Polish Szabla

Origins

Curved sabers came into Eastern Europe from the steppe, and by the fifteenth century they were the usual sword of Hungarian horsemen and of the Ottoman Empire. Poland took up the saber in the sixteenth century, as its cavalry fought Tatars, Turks and Muscovites on its long, open eastern frontiers. Stefan Batory, a Transylvanian prince who became King of Poland in 1576, encouraged Hungarian styles of arms, and the early sabers of this period are often called Hungarian-Polish sabers or batorówki. Over the next century Polish smiths and the nobility developed distinct national forms. The saber became the everyday sword of the szlachta, the noble class, which made up a large share of the population and was expected to serve in war.

Design & Construction

The szabla has a single-edged, curved blade, usually with a raised back edge, the pióro, along the last part of the blade toward the point, which added weight to the cut and helped in thrusting. Polish writers group the sabers into types by their hilts. The Hungarian-Polish saber had an open cross-guard with long langets running along the blade and grip. The hussar saber, which appeared in the first half of the seventeenth century, added a closed hilt: a knuckle-bow joined to the cross-guard, sometimes with a side bar, and a ring for the thumb. The thumb ring gave the rider great control over the blade, and allowed fast circling cuts from the wrist and elbow. Blades of hussar sabers were typically around 80 to 85 centimeters long and the whole sword weighed roughly a kilogram, though surviving examples vary a good deal. The karabela, a style of Ottoman and Persian origin that became very popular with the nobility in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, had an open cross-guard and a grip ending in a pommel shaped like a stylized eagle's head. Karabelas were worn with the traditional kontusz robe and ranged from plain fighting swords to richly decorated pieces for ceremony.

Combat Use

The szabla was the sidearm of every kind of Polish horseman, and the main weapon of light cavalry. The Winged Hussars charged first with the long Winged Hussar Lance, which usually broke on impact. The hussar then fought on with the saber, or with the long, straight koncerz, a thrusting sword carried under the saddle. Hussars used the saber in victories such as Kircholm in 1605 and Klushino in 1610, and in the wars with the Ottomans and Tatars. At the Battle of Vienna on 12 September 1683 the Polish cavalry followed their charge into the Ottoman ranks and camp with the saber. Polish nobles also carried the szabla at home, and saber duels were a familiar part of noble life.

Legacy

The szabla became a national symbol of Poland, and to this day the karabela is linked with the image of the Polish nobleman. The tradition of fencing with the Polish saber influenced the cavalry swordsmanship of later centuries. Polish lancers and uhlans carried sabers in Napoleon's armies, and the Polish Army's cavalry sabers of 1921 and 1934 carried on the old form. Fine szablas and karabelas are prized in Polish museums and private collections, and modern groups work to reconstruct how they were used.