the.com/longsword
two-handed argument that ended debates for three centuries before gunpowder cut it off mid-sentence.
means A large, double-edged European sword designed for two-handed use, with a long blade and an extended grip, prominent in medieval and Renaissance combat.
from A plain English compound — "long" + "sword" — doing exactly what it says. "Sword" descends from Old English "sweord," related to Old High German "swert" and shared across the Germanic tongues, possibly tracing back to a root meaning "to cut" or "to wound." The "long" simply distinguished it from the shorter arming swords of its day, naming a weapon by the most honest measure available: its reach.
- half-swording
- knights gripped the blade itself to stab through armor
- murder stroke
- flip it, swing the hilt like a hammer
- surprisingly light
- most weighed under four pounds, not fifty
- the pommel
- could be unscrewed and thrown to end opponents
- a science
- medieval masters wrote entire fencing manuals on it
oakeshott type xa — medieval longsword classification with cruciform hilt, popular 14th-15th century europe
sword of martin luther — 16th century longsword owned by protestant reformer, housed in wittenberg