Two handed swords -- myArmoury.com

Rodolfo Martínez · Posted: Thu 07 Dec, 2006 1:31 pm Post subject: Two handed swords

Hello genltemen!

I´ve been searching trough Yahoo an Goolge, and i found very hard for me to find the answer to my question.
Did XV century knights used two handed swords in foot combat?
I found info about their longswords, and that those swords were more poular between knights, but no convincent information about if they truly used two handed swords. For example, some sites i visited said that ¨two handers were mercenary only weapns¨ while in others i found ¨Great swords were knightly weapons becouse of their 20 pounds weight¨ and such stuff. I don´t think that this formidable weapons were only used by foot soldiers and not by knights, and i know that their weight was around 4, or 5 pounds.

So, if someone can help me with any accurate link about XV century ¨knightly¨ two hander swords, italian or german ones, in this or in other sites, i will be very grateful.

Thanks to all.

Nathan Robinson · myArmoury Admin

Rodolfo Martínez · Posted: Thu 07 Dec, 2006 1:48 pm Post subject:

Thank you Nathan. Thats why i came to this site, to get accurate info about it. The examples given, like the 20 pound sword was to show how inacurate internet can be, even the same site said that the myth of the ultra heavy armor with the poleyn system to ride a knight on his horse, wasn,t true. And about the mercenary weapon or foot soldier only weapon, i think is not totally true. I find in a lot of sites that longswords were very popular weapons between knights, but almost nothing about two handers. Instead i found something about greatswords, but i don´t know the difference.
Can you explain me the difference between a greatsword and a two handed sword?

Thanks.

Einar Drønnesund · Posted: Thu 07 Dec, 2006 2:52 pm Post subject:

Stephen Hand · Posted: Thu 07 Dec, 2006 4:57 pm Post subject:

In England a two handed sword was any sword designed to be used in two hands. Silver writing at the end of the 16th century said that a perfect two handed sword should have a blade the same length as a perfect single handed sword, which he said was 37-41", hardly a landsknecht two handed sword. The English two handed sword texts include many techniques where one hand is dropped off the grip to get extra reach, again, not something you'd do with a huge sword. So two handed sword was a term that meant a great many things to a great many people. We have a tendency to over categorise. We want to pigeon hole everything neatly. This isn't always possible and doesn't seem to be how our ancestors did things at all. Don't get too hung up trying to neatly categorise things more precisely than the people who used them did.

Cheers
Stephen

Marc-Antoine Jean · Posted: Thu 07 Dec, 2006 8:30 pm Post subject:

simple....a two handed is a sword that requires both hands to be used efficiently. SO a longsword, in my opinion can be considered as a two handed sword.
Historically it apprears that the Swisses used real two handed swords around 1480. Maybe some were used before (burgundian war maybe). But in the Swiss federation the soldiers were citizen soldiers (no knight). Anyway, in the 15th century the war wasn't necessarely a knightly thing. Qui plus est, the longsword and the earlier two handers are mostly considered to be used as a duel weapon. The Swiss used that sword on battlefields but it appears that it is not a generality, I think.
On foot combat the sword was mainly a secondary weapon when the combat begins to be pretty close. Even if it is 5 fet long, a sword used with both hands is really deadly and effective in pretty close combat. But in the battlefield a sword is useless against armours....

so...we can talk about two handers for hours....and we'l still have something more to say

Rodolfo Martínez · Posted: Thu 07 Dec, 2006 8:55 pm Post subject:

So, no two handers for knight?
I saw armours with two handed swords ( Those italian two handers similar to William Wallace´s early claymore, but with siderings, not a zweihander) but i don´t remember if they were medieval. But i´m not sure. I saw landsknecht armours too, wielding flamberges. Even ther are XV century two handed sword, at leas in the second half. So, you say that two handers were only for mercenaries?

Take a look to the armour titled ¨Armatura seconda metà secolo XVI° (Was this a parade armour, or a mercenary armor? It´s a XVI century armour, but there were no knights but military order´s ones in that century)
http://www.deltin.net/photogallery.htm