I was just wondering has anyone ever seen a bastard sword with parrying hooks? I was more looking for something more historical if anyone knows of one.

You'll find parrying hooks only on real two-handers / Bidenhaender / Greatswords or whatever you wanna call them.
A normal longsword / bastardsword / one and a half sword doesn't need any since its blade is way too short. You wouldn't be able to carry one in a scabbard with those pointy things sticking out ;)

My younger brother's sword has parrying hooks.

Oh... wait... sorry. I was responding to the title of your post rather than the message itself. ;)

Parrying lugs yes, not parrying hooks.

In Oakeshott's "The Sword in the Age of Chivalry", Fig 45 shows a hand and a half sword with a short ricasso, and the lugs. Part of the text next to the illustration:

".......indeed I only know of two examples, onw which used to be in the De Cosson Collection, and another which is in the Armeria Real at Madrid. Both are hand and a half swords, but are characterised by having small lugs projecting from each edge just below the ricasso. The De Cosson example {fig 45} is a particularly handsome weapon, its grip and pommel of a form characteristic of the period 1410 - 1440."

So "parrying" lugs did exist on fifteenth century hand and a half swords...........

Augus

Are these swords shown in Records of the Medieval Sword?

Thanks for the reply guys, especially to Angus for finding some :)

I shall try to get hold of a copy of the above meantioned books...but being in Australia the postage costs more than the value of the book, making them really expensive.

Thanks again.

I've seen the sword in the Real Armeria, but I wouldn't call the small projections parrying hooks, but rather just small lugs. I'm not even sure what the purpose would be. Seems far too small to be an effective guard. I am inclined to think of them as more decorative than anything else. The sword would be too short for them to be really effective as a guard for the hand.

Angus Trim wrote:

Parrying lugs yes, not parrying hooks. In Oakeshott's "The Sword in the Age of Chivalry", Fig 45 shows a hand and a half sword with a short ricasso, and the lugs. Part of the text next to the illustration:

I'm not sure I'd call these things parrying lugs as much as them being a decorative ricasso, personally but this sword has been discussed in Another Topic for anybody wanting more information.

This seems to be the sword that many use for inspiration (and historical validation?) of many fantasy/contempory sword designs.

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I've often wondered if swords like these were inspired by the practice swords used commonly in Germanic countries (see attached image from the Meyer manuscript). Perhaps someone just liked the design and wanted a sharp made this way. I've also wondered if perhaps such a sword started out it's life as a practice sword, and later was reground into a sharp. I don't really think that second one is the case, but I suppose we'll never know for sure.

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Bill;

Could these winged ricasso be there to spare the guard from some damage and extend the useful life of the training sword ?

Any advantage at controlling an opponents blade a couple of inches from the guard rather than just at the guard ?

Could be to train one to avoid letting the opponents sword slip into contact with the guard and use the forte at least 2" / 3" from the guard ? All this assuming that one would rather not usually use the guard if one has the choice.

I have no idea if this makes sense: Clever or Not ? :lol: