Editing Sword (section)

===Hilt===
{{main|Hilt}}
[[File:Rapier mg 3370-no shadows.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The hilt of a [[rapier]]—in this case, with a swept hilt]]

The [[hilt]] is the collective term for the parts allowing for the handling and control of the blade; these consist of the [[Hilt#Grip|grip]], the [[Hilt#Pommel|pommel]], and a simple or elaborate [[Guard (weapon)|guard]], which in post-[[Viking Age]] swords could consist of only a [[crossguard]] (called a [[cruciform]] hilt or [[quillons]]). The pommel was originally designed as a stop to prevent the sword slipping from the hand. From around the 11th century onward it became a counterbalance to the blade, allowing a more fluid style of fighting.{{Dubious|date=March 2012}}<ref name="laodes">{{cite book|last=Loades|first=Mike|title=Swords and Swordsmen|year=2010|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Great Britain|isbn=978-1-84884-133-8}}</ref>
It can also be used as a blunt instrument at close range, and its weight affects the centre of percussion. In later times a ''[[Hilt#Sword knot|sword knot]]'' or ''[[Hilt#Sword knot|tassel]]'' was sometimes added. By the 17th century, with the growing use of firearms and the accompanying decline in the use of [[armour]], many [[rapier]]s and [[European dueling sword|dueling swords]] had developed elaborate basket hilts, which protect the palm of the wielder and rendered the [[Gauntlet (glove)|gauntlet]] obsolete.<ref>Wagner, Eduard (2004). ''Swords and daggers: an illustrated handbook''. Courier Dover Publications, p. 13, {{ISBN|0-486-43392-7}}</ref> By contrast, Japanese swords of the early modern period customarily used a small disc guard, or [[tsuba|{{Transliteration|ja|tsuba}}]].

In late medieval and Renaissance era European swords, a flap of leather called the ''chappe'' or ''rain guard'' was attached to a sword's [[crossguard]] at the base of the hilt to protect the mouth of the scabbard and prevent water from entering.<ref>Burton, p. 124</ref>