Dussack/tessak - the basket hilt sabre of the renaissance

[@Sk0lzky]

Btw I imagine myself in a situation where the club says "Tomorrow we wanna try some dussack for the first time" and I just bring my sabre. Would happen/10. Also "we're not training for fighting to the death in real life" idk maybe you aren't... I'm preparing for the futuristic corpooligarchy world where gladiatorial fights are the only thing keeping people from rioting or going fully nihilistic and killing themselves xD

[@gilbertlebacks2889]

Beautiful historical sword!!!

[@MartinGreywolf]

In czech, tesák means canine tooth/fang. I guess fang is closer to the connotations of the word. As for the turkic origins, I wouldn't be quite so sure. Long knives were used extensively in Bohemia and Hungary (after seax fell out of use around 9th century), while falchions were nowhere to be seen. Hungary also had many, many sabers of varied length, so if I had to guess where Meyer-style dussacks came from, I'd guess Hungary. That would also explain how they spread to other parts of Europe, Hungary was in hell of a war with Ottoman empire at the time, using not only their own forces, but (especially after Mohacs) also foreign contingents, including German, Polish and Italian ones - some even paid for by the papal treasury. And while Ottoman forces did use these curved thingies too, calling them turks, especially in context of Hungarian theater, is not correct, most of their soldiers there were local, or, in case of large invasion, Janissaries. We could argue that Ottomans ramped up production of local curved long knives, but there's no real evidence either way. For example, here are some weapons found in Bulgaria, dated to 8-10th centuries: forum.boinaslava.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=564 Koloszvar saber, 77cm blade, 110cm total: eda.eme.ro/handle/10598/15145 Serbian fresco, end of 13th century: postimg.org/image/ys0s8j4c3/

[@TheManOWrath]

He's referring to the curved blade.

[@Psiberzerker]

Such an underrated and beautiful design. Honestly not enough videos on them (I'm going to say compared to Messers, and Highland Backswords) So, thanks for doing this. I'm personally most interested in a sort of transitional part, between a Nagel, and a Shell Guard. (Which isn't definitive of Dussacks, just some of the nicest ones I've seen were on Dussack guards.) Quite often an elegant piece, aesthetically.

[@silafuyang8675]

tesák means fang in Czech.

[@thelonerider5644]

This was amazing never seen an original one before. Wow.

[@twodogsbob1786]

Fantastic insight to an unusual set of swords Nick, great video...I'd really love you to do a video showcasing all of your sword collection, and a bit of info about them all.....please!

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Thanks. It's difficult to really get them all in to a video. I own around 40 original swords. In time they will all show up in different videos. See the 'All about Sabres' video, and the Smallsword video that I did. A large amount of them appear in those.

[@The_Gallowglass]

Tesák is Czech/Slovak for fang, yes. čekan (checkan) in Slovenian.

[@Sk0lzky]

Cz tesat/sk tesat' and slov tesati do mean to chop though right? Why the hell is fang a chopper then xD

[@19Koty96]

@@Sk0lzky it cleaves through meat.

[@toxi87]

Watching this I want to mount my saber blade in a basket now lol

[@Strategiusz]

In Polish the word "tasak" (read like "ta" + "sack") means a tool for chopping meat (and it is a common and maybe the only word to name that tool) or a falchion (but maybe 2% of Poles know something about that kind of weapon or they know only the English name from computer games).

[@Sk0lzky]

Tbh I'd assume a lot more people know this weapon thanks to the popularity medieval-themed tourism and reenactment events in Poland.

[@Tyrhor]

If you look into Bohemian texts from 14th to 19th century, word tesák and messer is interchangeable. The term is used even today for hunting sword.

[@19Koty96]

While yes, literally it means fang, this has more to do with the etymology of the word, as the word we use for fang is derived from cleaving/chopping. Where this word is commonly used to describe local analogue to machette, essentially a large knife used for bush craft and self defence.

[@laszu7137]

Tesák (the čárka above a means just the sound of letter A is slightly lengthened) means the pair of long teath that are present in mouths of dogs, wolwes, bears etc. They are long and kind of curved, so that's probably why they named it that way. What I've seen most of the time called tesák is some long dagger that hunters in the old days used to finish off animals or some kind of late 19th century short military sword. Sometimes even early 20th century long and heavy bayonets being called tesák in some old literature. Something I personally find a little confusing is the fact that (at least in modern Czech leanguage) verb tesat means to shape some material using tools like axe, hammer and chisel etc. I'm quite sure these curved blades had some Hungarian influence. Sight of a hungarian soldier with a curved sabre from wars and later aliance we had in 15th century is quite stereotypical. Anyway nice video.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Thanks for the input, some interesting info. In the UK we have never really known the tesak term until very recently, from sword collectors and then the HEMA community.

[@dfraser7402]

Great presentation on an interesting subject. It would be interesting to understand the differences in the systems for use of Dussack/Tessack, Sinclair, and Scottish basket hilted sabre. Were they all used in a similar manner? Are there regional or national idiosyncrasies? In there an evolution over time in technique?

[@dlatrexswords]

Nick this talk was brilliant. The evolution of European straight swords has been reasonably easy to uncover but curved blades have proven much harder for me to wrap my head around. From Turkic proto-Sabres, to hangers and cutlasses there is quite a bit of variation and the lines of influence and dates have been blurry. Was this at all related to "Swiss sabre" or is it convergent evolution?

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Thanks. Are they related to the Swiss sabre? I believe so yes. Though finding evidence of such will be very difficult, the relative similarity and geographical location, as well as time period would suggest they are almost certainly related. Despite the fact that most people think of the Swiss sabre as a longsword or two handed sword, there are one handed examples which are almost indistinguishable from dussacks/tessacks. Lastly, one of the most famous German masters that we look to for dussack was Swiss born, Joachim Meyer, and I think that speaks volumes too.

[@allengordon6929]

Dussack is actually a hilt type There are straight blades on dussack hilts.

[@ktoth29]

I don't know if you explicitly stated this but you seemed to imply that the renaissance Dussack/cutlass is an intermediate weapon between the late medievel messer/falchion and the earl modern saber.... which was my understanding as well. Am I way off base in making the inference that all single edged cutting weapons were closely related in their manner of use regardless of how curved the blade is or how developed the hilt may be?

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

I did mention that I believe that is the development of it yes. Of course to understand the sabre we need to look outside Europe as well. I talk more about this in the 'all about sabres' video. About the use of them. In renaissance treatise there are no complex hilts shown, and yet they were common at the time, same goes for complex/compound hilted longswords, and therefore yes, I believe the use is considered to be the same. This is supported by later texts such as Roworth (1798), who teaches the straight spadroon, the heavily curved infantry sabre, and the straight, basket hilted Scottish broadsword all according to the same methods. There is no doubt that extra curvature changes the mechanics a little, but the base principles remain the same.

[@pj_mckenna]

Excellent presentation.

[@g-hawk3849]

In Russian, "tesak" (тесак) means "backsword" and/or "hatchet".

[@Sk0lzky]

It comes directly from t'esat' which means to chop and both of those are used in some kind of chopping. Etymologically it supposedly comes from old-ruth. tesъ (щепка, дощечка) and proto-sl. (псл) *tesati and has its equivalents in other slavic languages at least from the western group, from the top of my head it would be pol. ciosać, cz. tesat, sk.tesat', slov. tésati, and - which is important for german context - łuż. ćesać! I know that ukrainian has some words which are derivatives too and, interestingly, some indoaryan languages too have something similar.

[@gabrielpottebaum5249]

Do you have any sources on the middle eastern sharp versions you mentioned?

[@TheManOWrath]

What? Only 11k views? I guess people who value good insight on the wonderful subject of swordsmanship aren't as common as I figured they'd be.

Sinclair died in my Home country (of norway) I believe. There's a popular folk song about it

[@BaldPolishBiotechnol]

In Polish it is tasak. Which means cleaver, as in meat cleaver. Similar concept as in the kitchen, after all...

[@Nulrom]

Wonderful video.

[@adam-k]

I believe the dusack appeared in the Hussite wars so the origin very well could be Hungarian (or Polish given the relative closeness) However Bohemians fought against Turks in great numbers a few years earlier during the Balkan campaigns of Sigismund. So they might got the weapons from there. Sigismund also could have provided them with Hungarian style sabers for the Turkish campaign. Those definitely weren't basket hilted but the Hussites might added that themselves.

[@larsf92]

keep up the good work!!!

[@gozzawick]

can you write down the name of the Scottish basket hilted sabre? I might be able to help with the pronunciation.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Turcael

[@gozzawick]

I've done a little digging around, depending on how the word was originally stressed, it may have been pronounced TURkle or turKALE, the spelling makes me think the second is possibly the more likely. Hope this helps, Thanks for all the facinating videos.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Thanks. That is also how I have heard it from a few who practice Scottish broadsword.

[@kbenpay1]

So did polish sabers of the 17th century weigh more in the range of the 1803 saber since they tended to have more minimalist hand protection as well?

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Some yes, but many were heavier due to thicker blades, and also some with flared tips. Polish sabres typically come out closer to the 1796 light cavalry. That is hardly surprising, as many, if not most, were designed for combat from horseback considering the Poles famous use of such combat. Most Polish sabres of the 17th century that I have seen, or seen specifications of, are more in the 900 gram to 1.1kg range, more in line with British cavalry sabres.

[@MCWhyski]

tessak, comes from tesat - that mean hacking or exactly hew (wood). So for the use as a weapon was the meaning something like a hacker.

[@adam-k]

Well saber comes from the word sabla (or sablya) which means "cutter" in hungarian. Bohemians might just used literal translations for the sabre that was already in use in Hungary. I mean "Hey whats that weird sword you have?" "Oh its a Hungarian sword they call it a cutter."

[@davidvanveen2278]

Very informative thank you. .

[@nikolacvetkovic2276]

The origin of sabre is in Hungary, and they got it from Cumans (as I have been told). Word for sabre in Magyar, Serbian, Polish, Croatian, Slovenian, Slovak, Czech, Russian, Ukrainian is virtualy the same and Slav languages are very different from Magyar, and obviously all have just picked word from Hungarians and pronounced it like them. Turkish word for sabre is kılıç, not even simillar to szablya - Hungarian. So it seems that all Slavic people took a name for a sabre with a sabre from Hungarians, not Turks that many of them had to fight before Hungarians.

[@Kemenatar]

About tesak in use in Russian army: ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BA Even without understanding Russian language, you can see some pictures representing it

[@chrisn3302]

How do you think the basket-hilt changes the techniques? Does it make feel and operate more like a basket-hilted broadsword, or do you think it still moves like a normal saber or something completely different? Watching your other video of the actual sparring, it seemed like the movements didn't quite fit normal saber movements.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Many systems teach sabre and Scottish broadsword (basket hilt) according to the same method. So you could arguably say it doesn't. Overall I find in sparring that the difference between basket hilt and open, is about as different as curved and straight. They have a small effect on some techniques, but the core principals remain the same. The basket certainly slows the fight down a little just down to the increased mass.

[@loyalsausages]

Sinclair hilt. Thumb ring, sweeping pommel

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

What about them?

[@dfraser7402]

What were the components used to make this "Dussack"?

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Blade from a Polish sabre, made by a cheap off the shelf supplier. Hilt from a Darkwood Armoury English basket hilt, grip from a Hanwei Tinker arming sword, pommel from Hanwei sidesword.

[@Shamman_komanch]

Yes tesák means a fang its also a name of a mountain or rather a hill about 5 Km away from my house.

[@bakters]

I looked through the comments, and between Russian, Czech and Polish it all seriously looks like a Slavic word to me. I'm not a linguist, but it appears that the meaning of tessak at the time was related to a punch and a cut. Are we sure that this weapon has Turkish origin? Even if so, we did not adopt their name and used a Slavic word related to the way of use to describe it.

[@TimmyTurner421]

What a great video

[@Irminsul007]

17th century Norway had the right idea about private ownership of arms.......

[@SeanSultan]

Is that the same Sinclair thought to be the "Highland Officer" and author of Anti-Pugilism?

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

No, he wrote in the late 18th century. The Sinclair (Lord Sinclair) that the sword was named after was killed in the Battle of Kringen, Norway, 1612.

[@SeanSultan]

Academy of Historical Fencing ok, thanks!

[@HobieH3]

I would call those sabres, and reserve dusack for a shorter blade

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Terminology can indeed be a real mess. Though these are commonly known as dussacks/tessacks roday, so not much can be changed about that. Meyer talks about sabel (sabre) in his armoured fighting section and was probably refering to weapons like these, keeping the dussack term for the safe and simple training version. However, the Norwegian tessack term definitely referred to these basket hilt types, and that term in time has become linked. I think the usage of the term is forever linked now. And in terms of sabres, British Napoleonic sabres for example can be found in pretty much the whole range of dussack/tessack lengths, whether talking about the trainers or the sharps, blade lengths variying from aobut 60-85cm. So yeh, a mess.

[@loyalsausages]

Sweeping quillon

[@robertvondarth1730]

Turkhil? Might someone spell that properly?

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Turcael

[@tonidenicov9101]

Ого

[@actually_a_circle]

Schnepf