Blog

With John Clements “The sword is the most noble of all arms, and is used by knights, by learned men, and by the skilled fighters; whence they make nature marvel that, with a piece of steel, a man may defend his person from any blow which might be aimed at him, either with the point or the edge…” - Master Guissepe Pallavincini, 1670   “If I had a hammer…”   In my work as a professional swordsman...

Mail in this type of combat was very useful, but it was not long before pieces of plate armor began to be added at the elbows and knees and then to other areas of the body. This evolution spawned another and the arms race was on! One popular adaption was the increasing use of impact weapons like hammers, axes, maces, flails and clubs. Through the inventive change in circumventing the better armor of the day (300100), the sword still remain...

Who doesn't think of a sword (500262) when talking about these brutal warriors? In fact it was so preferred and highly valued that a sword would be named and treated with reverence. Often it was passed down from father to son and then again until broken or buried with great honor with a chieftain. In the cases where the sword did pass to the afterlife with its owner it was also ritually killed. The reason this was done is not entirely clear, but...