Personal weapons interface with the body at the hand.
What the heck am I going on about? Oh, I'm just getting fancy. What I just said is that you hold on to weapons with your mitts.
Through most of human history, this was pretty simple. Sword and dagger blades were flat, but the place where you held on to the weapon was round so you could get a good grip. They were also straight along the axis of the blade.
(Please click on all pictures to see if a larger image is available.)
That is a reproduction of a Viking pattern sword, the design dating back to 900 CE or so. (Or 900 AD, if you prefer.) It is wrapped with wire so sweat won't make everything slippery, and the grip is pretty fat so you can really squeeze that sucker.
There were some very good reasons why the grip was both straight and beefy. People wore armor into battle, and the blades had to be strong enough to chop through the chain mail. The grip had to be structurally sound to take that punishment, and it had to be large enough so the hand could exert the maximum amount of force in order to maintain control.
This started to change after gunpowder weapons made the wearing of most armor a waste of time. Specialty swords were developed that were lighter and more ornate, useful as dueling weapons and little else. People started to concentrate on speed and precision instead of brute power.
Straight sword grips were still the odds on favorite, but a few oddball variations started to show up. The idea was that changing the way the hand held on to the sword would allow the duelist to move the blade around in unexpected ways.
That particular design is known as the "Spanish grip", and I will give you one guess as to who gets the credit for coming up with the idea. You can see that the hand is protected by this little satellite dish, called the "bell guard", so what do they need those bars and loops and stuff?
The idea was that the swordsman would hook his index finger over one of the bars at a critical moment in the fight, which would allow him to whip the blade around at an unexpected angle. You can also see that the loops were for those guys who liked to do this all the time, since they would just stick their finger in a loop when the fight started and leave it there.
(On an aside, please note that this grip which was designed five hundred years ago is ambidextrous! Isn't that cool?)
All of you firearm enthusiasts out there have probably already spotted how those finger loops look an awful lot like a trigger guard.
This is hardly surprising, since form follows function. You are supposed to stick your trigger finger in the trigger guard, you are also supposed to stick the same finger in those round parts of the sword grip.
Having a little extra something in your grip design will allow you a few more options, but only if you are at the very pinnacle of skill at fencing. Those engaged in competition kept screwing around, adding a little bit here and there, until the modern competition grip became something that looks really odd.
I always say that these look an awful lot like the prick of an invading alien, except that they aren't frog green and slimy. Now, it could be that there are alien invaders out there who have completely different genitalia. If I ever have to stop the invading hordes of another alien species that are packing different equipment in the nether regions, I'll be sure to let you know what it all looks like. Since I have a crappy VGA camera on my cell phone, I'll probably even be able to post some pictures. I know you all are looking forward to that!
Anyway, back to the discussion at hand.
Gentlemen dueling in the early morning light to defend their honor was one thing, but gunpowder weapons eventually got to the point where the only widespread military use for swords was during cavalry charges. Fancy grips would just get in the way, but they did develop a slightly curved version that really fits the hand beautifully. The best example of this is to be found in the last sword the British military issued to their troops in any large numbers. This is the 1908 pattern cavalry saber, and it represents the very pinnacle of western military sword design.
Notice that there is a sturdy metal cap on the end of the grip. This is so you could bash your enemy in the face with the blunt end if they came at you when your blade was facing the other way.
Sword grip design influenced handgun design, which isn't that surprising considering that they were both carried by the same kind of violent, antisocial types. (I mean, of course, that they were both carried by the aristocracy.)
Take a look at that elegantly curved grip, shaped to fit the hand much like the cavalry saber. This particular flintlock doesn't have a metal cap at the end of the butt, but you can see that it could easily be used to crack open someone's skull. Just flip that bad boy around after firing your only shot and start bashing away.
The reason to equip handguns with this particular grip design pretty much disappeared after the development of the revolver. With six shots immediately available, the chances that you are going to run dry and have to use your handgun as a hand-to-hand weapon were pretty remote. Still, it took a long time to fade away. The French, in particular, were really ga-ga over guns that looked like they were descended from old flintlocks.
Modern revolver designs still have a curved grip, which is why some people think that sixguns just look cool. And they do look cool! It is just that you aren't about to use your nice expensive gun to lay open someone's skull.
So that is how swords influenced handgun design. The only area where they really didn't is when autoloading pistols were introduced. Modern autoloaders don't even try to show a connection to old sword grip designs, or any hand-to-hand weapon. I mean, look at all that ammo! Why should they?
Comments (1)
Those 'alien genitalia' are apparently descended from grips used to allow those who had suffered hand injuries to participate in fencing. For what sport fencing has become they are very effective, but much less so for fencing as if with sharps.
As an aside, the master whose system I teach recommended not to put a finger through those loops because if one were "commanded" (i.e. one's sword was seized) it would not be possible to escape due to one's finger becoming trapped and possibly broken. Practice with blunts tends to support his conclusion.
Posted by milo | August 5, 2007 10:42 AM
Posted on August 5, 2007 10:42