An 18th C. Epee a Garde Tournante with a Walloon blade.
Feb 17, 2018 23:30:29 GMT
Post by Uhlan on Feb 17, 2018 23:30:29 GMT
Charles V of Lotharingen enters Buda.
Introduction.
The Garde Tournante or the hilt with one or more folding/sliding side bars makes for an interesting phenomenon. Though I think there must be earlier examples of the system, it did not just pop up out of nowhere and there must have been quite a few people tinkering with it for years, a plethora of specimen were in use in the final decades of the 18th century.
Alas, this seeming popularity did not last long and by the early 19th century the system was all but discarded and just like its contemporary the Spadroon it went the way of the Dodo.
Please take note of my limited knowledge of this field and my, relative, brain power, which may or may not be past its sell by date.
Anyway, as there is not much to glean from the internet on the subject, I have to juggle a bit with what is available and expand on that with what some may see as pure conjecture and hearsay. Be that as it may, I will do my best to provide you with as much fact as I possibly can.
The French Sabre a Garde Tournante.
At first it was not particularly clear to me where the system first made an appearance.
As I searched on the internet, information came in from two directions: France and Austria. Apart from one instance I could not find anything suggesting a wider use of this system in the British sphere, though I am quite confident that even there it had its admirers.
People travel, write letters, are curious, like new stuff and in general like to spread new ideas around, especially at this time in history, rife with dangerous and provocative thought we like to call ,, The Enlightenment ''.
In short: Though I could not find much on a British adaption of the system, this does not mean the folding guard or the sliding side bar was not in wider use than the single example I found, which may be British but could very well be American too. Googles algorithms are not infallible and results should be accepted only with caution.
There could be more examples of the breed in North America. French influence over there was strong at the time.
On the internet the main examples of incorporation of the folding side bar system can be found on what the French call ,, the Sabre a Garde Tournante '' or better still ,, the Sabre Revolution a Garde Tournante '', a rather short Infantry sabre with a blade length of about 73 cm. Looking at the search results, this model seems to be still available in some quantity in the antiques circuit.
L'Hoste and Resek devote an entire chapter to the system. Starting at page 221 and finishing with page 261 they describe a great number of Heavy Cavalry pallasch, Navy cutlasses, Mounted Infantry sabres, Voluntary Infantry sabres, etc.
For Austria I had to turn to the invaluable book ,, Pallasche der Habsburger Monarchie '', by Mr. Jiri Protiva which is mostly on sale on Ebay for the very low price of around $30.
If you want to know about early Austrian swords and also where for instance the Austrian M1845 Cavalry comes from, this is a very good source.
As the pictures in the book are copyrighted we will have to make do with what I could find on the internet.
I do not want to poach Mr. Protivas eggs.
In Austria the system first appeared on the regulation Light Dragoon pallasch M1798 Enlisted and on some of its custom Officers variants.
On the Enlisted examples the system is made in iron. The French influence is the strongest on the custom Officers models, which display a mix of iron and brass hilts and is most outspoken on the M1798 for Staff Dragoons where all hilts were crafted from brass.
The latter look much like the hilts used on the French Garde Tournante sabres.
As sudden as the system shows up on the M1798, it is last seen on the M1811 - 1837, the only regulation pattern Austrian pallasch for Officers ever.
The M1803 examples Mr.Protiva shows do not have it.
After the M1811 the system was abandoned, only to do a dead cat bounce on some custom Austro - Hungarian M1827 /49 Infantry Officers sabres.
It must be noted that Mr. Protiva on more than one occasion refers to ,, French influence ''. This pushes me to the conclusion that France may have been the epicenter of the Garde Tournante phenomenon. The internet search results seem to corroborate this, though, again, I do not think one should regard this as strong evidence.
As far as the Anglo sphere is concerned I only found one example. It was incorporated on a Lion Head hilt mounted on what looks like an M1796 Light Cavalry blade.
Most French efforts have a brass hilt with a perforated guard plate and a simple single folding side bar. As far as I can see, it seems that sometimes the folding bar was incorporated into already existing hilts, as the folding bar on many revolves around a pin on top of the already existing knuckle bow. Here it looks like the folding bar was just an add on.
Others show that the pommel cap was enhanced to accommodate an integral folding side bar. Here the folding side bar revolves around pin just in front of the tang. My sword has this same design.
The folding mechanism seems to be rather crude and simple on some, but many have the system we can see on the iconic Sabre Revolution.
As the human species likes to tinker, some spring latched systems came on the market. This system was used extensively on the Austrian Light Dragoon M1798 pallasch but not only there. Spring systems incorporating more than one folding side bar appeared at the same time, or so it seems, as the rather crude pin hinges. The finely crafted cylinder hinges as can be seen on the French Epee Forte de la Gendarmerie Royale show up quite early in pre revolutionary times as the name indicates. A catch and spring system was also incorporated here.
For me the catch and spring systems show the pinnacle of sliding side bar craftsmanship.
Here are some images I could score from the internet:
Austrian folding guard Infantry Officers sabre M1849.
The only pallasch I could find: Replica Austrian Light Dragoon pallasch M1798 by Niello.
Another M1849 Infantry Officers sabre.
Austrian or German sabre made in Solingen for export.
Another and very nice Solingen export model with spring release.
Austro - Hungarian sabre.
Must haves of an Austrian gentleman. Pity the old flintlock was converted to percussion.
Notice the Spadroon blade.
Sabre d'Officier Volontaire.
Sabre d'Officier d'Infanterie Revolutionaire.
French Naval Infantery Officers sabre.
Sabre de Dragon a garde tournante.
Epee Forte a garde tournante de la Gendarmerie Royale de France. ( Spring and catch release. )
British or American Lion head hilt mounted on what looks like an M1796 Light Cavalry blade.
My Epee Forte a Garde Tournante.
The French influence is strong here too.
The pierced guard plate is rather typical for the period as is the mechanism.
The hilt parts are made from iron and although at first look the hilt resembles a Spadroon in a way, overall it is just that bit more robust and better build, turning it into a sturdy working sword, though designed with an eye on the fashions of the day.
All parts are finely crafted and the whole gives the same satisfying feeling of reliability as a good quality flint gun lock can convey.
At first I was a bit put off by the plethora of screws and bolts, but all parts, including the pommel nut, display the same fine patina.
Nothing suggests fiddling of any kind.
I think that the iron hilt, the finger loop and robust business orientated build are more suggestive of an Austrian provenance rather then this being a French made variant of an Epée à l'Anglaise. It has a nicely carved ebony grip, with a tang channel made to fit, which could be evidence it is period.
There is no reason to believe the grip was ever wired, as there are no holes for securing the wire nor impressions of same.
With an old Austrian sword knot and the excellent fitting scabbard of my Hanwei Mortuary.
The blade.
Here things get interesting.
It is a elliptical Waloon or Haudegen blade, 83,5 cm long and 29 mm wide at the guard. In its prime this may have been 30 mm. A good fighting blade. Nice and stiff and still sharp here and there.
The tang was threaded in the 18th century to accommodate the new hilt.
The blade has a short, 20 cm, fuller on both sides.
Both fullers have rudiments of punched inscriptions and at the front side the blade is dated 1664. Both fullers are terminated with a punched Lotharingen Cross.
The text on the front side reads as far as I can see:
( Guard ) .16 AR . N. 0. XN L I D 64 ( Lotharingen Cross )
( The 0 in the middle has a dot in it, which could mean it depicts the sun disc.
This is also an alchemist symbol for gold. The D at the end in reality looks a tilted Christian symbol the Ichthys. I chose the D here as it is the only letter close enough on my keyboard. Below is the right rendering. The X may be a place holder. )
Ichthys.
and obverse:
( Lotharingen Cross ) VI ( polished away ) X ( GUARD )
I have studied the inscriptions a bit with the help of the links you can find in the Notes section, but to no avail. The only things that stand out to me are the date of 1664 and the Lotharingen Crosses plus the fact that someone more than a century later thought it a splendid idea to have this old blade mounted with a Spadroon like hilt. This reeks of heirloom to me.
If we consider the Lotharingen Cross in the context of French age old aggression towards Lotharingen in particular and its eastern border states in general and the strong connection of Lotharingen with the Habsburg Empire, some clues seem to fall in place.
After a bit a playing around I came up with two possible suggestions for the missing text on the obverse, though of course this is a highly dubious way of working and naturally pure speculation:
VI(VAT) ( deleted name of Emperor or Charles V ) (RE)X or (DU)X
It is an interesting aside that of all the text in both fullers this is the only bit that was polished away. Or so it seems.
Upper Lotharingen is the mustard coloured patch.
A Tale of History and ,, some '' conjecture too.
France invaded Lotharingen on two occasions.
First in the year of 1641, but the French had to leave in 1648.
The second was in the year of 1678 .
After the second invasion upstream Lotharingen was done for as a state.
Rather then spending the rest of his days as a lackey of the French King or having to face extermination of his House by same, Duke Nicholas Francis exiled himself to the Habsburg Court after the first invasion in 1641. In Vienna a son was born, Charles V.
He grew up to be a formidable General and highly respected military expert. He entered Habsburg service in 1663.
His much lauded exploits during the second Siege of Vienna in 1683 and his subsequent obliteration of a still strong Ottoman presence in Hungary and the Balkans made his claim to fame even more unchallengeable. The title of Imperial Generalissimo was bestowed upon him even before the battles of '83.
Triumph of Charles V Duke of Lotharingen during his victory over the Turks.
Now, the following I pulled right out of my hat, but I think some of it makes some sort of wacky sense.
When Duke Nicholas Francis exiled himself to Austria it stands to reason a lot of his followers had to move there too.
The new French overlords on the other hand would have frowned upon any display of Lotharingen national feelings. The famous Cross of Lotharingen being the most important one. It has great weight as a symbol of resistance and national pride.
Even nowadays its propaganda value is well understood.
Also, Charles V was crowned Titular Duke of Lotharingen in 1675, just before the second invasion of 1678, which means he could still be a threat to French interests on the Rhine. Having his claims backed up by a rival Habsburg Empire, by now to be called the House of Habsburg - Lotharingen, this threat was to be taken seriously.
As is often the case in situations like this, Charles would have surrounded himself with young adventurous and hot blooded siblings of the gentry of his former Fatherland. Some would be offspring of Lotharingen gentry forced out after the first French invasion, but some would be newcomers fleeing to the Habsburg court after the second invasion.
Such cliques often function as a sort of Praetorian Guard, its purpose being to counter any efforts to eliminate their Lord or otherwise harm him and/or his cause. A security detail in short. Secondly, the already splendid career and standing of their master could prove advantages to their efforts to make a way into the world for themselves.
For Charles friends, hangers-on and Officers it would be an obvious choice to decorate their weapons with the Lotharingen Cross and/or have a dedication to their Master engraved upon them, if only to enhance their status in the eyes of other Courtiers by advertising their connection with such a splendid entity.
Rare Coat of Arms of the House of Habsburg - Lotharingen.
Epilogue.
I would like to table the motion that the blade could have belonged to a person in Charles entourage and that it even may have played some part at the famous Siege of Vienna in 1683, to be mounted 100 years later with a then fashionable hilt by someone who still understood its provenance and who may have taken it to France, serving in the allied Austrian Army defeating Napoleon, where I picked it up more than 200 years later.
Revenge for the rape of Lotharingen is best served with serious and cold steel.
Pure speculation of course. Total rubbish. But it makes for a rather interesting movie script.
Cheers.
Notes.
Must have: Pallasche der Habsburger Monarchie - Jiri Protiva. ISBN: 978-80-86783-37-6.
List of Latin abbreviations: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_abbreviations
An inscription: history.stackexchange.com/questions/23874/what-does-the-inscription-on-this-sword-mean
International Catacomb Society: www.catacombsociety.org/epigraphic-databases/
How to make swords talk: www.medievalists.net/2015/12/how-to-make-swords-talk-an-interdisciplinary-approach-to-understanding-medieval-swords-and-their-inscriptions/
Cross of Lorraine: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Lorraine
Dictionairy of Vexillology: www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/vxt-dvcs.html
Les Couteliers de Rauwiller: henri.engels.pagesperso-orange.fr/les_couteliers_de_rauwiller.htm
The Duchy of Lorraine: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Lorraine
List of Rulers of Lorraine: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rulers_of_Lorraine
Nicholas of Lotharingen: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Francis,_Duke_of_Lorraine
Charles V of Lotharingen: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Duke_of_Lorraine
Second Battle of Vienna: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna
The House of Lorraine: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lorraine
Lotharingia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotharingia
Wegeli, Rudolf: Inschriften auf mittelalterlichen Schwertklingen, 1904:
daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0006/bsb00068058/images/index.html?id=00068058&groesser=&fip=eayayztssdaseayayztseayaqrsqrssdasfsdr&no=14&seite=5
History of the bolt: www.nord-lock.com/bolted/the-history-of-the-bolt/
The history of the head hex nuts & bolts: itstillruns.com/history-hex-head-nuts-bolts-12194415.html
History of the Austrian Cavalry: www.heidecker.eu/History/KuK_Kavallerie.htm
Afoo's review of the Universal Austrian M1827: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/52926/universal-swords-1827-hungarian-sabre?page=1&scrollTo=721271
The Battle of Vienna 1683: