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Swords in the Middle Ages and other historical periods were most likely just called "swords." There were no names given to them. Over time, however, historians began to associate the blades with specific names resulting in their present-day nomenclature.So, how many types of swords were there?It's difficult to answer that with any certainty. What we will do in this blog is differentiate popular European medieval and Renaissance swords in terms of...

Studying the Long Sword of War at my private school of arms, the longsword is the foundational introductory weapon of my curricula in the Art and Science of Defence. At present, I have a particular novice student who is challenging to teach. It's a challenge for me not because of any lack of aptitude or effort on the part of the student, but because every student needs to be taught a little differently. This might mean taking a certain approach t...

As arms and weapons evolved knights could find themselves in situations where they might enter a battle on horseback but leave it on foot, thus the need arose for a sword that was short enough to wield on foot and yet long enough to reach targets from horseback. Enter the longsword, which was really just a longer and heavier version of the typical sword. These blades were effective against plate armored foes as well as being devastating against l...