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Types
of Medieval
European Swords
The
typical medieval sword
(if there can truly be said to be such a
beast) was light, handy and perfectly balanced for it's use. Some
were used with one hand, some with two hands, and some could be used
either way. Here's a list of a few different types of medieval
swords.
Even
though technically they
are pre-medieval, no discussion of
European swords would be complete without talking about Viking
swords. These swords have broad, flat cutting blades with a broad
groove on each face. This is NOT a 'blood groove.' It's
called a fuller and it is there for structural reasons- it makes the
blade lighter and stronger in much the way an I-beam is stronger than a
flat bar of metal of the same weight. The blade will usually
taper slightly in profile and will often distal taper towards the
point. These swords have blades that are usually 28-32 inches
long, though longer and shorter examples exist. The hilt is short
for use with one hand, and the pommel is generally broad and
flat. These swords were designed for use against opponents in
light armor or chain mail, and seem to have been capable of cutting
through chain mail at least some of the time. They typically
balanced 5-10 inches ahead of the guard to facilitate heavy chopping
blows.
Early
medieval swords tend
to also be cutting weapons, but with more
profile taper and more distal taper. Blades were generally in the
same range for length with at least partial fuller, guards tended to be
longer and straight or curved forward slightly. The center
of gravity is usually 4-1/2 to 6-1/2 inches from the guard.
Disc-shaped or 'wheel' pommels seem to be the rule. Handles were
again short for one-handed use.
Great
Swords (Gran Espee de
Guerre) also appeared in the early Middle
Ages. These are the early two-handed swords with blades typically
from 34-40 inches long that weighed 2-3/4 to 4-1/2 pounds. Again,
longer and shorter examples exist. The handle is just long enough
for two hands. The pictures from the period of these swords in
use universally show the user armored from head to foot- implying that
heavy armor was relied on for protection when using these swords.
The
Bastard Sword was a
sword that could be used either one handed or
with two hands. In the High Middle Ages these swords came in a
bewildering variety of blade shapes and sizes. The one constant
was a long hilt. These swords in all their variety were used from
the High Middle Ages until the end of the renaissance.
The late
medieval Longsword
is a lighter two-handed sword.
Longswords were often light enough to be used with one hand. The
distinction between a Longsword and Bastardsword can be kind of fuzzy-
typically the Longsword will have a longer hilt. The somewhat arbitrary
distinction has in modern times boiled down to this- A Bastardsword is
a one-hand sword that can be used two-handed. A Longsword is a
two-handed sword that can be used one-handed. The distinction is
subtle but quite real in practice. Blades ranged from 34-42
inches and were typically of diamond cross section with a rather long
hilt. The hands could be spread well apart on the hilt for
leverage, and coupled with the light weight of these swords this made
them very fast in use. Though the blades are generally
rather narrow and stiff, they often display surprising cutting power.
The late
medieval sword for
use with one hand was usually a very light,
fast and flexible cut-and-thrust sword. As stated before they
weighed in the neighborhood of two pounds. Often with a flat
diamond cross section and acute edges, these swords were worn in
harness (armored for battle) and at least in some places with civilian
clothes by the nobles. These swords were not anti-armor weapons-
armor in this period was nearly impenetrable when worn by an actively
resisting opponent. They were used primarily against lightly armored or
unarmored foes. There were techniques for fighting armored foes
with the stiffer variants of these swords, mostly involving disarming
your opponent and throwing him or setting him up for a thrust to the
face, armpit of other lightly armored area. Hitting him with the
sword was pointless- and a normal thrust would require considerable
luck and skill to hit an area you could penetrate.
The Estoc
was an
exceptionally stiff sword designed for thrusting- it
could be a one or two-handed weapon. Blades were typically an
equilateral triangular section or a very thick diamond or square
section. In the late Middle Ages they were probably used with the
sort of techniques described above.
There was
also a class of
swords called Falchions. These were
straight or curved single-edged swords with very broad blades- think of
a wider, heavier machete and you have the general idea. They
usually had a simple cross guard and a wheel pommel. Blades
ranged from 20-30 inches, and average weight was between two and 3-1/2
pounds. These weapons have devastating cutting power, but tend to
have less reach than other swords of the period and are often useless
for thrusting. They are often incorrectly thought to be the
ancestors of sabers.
Sabers-
yes, there were
sabers in the Middle Ages, but until very late
in the period their use was largely confined to Eastern Europe.
These long, curved eastern blades were 32-38 inches long and were
hilted for one-handed use. They usually weighed 2 to 2-3/4
pounds. They tended to be fitted with a short cross guard and
full tang grips with scales, or narrow tangs glued or riveted into an
organic hilt. Late in the Middle Ages this sword type moved
into Western Europe and was fitted out in a variety of lengths with
either one or two-handed hilts.
So-called
'riding swords'
seem to have been in use throughout the
Middle Ages- these are hard to classify, as the term refers as much to
a use for a sword as to a type of sword. In general they
resembled the fighting swords of their period, but tended to be
significantly shorter and/or lighter. This was a sword for
wearing while traveling, hunting etc. for self-defense or as a badge of
rank.
That's
covers the basic
types- of course there was a lot of variation
in each type, with different shapes of guard and pommels, variations in
the blades profile and cross section, multiple fullers etc.
It should be noted that some of these terms came to mean different
things during the renaissance. It's hard; too, to define the line
between types of swords- is it a bastard-sword or longsword? A
longsword or greatsword? Sometimes it's hard to tell which is which-
but we have to have something to debate, or where's the fun?