MRL calls this item the "Flared Long Sword". I am used to seeing this sort of profile only on a training blunt, e.g., Arms & Armor's Fechtbuch Sword, but this MRL piece appears to be configured with a "sharp" blade (though, I'm sure with MRL's standard edge). Were swords of this profile used in actual combat?
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Here is another new item from MRL that they call the "Classic Cinquedea". I have always liked the multi-fullered cinquedeas, though I prefer to see very crisply defined fullers. At this time, MRL's on-line catalog provides no specs on this new piece, other than the $150 price.
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RE: The Flared longsword
Hm. Crazy. And with a diamond cross-section and a sharp point-section, too.

RE: The Cinquedea
I quite like this, for what it is. I agree about the blade. It leaves less an impression than the hilt.

MRL is also offering a new "Two Hand Claymore". I regret to say that I don't know much about these classic swords. I'm more of a "basket head", myself. I like the pommel on MRL's offering, but the grip and the cross seem odd to my un-schooled eye. I like the double fullered blade, though I had the impression that the typical claymore had a less acute point. Here are the MRL specs:
Overall-47 1/2" Blade-38 1/2" long, 1 7/8" wide, 3/16" thick Wt.-4 lbs
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MRL has also put out this "German War Sword". This one doesn't suit my tastes at all, but I suppose it puts a bit more variety into the MRL lineup, with the unusual pommel and wood grip.

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Aesthetically, I think a type XIIa or XIIIa would look better on the German's hilt.

Hello all!
I believe that MRL based the "Flared Long Sword" on the sword in the De Cosson Collection depicted in figure 45 in Oakeshott's The Sword in the Age of Chivalry. Oakeshott's drawing shows a slight flare with lugs, although maybe not as prominent as in MRL's blade. He also mentions another in the Armeria Real at Madrid possessing small lugs projecting from the edge just below the ricasso. He said that these were both ordinary hand-and-a-half swords. He also mentions two handed swords from the period 1450-1525 possessing the same characteristics.
Of course, the MRL sword appears to be their typical attempt at replicating a sword based on a drawing (close, but not exact). However, there were some late medieval and Renaissance battle swords with lugs.
Stay safe!

looks like their trying to make a fectbuch sword (flared longsword) without realising there only for training
my 2 cents

to my own surprise the cinqedea looks alright ide like to see it at diforent angles to get a feel for the profile.

i hear their quality's getting better, anyone have any first hand knolage on what their doing?

Hello all!
I delved deep into my books today and found a few historical swords analogous to MRL's new "German War Sword". (It's test day today in home school, so I had some time to do some research.)
In European and American Arms by Claude Blair, plate 42 shows a south German sword with a roughly similar hilt. The pommel on the historical sword is longer and more elegant than MRL's, and lacks the raised bosses. Also, the historical sword has a ridge down the centre, lined up with the ridge in the blade, instead of on the sides of the pommel. The cross on the MRL German War Sword is longer and "chunkier" than that on the historical sword. The sword shown in Blair's book also has a blade that is wider near the tip, more clearly a typical Oakeshott Type XVIII.
There are several German effigies of the 14th century depicted in drawings in Medieval Arms and Armor: a Pictorial Guide by J.H. Hefner-Alteneck that have scabbarded sword blades of roughly the same profile as the MRL German War Sword. The grip of the sword shown on the effigy of Hartmann of Kroneberg (died 1372) even has the spiral grove like the MRL sword.
I wonder if MRL's German War Sword is really more of a hodgepodge of elements from various swords, a hybrid or chimera sword. I would love to see the original sword in the book they cite on their web site, Arms and Armor from the Atelier of Ernst Schmidt by E. Andrew Moubray. That's a book I don't have!
I hope this was of interest!
Stay safe!

Call me picky, but none of those swords do anything for me.

Brian M

Hello all!
I just noticed that Ernst Schmidt was highlighted in my previous post, so I clicked on it and went to Nathan's article. If Ernst Schmidt made reproductions, does that mean the MRL German War Sword is a copy of a copy?
Looks off to me, anyway, especially with that grey finish on the pommel and cross. Of course, maybe I'm just used to Windlass's trademark mirror finish!
Stay safe!