An XI Light Cavalry Sabre

Origins

Before the Revolution, French cavalry regiments carried swords of many different patterns, and the Revolutionary wars made the confusion worse. As Napoleon Bonaparte reorganized the army after 1799, a series of new regulation patterns was introduced, dated by the Republican calendar. For the light cavalry — the hussars and the chasseurs à cheval, whose jobs were scouting, screening, raiding and pursuit — the government adopted a new curved sabre in Year XI (1802-1803). It replaced earlier models, and it became the standard sword of the French light horse for the whole of the Napoleonic Wars.

Design & Construction

The An XI sabre has a curved, single-edged blade about 33 inches long, with a wide fuller and a curve of around two inches, suited to both cutting and thrusting. The hilt is of brass, with a guard of three bars, the "garde à trois branches," joined to the knuckle bow, which protected the hand well in a mêlée. The grip is of wood covered in leather and wound with brass wire, and the backstrap and pommel are also brass. The sword was carried in an iron scabbard with two rings, hung from the sword belt. It was made in very large numbers, most of all at the state manufactory at Klingenthal in Alsace, and blades and hilts are marked with makers' and inspectors' stamps and dates, which collectors use to date examples. The heavy cavalry and dragoons carried straight swords of their own patterns.

Combat Use

The French light cavalry was among the best in Europe, and the An XI sabre was its weapon at Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland and Wagram, in Spain, and in the retreat from Moscow, where so many were lost. Hussars and chasseurs fought in skirmishes and outpost actions almost every day of a campaign, and in the great battles they charged enemy cavalry and broken infantry. French cavalry doctrine emphasized the point, but the curved blade gave good cutting blows too. At the Battle of Waterloo the sabre was used against the British light cavalry carrying the 1796 Light Cavalry Sabre and the heavy regiments armed with the 1796 Heavy Cavalry Sword.

Legacy

The An XI stayed in service after Napoleon's fall and was followed by the 1822 light cavalry sabre, which kept the three-bar hilt. The French pattern influenced the swords of many other countries, and similar brass three-bar hilts appeared in the Americas and elsewhere; the American Model 1860 Light Cavalry Saber belongs to a later branch of the same family tree. The An XI is one of the most familiar Napoleonic swords, and original examples with clear Klingenthal marks are widely collected, alongside the many later copies made for reenactment.