Yet another point about drawing swords
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- In which our presenter demonstrates that it is both possible and perhaps desirable to draw a long sword from the right hip, as opposed to from the left.
Spanish subtitles kindly contributed by Pablo Monjas.
www.LloydianAspects.co.uk
Thank you. Yes, we Brits tend to be a bit more sparing with our uses of 'awesome'. I was once talking to an American and said that I could meet him in five minutes for a mundane task, and he replied "Awesome!" which I felt rather devalued the term.
No Lloyd, thank you.
I've always wondered about the word "awesome". I assume it means "this contains some awe". But in that case, shouldn't "awful" (or rather "awefull") be ever better, since it it would be full of awe?
@@Tjalve70 interesting question
@@Tjalve70 I wonder!
Similarly, if 'meddlesome' means "prefers to meddle" then 'awesome' could mean "prefers to awe".
So the meaning, of awesome and aweful, well - we'd have to find something that's good to do, but bad to be full of..
@@Tjalve70 "Awesome" doesn't mean something that is full of awe, but rather something that inspires awe. Just like "fearsome" is something that inspires fear.
Some might be tempted to yell "THIS IS..."
Good ol' Lindy just can't resist making "Swish" sounds as he draws his sword hehe.
Yeah man. I have an EDC Viking round shield on me at all times. Just in case I get ambushed while fishing on my long boat
I thought this was a video about "drawing" swords. As in, with pencils and stuff.
Gosh I feel so silly now.
._.
I know, right? I thought it was going to be about someone whom swords actually gravitated to somehow!
Ah yes, in olden days when two chaps had a duel an the witness said "draw" they opened their packs, took out their scribbling instrument of choice, and the first to draw a picture of the other fellow won. No blood involved, contrary to popular belief.
Shining Darkness That would be a fantastic Monty Python skit.
Silorion That's the idea
Shining Darkness Yes, the loser promptly turned to ink. No blood at all.
"Let's assume that we're all right-handed." ~Lindybeige, 2008
+David Vanau Well a majority of people are, soo..
+bruce wayne what, did your parents not teach you anything ? oh wait...
but seriously though, a full basket of internet cookies if you can find me *any* evidence of *any* population that has a majority of left-handed people, wherever they may be
aStoner Darkly
Ditto.
+bruce wayne citation needed(on the left handed part not the writing part
+bruce wayne As someone who writes with chinese characters, they are biased towards being written with one's right hand not left. I am ambidextrous so I have experienced both.
Oh wow, a rare decade old upload that is still hale and on point. Huzzah!
It was on point 500 years ago, and will still be in next 500 years.
Lindy created a timeless piece!
When I was a member of a re-enactment society, and I and one of the other members made it.
"Drawing across the neck of your horse isn't a particularly arilliant idea either," :)
I actually really needed this. Weiss Schnee wears her sword on her left hip and she’s left handed. There aren’t many times where we ever see her draw her rapier and it confused the ever living hell out of me. But now it makes sense. I’m probably just not flexible so it was hard to comprehend. Lmao. Thank you for this video!!
Sword training and fencing really does things to your wrists and arms, from improving musculature, flexibility, but above all, control.
"And of course that leaves you open to getting shot."
I love these videos! :D
@mcbrideless Your shield is in your left hand.
@revesvans I think most 17th C rapiers were worn on the left hip, but for a left hander I'm not sure. It was a gentleman's personal side-arm, and I suppose that he would wear it wherever he pleased. Left handedness is an advantage in fencing, so he might want to advertise the fact. Yes, it would be in a scabbard, possibly a fancy one. It wouldn't make much noise.
The best part of this video was the surprised commentary you did throughout it. It made smile and laugh while still being very interesting. Well done. 5/5.
This was probably one of Lindy's best videos ever.
"draw a pila" - I think you mean 'throw a pilum'. Yes, well the light pilum was thrown about thirty yards and the heavy one about six - immediately before charging in to contact. The legionaries had straight-sided shields too, for a very close formation, so being able to draw a sword in a hurry without exposing oneself was very important.
Yes, some swords were suspended on the left and used with shields. In my video I do not make the claim that all swords were worn on the right side.
Great vid you are selling me on the idea that you are the leading authority on weapons of the pre-gunpowder world. Shield handles: check. Sword use: check. What really got me was the throwing axe vid. I am a fan. Thanks for being you.
1. Your shield would be heavier, and you'd be disarmed every time you put down your shield.
2. You are going to have to draw it at some point before contacting the enemy. Would you prefer to expose yourself to arrows at closer range?
3. If you have a shield, you do almost all your blocking with that. It's much better at blocking than a sword.
How do you do this when you are carrying a shield? You'd have to open yourself up. There is a difference between battles and everyday use. In a battle, you are seldom ambushed from within sword reach, and you'd have your shield. A nice feint with two free hands is to move as if to draw across your body, but then draw with the other hands and thrust the other way. This is only useful if faced with more than one opponent.
Yes "longsword" can mean this in certain contexts/periods. One has to be careful sometimes with "longsword" vs. "long sword".
@Th3UprightMan I approve 99.2% of them. By requiring them to be approved, new ones are brought to my attention, which means that I can reply to them, and do so quickly, which would otherwise not happen. The main reason for non-approval is when one commenter is very rude to another, even if that other was attacking me. I want people to feel that they can comment without being insulted for it.
The trouble is that there is seldom a definite dividing line between one type and another, since all the intermediaries exist. There is the same problem with bronze age "swords" and "daggers" - when is a dagger so long that it must be called a sword?
Knowledge is power, so thanks for the mental steroîde
Will a new comment on an old video get a reply? What a treat it would be if it did. Shad (Shadiversity) recently spoke about the relationship between content creator and viewer. To that I say you may never know us but we, in a way, know you. You are familiar to us. My conscious mind knows we've never met but my subconscious, or some part of it, thinks we have. It recognizes your face, voice, cadence, your body language...that part of me thinks of you as an old friend that comes around every so often to tell me a good story. So thank you for that-- all the laughs, and smirks, for the education and entertainment. Thanks for cheering me up at times when I was feeling down.
Always happy to see you Loyd. Please do drop by again when you have another good one for us. All the best to you and yours.
There are several good reason to mount from the left. One is that everyone rides on the left side of the road, and so you start pointing the way you want to go. Another is that it is natural for a right-sided person to swing the right leg over.
@ShadowForge762 Yes, no problem. Dark age sword somewhere around three feet. Katana a bit longer.
@Arwyroe Possibly this refers to the use of a baldric.
Gosh thanks. I don't think many people would choose the word "cool", but it's good to know that I can be seen that way. Let's hope I don't get an ASBO for sword-use. I bought my katana solely because I heard they were planning to make them illegal.
I've only done it once or twice, but Peter Connolly reports having done it many times.
@StormchaserKnight I think we have distinguish here between longsword and long sword. Whereas a longsword might be a specific style of sword, a long sword is any sword that is long as opposed to short. My apologies for ambiguity.
love how with the shield while drawing the sword you made the swhwing sound.
I'm so glad that I was able to watch this, I was worried that I was drawing (pencils and wacom) my character incorrectly with the sword being holstered on the right, (cus I know nothing about swordsmanship) and now that I've seen this I'm so happy that I don't have to redraw my character 😁😁😁😁😁
I've watched so many of your videos and come to 2 conclusions.
1) You've never made a bad video.
2) My interest in history has been completely revitalised!
The blade is sprung steel. I didn't hammer it out. Thick and thin sheets of brass for the hilt, with leather washers, brass rod rivets, wood carved into shape for the handle and middle parts of the pommel and quillons. Thonging wrapped around the handle for grip. Saws for cutting the metal needed, drills and files, a hammer for riveting, a vice held the rods while hammering a mushroom head onto the end. A punch for the decoration on the thin brass.
If you mean a greatsword, you carry it over your shoulder like a spear.
After i watched this i tried drawing my 34 inch sword from both left and right side, i would say that it had the same feeling and difficulty. Although i think if you were on foot it would be better from your left side because you can immediately swing or parry something with some amount of force if you didn't have a shield that is, but thank you for this point i never tried this before.
@PresidentDRCI At this point, I have already dropped the scabbard. The tiny sound is probably the blade scraping against the inside of the shield.
@stridingshadow That's right - you reach over the pommel and have the back of your hand next to your body, and the thumb at the bottom. The 'longsword' refers to the war sword of the later medieval knight, used without a shield, and sometimes called bastard or hand-and-a-half. It is longer than a normal one-handed full-length sword, which is about three feet. I am certainly not talking about short swords.
@ShadowForge762 The Saxon sword is 34" long (6" hilt + 28" blade). The katana is a bit longer, but I'm sure I'd have no trouble drawing it from my right hip.
Are they not the same thing with a different name?
@bboishowoff Do you mean built in behind the shield? I'd say not. For one thing, every time you put down your shield, you'd be disarmed.
A good point. Yes, horses are mounted from the left. Actually there are lots of reasons for driving on the left (which explains why countries that drive on the left have far lower accident rates).
No, the left hand held the shield, the right hand held the sword. I'm just saying that sometimes they hung their swords on the right hip, not the left hip.
@MrBlah15000 There is no risk of elbowing the man behind me when I draw from my right hip. My elbow goes forwards, I invert my hand, then my elbow goes up.
I will admit that this is something i have never thought about before. As soon as he mentioned the point about shields though it made sense.
Thanks a lot lidybeige! I was arguing with some fools on a game forum. They clearly don't even own a sword, yet they said it was impossible to draw one from the right and the game should be changed. I assured them I own several swords and scabbards and they can in fact be easily drawn from the right hip and would be worn on the right most likely because of the shield he uses. Almost none believed me. That was until I grew a brain and searched for a video of it :p. You rock lindybeige.
@Worldslargestipod Not really. I can draw up a long way, forwards a fair way, and to my right if the scabbard can swing round to behind me. Even with it on my right side, I can draw and stab to the right in one movement, without need for it to come far from vertical.
@legendsofgrine Without a scabbard? I take it that the sword is either blunt or all your friends are very tolerant of cut knees and shredded trousers.
Yes, so far as I know, rapiers of the 18th C and katanas were worn on the left. I see it as significant that both these types of sword are used without a shield.
I have seen depictions of Celtic horsemen drawing from the right, but I don't know on what these are based, but they were in an Osprey book, so presumably based on something.
The back of my hand is next to my body as I grip the hilt, and my thumb is pointing backwards.
HOW DOES THIS GUY NOT HAVE MORE VIEWS
one of the most entertaining on youtube!
I don't always carry the full size shield you see in this video. Usually I just have my lightweight folding mini-shield.
Really? What's the evidence for this? Sword fittings found on the right side of the body in inhumations? Vase paintings? The famous warrior vase doesn't seem to show scabbards at all.
Love the sound effects for drawing the sword out- insta favorites.
thanks, it is fun to listen to you. Take care.
Yes, I think most late medieval long swords were drawn from the left hip. They weren't using shields much by then anyway. Of all swords in the past, though, this is a small category. I'm just pointing out in this video that a right-hip suspension is perfectly feasible and was used by some. Both thrusts and slashes can be offensive or defensive.
I would never even have thought about drawing from the left hip. Very interesting. Thanks for the upload.
@deathsminion25 Yes, and from the right hip. From the right hip you can draw and stab to the right, and you you can draw and stab forwards while holding a shield. Such techniques, though, are not much use in large battles. There is a convention in wild west films that people cannot draw their pistols until immediately before shooting them. I doubt this was adhered to in reality.
I find I can draw straight into a thrust from my right hip without trouble. On horseback the scabbard is suspended at an angle closer to horizontal. I've never known armour that prevented a right-hip draw. Roman lorica segmentata would perhaps be the most restricting kind of armour, and we know for sure that they had a right-handed draw. I'd not want to go into battle with armour as restricting as types you suggested were used.
I feel like such an idiot. I totally didn't think about a lot of those. I'm glad I saw this to improve the quality of my writing stories. Thanks for this. (And now, I feel stupid.)
LOL! your own surprise as you drew the sword from the right... priceless!
@Chad Perkins- A broadsword is a later sword with a basket hilt. The Germans, at least, referred to the 42-48" range sword the "lamgschwert" or "langenschwert"-aka "longsword." A believe the English used the same term during the period.
War horses, in battle, were not directed by reins, they went left when the right leg pushed against them, and right when the left leg pushed; they go like hell when both legs are slid back, towards the horses belly, and slow down or stop when both legs squeeze. The modern warhorse is ridden during polo games, using the same interactions developed centuries ago. Go buckskin (color term for a beige horse)!
I am not arguing that all men wore swords on the right hip, merely that it is possible to draw one from there.
An armchair would be tricky, but a chair with a back shouldn't pose much of a problem. There are suspension methods with a lot of slack in them, and some that are designed to be easy to remove/adjust.
More coming. I don't own, but would be happy to own, a gladius.
Without a context these are gold
Yes, I don't know of examples of late medieval longswords drawn from the right, even if it were possible.
On drawing the sword with a shield on the left hip, the trick is to draw th1 sword across your body, so that the flat side of the sword runs across your belly (or parallel to, so to avoid injury). The only problem is the it causes the scabbard to stick out, and could hit the guy to the left, but that really is only a problem in a dense formation, but when on your own, or in a loose formation it works rather well. You just need to get use to it.
The distinction betwenn long sword and longsword has been made quite often, but still people do not seem to agree on what is what. In german, the term "Langschwert" refers to a long, one handed sword. Just a long piece of sword really, as opposed to a short-bladed sword. The term "Langes Schwert" on the other hand refers to the mainly two-handed, very long weapon, as described in the fencing manuals of thahofer, danzig, ringeck, etc.
I think there is another advantage. When coming to the line in a range shoot a cross draw may muzzle flash a person beside them. Draw dominant hand straight and you don't. If you are in a tight formation, you do not want to mess up the formation as your mate ducks or shifts to avoid your draw.
"You can do that on front of a learned man who's been told otherwise and he'll tell you it's impossible. You've just done it in front of him, but it's still impossible."
And that still holds true for unlearned men in social media concerning any topic you like for which they're trapped in their little echo chamber.
Nice video, i had thought it to be impossible to draw from the left as well, until i saw this little gem of a video here :)
@bagosk8r It is isn't impossible, but it is awkward, and a bit slower.
Very Good-Explained quite a lot!!
Or there's the flick-shield of course, but they're illegal in Britain.
I believe there are different forms of busy.
The only mini-shield I know of is the buckler. Or those, foldable kind that you could carry in your purse or knapsack.
@lindybeige Right now it is blunt. I most don't use the scabbard because it a movie-replica sword, so the scabbard is metal so it goes "SHING!" when I draw it, as well as not helping the dull blade point.
I can't remember the costs exactly, but they were very low. Much of the metal was from a scrap metal yard. I think the whole thing well under £15 in materials.
The end is more rounded than a sharp sword, but these swords did not taper to a point like late medieval ones. They ended like a Norman arch.
It is very similar to the Roman long one-handed sword the spatha, yes. There are those who would say that its design was a copy of the spatha, but then there are also those who would point out that the spatha was copied by the Romans from the northern barbarians in the first place.
I literally thought Roman legionary straight away.. so glad u covered it! Im subbed..
I have yet another point about swords. NOBODY WENT INTO BATTLE WITH THEIR WEAPON SHEATHED. I hope that clears the still existing two handed sword sheathing issue. You could carry it on your back, but you wouldn't draw it from the back - you had to first take the whole thing off, draw it and march into battle.
Of course that is only a thing when the sword is your primary weapon. Many one handed swords (actually most of them) were usually secondary weapons throughout history, used after your spear broke or you threw a javelin or pilum. Then the drawing points are still valid.
As An Artist I Learned Nothing About Drawing Swords In This
But I Learned Something Non The Less
Well Played
I think you are referring to a weapon also sometimes called a war sword or a bastard sword or a hand-and-a-half, which is a late medieval thing, from a time when shields were going out of favour. My sword is a long sword from the time when everyone used shields and a sword was one-handed. A typical length is a yard.
The term "claymore" is confusing too, since it is used to refer to two very specific and yet very different Scottish sword types. It depends on what period you're writing about.
I was told this too when I rode years ago. It really makes more sense to cross draw on a horse because I can't imagine trying to mount on the left side with your sword on the right. Now, plenty of countries mount on the other side of the horse so maybe those countries are where a right side sword was more common?
Excellent! Entertaining and educational. Thank you.
I took it as making sure people knew that real swords didn't produce that sound. It's just an audio cue to let the audience know that the sword has been drawn, although it is done to ridiculous levels. His sound effect served the same purpose.
I even read an account in the bible where a would-be assassin snuck his sword past all guards to kill the king just by hanging it from his right hip. it was explicitly stated that only his left hip was checked because obviously no assassin could possibly draw his sword from the right hip. I think he may have been left handed to further propagate the opposite hip fallacy, but I can't remember.
All of your videos on weapons are amazingly informative (I've been watching them all afternoon, in fact) and, at times, hilarious. Keep up the excellent work, sir! :D
I think it was just easier to have their swords on the opposite hip as their hand. And that point you made with the shield is defenatly valid. I think if I had a shield, ill sling my sword on the right hip, but if I didnt, id sling it on the left.
Possibly, for a samurai, but if your sword is for battles, not duels, and you are using a big shield this would be a minor consideration.
I'd say that another reason to wear the sword on the right would be it is a faster draw. The quickest way from point to point is a straight line.
"Let's assume that we're all right-handed" - everyone always does
You flatter me. I have several more views, actually, but finding the time to make videos is not always easy. I made ten videos in one day this summer when the light was excellent. Making videos in the harsh low winter sun of Newcastle is sub-optimal, but I shall try to find a way...
he was only doing that for a point, you can hear him say "ill draw it from above my hip just to make it more difficult"
@nmartinez18- All of the 15th c. German illustrations from fechtbucher show scabbarded longswords on the left, and all techniques depicted therein are right handed. Examples: Gladiatoria, Talhoffer MS Thott 290.2.
Mate!...YOU are stupendous, will watch NO OTHER educator, absolutely no BULL and excruciatingly watchable, your personality is priceless.
I fervently regret not having an educator like you in my early life or anywhere in my life at all, well met Lloyd, Gotcha NOW mate and will never leave.
You are LLoyd the Legend.
I find it wonderful that some dares tackel the movie maker BS that so many take for "authentic" but has been driving me mad every time a made the mistake of watching a period movie.
the sword worn on the left hip gives you a block when drawn. but your right when used with a sheild it is easier to pull from the right hip. unless you extend the shield out from your body a bit