Long sword — Historical Castles , Fearsome Knights, Historical Castles,
The Longsword is a unique type of European sword used during the late medieval period, with early and late use reaching into the 13th and 17th centuries. Longswords have long cruciform hilts with grips over 10 to the amazing 15in length providing room for two hands. Its straight double-edged sharp blades are often more than 1 m to 1.2 m length, and weigh usually between 1.2 and 2.4 kg, with light specimens just below 1 kg, and heavy specimens a little more than 2 kg.
The longsword is commonly held during combat using both hands, though there are some which may be used single-handed. Longswords are used for so many things, like hewing, slicing, and stabbing because of their incredible size. The specific offensive purpose of an individual longsword is derived from its fearsome physical shape. All parts of the sword are used only for offensive purposes, including the pommel and cross guard.
English Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts understandably refer to the fearsome sword as the two-hand sword. The names “hand-and-a-half sword” and “great sword” are used often to refer to longswords in general.
The longsword, with its longer grip and, of course, blade, appears to have become really popular during the 14th century and remained in common use, as shown through art and tale, from the year 1250 to 1550. The so called “great sword” was a really powerful and versatile weapon. For close personal infantry combat, however, the longsword was prized for its versatility and fearsome killing capability.
the so called Hand and a half sword were so called because they could be either a one- or two-handed sword.
While almost every single longsword is in some way different from one another, most contain a few essential parts. The blade of the sword forms the cutting portion of the entire weapon and is normally double-edged. Blades came in a variety of shapes and all sorts of sizes. Broad and thin blades are really effective for cutting-oriented longswords while the thick tapering blades are, of course, found on varieties more effective at thrusting. However, all longswords were extremely effective at cutting, slicing and, of course, thrusting and variations in form made only minor alterations in use. The hilt comprises the portion of the sword aside from, obviously the blade. Like the blade, hilts evolved a lot with time and changed over time in response to fashion and as the swords were designed for a lot of different specific purposes.
The blade of the medieval longsword is made to be straight and predominantly double edged. The construction of the blade is relatively thin, with strength provided by incredible blade geometry. Over time, the blades of longswords become slightly longer, thicker in cross-section, not as wide, and considerably more pointed and dangerous. This effective design change is largely attributed to the use of plate armor as the most effective defense imaginable, more or less nullifying the ability of a sword cut to break through the entire armor system without a problem.
Instead of cutting, the “hand-and-a-half swords” were then used more to thrust against any opponents in plate armor, requiring a more acute point and a more rigid blade. However, the cutting capability of this sword was useful and of course, never entirely removed, as in some later rapiers, but was supplanted in importance by the amazing thrusting capability.
Blades differ considerably in cross-section, as well as in length, width and shape. The two most basic and most commonly known forms of blade cross-section are the lenticular and diamond. The lenticular blades are shaped like thin doubly convex lenses, providing adequate thickness for strength in the centre of the weapon while in the same time maintaining a thin enough edge geometry to allow a proper cutting edge to be ground with every swing. The diamond shaped bludgeon the other side slopes directly up from the edges, without the curved elements of the lenticular blade. The central ridge produced by this angular geometry is actually known as a riser, the thickest portion of the blade that provides ample rigidity. These basic designs are supplemented by a lot of additional forging techniques that incorporated slightly different variations of these cross-sections.
The most common among these two variations is the use of fullers and hollow-ground blades. While both of these elements focus themselves entirely with the removal of heavy material from the blade, they differ primarily in location and final result. The so called Fullers are grooves or channels that are removed from the blade, in longswords, usually running along the centre of the blade and originating at or slightly before the hilt. The removal of this material allows the smith to significantly lighten the entire weapon without compromising the strength to the same extent, much as in the engineering of steel I-beams. Though colloquially called “blood-grooves”, fullers were actually not designed, nor do they function, to allow blood to flow out of a wound more easily, nor to run off the sword. Fullers differ in number and, of course, thickness on all swords, with some incredibly broad fullers spanning nearly the entire width of the weapon while smaller more numerous fullers are usually thinner. The length of all fullers also displays a few different variation — on some cutting blades the fuller may run nearly the entire length of the weapon, while the fuller stops one-third or half-way down other blades. Hollow-ground blades have concave portions of steel removed from each side of the riser of the blade, thinning the incredible edge geometry while keeping a thickened area at the centre to provide strength for the whole blade.
A variety of different hilt styles exist for the longswords, with the style of pommel and quillion (crossguard) changing over time to accommodate different blade properties and to fit emerging stylistic trends for the blades.
The combat with the longsword was not so barbaric and crude as is often portrayed, and as many people think. Codified systems of fighting existed, with a variety of styles and teachers each providing a slightly different take on the ancient art. The longsword was a quick, effective, and versatile weapon capable of deadly thrusts, slices, and, of course, cuts. The longsword’s blade was generally used with both hands on the hilt, one resting close to or even on the pommel. However, in some rare circumstances, the weapon may be used only with one single hand. In a depiction of a duel, individuals may be seen wielding sharply pointed longswords in only one hand, leaving the other hand open to manipulate the amazingly large dueling shield. Another variation of use comes from the use of different types of armor. Half-swording was a manner of using both hands, one on the hilt and one on the blade itself, to better control the weapon in thrusts and sometimes jabs. This versatility was so unique, as multiple works hold that the longsword provided the foundations for learning a variety of other different weapons including, but not limited to, spears, staves, polearms and many more. Use of the longsword in attack was not limited only to use of the blade, however, as several Fechtbücher explain and depict use of the pommel and cross as offensive, dangerous weapons. The cross has been shown to even be used as a hook for tripping or knocking an opponent off balance and on the ground.
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Originally published at https://historicalcastles.com on October 20, 2020.
