Well I've had my crecy for about a week now and am loving it, in my inexperienced hands it feels very natural but have to say it's more of a 2 than a 1 hander. With this in mind I've already started planning my next purchase and was hoping the experience here could help me narrow my choice down so I'm ready to move when the price is right ;)

Ok these are what I'm looking at;
Albion knight
Albion poitiers
Albion squire

I would love to here the pros and cons of each and in particular I'd love to get the opinions of those that have handled them and can compare their handling differences. I have read the reviews on all three and all would seem to be perfect for me. I am curious, I have seen many posts from owners of the knight but have only found 1 post of a squire owner on another forum and most of the squire threads I found were sale posts? I get the feeling that the knight is more popular than both the Poitiers and the Squire?

Thanks in advance

Paul

Paul I have owned an Albion Regent, Knight, Machiavelli, Sovereign & Knecht, purchased in that order. The Knight is still my favourite by quite a stretch. This may change as I get to handle the Knecht more but that is how my opnion stands at the moment. Unfortunately I have not handled the other two you are considering but just to throw more into the mix and complicate your situation I would say get your hands on an Oakeshott if you can before you make the decision to purchase, it is the most nimble sword I have ever held. The Knight is the least elaborate looking of those I have had, but in some ways to me it has the most subtle visual details and therefore I came to appreciate it more than the others. It is what it is.

As far as cutting is concerned, on one occasion against that traditional high middle ages foe the 1 litre plastic milk jug I cut an empty bottle in half once, no water to weigh it down just one hell of a wide swing and wham it was in two. Not historically or martially relevant but still fun to do.

Hi Paul,

I have only handled the knight you mention as a possibility. I absolutely love this sword. If I didn't have a Solingen (which handles differently but is from the same era) I would purchase a one. THe knight seems to me to be quite a bit more responsive than the Solingen. Still, I do prefer the Solingen but primarily because this is a repiica of a specific historical sword.

I found the Knight to have just a great balance of manuverability and "kick" if you will. It felt so natural in the hand it was ridiculous. I should say that I like a sword with at least a bit of blade pressence and the knight does have this characteristic.

You really can't go wrong.

Watch out -- Albion swords are addicting :D

The answer depends of course on where your interests lie, i.e. time period of interest, what you intend to do with the sword (handling vs cutting) etc

Now I hate to criticise any Albion sword, but you asked for personal experience and I would say that after having the Poitiers for awhile I found that I preferred the slightly larger Constable/Mercenary, that is the XVa over the XV. I really love my Constable. And for a short (sub 30 inch) cut and thrust arming sword of early 15th c., I prefer the A&A Henry V. But thats just my preference - your mileage as they say will vary..............

The Knight and Prince are wonderful swords but from two different periods with one being more cut oriented and the other being stiffer and of a cross section suitable for thrusting. There's lots of threads to read on both of them here that you can find with a little searching. You might also want to consider the Albion type XVIII - the Kingmaker and the Burgundian which is another of my favorite 15th c Albion single hand swords.

I have the Squire and I love it. I prefer it to the knight and the poitiers which I have handled as well. Its very light and quick, beautifully balanced.

With regards to cutting ability and historical relevance it is probably worth searching out Michael Edelsons test cutting against jacks. The later type swords in many or some respects performed better at cutting than the earlier cut oriented swords.

Paul,

The Knight is like the Crecy made for one hand. What I love about my Knight is its superb balance between handling characteristics and cutting capacity. It is an excellent cutter due to its lenticular cross section, and yet it's surprisingly light and handy when you wield it. It is one of the more agile single-handed cutting swords that you can own.

You might also want to consider: do you like swords merely because of the hilt configuration and appearance, or does time period matter at all to you? The Knight is a classic 13th century weapon, perhaps appropriate for the earliest decades of the 14th as well. The Squire is most appropriate for roughly the first half of the 14th century. The Poitiers is probably appropriate for the 14th century, and perhaps part way into the 15th century as well.

Although I have not handled it, I have handled numerous of the XVas, and they are among the most agile and nimble swords you can own. My guess is that it is going to be light, quick and responsive. It will puncture more easily than the Knight will, but you'll find that if you're cutting against targets that offer much resistance, the Knight will cleave much more deeply and easily. If you like the feeling of the Crecy in hand when you split open a cutting target, you should go with the Knight, as it can still thrust quite effectively, and cleaves in a way that the Poitiers cannot. If you want to try a very fast, light and agile sword, go with the Poitiers.

I imagine the Squire is going to be something of a blend of these two types. Since you already have a sword in the XVI family, I would recommend trying another type, like the Knight or Poitiers, to see how you like them. If for whatever reason you really do not like it, you can always put the sword for sale up here and hopefully recoup most of your cost.

Thanks guys, to be honest the era of the sword isn’t something that I have given all that much consideration to at this point and I have focused more on a look that I like and then the handling capabilities of the sword.

I had also considered the kingmaker and the oakeshott but something, I don’t know exactly what hasnt grabbed me with these swords, which is strange as everything that I have read about them would indicate they are both near perfect performers. I did think it was a bit odd that the Oakeshott was the longest of all the single hander’s I was considering but it was also the lightest, kind of goes against the natural order lol, but I really don’t have much experience in these matters to draw any real conclusions.

Another issue is that of price, which may put the squire out of consideration as the knight and the poitiers are quite reasonably priced. However my real intention is to have in mind the sword I’m after and be ready to move quickly without having to question myself when the price is right.

I have had a bit of a look at A&A but none of there swords really stand out to me, im not sure why, could be a simple issue of there website design but ill give them another look.

Im also a bit limited by my location, being Victoria Australia, as we have very high restrictions on sword ownership which pretty much make it impossible to direct import a sword yourself. I also haven’t come across any local seller/retailer that sells A&A, but im sure the seller I got my crecy from could get hold of any a&a sword. The other problem with living where I do is that I need to rely of the experience of others as there is nowhere I can go for an inspection :(

Anyway from what Im reading the knight would seem to be the perfect complement to my crecy and gives a nice contrast between the two. The squire initially appealed to me for many of the same reasons as the crecy first did but it could be a case of 2 swords a bit to alike. I more put the poitiers in for comparison of the type in handling compared to the others, but I admit that its blade styling like the kingmaker isn’t something that visually appeals to my tastes, at this stage, but this could easily change ;)

Paul, I may be biased but I think it will almost be impossible for you not to be blown away by the Knight. I cannot recall seeing too many of these being sold in the second hand market so that should tell you something.