twohanded sword vs hand and half sword

stage roll by aramis (slovakia) in koprivnica renesans festival 2008. suprem tehique of fencing.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• medieval
• fencing
• sword

[PeterTvonK]

The group is not called Aramis, it´s Sarus.

[aureusunicornis]

@PeterTvonK sorry but the name of thos group is aramis. i now that bacuse they are friends of me

[Cirithungul]

Fantastic fight! You need to come to NY Ren faires!

[aureusunicornis]

@Cirithungul if you call us we come

[Aserox]

I hear the real hand and a half swords used for fights were much lighter than two handed swords, so they could be used at quicker speeds, but for that reason were more fragile. Is it true, or do I just have my facts wrong? :<

[aureusunicornis]

@Aserox yes, hand and half sword was much lighter. about fragile moment. us i know each tipe of sword have there specifications. so wouldn tall that hand and half sword was more fragile.

[elgostine]

@KnightofAshes and generally, the way swords are shaped the fact they are generally reletively narrow, fairly thin most of the time, and often fairly long means theyre under a unique set of stresses that axes and daggers and spears dont need to worry about,

theres alot of harmonics thet go into swords as well though nt in a hyperengineered kind of way

[EvilxMerlin]

@Cainus44

No, the true definition of a longsword is a "Bastard sword". IE a sword that could be one or two handed, but primarily two handed. If you think otherwise, you really need to brush up on your Oakeshott typology.

[Cainus44]

@EvilxMerlin No they aren't. Longswords were one-handed and usually used by cavaliers. 

[EvilxMerlin]

@Cainus44

Of which the hand & half/bastard swords were... I hate those terms, they are just longswords...

[Cainus44]

@EvilxMerlin Again, not necessarily. Claymore comes from the Gaelic word Claiohm mohr, which just means big sword, and was first used by the Irish to refer to any sword larger than the short swords Kerns typically used.

[EvilxMerlin]

@Cainus44

Regardless, the term claymore was first used in reference to a larger two handed weapon used by the Highlanders.

[Cainus44]

@EvilxMerlin Claymore is a poor example of a two-handed sword, considering that during the Jacobite Wars, when they became famous, the term referred to one-handed broadswords.

[KnightofAshes]

@Aserox Hand and a half swords gave you the ablity to use them with one hand or two by being light and long enough for both. They were a little heavier than regular single handed arming swords but lighter than two handed swords. Being manufatured in a similar way, they probably had the same level of durabilaty.

[KnightofAshes]

@Aserox In general, the sword is a fragile weapon. You can't be as dexteroius as a dagger or knife, hack like an axe, and can't thrust like a spear. But swords did, to a lesser extant though, give you the ablity to do all of those types of strikes and have the attributes of each in one weapon.

[DiabolusIgnis]

@Isildun9 Use a longsword. They're great.