THE
RENAISSANCE OF THE MEDIEVAL SWORD
The
Medieval European sword has
achieved greater popularity in since
the 1970s than it has enjoyed at any time since the Middle Ages.
The publication of the Lord of the Rings, the reprinting of Robert E.
Howard’s Conan and the birth of the Society for Creative Anachronism
and the Renaissance Pleasure Faire sparked interest in the medieval
period in the 1960’s. The publication of Dungeons and Dragons in
the 1970’s caused an up-surge of interest in fantasy fiction and
history across the nation. This created an interest in the ‘tools
of the trade,’ and particularly in that most noble weapon, the
sword. Companies like C.A.S Iberia, Museum Replicas and Marto
jumped to fill the need and by the 1980’s the formerly tiny sword
market was flourishing and growing. A wealth of (generally awful)
fantasy movies helped this along, and the SCA and Ren Faires had spread
across the western world like an epidemic. Companies like Museum
Replicas and others fed the fires with more and more swords, axes,
armor and related products. Individual re-enactors got heavily
into the act as well, becoming knife and sword makers. Jousting
even became the official sport of the state of Maine!
At some
point makers began
to become more and more interested in how
and why medieval swords worked. This was started by individuals who,
like myself, had actually gotten to study and even handle swords of the
period and tried to replicate the qualities of the original
swords. Working primarily in and around the Ren-faire and SCA
circuits, these makers were little known to the custom knife
world. These makers include but are not limited to Christopher
Poor and Craig Johnson’s ‘Arms and Armor,’ Ike Roe and Chuck Sweet from
Oregon and following their example, myself. Museum Replicas
brought the work of many of makers to wider attention by featuring
their work and the swords produced by Fulvio Del Tin from Italy in
their catalogues prior to being bought-out by Windlass Steelcraft from
India.
Since the
late 1990's the
Internet has played an invaluable role in
spreading information about swords as well. The first well-known
Internet sword forum was started by Adrian Ko, founder of the
‘Highlander Sword Group.’ This was initially a forum about movie and TV
sword reproductions. This fairly rapidly evolved into Sword Forum
International (at Swordforum.com) which features a vast wealth of
information on swords of all descriptions and periods, martial arts and
even a number of foreign-language forums. I became involved in
1998 after their reviewer Angus Trim contacted me and wished to review
one of my swords. In all modesty it is fair to say that he was
stunned by the quality and engineering of the blade he tested and I was
rapidly drawn into the Forum, where I am now an Honorary Educational
Adviser and moderate the sub-forum on sword performance. Gus Trim
himself has gone on to become a well-regarded maker of semi-production
swords with a reputation for outstanding performance.
The point
is that internet
forums like Swordforum.com, Netsword and
lately MyArmory.com have allowed sword-makers, users and collectors to
freely exchange knowledge, opinions and information, giving new makers
a considerable ‘leg-up’ when starting their careers. The quality
of reproduction sword of today (at the top end at least) is light-years
beyond the swords that were available as recently as the late 1980s.
Now
production
manufacturer’s like Paul Chen’s Hanwei works are
actually paying attention to more than just the appearance of their
swords- engineering and performance are just as important. Any
maker or manufacturer who disregards this is likely to find their work
tarred with derisive terms like ‘Wall-Hanger’ or worse yet, ‘SLO’-
Sword-Like Object. The full spectrum of quality and style of
medieval European swords is now available within a wide range of price
with production, semi-production or custom made options.
Production and semi-production swords of decent to excellent quality
range from $200-$2000 dollars, and custom swords of quality start as
low as $500 and go up to several thousands of dollars. There has
been no better time in modern history to be a sword enthusiast!
As part
of the renaissance
of the sword the use of swords in the Middle
Ages and Renaissance is now coming to light thanks in part to the
Internet. Manuscripts of “fechtbuchs” have for the first time
been translated and widely distributed and groups have sprung up all
over the United States and Europe to interpret them and practice their
teachings. The Internet has allowed these groups to communicate,
compare notes and arrange meetings in a way that was difficult or
impossible without it. The renaissance of the martial arts of
Western Europe is well underway as a result, with national and
international meetings occurring several times each year.
Swordforum.com is an excellent place to contact these groups and find
practitioners in your area.
The
Society for Creative
Anachronism features a Martial Sport called
‘Heavy Fighting,’ which uses a variety of simulated weapons and
armor. ‘Sword and Shield’ is the most common and popular
technique. This sport evolved largely without study of the actual
(and then terribly obscure) manuals from the period, based on safety
concerns and a ‘whatever works’ philosophy. As individual members
became more historically inclined an effort was made to study and adapt
techniques from the better-known sources. Dissatisfied with
various aspects of the SCA or finding it’s safety rules too confining
individuals and groups broke off to embark on a serious study of
medieval and renaissance fighting methods. Groups like The
Historical Armed Combat Association (now ARMA,) the AEMMA, and local
groups like the Chicago Sword-Play Alliance, Schola St.George,
St.Martin’s Academy and Academy Della Espada came into being and
flourished. A recent gathering of ‘Western Martial Arts’
enthusiasts brought people from all over the United States, Europe and
even Australia.
Of the
fighting methods of
the Viking Era and the Early Middle Ages we
know relatively little for sure- no manuals on the fighting techniques
of these times have yet been found. Our earliest known reference
is a German document called 1.33- a late 13th century treatise on
unarmored ‘fencing’ with broad-bladed single hand swords and a small
buckler. Interestingly the buckler isn’t used as a shield in the
conventional fashion but primarily as protection for the
sword-hand. Surprisingly to some, women are plainly shown
participating in the bouts illustrated.
Moving
into the 14th century
we have reference to ‘Lichtenaur’ in a
book of commentaries on his teachings by Ringeck. This
demonstrates not merely a system of fighting with a variety of swords
but also sophisticated wrestling techniques that students of Judo or
Aikido would find quite familiar. From the dawn of the 15th
century we have the writings of Fiore dei Liberi, the advisor and
trainer to the household of Niccolo D’Este, Grand Marquis of
Ferrara. His book, ‘Flos Duellatorum,’ (The Flower of Battle)
shows a comprehensive, efficient and brutal system of martial arts
involving the techniques of wrestling, dagger, sword, pole-arms and
even mounted combat. Many find this work relevant even in the
21st century as the empty-hand and dagger techniques and the
adaptability to improvised weapons are as useful and effective today as
they were in the 15th century.
Moving
into the Renaissance
treatises on fighting techniques become
quite common, but that is actually beyond the scope of this book. This
interest in the martial arts of Medieval Europe has further spurred the
makers to improve quality and authenticity. At a certain point a
wooden waster that approximates a sword is simply not sufficient any
more- the different rebound-rate and flexibility of wood make it
difficult to correctly execute some techniques at speed. The
community has become aware that to replicate medieval techniques it
needs quality reproductions, down to fine details of weight, balance
and dynamic performance, if it is to correctly replicate the fighting
methods of these arts. Many makers have actually become
practitioners of these arts as well, to better understand the needs of
these swords and their users.
The
renaissance of the
Medieval sword continues to grow today- films
like ‘Braveheart’ and the epic ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy help keep up
the momentum but honestly the phenomenon has become self-sustaining,
and is likely to continue to grow for the foreseeable future.