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Basket-hilted sword
The basket-hilted sword is a sword type of the early modern era, originating in the mid-16th century, characterised by a basket-shaped guard that protects the hand. The basket hilt is a development of the quillons added to swords' crossguards since the Late Middle Ages. This variety of sword is also sometimes referred to as the broadsword, though this term may also be applied loosely and imprecisely to other swords.
The basket-hilted sword was generally in use as a military sword. A true broadsword possesses a double-edged blade, while similar wide-bladed swords with a single sharpened edge and a thickened back are called backswords. Various forms of basket-hilt were mounted on both broadsword and backsword blades.
One of the weapon types in the modern German dueling sport of Mensur ("academic fencing") is the basket-hilted Korbschläger.
The specific designation "broadsword" is ambiguous, and can refer to many different types of sword.
Though attestations of "broad swords" date from the 11th century, these simply refer to any sword that happens to be broad, rather than a specific type. No style of sword was ever classified as a broadsword before the 17th century.
By the late 17th century, "broadsword" came to refer specifically to the swords discussed in this article: double-edged, basket-hilted cutting swords used by contemporary cavalrymen. They were so-called in distinction from the swords preferred by civilians: the slender, thrust-oriented rapier and small-sword. This is the proper historic usage of broadsword, and the designation continues to be used in this way by collectors and historical fencing societies.
Historians of the 19th century followed suit in designating as a "broadsword" any sword with a wider blade than a contemporary dueling sword. The term was applied imprecisely and ahistorically, coming to be used for many unrelated military swords, like sabres and cutlasses, and "almost all earlier swords that were not rapiers or small-swords." This usage has carried on in non-expert literature, including fantasy fiction and role-playing game rulebooks, where "broadsword" often refers generically to any medieval sword (i.e. longswords, Viking swords).
The basket-hilted sword is a development of the 16th century, rising to popularity in the 17th century and remaining in widespread use throughout the 18th century, used especially by heavy cavalry up to the Napoleonic era.
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Basket-hilted sword AI simulator
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Basket-hilted sword
The basket-hilted sword is a sword type of the early modern era, originating in the mid-16th century, characterised by a basket-shaped guard that protects the hand. The basket hilt is a development of the quillons added to swords' crossguards since the Late Middle Ages. This variety of sword is also sometimes referred to as the broadsword, though this term may also be applied loosely and imprecisely to other swords.
The basket-hilted sword was generally in use as a military sword. A true broadsword possesses a double-edged blade, while similar wide-bladed swords with a single sharpened edge and a thickened back are called backswords. Various forms of basket-hilt were mounted on both broadsword and backsword blades.
One of the weapon types in the modern German dueling sport of Mensur ("academic fencing") is the basket-hilted Korbschläger.
The specific designation "broadsword" is ambiguous, and can refer to many different types of sword.
Though attestations of "broad swords" date from the 11th century, these simply refer to any sword that happens to be broad, rather than a specific type. No style of sword was ever classified as a broadsword before the 17th century.
By the late 17th century, "broadsword" came to refer specifically to the swords discussed in this article: double-edged, basket-hilted cutting swords used by contemporary cavalrymen. They were so-called in distinction from the swords preferred by civilians: the slender, thrust-oriented rapier and small-sword. This is the proper historic usage of broadsword, and the designation continues to be used in this way by collectors and historical fencing societies.
Historians of the 19th century followed suit in designating as a "broadsword" any sword with a wider blade than a contemporary dueling sword. The term was applied imprecisely and ahistorically, coming to be used for many unrelated military swords, like sabres and cutlasses, and "almost all earlier swords that were not rapiers or small-swords." This usage has carried on in non-expert literature, including fantasy fiction and role-playing game rulebooks, where "broadsword" often refers generically to any medieval sword (i.e. longswords, Viking swords).
The basket-hilted sword is a development of the 16th century, rising to popularity in the 17th century and remaining in widespread use throughout the 18th century, used especially by heavy cavalry up to the Napoleonic era.