Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/121

 had not yet been introduced. Although the German rapier is never marked by much original design, for the Germans first adopted the Italian and later on a combination of Italian and French styles, and utilized most forms of hilt; but like the Spaniards, they resented the introduction of the "small" sword type. It is therefore somewhat remarkable that one of the earliest forms of triangular blade adapted to the hilt of "small" swords was chiefly made in Germany. Between the years 1675 and 1690 there came into fashion a type of blade known as Colichemarde, which was very popular in France, though in England it received a somewhat grudging welcome. Although these blades were made for the most part in Germany, they were almost exclusively produced for exportation. Colichemarde is a curious phonetic rendering by the French, the chief users of the blades, of Königsmark, the name of its supposed inventor, the famous military leader known as the Maréchal de Saxe, created a Marshal of France by Louis XIV. The blade in question is of triangular section, each face being very strongly hollowed; but its main characteristic is the robust section at the hilt, which, remaining practically of the same dimensions for about a quarter of the distance, suddenly tapers and becomes excessively slender, though the section of the blade continues the same its whole length. This pronounced and sudden difference in the dimensions of the section half-way down a blade facilitated a rapid thrust to an extraordinary extent without weakening the blade at the hilt where all the parries are made. This form of blade was eminently favourable to scientific fencing, and, as Mr. Egerton Castle so admirably puts it in his book, "Schools and Masters of the Fence," "is one of the rare instances in which the form of the weapon was not the result of the development of the theory, but one in which the invention of a new shape ultimately altered the whole system."

Before we allude perhaps to the typical "small" or court sword, where the form of the shallow cup guard is broken in outline, to a shell on either side of the hilt, where the pas-d'âne has commenced to decrease in size, and where the knuckle-guard is in position, we should mention an intermediate and slightly different family of hilt. Of this form we can quote an example that dates back to the first half of the XVIIth century. The hilt to which we refer is to be seen in the Royal Collection, Stockholm, and, according to Mr. C. A. Ossbahr's fine work, was once the property of Charles X of Sweden (Fig. 1518). Here can be seen an early XVIIth century type of pommel, short quillons, pas-d'âne, a double shell-guard of broken outline, but no knuckle-guard. A hilt almost exactly similar is that on the rapier in the collection