Hello everyone!
I have been thing a lot recently about the use of single handed swords in the dark/middle ages.
I'm getting ready to write a medieval fantasy novel and I want one of the characters to use a single handed sword.
I'm wondering if single handed swords were used by themselves. Meaning no shield, no dagger, nothing, just the sword. I want the weapons etc to be relatively historically accurate, and so I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if this was done at all.
Thanks in advance for the information.






- Joel

A riding sword would have been used by itself. It is a self defense weapon a knight would keep at his side when riding around town.

Gauging from what sources we have (period art work, training manuscripts, literature of the time, etc.) it doesn't appear that swords were intentionally used by themselves as a means of both attack and defense. Swords really don't seem to have come into their own in this fashion until the development of the various H&H designs during the high middle ages. For a character interpration from the dark ages up through the early middle ages I'd say that a shield would be a must. Swords certainly had the capability of being used alone, and undoubtedly were if the situation demanded it, but that doesn't appear to have been the primary intent.

Remember, even if you give your character a shield it doesn't have to be a full blown kite or viking style round shield. You could always arm him with a smaller buckler. That might provide some interesting fight narrative.

I agree with what has already been said by others. Most single sword work would have been done with a shield of some sort, with the exception of a few specific secondary uses, such as the arming sword used by archers. You might want to keep that sort of thing in mind if you want a particular character to seem historically accurate. You know, you wouldn't have a Viking carrying a longsword or a Claymore because it's the wrong time period. Do you have a specific period and geographic location for your setting yet? That's a good place to start in order to match up your charcters to weapons. With just a little research, you should be able to make your characters realistic weaponwise.

Joel Thompson

The concensus is pretty universal - single swords were not used by choice in this period under consideration. Later medieval longswords were often used this way, but not a single-hand sword. Even when archers wore a sword, they often carried a buckler with them.

from: http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/pdfs/ayton3.pdf During a period of civil unrest in England in 1357, a crowd of several hundred greenclad men gathers "as if they were a band of robbers and evildoers, with bows and arrows, swords and bucklers" see page 13.

Our fighting group is set to 1260. During this period the single handed sword is the predominant weapon for nobles and soldiers, and is thus the one the we use the most.

Fighting with just the sword is quite challenging.
Since the sword is used for both attack and defence, you can not attack without exposing yourself to the enemy. Even when you are actively defending, you are quite easy to feint or outmanoeuvre.
Due to these factors, there are two main tactics when fighting with a single handed sword:
Evasion, where you are using footwork to stay out of the opponent’s range. This leads to a fluid fight with lots of movement (requiring quite a lot of space. Don’t try this indoors…) It looks good, though…
Controll: The best way to defend is to make sure the opponent does not attack… In single sword this accomplished by grabbing the opponents sword hand, usually after a block. (Yours or his. Makes little difference.) Whit his sword out of the way you can kill him at leisure. If you fail, he might be in a excellent position to slice you up… If you have armour, this is less of a problem, of course.

The main targets for a swordfighter are the enemy’s head and hands, most of all because they are the closest. A singe sword fighter will have a hard time defending his hands, in particular. For the same reason, two weapon fighting is not very popular before the transition to rapiers, that stab rather than strike.

A shield would of course remedy this. But shields are large and cumbersome. They are not the kind of thing that you carry around unless you know you are going to war…

Enter the Buckler. In essence, a buckler is a shield that is small enough to carry around on a regular basis. It is about 30-40 cm in diameter, and is usually carried in a loop that is slipped over the top of the sword scabbard. It is held in hand, NOT strapped to the arm. This would have taken to much time to put on.

The buckler, at least in the I33 fighting manual mentioned earlier, is primarily used to protect the sword hand. Needless to say, this provides a great advantage over a fighter with just a sword. He can attack the opponents hands while protecting himself at the same time, block and strike simultaneously, and so on and so forth.
In I33 the sword is still used to do most of the blocks. (It is easier to block with the sword, and when your life is on the line, you don’t take unnecessary chances.) The bucker is used to protect the hand and control the opponents weapon, in the same way as one would do with the left hand if fighting single sword.

The buckler was the trademark of hotshot young nobles and others looking for a fight. Since no one could deny a noble the right to carry a sword, the city of London banned bucklers in a effort to reduce fatalities from duels.
It is claimed that the term Swashbuckler is derived from “sword and buckler”, but I cannot vouch for this.

So, as far as I recon, a man expecting to get in trouble would get himself a buckler to go with his sword. They are not very expensive, and helps you a LOT.

Yours
Elling

Hi, Elling. In your last post, you said, "Our fighting group is set to 1260. During this period the single handed sword is the predominant weapon for nobles and soldiers, and is thus the one the we use the most." Do you have a source for this assumption? I was under the impression that sword and buckler or some other shield was the predominent weapons combo throughout Europe during this time period. Can you shed a bit more light?
Also, you're right about the Swashbuckler idea. Shakespear even used the phrase in his play, Romeo and Juliet. During a fight (I think it was Mercutio, but it's been a long time since I read it) one of the fighters is cautioned to "remember to swash thy buckler".

Joel

ah... Let me rephrace that... Single handed swords combined with shields or bucklers, as opposed to later longswords and polearms.
Simply trying to say that the swords we use are single handed. ;)

Yours
elling

Hello everyone, thank you very much for all of this information, It has real been interesting.
There was a question earlier about where the story is taking place. The answer to the question is, that the place is entirely fictitious. I suppose the best comparison to what I write is, Brian Jacques "Redwall", C.S. Lewis " Chronicles of Narnia", and Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows". This is to say that people are nonexistent in this story, and are replaced by animals. Though it sounds silly I find that it is best to write what I know. Ever since I was little i have been an animal and sword lover, I was also very imaginative. As such when reading the works of the afore mentioned authors, my own story began to form. I also find that using animals gives me more diversity for characters.
What I mean about historically accurate is this, I want the characters to use weapons that are in description and use to be accurate, The weapons used will be of many different types and from many time periods. Someone with a type X cutting sword and kite shield, may fight along side someone with a small sword, and they along side someone with a trident.
Sorry, i was not more clear on all of this before, i usually refrain from mentioning the animal part of the story so as to avoid the bouts of laughter and glances of " boy, you must be certifiable" that i usually receive. :) Everyones help has been tremendous.
Thanks to everyones help i have decided to give the main hero (a squirrel :)) a hand-and-a-half-sword. I think this will be a good choice for him, especially because it is what I myself prefer to use.
Thanks again for all of the help. Keep comments on the single handed sword use coming, it may very well prove helpful for the development of other characters.



- Joel

Hi, Joel. Actually, I rather like idea of using animals as characters. Perhaps because I write a bit meself. I have that half finished novel on the shelf there. But anyway, I am a decent student of the art of medieval swordsmanship. So, if you're interested, I would be happy to help with written choreography of your sword fights if you intend to describe them in your manuscript. You may wish to e-mail me directly on this, since we're basically moving into a new off-topic thread.

Later,

Joel

for the most part we do semi-contact with steel weapons, and no armour. Target with basic rules are torso, upper arms and thighs. Advanced rules set expands the target area to the whole body, exept the sides of the head, but calls for more protection (steel helmet, knee and elbow pads, shin and underarm guards.)

As with any system there are pros and cons, but overall it works pretty well.

and, oh, Squirels are cool. ;)


Yours
Elling