I've been looking at rapiers a lot, and I was wondering: which quillon design is better defensive wise, straight or s-shaped? It seems that the s quillons would give lousy coverage on one side, usually the knuckle side. Of course, you trade off with having a trap ready on top. It would also complicate things where there is only one forward facing quillon. Thoughts from anyone who has used both? Thanks.

I don't have any practical experience with rapiers, so I could very well be wrong, but I doubt that either straight or s-shaped quillons offered better defensive protection. It was probably a choice of taste (either individual or societal). It seems to me that if either was more effective, then the other style wouldn't be made.

They really don't make any difference at all. I've fenced with a variety of hilt styles, and it all comes down to the exact same principles. True, some hilt styles you could force a "trapping" maneuver with, but honestly, if you're relying on doing this, you're more likely to be hit because you were too focused on pulling off a trick rather than fencing. :)

I read in The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe a citation from Girard Thibauld's Académie de l'espée about this. If I understand correctly, Girard Thibauld was advocating straight quillons. This could have been specific to the spanish school, though. Most of the cup-hilt rapiers, that are so linked to the spanish style, have long straight quillons, as well as most weapons I've seen in period spanish manuals.

That said, I'm not entirely sure of whether he is dismissing curved quillons because of use or because he just finds that they are a show of bad taste... I might be getting a facsimile of the Académie de l'espée soon, so I'll try to find the passage and see what is said exactly.

My view on this (without any extensive practice with rapiers either) is that the quillons were not used as a trap all that much, and that S quillons were made this way because they were found more beautiful and not overly detrimental to fencing.

If really they were being designed as a trap, we would see a lot more of double forward-curved quillons. But most of the rapiers I have seen feature either straight or S-shaped, which as you say seem less efficient for that.

Long straight quillons have the advantage of preventing the opposing blade from making tight, quick circles around your hilt, since they reach further away from the hilt than curved ones. The rear (false edge) quillon also provides some coverage to your forearm, but maybe with thrusting swords this is used less often. Both quillons can block blades that otherwise could glance past the hilt, but the part of the quillons that is useful for this is the part closest to the rest of the hilt, whose shape does not change much.

Note also that quillons later disappeared on smallswords and subsequent sport fencing weapons, whithout being really missed technically as far as I'm aware. Maybe the change to double-time parry and ripost made them less usefull, I don't really know...

Regards

Oops. I didn't mean trap in the literal meaning of the word. I'm being taught that when you parry with a rapier, the quillons are used to keep the blade from coming back into line during the repost. I just looked at my Fabris book, and it also looks like they're being used that way as well. Does that change anything?

I don't think so, because like Vincent said the ability of the quillons to bind the opposing blade and prevent it from coming back into line while we simultaneously launch the counterattack in a single-time defense depends mostly on the inner portion of the bars--and even in S-curved quillons this part tends to be quite straight compared to the rest of the hilt components. In a double-time defense--that is, the parry-riposte sequence as seen in classical and modern fencing--this wouldn't have mattered that much either because you'd be disengaging your blade and guard from the enemy's as you make the counterattack.

You have to take my word with a grain of salt, though, because I'm not very well instructed in the Italian rapier tradition.

Based on my limited knowledge of rapiers, I think the whole hilt is intended to protect your hand. I initially thought a straight guard would give your hand slightly better protection, but I'll take Bill's word for it: no real difference.

If you're trying to 'trap' your opponent's blade, perhaps a main gauche would be suitable for that. :)