Hank Reinhardt's The Book of the Sword (28 page)
The second was the development of new tactics and a new appreciation for infantry. The Scots Schiltroon and the Swiss pike phalanx both utilized the long 12 to 16 foot pike as their major weapon. This would stop cold the charge of the knights and, once demoralized and in confusion, the men armed with shorter, crushing weapons, the aforesaid halberd or two-hand sword, could rush in and dispatch them. When pike formation fought pike formation, the two-hand sword was used to break the pikes of the opposing force. This use brought about a redesign in the two-hand sword.
Parrying hooks on a two-hand sword.
Whereas the knightly fighting weapon was a big sword, shaped much the same as the smaller version, this weapon was different. The guards were quite large, sometimes as wide as 16 inches, often with steel rings on both sides as additional protection for the hand. The most unusual feature was the added parrying hooks that projected out from the blade about one foot or so below the guard. The hooks not only provided additional resistance from a blade cutting down the sword, but were the main protection for the hand when the sword was shortened. This was a favorite tactic when the fighting got to close quarters. The hand could be shifted to the unsharpened portion of the blade below the hooks, called the "ricasso," and thus the sword could be used for short cuts and as a short spear.
This was quite an impressive sword, and very popular with the Swiss and their arch foes, the German Landsknechts, in the later Middle Ages. These swords quickly spread throughout Europe and also became a favorite dueling weapon, and whole schools developed on the use of the two-hand sword in duels.
A double pay soldier.
The soldiers that carried these swords in war were called "double pay" soldiers, and usually wore half armor. They were invariably big strong tough types. Although these swords are not as heavy as they look—most weigh between 6 and 8-1/2 pounds—it still requires a strong man to swing and control the weapon for long periods of time. During the engagements of the pikes, their job was to rush between the lines of pikemen, and when they reached the front they were to swing and smash the pikes of the opposing line. You almost never sheared the tough oak or ash staff, but you could splinter and break them. Once the shaft splintered then the point became useless. Of course you can imagine what would happen should the Landsknechts send their double pay soldiers forward at the same time that the Swiss sent theirs! A brutal battle royal, between the two double pay units, huge swords flailing about and blood and limbs all over the place. Not the clean puncture wound of a pike, but a ghastly harvest of body parts, blood and brains. But then war has never been pretty, and as that Yankee general Sherman put it properly: "War is Hell!"
The designation "Swiss or German" is frequently used to denote the uncertainty of geographic origin, as well as a specific style of sword. This is a very large sword, often over 6 feet in length, with a wide crossguard, long grip, and a long ricasso that extends from 8 to 15 inches. At the end of the ricasso there are two large horns or parrying hooks that project toward the point of the blade. From here the blade proper extends to the point. The blade is usually about two inches wide, sometimes even wider. Often the blade was composed of a series of half circles and this type of sword was often referred to as a "flamberge." (Rapiers with these styles of blades were also at times called a flamberge. It was easy to distinguish the two once you saw them together.)
Reproduction two-handed flamberge. HRC66.
The weight of a sword depends on its size. A good plain fighting weapon for the ordinary soldier weighs about 7–9 pounds. But here confusion really starts. It also made a most impressive display when being carried by the guards of some noble or very rich person. To be even more impressive, some of them began to grow in size!
These bearing swords were not really intended for use. They were intended for display and ornamentation. It still took a big strong man to carry one, but he wasn't really expected to have to fight with it. So there are a lot of "bearing" swords found throughout Europe, about which more below.
But what about a sword made for a really big man? There is a common and mistaken belief that the soldier of the Middle Ages was quite small. Well, he wasn't a giant, but he also wasn't tiny, either. Full grown, the average guy was in the range of 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches. Henry VIII (1491–1547) was 6 feet 4 inches. Most of the German Landsknechts were big burly men, so it is in the realm of possibility that some of these big swords were actually used by big men. Remember, diet plays an important role in growth and they ate well then.
As you might have already expected, once the swords became popular for display, they also became popular for dueling. By the 16th century there were schools dedicated to the art of dueling and not only with the rapier, but with the hand-and-a-half sword, the halberd and the two-hand sword. There were fencing blades developed for both the hand-and-a-half (also known as "great sword" or "long sword"—names being much more variable then than they are now) and the two-hand sword.
Although over the years I have played and sparred with many types of swords and weapons, including halberds and pikes, the two-hand sword is one that I have been unable to play with. I've cut things with them, but have never been able to actually spar with a dummy two-hander that would behave like a real sword. The reason is weight. Even a padded staff that weighs 7 to 8 pounds will do a great deal of damage, and can possibly break bones or inflict some severe bruises. I have found that most people are quite reluctant to be hit with one, even in the pure pursuit of knowledge of real swordplay.
Swinging a real two-hand sword can give you an idea of how strong and tough some of these guys were. Of course, infantry walked most of the time, and they didn't have cars to use to run to the store, nor did they smoke or sit about watching TV. What I did learn was also how fearsome a weapon it could be in the hands of a strong man. The one drawback is that if you should miss, recovery can be time consuming. A full arm swing could brush aside a shield and crumple armor, including the guy inside it. When shortened with the hand grasping the ricasso it becomes a formidable short polearm. The very weight gives great authority to a thrust, making it hard to turn aside. Overall, I think I would prefer a halberd or a bill, but they do not look nearly as impressive.
Antique halberd, circa 1600, head 17.5 inches, with replaced shaft 91 inches long. HRC9.
Like a halberd, the two-hand sword was rarely fully tempered. Only the Swiss were known to always temper their halberds, many of the others were forge tempered, or slack tempered. The same with the two-hander. The very size of the sword made full tempering difficult. Once the blade had been forged, and still while it was quite hot, it would be cooled, pulled out of the cooling medium, letting the residual heat build up, then cooled again. This is not as slipshod as you might think. A weapon that size, with that much mass, is quite destructive even it if wasn't tempered at all.
But there is another mystery about these two-hand swords. Why are there so many of them? They abound in private collections, museums all over Europe and the US and Canada have large numbers of these swords, and dealers have no problems in finding them for sale. True, they are rather expensive nowadays, but they are still available. (I had a chance to buy a beautiful Swiss two hander in Zurich in 1957. But I didn't have the $150.00. I saved the whole time I was in Germany, finally got the money, and never was able to get back to Zurich before I rotated back home. One of the swords that got away.)
I can't say that this is the answer, but consider this. They were quite popular both for looks and for use, and they remained in use until well into the 17th century, even being in use during the Thirty Years War (1618–1648). There were a lot of fakes made during the Victorian period when collecting of arms and armor became a status game of rich people. These fakes are now difficult to distinguish from older swords unless you are really well versed in their identification. They may have been made in 1860, so now they have 150 years of time to age them even more!
There is one way that can help in distinguishing a Victorian copy from an original. Most all of the original swords I have seen have a ricasso that is thick, sometimes as much as 5/8 of an inch. Modern copies, and in these I include the Victorian copies, always have ricassos of the same thickness as the blade. It is simply too expensive to forge one in the old manner.
The Swiss/German style swords were not the only two-handers in use. This same period saw a rise in the use of other two-hand swords. Many of the other two-handers were quite effective, and they did not weigh as much as the big German types. Even the Swiss and the Landsknechts might carry one of these. These swords are quite varied, some are purely two-hand estocs, while others are pure cutting swords. In general, these swords reflect what you might consider the standard European sword, a broad slightly tapering double-edged blade.
Antique tuck (estoc). HRC25C.