New Article on Two-Handed Great Sword Weight

[Scott Richards]

This is an excellent and highly informative article. For me it highlights a question that I hope some of our more experienced colleagues can answer: How much of what we study here that is based upon Medieval and Renassaince texts were intended for battlefield use only, were intended for personal combat for defense or honor, or were able to cross over between the two? In other words, when we peruse the texts of these documents are we looking at ancient battlefield manuals or are these guides to personal martial arts, or did they serve both purposes?

Thank you,
Scott

[Pierre Planas]

Hi

I have a question about the length of two handed swords in relation to their use. I kinda understand that the bigger greatswords (1.80m and above) were used mostly as ceremonial and symbolic items. Do we have any evidence of swords of this length having had a military practical use?

In the article, the list of great sword from the Swedish Royal Armoury of Stockholm list one sword 1.79m long as a non-ceremonial two hander, and a couple longer than 1.80 as ceremonial. The list for the arsenal of Graz lists several swords around or above 1.80m, but doesn't give any indication about their actual use.