If you look at the Polish sabers of the early modern era, you will notice one curious feature. All of them have a huge crosspiece. Which looks strange, because most often sabers either have a very cunning, developed guard, or do not have it at all. The latter is characteristic primarily of late sabers and broadswords from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. In order to understand why the Poles needed such a hefty guard, one will have to plunge into history.
Once upon a time there was the Kingdom of Poland, and up to the end of the 15th century, the military equipment of the aristocracy here differed little from that of Western Europe. The Polish nobility fought in a knightly manner and used ordinary straight swords. Which often had a fairly large quilon of the guard (from the French "quillon" - cross-piece, cross-piece). In addition to the Germans and Russians, the Poles actively fought on the southern borders with the Turks and Tatars. And among those, and among others, it was the saber that was especially popular throughout history.
There was a powder revolution and a price revolution in Europe. Technological progress and economic crisis caused a military revolution that changed the face of medieval war. New time began, with each decade the armor on the battlefield became less and less. At the same time, the need for the cavalry to fight weakly defended foot opponents grew. And for such a task, the saber was even better suited than the sword.
As a result, already in the 16th century, not without the help of their neighbors, the Hungarians, Polish aristocrats began to massively switch to the "Turkish" saber. She in the then realities was more in demand than ever. At the same time, the first Polish sabers became, in fact, a "compote" of medieval Polish swords with a huge undeveloped guard and a curved blade. In swords, such a guard was needed to protect the hand and the possibility of using the sword as a pick (when the weapon was taken with the hands of the blade to perform blows like a club).
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With regard to the saber, the huge crosspiece turned out to be a rudiment. And already in the 17th century, the Poles began to bend the lower part of the quilon and cut off the upper one. Thus, the local sabers took on an easily recognizable form with a developed curved guard to protect the hand.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then read about what constitutes "wrong system" handle: why the Soviet knife NA-40 needs an S-shaped guard.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/190221/57907/
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