[Kasper Rind]

I have come across a " braunschweigiska stichesvärd" in Josef Alm; Vapnens historia p. 65.
Can anyone please tell me what kind of weapon this may be.

Kasper Rind

[Wolfgang Armbruster]

Well, the language is obviously Swedish. I don't speak Swedish but it sounds very much like German in this case.

Translation attempt: Braunschweigsches Stechschwert.

That would be a "Thrusting sword from Braunschweig/Brunswick",
or more likely: "Thrusting sword in the Brunswick style"

Please correct me if I'm wrong

There are a few renaissance twohanders out there who are made in the "Brunswick style", among them one by a smith in Munich. Can't find the pic right now.

[Martin Wallgren]

[Kasper Rind]

Aye thats right. But I was hoping that someone might have a picture or so that should give me an ide of how it may look.
So if any have info on a thrusting sword/rapier from Brunswick please let me know.

[Wolfgang Armbruster]

It would help a lot if you could give us some more specific data on this sword, especially a date like "second part of the XX century".
After all, a thrusting sword could be anything - an estoc, a Rapier, a pointy cut and thrust blade. However, if I read Brunswick I think 16th / 17th century. A Rapier maybe?
Or a a complex hilted XV-blade like the one used by the Munich townguard as seen below?

Värja ca 1600
Enligt uppgift av en typ som brukades av Pappenheims ryttare under trettioåriga kriget. Fästet är ett komplicerat bygelfäste av mellaneuropeisk typ. Värjan tillverkad i Tyskland.


Link: http://www.sfhm.se/templates/pages/ArmeObjectPage____80.aspx

[Kjell Magnusson]

Taking a look in "White Arms of the Royal Armoury", the Brunswick style would be a style of the large German Zweihanders (since some of these are stated to be of this style). Being a catalogue, the book doesn't bother to define this style, but going from the one pic of such a sword, this would seem to be the "curly quillons"-kind.

Some possible specimens from the albums here:
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....amp;pos=18
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....&pos=9
http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....&pos=2

[Kasper Rind]

Thank you all for you input.

The time for this Braunschweig sword or rapier should be around 1560-1568 under the swedish king Erik XIV. The king order the cavalry the be armored with a "gott harnesksvärd, som man kan både hugga och sticka med, men ingalunda treeggade eller braunschweigiska stickesvärd, ej heller sablar" translated - a good arming-sword? that can be used for both slash and thrust, but should not be a triple-edge or a Braunschweig thrustsword" So my gues is that the Braunschweig thrustsword most be some kind of early rapier or a kind of estoc. There is a rapier/estoc from Saxony with blackend hexagonal pommel and blackend quillons and loop-guard and ringguard. This might be it....

Gues its back at the books and keep looking.
Thanks all

[Kjell Magnusson]

Well, I doubt there would be much need to tell the cavalry not to try their luck with large twohanders, so although we're at the right century at least for the swords I linked to, that doesn't seem to be what the king was talking about, no. Perhaps one of these cases where modern and period terminology diverges, maybe reinforced by slight differences in English and Swedish terminology?

[Daniel Staberg]

Looking at Swedish armory inventories they record Braunschwieg-swords (Brunsvigsvärd) and Braunschweig-thrusting-swords (Brunssugiske stickjesvärd) as diffrent types of weapons. Rapiers are yet another separate type of weapon called "Rapper" in the Old style Swedish used in these inventory lists.

Have you tried H. Seitz "Svärdet och värjan som armévapen"? The copy held at the local library is not available at the moment so I havn't been able to check what he has to say about the mysterious Braunsweig swords.

[Kasper Rind]

Sounds like a good idea.

Thanks