Rapier

A rapier is a one handed sword with a straight, slender, sharply pointed two edged blade, developed in Spain, where it was called espada ropera, and in Italy around 1540, and it became a mark of nobility and gentleman status across sixteenth and seventeenth century Western Europe. A typical rapier weighed about one kilogram, with a blade around 104 centimeters long and no more than 2.5 centimeters wide, protected by a complex hilt whose rings extended forward from the crosspiece and whose knuckle bow guarded a grip wrapped in cord, leather or wire, balanced by a decorative pommel. Built for quick, precise thrusts rather than the heavy cuts of medieval swords, it gave rise to distinct fencing traditions in Spain, Italy and France, and though critics such as George Silver questioned its effectiveness, it remained fashionable among the wealthy until the lighter smallsword displaced it across most of Europe by 1715.