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Originally Posted by colin henshaw
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A puzzlement to me is the lack of a protection for the hand on the sword hilt, not even a cross-guard... Does anyone have ideas why this is so ?
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was the sword used with a shield or buckler? using the blade to block cuts from an opponents blade was a no-no in earlier times when steel was not terribly good & crossguards etc. became more necessary when the steel was better and you could be assured the blade would not bend or shatter & thus could be used to parry. some weapons like russian shashka were also not normally used to parry and thus did not need guards which would have interfered with the whirling tornado style they developed for it. it also is unnecessary if you are using it against unarmed opponents, like slaves.