Swashbuckler films are a subgenre of the action film genre, often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, known as swashbucklers, often set in Western Europe in the period between the late Renaissance and the Age of Reason with appropriately lavish costumes. Real historical events (from the colonization and plunder of the Americas, with ensuing slave trade and piracy, to Wars of Religion in Europe, up unto the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars) often feature prominently in the plot, morality is often clear-cut, heroic characters are clearly heroic and even villains tend to have a code of honour (although this is not always the case). There is often a damsel in distress and a romantic element. The genre is related and interlinks itself with the sword-and-sandal genre, the two being among the very early cinematic genres. The series is called capa y espada in Spain and cape et d'épée in French.