[Paul Hansen]

Lately I have started to get interested in the Spanish campaigns in the America's (by reading Bernal Díaz del Castillo mainly), and might be thinking about eventually commissioning a sword which conquistadors might have used. But I'd also like it to be appropriate for the early days of the Dutch war of independence, from 1566 onward. Since the influx of Spanish troops in that period and the one preceding it, it's not unlikely that a sword of Spanish origin might end up in the Netherlands, and I can't imagine a farmer-turned-rebel being too picky about the style his sword (note Durer's famous picture of the three farmers with the Type XII). This, I imagine, in contrast with a Spanish conquistador, so I think that a fashionable Southern-European model of the last quarter of the 15th C. would work quite well.

The model I'm thinking of is something in the style of Albion's Macchiavelli, i.e. a cut-and-thrust blade with a more-or-less complex hilt. The blade style I'm leaning to is XIX. I think that the XXI is also awesome, but I've never seen one with a complex hilt, and in the late 16th it would look positively archaic. Of course an XVIII blade is also possible.

But what about the hilt? I like the "complex simplicity" of the Macchiavelli, but perhaps I'd add a knuckle guard.

Comments anyone?

[Roger Hooper]

You're looking forr something along the lines of A&A's Serenissima Rapier hilt

http://www.arms-n-armor.com/rapier212.html

[Paul Hansen]

Yes, that one is very nice as well.

I just think that I prefer an XIX over an XVIII, for some reason... Maybe because it's a bit... more uncommon in the public perception?

If / when I finally commission it, it will probably be a full custom sword.

I forgot to add (for sake of completeness) that the sword will be sharp and most likely not used for reenactment.