Papal Swiss Guard

[Joshua Cobanov]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone out there know how the Papal Swiss Guard of the Vatican City are trained with the halberd? This would have to be one of the rare examples of continuity in the Western martial tradition. That is unless, of course, the halberd serves a purely ceremonial function, which would be really disappointing.

[Will Adamson]

Considering the fact that they carry automatic weapons under even period uniforms, I would venture to guess that it is purely ceremonial.

However, they would probably do some bayonet training at least in basic training. Add to the fact that professional soldiers can make just about anything into a weapon, and you can bet that they could do some damage with the things.

There could be something of continuity with the manual of arms, that is, the conduct of the weapon on parade. But I'm gonna doubt that there is an unbroken line of combat halberd training.

Interesting idea.

[Mark Driggs]

I remember reading up on the Schweizergarde a lot when the last Pope died. Not much martial material could be found about modern training with the halbred and sword. Modern weaponry has made the halbred vistigial for combat and primarily ceremonial (when the deceased Pope in a state of viewing).

They do have an almost unbroken lineage of 33 commanders from 1506 to present day. So unless, they have some secret records or oral tradition they don't tell anyone else, it's likely they died out with the proliferation of firearms.

[Ken McKenzie]

I have often wondered about this myself.

I saw a documenary a few years ago (can't remember what it was called) that talked about the swiss guard a bit and how thay trained.

Apparently they learn to use a variety of firearms and recieve training from practitioners of various differnt martial arts. Interestingly, it also said they spend a bit of time learning how to use their halberd since it's the weapon they most often have at hand.

It didn't say if they learned a traditional or contemoprary style of course.