to stand up against increasingly heavy weapons (e.g., poleaxes, halberds,
war-hammers, etc.).
The medieval European long-sword is seen in countless adventure and
fantasy films, but the use of a longer blade gripped in two hands was ac-
tually not all that common during the medieval period. A long-sword style
only became practical during the 1300s and 1400s, when plate-armor be-
came tough enough to discard a shield in favor of using both hands on a
longer sword that could make stronger blows yet still allow a free hand to
reach out to grapple.
A variety of blades may be categorized as “long-swords” (German
Langenschwertor Italian spada longaand espadon), which were charac-
terized by both a long blade and a long handle for use in two hands. They
range from war-swords and great-swords to the estocor tuck(a form of
long, rigid, pointed, triangular or square-bladed, and virtually edgeless
sword designed for thrusting into plate-armor). Each kind has its own sub-
tle characteristics. All were wielded and handled in the same general man-
ner but with particular differences among them depending upon length,
blade cross-shape and taper, balance point, center of percussion, and han-
dle/grip configuration.
Long infantry blades that could not be used in a single hand, being
weighty enough to demand a double grip, were “great-swords.” Their blades
might be flat and wide or, later on, more narrow and hexagonal or diamond-
shaped. These larger swords capable of facing heavier weapons such as pole-
arms and larger axes were devastating against lighter armors. Long, two-
handed swords with narrower, flat hexagonal blades and thinner tips (such
as the Italian spadone) were a response to plate-armor. Against plate-armor
such rigid, narrow, and sharply pointed swords were not used in the same
chop and cleave manner as the flatter, wider swords. Instead, they were han-
dled with tighter movements that emphasized their thrusting points and al-
lowed for greater use of the hilt. Those of the earlier parallel-edged shape
were more apt to be known as war-swords, while later the thicker, tapering,
sharply pointed form were more often called bastard-swords. Some were in-
tended more for cutting while others were better for thrusting. The term
two-hander or two-handed sword(épée à deux mains) refers to specialized
forms of Renaissance weapons, such as the Swiss/German Dopplehänder
(both-hander) or Beidenhänder (double-hander). These immense blades, up
to 6 feet long, were used primarily for fighting against pike-square forma-
tions, where they were used to hack paths by lopping the tips off the pole-
arms. During the mid- to late 1400s, swords of all lengths began to adopt
guards with various protective rings and bars on their hilts. The addition of
these extra guards was the result of a new method of gripping, which came
into use as a result of the need for increased thrusting attacks.
Swordsmanship, European Medieval 575