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Sword, schiavona
Sword, Blade, Sidearm, Cavalry, Italian, Mediterranean, Latin Europe
This is a class of very sturdy, long bladed basket-hilt swords both very popular with heavy cavalry from the Baroque to the Enlightenment period, though developed in the late Renaissance. The schiavona is long single-handed cutting sword characterized by a distinctive type of complex cage-hilt usually also featuring full or partial quillions, and a distinctive 'cats-head' pommel. The blade is fairly broad tapering to a stiff thrusting point, with single or multiple fullers in the forte, though it is primarily a cutting weapon. Some are fully double edged, while some have only half of the false edge sharpened.
In the Middle Ages the Doge (mayor) of Venice hired the Schiavoni, a tribe of Slavonic mercenaries from the Dalmatian (Croatian) coast as bodyguards. The Schiavoni wielded a unique type of sword which was called the schiavonesca; a kind of a hybrid between a cut-and-thrust sword and an arming sword. The Polish Palasch sword has a similar role and overall format.
Brass hilted Schiavona, Venetian, 18th Century
Name | Size | Reach | Speed | Defense | Base Damage | Attack Types | Primary Attack Types | Armor Pierce | Grapple | Hardness | HP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sword, schiavona | L | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1-8 | SCP | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |