Small sword

<h2 id="hilt">Hilt</h2>
<p>The small sword guard is typically of the "shell" type, sometimes with two lobes that were decorated as clam shells. The shells were often replaced with a simple curved oval disk, which was still referred to as the <i>coquille</i> (shell). In later <a href="/facts/Foil_(fencing)/MLnJpJzQ">foils</a>, the lobed type evolved into the <i>lunette</i> or figure-8 guard, and the disk became the modern foil "bell" guard, but the guards were still referred to as <i>coquilles</i>. Small swords with this type of guard normally included other features of the older <a href="/facts/Rapier/f9VwMg22">rapier</a> hilt, including <a href="/facts/Hilt/c3vLoocz">quillons</a>, <a href="/facts/Ricasso/Xk4FMk49">ricasso</a>, <a href="/facts/Knuckle-bow/c3vLoocz">knuckle-bow</a>, and a <i>pas d'âne</i>, although these were often atrophied beyond the point of usefulness, serving mainly as a decorative element. However, they were maintained in a usable state on some weapons, including the <a href="/facts/Grip_(sport_fencing)/UxQPpj8P">Italian foil</a>, into the 20th century.
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<p>In the 19th century, simple cross-hilt small swords were also produced, largely as <a href="/facts/Ceremonial_weapon/0m26t2J5">ceremonial weapons</a> that were evocative of more ancient types of weapons. An example is the <a href="/facts/Model_1840_Army_Noncommissioned_Officers%27_Sword/rtHdBcGJ">Model 1840 Army Noncommissioned Officers' Sword</a>, which is still used by the <a href="/facts/United_States_Army/WACWBEK9">United States Army</a> on ceremonial occasions.  As the wearing of swords fell out of fashion and the small sword evolved into the duelling sword (forerunner of the modern <a href="/facts/%C3%89p%C3%A9e/HEeSCoM1">épée</a>), the older hilts gave way to simpler grips such as the <a href="/facts/Grip_(sport_fencing)/UxQPpj8P">French grip</a> and <a href="/facts/Grip_(sport_fencing)/UxQPpj8P">Italian grip</a>.
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<h2 id="use">Use</h2>
<p>Small swords were used both by the military (where they served more as a sign of a certain rank rather than a real weapon for close combat) and as a dueling weapon. The very height of the small sword's widespread popularity was in the 18th century, when it was considered fashionable by aristocrats ("no gentleman was dressed without his sword" – contemporary idiom of the middle of the 18th century), but it was still used as a duelling weapon until the middle of the 20th century. For instance, <a href="/facts/Gaston_Defferre/mbKf7L57">Gaston Defferre</a> and <a href="/facts/Ren%C3%A9_Ribi%C3%A8re/1fHJg3Hd">René Ribière</a> used larger and heavier versions of the épée, which both had small sword-blades instead of the flexible épée-blades (which have been used in sport fencing through the present day) in their duel on April 21, 1967, in Neuilly, Paris. The use of the small sword for infantry is covered in the US manual of 1861 titled <i>The Militiaman's Manual</i>.
</p><p>In modern times, the sword is often used as part of <a href="/facts/Court_uniform_and_dress_in_the_United_Kingdom/q5QWMVJd">court uniform and dress</a>. A German version of the small sword called <i>Trauerdegen</i> ("mourning épée") is still in use by the <i>Reitendiener [de]</i> of the city of <a href="/facts/Hamburg/kmAAsYtT">Hamburg</a> in Germany.
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<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Infantry Drill Regulations, U.S. Army. New York: Military Publishing Co. 1911. With Text Corrections to February 12, 1917, changes No. 18 <a href="https://archive.org/stream/infantrydrillreg00uswauoft/infantrydrillreg00uswauoft_djvu.txt" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/infantrydrillreg00uswauoft/infantrydrillreg00uswauoft_djvu.txt</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Small sword open-in-new

Small sword