Greetings from Rome

H

HFinn

Joined
Sep 6, 2012
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I spent a week in Rome and visited the SanAngelo castle, the Papal stronghold in central City. It has small armoury and I took some pictures of the swords and other weapons. As a former HEMA practitioner I recommend the castle to anyone interested of the subject.

I was touched by the story of the last stand of the Swiss guard in 1527. 189 men against thousands fought to protect the pope and fell keeping their oath. German and Spanish mercenaries sacked the city for months, while pope was secure in the castle. Mercenaries lost their leaders in the attack and leaderless men killed by some estimates 12000 inhabitants. The militia and guard protecting the city was annihilated, they died almost to the last man.

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I did not manage to take a picture of a cup hilt rapier I saw, but imagine a long, very slender blade and the cup perforated entirely in to a lace pattern. Adorable and deadly. The rapier in these pictures looked very robust.
 
Loving this one!
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Todd>Todeschini could do that one

I am highly enamored of a Spanish cup hilt from Del Tin that I watch. There have been some originals listed at Fagan Arms but they are ten times the Del Tin.
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horseclover said:
Loving this one!
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Todd>Todeschini could do that one

I am highly enamored of a Spanish cup hilt from Del Tin that I watch. There have been some originals listed at Fagan Arms but they are ten times the Del Tin.
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There were some small crossbows, pistol size. I wonder were they designed for fighting in close quarters like inside the castle or were they assassination weapons?

When I did HEMA I was interested in spanish rapier fencing, but where I live there were no qualified teachers of that style. Cup hilts are my favourite rapiers.
 
The combination tool was likely a hunting accessory. There were boar swords of the same period with the flared points and you'll note a hole in the blade below the spear that would have had a toggle/crossbar to control depth. Likely meant to dispatch critters after cornered or otherwise wounded.

This is the first folding prod crossbow and spear combo I have ever seen.. If you find Todd (Todeschini) in the UK Todds Cutlery, he had recently done a small hand crossbow and might revel at having a go at replicating that spear. He can be found on facebook and also posts over at myArmoury. They would love those photos. I already stole that crossbow/spear photo and posted to facebook but not in any group.

Cheers
GC
 
Thanks for posting these. What a fascinating collection. Any info about how that collection came to be?
 
Triton said:
Thanks for posting these. What a fascinating collection. Any info about how that collection came to be?
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No information other than the fact that the castle has been a vatican stronghold since 14th century, so it is logical that papal guard has been using it as their base. It has been used also as a prison.
 
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