Karabela
A Polish noble sabre with an open guard and a hilt ending in a bird's head, in the 18th century a ceremonial weapon of the nobility adorned with gold and gems.
Quick Facts
PolandAbout the weapon
The karabela is a sabre of the Polish-Lithuanian state. English surveys place its origin around 1670 and derive it from Ottoman janissary kilij sabres; it became the most popular form of sword in the Polish army of the 17th and 18th centuries. Polish sources report the first evidence of the karabela's use in Poland as early as the campaign of 1497 to 1498. The name's origin is unclear: it is derived from the Iraqi city of Karbala, known for trade in such sabres, from a Turkish term meaning black doom, from the Seljuk sabre Kara-bela, or from the place names Karabel near Izmir and in Crimea. The fencer Wojciech Zabłocki describes it as an ornate sabre with a hilt styled into a bird's head and an open guard. Surviving pieces have a blade 745 to 830 mm long, a hilt 125 to 130 mm long, and a balance point 205 to 220 mm away. As a ceremonial weapon of the Polish nobility, the karabela became widespread only in the 18th century. Some pieces were richly adorned with gold, silver and precious stones. Blades bore inscriptions, for instance "Bez Boga ani do proga, bez karabeli ani z pościeli" (without God not even to the threshold, without a karabela not even from bed), or the motto of Kołłątaj's Forge, "Naród z królem, Król z narodem" (the nation with the king, the king with the nation).