Editing Backsword

{{short description|Type of European sword}}
[[File:Pallasch M1808 (4) - no BG.png|thumb|400px|A type of military backsword – a British 1796 heavy cavalry sword purchased by Sweden in 1808.]]
A '''backsword''' is a type of [[sword]] characterised by having a [[Single-edged sword (disambiguation)|single-edged blade]] and a [[hilt]] with a single-handed grip.<ref name="myarmoury">{{cite web |url=http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_euroedge.html |publisher=MyArmoury.com |title=Forms of European Edged Weaponry}}</ref> It is so called because the triangular cross section gives a flat back edge opposite the cutting edge.<ref name="loades">{{cite book |last=Loades |first=Mike |title=Swords and Swordsmen |year=2010 |publisher=Pen & Sword Books |isbn=978-1-84884-133-8}}</ref> Later examples often have a "false edge" on the back near the tip, which was in many cases sharpened to make an actual edge and facilitate thrusting attacks. From around the early 14th century, the backsword became the first type of European sword to be fitted with a knuckle guard.<ref name="loades"/>

The term "backsword" can also refer to the [[singlestick]], which is used to train for fighting with the backsword, or to the sport or art of fighting in this fashion.<ref name="Winn">{{cite book |title=Broadsword and Single-stick |first1=R. G. |last1=Allanson-Winn |last2=Phillipps-Wolley |first2=C. |publisher=George Bell |year=1890}}</ref> Backswording was an alternative term for singlesticking tournaments in [[England]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Backswords|work=Oxford Journal|page=2|date=29 May 1784|quote= Backswords at Stow-on-the-Wold, on Thursday the l0th of June, 1784, will played for, at Backswords, a purse of ten guineas, by Thirteen a Side. To appear on the Stage at Ten o'clock, but in case no sides attend by eleven, Half a Guinea will be then given to each man who breaks a head, and Half a Crown to each Man who has his Head broken.— The blood to run one Inch. N.B. the above meeting will continued Yearly, on the second Thursday in June. |access-date=17 September 2021 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000073/17840529/036/0002| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=the Prince Regents' Birthday|work=The Morning Post|page=3|date=16 August 1819|quote= Backswording for a gold laced hat|access-date=17 September 2021 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000413/18500817/008/0001| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Being easier and cheaper to make than double-edged swords, backswords became the favored sidearm of common infantry,<ref name="loades"/> including irregulars such as the Highland Scots, which in Scottish Gaelic were called the ''claidheamh cuil'' (back sword), after one of several terms for the distinct types of weapons they used. Backswords were often the secondary weapons of European [[cavalry]]men beginning in the 17th century.<ref name="myarmoury" />

==See also==
*[[Classification of swords|Classifications of swords]]
**[[Types of swords]]
**[[List of swords]]
{{Div col}}
*[[Basket-hilted sword]]s
*[[Cutlass]]
*[[Dusack]]
*[[Falchion]]
*[[Golok]]
*[[Machete]]
*[[Messer (weapon)|Messer]]
*[[Parang (knife)|Parang]]
*[[Sabre]]
*[[Shamshir]]
*[[Szabla]]
*[[Shashka]]
{{Div col end}}

== Citations ==
{{refs}}

== General references ==
{{refbegin}}
* ''Dwelly's Illustrated Gaelic to English Dictionary''. Glasgow: Gairm Publications, 1988, p.&nbsp;202
* ''Culloden: the swords and the sorrows''. Glasgow: The National Trust for Scotland, 1996
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* Włodzimierz Kwaśniewicz, ''Leksykon broni białej i miotającej'', Warsaw: Varsavia, 2003.
* [[Pierre Goubert]] & Maarten Ultee, ''The Course of French History'', London: Routledge, 1991.
* Philippe Contamine, ''War in the Middle Ages'', Oxford: Blackwell, 1984 {{ISBN|0-631-13142-6}}
* [[Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley|R. G. Allanson-Winn]] & C. Phillipps-Wolley, ''Broad-sword and Single-stick: with chapters on quarter-staff, bayonet, cudgel, shillalah, walking-stick, umbrella, and other weapons of self-defence'' (All-England Series.) London: George Bell, 1890.

[[Category:Early Modern European swords]]
[[Category:Medieval European swords]]
[[Category:Renaissance-era swords]]
[[Category:Single-edged swords]]



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