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Great video! Though starting at 12:14 I'd like to clarify two things: Hussars weren't quite a light cavalry, at least in their early years. And also Hussars' overall looks and their uniform (especially those huge wings and the helmets) were modeled on/influenced after the Ottoman Army Unit called "Deliler" (The Mads/Crazies), their most characteristic feature were the huge wings they wore. And even though the Hussars didn't copy this (I can see why), Deliler had knives, daggers and swords passing through their flesh on various parts of their body as an intimidation tactic (ranging from their foreheads to the chest area to the arms and so on) I highly recommend people to check out the Ottoman miniatures and also the German manuscripts depicting them. One time I got high looking at em, they are that psycho 😭🙏🏻

They've got BENT SWORDS. BENT SWORDS.

In the Early Middle Ages, the Turkic people of Central Asia came into contact with Middle Eastern civilizations through their shared Islamic faith. Turkic Ghilman slave-soldiers serving under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates introduced kilij-type sabers to all of the other Middle Eastern cultures. Previously, Arabs and Persians used straight-bladed swords such as the earlier types of the Arab saif, takoba and kaskara. Source- Khorasani, Manouchehr, "Arms and Armour from Iran"

Oh what a smashing sabre to show off Matt. Thanks so much for going over it, and as an excuse to talk about Kilij history and interaction with the west! A fun anecdote for everyone: a big turning point for sabre history in Europe (especially western Europe) is the reformation of Poland's military forces and the formation of the Hussar units in the mid 16th century. King Stephen Báthory (originally from Hungary) who brought about this change had several swords, and one of the surviving swords attributed to him is a beautiful huge kilij of Mamluk manufacture (likely from Egypt). In some ways you could say that the Ur Szabla batorówka seems to have Kilij dna ;-)

I keep wondering why it took so long for Europeans to adopt sabers-particularly people in Central Europe. I have a few theories but I would love to hear your thoughts on that. The constant contact with nomadic tribes like Bulgarians, Avars, Hungarians, Cumans, and later Mongols/Tatars seems to have had little to no effect for centuries. Sure, Eastern Slavs did adopt sabers but somehow Poles and Hungarians preferred straight European swords all the way up to the XV century and then suddenly decided "We love sabers! It's our national weapon now".

Matt, if you could collaborate with Windlass on a kilij, it would just be the "icing on the cake"! Please, sir!🙏🏻😁

Love me a good Kilij. It's such a cool looking and feeling sword.

Matt getting all dressed up to talk about Turkish swords...

Just need to film a quick video before we head off to dinner, Lucy.

Swords and food bring people together so well. No matter what every culture had a "that looks cool" or "that taste good" moment somewhere.

Thank you Matt! Not sure it's the right niche but if anyone's obsessed with Renaissance and Ottoman warfare and the Turkish frontier I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's relative playlist. I'd love to see a coop. Keep up with the amazing work

Very interesting indeed. Thanks for sharing.

Very cool sword. The one with the 1796 hilt, as you said, is particularly attractive. There is not only the aesthetic of that particular curve but, just by the look of it, I think it could be a very nice weapon to use. Thanks. Cheers!

These more formal videos are great.

Thanks for the video 👍🏻

Let's not forget the hussar hair braids, worn so elegantly by Harvey Keitel in The Duelists. I'm pretty certain they will make a comeback in the near future.

It's a boomerang in sword form.

The bent Pala/Kilij is my favorite Middle Eastern sword design.

In real life people look at the folks next door and say, "Wow, that's cool. We should do something like that."

Turk here from 30th second of the upload.

Lovely. And I know how excited you were to find it! Did they ever have thumb rings in this era?

Great video Matt, I really enjoyed it. However I am going to pick up on pronunciation; kilic is the Turkish word for sword and it’s commonly used for Ottoman (and Mamluk) style swords, however in modern Turkish the letter C is pronounced in a similar way to the English letter J. So kilij, with a J on the end, is a more accurate pronunciation.

Interesting dot connection…. Kilich or Kilick is the name of Jack Aubrey’s insolent cook on HMS Surprise in the Patrick O’Brian Aubrey Maturin series. PS I’d love to see the scabbard for this example.

12:13 I hear they arrived.

That whole sword is pretty. Looks pretty quick in the hand too.

This is fascinating stuff. If anyone tried to write a book purely on the development of the engineering that went into swords, metallurgy, blade design, and such from the ancient development of the sword itself, it would have to be multi volume and probably an entire life's work...and still incomplete...

You didn't need to dress up for us Matt!

"Ah, but this long straight blade is *much* better against armor." "I can't help but notice you aren't wearing a lot of armor right now, effendi?" "Well of course not, we have rifles now and so do they."

Please work with Windlass to get an awesome repro Kilij/Pala! Specifically a short Pala with like a 66 cm blade

“Curve swords. They have CURVED SWORDS!!!” -Sun Tzu

What papers you recommand for ottoman influence on western Fashion?

Beautiful sword, the british sabre. Would love to own a replica of that style. Seems about ideal for a fighting sabre.😊

@scholagladiatoria we call machete a "pala" in Turkish and sword is "kilic"

Remember going to the Bedford arms fair for first time about 1980 and seeing a mameluke 'scimitar', still one of my favorites, BTW how about a video on early Arab or Eastern swords, so pre Islamic going forward.

What sorts of straight sowrds were in use by the armies of the Middle East and North Africa by the Late Middle Ages? Maybe a video about that matter would be nice.

This combo makes the saber S Tier

Not the focus of the video, but there is one thing that sounds strange to me. I know of Hun, Avar, Mongol and similar influences that came earlier than the Ottomans. And we see some of those weapon influences being adapted in the Eastern Roman Empire, so we know people adopted the sabre quite early on. I also agree that when it comes to weapons (and a lot of other things) in the Balkans, the Romanian principate, and late (so 1500) Hungary, we see the Ottoman influence (so not the Turkish as the general group of people, but the empire in particular). But can influences in Poland be attributed to the Ottomans? Do they see it as such, or do they credit the Karabela and the like to the earlier influences (Avars, Mongols, Tartars, etc.)?

Can you suggest a book focused on the construction of swords from the high middle ages?

TURKS HAVE BEEN SUMMONED.

Here's why they're called "Frocking Swords" according to the Navy. In the US Military (so take that into account) "Frock Swords" are ceremonial, and only given/worn for "Frocking Ceremonies" aka "Ranking Ceremonies" where officers over a certain rank, attaining promotion, can _optionally_ also be presented with a sword, which they can also wear with their High Dress Uniforms (the ones worn to black-tie events and meeting World Leaders etc.) To my knowledge, these were never meant to be capable of combat, usually being ornate, dull, overly delicate (needing to be super light to be worn all night by very old men throughout hours-long events they may have had to stand through), and overly ornate (we like eagles and laurels in the US Military). They were meant to be pretty, and to be mounted/shadow-boxed and hung on a wall with a placard after/between uses (some folk liked to have a newer, more ornate one for each qualifying rank earned, displaying them like a ladder). The word "Frock" is an archaic term for "dressing" and was typically reserved for Clergy donning Ceremonial Vestments... er... _ceremonially._ Such as being draped in a special vestment during a special Mass by either assistants or a superior ranked clergyman as part of the ceremony. This included ceremonies in which their rank was raised, but wasn't exclusive to that use. This later came to be used in general to mean "don ceremonially", and was adopted by the military for the pinning-on of medals of rank or achievement in a ceremony, and was expanded to include the presentation of any symbol of rank or office, thus attaining that rank or office. It became so synonymous that we even call the "butterfly clasp" for holding pins on a "frog" in the military, a humorous corruption of the word "Frock" owing, so it is said, to the way the clasp looks like a little frog at some angles. (place it on a table, flat side down, then look at it edge on) Frocking swords were _usually_ in the same style as issued weapons, but that was not a requirement until much later. Now, in the US, it _MUST_ be of the specific sort and specs worn by the specific branch of the military (US Navy is a straight-bladed Cutlass, *Marines is a Mamluk* and the oldest continually used weapon in the US Military, and the Army and Air Force (formerly US Army: Air Corps) use the Model 1902 Army Officers' [Cavalry] Saber)

one of the mentors in my HEMA club stated that dussacks are essentially looted/war trophy Ottoman blades that got fitted with Western European handguards. How true is his statement? I've been googling to look for the source and verify the claim and I've found few confirming answers to this

You should look at the US Marine Corps officers sword ( we call it the mamaluke), we were told the Marine officers were given it as a gift for defeating the Barbary pirates. Curious if there’s any historical accuracy to the sword or if we Americanized/hill billied it

I don't suppose MOVA globes would make fantasy globes? If you could give them a map and they'd make a globe that would be fun.

That's an awesome sabre. I want one now lol Thanks for sharing, Matt

Every day I live in fear that even though he has been Matt Easton, he might not continue to be next time

All those pieces are beautiful and seeing all the cross cultural influences in them is absolutely fascinating….and fun it must be said! It really adds a lot of humanity to them.

I reckon there's a lot to be said in general about how Europe was influenced by the cultures it encountered from the 15th C onwards before that interaction led to the collapse of most of those societies and admiration turned to contempt.

TURKEY MENTIONED 🔥🔥🔥🔥🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺💯💯💯‼‼‼🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷 Jokes aside very informative video, thanks!

Замечательное оружие !!!

Why do curved swords seem so much more elegant?

That is a lovely saber. Both swords were quite nice.

That is definitely the sword Sharpe ought to have used.

Not only UV light...

no hand protection- why ?

What sort of swords where being use in Scandinavia during the 16 and 17 centuries

Didnt Dracula (Vlad the impaler not the vampire) had a Ottoman style sword ?

in the parlance of the time, they might well have described it as an 'oriental' style.

A lot of if not most ceremonial swords today are still curved. Kriegsmesser swords also had a similar inspiration and are some of the best looking ones.

We are and we were and will continue to be Central Europe and Central Europeans, thank you very much! Cheers! - end of public service anouncement by your local Imperial Respresentative. +][+

Big ol' curvy slicy Choppa!

Does Lucy know you borrowed one of her swords 😉

The great thing about swords with Ottoman features is they double as a footrest.

Huns are no Hungarians, it is just the name. Also, the Huns had straight swords, not sabres, so they don't really have their place here. You surely meant Avars, the later ones, who were the first to have sabres in Central Europe (end of the 7th, 8th centuries).

Polish huzars where famously heavy kavalery so i dont know where this light cavalery stuff is coming from, a group called lisowczycy filled that role.

🗿👍

Turkic is not the same as Ottoman. There were many more Turkic tribes in the Great Steppe.

When Easton swords influence Weston swords...

current politics on this channel? xD

You’re wearing Ottoman inspired clothes in the video.

LET'S EXAMINE IT'S FEATURES, HA HA HA 😆

"Huszár" means every twenthieth guy that can fight in Hungary. They were instituted in the 15th century, mainly against the Ottoman threat. There was no Austro-Hungarian Empire untill 1861, way after the Napoleonic wars. There was a Hungarian kingdom, an Austrian Archiduchy and a Holy Roman Empire, all in the powers of a same fanily since the 16th century: the Habsburgs.

Gay sword by a gay lord

LOL: When Easton swords influence western swords

That is one ugly sword

Here's why they're called "Frocking Swords" according to the Navy. In the US Military (so take that into account) "Frock Swords" are ceremonial, and only given/worn for "Frocking Ceremonies" aka "Ranking Ceremonies" where officers over a certain rank, attaining promotion, can _optionally_ also be presented with a sword, which they can also wear with their High Dress Uniforms (the ones worn to black-tie events and meeting World Leaders etc.) To my knowledge, these were never meant to be capable of combat, usually being ornate, dull, overly delicate (needing to be super light to be worn all night by very old men throughout hours-long events they may have had to stand through), and overly ornate (we like eagles and laurels in the US Military). They were meant to be pretty, and to be mounted/shadow-boxed and hung on a wall with a placard after/between uses (some folk liked to have a newer, more ornate one for each qualifying rank earned, displaying them like a ladder). The word "Frock" is an archaic term for "dressing" and was typically reserved for Clergy donning Ceremonial Vestments... er... _ceremonially._ Such as being draped in a special vestment during a special Mass by either assistants or a superior ranked clergyman as part of the ceremony. This included ceremonies in which their rank was raised, but wasn't exclusive to that use. This later came to be used in general to mean "don ceremonially", and was adopted by the military for the pinning-on of medals of rank or achievement in a ceremony, and was expanded to include the presentation of any symbol of rank or office, thus attaining that rank or office. It became so synonymous that we even call the "butterfly clasp" for holding pins on a "frog" in the military, a humorous corruption of the word "Frock" owing, so it is said, to the way the clasp looks like a little frog at some angles. (place it on a table, flat side down, then look at it edge on) Frocking swords were _usually_ in the same style as issued weapons, but that was not a requirement until much later. Now, in the US, it _MUST_ be of the specific sort and specs worn by the specific branch of the military (US Navy is a straight-bladed Cutlass, *Marines is a Mamluk* and the oldest continually used weapon in the US Military, and the Army and Air Force (formerly US Army: Air Corps) use the Model 1902 Army Officers' [Cavalry] Saber)