I find it interesting how much the Cinquidea shares in common with the Georgian Qama/Indo-Persian Qame. Both in the way they were constructed & in the way they were worn/used.
A marvelous weapon. Built to use in close combat in narrow alleyways where a rapier was just unwieldy. I have one I bought from Cold Steel and I love it.
@taistelusammakko5088 They were. In the early 16th century the rapier became a choice for gentlemen. The Italian long sword had fallen out of favor in the late 15th century as too cumbersome. It made room for the rapier, which irself fell by the wayside in favor of shorter and lighter weapons such as the Cinquedea and the Colischmarde. In the early 17th century various princes forbade dueling in their provinces as many young nobles were being killed. But such weapons were still needed for self defense. The arrival of the flintlock pistol sounded the death knell for blades as a defensive weapon.
Rapiers did not exist at the beginning of the 16th century, they only appeared in the 1570s. The sword used at the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century was the side sword
Many, many years ago (mid 90s?) Windlass made a nice looking cinquedea. I went to a sword event Hank Reinhardt hosted at his house in 2002 (for those that don't know Hank was the founder of MRL long before Windlass bought the company. Hank was also friends with Ewart Oakeshott) Hank had one of the Windlass cinquedea at his house, nicely sharpened & it was the first sword I ever cut a pork leg with. It had about a 20 inch blade as I recall. The pork leg was on a stump of wood so not the most accurate set up but with no effort the cinquedea cut through the leg bone & all; all I felt was the blade stopping on the stump underneath! Now I don't recall how the cinquedea felt balance wise but my guess it was a bit too heavy & sluggish compared to this new one as the old one likely had little to no distal taper as many windlass swords do. But with the width at the cross, sharp profile taper & shorter blade it likely wasn't horrible just a bit off from historical examples. That being said this new one really is one of a very few that will be on the market & the others are not very good from what I hear. I wish the cost could be less as this will be out of my normal price range & attempts to save up are often thwarted by unseen events like car repairs. But time will Tell
I very much like the pondering about whether the type has anything to do with the Renaissance romanticism about the Classical sword forms--and that that could be true but also, simultaneously, about functionality. Because of course that's the paradox of so much of Renaissance thought: not just reactionary traditionalism, but simultaneously a proto-Enlightenment looking toward the future: simultaneously exalting the "glorious" past *while* audaciously pursuing an improvement on it. The similarities and differences to Classical weaponry both, combined, make perfect sense in light of that.
19:08 Looking at the angle of the edges, even if the tip was broken off it couldn't have been much further along. Unless there are lots of examples where this type ends in a super pointy end there isn't much reason to believe a cutting sword would have such a tip.
I just want to say, I really like Iason's accent. The blend of northern English dialect and what to me sounds like a Greek accent is pleasant, and there's no difficulty in making out the words - which is not the case with some other dialects etc.
The link with partisans is quite a good one. Btw, why did you choose IX.148 and not IX.145 or X.149? Keep it up, I want to see more. Consider other discussions about other objects, here's a starting list 😄: IX.950, IX.3479, IX.1414 (display location😢), IX.1256, IX.5409, IX.113, IX.1029, IX.1225, IX.634, IX.949, IX.888, IX.1013, IX.1288, IX.1016, IX.2574
Its matt the intolerant man who drops his friends over their personal views. What a great fit for this channel that likes to sue creators over laws that dont apply to them.
I find it interesting how much the Cinquidea shares in common with the Georgian Qama/Indo-Persian Qame. Both in the way they were constructed & in the way they were worn/used.
Fascinating!
I want to buy them all.
This is really a beautiful sword.
love the series, great to see Matt here
A marvelous weapon. Built to use in close combat in narrow alleyways where a rapier was just unwieldy. I have one I bought from Cold Steel and I love it.
Were rapiers common in northern italy in 15th and 16th centuries?
@taistelusammakko5088 They were. In the early 16th century the rapier became a choice for gentlemen. The Italian long sword had fallen out of favor in the late 15th century as too cumbersome. It made room for the rapier, which irself fell by the wayside in favor of shorter and lighter weapons such as the Cinquedea and the Colischmarde. In the early 17th century various princes forbade dueling in their provinces as many young nobles were being killed. But such weapons were still needed for self defense. The arrival of the flintlock pistol sounded the death knell for blades as a defensive weapon.
Rapiers did not exist at the beginning of the 16th century, they only appeared in the 1570s. The sword used at the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century was the side sword
@@Xav_Btt The rapier made its debut around 1540.
@@Snuffy03No, the flintlock definitely wasn't the death knell of the blade as a defensive weapon.
Some cinquedea grips remind me of some coffin handled Bowie knives in their shape & decorations.
Cinquedea: hold it one way, it’s a sword, hold it the other way, it’s a shield
Many, many years ago (mid 90s?) Windlass made a nice looking cinquedea. I went to a sword event Hank Reinhardt hosted at his house in 2002 (for those that don't know Hank was the founder of MRL long before Windlass bought the company. Hank was also friends with Ewart Oakeshott) Hank had one of the Windlass cinquedea at his house, nicely sharpened & it was the first sword I ever cut a pork leg with. It had about a 20 inch blade as I recall. The pork leg was on a stump of wood so not the most accurate set up but with no effort the cinquedea cut through the leg bone & all; all I felt was the blade stopping on the stump underneath!
Now I don't recall how the cinquedea felt balance wise but my guess it was a bit too heavy & sluggish compared to this new one as the old one likely had little to no distal taper as many windlass swords do. But with the width at the cross, sharp profile taper & shorter blade it likely wasn't horrible just a bit off from historical examples.
That being said this new one really is one of a very few that will be on the market & the others are not very good from what I hear.
I wish the cost could be less as this will be out of my normal price range & attempts to save up are often thwarted by unseen events like car repairs. But time will Tell
Oh yes, the Italian cold steel cinquedea, the easiest sword to draw and famously wielded by Tails.
Drawfee fan spotted
Someone tell Jacob immediately!
Not where I expected to run into the drawfee fandom. But glad to know other people were hearing ‘cinquedea’ in Jacob’s voice the whole time
I very much like the pondering about whether the type has anything to do with the Renaissance romanticism about the Classical sword forms--and that that could be true but also, simultaneously, about functionality. Because of course that's the paradox of so much of Renaissance thought: not just reactionary traditionalism, but simultaneously a proto-Enlightenment looking toward the future: simultaneously exalting the "glorious" past *while* audaciously pursuing an improvement on it. The similarities and differences to Classical weaponry both, combined, make perfect sense in light of that.
19:08 Looking at the angle of the edges, even if the tip was broken off it couldn't have been much further along. Unless there are lots of examples where this type ends in a super pointy end there isn't much reason to believe a cutting sword would have such a tip.
German longsword vs Italian longsword
German rappier vs Italian rapier
German messer vs Italian storta
And now:
German katzbalger vs Italian cinquedea
I just want to say, I really like Iason's accent. The blend of northern English dialect and what to me sounds like a Greek accent is pleasant, and there's no difficulty in making out the words - which is not the case with some other dialects etc.
Those examples look very long compared to most Cinquedeas I've seen.
The link with partisans is quite a good one. Btw, why did you choose IX.148 and not IX.145 or X.149?
Keep it up, I want to see more. Consider other discussions about other objects, here's a starting list 😄: IX.950, IX.3479, IX.1414 (display location😢), IX.1256, IX.5409, IX.113, IX.1029, IX.1225, IX.634, IX.949, IX.888, IX.1013, IX.1288, IX.1016, IX.2574
Is it me, or does matey have a definite scouse accent behind his main one?
👍
These blades not only hold historical significance but also remind us of the importance of preserving our right to bear arms.
Its matt the intolerant man who drops his friends over their personal views. What a great fit for this channel that likes to sue creators over laws that dont apply to them.
Huh?