Rapier oder Degen | Wiegand von Marburg

Finally in balance, as it should be. Hello and welcome to a new vegan video. This time it should be about swords again. However, about swords that come from a period, which is actually no longer called the Middle Ages. Because the Middle Ages is, depending on who you ask, about 1500 years ago. And swords like these are 100 years younger. So about from the year 1600. Nevertheless, I am interested in how it came about and above all how you call them. Because I talked about films in the last video. And there are the well-known Mantel and Degen films. That is, such swords are referred to as Degen. And a similar sword like this, although this is of course the show fight version by Fabio Amorum or Jerzy Grondak. But a similar sword like this is in the collection Baumann in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. If the museums reopen, I can really only recommend this to anyone who is interested in swords. One of the most beautiful and largest, extensive collections of medieval weapons that I know. And for sword fans a huge treasure trove. In any case, there is or there was an exhibition catalog for this exhibition. I think it's sold out. I would like it to be put back up and best processed. I would even voluntarily make myself available for it. Just in case someone from Rothenburg listens. But no matter. In any case, in one of these exhibition catalogs such a sword is referred to as a riding sword. German end of the 16th century. Something like that. And Fabio Amorum sells this as a rapier. I wonder how? Riding sword, rapier or dagger. How should I call it now? First of all, for those who take it particularly seriously, what I'm wearing here is not medieval either. It is, let's say, borrowed from the Renaissance. Or borrowed from the fashion of the Renaissance. So it should fit the topic a bit. And yes, it's not an exact reconstruction, this vest here and also the shirt. Only for those who want it to be particularly precise. So let's get to the development of this whole shackle and the basket we saw there. It starts with the fact that we still have in the 14th and 15th century the classic cross shape of a sword. And of course it is so that the barrier rod does not offer protection for the entire hand. Sure, there are a few blows from above and here my hand is also protected a bit. But one possibility is of course to take a glove. A armor glove, if you will. A steel glove that takes this protection. But the things are expensive and they absolutely have to fit right. That means I also need a blacksmith who makes it for me, so to speak, exactly. For most this is not a good alternative. Many cannot afford it and it is also not very practical. In addition, the steel glove is relatively heavy and some techniques cannot be carried out so well. A second possibility is to take a buckler. The buckler was very popular and you can use it almost like a basket to protect the sword hand. And the buckler has then also taken a development. There are, for example, such very, very small, almost toy-like fist shields, which really form a kind of vessel. With them I can of course protect the one and even the other hand. And yet it is a bit cumbersome. I just need this second device and not everyone can handle a buckler so well. And if I go here now and want, for example, use such a sword more as a thrust sword, then I may also want to hold my hand a little differently. In this case, for example, so that I put my finger over the parry rod. This is really dangerous now. If a thrust comes from above now, then the finger is off, no question about it. So I can already see the first finger rings in the early 15th century. For example, in northern Italy, swords are made with such finger rings. And a ring here, a ring there. Sometimes I also have a ring horizontal, similar to this left-handed dagger. Here you can see that. Here we have a ring horizontal, which basically also protects the knuckles from a thrust that comes from above. And if I continue to see this development, then I come to what the English call a scythe sword. This is, if you will, a prototype of the rapier. I've already seen that translated. But that sounds very ridiculous. A scythe sword is actually not a useful translation. Just as little as an arming sword is translated as an armament sword. That just sounds weird. And I also have in an earlier video, when it comes to sword typologies, I will link it here in the comments, I have already told that actually in the Middle Ages there were not so many different names, but you usually just said sword. So this is a sword and this is a sword and this is a long sword. But something like scythe sword, one-handed sword, bastard sword, these are names that are relatively modern, relatively new and that simply correspond to our need to categorize a little more. Basically, what I'm doing today is similar. So let's see if what I just want to imagine can be pressed into a category at all. If you're wondering how to get in here, isn't that sharp? Don't I cut off a finger myself? No. It is interesting that the swords of this time are now suddenly sanded very differently. I have a so-called misalignment in the lower part, also called ricasso. That can be a hand width, that can cover up to a quarter of the whole sword blade. This lower part is not sanded at all. Why? Because it is not necessary. Because I don't cut with this area anyway. And I've actually already seen that there is now an area of ​​this misalignment over the next third of the blade, where we have a so-called bevel. That is, here the blade is only sanded so that it has about the sharpness of a simple axe. Which is perfectly sufficient when I, for example, lead a thrust from the horse with force. What comes with such a sharpness is still sharp enough to cause a bad injury and still I have less damage to the blade when parrying. And only the front third or even only a quarter is really sanded sharply. And we even have the case with the side swords that the back of the blade is not sanded at all up to about a quarter or a third of the upper area. Only here is sanding and also the front side is sanded. That means we have to do with side swords or later also with the Haudegen, which are simply not sanded over the entire blade. As I said, this is due to the fact that you want to spare parts of the blade. Because a very, very thin blade, of course a razor blade, a sharp, sanded blade, is susceptible to damage. And you also have other fencing techniques where I can also hold my hand in front of it. For example for boar swords, for example for the half-sword fencing. Or for techniques that you can use with the long sword where I just have my hand on the blade and parry in a certain way. So in fact, the blades are now also sanded very differently. You can see these swords, you can also see these fencing techniques very well in the contemporary fencing books. Especially with Joachim Meier I see exactly these shapes of the rapier with the simple ironing systems. I can show that here. And here we have a so-called ace-knife sword. By the way, not a fencing sword, but an original. This ace-knife sword is fashionable in southern Germany and Switzerland. This one is probably made in Passau or in the area around Passau. At least that's what the expertise says. And we have these beautiful finishes that are a bit reminiscent of garlic buds or some kind of branches. That's why it's called ace-knife. And by the way, there is also a one-sided version that is called Swiss saber. Because at this time the Swiss mercenaries are particularly famous in Europe. They defeated the Habsburgs and they are also welcome to be recruited as mercenaries on the battlefields in Europe. They are called Reisigen or Landsknechte. And here you can also see that on contemporary depictions. Landsknechtsführer, for example, Joachim Fröhlich, carry exactly such swords. Well, let's get back to our original problem. What is the name of the whole thing now? Here I spoke of a sword. And I think everyone would agree with me, just because of the width of the blades. When I saw this sword for the first time, I said, this is a Reisschwert. So a long and wide sword of this kind is just typical for a horse-drawn sword. Of course, you can also use it as a foot soldier, but for a foot soldier, there is simply something easier. Let's stay with the Swiss. Here, for example, the term Degen appears. A Swiss Degen. But when I google it, I find something completely different. Namely a Dolch. A long Dolch with a very specific vessel. So if you are dealing with the Renaissance, you immediately know what a Swiss Degen is. I'll show you one. And I don't think it's a coincidence that the word has such a similarity to the English dagger. Dagger, English for Dolch. And Degen is simply a Dolch. And when the Dolch gets longer and keeps this narrow blade, then it's almost a short sword. And then we're still dealing with the Degen. And the word changes at some point, but remains useful for a relatively short sword with a basket or an ironing system. When I use the English language and also look at the French and Spanish, the word Degen doesn't exist at all. Everything that comes with ironing is called Rapier there. So when I look at an English sword after a Rapier, I find what is also called Degen here, while the dagger is the Dolch. What is called Rapier here? Actually, the Rapier is first of all the almost overly long and particularly narrow, thin assault sword. But there is also a confusion of terms here. So that develops until the 19th century to a term for blunt exercise weapons. And then of course there is the term Degen in modern sports fencing. And here it is very clear how heavy, how long a Degen is. There are the three weapons for modern sports fencing. The lightest is the Floret. The middle weapon is the Degen, with which I can then also use a slightly different fighting technique. And the heaviest is the saber. It is clearly defined in Olympic and modern sports fencing what these weapons look like. But that has nothing to do with the historical Degen, except that there is a blade and a kind of basket. I have never spoken of modern sports fencing. Maybe I'll do that in a separate video at some point. I find it interesting. But with historical fencing, in my opinion, it doesn't have much to do. At some point we will explain what is left of the historical sources and of the real sword fighting and whether it has anything to do with it at all. So, and now we are actually exactly with the problem there is no real rule. It just depends on where I read, what I read. In English, French or older German sources the terms go wildly through each other. So, I just want to take my typology. So this is my very subjective story, after I have read a lot of things. Please see this as subjective. There are simply enough experts who also use other terms and that's perfectly fine. But I'll just tell you how I would take it. In the moment when a blade length does not exceed 90 cm, like here. Here I have a blade of just under 89 cm, so it has 88.5 cm. The whole sword is 1.8 meters long. I would call it Degen. If the blade is wider than 3 cm, it becomes a Felddegen. And if it is only sanded one-sided, it becomes a Haudegen. Then I would call it Haudegen. So one-sided and on the back, maybe a quarter or a third is also sanded. That would be typical for a Haudegen of the 16th, 17th century. So this is actually a Degen. If Fabri Amorum sells it as a rapier, that's fine, of course. In the language of many, also called rapier. Again, for me it is a Degen. If the blade length exceeds 90 cm and is narrower than 3 cm, then it is a typical thrust sword and then I call it rapier. Same ironing system, same basket, but just longer and narrower blades. A thrust sword with a narrow, long blade is for me a rapier. And if the blade is wider than 3 cm, like here, here it is almost 4 cm wide and long enough, then it is a basket sword. Here I would no longer speak of a rapier, because the sword is definitely not only intended for the thrust, but mainly for the thrust from the horse and it is also much too massive and much too powerful for a rapier. I can hardly implement the fencing techniques of a rapier with this. So the typical thrust techniques that I would use with a rapier are almost not possible with this. This is used in a completely different way. Typical for fencing with a rapier or with a Degen is, for example, that I pass the Degen and a left hand, which, by the way, is a suitable left-handed dagger, as you can see. I use both together and, by the way, you can already see, here I have a index finger in the ricasso under the finger ring, because here I have a completely different control when thrusting. So I can use both together or if I don't have a left-handed dagger, I can also take a coat that protects my left arm and with which I can defend myself a bit and the Degen as well. And then we are actually exactly at the term from the beginning in the coat and Degen fight or coat and Degen film. I can of course hang the coat around, but I can also use it in combat. So, in other words, coat and Degen is not wrong at all. On the contrary, that basically means a very special fighting technique. And if I want to say rapier, then it's okay too. As I said, for me rather for the long and very narrow thrust sword. And if you say basket sword, it's not wrong either. I think we have clarified something with that and I hope it has also given you a little more clarity. So, now a question from me. I have already seen around the turn of the year that there is a new game. A PC game called Hellish Quad, which is especially for sword fans. My question to you, are you interested in that too? It should come out on February 18th or 20th. I will definitely install it and also play it. So, are you interested in that? Should I maybe share my first experiences with it? Please write it in the comments. And if not, then I will definitely find another topic that interests you. So, for today, thank you for watching and see you next time. Bye!