it is fitting that arquebuses and munitions should be taken to them, and swords, for the soldiers have not any…". (Colonial Records of Spanish Florida. Letters and Reports of Governors and Secular Persons. Vol. I, 1570-1577. Pp. 309. Translated and Edited by Jeannette Thurber Connor. The Florida State Historical Society, Deland. 1925)
The earliest mention of swords carried as cargo to St. Augustine is aboard the El Espiritu Santo, which arrived in 1587. She carried, along with other arms and munitions, 19 sword belts and 4 swords. (Richer Than We Thought: The Material Culture of Sixteenth Century St. Augustine. Eugene Lyon Pg. 48. The St. Augustine Historical Society, 1992. The Spanish carried many types of swords during their reign in the New World. The sword most commonly associated with the conquest of the New World was broad bladed, swept-hilt, and usually double edged with a sharp point. This was the type carried by Francisco Pizzaro, and Hernan Cortez. These personal swords are kept in on display in Madrid, at The Royal Armory of Spain. (Spanish Arms and Armour, Albert F. Calvert. Published by the John Lane Company, New York, Plates 164,165 170). This kind of sword was effective in slashing an opponent and had a point made for thrusting. These personal swords of Cortez and Pizarro are types illustrative of the early days of the Spanish conquest when these simplistic swept-hilt broad swords were common throughout Spain and southern Europe.
At a glance, there was little difference between the Spanish sword of the early 1500’s and the Norman sword of the 12th century. (A Grosset All-Color Guide. Arms and Armor, by Frederick Wilkinson, The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. Canada Pg. 35. and Wallace) The blades seem to have changed little. The most noticeable changes are with the hilts.
 Figure 25 - example of simple cross guard, Wilkinson |
For many years the Spanish sword had a simple cross guard. This elementary cruciform hilt construction of these mediaeval swords are well represented in Plate 105 of the Wallace Collection, and are typified by A 459. (See Figure 25) |
(Wallace Collection Catalogues. European Arms and Armour. Vol. II. Sir James Mann, K.C.V.O., F.B.A., Hon. V.-P.S.A. London 1962) In the late fourteenth century Spain began to add finger guards to the hilt. In the form of one or two semi-circular loops at the base of the blade, these were intended to help protect the hand (Victoria and Albert Museum, Swords and Daggers, by J. F. Hayward. pg. 2., Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London). Soon these finger guard loops began to develop into inter-linked bars and rings in front of and behind the guard, sweeping in an elegant curve from the rear of the hilt to the knuckle bow. (See Figure 26 and Figure 29)
Figure 26 - Nomenclature of the sword hilt, North
The long straight quillons of the knightly sword were bent and augmented, small rings were added in front of the quillons, and counter-guards were set at right angles to the blade. ("An Introduction to European Swords". London 1982. Pp. 7-9. Anthony North). Eventually, many of these hilts took on a fantastic form of interwoven bars and curls protecting the hand or defending against the cut. (The Book of the Sword. Richard F. Burton. Pp. 125. Dover Publications, Inc. 31 East 2nd St. Mineola, New York)
In his detailed work, (The Rapier and Small-sword), A. V. B. Norman says the rapier today is thought of as a thin-bladed sword used only for thrusting. "The phrase ‘swept-hilt rapier’ has become an accepted part of the terminology of arms and armor collections. It is not clear what is meant by a swept hilt, nor is it always remembered that many so-called swept hilts are found on relatively broad blades or even on very broad blades which no modern collector would class as a rapier". (Pp. 19)
("The American Heritage College Dictionary")defines "Rapier as; 1. A long slender two-edged sword with a cup-like hilt, used in the 16th and 17th centuries. 2. A light sharp-pointed sword lacking a cutting edge and used only for thrusting". This seemingly contradictory definition becomes more understandable when one compares a variety of edged weapons with names like; Rapier, Bastardsword, Broadsword, Small-Sword, and Hanger.
In uncomplicated terms, the rapier is a civilian weapon while the sword is its military counterpart. ("Victoria and Albert Museum, Swords and Daggers", by J. F. Hayward. London, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, pg. 2). Neither of the swords we will examine are likely to fall into the "thrust only" category. Skilled as the Spanish swordsmen were, the thin-bladed ethereal rapier of popular lore would never have stood up to the rigors of combat they commonly encountered. It should be noted that neither of the swords recovered had any remnants of the blades because they had rotted "in situ".
During the salvage season of 2000, the motor vessel Virgalona recovered a section of sword hilt #47279 from the Cabin wreck site (See figure 27). This piece surely falls under the ambiguous definition of "Rapier", or small sword. No trace of the blade remains, nor does the grip, pommel, or counter guard.
 Figure 27 - Photo artifact #47279 |
This recovered section of a sword is the ricasso frame. The entire piece is made of gilded silver. The ricasso is of rectangular form, and has two panels of low relief pierced chiseling, displaying a conventional foliage design.
One of the quillons was broken off, but it too was recovered. This broken quillon is bent upwards (towards the pommel) while the other quillon is straight (at right angles to the blade). This makes it difficult to establish if the bend was original or caused by the shipwreck. If the bend is original then in all probability this was not a cup-hilt weapon. (Generally, quillons used on cup-hilts were straight and placed at right angles to the blade. The exceptions show that more often, both quillons are counter curved, or bent in an "S" shape, or are bent down toward the blade, or up toward the hilt). (The Book of the Sword. Richard F. Burton. Pp. 125. Dover Publications, Inc. 31 East 2nd St. Mineola, New York)The central portions of the quillons have a vine-like design and are tipped with elongated knobs chiseled or cast in low relief. Both quillon tips have four oval panels, each containing a representation of what may be a phoenix. When examining this handle one cannot help but wonder what the missing pieces looked like. In order to complete the picture, we must risk a few assumptions.
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Although there is no evidence of a knuckle-bow, and there is no visible place near the quillons where one may have become detached, it would have been contemporaneous to this style. The next and most significant feature is the guard. Having uncertainly established that this sword did not have a cup-guard, the question is; what kind of guard did it have? |
Let us assume, again, this sword was made in or close to 1700 and therefore, coeval with the styles of the time. It would therefore be passé to use side rings and loop-guards when the trend was more towards cup-hilts and shell-guards. It also is very unlikely to have been a plain cross guard, for the fact that it has a ricasso frame with quillons negates this as a possibility. The PAS D’ANE was used to support another, later, kind of guard.
It seems fitting to inferentially derive that the guard of this sword would be small, having two oval or perhaps round, shell guards made of silver, elaborately carved, pierced and gilded to match the other components. The shell guards may have been fixed to the PAS D’ANE loops by silver soldering. Another method used to join together the components would be to first place the parts in their correct order on the tang. After the guard, the ricasso frame, and then the grip were properly oriented on the tang, the pommel would be screwed onto the threaded end of the tang, and the individual parts that comprise the hilt were compressed into one rigid unit, held together by the force of the pommel. A third method varies from the second only in the threading of the tang and pommel. Instead of screw
threads, the end of the tang went completely through the pommel and protruded a short distance. This protrusion was heated up and hammered flat, or peened, onto the pommel, securing it permanently. This was not a sword produced for the military or under contract to the government. Nor was it a sword supplied to the ship as part of the standard munitions. This was quite clearly a privately purchased sword belonging to a gentleman.
 Figure 29 - Sword Hilt parts, Annis |
During the fall of the 2000 salvage season, the motor vessel RPM recovered a totally encrusted sword hilt #46672 from the Cabin Wreck Site (See figure 30). As soon as it reached the conservation laboratory it was placed in a bath of fresh water. In order to identify the base metal a magnet was placed on the crust at various locations. The magnet did pull at some spots but because the encrustation was so thick this was not a definitive test for ferrous metal. It would be expected that certainly the tang and possibly a few other components could be made of iron. A small hole was drilled into one of the quillons to expose the metal. Disappointingly, it was iron. Another hole was drilled into the other quillon. Two more holes were drilled, one into the pommel end and another into the blade end of the hilt. |
 Figure: 30 Tag #46672 |
With the hilt accessible through these holes a stainless steel rod was gently pushed into one quillon and, eventually out of the other. The same was done with the pommel and blade ends of the piece. It became painfully obvious the only thing remaining of the hilt was oxidized iron mush and the encrustation. There are no further conservation techniques appropriate at this time. The hilt is back in the fresh water bath awaiting disposition. It will most likely be molded and,unfortunately, will be destroyed in the process. |
Unlike the debatable type of sword found by the vessel Virgalona, this one requires much less guessing and fewer assumptions. This is interesting because all of the elements of this piece are unseen beneath the sea-rock, but the outline alone makes this sword hilt recognizable as the archetypal Spanish cup hilt rapier. The
cup is fairly deeply dished and the quillons are laying straight across the cup. This sword also has a knuckle guard.
The cupped hilts provided a canvas for artisans to display their skills. Many of these cups were delicately pierced, chiseled, and engraved. Materials and finishes vary from brightly polished to blued steel, silver, embellished with fragile enamels, jewels, and appliqué’s of precious metals. To write a detailed history of the decoration of sword hilts is to write a history of decoration itself. ("The Rapier and Small-sword. 1460-1820". A. V. B. Norman. Pp. 353. Arms and Armour Press 1980) This sword handle may well have been one of these exquisite examples but the only way to know is to destroy the integrity of the piece by opening it, or perhaps injection molding of it.
The Spanish, perhaps more than any other people of the era, were experts with the sword. In the early years of the New World firearms played a much smaller role than is commonly believed, but the sword was ever present. Prior to the conquest of the New World, until the fall of the Spanish Empire, it was the sword that either claimed the victories, or was laid down in defeat.
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