myArmoury.com - 16th century Longsword

Posts: 322

Fri 04 Nov, 2005 10:26 am

16th century Longsword

Hello everyone,
I'm new here though I've been visiting this page for quite some time now. I found this page during the research for a paper of mine about the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great. Despite the fact that this page had only very little information about my topic I couldn't stop reading. It was just too interesting :)
Since then I've learned a lot about swords and many of my prejudices about medevial swords have been cleared. Thx a lot for this very informative and useful page!

Just found this beautiful longsword on the Hermann Historica auction site!
I love these finger-rings. But I'm not sure what kind of blade this actually is. XVa or rather a XVIII one?
Any kind of opinion on this sword would be highly appreciated :D

A German hand-and-a-half sword

circa 1530/40
The thrusting blade of diamond section with small fullers on both sides, the finger and loop guards on the hilt with finely chiselled decorative bands, the conically flaring round quillons struck with wave ornaments, the stepped grip covered with leather and the onion-shaped pommel with lightly twisted grooves. Length 131 cm.

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Bill Grandy

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Posts: 4,194 Location: Northern VA,USA

Fri 04 Nov, 2005 10:32 am

That is a gorgeous sword! I would call the blade an Oakeshott XVIIIb.

I'd love to see more complex hilted longswords in the modern repro market. I know MRL has some from time to time.

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David Black Mastro

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Posts: 279 Location: Central NJ

Fri 04 Nov, 2005 12:13 pm

Yeah, that's a really sweet sword...

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Edward Hitchens

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Posts: 819 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Fri 04 Nov, 2005 9:32 pm

Wolfgang,

That's a beautiful sword. Thanks for posting those pics! I would say that's a Type XVIIIa (or possible 'b'). -Ted

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Jeremiah Swanger

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Posts: 558 Location: Central PA

Sat 05 Nov, 2005 1:38 am

Re: 16th century Longsword

Wolfgang Armbruster wrote:

Hello everyone,
I'm new here though I've been visiting this page for quite some time now. I found this page during the research for a paper of mine about the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great. Despite the fact that this page had only very little information about my topic I couldn't stop reading. It was just too interesting :)
Since then I've learned a lot about swords and many of my prejudices about medevial swords have been cleared. Thx a lot for this very informative and useful page!

Just found this beautiful longsword on the Hermann Historica auction site!
I love these finger-rings. But I'm not sure what kind of blade this actually is. XVa or rather a XVIII one?
Any kind of opinion on this sword would be highly appreciated :D

Guten abend, Wolfgang!

The difference between XV's and XVIII's can be pretty subjective at times, but the deciding factor resides in the profile taper of the blade. If the taper is immediate and triangular, meaning the taper angle does not change from the hilt to the point, then the sword is considered a XVa. The example you posted has a more gradual, curved taper, which safely places it in category XVIII.

Because the blade is very slim, the taper is very gradual, and the grip is long and waisted, I think it would be quite safe to classify this sword as an XVIIIb, though Oakeshott's later works later folded the longer XVIII sub-types into XVIIIa. Thus, virtually any long-hilted variant of a Type XVIII blade is now referred to as an XVIIIa.

Thank you for posting that picture, Wolfgang! It is a very beautiful example of a late knightly longsword with a strong Teutonic flavor.

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Wolfgang Armbruster

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Posts: 322

Sat 05 Nov, 2005 1:56 am

Thanks for the replies!
Yeah I guess it's right to assume that this one belongs to the XVIII family.
I was a little bit surprised to see a complex hilted XVIII sword since I've only seen finger- and side-rings on later more cutting oriented swords. But it looks great on this one :D

I guess it's almost impossible to use this sword with gauntlets due to the finger-rings. However, that's just speculation on my part ;)

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