There seems to be a lot of this smallish ricasso at the beggining of a lot of sword blades. I noticed it today while watching "king Arthur" in my mythology class (dont get me started on the swords in that movie...meh) and it is present on the atrim I am considering. My question is, is this seen on any early-mid medievel historical pieces?

Im sorry if this has been discussed before, I had no idea what to search for.

It is called a Ricasso. It is found on some swords dating from the late 1300's, mainly type XIX's. It becomes a fairly standard feature on Renaissance swords and rapiers.

Lol the ricasso-connect took a while. I always imagine something much longer, and on a later sword when I think of a riscasso.

Look here: http://www.myArmoury.com/feature_oakeshott2.html#typeXIX

The earliest example with Ricasso dates back to the 13th century, though. At least according to Heribert Seitz (Blankwaffen I). It's part of the Harold Peterson collection.

Peter

When I referred to the myArmoury Oakeshott article, I saw that the Type XVIIIe also had a ricasso, which was apparently what separated it from the other Type XVIII swords. It is pictured just above the Type XIX sword to which the link sends you. Is it true, as I surmise from the Medieval swords shown with ricassos, that the ones with ricassos were the long two-handed swords where gripping the blade forward of the guard seems to have been a regular practice? if that were so, then a ricasso would seem almost a necessity, either that or the leather wrap as used on the two-handed sword carried by Mel Gibson's William Wallace.