Michael Edelson wrote: |
That line of thinking is a double edged sword, however, no pun intended.
It is because we don't grow up around these weapons in use that we don't really know what to expect from them. People today expect swords to perform in unrealistic ways, and ways that the type in question was not designed to perform. Who knows why and how a particular sword was used in a particular period? |
The point I was trying to make is that we can't dismiss something just because we don't understand it. :) Those who used that blade style knew why they used it and we can't assume we know more than they do. Their practical knowledge supersedes our own in these matters. It's that simple. It's left to us to figure out how something was used, using period art and text, scholarly works, and sometimes good common sense. And we don't have all the answers. That's why these debates are entertaining.
You think they wouldn't have been useful so you can't imagine why we see them. Someone back them obviously had some use for them. Since we have less knowledge of why than they did, we have to employ some educated guesswork to figure out what that use was. If we can't figure it out, we have to chalk it up to our lack of knowledge compared to theirs. And that's tough for us modern humans to do: admit we can't figure out something that someone figured out centuries before.
A Type XIII blade would be less effective against boars than you might think. The lack of an acute point and the flex some of these have would make them bad for thrusting. All the specialized boar weapons we see are thrusting weapons (spears and swords). And they typically have a crosswise lug to prevent the boar from lurching up the weapon at the weilder. Many bladed weapons for the hunt seem designed to keep the quary as far away as possible, typically at the end of an acutely-pointed thing. Hunting swords, trousses, etc. seemed to be better suited for dispatching a more docile wounded animal (like a deer).
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Maybe some mercenary captain said "Hey, see those XIII's in that church basement? I bet they'd be real good at bringing down horses..let's get a bunch of 'em together and rehilt 'em!"
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A mercenary captain (or anyone else of that time for that matter) wouldn't have known what a XIII was, as that classification system postdates the era in question by hundreds of years. :) But I get your point. :cool:
Were they execution swords? I'm not so sure as we have purpose-built execution swords that look different.
My guess is this:
1) At worst they were at least thought to have some level of effectiveness. That's why they were resurrected. Perhaps a small number were made and found to be useless and ended up in museums.
2) At best, they had some effectiveness or use in some people's minds and were used.
We do know they didn't totally supplant newer types and almost certainly remained a minority. Beyond that, we're guessing. :)