It’s hard to define the essence of a knight simply because they have existed in so many forms for several centuries. They started out as a class of lower nobility, then they became the familiar chivalrous warrior and now a knight is simply an honorary title given to famous people like Paul McCartney. To keep things simple, this post is going to focus solely on the knights of the Middle Ages, which are the knights we’re familiar with from the movies. Here are a few types of the amazing swords knights used at the height of the Medieval Ages.
Arming Sword
This was the standard weapon of the medieval knight popular between the 11th and 16th centuries. These were much shorter, typically between 2 and 3 feet long, than later swords, but could be wielded with a single hand. This meant knights were able to fight with the arming sword in one hand and a shield for protection in the other.
Longsword
The longsword appeared in the latter part of the Middle Ages and is a classic example of a stately two-handed sword. These swords were large, so they had to be wielded with two hands. They were generally somewhere between 40 and 48 inches long with two sharpened sides.
Greatsword
With the propensity to keep outdoing themselves in size, the knights later adopted the greatsword as a key medieval weapon. These could get as long as 72 inches and could only be used with two hands. They usually had extended handles to afford better balance, but you can probably imagine just how difficult it would be to use this sword in combat. Typically, one of these massive swords could cut someone in half with a single swing.
Daggers
As swords grew in size, they also became less effective in close-quarters combat and quick one-on-one skirmishes. So, medieval knights also had to carry daggers as a secondary weapon. As armor became more effective against a sword’s slicing action, the thrust of a dagger became more efficient at killing enemies anyway.
Falchion Sword
This was a popular sword for knights that fought in the Crusades. It has a slightly curved blade that’s about 30 inches long with a single edge. These were mass-produced, so those knights that could afford better weaponry like greatswords always deemed falchion swords as cheap weapons.
Tim Martinez is a freelancer writer and blogger. When he’s not writing about swords and knives, he blogs about a variety of other topics, including hammocks and tents for camping.
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