Identifying Swords. "Yep that's a sword".

I will always be impressed by the number of casual examples Matt can pull out. Its a good safeguard against overgeneralising.

Plenty of other commenters have already nailed it. The problems aren't really "how to categorize this borderline example" but rather WHY the distinction is being made. Are you a museum curator or collector, cataloging a sword or making a label? Are you a fencer/soldier planning to use the weapon in combat, and selecting a style for training and use? At this point, we're all aware that historically, no one really cared very much about our modern hair-splitting taxonomic identifications; I believe we could all benefit from this ecumenical approach

Matt’s collection is going to be quite the archeological find in a thousand years.

Debate on transitional swords is fun. They are the 'tiktaalik' and 'archaeopteryx' of HEMA.

Matt should be The Captain of The Royal Spadrooniers. Let's send a letter to The King.

Began...the spadroon wars have 🐸

...this German sword is called a "Infanterie-Offiziers-Degen" (infantry officers Degen) it is not more specifically a spadroon, it is a category of its own, but it exacely fills the role of a spadroon as a light, straight sword for military use. A smallsword in German is also referred to as a "Degen" - usually referred to as a "Galanterie-Degen" if it is this common typ of smallsword worn as part of a gentleman´s outfit. And earlier period sideswords are also often reffered to as "Degen", in this case often as "Feld-Degen" (battlefield Degen). The name "Degen" trace back to the Old-high-German word "degan", Middle-high-German word "degen", according to the Germanic word "þegna" meaning worrior. In the high and late middle ages in Germany "Degen" is a word for dagger ("surprisingly" the words dagger and degen have the same roots). This type of infantry officers Degen was in service in Germany form around 1700 (almost without changes in design from about 1750 onwards) and stayed in service in Prussia, even after 1889 when new typs of swords were regulated, by e.g. some officers of the infantry regiments of the King´s/Emperor´s life guard and his aide-de-camps till WW I. In this late times this swords are reffered to as "Infanterie-Offiziers-Degen, alte Art" (infantry officers Degen, old pattern)....

In Swedish these are called Huggvärja, literally Chopping Rapier

The German swords would be "Degen", which is often translated to smallsword but is actually a period catchall term for any straight blade used in the period as oppsed to the Säbel/saber from the 18th century onwards and is now synonymous with the French Epee in sportfencing.

Return of da Spadroon! Spadrooning intensifies! Cheers!

If i could be a "video game character in real life" and just respawn, I'd love to be this guys arch nemesis. so many cool weapons to fight against and maybe he'd tell me about what he's running me through with.

I have a french épée de soldat or forte épée here. It has the typical smallsword / spadroon double shellguard hilt but the blade is a hollow ground (and still quite light) razor sharp cut and thrust blade. It's laying next to a 1796 spadroon or possibly dutch equivalent and it's hard not to look at that épée as the spadroon's great grand père.

If it's thin but can cut it;s a spadroon. if you can only stick 'em with the pointy end it's a small-sword.

I saw a cartoon of a whole platoon of dragoons carrying spontoons and spadroons in Muldoon! Should've had walloons!

Love the shout-out to Nick, his videos about various weapon types are excellent!

Great show my friend. As listed in George Cameron Stone’s book “A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries and in All Times,” ( great title) it states and I quote, “The English ‘cut and thrust’ play with the back sword. The name is probably derived from the German spadroon, a very light sword adapted for both cutting and thrusting. The spadroon being much lighter than the broadsword, and made both to cut and thrust, is therefore a weapon well adapted to those gentlemen who are masters of both small and broadsword, and unite according to circumstances the defensive and offensive movements of the two. In thrusting the spadroon has an advantage over the broadsword, on account of the celerity with which the fatal movement can be executed, but in cutting it is much weaker in its effects.” I was so fascinated to read this and then see your video. Thank you. The Lord bless you my friend.

Rather than categorizing a sword by it's aesthetic look, they should be categorized by how they are used, their size/weight and their features mainly, in my opinion.

I think there are three things that contribute to identifying what category a sword would fall into. 1: Blade 2: Hilt 3: Era and land it was created (or based on) If we want to really get down and dirty I think we could also add 4: How it was used 5: Construction method I think the first three are what makes you know for certain that a Napoleonic Spadroon is such while other swords from different eras and lands may seem different though they are much the same.

I would call it a light rapier. In mind a small sword is a sword that reduces length and width to save weight. Then adopts a cross section that heavily optimizes for thrusting, to the extreme detriment of cutting. The weapon you say you're not sure what it is. Seems like someone started with a small sword, but added the rapier features back on. Thrust optimized, can cut, but heavy(er).

A second entry from the same below mentioned book is as follows. “ Spadroon Guard. The spadroon guard is formed by dropping the point to the right from the outside guard, till it comes under the adversary’s blade, turning the edge upwards at the same time raising the wrist.”…”Although this is denominated the spadroon guard , yet it is not to be considered as the chief posture of defense with that weapon. It is indeed the weakest guard of any, and should never be had recourse to, but in such circumstances as will not admit of immediately changing to another without danger of a time thrust of cut.” (Art of Deffense 60.) Just thought this was interesting also. Thank you again.

It's time for the spadroon redemption arc. Also, that specific spadroon example is very attractive. Black and gold is always nice.

Every outro I think Matt's setting us up for an April Fool's video hosted by Cat Easton with that, "I'm Matt Easton, and I'll continue to be..."

I've always thought of a spadroon as a straight cut and thrust military infantry sword and a small sword as a thrust centric sword that is scaled down from a rapier with a simpler hilt, both from the eitghteenth and nineteenth century. I also don't think that the hilt makes a difference (i.e. whether it has a shell guard is not relevant).

I like to think we are still doing this now with modern weapons.... Future Matt Easten : "Is this polymer 9mm a glock clone?"

Is this the return of Mett Euston?

poor spadroon, not a small sword, not a real sword, allegedly worst sword of all times... feels like the Pluto of swords, a dwarf sword🤣

Please do a video on the sword featured around the eight minute mark. I'm completely in love with it!

My hands are about the size of Matt's. To my mind, spadroons are smallswords intended for grown men to carry in combat for better or worse. Smallswords proper have grips and hilts so tiny that suggest they were worn primarily for decoration and ease of carry. The smallswords on display would not look out of place in the hand of my 12 year old daughter, a keen fencer but by no means challenging Shaquille O'Neil in the height and reach stakes. I'm very possibly wrong but it seems to me that the difference between a spadroon and a smallsword is which of these one would carry into battle or to a formal event. Thanks, Matt your presentation is so interesting that I've put more time commenting on a style of swords that I don't care about in a way that nobody else will care about either.

Sorry, boys: a spadroon is merely a kitchen implement. I knew of a hungry dragoon... Who used a vambrace instead of a spoon. He repurposed his pauldron As a soup-making cauldron, And fried his sausages on the tip of his spadroon.

- This is a German sword of the 18th century... - It's a Degen. - Well, you might call it a spadroon... - Yes, a Degen. - ...or maybe a small sword... - Indeed, a Degen. - ...or maybe even a rapier - ... Degen ...

06:45 - Would that be a shearing sword? Or too thin/narrow? 12:40 - What I'd call a shearing sword for sure IMO. A little meaty spadroon.

Can we get rid of our modern desires to identify and individually box objects that are essentially the same things. For most of human history people called pointy/slash, longer than a knife objects, swords. Every object presented was just a sword nothing more. If you want to get picky, can we name the era/century it was made and if it has particular special way to use it. 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, or 19th century + thrust centric, cut & thrust or cut centric Sword.

One style of sword that I keep finding conflicting information on is the espada ancha and hoping one day you can take a look at them. Most are described as homemade short swords and some sources state them to be spadroons (some are said to even be cut down service sabres but I've never found an example of one originating from that), and just seems like it's one of those sword types where all the claims about their history just reference other sources which are just as vague.

Do a video on mortuary hilts please

The concept of a spadroon is hard to debate because there are two things I think we could discuss. One is the swords that were historically called spadroons, and the other is the concept of spadroons according to their properties and method of use. As Nick points out, from the perspective of conceptual history, the concept of a spadroon was perhaps closer to (and may have originated from) a more nimble backsword. So I suspect that the people who used swords that they themselves considered to be spadroons would have argued these aren't smallswords on the grounds that spadroons are closer to backswords in concept. However, as both you and Nick also point out, a "cut and thrust sword that is nimble in the tip" defines a lot of things, including many arming swords and (or) sideswords. In fact, most HEMA sideswords I see are short enough to not be called rapiers and seem to satisfy the properties that spadroons have. Some so-called military sabres are in fact not curved and basically qualify as spadroons. If we go by properties, a lot of Chinese jian would be spadroons, except for the methodology involved. So by that definition, any sword that a person trained on the spadroon can completely and effectively use as a spadroon is therefore a spadroon.

The problem is that "spadroon" is basically a fuzzy blob where the fields representing "small swords" (primarily thrust blades, although some do have some cutting ability) and "broad swords" (primarily cutting blades, albeit with all having decent thrust) overlap a bit.

Hm. We have a rapier which is a sword. Then we have the small sword which is a small, er, sword -- a small rapier. Then we have the spadroon which is a bit bigger than the small sword. Something in between a sword and a small sword? Seems clear that a spadroon is a medium sword.

Less than 10 minute and 3 bot already, the future of internet is looking bright.

I think what makes a spadroon is not only its design but how it was supposed to be used, when it was used and by whom.

It's almost like swords developed small idea by small idea slowly overtime by people who didn't think of them as different weapons. Instead the different names arose organically as the ideas drifted far enough to be weird to other people with old styles and warrant a new name.

Love the video. Question: Can we get another video about broadswords?

It seems to me that a spadroon is a compromise between cutting & thrusting, and is smaller & lighter than a side-sword. I also remember them getting a fair amount of criticism on this channel, even though I like the concept. My impression is that they're overall just adequate, a jack of all trades, master of none.

This argument seems very familiar. /looks over at sidebar with the navaltubers Oh, yeah. It's the "what is a frigate?" problem.

I mean, if you reduce it down far enough, basically any weapon can be described in terms of another weapon. For example: a halberd is just a longer club with a metallic pointy tip and and a small blade attached. Clubs are of course blunt swords (usually without a guard). Alternately: a halberd is a long-hilted short-bladed sword (with no guard), with an enlarged blade projecting off of one side and a hook on the other.

It's not like weapons only ever had one name historically. Pascha's treatise on the half-pike starts with a good example: "Kurtze ANLEIDUNG Wie der BASTON A DEUX BOUS, Das ist JAEGERSTOCK Halbe Pique oder Springe-stock Eigentlich zu gebrauchen und was vor Lectiones darauff seyn" Translated by Betsy Winslow: "Short manual on how the Stick with Two Points, that is, Hunting Stick, Half-Pike, or Springing-Stick, is actually used, and what preliminary lessons there are on it." 4 names, all for the exact same weapon. More if you keep the French & German names.

In Germany we call those things, Marke Eigenbau! 😁 which translates to something like DIY brand. 😁

Matt what type of sword do you think the fop uses in Rob Roy?

Dear Matt, you forgot about most traditional spear ever! The BAMBOO SPEAR!

The return of the Spadroon saga let's gooooo

I think that weight and point of balance of a sword (and so how "nimble" that sword is) might be important here. Smallswords, as far as I know, are lighter and balanced closer to the hilt, so they are more nimble. Broadswords are heavier and balanced further down the blade, so they are less nimble and more suitable for cutting. In this case spadroons are swords that have a cutting edge (or two), but are as nimble as smallswords, with similar weight and point of balance. Of course there probably are swords that are in-between smallswords and broadswords in weight and balance, so to some extent the problem of classification such swords is inevitable.

Love the videos.

I mean, all of the other nomenclature aside, I'm just gonna be happy when one day video game devs realize that the "thrust only" sword should be a smallsword, and not a rapier or estoc. I just want one game that gives me a pokey "smallsword" (and calls it that) instead of having a short sword that no one uses because it's just a worse version of longer straight swords.

I think this discussion would benefit from some analysis regarding culture of origin. I find myself wondering, as I watch this, if 'spadroon' is just a name given, by a particular culture, to an array of swords that have a fair bit in common with small swords, broad swords, back swords, etc, which were so called by a different culture. If you compare the xiphos and the gladius hispaniensis, for example, they seem pretty similar to me, and probably could have been mistaken for each other, under the right circumstances. But, they were called different things in different cultures and with different languages.

Someone with too much time on their hands should make a massive Venn diagram of all these variations in sword.

The answer to all these questions of definition is to abandon definitions in favour of archetypes. Define an archetype for each name: smallsword, backsword, falchion, etc. Then, instead of asking "Which side of the line between A and B does this fall?", ask "Where is this on the spectrum between A and B?"

On the basis of my (long ago) reading of McBane: Is it the size of a small sword? Is it better suited to delivering draw cuts than either thrusts or slashes? If both answers are 'yes', it's a shearing sword/spadroon.

This reminds me of the Cutless vs. Hanger video from awhile back

Considering that the small in smallsword refers to its original meaning, i.e. narrow, not little, thick smallsword feels like an oxymoron to me, but, of course, there're two dimensions to cross-sections and it's all a gradual spectrum of blade shapes.

That German sword we don't know what it is? The "military small sword" or whatever... I want one. Seriously, that's the sword for me. I love that thing. Perfection.

I am incredibly upset that I didn't get a conclusive answer to this question I never asked >:@

Seeing you defending spadroons, you've really come a long way

I’ve seen most swords in collections lumped under the rubric “cut and thrust sword”.

Echoing @SwordFighterPKN question below. One of the things that makes the 2 larger swords not a spadroon is the "solid" cross section of the blade towards the tip (no fuller[s]). And just *what* is a pallache (sp?), anyway? Heavy spadroon? What about late 19th century British officers swords? Spadroons?

Are they biscuits or cookies? ! ? !

LK Chen's new Long Quan Jian is sort of like a Chinese Spadroon.

I think the only thing to say for certain is that the French 1882 is still a fine looking bladed implement and i’d love to find one someday! 😂

Unrelated to this video, but question for future video. Why were a one-handed poleaxe (axe head, hammer and spike) on a 26"-32" shaft not a thing even from "dark age" times to the 1300's? It would have satisfied Vikings, medieval levies (cheap and easy to make), and a knight for defeating armor?

Clear as mud. So what is a spadroon?

The double edged sword with with brass shell guard might have been referred to as an Epee de Soldat.

Palas is a single-edged blade with a sabre hilt (at least east of the Rhine). And as by British nomenclature, even a curved-bladed sabre is a sword, so " spadroon " is probably just a sword.

the fun thing is that in the original etymology it probably derives from French/Spanish/Italian spadone/espadón, which does mean chonky sword

Maybe we need another "scientific" code which will define Point, edge, curvuture, crossection, encoded gard (feature by feature), expected role (nobelmen duel, selfdefence, infantery officer, shoke cavaler, etc), country, epoche, special users (e.g. winged hussars or scotish higlanders) + historical names.

Looks like a fabulous bayonet to me ✨️

A spadroon is not just a "smallsword" that can cut. But it is a "small sword" which can cut.

We need a Thomas-Easton typology for spadroons. Take your place in history!

Categorisation of swords to the nth degree is a relatively modern phenomenon. What were these swords called at the time of use? Swords. What were other types of swords called at time of use.... They were called swords too.

There is definitely a gray area between smallswords and broadswords where spadroons exist. Weather we call it a "Military Smallsword" or not, I stand by my assertion that a spadroon is a chonky smallsword. Take a smallsword fit for dueling and add some mass to it so that it might be useful on a battle field and boom you have a spadroon. Additionally there is nothing wrong with being a little chonky lol

If I followed Nick's video on spadroons, it seemed he was making a case that the lineage of development of spadroons was different than with small swords. So they're different in that respect. But, there does seem to be a lot of crossover elements, which seems to be an indication of changing or different ideas of what to do with a sword. Certainly in a time when a soldier may have learned to use a smallsword and a broadsword, having something in between might seem less of a compromise and more of an attempt at versatility. Certainly McBane makes a distinction between smallswords and spadroons and he was apparently comfortable using both.

the spadroon is the power twink of swords, i love it

Can you do a video witha quick overview of all the types

Is an Apple fritter a donut ? Is a Dutchy a donut ? Or must a donut have a hole in the middle? Originally a donut was the chunk from the hole. Now it’s both parts and more. Is a donut likened to a tree nut or a bolt nut?🍩

This appears to be yet another occasion when the name of a sword "type" (in this case, the spadroon) has to be redefined as a FAMILY of related sword types, and furthermore, that examples can overlap with other categories. For example . . . "SPADROON: A description for several kinds of light, cut-and-thrust swords of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, frequently used as military weapons. These swords included heavier forms of the smallsword and colichemarde, as well as lighter, narrower broadsword and backsword types, among others. [Also sometimes called 'shearing swords,' as were other types, resulting in some confusion.]" That's not nearly enough, and probably inaccurate, but I'd start building from there.

I just picked up the 1796 infantry spadroon and I can understand why someone wouldn't be too Keen to use that to fend off a bayonet attack

theyre all sandwiches

We're returning to the classics today

The hypothetical term 'narrow broadsword' comes to mind for those two 17th century shell-hilt swords, but mainly for the amusement value.

4:42 I am here to deliver a new term! The War Spadroon!

Oh for the life of a Dragoon with a musketoon and a spadroon!

I always liked that (as far as I understand) Chinese called all single edges blades dao, and all double edged blades jian. Like, no debate about at what length a knife became a dagger becomes a sword. So what do they call triangular cross sectioned stabby bois?

Those Spadroon swords look handy.

Can a two-time parry detached riposte with the point be made near instantaneous and the sword is thrust centric? = Smallsword Is a two-time parry detached riposte, (i.e. not stesso tempo) a tiny bit slower and sword is thrust centric but has some cutting capacity = Shearing sword/Spadroon/Contre-pointe. Is a two-time parry detached riposte not instantaneous/struggles and sword can be thrust centric and has some decent cutting capacity: backsword. Military smallsword? No idea.

I'd like a replika of that "military smallsword/ I don't know sword".

What is a spadroon? Baby don't thrust me, don't thrust me, no more!

i'd say, as with many things having to do with categorisation, the borders are quite fluent. i'm pretty sure people used to call spadroons smallswords or shearing swords and vice versa a lot of the times, like we have different words for the same thing today.

I have a spadroon from MRL that I really like, but I don't think it's a really strong metal. Just a really nice balance. That said, I'd love to get a replica I could try cutting with, as I always thought of it as a 'smallsword that can still cut." Does anyone make a 'battle ready' spadroon?

I opt for stabby pokey thing.

Hi Matt, I think a spadroon is not a kind of smallsword because the two weapons, in order to be used effectively, are gripped differently. With the spadroon you use a sabre-like grip, with the thumb in line with the back edge of the blade, with a smallsword you will prefer the thumb aligned with the inner flat or V of the blade and one edge on the carte side and one on the tierce side. Following my argument above, I'd say the spadroon is a kind of straight sabre that can have a smallsword-like hilt, that is used to thrust and cut and therefore gripped like a sabre.

If "spadroon-ness" is not decisively defined by blade style and dimensions, nor by hilt style, is it possible that it came into use to describe a range of swords in some sort of specific social context instead? That is, if a certain sort of person, or class of officer, carried a sword that might otherwise be called a backsword, etc., was it then listed as a spadroon? Or did labelling one as a spadroon evade some legal or military regulation or proscription?

Thank you for the clarification.