Sword Training & Medieval Sword Techniques
As with any historic period, specific swords and the people who used them significantly impacted how history remembered them both. This was especially true for medieval knights. In the 15th century new techniques in personal combat emerged that would forever change the world just as the World Wide Web (internet) has impacted the Information Age today.
For the first time in Western warfare, soldiers (knights) developed expertise in one–on–one combat and weapon use comparable to that of the Japanese Samurai and their martial arts skills. Enemies who still used former hacking and slashing methods in combat were now being slaughtered by medieval knights who had learned a new sophisticated thrusting technique.
Survivors of these knightly encounters returned home with horrific tales of giant invincible knights who could not be beaten. The truth of the matter was that knights were now so highly skilled in combat against multiple assailants that combat against only one or two was merely practice. To even the odds, part of the Knights Templar Code of Honor included they were not to engage in combat unless the odds against them were 3–to–1 or greater. So where did knights get these new skills?
Wooden Practice SwordsIt was with great secrecy that medieval knights received this new specialized training in swordsmanship. Only a few German and Italian masters were regarded as possessing the knowledge and skill to train knights. To ensure a knight’s ability to succeed in battle or jousts, these revolutionary techniques were at times custom developed as an additional advantage.
To increase security, most of the instruction was oral with only a few manuals produced as summary notes for a knight to review in the years to come. Just as modern day soldiers are trained from secret manuals, knights’ training manuals were always kept in secret hidden places to ensure the methods and theories with which they train were not disclosed outside the knighthood (or discovered by an enemy).
Swordsmanship by the 17th century was not the finessed ballet of swordplay common to The Renaissance and fencing. Knights were in full armor and had a limited range of motion when using a medieval sword. To compensate for this shortcoming, these German/Italian masters developed new sword maneuvers and combined them with Austrian wresting (Ott), seizures, disarms and grappling to overpower the opponent.
Medieval European fighting styles were less flashy than later rapier–oriented moves. In the midst of battle with a vast chaos of clashing people and medieval weapons, practical techniques were needed that could be universally performed regardless of weapons or the use of armor. This was especially important when your opponent did not adhere to chivalrous concepts.
Unique to the Medieval Era, the new German/Italian training included significant amounts of self–defense best suited for fighting with backup weapons off the battlefield. The dagger was the most common backup weapon and its defensive techniques were so advanced that military and law–enforcement entities still use them today.
As a knight became proficient with a sword and other weapons, he also developed a greater sense of distance and timing which set him apart from his contemporaries who were not trained. Knights were also taught more than how to just cut effectively, but how to cut with extreme precision at full force.
Two of the best masters (Lichtenauer and Doebringer) strongly discouraged defensively blocking another sword because it was not a strong offensive move and would be perceived as excessively passive. When in combat with six or even eight opponents at once, “defensive blocking” of another sword did not work. There simply was not enough time to block and then deliver a responding cut.
The key to fighting multiple opponents was to rely on footwork, shield and armor for defense while countercutting. The art of “countercutting” involves uniting movements, so they are both offensive and defensive at the same time. Each one of the knight’s offensive cuts would also serve as a defense against the opponent’s blows, hence we get the saying, “The best defense is a good offense.”
Since knights began ‘men–at–arms’ training at childhood, they had unique abilities most other soldiers would not have. Specifically, knights would be more agile than untrained contemporaries. As well, just as a ballerina has a composure and unique walk because of her training, a skilled fighter also has particular reflexes and ways of moving “built in.” Knights could identify other trained warriors by the details in their posture and movements that were only common to professional soldiers, and not peasants or craftsmen.
When you consider a knight’s skills in personal combat, distance, timing, cutting and thrusting techniques, it's easy to understand why he was such an overpowering warrior. Just as tanks and helicopters are a distinct advantage in warfare, knights dominated the battlefields of the Middle Ages.
Medieval sword skills were not limited to just knights, royals and people of influence. The ideal personal servant was expected to have superior skills with medieval swords and weaponry. This skill was taken for granted from the very first day of service as “common knowledge”, however, no one below the rank of an attendant or servant (Thegn) was allowed to wear a longsword, but rather the short sword.
Outside of the medieval aristocracy, it was illegal to own a sword. The common classes were left to defend themselves with only farming and trade tools. Besides being very expensive, swords were restricted as an attempt to control the people and were an early form of “weapons control”.
As you might imagine, the thrusting style of swordplay eventually met with social grace, and thus sport of fencing began. With development of the rapier (the sword of civilians with social standing), a new civilian fad soon surfaced, “The Duel”. Soon dueling became the preferred form of dispute resolution throughout the Medieval Era and most of The Renaissance.
References:
- Medieval Combat, by Mark Rector
- Halbritter’s Arms through the Ages, by Kurt Halbritter
- Swords, Daggers & Cutlasses, by Gerald Weland
- Knights & Armor, by Sadel Doc
- The Roman Invasion of Britton, by Kultur
- Rome Power & Glory: Legions of Conquest, by Ed Fields & Joel Westbrok
- Arms & Armor of the Medieval Knight, by David Edge
- Arms Through the Ages, by William Reid
- Weapons of War, by P.E. Cleator
- Weapons, An International Encyclopedia from 5000 BC to 2000AD, by The Diagram Group
- Warriors & Weapons of Early Times, by Niels M. Saxtorph
- Book of the Sword, by Richard Francis Barton
- A Knight and His Weapons, by Ewart Oakeshott
- Metallurgical Analysis: Grades of Steel, By WarAngel, with special thanks to Motoyasu and Bob Engnath (Highlander’s Sword Shopper’s Guide)
- Medieval Warfare: A History, by Maurice Keen
- War in the Middle Ages, by Philippe Contamine
- The Roman Sword in the Republican Period & After, by James Hurst
- Celtic & Roman Swords, by Christian Fletcher
- Soul of the Sword, by Robert L. O’Connell
- Shoshone Medieval Teaching Tool
- Franciscan University of Steubenville
- The History Net
- Choose a weapon, Shaolin-Society
- Toga & Dagger: Espionage in Ancient Rome, by Rose Mary Sheldon
- Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
- A Record of European Aarmour and Arms Through Seven Centuries, by Sir Guy Francis Laking
- European Mediæval Sword, Lee A. Jones
- From Rapier To Langsax: Sword Structure in the British Isles in the Bronze and Iron Ages, by Niko Silvester
- Association for Renaissance Martial Arts http://www.thearma.org/
- Dress, Jewels, Arms and Coat of Arms: Material Culture and Self-Representation in the Late Middle Ages, Central European University and Russel Mitchell, Vladimir Baranov, Annamaria Kovacs, Dora Sallay, Elena Lemeneva, Kiss Farkas Gabor
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