8/30/2023 0 Comments Katana length combat![]() ![]() ![]() This changes the modern fighting style, because attacking the now thicker, more rigid steel isn’t going to yield the same results.Īlso, it’s bloody dangerous to bust someone through armour, so most sports won’t allow that kind of attack or people start ending up in wheelchairs. So the metal thickness is upped, and tweaked to behave in ways that just couldn’t be achieved in medieval times. Also, we have a strong aversion to getting hurt. These days, armour smiths are very rare, and fighters spend so much money on one suit of harness that they can’t easily replace. I suspect it was made by an amazing bladesmith and probably would be an excellent weapon if it didn’t look like a crotchet tea-cosy. The exact same story goes for weapons.Ībove: The fancier the tool, the less likely it will be used, as in the case of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and his amazingly detailed longsword. It cost a ton and was pretty much unused, so was locked up in wealthy basements and thus survived the centuries, unlike the day-to-day working gear used by majority of the people from those times. Unfortunately it’s mainly the fancy stuff that survived. With the exception of the super-fancy, dressy, special occasion, hand crafted-by-Oompa Loompas one-off stuff, you would go into a fire fight in sensible work clothes, much like soldiers with modern combat uniforms today. If you owned armour, you could afford to fix it- smiths were as common as modern panel beaters. In old times, armour was lighter, thinner, and was actually expected to bend in a fight, which was fine if it protected you in the time when you needed it. ![]() (*Heavy Medieval Battle, such as BON or ICMF) I need to clarify, I’m not talking about modern sports armour that reenactors, SCA or HMB* fighters use. A few good whacks to the joints and suddenly someone can’t move because their plates are distorted. Hitting flat sheets of metal very hard is how you shape armour in the first place. Also, most armour is made of metal, so it bends. Any percussive force goes straight through. It’s not impossible to hurt someone in armour. Also, a rmoured fighting shown in Hans Talhoffer’s fight book, circa 1450s which demonstrates the ‘warhammer’ technique is used without armour, too. To see a reversed sharp sword being hit into something with force, Skallagrim has a great video too.īelow: Ye olde medieval man-opener, aka the warhammer. If you are wondering how a person can safely hold a sharp sword blade in their hands, you might find it helpful to watch my video on how sharp blades actually cut (and how to safely hold one). Swords were frequently used to do the same job, turned around to strike with the crossguard or the pommel, like a warhammer. A spike was perfect for getting through the weak spots in the armour, and it also had a big heavy end to cause major blunt force trauma to the body beneath steel plate. That is why polearms were considered as noble as the sword in knightly combat, despite being less elegant and cheaper to make. It’s like beating up a car- you would use a baseball bat or crow bar to do serious damage, not a kitchen knife. If you don’t have time (because of the circumstances, being in a battle etc) you use a bludgeoning tool. If you want to hurt someone in armour, you go for the gaps. Also this imagery was intended for pious civilians, not practical fighters. Here, they are seen melting through steel helms and chainmail like a lightsaber through an airlock, long misleading historians who might have been more focused on anthropology than the boundaries of physics.Īs with other medieval art at that particular time, the scene is exaggerated for demonstration and shows cause and effect instantaneously. This violent yet beautifully-illustrated scene below from the Morgan Bible (circa 1250) shows an imaginative idea about the strength of blades. Attacking into an enemy’s strength is a waste of time and it wrecks your tools. Historically, steel armour was about deflection, not absorbing hits, and a trained fighter wouldn’t use a refined, expensive hand-sharpened weapon to try to cut through it. There has always been a pretty direct relationship between what people came up with to kill each other, and what they put on to stop others doing it to them. Q: Do you happen to know whether the evidence suggest that the swords of the 14th/15th century could breach the armor of the time? (For resources and links, scroll to the bottom of this page) ![]()
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