Choosing a Rapier
Choosing a Rapier
Choosing a rapier is less straightforward than choosing many other historical swords. The term rapier covers a wide variety of historical weapons, differing in blade length, weight, hilt style, and handling characteristics.
Your first sword should be a blunt training sword, suitable for working safely with partners. The blade should be made from heat-treated spring steel, and the sword should handle in a way that reflects the historical originals.
What is a Rapier?
Of all the historical sword styles, the rapier perhaps shows the greatest degree of variation.
Capoferro and other Italian masters generally refer to the weapon simply as the spada (“sword”). The Oxford English Dictionary defines a rapier as “a light, slender sword used for thrusting.”
The term rapier is therefore rather imprecise. It has been used to describe everything from Bronze Age thrusting swords in archaeological literature to modern sporting weapons. The word itself is probably not Italian; according to the Oxford English Dictionary it most likely derives from a German, Dutch, or possibly French root. Joachim Meyer, for example, refers to the rappier.
In English sources of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the term generally refers to a complex-hilted sword with a long, slender blade designed primarily for thrusting.
Choosing a Rapier for Capoferro
Historical examples vary enormously in weight, length, hilt configuration, and balance.
In my opinion, the hilt style matters much less than ensuring that the blade length, overall weight, and point of balance fall within the appropriate range.
Capoferro’s system works best with a sword that:
- weighs between 1.25 and 1.6 kg (2.8–3.5 lb)
- has its point of balance 6–15 cm (2.5–6”) in front of the crossguard
- has a full complex hilt that safely allows the forefinger to pass over the crossguard
- has a blade measuring 96–114 cm (38–45”) from crossguard to point
Capoferro’s Recommendation
In Chapter III, The Division of Fencing That is Posed in the Knowledge of the Sword, section 36, Capoferro writes (translation by William Wilson and Jherek Swanger):
"Therefore the sword has to be twice as long as the arm, and as much as my extraordinary pace, which length corresponds equally to that which is from my armpit down to the sole of my foot."
In The Duellist’s Companion, I examined these measurements in practice:
"My arm is 52 cm, shoulder to wrist; my lunge about 120 cm from heel to heel, and it is about 140 cm from my foot to my armpit when standing. When standing on guard, it is about 115 cm from foot to armpit. When in the lunge, it is about 104 cm from foot to armpit.
Also, it is not clear whether he refers to the length of the blade, or of the whole sword.
If we resort to the unreliable practice of measuring the illustrations, in the picture of the lunge, the sword blade is 73 mm, the arm from wrist to armpit 37 mm, and the line G (front heel to front armpit) 55 mm. The distance between the feet is 67 mm.
So, the measurement most consistent with the text would appear to be the length of the arm, from wrist to armpit, as it approximately correlates to half the length of the blade.
Given this as a guide, my blade ought to be 104 cm (about 41”) long from the guard to the point."
Specifications Summary
| Specification | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Hilt | Full complex hilt (swept, Pappenheim, or cup hilt) |
| Total length | 114–135 cm (45–53") |
| Blade length | 96–114 cm (38–45") |
| Weight | 1.25–1.6 kg (2.8–3.5 lb) |
| Point of balance | 6–15 cm (2.5–6") in front of the crossguard |
