10:34. Do not think that I have come to bring peace on
land; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword, (Gospel of Matthew)
The first book is The Sword by Thomas Laible (translated from German), written in a very popular language and with good illustrations, although personally I would illustrate it much better.
The second is the book by Jan Petersen "Norse Swords of the Viking Age" (translated from Norwegian). It is a very academic publication and is not suitable for popular reading. But it covers the issue in an exhaustive way. And at the same time, he introduces the "typology of Petersen", which substantially complements the "typology of Oakshott".
The book "Medieval Swordsmanship: Illustrated Methods and Techniques" (Paladin Press) by John Clements is less accessible, because who knows English so well to read such books in it - only a few units, and there is no translation into Russian and it is unlikely to be, because it is very specific. Nevertheless, it can be recommended. It is available on the Web, both in its entirety and in excerpts from which you can get a complete picture of its content.
Miniature from a manuscript of 1290 g depicting sword fencing techniques with the use of a buckler shield. (Royal Arsenal, Leeds)
The sword, as a weapon, began to be used a very long time ago, and already in ancient times there were both purely thrusting swords and piercing-chopping swords, as well as purely cutting ones. At the same time, long cutting swords were primarily the weapon of the horsemen. Scythians, Sarmatians, and many other peoples and tribes also possessed such swords, and their length was usually such that a rider sitting on a horse could freely reach with the tip of a sword from a saddle to a person lying on the ground. Swords had mainly lenticular and, less often, rhombic blades, and the crosshairs were made from a single bar, which went around the blade at the heel and was welded by forging. Often they were made of wood or bone at all. The tops of the handles were circular or made in the form of a lens from semiprecious stones. The scabbard was attached to the belt by a bracket made of bone, wood or jade, located on their outer side with a single strap, so they usually hung horizontally at the thigh. The crosshairs, known to us from classical medieval swords, appeared on them quite late, when they tried to fence with swords, and they began to hide behind shields from sword blows. Before that, there was practically no crosshair, since there was no need for it! And all why? Because that was the tactic of using the sword! Roman legionnaires had thrusting swords and … throwing darts at their enemies, they simply ran at them, hiding behind their huge shields and striking with all their mass. They fell, and the Roman legionnaires only had to bend over and poke the enemy with a sword from under the shield!
The protective effect of the crosshair.
The Sarmatians, who also had long swords, first attacked the enemy with spears at the ready, holding them with both hands, and only then, when they broke or got lost, they cut the infantrymen with blows from top to bottom with them. Naturally, there was little chance of hitting the surface of the shield with the knuckles, and the guard was not required! The first crosshairs appeared on the rather long swords of Greek warriors, whose infantrymen had to fight with swords and at the same time cover themselves with shields. Well, then this detail appeared on European swords. Look at the photo of a hand holding a sword. Between the crosshair and the pommel there is a space in which the hand with the sword is reliably protected from contact with the shield, while the crosshair itself protects the warrior's hand from someone else's sword!
Typical sword of the 10th century. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
However, the medieval knightly swords themselves trace their ancestry mainly from the Roman equestrian sword of the spatha, about 80 cm long, intended for both cutting and thrusting. The swords of Byzantium directly inherited them, while the barbarians who lived to the north used both their local, their own designs, in particular, the single-edged sword, and the Gallo-Roman samples that gave rise to the swords of the Franks and Normans. The best specialist in swords among British historians is Ewart Oakeshott, who examined in great detail almost every part of a medieval sword, from the blade to the pommel, but John Clements wrote about everything that concerns the actual fencing art of the Middle Ages.
Sword XII - XIII centuries. Length 95.9 cm. Weight 1158 (Metropolitan Museum, New York)
He notes that the swords of the years 500-1000, as before that time, were rather short (about 70 cm) and weighed no more than 600 g. In the VIII-X centuries. in Europe, the most widespread are swords of the Scandinavian type, the finds of which are found everywhere from England and up to Russia and the Volga Bulgaria. These were already swords that can be called "typically medieval". Their length was 88-109 cm, and their weight was from 800 to 1400 g. As a rule, these were double-edged blades with a fuller, occupying up to 80% of the blade, with double-sided sharpening. However, the same Vikings also had single-edged blades in addition to such blades.
Top of the handle XII - XIII centuries. France. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
The pommel, crosshair, and in some cases the hilt itself of these swords was abundantly decorated with inlays of gold, silver, copper and brass, often in a wide variety of color combinations. The handle itself was rather short and gripped the warrior's hand, clenched into a fist. It was almost impossible to fence with such a sword. They were inflicted with strong chopping blows, from which no chain mail saved, however, a solid-forged shield umbon was a fairly reliable protection, on which in extreme cases they usually tried to take them. At the same time, the swords of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons differed in design, although outwardly they were quite similar. It is known that the cost of a sword among the Anglo-Saxons reached 120 bulls or 15 male slaves. Like any valuable thing, swords were given names. Everyone knows that the legendary Roland's sword was called Durendal. But the sword of Charlemagne also had its own name - Joyez, which means "joyful." Among the Vikings, the most popular name was "Nogokus", and all because of the fact that they practiced striking them under the shield, and therefore (and archaeologists only confirm this!) Most often they were wounded in the legs!
Sword handle XII - XIII centuries close-up.
From 1000 to 1250, swords acquired an even more elongated blade with a length of 81 to 91 cm, and already at the beginning of 1300 - 96-121 cm. In this case, the length of the handle becomes such that it was possible to take it even with two hands … Typical finials of the XI-XII centuries. the head became a paranus (southern nut), and the crosspiece extended in length to 18-23 cm.
Sword of the XIII century. France. Length 91.8 cm. Weight 850.5 g. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
It was these swords that received the name Norman, according to the images on Bayeux's embroidery, but this is a common European type of sword that was found everywhere. Another type of knight's sword around 1300 was the so-called "sword of war", which had a blade with both a fuller and a rhombic section and narrowed towards the end, so that it became possible for them not only to cut, but also to stab. In another way it was also called a "long sword", but it really was long (101-121 cm, of which the handle was 17-22 cm, with a weight of about 1, 2-1, 4 kg), as a result of which he was usually carried on a horse to the left of the saddle. There are facts that indicate that for the first time such swords appeared already around 1150, and this was due to the spread of large breeds of horses in the knightly cavalry, which is why the knight is no longer with an ordinary sword from the back of such a horse to an infantryman lying on the ground reached out!
Sword 1375-1450 Length 96.6 cm. Weight 1275, 7 g (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Their further development was bastard swords (or "swords in one and a half hands") and so-called "big swords" not much different from them. At the same time, cutting swords were first replaced by piercing-cutting swords, as they are still more universal. The heads on their handles acquired all sorts of outlines: in the form of a double cone and in the form of a disk, a pear, a carafe cork and an octagon (at the end of the 14th century).
The hilt of the Scottish claymore. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
The most famous "big swords" were the Italian spadon and the Scottish claymore, which also appeared around 1300, as well as the estok sword, with a three-tetrahedral blade, intended exclusively for thrusting blows between the joints of plate armor. The weight of the "big sword" reached 1, 2-1, 6 kg, length - 111-134 cm. Such swords began to be used in large quantities rather late, already at the end of the Middle Ages.
Sword of the 15th century Length 122.9 cm. Weight 1618 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Sword 1400 West of Europe. Length 102.24 cm. Weight 1673 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Sword handle 1419 Length 111 cm Weight 1644 (Metropolitan Museum, New York)
The English historian of weapons D. Clements specifically stipulates that, although the handles of all these swords were quite "two-handed", all these swords in the full sense were in no way two-handed, since any of them could also be operated with one hand. The "two-handed swords" so beloved by novelists, i.e. swords, which, because of their length, were carried on the shoulder, and which could only be held with two hands, appeared, first of all, as a weapon of the Landsknechts at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, but they were never knightly weapons!
The two "bidenhender" swords in this photo on the left and right are typical "large swords" swords intended for piercing armor. The sword between them is especially interesting. This sword with a leather protective cushion and weighing 8.25 kg belonged, judging by its pommel, to Prince Juan of Austria (1547-1578), who commanded the fleet of the Christian League at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. (Dresden Armory)
The earliest samples had a straight, flat, or rhombic blade in cross-section, which later began to be equipped with double-sided hooks located behind the crosshair, which were supposed to hold and hook the enemy's blades. In the XVI century. swords with wavy and even sawtooth blades also appear, while their very length reached human height and weighed from 1, 4 to 2 kg. Moreover, in England, similar swords appeared only around 1480.
Italian sword pommel of the 16th century. Weight 295 g (Metrolithin Museum, New York)
Renaissance two-handed swords should be discussed separately. They clearly differed from the "battle swords" of the Middle Ages, not only in details, but also in such important indicators as length, weight and tactics of their use in battle.
These are the swords of the Renaissance. Intimidating, but very, very specific, like a weapon.
The two-handed sword of that time (Thomas Laible uses the term "bidenhender") had a total length of 160 to 180 centimeters, that is, it could be equal in height to a man. They did not have scabbards, since they were worn, placed on the shoulder like a pike. The part of the blade adjacent to the handle was usually not sharpened, but covered with skin in order to grab it with your hands and act as if a warrior had a rifle with a bayonet in his hands! Very often the blades at the end of their not sharpened part had two additional parrying hooks. That is, as a medieval battle sword, the sword of the Renaissance could not be used. And it was by no means used by horsemen, infantrymen, to punch holes in the ranks of the enemy's peak. Since it was in a sense a weapon of suicide bombers, only very strong and well-trained warriors, who received double salaries for this, could handle such two-handed swords. Therefore, they were called "double mercenaries".
These swords, 180 and 210 cm long and weighing 4 and 4.8 kg, belong to the era of the reign of Duke Augustus of Saxony. They came to the Dresden Armory from the duke's arsenal in 1833. (Dresden Armory)
During the 16th century, such swords were used less and less in battles, but they were used as ceremonial weapons. They began to arm honor guards (which represented a kind of PR), since such swords made a strong impression on people. They began to be carried out in front of a special monarch or monarch who came out into the throne room, which only emphasized their strength and power of power. Such swords began to reach two meters in size and were magnificently decorated. The arches of the crosspieces began to bend playfully in different directions, and the blades themselves were sharpened in waves (the flamberg sword), although this no longer played any special role.
But oriental swords, in general, in most cases were lighter than European ones and had a different shape of the guard. Before you is a Chinese sword of the 17th century. Length 92.1 cm. Weight 751.3 g. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
By the way, the record for size belongs to the ceremonial swords of the guards of Prince Edward of Wales, when he was still the Earl of Chester (1475-1483). The length of these monsters reached 2.26 meters. Needless to say, they had absolutely no practical significance.
Daggers were a serious addition to the knight's sword. For example, in Italy, basilard was popular - a dagger with an H-shaped handle.
Basilard 1540 Length 31.8 cm. Weight 147.4 g. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
A dagger with a faceted blade and a characteristic shape of the handle with bulges at the place of the crosshair was called the bullock or "kidney dagger".
Bullock 1450-1500 Length 35.7 cm. Weight 190 g. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Rondel had a handle with two discs, which is why it was called that.
Rondel XIV century England. Length 33 cm. Weight 198.4 g. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
The Cinquedea, however, was not a knightly dagger - it was a weapon of the Italian townspeople of the Renaissance.
Cinquedea 1500 Length 30.3 cm Weight 200 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
However, more details about all these daggers will be described in the next article.
