medieval europe sword styles

Posted by: Anonymous

medieval europe sword styles - 04/17/05 11:17 PM

Does anyone know of a resource for the sword styles of europe during the middle ages? I've done searches on google, but there is little information on the subject, mostly saying that 'texts still exsist on the training' but not much else.

I'm interested on the styles associated with the different weapons at the time, but so little actual information is available I guess
Posted by: xerxes

Re: medieval europe sword styles - 04/18/05 11:11 AM

Look thoroughly at this site:
www.ejmas.com

Also, go here:
www.thearma.org
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: medieval europe sword styles - 04/23/05 09:38 PM

hey thanks! I had no idea the training was so complex, even using the sword for grapples!
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: medieval europe sword styles - 04/27/05 04:04 AM

There are a number of good books written that have translated the old German and Italian manuals:

The Swordmans Companion by Guy Windsor
The Knightly Art of the Longsword by Linholm
Secrets of German German Medieval swordmanship by Christian Tobler

You should read them in that order.

One of the differences that you will see it that European Martial Arts are combat oriented. This is not self-deffence stuff. In the German tradition you are advised to strike first and strike to kill, before your opponent kills you. European swordmanship is not about looking good , it is about winning battles.

One of the differences you will see is that Longsword fighting centers around thrusts rather then slashes and cuts. This is because the thrust is more deadly. You want to get straight to the vital organs. That is also why the European longsword is long and pointy. The cuts are only made to create an opertunity for a thrust. Thrust are also prefered because Europeans typicly wore armor into battle. A cut is useless against armor. They used pointy swords to try to get into opening under the armpits, in the knee and elbow joints, the eye slits and any where else they could.

Europeans also used half-swording methods (placing one hand on the blade) and even hammer methods (holding the sword blade by both hands and using the pommel and crossgaurd as a hammer against heavy armor). In the European longsword its win anyway you can.

I have a full list of books on this at the bottom of my webpage: http://mysite.verizon.net/tsafa1/swordreview.htm

[This message has been edited by tsafa (edited 04-27-2005).]