[Peter Johnsson]

[Thomas Hoogendam]

I've loved this one from the second I saw the concept art. It's even better looking now it's done. Top notch Albion. I've gotta look into getting me one of these!!

[Bill Grandy]

[Peter Johnsson]

Thank you all for expressing such enthusiasm for this sword.

It is encouraging to hear that this sword receives such appreciation.
The Doge is not exactly a generic main stream sword and could even be a bit challenging in that its components come together in a way that strikes a slightly dissonant chord visually.

I guess this might very well be what is so catching with these weapons. The manufacture of weapons in the Veneto region seems to have followed its own rather unique ideals.
To me it was very inspiring to get an opportunity to develop a design following those examples. It is often those swords that tend to stand out and be a bit against the grain that are rewarding and interesting.

[Fabrice Cognot]

Nice little thing

Such an elongated , inverted pear-shaped pommel is not unknown on other swords as well - like this one in the Musée de l'Armée in Paris (we also have such an inverted angular teardrop pommel on a single-handed one-edged sword, dating from 1450 certainly, in the storage rooms of the Dijon museum).



You'll notice how close its cross is to the group B swords from Castillon. You'll also notice, for those familiar with this find (or at least the published swords), that there is actually a sword in that said group, whith a very similar pommel, except that it's put the 'right' way, ie with the big end on top.

Which means : take a sword blade, take a teardrop-shaped pommel (and any type of cross). Put it the right way, and you get a hand-and-a-half sword (should hgave posted that in the relevant topic...), put it the 'wrong' way and you get a nice single-hander.

Especially since we know that often, very often, sword blades and sword fittings were not made at the same place, simply assembled according to the whims of the maker or the customer.

And yes, additionally, it can be used as a nice pointy-ish thingy to damage skulls with



The lug on the short edge near the ricasso serves fencing purposes IMO too. You can see, although later, similar lugs on the short edges of Dusacks, like this drawing from a marginalia of the account of a discussion of the City council and the XXI (the governing body of Strasburg) that took place on December 2, 1559 - about a Fechtschul, surprisingly (AMS 1R22 f. 533v. - as published in Oliver Dupuis' article Joachim Meyer, escrimeur libre, bourgeois de Strasbourg (1537 ? - 1571) in Maîtres et Techniques de Combat à la fin du Moyen Age et au début de la Renaissance, Paris : AEDEH, 2006 ) :


(all rights on this image belong to the author)

Peter : is the cross guard inspired to what you saw in Venice ? Does it represent the 'mainstream' Venetian swords, or are there other variations you could observe ?

Nice sword, I'd like to see it IRL.

Fab

PS : we have one of these, river-found, and broken, in Châlon too...

[Thomas Hoogendam]

In the mean time, I think this sword would look stunning with an oxbloodred grip.

[Peter Johnsson]

[Fabrice Cognot]

[Pierre T.]

Hello

I am glad that Peter Johnsson has said the Dodge "could even be a bit challenging in that its components come together in a way that strikes a slightly dissonant chord visually", as I must admit that I find myself more startled than attracted to the look of this sword. Perhaps it needs time for it to grow on me?

The aspect that is the most striking to me, and therefore makes me the more curious, is the sharp 90 degree bend in the cross guard, followed by a concave (instead of convex) curve over the hand. I am by no means an expert on this issue, but I can't remember ever seeing a hilt like that. Do we know why it was made that way?

Thanks,

Pierre

P.S. I should say that even though it might not be "for me", it's a very impressive piece of work!

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Bruno Giordan]

I think such pommel shapes come directly from the taste of the late gothic period, as it can be derived from artworks like paintings, sculptures and buildings.

Such taste was still fashionable even during the early stage of the renaissance.

[Jan Chodkiewicz]

Look at this brass effigy http://www.mbs-brasses.co.uk/Barlow_brass.htm

It has teardrop pommel too.

[Anders Backlund]

Lovely, as usual. Just...

Well, maybe this is just me obsessing over details, but I can't help but notice that the knuckle guard is much more slender and pointyer then on the concept drawing. Is there any particular reason for this?

*rather prefered the sturdier-looking concept variant* >>

[Peter Johnsson]

[Peter Johnsson]

[Peter Johnsson]

[Nathan Robinson]

[Jean Henri Chandler]

I think it looks fantastic. It is striking, i think the dichotomy is between the elegance of the slim blade and the functional brutality of the hilt furniture. To me what it looks like is a leopard with it's claws out. Fantastic.

As for the elongated pommel, interesting observations Fabrice and Peter. I think an extra half-hand length seems to make plenty of sense, as does the potential for a spike for pommel-strikes (didn't Maroozzo or one of the Bolognese guys reccomend a sharpened spike-pommel for great swords? ) Another thing which I immediately thought of looking at it are the various disarms and binds of the wrist etc. which utilize the pommel. There are quite a few of these in the Lichtenauer tradition and I believe in Fiore as well, and they can be done with single-swords as well as longswords. In my mind this goes along with the formidable hand protection for the brutal fighting style which this sword would seem made for.

I can't really imagine what the back spur on the blade is for, except perhaps to protect the hand in a half-sword grip (stopping another blade from sliding down?) I would think it would be functional though.

Jean

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Peter Johnsson]

Here is an example of an extra parrying device on another type of Venetian hilt of the same or ever so slightly later time period.
I cannot say exactly how they were used, but to me they suggest a similar use as what you see in some manuals showing messer fighting: a kind of backhand parry, where a stop of some kind to keep an opponents blade away or even lock it may be a good thing.

Below the Venetian swords are two drawings from Dürers´ fencing book. Messer techniques are shown. Imagine what a back edge lug might add for these techniques. Especially in those vicious lock, poke and wrench manouvers. Perhaps swords like the Doge could be used in a similar way? Single hand half swording? Sounds strange, but it was obviously used for the messer.