I Ramble On About 15th Century Swords for 14 Minutes

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I keep hearing that 15th century swords are useless battlefield weapons. I talk about why I disagree with this while laminating a scabbard.

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I think we overstate a LOT of points, personally. One that bugs me is that many armor enthusiasts talk about all armor being custom fitted and amazing quality, light, hardly reducing mobility at all. Sure, perfectly tailored armor was a thing! But we have evidence of stock/munitions grade armor from a variety of times and places.

corrugatedcavalier
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I love making wood core scabbards. Each one I make usually gets a bit better than the last, however some just fail miserably. As for swords. I have noticed how YouTube has created this massive-proto-mind, that easily creates group-think on topics that bleeds out of it into whatever people are doing. I think you are spot on as far as sword use and how people may overstate the case against swords. Good luck on the scabbard.

sgregg
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Interesting video! I find this type of over correcting happens a lot in historical talk. One subject is over stated, so to counter that, someone over states the opposite. For example, "armour was so hard to move in, you would be like a tin can with arms and legs". This is obviously wrong, but many people believe armour is so hindering. To counter that point, I hear many people say that "armour did not effect movement at all! You can do anything in armour that you could do without!". This is also wrong. The reality is that armour was always a compromise between movement and protection, and it was good at both. It protected you, not fully, but allowed for good mobility. Same can be said with swords. People glorify swords on the battlefield, so people say they were useless and not used, but the reality is that they are not necessarily the main weapon, but were used and still effective for what they were for.

LeonidasSparta-Fun-History
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It helps to either soak the linen in water (or water with a little wood glue) or add some water to the glue. That way it takes longer to dry, but it will way better spread through the fabric.

I also have found nice way to get a real thin, yet a bit wider scabbard. You first get some inner lining (probably not needed, but I prefer it as it helps the scabbard to work even when the fit is more sloppy), either felt it very short shaven sheep's skin and sew it into a tube around your blade. Then get some thin wooden board, I used rather unhistorical but light and easy to get Balsa wood around 2 mm thick). Coat the lining in wood glue (don't forget to protect your blade it use a wooden or plastic model of similar size) and then sandwich the wooden boards around it and clamp it down so the board bend around the blade. When that dried, wrap the whole thing tightly in wood glue soaked linen strips. After that you get a real light weight but rather strong scabbard you then may cover in leather.
Compared with the common box shaped wood core ones it tends to be wider (because you need some overlap for the wood on the sides), but thinner and lighter, because you don't rely on the woods strength (with thin Balsa wood, that's more like glorified cardboard), but on the different layers of materials to make it strong. And it's dead easy to make

Glimmlampe
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Swords have been overcorrected so far that the idea your average 'history enthusiast' seems to hold now is arguably more divorced from the historical sources than pop-culture originally was. The claim that swords were useless battlefield weapons, rarely used and only carried by the rich for showing off is a ridiculous idea to anyone who's spent any amount of time looking at historical sources on warfare, and it's very annoying to come across as an argument when it can be debunked very easily.

In fact, historical sources seem to be pretty clear on the fact that swords were also a popular sidearm for armoured fighting, and the idea that a mace or a hammer always ourpreforms a sword in armoured fighting doesn't really correspond with the historical material we have either, where the vast majority of sidearms carried and used on foot are swords even by people in full armour.

duchessskye
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Finally had time to catch up on some of my video backlog!
I enjoyed this video. You stated that this isn't you showing us how to make a scabbard, but I think that could be really interesting. It could be fun to have videos from time to time where you show us your process of making something that you're not overly familiar with. We could see what you do, and the comments could provide a nice catalog for tips and tricks from the people that do knows what they're doing.

pokemon
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I'll have to do that reverse image search regarding my trove of images of kite shields that are post 12th C or have unusual holding methods.

reaperwithnoname
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Honestly, single handed swords especially, underrated and under studied for their use from 1420-1470 in my opinion.

brothersliutgeryitzchakjea
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What was the name of the story with the woman cutting the giant's legs off?

EvidensInsania
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I used to work at a living history museum. Our curator staff at the time were terrific at constantly updating our understanding and interpreting of the history of the time and place we were presenting.

Most of our visitors were quite receptive, even to the parts we presented that contradicted "common knowledge, " such as information that was, strictly speaking, folklore that had become so often repeated that it was accepted as historical fact. Some, however, did want to argue in favor of what they had known all their lives and refused to accept anything else. There are a lot of reasons for this sort of thing happening, and not all of them are malicious, but sometimes, if it is agenda driven, it can be malicious.

I've found the same thing in HEMA and HEMA-related community here and there. Someone learns something that seems to make sense at the time, and they've been telling it to others for thirty, forty odd years, so when presented with a different or up-to-date perspective, they feel so obligated to what they've told so many people (or some similar frame of mind, ) it is difficult for them to accept or admit, especially if others have looked upon them as an authority. A lot of responsibility can come with accepting correction.

Lesson: We are all human. Be prepared to be wrong, test everything with research, and understand that you cannot force insight onto anyone. Happy fencing!

johnstuartkeller
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But... what was the name of the storybook?

FrancisFjordCupola
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Over the last ~20 years i have likened the sword to the pistol. Its rarely the main weapon on the battlefield, but its so easy to carry around, and if/when the main weapon breaks, its a lot better than a dagger. And of course againt the unwashed masses a long blade is still great on its own.

klapsvin
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I think you need to check your mike setup. The volume on your voice was all over the place.

spamotron
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regarding physical evidence for lethality of swords on the battle field there are of course the skeletons from the mass grave at Towton.

edwaite
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Nice u can talk about Tomahawk axes in the future? As in Native American ones.

pyeitme
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Can we read this story of the woman dressing up as a knight and killing a giant somewhere?

blakewinter
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Agreed. Technically swords arent carried on modern battlefields depending on what ones definition of sword is. Machete & other blades are still useful & are carried by some. At least when it comes to US army anyway. If one gets wrestling around a blade is still better than medium & long range weapons.

JCOwens-
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I generally agree that swords should be seen a backup weapons. However, early great swords are of interest to me, particularly the English ones. Part of this interest is based on a common theme across many cultures of owning, if not carrying, 2 swords: a shorter or choppier one for civilian life and a larger, or pointier one for combat. This is a bit simplistic, and not true for everyone, especially in medieval Europe, but I want an excuse to own a great sword and a messer on par with the earlier dynamic of sword and long seax, or the dynamic of the Chinese jian and dao, Ottoman kilij and yataghan, or even the daisho of the samurai.
In regards to scabbard, is it possible to have one of only linen and no wood? I know all leather is plausible, especially for later swords. Admittedly, not having been part of proper reenactment, my use of scabbards amounts to pvc pipes for narrow blades (mostly later rapiers).

CDKohmy
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I don't see the value in distinctions between back-up weapon, primary/secondary/tertiary weapon, status weapon, etc. Is the assault rifle the "main weapon" of modern battlefields? Arguably artillery is. In an infantry context, the grenade, machine gun and sniper rifle, perhaps? But in every context the assault rifle is necessary to maintain security and permits assault and defence in equal measure, in confined spaces and open fields.

On the mediaeval battle field the sword does the same, and can be worn to boot. It makes him a combatant more than anything else, more than someone autistically serving a job as a lancer or archer and being useless if something should render that role irrelevant, like the breaking of said lance. And it does so in civilian life too, letting him exist as a martial defender to his society.

I think we've forgotten why we found swords cool in the first place. There are weapons for specific jobs, and there are the weapons that make you a warrior, that do lots of things well enough and on which you may focus your skill.

nullifye
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Well, .. duh... Obviously they were useful. The differences in quality of armor will also have played their part, but no doubt they were also used against unarmoured people a lot. Very useful in looting peasants and merchants. The raiding between the battles didn't involve that many armoured foes. And the fact swords become really pointy, points at their use in combat with peers more to poke at the weak spots at close quarters. Probably knocking the opponent over and lean in pressing on those large cross guards.

chubbymoth
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