Bilbo (sword)

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A 1600-1650 bilbo with a Solingen blade and a Spanish hilt. Broadsword by Heinrich Col, German (Solingen) blade and Spanish hilt, 1600-1650 - Higgins Armory Museum - DSC05620.JPG
A 1600-1650 bilbo with a Solingen blade and a Spanish hilt.

The bilbo is a type of 16th century, cut-and-thrust sword or small rapier formerly popular in America. [1] They have well-tempered and flexible blades and were very popular aboard ships, [2] where they were used similarly to a cutlass. The term comes from the Basque city of Bilbao, [3] Bilbo in Basque, where the metal (bilbo steel) was extracted and later sent to Toledo, a city in the center of Spain, where these swords were forged and exported to the New World. These swords were also sold to merchants of every European nation, including England.

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Etymology

Bilbo (Basque: Labana Bizkaitarra, Spanish: daga vizcaína (Biscayne dagger)) is an English catch-all word used to very generally refer to the "utilitarian" cup-hilt swords, found all over America. They usually had a wide, relatively short sturdy and well-tempered blade, were comparatively unadorned, and were considered practical and utilitarian. The grip was often covered with wire, rather than plain nut.

Related Research Articles

A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip. A slashing sword is more likely to be curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade. Many swords are designed for both thrusting and slashing. The precise definition of a sword varies by historical epoch and geographic region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapier</span> Type of sword used in Renaissance Spain

A rapier or espada ropera is a type of sword used in Renaissance Spain to designate a sword with a straight, slender and sharply pointed two-edged long blade wielded in one hand. It was widely popular in Western Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries as a symbol of nobility or gentleman status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilt</span> Handle of a sword or similar weapon

The hilt is the handle of a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longsword</span> Sword (two-handed, double-edged)

A longsword is a type of European sword characterized as having a cruciform hilt with a grip for primarily two-handed use, a straight double-edged blade of around 80 to 110 cm, and weighing approximately 1 to 1.5 kg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Small sword</span> Light one-handed sword designed for thrusting

The small sword or smallsword is a light one-handed sword designed for thrusting which evolved out of the longer and heavier rapier of the late Renaissance. The height of the small sword's popularity was during the 18th century, when any civilian or soldier with pretensions to gentlemanly status would have worn a small sword daily.

The French estoc is a type of sword, also called a tuck in English, in use from the 14th to the 17th century. It is characterized by a cruciform hilt with a grip for two-handed use and a straight, edgeless, but sharply pointed blade around 36 to 52 in in length. It is noted for its ability to pierce mail armor.

A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of Sail.

<i>Tantō</i> Japanese dagger

A tantō is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords that were worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tantō dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the years to become more ornate. Tantō were used in traditional martial arts. The term has seen a resurgence in the West since the 1980s as a point style of modern tactical knives, designed for piercing or stabbing.

A flame-bladed sword or wave-bladed sword has a characteristically undulating style of blade. The wave in the blade is often considered to contribute a flame-like quality to the appearance of a sword. The dents on the blade can appear parallel or in a zig-zag manner. The two most common flame-bladed swords are rapiers or Zweihänders. A flame-bladed sword was not exclusive to a certain country or region. The style of blade can be found on swords from modern-day Germany, France, Spain, and Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sword dance</span> Type of dance

Weapon dances incorporating swords or similar weapons are recorded throughout world history. There are various traditions of solo and mock-battle (Pyrrhic) sword dances from Africa, Asia and Europe. Some traditions use sticks or clubs in place of bladed weapons, while most modern performers employ dulled replications to avoid injury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kampilan</span> Sword

The kampilan is a type of single-edged sword, traditionally used by various ethnic groups in the Philippine archipelago. It has a distinct profile, with the tapered blade being much broader and thinner at the point than at its base, sometimes with a protruding spikelet along the flat side of the tip. The design of the pommel varies between ethnic groups, but it usually depicts either a buaya (crocodile), a bakunawa, a kalaw (hornbill), or a kakatua (cockatoo)..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classification of swords</span> Types of swords

The English language terminology used in the classification of swords is imprecise and has varied widely over time. There is no historical dictionary for the universal names, classification, or terminology of swords; a sword was simply a single-edged or double-edged knife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mameluke sword</span> Type of curved sword

A Mameluke sword is a cross-hilted, curved, scimitar-like sword historically derived from sabres used by Mamluk warriors of Mamluk Egypt after whom the sword is named. Egypt was, at least nominally, part of the Ottoman Empire and the sword most commonly used in Egypt was the same as used elsewhere in the empire, the kilij.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spadroon</span> Type of light sword

A spadroon is a light sword with a straight-edged blade, enabling both cut and thrust attacks. This English term first came into use in the early 18th century, though the type of sword it referred to was in common usage during the late 17th century. They were primarily used as a military sidearm in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and for officers and NCOs in the latter part of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The type of sword also saw widespread use across Europe and America, though the term 'spadroon' is unique to the Anglophone world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricasso</span> Unsharpened length of blade between the guard or handle on a knife

A ricasso is an unsharpened length of blade just above the guard or handle on a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet. Blades designed this way appear at many periods in history in many parts of the world and date back to at least the Bronze Age — essentially, as long as humans have shaped cutting tools from metals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parrying dagger</span> Small bladed weapon

The parrying dagger is a category of small handheld weapons from the European late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. These weapons were used as off-hand weapons in conjunction with a single-handed sword such as a rapier. As the name implies they were designed to parry, or defend, more effectively than a simple dagger form, typically incorporating a wider guard, and often some other defensive features to better protect the hand as well. They may also be used for attack if an opportunity arises. The general category includes two more specific types, the sword breaker and trident dagger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claymore</span> Two-handed sword

A claymore is either the Scottish variant of the late medieval two-handed sword or the Scottish variant of the basket-hilted sword. The former is characterised as having a cross hilt of forward-sloping quillons with quatrefoil terminations and was in use from the 15th to 17th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basket-hilted sword</span> Sword with basket-like hand protection

The basket-hilted sword is a sword type of the early modern era characterised by a basket-shaped guard that protects the hand. The basket hilt is a development of the quillons added to swords' crossguards since the Late Middle Ages. In modern times, this variety of sword is also sometimes referred to as the broadsword.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudus</span> Klewang sword

A Rudus is a sword or cutlass associated with the Malay culture of Sumatra. Together with the pemandap, the rudus is among the largest swords of Malay people. Rudus is also a symbol of certain Malay state in the Island, e.g. the Province of Bengkulu in Sumatra, Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Navy cutlasses</span> Swords in British military service 1804–1936

Ratings of the Royal Navy have used cutlasses, short, wide bladed swords, since the early 18th century. These were originally of non-uniform design but the 1804 Pattern, the first Navy-issue standard cutlass, was introduced at the start of the 19th century. This was a bluntish weapon that was perhaps intended for cutting away canvas and ropes rather than as a thrusting combat weapon. The 1845 Pattern cutlass introduced a bowl-style hand guard which provided greater protection, with a longer and more curved blade. Its sharper point made it more useful for thrusting attacks, which were now emphasised in the drill manual. The 1845 Pattern was modified several times including shortening and straightening the blades, which weakened them. The 1889 Pattern had a straight, spear-pointed blade with a hilt that curved outwards to catch and redirect an opponent's sword point. The 1900 Pattern, the last navy-issue cutlass, was similar to its predecessor with the introduction of a fuller and a hilt insert that cushioned the user's little finger. The cutlass was withdrawn from service in 1936 but remains in use for ceremonial purposes. It is thought that it was last used in combat in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion.

References

  1. The encyclopedia of the sword, Nick Evangelista. page 55
  2. Online Etymology Dictionary. "Bilbo". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  3. Kemp Kemp, Peter (1976). The Oxford companion to ships & the sea . Oxford University Press. pp.  82. ISBN   0-19-211553-7. bilbo .

Wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bilbo". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

See also