Spanish rapier
 

Hello friends,

do you have any recommendations for books covering spanish rapiers (or in general about 16th-18th century spanish swords)?

Thanks and enjoy the weekend!

Matus

Salaams Matus, Forum was working on a vast Bibliography, however, I was searching for some useful links and http://www.arms2armor.com/Books/swrdbook.htm not only has Spanish weapons but from a lot of other countries. Just type in Spanish Swords to web and a lot of leads will appear.

Good Luck...and by the way Forum Library has 13 pages of related work on Spanish Swords...just type into Library search Spanish Swords.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Matus, you have touched on one of my favorite subjects......passions!
Spanish swords of the periods you describe, in particular the Spanish cup hilt.....the espada de taza.

As Ibrahiim has well pointed out, there have been many discussions on these pages well covering most of these forms, and simply using the search feature here will produce many of them.

If you ask specific questions or need more detailed information, simply post the query here. Most of us very much enjoy the opportunity to continue researching and learning more on these very exciting weapons.

If you look online, for the topic of Spanish swords in general, Juan Perez has always been, in my opinion, one of the foremost authorities on these weapons. He has written many articles and papers on these studying the development of many of the forms.

The venerable monograph on rapiers in general, which although brief, gives excellent data on them is "Rapiers" by Eric Valentine.
There are many studies on these which are written in Spanish, but I will have to look further into bibliography for them.

The comprehensive volume "The Rapier and Smallsword" by the late A.V.B. Norman is maginificent, but focuses on hilt styles of European swords in general, so the attention to Spanish alone is limited. It is regardless, most important detail, however the cost and availability of copies is usually formidable.

These are what I can think of at the moment concerning the broader aspects of the question, and others out there I am sure will bring in more. There are a good number of members here with amazing knowledge on these, and I look forward to their entries.

All best regards,
Jim

Hello Ibrahiim, Jim,

many thanks for your replies and hints. You are both right, I should have been more precise. I did of course go through all the related threads on this forum, I have most of the common reference books (Norman, Seitz, Lhoste, Valentine, Muller, Oakeshott, Wallace catalogs, ...), some auction catalogs and also a couple of articles from different magazines (there was a good one: "QUELQUES REMARQUES SUR LES RAPIERES ESPAGNOLES" in Gazette des armes.

Are there any catalogs from spanish museums available?

I am looking for photographs of spanish cup hilt rapiers, especially interested in pieces with chiseled (and/or pierced) cup hilts. I have recently acquired a nice one on an auction, which I will post here as soon as it arrives. I am attaching one of the seller's photos.

Once again, many thanks for your hints.

Regards,
Matus