The typical hilt of the most commonly known spadroon, the British 1796 pattern infantry officers sword. This is the fixed guard version. Many also had a hinged inner guard so that the sword rested flush against the uniform when worn.
A spadroon[1] is a light sword with a straight-edged blade, enabling both cut and thrust attacks. This English term first came into use in the early 18th century, though the type of sword it referred to was in common usage during the late 17th century. They were primarily used as a military (army & navy) sidearm in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and for officers and NCOs in the latter part of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The type of sword also saw widespread use across Europe and America, though the term 'spadroon' is unique to the Anglophone world.
Spadroon is a term used to categorize a type of sword that is in between a small sword (which thrusts only), and the heavier-bladed broadsword. They may have single- or double-edged blades, and hilt types ranging from a simple stirrup guard, to double shells, and even further protection to the sides of the hand. The distinction between a spadroon and broadsword can sometimes be a difficult one, as it depends upon to what period and weapons they are being compared. The important thing is that the spadroon is fast and agile, due to having little mass at the tip of the blade, and a hilt that does not restrict wrist mobility in any way.
Castle (1892) wrote of it: "A cutting sword of still narrower dimensions, and with a much simpler guard, approximating to that of the small sword, was called 'Spadroon' in England; it was, in fact, similar to the German cut-and-thrust rapier of the eighteenth century, which had been called Spadane or Spadrone since the disuse of the regular two-handed swords... The German spadroon was a regular double-edged sword, but any very light back or shearing sword was so called in England."[2]
This description is not especially helpful, as spadroons can be found with a number of different hilt types, and there is little evidence of the Germans using such a term. They typically used much more generic terms for a spadroon, such as Degen and Hieber.
^P. G. W. Annis (1970). Naval Swords, British and American Naval Edged Weapons, 1660-1815, Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, p. 38.
^Egerton Castle (1892). Schools and Masters of Fence: From the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century. With a Complete Bibliography. Bell & sons.
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