Longsword

A European sword with a long blade and a hilt usually long enough for two-handed use. It was prominent in the late medieval period and could also be wielded one-handed.

Half-swording: A technique in which a swordsman grips the blade with one hand to guide thrusts or control an opponent’s weapon. The longsword’s unsharpened forte can be grasped to make precise thrusts against armor.
High Middle Ages: The period of European history spanning roughly the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. Long-bladed, two-handed swords developed from weapons used in this earlier period.
Royal Armouries MS I.33: A late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century illustrated fencing manuscript focused on sword and buckler. It documents an earlier one-handed sword tradition, distinct from later longsword systems.
Arming sword: A medieval European one-handed sword commonly used with a shield or buckler. Its shorter grip and one-handed use distinguish it from the typical longsword.
Mordhau: A technique that reverses a sword and uses its pommel and crossguard as striking surfaces. Longsword fighters could use the hilt as a hammer when cutting was ineffective.
Late Middle Ages: The final centuries of the European Middle Ages, conventionally dated from the fourteenth to the fifteenth century. The longsword became especially prominent in this era.
Codex Wallerstein: A fifteenth-century German martial arts manuscript containing instructions for several weapons, including the longsword. Its material illustrates practical German longsword techniques.
Greatsword: A large two-handed sword, generally longer and heavier than a typical longsword. The term often describes a larger weapon than the longsword.
Fior di Battaglia: A fighting manual by Fiore dei Liberi, describing armed and unarmed combat techniques around 1409. Its illustrated longsword plays show guards, counters, and close-quarters techniques.
Knight: A mounted warrior who held a recognized military and social status in medieval Europe. Knights used longswords in warfare and represented one group of their users.

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