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    Knightly Sword

    Uploaded by

    Alejandro Carlos Calero

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Knightly Sword

    Uploaded by

    Alejandro Carlos Calero
    16 views1 page

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    Knightly sword

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    16 views1 page

    Knightly Sword

    Uploaded by

    Alejandro Carlos Calero

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as txt, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    In the European High Middle Ages, the typical sword (sometimes academically

    categorized as the knightly sword, arming sword, or in full, knightly arming sword)
    was a straight, double-edged weapon with a single-handed, cruciform (i.e., cross-
    shaped) hilt and a blade length of about 70 to 80 centimetres (28 to 31 in). This
    type is frequently depicted in period artwork, and numerous examples have been
    preserved archaeologically.

    The high medieval sword of the Romanesque period (10th to 13th centuries) developed
    gradually from the Viking sword of the 9th century. In the Late Medieval period
    (14th and 15th centuries), late forms of these swords continued to be used, but
    often as a sidearm, at that point called "arming swords" and contrasting with the
    two-handed, heavier longswords.

    Though the majority of late-medieval arming swords kept their blade properties from
    previous centuries, there are also surviving specimens from the 15th century that
    took the form of a late-medieval estoc, specialised for use against more heavily
    armoured opponents. After the end of the medieval period, the arming sword
    developed into several forms of the early modern one-handed straight swords, such
    as the side-sword, the rapier, the cavalry-focused Reiterschwert and certain types
    of broadsword.

    Terminology
    The term "arming sword" (espées d'armes) is first used in the 15th century to refer
    to the single-handed type of sword after it had ceased to serve as the main weapon
    and was on its way to being used as a side-sword.[1] "Arming sword" in late
    medieval usage specifically refers to the estoc when worn as a side-arm,[2] but as
    a modern term it may also refer to any single-handed sword in a late medieval
    context. The terms "knight's sword" or "knightly sword" are modern terms to specify
    the sword of the high medieval period.

    Period terminology for swords is somewhat fluid. Mostly, the common type of sword
    in any given period would simply be referred to as "sword" (English swerde, French
    espée, Latin gladius etc.). During the high medieval period, references to swords
    as "great sword" (grete swerd, grant espée) or "small" or "short sword" (espée
    courte, parvus ensis) do not necessarily indicate their morphology, but simply
    their relative size. Oakeshott (1964) notes that this changes in the late medieval
    period, beginning towards the end of the 13th century, when the "bastard sword"
    appeared as an early type of what developed into the 15th-century longsword.[3]

    The term "romanesque sword" does not see significant use in English, but it is more
    current in French (epée romane), German (romanisches Schwert), and especially in
    Slavic languages (such as Czech románský meč), identifying the swords as being
    contemporary with the corresponding Romanesque period in art history (roughly 1000
    to 1300).

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