Hello all,

Just bought this sword and was curious, is this is a historically accurate sword? I love it... it handles with such ease and is so agile and precise. It's got a 3" point of balance and weighs 1lb 14oz's with a length of 35 1/8" overall.

I can't find a lot of info on it... does anyone else own it? What are you guys' thought on it if so, and on Valiant Armoury in general? I'm really impressed so far. Were swords of this size and weight used often in the middle ages?

Here's a few pics for the hell of it.

It looks like a combination of parts that are each independently somewhat historically inspired. I'm unaware of anything from history that would be the same as that combination of parts, however.

VA makes really good products at a good value as far as I'm concerned. Their focus isn't specifically historically researched items and I don't believe their intended customer base expects it to be.

I concur with Nathans views. I have a fair few and they are just fun to have and hold, always pleasing in the hand but nothing I could point out as being faithful copies.

I just wanted to chime in and state that your sword is a really neat little bastard sword. I'm honestly shocked at how light that weapon is, even if you're dealing with what must only be a 26" to 28" blade. That said, it's probably not a good choice for a battlefield weapon.

I'd also state that I'm quite a fan of historically inspired/historically viable weapons rather than being a stickler for reproductions only. There is something to taking what we have learned from the past (where direct historical reproductions are of tremendous importance) and using that information to make something new which will serve its purpose well according to the needs of the user, though using a sword in anger is something to be avoided (perhaps unthinkable, even). That is where what you've got fits in, of course. :)

To be more precise, it looks like Valiant Armoury has matched hilt furnishings more common on Type XVIII swords with a blade that's a XVI. As others have said, it's not really a historically accurate combination, and yet it is aesthetically appealing just the same.

Twenty years ago we all would have been thrilled with the swords VA offers and would have seen them as a real game changer. It's nice to see how the field has progressed. I agree with Nathan. Sonny puts out a product that 's very nice in it's own right and offers one of the best values per dollar in the current market. The whole "historically plausible" excuse really distracts from something that's nice in it's own right. For those who demand a higher level of verifiable accuracy there are many makers offering that. For someone who simply wants a nice sword at an affordable price, I think Valiant Armory offers the most in that niche.

Valiant Armory is also happy to do fitting Exchange between their models. You could order Brighton fittings on some of their longsword blades for a more historical look.

I guess my main curiosity was... was the sword used (or swords like this) or would it be viable for battle or a sword that someone would carry on their person for defensive purposes? Were there any swords of this weight and size used in battle in the middle ages? It's a wicked little cutter and can cut fast and poke holes like crazy, it's just so light and I don't think it would have performed well against any type of armor. Probably would have been good at finding those venerable spots in armor and piercing but perhaps that's it? I'm new to all this.

You guys have quelled my curiosity. Thanks!

Swords of this size were not used for battering armour, they were used in armoured fighting however. For the types of techniques used, search for Fiore di Liberi project.

To my knowledge, there's no extant swords with this sort of extended hilt on such a short blade/overall length. With a different pommel and a similar grip, it would be a small one-handed sword, but normal enough.

Short light one-handers would probably not be chosen as battlefield weapons, but are easy to carry around and likely turned up on battlefields occasionally.

There are some messers in this general range of proportions - short blade, extended hilt. So if someone did have such a sword, then messer fencing might be a way they'd have used it.

Mostly, I agree with the posts above: this isn't a historical sword, although most of the elements are historically based. It's a nice budget modern sword, though.

I was going to post this a day or so ago, then thought better of it, and now find myself coming back to this again:

Nathan, I think you made quite an excellent statement regarding plausiblity/viability the other day. However, I think I was coming at the matter from a slightly different tangent. I was not meaning to imply that this would have been typical of the weapons of the day, but plausible/viable in the sense that:

1. The sword appears to be "mechanically effective" as a weapon.

2. The sword can be employed effectively with known techniques of the assumed period. ...The fishtail pommel gives a 15th century feel to the sword in my mind, for that matter.

To conclude on this point, I think Patrick described this as "nice in its own right," which of course I agree with. Again, "something new which will serve its purpose well according to the needs of the user," is all I was trying to emphasize - not at all that this was a truly historically inspired piece.