.rouge

redlipstickresurrected

Artificial Arm, Steel with Brass Wrist Mountings, Leather Top Piece, European, 1840-1940, Science Museum, London, Wellcome Collections

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和曦

armthearmour

An interesting simple hilted Rapier, blade attributed to Meves Berns, hilt attributed to Gottfried Leigeb,

OaL: 40.5 in/102.5 cm

Solingen, Germany, ca. 1650, housed at the Walters Museum.

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Harvesting berries

yesterdaysprint

George Morrow: His Book, 1920

armthearmour

What is the difference between smallsword, rapier and regular sword?

By “regular sword,” I’ll assume you mean the one-handed medieval sword colloquially referred to as an arming sword.

It’s suggested that each of these swords is the development of the last, that is to say, the arming sword began as a cut and thrust sword in the high medieval period, around 1000 AD.

The arming sword got pointier and pointier to help combat armor

and eventually started developing hand protection, beginning with finger rings.

The blade becomes thinner and longer, and the hand protection becomes more encompassing and complex, and becomes the rapier around 1500.

The rapier is a specialized dueling weapon. It was carried by civilians primarily for self defense and duels of honor. Eventually, the cup hilt develops, around 1600,

as a means of defending the hand more effectively against thrusts. From here, the blade shortens, and the guard becomes smaller, probably for ease of carry in civilian life, and you get the first Smallswords around 1650.

These specialize even further, and develop triangular blades that allow for no cutting at all, but are excellent at thrusts.

Eventually then carrying swords falls out of civilian fashion, and around 1800 the Smallsword is replaced by the sabre in most European militaries.

So to sum, arming swords are earlier cut and thrust swords with no hand protection, the rapier is a long dueling blade that is amazing at thrusts but can also cut, the Smallsword is a shorter dueling blade only truly effective at thrusts.

I hope this helps!