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' sword '), also rendered as epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern épée derives from the 19th-century épée de combat , [ 1 ] a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword .
“Sword of the court”) is a light one-handed sword designed for thrusting which evolved out of the longer and heavier rapier (espada ropera) of the late Renaissance. The height of the small sword's popularity was during the 18th century, when any civilian or soldier with pretensions to gentlemanly status would have worn a small sword daily.
Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. [1] The three disciplines of modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also saber); each discipline uses a different kind of blade, which shares the same name, and employs its own rules. Most competitive fencers specialise in one discipline.
The English language terminology used in the classification of swords is imprecise and has varied widely over time. There is no historical dictionary for the universal names, classification, or terminology of swords; a sword was simply a single-edged or double-edged knife that grew incrementally longer and more complex with technological advances.
A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip. A slashing sword is more likely to be curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade. Many swords are designed for both thrusting and slashing. The precise definition of a sword varies by historical epoch and geographic region.
Durendal, also spelled Durandal, is the sword of Roland, a legendary paladin and partially historical officer of Charlemagne in French epic literature. The sword is famous for its hardness and sharpness. Sources including La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) state that it first belonged to the young Charlemagne.
It is a flexible sword of total length 110 cm (43 in) or under, rectangular in cross section, weighing under 500 g (18 oz), with a blunt tip. [1] As with the épée, points are only scored by making contact with the tip. The foil is the most commonly used weapon in fencing. [2]
Gabriel de Rochechouart, father of Madame de Montespan, was a member of the House of Rochechouart, one of the oldest French noble families.. The Nobles of the Sword (French: noblesse d'épée) were the noblemen of the oldest class of nobility in France dating from the Middle Ages and the early modern period, and arguably still in existence by descent.