[Matthew P. Adams]

Hello, I have a great sword question,

First, by great sword what I refer to is the sword represented by Purple Heart armory's great sword waster. About 53 inches over all, with 11 or so inches of grip. Not a six foot bidden hander, which I think of more as a pole arm.

Would the Great sword be used with the same techniques as Fiore, or Ringneck? It seems to me that an extra four inches of blade, and another four on the grip wouldn't make all that much difference. And if it did it would only add to reach and leverage. I have looked around on the internet and can't seem to find anything relating to this size weapon. In fact the term Great Sword seems to be used to describe large, wide bladed, cleaving war swords, the larger German Two handed swords, and the renaissance two handers.

Specifically I am interested in the historic use of the AT-1592 Danish longsword, and the weapons it represents.

Thank you for your time, Matthew

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Matthew P. Adams]

Is their some kind of formula to determine an "ideal" sword length, or is it more about whats comfortable? Or maybe I'm just over thinking things... wouldn't be the first time.

I have been using my great sword waster in my Fiore classes without any problems, I picked the great sword because I liked the extra length in the handle. I had planned to cut down the blade down to 39 inches, but as it never presented a problem, I never got around to it.

I guess the main thing is what my instructor thinks, and he has one himself.

[Steven H]

[Eric W. Norenberg]

Hello Matthew,

This article may be worth a read:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html

I don't claim to be an authority on this (or much else), but the dimensions you gave for that waster are bigger, I think, than the "grete swerd of war" (say, the type XIIa or XIIIa of the 13th - 14th c.), so the later german long swords and the zweihanders are probably more the model for usage to consider - the ARMA essay should be relevant.

Somewhere I ran across a proportional "ideal" for the smaller of the bigger swords (if that makes sense - I mean the two handers that "work" more like a sword than like a polearm); the pommel should either reach your chin or armpit, with point grounded, and either the entire hilt or just the grip should be the length of the weilder's forearm. Hardly definitive, but it seems to work in the same way that George Silver's "ideal" proportions for the long sword do.

Best,
Eric

[Craig Peters]

The swords illustrated in Goliath certainly qualify as great swords, and they do not appear to be used any differently.

[Craig Shira]

.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Patrick De Block]

Hello,

Apart from Goliath and the Spadone, you could also have a look at the Montante. On the site of Arms and Armor the Rules of Figueyredo are published. They are great drills.

[Bill Grandy]

[Bill Grandy]

[Stefan Rasmussen]

Hmm. . .I belive to have read about a spanish fencingmaster, mentioning that a longsword should reach the armpit of the individual, and the guard should be as wide as the length of the handle to maximize it's use. I don't remember where excatly I'm affarid. Hope that was useful.

[Matthew P. Adams]

Thank you for all the information! This site never disappoints.

And seems to be as I thought, that the techniques are basically the same. I just had never seen anything specifically referring to this size weapon, but if its used in the same manner then their wouldn't be any need to create a treatise for just that.

[James Anderson III]

[Steven H]

[Jean Thibodeau]

I wonder if one factor that affects the techniques when swords are much longer than the longsword is that if one isn't careful the sword's point can hit the ground or get stuck in the ground if used at the same angles. As the blade becomes longer the angles that work with a shorter blade has to be changed and at the extreme this makes some techniques impossible to do correctly since the angles are modified to the degree that the guards or master strokes have to be modified or the numbers of effective techniques are reduced in number.

On the other hand range is affected and can be used to advantage, and with halfswording with a very long sword the techniques sort of start to resemble the use of a polearm.

Additionally a very big weapon can't be carried around as a civilian every day sword unless carried on the shoulder i.e. too long for scabbard carry. The very big swords become battlefield weapons only while the longsword is closer to a side arm and back up weapon like a handgun rather than carrying a rifle.

Weight also affects technique as well as the very long and heavy sword become two handed weapons only where freeing up one hand to do some close range wresting or grabbing become difficult as the very big sword becomes hard to control and use at the same time. I imagine that one could still grab with the off hand but the hand still on the sword would just be able to hold the sword but not able to do too much more at any speeed or control/recovery.

Mostly just speculations I'm throwing out there for discussion and questions about what does change when a sword become too big for longsword techniques and must be used in a different way with it's own optimum techniques.

[Steven Reich]

Jean, you raise some interesting points...