Quillon

Quillón

Quillón is a Chilean city and commune and Ñuble Province, Biobío Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Quillón spans an area of and has 15,146 inhabitants . Of these, 7,536 lived in urban areas and 7,610 in rural areas...

 redirects here. For the town in Chile, see Quillón

Quillón

Quillón is a Chilean city and commune and Ñuble Province, Biobío Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Quillón spans an area of and has 15,146 inhabitants . Of these, 7,536 lived in urban areas and 7,610 in rural areas...

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On a sword

Sword

A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...

 or some knives

Knife

A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...

, the crossguard (or cross-guard), also known as quillons, is a bar of metal at right angles to the blade, placed between the blade and the hilt

Hilt

The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard,grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A ricasso may also be present, but this is rarely the case...

. The crossguard stops the wielder from punching shields while swinging the weapon, thereby protecting the user's hand. It also prevents other blades from sliding down onto the hand or wrist of the weapon wielder during combat.

The bar crossguard is the simplest form of guard. Swords evolved into lighter, faster duelling weapons whilst the gauntlet of armour became obsolete, so the crossguard became more elaborate, forming first quillons and then, through the addition of guard branches, the basket hilt, which offered more protection to the swordbearer's hand.

Crossguards sometimes contained openings through which the swordbearer could insert his fingers to improve his grip while fighting.