Note to Forum.
Salaams All ~It should be remembered that the Straight Omani Sayf has two distinct forms;
1. The original short Omani Battle sword and
2. The so called European Trade Blade replacement (17th ~ 19th C)
These are swords that work in tandem with a small shield; The Buckler Shield or Terrs.
The Terrs and Buckler Shield fighting technique. Terrs Wa Sayf.
I ventured onto the European Forum recently to examine some facts about European Buckler and Sword techniques in a bid to learn more on that and make some sort of suggestions on the origin of this type of combat and with reference to the Omani Style. For this I thank the European Forum especially Matchlock Freebooter and Broadaxe for their valuable contributions toward the system I Quote "from Broadaxe termed MS 1.33. From the famous German medieval fencing book Walpurgis-Fechtbuch MS I.33 of ca. 1320, now preserved in the Royal Armouries Leeds." Unquote.
The main questions being: How, if at, did the technique move from country to country and where did it originate?
One interesting gem gleaned in the European Forum ~ it appears that the system used in Lebanon
was called the same but died out relatively recently... in the 1970s.
Clearly the technique used in Georgia by KHEVSAR tribesmen is also very similar. It is engrained into their tradition therefor it has survived in the same way essentially as "The Sayf and Terrs" technique in Oman.
As a bonus to that continuation in Oman is its inexorable link to the traditional Funun ... A played out dance(procession with swords and sword with shield mimic fight (ayalaah), music and poetry pageant practised many times a year at weddings, social gatherings, National Day celebrations and Bi Annual Eid Festivals thus tying it to the religious historical record.
The Georgians were very much part of the Crusader contingent and it is not inconceivable that this form was taken from their soirres into the Holy Land. Lebanon on the doorstep of the region would have easily absorbed the technique. Nights Templar and Masonic lodges and other military groups would certainly have experienced this system and could have adopted modified or studied the technique and transported it with them to Europe. Pilgrims may also have made the weapon system known to Europe.
Which way did it happen?... Did the Europeans or Arabs introduce it? My view is that the Funun started in about 751 in support of the Ibathi brand of Islam in Oman but that it actually commenced even earlier and in honour of the general Islamic movement in about 630 AD.
I therefor present the system as originating from Oman and spreading to other Arab countries in a ripple inspired by war, trade and socio-relgious interaction into the central Jerusalem hub. It is suggested that both the Georgian and European contingents absorbed this technique in Jerusalem.
As in most things it froze in Oman and in "The Funun" and was either adopted and retained as by the Khevsars or practiced in Europe for many centuries but waned and died out i.e.. in Europe because of the transition to gunpowder weapons and because it was not sealed within a socio-religious document. It was just a fighting technique.
In Europe it developed with more of the rapier style of sword though I see in the references fairly broad swords being also used... clearly the system was attractive because of the speed and balance of the combination.
I offer this as a forum note and invite suggestions. (Meanwhile I sketch out the direction required for advancing the theory and contradictions of European Trade Blades~plus further research on the Old Omani Battle Sword as well as the curved variants ) pictured below
Straight Sayf. Old Omani Battle Sword. Buckler. Curved Kattara.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
For the finer points of history and as a general timeline overview I place the following reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Islam