| Arming sword | |
|---|---|
The MS I.33 manuscript, dated to ca. 1290, shows fencing with the arming sword and the buckler. |
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| Type | Sword |
| Service history | |
| In service | ca. 1000 - 1500 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | avg. 2.5 lbs. (1.1 kg) |
| Length | avg. 36" (91.4 cm) |
| Blade length | avg. 29" (73.9 cm) |
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| Blade type | Double-edged, straight bladed |
| Hilt type | One-handed cruciform, with pommel |
The arming sword (also sometimes called a knight's or knightly sword) is a type of European sword with a single handed cruciform hilt and straight double edged blade of around 27 to 32 inches. In common use from the 11th to 16th centuries. It is a common weapon in period artwork, and there are many surviving examples in museums.
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The arming sword was the standard military sword of the medieval knight. The term came into use to differentiate the standard single handed sword from other recently developed types such as the war sword and great sword. So called because it was worn with armour.[1]
Typically used with a shield or buckler, however there are many texts and pictures depicting effective arming sword combat without the benefit of a shield. According to Medieval texts, in the absence of a shield the empty (normally left) hand could be used for grabbing or grappling opponents. The arming sword was overall a light, versatile weapon capable of both cut and thrust combat; and normally boasts excellent balance.
After the longsword came to predominate, the arming sword was retained as a common sidearm but came to be referred to as a shortsword. Later evolving into the cut & thrust swords of the Renaissance.
Although a variety of designs fall under the heading of 'arming sword', they are characterized as having single-handed cruciform hilts and straight double-edged blades designed for both cutting and thrusting.
Blade length was usually from 27 to 32 inches, however, examples exist from 23 to 39 inches.[2] Pommels were most commonly of the 'brazil-nut' type from around 1000-1200AD.[1] With the 'wheel' pommel appearing in the 11th and predominating from the 13th to 15th centuries.
Arming swords correspond to Oakeshott types XI, XII and XIII. The type is a development of the High Middle Ages, first apparent in the Norman swords of the 11th century. As such they are a continuation of the early medieval "Viking sword", which ultimately derive from the spatha of Late Antiquity and the Migration Period.
A combination of the Oakeshott and Peterson Typologies shows a chronological progression from the Viking sword to a "transitional sword", type X, which incorporated elements of both Viking and arming swords. This "transitional sword" continued to evolve into to the presently defined arming sword.
These arming swords stand in contrast to what Oakeshott calls the 'great swords' in reference to their longer and broader blades, and calls the hand-and-half swords in reference to their longer grip, namely the subtypes XIIa and XIIIa that were in use simultaneously with the arming swords in the latter part of the High Middle Ages, ca. 1250-1350. He notes these subtypes as the progenitors of the later two-handed longswords of the Late Middle Ages, in use ca. 1350-1550. For this reason, scholars occasionally refer to these greatswords improperly and anachronistically as 'longswords'. By contrast, the arming sword will evolve into the later 'shortsword' worn as a sidearm while wielding the two-handed longsword.