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right? i don t understand these kind of soles in fencing but many opt for this historical costumes 😕 too bad cause he moves pretty well otherwise

@@gremlin633 Better off barefoot.

In my opinion, leather soles bring you much closer to the understanding of historical fencing. Today we have shoes that have a much better adhesion to the ground, but using them because it is easier is a bit too simplistic, just like archery with aiming helps is easier but not the historical way ;-)

@@Maciliachris absolutely true. But not only soles, floor itself should be somewhat realistic. Polished and lacquered wood of 19 century ballroom, i think, is not contributing to realism of the situation. Sadly.

@@vadimheldar I agree, though it is certainly more representative (like a castle floor) than modern gyms. But yes, you mention a very important point; most places before the 20th century were very rough and uneven. When we're doing fights in medieval fares (with leather soles of course), we have to be very careful as there can be holes in the ground or uneven, slippery places. My worst injury (ankle sprain) was when I tripped on a pine cone, I'd be killed by the enemy in real life. Someone who trains only on a flat floor, especially with modern shoes, has NO idea how dangerous it is to walk backwards or as carelessly as they often do when being on a more historical surface.

It looks like a Zweihander. But too light. I know it has a different name for that thin version

Italian montante. Lightweighted and flexible compared to German, Swiss and French devices.

@@HessianLikeTheFabric There's no national standards for that time, but it looks like northern items somehow heavier than Mediterranean. Although the name really means "two-handed" AFAIK.

That's right - too heavy or badly balanced sword is useless, but still I have not seen the blades such flexible and thin at North. My hypothesis is that the type of armor affects the type of the blade, most of the year the weather in Spain and southern Italy doesn't allow to use heavier protection all the time. Although I might be mistaken.

@@HessianLikeTheFabric to my knowledge there are more examples of oversized (most likely "parade") zweihanders from Germany. It's probably a result of the imperial glamour and putting up a good show. I agree with Matt Easton's take that they were probably a symbol of status, showing that you have the largest, strongest, meanest bodyguards around. Perhaps they were also used as training devices although that's just my speculation based on parallels - Chinese army of early Qing used oversized and stupidly heavy yanyuedao - heavily curved glaives - as tools for strength exams. That's probably partially where the myth of 50kg weapon carried by GuanYu and the general agreement in that time that the weapon is useless came from. Anyway the actual combat weapons weren't used primarily as anti-heavy armour devices but, again, in bodyguard types of situations and on the battlefield together with mixed (pike based) formations as a "shock" force supposed to kinda get in between the pikes and disrupt the line (it's fairly easy to push long polearms away with such a thing). Manuals focus mostly on fighting multiple opponents and holding ground while descriptions of use in battle confirm the "breaking enemy pike line" idea.