The way Alex Cheng phrased the question make it seem like he already knew the gist of the answer and just needed and expert to flesh it out more. It's an interesting topic. Perhaps you can do an extended video about this, maybe as a colab with Tod?
An interesting note from the Hungarian language. Szabya - the Hungarian name for the saber Szab - to cut Szabo - a tailor (someone who cuts to size) Szabni - To cut to size From this I suspect the word saber might have Hungarian origins. Literally something that cuts. Just a theory.
My last name (biological) is Sabljak (Sabre with a 'k' at the end of it.) Could mean my ancestors were either wearing sabres, making them, were sabre warriors or whatever. So thats interesting.
I absolutely think you should map out the main influences for European military sabers. I wouldn't care if it was an hour plus video I would watch. Your research methodology seems quite accurate and complete judging by previous subjects you've covered. Please do this.
Maybe a series of long videos? Each one covering potential influence and how they could have influenced and then a big one at the end that brings it all together?
My answer would be the 8/9th century magyar sabre. Then into Turkey (kilij) Arabia (shamshir) the Caucasus (shashka). Then through the ottoman empire, back through the hapsburg empire in Poland and Hungary. Then into Western Europe. Up to this point I would suggest the bulk of historical European swords were based on an evolution which began in Greece, then Rome, migration era and viking into the early medieval sword which became cruciform with the spread of Christianity.
Matt, I think it is better to do it a bit more chronologically: Avars and their sabers were active on the Byzantine front from 568 to 626, so some ideas could be implanted there (and Slavs). The same came in the Franco-Avar wars with Carolingians (788-804). Then Bulgars came (681- ) and Magyars, also saber-armed (about 895), Seljuk (about 1050, only in Asia Minor), Cumans (also 11th century), and Mongols (after 1240). All those used sabers akin to each other (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turko-Mongol_sabers#/media/File:Turko_Mongol_Sabre_Examples.png). Only then began the idea of curved blades began to creep into the minds of Europeans, in the case of those of Western stock, even after that. Also, I do not think that the type of hilt has anything with this - what makes the saber real saber is the curved shape of the blade and only secondary that of the (more or less curved) hilt.
I think the more protective hilt is a distinctive feature that separates western european sabres from most other sabres. And those descent from earlier european hilt types, as in backswords, broadswords, hangers etc. And also some military sword systems were designed to be used for example with sabres and broadswords or backswords... Also how europeans thought about the sword blade and it's use in history, must have influenced how they thought about a curved blade and it's use. I don't think for example, that other nationalities used the system of lunge which was originally developed for a rapier, and it's all over european sabre manuscripts. There also exist most unsabreish, almost straight sabres, which might be a quite european thing, I don't know.
Avars didn't have sabres that early. They had long, single-edged blades that evolved out of the Narrow Langseax (introduced to Europe by the Huns in the 390s to 450s). Sabres first appear around the turn of the 8th century AD, but it's impossible to determine their precise origin. The Romans begin using them en masse as they evolve, calling them a "Paramerion." It's most likely they were invented in the Caucasus, probably by the Alan Kingdom of the 7th-9th centuries, who were notorious for their extensive ironworking capabilities and famous for their helmets, maille armor, and swords.
@@puliturchannel7225 I agree. But some chronology should be used if we are to discover the tree of development of this type of weapons in Europe. There are 700 years between Avars and Ottomans and their sabers on European soil.
Those Avar swords at 2:20 look like Han Dynasty straight daos - from the blade design to the circular pommel at the end. Was there any influence or cross-cultural connections between the Avar swords and East Asian swords?
Id like a video on how the shamshir as we think about came around. early persian/indian swords like sabers. as i understand they are over 2000 years old in basic concept. single edge curved(later) highly curved blades with single handded pommels
You've talked a lot but said nothing. 1. Curved one edged swords appeared in the same time between Central Asia (turkic nomads, alans) and the Karpathian basin (avars). 2. It become standard sword of all eastern nomads and they transferred it to China, India and Africa(Mamluks). 3. Hungarians had sabres originally, but they took the straight swords with the christianity. 4. When Otoman turks with sabers attacked Hungary the hungarians adopted the light cavalry and their sabres. 5. Hungarian hussars begin fashionable as the Habsburgs got the rule over Hungary and started to use hussars in all their wars from the Schmalkalden war. to the Great War. 6. The polish got hussars when a hungarian nobleman Istvan Batory Princeps of Transilvania was elected to be king of Poland. 7.The european saber was taken over when all european powers established hussar regiments and took all uniforms too (tshakos, cherry picking trousers, dolmans, cadettes, moustaches etc.) Wiki:Bavaria raised its first hussar regiment in 1688 and a second one in about 1700. Prussia followed suit in 1721 when Frederick the Great used hussar units extensively during the War of the Austrian Succession.[32] France established a number of hussar regiments from 1692 onward, recruiting originally from Hungary and Germany, then subsequently from German-speaking frontier regions within France itself. The first hussar regiment in the French army was the Hussars-Royaux (Royal Hussars), raised from Hungarian deserters in 1692.[33]
I think a book about sabres would be an excellent idea, if none exists. Sabres are varied in both their history and appearance, yet are always distinctively sabres, and they're stunning to look at. Such a book would naturally begin with a discussion of their influences.
Here's an idea Matt. How about you put out several shorter videos with each discussing the different weapons that influenced the development of the European saber? Example: Video #1: Turko-Mongol sabers, Video #2: Early European single-edged swords, Video #3: Persian Shamshir/Indian Tulwar, etc.
If I were Matt, I would take it exactly the opposite way. I.e. start off from the earliest european "sabres" and looking at what influenced *those*, and then moving down time and regions. This is because there really isn't such a thing as "the European saber" : each nation in Europe obviously has its own sabre culture influencing its designs, which also quite obviously evolved a lot through the couple of centuries "sabres" were in use (not to mention that different paterns were in use at the same time for different purposes, sometimes with a different history as well). It also would have the benefit of being relatively specific, and also potentially of shining a light on the specificities of the history of the British/French/German/Russian (maybe Spanish and Italian but I haven't really seen much of those on this channel) sabres and the countries they served.
My Provost-at-Arms credited specifically with Dussack and he quoted manuals focusing on dussack, but I haven't seen the manuals compared closely. I think your comment that there is no singular lineage that leads to saber as the final product is spot on. I definately want to read more into this though, so... WRITE THAT BOOK, PLEASE Matt!!! :)
This is amazing. For the last week or so I’ve been pondering, and would love your input as to whether the saber is the ultimate evolution of the true fighting swords.
I would suggest it's a question of convergent technologies. There are, after all, a finite number of ways to make something that's a "sword" and Matt has shown us nearly every conceivable sword design over the years. There are hundreds of design variations, even within any given culture, and obviously cross-pollination occurs when somebody encounters an unfamiliar sword design and says, "Hey, that works pretty well. I think I'll go home and incorporate some of that into my next sword."
An anegdote, to show, how hard it could possibly be to realize, from where sabre could possibly come from. It is widely believed, that polish sabre comes from Hungarian influence(their armor, clothes, way of fighting etc.) at around 1500s. Hungarians, in turn, were most probably influenced by Ottomans. But, since our swordmakers beame really good at making sabres, and even made some impressive calvary swords of our own- Ottomans started to believe, that it had to Commonwealth, that was a country of origin of sabre...
Also an anecdote. We, Hungarians came from Asia about 1100 years ago. Warriors from that age are often drawn with sabers. Later on, we got on the straight sword hype train. If that is true, then that would mean that when the Ottomans came, we "reinvented" the sabre. So yeah, it's pretty complicated :D
However, Magyar tribes (Old Hungarians) used sabers in the 9th century, at least 100 years before Seljuks left Chorezm for khalifate and, in the end, Asia Minor, where they spawned Ottomans in the 13th-14th century.
@@morriganmhor5078 well, Magyar tribes are not the old Hungarians. They were different tribes with a common origin. This common origin was the basis of much confusion, and since Attila made the Huns very known and feared, the Magyars were identified as Huns as well. But the current day Hungarians are decendants of the Magyar tribe, not the Hun tribe, but we are still called Hungarians. We call ourselves Magyars, not Huns.
@@szepi79 I didn´t say anything like that, only that Huns came first, then Avars, and finally Magyars conquered Pannonia. If my wording was not exact enough, I apologize.
Another question: since you've talked about flail weapons recently, what are you thoughts on the European cosh/slungshot, the Asian meteor hammer/rope dart/kusari, or the Polynesian rope club, etc? Do you think the ornately carved spherical stones of Celtic make could have been used as loads for such weapons?
If you do expound on the origin of sabers, please spend some time on their emergence and evolution in Eastern Europe. It would be interesting to trace the origins of the Byzantine paramerion (in the southeast of Europe), and to see if the Avars were the first to introduce sabers en masse via the northeastern way into Europe, or perhaps even the Huns before them. Did the Byzantines copy them or took inspiration from the Middle East (either the Sassanids or the Saracen auxiliaries). To my knowledge, the Sassanids preferred straight edge swords, even though in later centuries they started using them with pistol shaped grips. It's also interesting why there were more popular in the East and not so much in the West until much later (speaking of Europe, here).
Because the main european weapon throughout hystory is spear/pike/polearm (with exception of roman) from sarissa into the creation of bayonet. Sword is mainly a sidearm and sword are suplement for spear and halbert such as rapier, side sword, backsword, arming sword
This isn't related to the video's content but this is my first SG video in a while and the audio is so much better now that you have a lavalier mic, some of the older ones were unlistenable.
I was actually going to bring this up anyway, but I was wearing my plate gauntlets the other day and fiddling around with my weapons. I know. Typical, right? The one-handed ones felt like they were going to fly out of my grip. My bastard sword however and spear, or anything else I gripped in two hands is far more secure. My observation is that might be the main reason why the shield was abandoned other than advancements and armor. It was the armor itself that made knightly weapons two-handed, perhaps.
It's a rabbit hole, but a rabbit hole worth investigating. And a question: Did the US cavalry use sabers in the Indian Wars of the late 19th century? We never see the cavalry using sabers in westerns and other popular media depictions, but at the same time we all know that ammo for firearms was hard to get on the frontier, so an edged weapon would be very useful to ease the logistic situation.
According to sources ranging from wikipedia to civil war journals, yes the cavalry did use sabers during the Indian wars. However, it had become a common practice to leave the saber in the saddle or exchange it for extra pistols during the later stages of the civil war. Furthermore, cavalry charges against indian cavalry were rare as the Indians generally were better horsemen and armed with lances. TL;DR yes they did, but it was uncommon due to previous experiences.
@@genghiskhan6809 : Also in 1848 war, mexican lancers had been a problem for US cavallry in melee, because US cavallry had been only Dragons (?) / Dragoner in german language.
Hollywood movies make their money by being entertaining not historically accurate;). Cavalry charges make for good cinema but also make for a lot more dead soldiers. Most westerns are set between the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and the end of the century. As Genghis pointed out cap and ball revolvers had replaced swords for most soldiers by this point. More importantly, while some European armies might take until WW 1 to get the point, the American soldiers in this period had enough veterans of the Civil War that they were unlikely to fight from horseback unless they were caught in an ambush. In that case they would have used revolvers to try and break contact and get to a safe distance were they could dismount and use their carbines (short barreled single shot breech loaders). Swords stayed in the system and I believe the last cavalry sword meant for combat, as opposed to ceremonial use, was introduced in 1913 (designed by then Olympic pentathalete and eventual General George Patton) but I don't think I've seen any pictures of soldiers during the Plains Indian Wars carrying swords.
Hungarian brought saber to Europe Even the word saber came from tha hungarian word szab/szablya Not to mention that hungarians trained france and polish soldier on hussar warfare Even the hussar uniform based on the hungarian style Also they were the most famous cavalry nation in Europe I'm not saying its a hungarian weapon, but they Brough to Europe and they influenced the rest of Europe
2:15 That Early Avar Sword has a striking resemblance to Chinese and Japanese swords of the time, latter known as Chokuto. And I do not mean just shape; i mean the pommel, mount, hilt all look 90% exact on the second from the left. Avars might have been creating copies of earlier Chinese or far eastern steppe swords, or perhaps their designs permeated eastward... though I know of some Han short hilt cavalry swords from 400+ prior that already had that exact shape down.
As far as I am aware single edged swords on the steppe originated in the east and went westward, but the avars curved them and then the curved design traveled eastward and became the norm there as well.
From what I know, the earliest sabers were developed in China. Then from China, they radiated out to Korea, Japan, Indochina and most importantly, to the eastern central asian steppe/the mongol steppe where they spread out to the western central asian steppe/turkic steppe and from there they entered the Islamic world and Eastern Europe. From the islamic world, they then entered Southern Europe and then Central Europe and finally, Western Europe by the 1700’s. Meanwhile from the Islamic World, the saber entered India in the early 1600’s.
These Old Avars probably came from the Great steppe as the Huns before and all other nomad tribes after them, so no surprise that their instruments of war were rather similar. The same goes for instance for theirs and Hunnic bows.
@@genghiskhan6809 early jokotō swords associated with Chinese and Korean design that arrived in Japan were straight tho. The development of the iconic curvature found in Japanese swords is to be found in native Emishi and Ainu swords and the interaction with Yamato produced blade, based on Chinese and Korean design with Japanese own development
@@lucanic4328 yeah at any rate, it is a striking resemblance between that Avar sword/fittings and the quintessential Han era cavalry blade, straight, one sided, that particular portion. Even if its influence is very remote to what we think of as a cavalry sword these days.
Woah, those Avar swords at 2:20 look like Han Dynasty straight daos - from the blade design to the circular pommel at the end. Was there any influence or cross-cultural connections between the Avar swords and East Asian swords?
I'd like to see you cover all of the Sharpe films, but could you at least broadly address the fencing in those films? I've always liked the weight of the big fencing sequences and how Sharpe narratively employs his improvisational style to overwhelm more skilled opponents.
What about a video about blades that were incredibly similar in both form and function but developed in wildley different times and places? Kinda like that dao and falchion video but looking at more examples of possible convergent evolution of design?
The saber (used by US cavalry and dragoons and therefore not a European weapon) comes from France. The model 1840 cavalry saber is a direct copy of the 1822 French sabre. Lessons learned from use of the 1840 model went on to influence the model 1860 light cavalry saber. Hope that clears thing up.
I think the European Sabre certainly merits a deep-dive. In many ways it represents a pinnacle of ideas, right? Because it's an amalgamation of all the best features of such broadly ranging predecessors. When that happens, you're equally likely to end up with an absolute mess of disjointed concepts, as you are a masterpiece. The sabre, imho, qualifies as the latter. And, even if it's not the style of sword you prefer, you can't deny that it's at least efficient and elegant.
Its not an amalgamation of the best features, just design preferences for the pre-modern world. Such a saber would not feel specialized enough for fighting doctrines of the past.
I think to make it easier to handle, create a genealogy diagram and then find the paths that are the most prominent to talk about. You could even make it into a poster that people can buy.
One might consider the evolution of modern sabres, as the development of separate breeds, followed by cross-cultural hybridization. Archeological finds show what might be considered proto-sabres in Volga-Bulgaria, date to about 900AD. The general curved blade and hilt, it possible to see the “ancestral bloodlines” of Karabela, Szabla, and Hussar-style sabres. In Kabardino-Balkaria and Caucasia regions, archeological examples dating from about 1000AD, this pedigree is even more pronounced.
I'd love to see more on armour of the 14th-16th century. Especially what an "average" soldier would wear. Hand-me-downs? Second hand stuff? Battle field loot? On the topic of looting, if I as a soldier managed to snag a really nice cuirass or some greaves for example, but they didn't fit me very well, would I sell them and by something that fit me or have them altered? Just how bespoke is armour really? Also, anything you have on Landsknechts and Messers is interesting. Cheers!
Hey Matt, my father has an 1846 us cavalry saber made by N.P. Ames company. It's an 1840 patter blade molded after the 1822 French hussar. Its 100% original and went through the Mexican war and American civil war in the hands of my great great great grandfather. Was wondering what your opinion is of the 1840 pattern us sabers, and any value range you may be aware of. Thanks love your content please keep it up!
Early, native European single-edged cutting swords were not like sabres. I'm, thinking of the machaira, kopis, falcata and later the seax and long-seax. By the time that the European falchion, tessack and hanger were produced, Europe had been exposed to the sabres originating from the Eurasian Steppes for very many centuries. All sabres are descendants of curved swords with the cutting edge on the outside of the curve first developed in Turkic Central Asia. The Avars, Magyars, and later peoples, such as the Pechenegs and Cumans, repeatedly brought steppe martial technology into Europe. The Magyars raided as far west as Western France and even Spain.
@@GreaterAfghanistanMovement Only one of a number of theories, none of which is unchallengeable. However, the ultimate geographic origin of Turkic languages is not really germane, as the sabre was developed in the Central Asian Steppe, which at the time was dominated by Turkic speaking peoples.
@@urseliusurgel4365 Eastern Steppes (where Turks originated from) is not in Central Asia but North-East Asia. Before Turkic migration, the Aryans were the main ethnic group in Central Asia. The only remaining Aryan speaking countries in that region today are Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
@@GreaterAfghanistanMovement Yes, but this has nothing to do with a Turkic origin for sabres. The Sabirs were west of the Caspian by about 500AD, the Göktürks were in control of the same area and all the way east to Manchuria by c. 570 AD. The earliest extant, excavated sabres date to about 750 AD - 850 AD. So the sabre was first produced long after the western and central Eurasian steppe had been Turkified.
Hey Matt, I was discussing your Chinese dao video on the purpose of the cup guard with Scott Rodell and I think it would be a good idea for you to do a collaboration with him. He’s a collector of Chinese antique weapons and practitioner of the jian and dao. Scott has designed some of the Chinese swords by Hanwei and others. He has a TH-cam channel at Great River Taoist Center.
You did a really good job for not to mentioning Polish-lithuanian Commonwealth and Hungarian traditions of using saber which in actuality spread to rest of the Western Europe.
Matt, can you help me identify a German Iron Gunnary Saber? It looked like a Pirate sword, very large Iron guard, 4 holes on each side, two slits near the quillion. It had an iron backstrap with two langets and it looked like an Walnut Grip that was ribbed. Unfortunately, I sold this sword back in 1994. It only had maybe 16" of blade length where the blade broke off. I was always told it was a Spanish-American War Sword. I Would Greatly Appreciate Any Experise Yo could offer. Thank You.
So I have been scouring the internet at all of my resources which is difficult because I am a silly American. But I'm trying to figure out if there would have been any type of saber in the late kieven Rus region. Especially if they were brought back by varangian guards?
Kohanski said the edge needs to be curved. Not just the tip, the whole blade, but just a little bit. Horse combat lends itself to slashing not stabbing (unless a spear). off the top of my head.
+scholagladiatoria *One of the evolutionary stages of the European saber is the **_Düsſack_** of the German south, an adaptation of the **_Meſſer_** to the tactics of then-invasive Turks.* Evolved independently of the Circassian _Sashkhua_ and the Polish _Szabla._
I am german, and Brittas boyfriend. A longer time ago, in a german text i read, that in , Hochmittelalter' ( we germans call the time between 1000 to 1300) sometimes ,armed persons' used a weapon with curved blade called , Malchus', but i don't remember length or hilt of this weapon.
"Das Falchion (engl.), auch Fauchon (frz.) genannt (von lat. falx ‚Sichel‘), ist eine einschneidige Hiebwaffe, welche vom Hochmittelalter über das Spätmittelalter bis in die frühe Renaissance in Gebrauch war und im deutschen Sprachraum auch als Malchus bekannt ist." Wikipedia For non german readers : according to german Wikipedia, "Malchus" refers to basically the same weapon that would be refered to as a "falchion" in english.
i have a question that probably wont get answered by matt but still. Why didn't all cavalry use/carry a lance in the Napoleonic wars? seems to me the main weapon of these cavalrymen were swords so what the advantage over a lance? Couldn't the lancer still have the sword as a backup? to my mind they just seem more useful in everyway
Some cavalry men, like Poles and various uhlans, were using lances in Napoleonic wars. But AFAIR som British officers in particular were critical of them because they were cumbersome in melee.
@@lscibor I am aware of them. I do know Napoleon thought highly of them. But really what I'm asking for is if the lance was cheap (my knowledge is that it is) and you thought it was cumbersome (seems like a fair point) why not have it anyway and use it for the charge then drop it (and if it breaks that's the point no?) and go for the sword and you got the advantages of both. I know the people back then weren't stupid and to them I would be on the subject but I just want to know what the reason was
@@Deathelement53 Generally weapon like lance requires quite a lot of skill, so I guess most units didn't have a tradition or methods to do it. That's mostly the way lance died out in Western Europe in 16th century. It was becoming less and less effective in changing warfare, but mostly the tournaments joust and generally "knigthly" Lifestyle was dying out. With people being not so skilled with lance, it was becoming even more ineffective. And so it was kind of self feeding loop. While in Eastern Europe the lance traditions were living on, we have 16th century sources stating that French observers were amazed at skill of Polish noblemen in jousts. So it stayed around for longer. That's my personal 2 cents at least.
Speaking of turkic swords - it's not too long ago that I learned that (much to my surprise) crusade era ottoman swords were actually straight, but I have no idea what they looked like. Also, there was apparently a thing called Jazeran armour (basically mail with an 'integrated' breastplate from what I underastand). Would you perchance mind treating us to a video/some videos on crusade era ottoman weaponry? I think it's a pretty dimly lit area in western minds, in my mind at any rate, so I'd greatly appreciate something on that topic.
Neither Ottoman nor Seljuk swords, which predated them, were straight. All Turkic swords were curved, at least the moment Turks set foot in Middle-East that is. I think you are mistaking the non-Turkic/Seljuk mid-east swords(which were straight) with the Ottoman era(of whose establishment the first crusades predate by a few centuries) and catch all broader "saracen curved sword" stereotype ingrained in the Western imagery.
You do a docu-series instead of a book, if you were so inclined. I think the best place to start is what constitutes "saber". IE, if your intent is to create a genealogy for the European military saber, the first chapter should highlight the features that qualify a sword as such. Basically, define your paradigm. From there you can look at how each qualifier has developed, how they got cobbled together, and what swords are most closely related. Sort of creating your own structural linguistics for swords.
Proposal for a video: Medieval sports (competitions) in England (and/or other places in Europe), not just jousting and, of course, focus on the martial arts mediaeval competitions
Not very often that Byzantines get mentioned by the world of swordtube. I'd love to see some videos on their weapons over the millennium-plus they were around.
This may be an interesting question: helmet with the form of a skull, I've never seen one, but it's totally feasible whitout ruining the helmet functionality, so why not? Death seems a pretty common theme in medieval art, but weirdly enough, look like no one decide that it would be a good theme for a scary armor. Maybe it be that death was considered a bad omen if represented on the armor? I hope my English is understandable and the question clear 😅
may i suggest the root of the word comes from the same origin as "sibir" or "Siberia" since the curved cavalry blades seem to have steppe nomad origins somewhere to the east of the Urals. both European and Persian/Parthian warriors seem to have adopted curved single edge weapons from nomadic raiders. what if its not a typology but an origin?
When a mommy saber and a daddy saber love each other very much...
You beat me to it
🤣😂🤣
Sometimes when daddy naval sabre is out at sea it is mommy sabre and daddy infantry hanger.
They find someone to try dual wielding them until they get a blood sacrifice.
I thought it was the stork... 😟 I've been lied to! 😠
The way Alex Cheng phrased the question make it seem like he already knew the gist of the answer and just needed and expert to flesh it out more. It's an interesting topic. Perhaps you can do an extended video about this, maybe as a colab with Tod?
An interesting note from the Hungarian language.
Szabya - the Hungarian name for the saber
Szab - to cut
Szabo - a tailor (someone who cuts to size)
Szabni - To cut to size
From this I suspect the word saber might have Hungarian origins. Literally something that cuts. Just a theory.
It's Szablya :p ;)
@@sattila6083 Thanks!
My last name (biological) is Sabljak (Sabre with a 'k' at the end of it.)
Could mean my ancestors were either wearing sabres, making them, were sabre warriors or whatever. So thats interesting.
Another day with a new video from both Matt and Tod!!!
I absolutely think you should map out the main influences for European military sabers. I wouldn't care if it was an hour plus video I would watch. Your research methodology seems quite accurate and complete judging by previous subjects you've covered. Please do this.
When in doubt, map it out.
I'd totally watch too, even if it went on 2 hours!
Honestly 3 ... I would parcel it for myself so it would last at least month of rations!
I would be fine with 4
@@taekatanahu635 That works for me too.
Maybe a series of long videos? Each one covering potential influence and how they could have influenced and then a big one at the end that brings it all together?
Exactly! This could be an awesome series
I third the motion.
From “long ago…. In a galaxy far, far away…”
You read my mind
My answer would be the 8/9th century magyar sabre. Then into Turkey (kilij) Arabia (shamshir) the Caucasus (shashka). Then through the ottoman empire, back through the hapsburg empire in Poland and Hungary. Then into Western Europe. Up to this point I would suggest the bulk of historical European swords were based on an evolution which began in Greece, then Rome, migration era and viking into the early medieval sword which became cruciform with the spread of Christianity.
Matt, I think it is better to do it a bit more chronologically: Avars and their sabers were active on the Byzantine front from 568 to 626, so some ideas could be implanted there (and Slavs). The same came in the Franco-Avar wars with Carolingians (788-804). Then Bulgars came (681- ) and Magyars, also saber-armed (about 895), Seljuk (about 1050, only in Asia Minor), Cumans (also 11th century), and Mongols (after 1240). All those used sabers akin to each other (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turko-Mongol_sabers#/media/File:Turko_Mongol_Sabre_Examples.png). Only then began the idea of curved blades began to creep into the minds of Europeans, in the case of those of Western stock, even after that. Also, I do not think that the type of hilt has anything with this - what makes the saber real saber is the curved shape of the blade and only secondary that of the (more or less curved) hilt.
I think the more protective hilt is a distinctive feature that separates western european sabres from most other sabres. And those descent from earlier european hilt types, as in backswords, broadswords, hangers etc. And also some military sword systems were designed to be used for example with sabres and broadswords or backswords... Also how europeans thought about the sword blade and it's use in history, must have influenced how they thought about a curved blade and it's use. I don't think for example, that other nationalities used the system of lunge which was originally developed for a rapier, and it's all over european sabre manuscripts. There also exist most unsabreish, almost straight sabres, which might be a quite european thing, I don't know.
Avars didn't have sabres that early. They had long, single-edged blades that evolved out of the Narrow Langseax (introduced to Europe by the Huns in the 390s to 450s). Sabres first appear around the turn of the 8th century AD, but it's impossible to determine their precise origin. The Romans begin using them en masse as they evolve, calling them a "Paramerion."
It's most likely they were invented in the Caucasus, probably by the Alan Kingdom of the 7th-9th centuries, who were notorious for their extensive ironworking capabilities and famous for their helmets, maille armor, and swords.
@@puliturchannel7225 I agree. But some chronology should be used if we are to discover the tree of development of this type of weapons in Europe. There are 700 years between Avars and Ottomans and their sabers on European soil.
Those Avar swords at 2:20 look like Han Dynasty straight daos - from the blade design to the circular pommel at the end. Was there any influence or cross-cultural connections between the Avar swords and East Asian swords?
@@Intranetusa How much contact was there between the Caucasus and China ca. 400 CE?
I refuse to watch this video until you spell SABRE correctly.
Maybe a vid on the differences between foreign spellings and the correct ones?
I sense a 45 minutes long rant incoming.
I expected a very British comment, I am not disappointed...
@@RaggaDruida We aim to please!
@Lindybege I may smell of teen poo, but Sir, I beg you to clear this thing once for all times: What is the difference?
Id like a video on how the shamshir as we think about came around. early persian/indian swords like sabers. as i understand they are over 2000 years old in basic concept. single edge curved(later) highly curved blades with single handded pommels
Happy to see you're back to more regular uploads
You've talked a lot but said nothing.
1. Curved one edged swords appeared in the same time between Central Asia (turkic nomads, alans) and the Karpathian basin (avars).
2. It become standard sword of all eastern nomads and they transferred it to China, India and Africa(Mamluks).
3. Hungarians had sabres originally, but they took the straight swords with the christianity.
4. When Otoman turks with sabers attacked Hungary the hungarians adopted the light cavalry and their sabres.
5. Hungarian hussars begin fashionable as the Habsburgs got the rule over Hungary and started to use hussars in all their wars from the Schmalkalden war. to the Great War.
6. The polish got hussars when a hungarian nobleman Istvan Batory Princeps of Transilvania was elected to be king of Poland.
7.The european saber was taken over when all european powers established hussar regiments and took all uniforms too (tshakos, cherry picking trousers, dolmans, cadettes, moustaches etc.)
Wiki:Bavaria raised its first hussar regiment in 1688 and a second one in about 1700. Prussia followed suit in 1721 when Frederick the Great used hussar units extensively during the War of the Austrian Succession.[32]
France established a number of hussar regiments from 1692 onward, recruiting originally from Hungary and Germany, then subsequently from German-speaking frontier regions within France itself. The first hussar regiment in the French army was the Hussars-Royaux (Royal Hussars), raised from Hungarian deserters in 1692.[33]
Where do sabers come from? Have a seat, it's time for a talk. You see, when a blacksmith and an ingot of steel love each other very much....
I absolutely love a video mapping the origin of weapons. Maps and other visual aids would just make it 100x better
Whoa, one of Matt's "short" videos is actually pretty short for once! Not that I mind the long videos...
I think a book about sabres would be an excellent idea, if none exists. Sabres are varied in both their history and appearance, yet are always distinctively sabres, and they're stunning to look at. Such a book would naturally begin with a discussion of their influences.
Just in time Matt, this video will go great with my evening break and coffee, then back to quenching.
Here's an idea Matt. How about you put out several shorter videos with each discussing the different weapons that influenced the development of the European saber? Example: Video #1: Turko-Mongol sabers, Video #2: Early European single-edged swords, Video #3: Persian Shamshir/Indian Tulwar, etc.
If I were Matt, I would take it exactly the opposite way. I.e. start off from the earliest european "sabres" and looking at what influenced *those*, and then moving down time and regions. This is because there really isn't such a thing as "the European saber" : each nation in Europe obviously has its own sabre culture influencing its designs, which also quite obviously evolved a lot through the couple of centuries "sabres" were in use (not to mention that different paterns were in use at the same time for different purposes, sometimes with a different history as well). It also would have the benefit of being relatively specific, and also potentially of shining a light on the specificities of the history of the British/French/German/Russian (maybe Spanish and Italian but I haven't really seen much of those on this channel) sabres and the countries they served.
It's Taalwaarr actually. Somebody inform Matt about it.
I would 100% love to see a 2 hour lecture from you on this subject.
But maybe break it up into smaller chunks for the algorithm
My Provost-at-Arms credited specifically with Dussack and he quoted manuals focusing on dussack, but I haven't seen the manuals compared closely. I think your comment that there is no singular lineage that leads to saber as the final product is spot on. I definately want to read more into this though, so...
WRITE THAT BOOK, PLEASE Matt!!! :)
Thanks Matt!
This is amazing. For the last week or so I’ve been pondering, and would love your input as to whether the saber is the ultimate evolution of the true fighting swords.
I would suggest it's a question of convergent technologies. There are, after all, a finite number of ways to make something that's a "sword" and Matt has shown us nearly every conceivable sword design over the years. There are hundreds of design variations, even within any given culture, and obviously cross-pollination occurs when somebody encounters an unfamiliar sword design and says, "Hey, that works pretty well. I think I'll go home and incorporate some of that into my next sword."
An anegdote, to show, how hard it could possibly be to realize, from where sabre could possibly come from.
It is widely believed, that polish sabre comes from Hungarian influence(their armor, clothes, way of fighting etc.) at around 1500s. Hungarians, in turn, were most probably influenced by Ottomans. But, since our swordmakers beame really good at making sabres, and even made some impressive calvary swords of our own- Ottomans started to believe, that it had to Commonwealth, that was a country of origin of sabre...
Also an anecdote. We, Hungarians came from Asia about 1100 years ago. Warriors from that age are often drawn with sabers. Later on, we got on the straight sword hype train. If that is true, then that would mean that when the Ottomans came, we "reinvented" the sabre.
So yeah, it's pretty complicated :D
However, Magyar tribes (Old Hungarians) used sabers in the 9th century, at least 100 years before Seljuks left Chorezm for khalifate and, in the end, Asia Minor, where they spawned Ottomans in the 13th-14th century.
@@morriganmhor5078 well, Magyar tribes are not the old Hungarians. They were different tribes with a common origin. This common origin was the basis of much confusion, and since Attila made the Huns very known and feared, the Magyars were identified as Huns as well. But the current day Hungarians are decendants of the Magyar tribe, not the Hun tribe, but we are still called Hungarians. We call ourselves Magyars, not Huns.
@@szepi79 I didn´t say anything like that, only that Huns came first, then Avars, and finally Magyars conquered Pannonia. If my wording was not exact enough, I apologize.
@@morriganmhor5078 no worries mate :)
Cheers Matt. Sharpen your writing skills. You should absolutely do a book on this subject. I feel it's an underserved topic!
Another question: since you've talked about flail weapons recently, what are you thoughts on the European cosh/slungshot, the Asian meteor hammer/rope dart/kusari, or the Polynesian rope club, etc? Do you think the ornately carved spherical stones of Celtic make could have been used as loads for such weapons?
If you do expound on the origin of sabers, please spend some time on their emergence and evolution in Eastern Europe. It would be interesting to trace the origins of the Byzantine paramerion (in the southeast of Europe), and to see if the Avars were the first to introduce sabers en masse via the northeastern way into Europe, or perhaps even the Huns before them. Did the Byzantines copy them or took inspiration from the Middle East (either the Sassanids or the Saracen auxiliaries). To my knowledge, the Sassanids preferred straight edge swords, even though in later centuries they started using them with pistol shaped grips.
It's also interesting why there were more popular in the East and not so much in the West until much later (speaking of Europe, here).
Yes, Sassanid and Saracene's sword up to Seljuk coming were mostly straight.
Because the main european weapon throughout hystory is spear/pike/polearm (with exception of roman) from sarissa into the creation of bayonet. Sword is mainly a sidearm and sword are suplement for spear and halbert such as rapier, side sword, backsword, arming sword
I would certainly watch a long video, or series on the history of the European saber!
A video really hammering the origin of the sabre would be awesome!
Take your time with it and do a series, sounds like a very interesting study.
yes, do a veery long episode on the topic, pretty please! there is a niche for long detalied deep dives in cool topic, nearly vaccant one too.
You see Matt, when two sabers love each other very very much....
This isn't related to the video's content but this is my first SG video in a while and the audio is so much better now that you have a lavalier mic, some of the older ones were unlistenable.
Short answer, yes. Long answer, YES, you need to do a video series on the origins of sabers.
I was actually going to bring this up anyway, but I was wearing my plate gauntlets the other day and fiddling around with my weapons. I know. Typical, right? The one-handed ones felt like they were going to fly out of my grip. My bastard sword however and spear, or anything else I gripped in two hands is far more secure. My observation is that might be the main reason why the shield was abandoned other than advancements and armor. It was the armor itself that made knightly weapons two-handed, perhaps.
If possible I would love to see a video about it (or maybe several videos).
It's a rabbit hole, but a rabbit hole worth investigating.
And a question: Did the US cavalry use sabers in the Indian Wars of the late 19th century?
We never see the cavalry using sabers in westerns and other popular media depictions, but at the same time we all know that ammo for firearms was hard to get on the frontier, so an edged weapon would be very useful to ease the logistic situation.
I will try to look this up for you.
According to sources ranging from wikipedia to civil war journals, yes the cavalry did use sabers during the Indian wars. However, it had become a common practice to leave the saber in the saddle or exchange it for extra pistols during the later stages of the civil war. Furthermore, cavalry charges against indian cavalry were rare as the Indians generally were better horsemen and armed with lances.
TL;DR yes they did, but it was uncommon due to previous experiences.
@@genghiskhan6809 : Also in 1848 war, mexican lancers had been a problem for US cavallry in melee, because US cavallry had been only Dragons (?) / Dragoner in german language.
Swords and sabers are most effective against unarmed civilians, unlike spears that get stuck in people who were not worth wasting ball and powder on.
Hollywood movies make their money by being entertaining not historically accurate;). Cavalry charges make for good cinema but also make for a lot more dead soldiers.
Most westerns are set between the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and the end of the century. As Genghis pointed out cap and ball revolvers had replaced swords for most soldiers by this point. More importantly, while some European armies might take until WW 1 to get the point, the American soldiers in this period had enough veterans of the Civil War that they were unlikely to fight from horseback unless they were caught in an ambush. In that case they would have used revolvers to try and break contact and get to a safe distance were they could dismount and use their carbines (short barreled single shot breech loaders).
Swords stayed in the system and I believe the last cavalry sword meant for combat, as opposed to ceremonial use, was introduced in 1913 (designed by then Olympic pentathalete and eventual General George Patton) but I don't think I've seen any pictures of soldiers during the Plains Indian Wars carrying swords.
Hungarian brought saber to Europe
Even the word saber came from tha hungarian word szab/szablya
Not to mention that hungarians trained france and polish soldier on hussar warfare
Even the hussar uniform based on the hungarian style
Also they were the most famous cavalry nation in Europe
I'm not saying its a hungarian weapon, but they Brough to Europe and they influenced the rest of Europe
Please yes, please try and put a video like that together it would be fantastic to put the family tree of sabers
I'd love to see a huge Matt Easton documentary about his favourite fencing weapon.
I don't see why it has to be a single video. Sound like it would make a great series of videos.
Yes, u should do a big video about it
Headstamp publishing might be interested in publishing a book on the developments that lead to the sabre.
a sword themed book from headstamp publishing would be really cool
I would like to ask and also know more about swords or other personal weapons used by archers
Hey Matt! Could you do a video on the chinese monk spade weapon?
2:15 That Early Avar Sword has a striking resemblance to Chinese and Japanese swords of the time, latter known as Chokuto.
And I do not mean just shape; i mean the pommel, mount, hilt all look 90% exact on the second from the left.
Avars might have been creating copies of earlier Chinese or far eastern steppe swords, or perhaps their designs permeated eastward...
though I know of some Han short hilt cavalry swords from 400+ prior that already had that exact shape down.
As far as I am aware single edged swords on the steppe originated in the east and went westward, but the avars curved them and then the curved design traveled eastward and became the norm there as well.
From what I know, the earliest sabers were developed in China. Then from China, they radiated out to Korea, Japan, Indochina and most importantly, to the eastern central asian steppe/the mongol steppe where they spread out to the western central asian steppe/turkic steppe and from there they entered the Islamic world and Eastern Europe. From the islamic world, they then entered Southern Europe and then Central Europe and finally, Western Europe by the 1700’s. Meanwhile from the Islamic World, the saber entered India in the early 1600’s.
These Old Avars probably came from the Great steppe as the Huns before and all other nomad tribes after them, so no surprise that their instruments of war were rather similar. The same goes for instance for theirs and Hunnic bows.
@@genghiskhan6809 early jokotō swords associated with Chinese and Korean design that arrived in Japan were straight tho. The development of the iconic curvature found in Japanese swords is to be found in native Emishi and Ainu swords and the interaction with Yamato produced blade, based on Chinese and Korean design with Japanese own development
@@lucanic4328 yeah at any rate, it is a striking resemblance between that Avar sword/fittings and the quintessential Han era cavalry blade, straight, one sided, that particular portion. Even if its influence is very remote to what we think of as a cavalry sword these days.
A research video on this topic with photographs and diagrams would be a delight to watch! =D
Woah, those Avar swords at 2:20 look like Han Dynasty straight daos - from the blade design to the circular pommel at the end. Was there any influence or cross-cultural connections between the Avar swords and East Asian swords?
I'd like to see you cover all of the Sharpe films, but could you at least broadly address the fencing in those films?
I've always liked the weight of the big fencing sequences and how Sharpe narratively employs his improvisational style to overwhelm more skilled opponents.
The book sounds like an excellent idea. Would be extremely happy to buy that one.
Yeah that would cool to see the gensis of the western military sabre. Maybe a series of videos.
What about a video about blades that were incredibly similar in both form and function but developed in wildley different times and places? Kinda like that dao and falchion video but looking at more examples of possible convergent evolution of design?
The saber (used by US cavalry and dragoons and therefore not a European weapon) comes from France. The model 1840 cavalry saber is a direct copy of the 1822 French sabre. Lessons learned from use of the 1840 model went on to influence the model 1860 light cavalry saber. Hope that clears thing up.
I think the European Sabre certainly merits a deep-dive. In many ways it represents a pinnacle of ideas, right? Because it's an amalgamation of all the best features of such broadly ranging predecessors. When that happens, you're equally likely to end up with an absolute mess of disjointed concepts, as you are a masterpiece. The sabre, imho, qualifies as the latter. And, even if it's not the style of sword you prefer, you can't deny that it's at least efficient and elegant.
Its not an amalgamation of the best features, just design preferences for the pre-modern world. Such a saber would not feel specialized enough for fighting doctrines of the past.
I'd love see a series of videos about the history of Sabers
Can you do a video and the evolution of the arming sword to the rapier?
You should write a book ether way. Would be fantastic and hard for many of us to put it down.
I think to make it easier to handle, create a genealogy diagram and then find the paths that are the most prominent to talk about.
You could even make it into a poster that people can buy.
Question - How did the rules of olympic sabre develop, in particular, the restriction of the target to the upper part of the body only?
A Book on the subject would be a great read👍
One might consider the evolution of modern sabres, as the development of separate breeds, followed by cross-cultural hybridization.
Archeological finds show what might be considered proto-sabres in Volga-Bulgaria, date to about 900AD. The general curved blade and hilt, it possible to see the “ancestral bloodlines” of Karabela, Szabla, and Hussar-style sabres. In Kabardino-Balkaria and Caucasia regions, archeological examples dating from about 1000AD, this pedigree is even more pronounced.
Hi there!! Could you talk about the schiavona sword some day?
I'd love to see more on armour of the 14th-16th century. Especially what an "average" soldier would wear. Hand-me-downs? Second hand stuff? Battle field loot? On the topic of looting, if I as a soldier managed to snag a really nice cuirass or some greaves for example, but they didn't fit me very well, would I sell them and by something that fit me or have them altered? Just how bespoke is armour really?
Also, anything you have on Landsknechts and Messers is interesting.
Cheers!
Hey Matt, my father has an 1846 us cavalry saber made by N.P. Ames company. It's an 1840 patter blade molded after the 1822 French hussar. Its 100% original and went through the Mexican war and American civil war in the hands of my great great great grandfather.
Was wondering what your opinion is of the 1840 pattern us sabers, and any value range you may be aware of. Thanks love your content please keep it up!
Early, native European single-edged cutting swords were not like sabres. I'm, thinking of the machaira, kopis, falcata and later the seax and long-seax. By the time that the European falchion, tessack and hanger were produced, Europe had been exposed to the sabres originating from the Eurasian Steppes for very many centuries. All sabres are descendants of curved swords with the cutting edge on the outside of the curve first developed in Turkic Central Asia. The Avars, Magyars, and later peoples, such as the Pechenegs and Cumans, repeatedly brought steppe martial technology into Europe. The Magyars raided as far west as Western France and even Spain.
True but Turks originated from Manchuria not Central Asia.
@@GreaterAfghanistanMovement Only one of a number of theories, none of which is unchallengeable. However, the ultimate geographic origin of Turkic languages is not really germane, as the sabre was developed in the Central Asian Steppe, which at the time was dominated by Turkic speaking peoples.
@@urseliusurgel4365 Eastern Steppes (where Turks originated from) is not in Central Asia but North-East Asia. Before Turkic migration, the Aryans were the main ethnic group in Central Asia. The only remaining Aryan speaking countries in that region today are Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
@@GreaterAfghanistanMovement Yes, but this has nothing to do with a Turkic origin for sabres. The Sabirs were west of the Caspian by about 500AD, the Göktürks were in control of the same area and all the way east to Manchuria by c. 570 AD. The earliest extant, excavated sabres date to about 750 AD - 850 AD. So the sabre was first produced long after the western and central Eurasian steppe had been Turkified.
@@urseliusurgel4365 Saberes originated in Mongolia, anything else is a cope and reeks of Eurocentrism.
OK, I see most of comments are about Matt making longer video or series of videos...
I must agree!
Hey Matt, I was discussing your Chinese dao video on the purpose of the cup guard with Scott Rodell and I think it would be a good idea for you to do a collaboration with him. He’s a collector of Chinese antique weapons and practitioner of the jian and dao. Scott has designed some of the Chinese swords by Hanwei and others. He has a TH-cam channel at Great River Taoist Center.
Just watched "Kate" on Netflix and there are some knife fighting scenes, that are pretty well done - if you were looking for another reaction video.
A video about the Sarissa please
I would love a video like that!
You did a really good job for not to mentioning Polish-lithuanian Commonwealth and Hungarian traditions of using saber which in actuality spread to rest of the Western Europe.
Matt, can you help me identify a German Iron Gunnary Saber? It looked like a Pirate sword, very large Iron guard, 4 holes on each side, two slits near the quillion. It had an iron backstrap with two langets and it looked like an Walnut Grip that was ribbed. Unfortunately, I sold this sword back in 1994. It only had maybe 16" of blade length where the blade broke off. I was always told it was a Spanish-American War Sword. I Would Greatly Appreciate Any Experise Yo could offer. Thank You.
So I have been scouring the internet at all of my resources which is difficult because I am a silly American. But I'm trying to figure out if there would have been any type of saber in the late kieven Rus region. Especially if they were brought back by varangian guards?
Hour plus long saber video yes please
Kohanski said the edge needs to be curved. Not just the tip, the whole blade, but just a little bit. Horse combat lends itself to slashing not stabbing (unless a spear). off the top of my head.
+scholagladiatoria *One of the evolutionary stages of the European saber is the **_Düsſack_** of the German south, an adaptation of the **_Meſſer_** to the tactics of then-invasive Turks.* Evolved independently of the Circassian _Sashkhua_ and the Polish _Szabla._
Yes you should do a full history and a book.
I am german, and Brittas boyfriend. A longer time ago, in a german text i read, that in , Hochmittelalter' ( we germans call the time between 1000 to 1300) sometimes ,armed persons' used a weapon with curved blade called , Malchus', but i don't remember length or hilt of this weapon.
"Das Falchion (engl.), auch Fauchon (frz.) genannt (von lat. falx ‚Sichel‘), ist eine einschneidige Hiebwaffe, welche vom Hochmittelalter über das Spätmittelalter bis in die frühe Renaissance in Gebrauch war und im deutschen Sprachraum auch als Malchus bekannt ist."
Wikipedia
For non german readers : according to german Wikipedia, "Malchus" refers to basically the same weapon that would be refered to as a "falchion" in english.
I'd buy a massive book about the origin of the sabre by Matt Easton.
I'd buy that book, for sure.
The human story is a collaborative one. The Sabre is just another great example of this.
I agree how about a series of videos. Perhaps in chronological order?
I think if you want to make a mega video on it or write a book on it, would enjoy it and think you could do it justice then go for it!
i have a question that probably wont get answered by matt but still. Why didn't all cavalry use/carry a lance in the Napoleonic wars? seems to me the main weapon of these cavalrymen were swords so what the advantage over a lance? Couldn't the lancer still have the sword as a backup? to my mind they just seem more useful in everyway
Some cavalry men, like Poles and various uhlans, were using lances in Napoleonic wars. But AFAIR som British officers in particular were critical of them because they were cumbersome in melee.
@@lscibor I am aware of them. I do know Napoleon thought highly of them. But really what I'm asking for is if the lance was cheap (my knowledge is that it is) and you thought it was cumbersome (seems like a fair point) why not have it anyway and use it for the charge then drop it (and if it breaks that's the point no?) and go for the sword and you got the advantages of both. I know the people back then weren't stupid and to them I would be on the subject but I just want to know what the reason was
@@Deathelement53 Generally weapon like lance requires quite a lot of skill, so I guess most units didn't have a tradition or methods to do it.
That's mostly the way lance died out in Western Europe in 16th century.
It was becoming less and less effective in changing warfare, but mostly the tournaments joust and generally "knigthly"
Lifestyle was dying out.
With people being not so skilled with lance, it was becoming even more ineffective. And so it was kind of self feeding loop.
While in Eastern Europe the lance traditions were living on, we have 16th century sources stating that French observers were amazed at skill of Polish noblemen in jousts.
So it stayed around for longer.
That's my personal 2 cents at least.
@@lscibor you know that does make a whole lot of sense and I thank you greatly for your 2 cents :)
Speaking of turkic swords - it's not too long ago that I learned that (much to my surprise) crusade era ottoman swords were actually straight, but I have no idea what they looked like. Also, there was apparently a thing called Jazeran armour (basically mail with an 'integrated' breastplate from what I underastand). Would you perchance mind treating us to a video/some videos on crusade era ottoman weaponry? I think it's a pretty dimly lit area in western minds, in my mind at any rate, so I'd greatly appreciate something on that topic.
Neither Ottoman nor Seljuk swords, which predated them, were straight. All Turkic swords were curved, at least the moment Turks set foot in Middle-East that is. I think you are mistaking the non-Turkic/Seljuk mid-east swords(which were straight) with the Ottoman era(of whose establishment the first crusades predate by a few centuries) and catch all broader "saracen curved sword" stereotype ingrained in the Western imagery.
You do a docu-series instead of a book, if you were so inclined. I think the best place to start is what constitutes "saber". IE, if your intent is to create a genealogy for the European military saber, the first chapter should highlight the features that qualify a sword as such. Basically, define your paradigm. From there you can look at how each qualifier has developed, how they got cobbled together, and what swords are most closely related. Sort of creating your own structural linguistics for swords.
Proposal for a video: Medieval sports (competitions) in England (and/or other places in Europe), not just jousting and, of course, focus on the martial arts mediaeval competitions
Maybe a collab with UsefulCharts? The family tree of sabers?
European sabre adoption was primarily driven by the overwhelmingly cavalry centric combat in the Eastern European plain
I think It would be great for a series of videos going for diferent time period finalizing with the actual sabre
Hooray, a mention for the dussack!
Not very often that Byzantines get mentioned by the world of swordtube. I'd love to see some videos on their weapons over the millennium-plus they were around.
My question is, "how do you keep your swords upright in those racks "? I have the same racks & my swords keep tipping over, how do you do it?
They came from their scabbards :)
Question! Ray skin? Who found that out? And who slapped it on sword handles?
This may be an interesting question: helmet with the form of a skull, I've never seen one, but it's totally feasible whitout ruining the helmet functionality, so why not? Death seems a pretty common theme in medieval art, but weirdly enough, look like no one decide that it would be a good theme for a scary armor. Maybe it be that death was considered a bad omen if represented on the armor?
I hope my English is understandable and the question clear 😅
Can you talk about every type of sabre?
may i suggest the root of the word comes from the same origin as "sibir" or "Siberia" since the curved cavalry blades seem to have steppe nomad origins somewhere to the east of the Urals. both European and Persian/Parthian warriors seem to have adopted curved single edge weapons from nomadic raiders. what if its not a typology but an origin?
Matt, you should ask Superdry for sponsorship :D
Keep the good content, cheers!