The real Orcsword: The 14. century reversed Falchion
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- Опубликовано: 11 июл 2024
- From the end of the 13th to the 14th century, a special blade shape - the falchion - is repeatedly discovered in old pictorial sources. Even rarer, however, is a falchion blade with a concave edge. Only a very small number of these blades still exist and only a handful can be seen in museums today. Here I present such a blade...possibly even a original one.
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Don't you ever dare to lose your german accent, Björn. Best wishes.
haha... xD
As the great German of all existence (Jörg Sprave) once said: "let's show its features, muahahah".
🏳️🌈?
@@PoneyChad ??
@@hidayakamo Jörg is a living legend.
I enjoy your exploration on unusual blades, especially from someone with such clear genuine skills.
Thank you...I like to hear that from you. You have already given me many entertaining moments :)
I agree with your opinion that this was (is) a sword of war, meant for the battlefield and meant to oppose armored opponents; the stiffened pointled me to that conclussion at the outset. The functional brutality of this beast does not diminish it's innate beauty, this sword belonged to a knight, replacing both mace and axe.
A gorgeous weapon and a beautiful setting. Thank you Bjorn!
That type looks as if it would do much better against mail than a regular sword, not just for thrusting but for striking blows with the inner point. I think a much underrated design.
Falchions and Messers are fascinating. Interesting to see that one be much meatier.
Getting it appraised & dated would be very interesting.
Regardless of how old it is, it is certainly functional and very well made.
Commissioning a high quality replica would allow you to explore it further.
Thankyou for showing it!
I will see if i can get a good replica :)
This is weapon of war and, in my humble opinion, a business card at the same time.
It is functional and decorated. Functional, so anybody who knows anything about war can easily spot that. Decorative, so one can walk with it straight into duke's or king's audience chamber. And a business card because it screams "my wielder lives by war and war made him wealthy enough to have that kind of weapon created for him"
Nope. This is replica made in 20th century. Someone made several and sold them for pretty sum to collectors in pre-Internet era- second one surfaced in 2022 on auction and was unsold (asking price was 30 000 pounds)
In real life this was civilian weapon, light (less than kilo in weight), short (85 cm) to comply with city regulations and agile. Armour piercing ability is a nice bonus. It works well without additional weight and reinforcements.
You make your statements here with so much confidence, as if you could actually say how it is. Whatever auctions you are talking about here, it has nothing to do with this blade. It was sold 10 years ago. Also, the use is still controversial, but again, there is a 100% like-it-is statement from you. Honestly, you can believe what you want, I really don't care, perfectly ok. But if you spread statements that you don't know about, that's not cool.
@sasasasa-lx6cl You don’t need 1 metre long weapon once you are stuck in melee.
Reinforcements? What are you even referring to?
@BjornRuther I wonder why it was my comment that had triggered this person to reaction.
Anyway - a happy New Year to you, May your channel grow!
@@PobortzaPl not only here :) Likewise my friend... have a nice time!
This man's love for swords warms him enough to keep him warm outside in winter
Yes, this type of historic weapon review is quite interesting. Many thanks for taking the time to create and share this video!
thx mate
It looks brutally efficient. Definitely something a Klingon or an orc would be happy to wield in battle. What a gorgeous weapon!
What I love about it is that the spike directly transitions out off the spine whereas clip points are typically much thinner and have no support from the spine and thus break easily.
Plus, the blade looks like something that will disarm no matter if the opponent wears gambesson or mail... Yes, in case of the latter it's no longer literal, but the weapon will fall out of his broken hand regardless...
indeed, the point is awesome :D
The mere fact it is in such good condition means, to me, that it wasn't used very much. Lovely example. Thanks for the vid.
This was such a neat video. I love these "historic weapons" videos as it gives me new and interesting things to DnD games and drop fun tidbits of info.
It's very difficult to be sure because there is such a small number of originals, but I think it is probably an aged reproduction. When you compare it to originals in the Invalides (Paris) and the Delft Museum, it looks like extremely heavy (like 50% heavier, which is a lot) and it has a fuller on both sides of the blades - the original have only one on one side, the second side is totally flat. It looks like a weapon inspired by the Paris one, but with a steel pommel and significantly bigger and heavier.
That said it looks absolutely gorgeous.
We will probably never now if its original or not. If there is a lack of provenance in science, or if it is not a direct ground finding, it is simply labeled as false. In this case, the traceability may have been lost during the world wars. As far as I know, the falchions in Paris and Delft weigh around 900 and 1250g. So this falchion here is not much heavier, considering that it is much larger. Nevertheless, I agree with you. It would be one of the heavier ones in terms of construction and dimensions. But falchions have such a wide range of dimensions and weights and we have so few real examples. Personally, I would suspect trends, but not draw any conclusions yet. Thank you for your thoughts, I find this topic incredibly exciting :)
@ You're right. Those "inverted" falchions are probably the most badass looking swords of the late 13th-beginning 14th century. I always imagine them use in some castle sieges, due to their shorter dimensions they must have been quite useful. In my opinion it was an adaptation of the "machet-bladed" falchions to make them compatible against mailed and helmeted knights. The half-swording must have been quite efficient with those!
The problem is that this piece was acquired from an allegedly known peddler of fakes. Finding one in this condition is akin to a philatelist finding a second Bordeaux letter, and similarly unlikely. There should be utmost scrutiny before accepting it as an extant examples of one of the rarest known sword types.
This is the first video of yours I have seen but this is definetly my kind of content. Liked and subscribed!
I have always believed as you say in this video. From the first time that I saw these weapons depicted in art. It looks like a weapon designed for War.
Its easy for us to look at things from our perspective now, do some quick searches on the web, and generate an endless supply of strong opinions. For myself, if one can hold a thing in the hand, feel the balance, examine the marks of time and usage. There is no substitute, other than to gather the opinions of others that have done so. Thank you for your thoughtful insights. I spend most of my time in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and we are missing our snow this year. We have just a bit of powder. I'm jealous.
Thx mate for your thoughts about it... i hope you will get a blizzard next year to compensate the lack of snow this year :D
Beautiful! I would love a modern version of that sword!
Wish i could have such a fine piece in my collection, am well jealous of you Bjorn. Am hoping that modern examples become available.
I absolutely love the construction of these weapons. The 2 handed variants are also remarkable. Please post another video if you get a reconstruction of this weapons so that we can see how it does in the duel and maybe even some damage testing on cut targets.
I will... :)
I'd love to see you team up with Tod Cutler on a recreation and testing of this.
That is ridiculously neat! Thankyou for sharing this.
Merry Christmas 🎄, buddy! Excellent channel!
Very interesting! It would be intriguing to find out it's history. I especially appreciate the insights on how such a blade would have been used. I enjoyed this and look forward to more such videos! Thank you.
Beautiful sword. One thing I noticed about the tip is it's similarity to a pompi gladius being specifically thicker for opposing and defeating armor.
Really cool sword.
I've seen this blade profile on many different history websites but I think this is the first time I've seen this in a RUclips video. Thank you for this!
Wonderful piece, I've often wondered if it was only in my imagination, or if it was real. Not a lot of sword culture where I am but I've always liked them. Considered a similar, more exaggerated blade for a D&D character in my youth. Looking at this one I see hints of a pollaxe that's easier to carry. Definitely an armor fighting sword. A little guy like you or I could add 15cm or so to the blade, 3 or 4 of that in the thick tip, taper the tip a little more and possibly be able to pierce thinner pieces of plate when halfswording.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
I have see this type before and was very intrigued ! Hopefully someone will produce a contemporary vision
That is a gnarly, yet beautiful sword! I love the look of those rust spots. Even though that would be undesirable i reckon.
Choppy, pointy-stabby and bashy in form of a single sword?
I think you should get one to play around with :D
Also I notice just now it really reminds me of Scar's Sword from Gothic 1 and that was my favorurite weapon for one-handed combat...
Merry Christmas Bjorn! Been really looking forward to this one
likewise mate
Seems to have a very stiff trusting point with an additional cleaver blade, the best of two worlds but possibly with additional weight.
It is the reversed falchion not only in shape but actually in its properties.
Very nice blade. Perhaps forging one would be ideal as well. I like your sword collection as well.
I really like the Grosse messer out of all the messer types. Thanks for sharing 😁👍
I believe that sword is real and that it has pierced the chain mail of knights. It is an amazing design and i want one!
Also, i am disappointed that it took youtube so long to suggest your videos to me. This is your first video i have watched, and am very pleased!
screw the algorithem...now we are connected :) enjoy and thx for the kind words!
Very neat! I've never seen a falchion with that shape
Great review. This is definitely a useful tool for opening armor.
My assumption with this style of blade is that rather than being a specialised anti-armour weapon it is more of a dual-purpose weapon. To my knowlege most falchions with a more traditional blade shape were thin and broad-bladed for the purpose of being effective against unarmoured or lightly armoured opponents. The inclusion of a reinforced thrusting point would give the wielder more options when facing an opponent with more armour which would be especially useful in a battlefield setting where you would expect to encounter many opponents with varying amounts and qualities of armour.
What an exciting design! Thanks for sharing!
Excellent video on a fantastic weapon!!
I wander if it was a sort of evolution for the maxhiajowski (I know that's spelled wrong) falchion. Looks like a combination chopper against lighter armor, and piercer for heavier stuff. Neat design either way!
Very cool sword. Very cool. Thank you very much for sharing that beauty. Cheers!
The weirdest thing IMHO is the weight. It looks like it should but ultimately is heavier than most of falchions by a mile.
Very, interesting piece :)
The Paris one is 900g and the one in Delft 1200-1300g. And this one got bigger dimensions...but yeah...still heavier :)
these Elmslie type 2a blade are my favorite 😄
I don't even want to imagine how deep such blade can go on the common soldier back then who would be lucky to have a gambeson, but the pointy edge was interesting. Just made to stab, not even sharp.
Thanks a lot man, there is just so much we still don't know of these times and it's good to see someone sharing something.
In England during a Peasant uprising Watt Tyler and his leading men agreed to meet the king outside of London ...
If i remember correct this was a ploy to capture Watt Tyler and his fellow leaders of the Peasants revolt.
It ended badly for Tylers group ... the mayor of the City of London decapitated
One of Tylers group with his Falchon 😬
They were developed as hunting weapons for despatching and butchering large game
as well as cutting wood like a Machete today but also proved a very effective peacetime weapons for dealing with brawling mobs in close quarters fighting.
@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 Yeah but this falchion has a blade on the opposite side. Like a Falx
@@thiagorodrigues5211
Ive seen many different types of Falchion they seem to have evolved with their owners desired use. Last collection i was looking at was on the walls of Warwick castle .. but that was some time ago.
You can easily imagine a single edged weapon being adapted to
Combat rather than a hunting tool/weapon. Especially if you new you were likely having to deal with opponents wearing elements of mail or plate protection for a yeoman bowman it would be a good side arm and the ability to cut both ways would give you an advantage as well as helping penetrate on a thrust into a unprotected gap or as you pointed out to split a weaker mail link. 🤔
Thank you for the review of a historical weapon.
genial Björn! selbst wenn es kein Original aus dem mittelalter ist, ist es trotzdem eine beachtliche Arbeit! ich selbst habe nur mit meinem Krieger historical Falchion Erfahrung.. die umgekehrte Schneide ist etwas sagen wir es mal so : interessant 😅 ich selbst ertappe mich ab und zu dabei wie ich die Waffe einfach umdrehe und dann wieder verkehrt rum halte😅... mich würde mal wirklich interessieren aus welchem Grund damals klingen dieser Art entwickelt worden sind...lg und frohes Julfest aus Solingen!
Very good design. To add to what you said about the back edge being good for hitting things like helms you also have the option to save your sharp edge when in contact with another blade by weilding it that way as that point would still do damage when swung into a target. The sharp edge could be flipped around to deliver the killing blow.
The blade seems innovative and multipurpose, I think it is now my second favourite sword after the hand and a half sword.
The LUCK AND TRUST you have lol.
"The blade designs of falchions varied widely across the continent and over time. They almost always included a single edge with a slight curve on the blade towards the point on the end and most were also affixed with a quilloned crossguard for the hilt in the manner of the contemporary arming swords. Unlike the double-edged swords of Europe, few actual swords of this type have survived to the present day; fewer than a dozen specimens are currently known.[1]"
Wiki says less than a dozen of these survived in the world today. And you got to review one in excellent shape. And you did it justice!
Great Video. It was very informative. Thank you for sharing. :-) Peace, Stiletto :-)
This is fascinating! It’s a shame there’s no surviving fighting manuals that talk about this type of sword. Who knows, maybe there’s one sitting on a shelf in a monastery somewhere waiting to be found
maybe we can discover something, someday :)
Definitely feels like it was made for armor with the blunt-force outside, and it looks to me as if it would even penetrate thinner, unhardened steel plate with the point. I wonder if that was the armor that at least a good proportion of the men-at-arms would wear.
I completely agree, this sword was made for war , I can appreciate how you noticed design details such as the way the spike point takes on a thicker diamond shaped cross section similar to the last six inches of an indo Persian dagger well known for being used to pick through the chain mael . The edge to the inside of the blades curve having the enhanced cutting effect of a kukri or a falcata and leading the edge a shart corner similar to the yokote of a Japanese blade . I am left with the inescapable conclusion that the men well versed in the use of this sword....were playing for keeps
Could you please do a comparison and contrast between this reverse falchion and a normal Falchion of the similar design.
Thank your for this insight, very intersting and congratz for being allowed to handle it!
Absolutely fascinating!
Nice review.
First time seeing a video of yours. I think this sword, as a weapon, shows a kind of brutality comparable to the Song Zhan Ma Dao. It is not fancy, and any aesthetic elegance the blade might have is a subproduct of the engineering elegance of it's design, speaking of which it looks like an attempt of combining a halberd and a faussal/beidana
Your channel is great. Just found it
thx mate :)
That's a beautiful piece! I'd love to know its history.
Sehr beeindruckend! Du scheinst echt gute Beziehungen zum 🎅 zu haben, um so ein Original in die Hand zu bekommen! Ich bin sehr gespannt darauf, wie sich eine Reproduktion im Einsatz verhalten würde
Dito...mh, eigentlich braucht man ja 2 dann. Oder Helme zum draufhauen^^
That armor spiker at the tip of the blade with the extra heavy chop would be amazing with a shield or parry weapon like a warfork so you can use your heavy chops well. Or is it too heavy for 1 hand?
Cool sword. Very practical.
I would be very interested in seeing test cutting with such a blade. Falchions always struck me as being somewhat of a Swiss Army knife. A broad, single edge blade like that one gives one the ability to put an extremely fine cutting edge on it. This would be great if you were hewing down unarmored peasants but rather useless against armor. At the same time the weight in the blade (using the blunt spine to strike a helmet as you mentioned) and the point which is clearly reinforced for fighting against maile would indicate a completely different purpose.
I wonder if these types of falchions were perhaps an attempt at making a single weapon that could fight against both armored an unarmored opponents with equal proficiency. This would give a man the ability to fight in any situation without having to switch to (or even carry) a different weapon.
I guess its very effective against both...mh the more i think about it the more a second falchion vid could make sense^^
@ I'd watch it!
Fascinating
Must have been great to handle such a rare piece of history 💪🏻
Richtig gut Björn! Danke
Nice looking sword 👍 I have the Aruval Longsword.
So a few quick points
1) that's not bass, the lack of patina suggest it's gold
2) if real, the time frame would mean this of Germanic origins. Your ancestors were the only ones who really tried out a wide variety of weapons designs that look straight out a fantasy novel.
3) the blade design is similar to a halberd and seem to function in a similar manner
My guess is some rich Landknecht wanted a shorter halberd for when things got close up and request this design.
A guy who got wealthy through war created a sort of practical business card for himself - that's also my take on this weapon.
This thing is right out of Battle Brothers!
this has more red flags than a parade in Pyonyang.
Treat it with an exceptionally high degree of scepticism.
My favourite blade shape
Would be nice to know how blade thickness changes from guard to tip.
Beautiful weapon. I agree with the functionality you surmise.
I'd be curious to see a reproduction being used.
Very very cool!!!
Cheers from Colorado!
Greeting from Hamburg and have a nice NYE!
Almost reminiscent of a kopesh. In function anyway. Somewhat sword/axe hybrid like.
Is it genuine or a fake? Either way it's a very interesting sword. I especially like the reinforced tip. It's like it's made to be an allround sword able to deal with both hard and soft targets.
As a complete layman, it is without a doubt quite intimidating. Perhaps I romanticize swords too much for their elegance and I imagine, the code of honour, of those who wore them. When I look at this sword, the prevailing feeling is definitely one of fear. Certainly adoration as well, for it's apparent exceptional quality and frightening beauty. I try to imagine what it must have been like to have an Olympic athlete, who was trained in the arts of war his whole life, wield this against me with the specific purpose to overcome any, or most, advantages my armor would have provided me.
The intention of this sword is almost overwhelming and I imagine it gave the wielder a significant advantage in battle. Not only only due to it's rarity, but the simple fact that even one who has never held a sword can see that this was made to overcome any who stood against it.
The fact that it has survived for so long also gives you that impression that the custodians of this sword saw something in it as well.
In any case, thank you very much for sharing it with us! I've just found your channel and I very much look forward to seeing more.
Ps. Many years ago, I once saw a German executioner's sword with an engraving on both sides: ''Die herren steuern dem unheil ich exequiere ihr endts urteil. Wan ich das schwert thue aufheben wünsch ich dem sünder das ewig leben.'' I always liked that last part. Much love!
thx for your comment... do you have a link to the executioner sword?
Interesting sword. Great pantaloons 🙏👋
haha....totally inappropriate but comfortable
Well I was with you when you said only one edge was sharp as I had heard that about this type of sword. Alas, before i start thinking I’m smart or something, I also thought the sharp edge was the longer one. Is that common for these swords?
And yes please, would love to see sparing with modern replica.
I have a defy for you.
Fighting with a weapon that is a billhook on below.then the long handle till chest or shoulder, followed by a wusu lance red hairs. After that, comes an axe head, part axe at front, part hammer behind(with spikes and a central big warhammer/crowbleak spike, surrounded by lesser spikes.
At top of the haft, cones a lance head.
Edge has 3parts first as flamberge, secibd at saw,third as normal.
Flat walls of axe and hammer part are full of sone long spikes ,and edges in "sharkback"stile.
And cilinder that joins axe and hammer is full of a libe of some long spikes (for tearing horses as they cross by your side)
Borders/corners of hammer part has horizontal flat saw going out from it . Abd in spaces between edges on last part of walls of hammer ,goes a L shaped 2or3 spikes pointing large to out of the hammer hitting side
Spear/lance top haft head is 4sides crossed. has edge in saw shape at first, in flamberge shape at second, in sharck back like at third, and normal at fourth.
Curves up and down of the axe part has diameter of a wide nack, (for trapping people and moving it, or broke his neck),but full of spikes (conic or flat triangled).
The axe-hammer head, where joins to haft and below wusu lance red hairs, goes twisted (or by "click" mechanism,)into a gap on haft,enough deep for the twisting marksAND space extra for hiding a some long chain. When you free the chain, the weapon turns into a two handed flail, the axe-hammer spiked, being the head.
In adittion, the billhook has a kind of crossguard in SAI shape (like oriental weapon) useful for disarmings and spiking
has too a click mechanism too into the haft.
By complete one twist, At freeing it, reveals it is the real pommel of a dagger hided into. If you twist the pommel only half twist, a resort mechanism do jump edges (triangled or like shark backs) along the handle (3lines along or 4). This acts a security system in case someone in battle achieve hold your weapon haft hurting his hand.(or even the weapon is taken without letting.
Little holes in flat sides of axe and hammer holds flammable oil.
And even you can connect an internal wire from haft to metal head for electrifying it, doing fire and electric damage at time.
And several very little rounded empties in 4 sides of spear head , holds a venom paste, poisoning the spearhead.
Too the spearhead can be twisted out abd frees a very thin chain hiden on cilinder between axehead and hammer, and you have a "chain and spear" shaolin weapon
The blade shape reminds me of the Goblin shark
Love it!
Krieger weapons sells a reproduction (blunt or sharpened) of this kind of falchion. It's around 700 euros with scabbard + shipping from Poland.
From what I remember, weight and length are quite similar. Maybe just the point is a little shorter. Let us know if you find any other shop who sells this kind of fanchion.
cool, thx for the hint...i was not aware that Krieger sells from Poland, thought it is a US Seller. Great news...
Schöne Waffe und super Video, wie üblich! But: Very odd! In his videos Matt Easton often highlighted how falchions are not anti-armour, axe-like swords but instead thin, agile cutters to be used against unarmoured opponents. But this one is exactly the what he goes against. Maybe there were very different forms under the umbrella term of what we would call a Falchion. It would be interesting to have quantitative data on a large sample of falchions and their weight/thickness/point of balance.
Excellent video again.
I was under the impression the falchion was designed for effective cutting and piercing of gambison and other cloth armour?
Although your thoughts have taken a different approach?
Is it due to the time period in which you think this blade was fashioned?
The only source are contemporary pictures...thats where i draw my conclusions from :) and the shape of course...
@BjornRuther thank you for your reply.
I think the source of my comments may have stemed from Matt Easton on his falchion video.
Highly interesting and your opinion has very good explanations also 👍🏻 🙏.
very interessant exemple !
Question, would you use this shape of falchion the same way Buhurt fighters use thier falchion?
Amazing weapon, would be really cool to have it made for sparring and test it out.
definitely...let's see where I can get a replica made :)
@8:59 this reminds me of a two handed estock , looked like a two handed sword but the "blade" is a spike. diamond shaped cross section.
you have a very cool falcion. it looks like it would do some work.
Is that that old specimen from fricker? :D
Gotta love these reverse edge falchions. Own a repro i wanted to have based on metriculous measurements i got from a nice person who measured an original. Might very well be this one. The thickening of the spike was something i especially wanted and didnt get.
....yeah ok, i think its this one. :)
Craftsmen fucked up and i got a "vanilla" one.
got pictures from the replic? :)
It is a lovely piece to be sure. The only concern I have with it is that example has fullers on both sides. Where the most famous museum example only has it on one side, and if someone was to recreate such a falchion without knowing this they would put it on both.
That out of the way it is under appreciated in some areas and over appreciated in others. And I look forward to see more videos on the topic :)
A counter argument is that this also applies to craftsmen of the era reproducing a piece described to them verbally, or with an image.
good find...mh, is that also the case with all other "normal" falchions...the thing is we have a really thin reference base with 2-3 reversed ones :)
True, and these were only really around for about 60years roughly so who knows what changes occurred over that time from example to example
I don’t believe it is across the board with others. It is quite possible that the example you have is pushing the later time period for these and so would have both fullers like what we consider normal.
I do find it funny that everyone calls these reverse edge, when technically they came first :)
@@brothersliutgeryitzchakjea7889 haha thats true...lets call all "normal" curved ones "reversed" from now on...would be funny :P
I really like this design and I certainly would like it to be the genuine article but have my doubts
Эффективно:Фактор Проникаемости жала в бронь как у кинжала и плюмбаты..
Such a blade could only be re-made in modern, practical terms by forging. CNC stock removal would not work with that thick tip. Maybe a combination, but needless to say, I don't think we'll be seeing any high quality reproductions of such a blade and tip at a reasonable price for a while. Maybe Tod from Tod's workshop. Seems like something he could figure out how to make affordable.
In my opinion it’s either an aged fake or an original that has been cleaned/restored at some point whether by a museum or a private collector but I’d tend to lean more towards it being a reproduction because based on the close up shots you did the lines just look way too crisp for it to be a historical piece I’d date it no earlier than the Victorian period it’s just too nice to be authentic in my opinion, it looks very similar to some similar swords made by In’Carius Craft out of Poland.
Its been cleand and polished after it was rusted, id say its a fake, its recently made.
The blade is a good copy but the mate between the guard looks off.
He should etch part of the blade to see if its bloom steel of the time..
An original or not an original, it's a beautiful sword.
Would use against armor be more specific to this specific variation of falchion? Most of my fencing buddies and some other sources online usually point out that many falchions are too thin and fine edged to stand up to repeated cuts against armor, even mail. But obviously the tip was meant to go through armor rings and gaps.
Good question, i thought the same. But yes, the point is good for that and in addition you could use the blunt side as well like i pointed out in the vid :)
Be good to see if Tod Cutler could make one and experiment with it- I’m intrigued by the thought of the blugeoning edge