![]() By the close of the Middle Ages, swords increasingly are stouter and more sharply pointed, being optimized for the thrust, the cut having been rendered less effective by improvements in armor. Essentially all of the earliest medieval swords and many throughout the period were designed to cut, having surprisingly thin blades, especially towards the tip, which was often rounded. At the opening of the Middle Ages these medieval swords tended to have blades just under a yard in length with a grip designed to accommodate a single hand the other hand being concerned with the grip of a shield. the blades of medieval Europe (approximately 500 to 1500 AD) evolved from steel Celtic swords, which in turn arose from a tradition of straight, double-edged swords which began with bronze swords as early as 1,500 BC. We always try to make elegant, historically accurate, authentically 'battle-ready' pieces of excellent craftsmanship.Welcome to our selection of medieval swords. When people ask us if our swords are 'battle-ready' this is what we explain. What we have consistently striven to do over the past three decades is to craft swords and other weapons that excel at the historical uses for which they were intended. Tools need to be judged on how they accomplish the tasks for which they are designed. Nor would you test the quality of a Ferrari by trying to knock down a large tree with it. To put this argument into more accessible terms, you wouldn't say that the criteria for a rifle to be a good gun was that you could hammer nails into the wall with it. While some types of steel and some degrees of tempering might be more or less resistant to this use, any sword that will stand up to repeatedly hacking trees, cinder blocks, or any other hard object will necessarily be either too heavy to function as a good fighting weapon, or it will have too little distal taper to move well in the hand as is necessary for historical forms of combat. In order for a sword to cut down a tree it must have a relatively thick cross section to prevent it being destroyed by the abuse. Historical swords were not made to accomplish the tasks that many YouTube audiences seem to desire. ![]() For example, even the largest sword in our catalogue, the 15th Century Two Hander, which is almost 60" long weighs only six pounds and is fast and agile in the hand. You do not need a ten pound sword to cut someone in half. Additionally, light swords cut people very well. Overly heavy swords might be really good at chopping things, but they are unwieldy and make it difficult for even a skilled fighter to protect themselves from an opponents counter attacks. One of the primary merits of swords over many other weapons is that they are great for both offensive and defensive action. This relates to the need for a sword not just to kill other people, but to help protect its wielder from being killed. Historical swords are lighter than most people think. These tasks included preventing yourself from being killed, harming your opponent, training to do both of these things, and giving aesthetic enjoyment through beauty of form and elegance of handling.Ĭheck out this video of historical fencing techniques from the Italian fencing tradition of Maestro Fiore de Liberi. At Arms and Armor we think that modern swords should be built for the same tasks that historical swords were built for. So, if being able to utterly destroy large kitchen appliances without getting dull is not, in fact, a good test of a sword, what is? The characteristics of historically accurate swordsĪ good sword is one that effectively accomplishes the tasks for which it is designed. Now, this may be entertaining to watch, but we would argue that a piece of sharpened steel's ability to carry out these tasks in no way demonstrates that it is, in fact, a high quality, historically accurate, or even a reasonably 'good' sword. The concept of battle ready swords has continued to evolve in popular culture with various Internet personalities and TV hosts cleaving cement blocks in twain, chopping down trees, and hewing at giant blocks of ice to 'test' the quality of swords they've gotten their hands on. ![]() But the common understanding of how you use a sword has changed a great deal in the last few decades and most knowledgable sword buyers now understand that trying to use a sword for jobs best left to car crushers, sledge hammers and wrecking balls is asking for trouble. The idea of battle readiness emerged in the 1980's from catalogues and on the Home Shopping Network to suggest that certain swords would stand up to use or even abuse.
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