Medieval War part one- Sword Combat
January 17th 2009 00:39
Starting this Friday and continuing indefinitely for each subsequent Friday, I'm going to talk about aspects of Medieval warfare, since so many fantasies are set in medieval times. It's good to have the facts straight, especially if you want to be a good writer of realistic battles. I've gotten my information from an eclectic range of sources ranging from scholarly works on the subject to conversations with professors in the field.
Tonight I'll speak a little bit about the sword in general. Now, this is in reference to traditional European swords of the Middle Ages: straight, long, and pointy. I don't know as much about sabers, rapiers, and other Renaissance weapons, nor do I know much about Asian weaponry like katanas and scimitars. Though a lot of the principles are the same no matter where you go.
First of all, Medieval swords were heavy, though not as heavy as sometimes portrayed in film and other media. To handle a sword well, a fighter had to be tough, strong, fast, and well-trained. They were also as elegant as they were deadly; forget the swinging and blocking you've seen in almost every film made about this time period.
A duel between sword-fighters, one well-trained and one not so well-trained, would probably last around five seconds. If both fighters were equally skilled, and both were very good, then maybe it could last a minute. Of course with fantasy writing there's plenty of room for still making the fight longer realistically, like taking into account environmental factors like other fighters, or exploding volcanoes, or crumbling rocks, or fire-breathing dragons, etc. But mostly fights were rather short.
This is because well-trained sword-fighters were brutally efficient. On the battlefield there was no room for "having fun" with a duel; it was kill or be killed. Most of the fighting styles and techniques either involved completely dodging a sword strike, or offering a counterstrke that served as a simultaneous defense. There was no swing, block, swing, block. Most of the attacks were thrusting attacks, since Medieval swords were designed for stabbing more than anything else.
Along these same lines, contrary to popular belief, not all of a sword's edge was sharpened. In reality, the majority of the edge of a sword would be about as sharp as the edge of a screw-driver. Skilled fighters were trained to be able to cut with this type of edge when they needed to, but it took a lot of force and strength to do this. So, there was no one-handed slashing, one-hit kills like the movies portray.
Since most of a blade was rather blunt--except for a few inches up by the tip, which was always very sharp--fighters often used two-handed techniques almost reminiscent of staff combat: one hand on the hilt, and one hand on the blunt of the blade. This helped them with the force of their thrusts, since two-handed thrusts, if they connected, were almost always fatal. Also, this two-handed stance made it easier to perform traps, which was when the opponent's weapon was trapped in a harmless position against the wielder's body, so the wielder could easily strike at his opponent.
Also, the pommel end of the sword was just as much a dangerous weapon as the tip. If used properly, the pommel could be used just like a mace, to bash heads and break bones. With the blunt part of the blade, fighters could swing the sword around and make a sort of backwards strike. Most of the combat involved slipping aside and dodging a blow, while simultaneously delivering a blow of your own, which would often end the duel right there. If the fighter had to be in the way of an oncoming blow, it was smarter to deflect the blow--make a parry--and make a strike of your own. If a thrust is coming at a fighter, he would thrust at the same time, but also turn his sword so the other person's sword is facing away.
Medieval sword combat was deadly and elegant and took years to master. No screen adaptation has ever been completely realistic or faithful, mostly because if they were, then people would have actually gotten hurt. They fought to kill, and to kill as fast as possible. A sword thrust was their version of a bullet through the heart. In subsequent weeks I may talk more in-depth about sword-combat.
Next week I'll talk about sword and weapon maintenance--how they kept their swords battle-ready and rust-free, and why it was so important to take such good care of a sword. On Sunday I'll talk about my story Winds of Change more in-depth. See you all later!
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Comment by Damo
I found it interesting.
This s what blogging should be about.
I actually learnt something reading this.
Comment by Andrew Kerstetter
A New Poetics
Inkwing
Cinemuscle
It's tough to be consistent with a blog and give consistently good material, especially for me being back at school for the spring semester. It's tough to schedule time for the blog, and even tougher to be able to spend a suitable amount of time writing good information. I'll try to keep bringing useful or new/not very well known information/ideas to the blog.
I've read some of your blog My Apologetics, like what I've seen, haven't commented yet, which will probably change soon.
Comment by Anonymous