I actually believe that that is how these strange estocs came to be. Because certain laws stated that a duel should be fought with a sword an certain noblemen wanted a dedicated anti-armour weapon but it couldn't be a polearm. So they came up with these "swords".
it could really be like that,just an abuse of a legal loophole and it could also explain why these types of pommel-mace-swords are so rare,maybe the loophole was closed and this weapons werent made anymore
2:00 In the Italian manuscript you can also read in an old Italian but still comprehensible and, being italian, here you have my translation of the part more meaningful for this video "the quillon should be as long as the grip of the sword: and pointed on both sides. And should be pointed the pommel as well so that you can wound with all of them". Or in italian: "L'elsa vuole essere lunga quanto il manico della spada: e vuole essere aguzza da ogni lato. E similmente vuole essere aguzzo il pomolo per poter ferire con ognuna di queste parti."
@@jay_idk337 it depend on the weapon, for longsword is mainly german but italian too. For rapier is mainly italian but spanish too. Sorey for the late response and my lack of knowledge in other weapons. I only know longsword and rapier.
@@TheZapan99 And stabs. That sliding guard provides extra hand protection for any half-swording action. It may have existed on more original swords and been confused with display mounting hardware by various collection maintainer during the centuries between the manuscripts and modern HEMA research.
Hey, at least it gives you leverage for unscrewing it. Almost like some old faucet knobs. I like the estoc pommel there, that seems like a more practical design. Useful mace, not so spiky that you risk hurting yourself when you're using the weapon as a sword.
For this Krakow sword it has to be like this Dragon Ball trope of weighted clothing, you unsrew the pommel and it loses 1/4 of the weight becomeing much faster (in the mordahau configuration)
It might also have been the rule to fight with swords. "OK, I'll have a sword made for this specific use. The rules don't specify which *end* of the sword I use. "
I feel like a spiked pommel is like adding cool paint and spikes onto a nuclear bomb. It makes it look cooler but it is still just as incredibly powerful as before.
A Rogue Spartan You have to keep in mind that each pommel added onto a pommel exponentially increases the combined power of the pommels. Since most couldn’t afford to add so much power to their sword, most nobles settled with small spikes, which were basically “Pommel Lite.”
Hey Skall, you mind making a video on how medieval people practised their swordsmanship and what kind of gear they used to practise with. I think it’s an interesting subject that hasn’t been covered yet
Miguel Rojas Not sure about training (though at a guess i’d say they’d have used mostly wooden and blunt steel swords) but my hema instructor told me about how historically, in some tournaments, fencers would have to make a ‘cut’ with the flat of the blade rather than the edge. The flats were covered in chalk so that a hit would leave behind a mark and be clearly visible on dark clothing. Its entirely possible that similar methods could have been used for training as being hit with the flat of a blade, even if its made out of steel, is a lot safer due to the larger surface area and increased flex.
I wonder how the people that made those old drawings and books feel, seeing/knowing their arts and texts were beeing seen today by thousands of people. Must be quite a sense of accomplishment, really. Shad & Metatron and others also showed and study them too... Keep it up, man.
They allow you unlimited pommel throws, just by wacking your opponent while holding on the disc guard and letting the pommel hit him like a sledge hammer.
This is actually really interesting. Earlier I was under the impression that such weird swords were just an idea of Hans Talhofer, but now I have to investigate it further.
Hello Skallagrim, regarding this topic: The specialized swords were often used in trial by combat because other weapons were outlawed or you simply agreed to fight with the sword. Another thing is that there were laws that forbade certain types of weapons or pieces of armour. Sometimes they did it so that the combatants would injure each other but not necessarily kill each other. In some german sources it is mentioned that spiked pommels and guards werent allowed. interestingly enough they also state that modified or specilized armour pieces mostly gauntlets were also forbidden. One example is that it was forbidden to put on spikes on your knuckles on your gauntlet which seemed to be quite a common practice or "cheat" to use in judical combat. ( One such example can be seen in the bavarian national museum, some gothic gauntlets have them) Im not 100% sure but there seem to be some Harnischfechtschwerter in the Wiener Hofkammer in Austria which do have some of the features but not sure if they display them there anymore.
maybe not feasible with medieval technology but imagine a pommel that has spikes that are kept retracted as long as it's screwed to the handle but automatically pop out when unfastened, to alleviate the pragmatics of a spiked pommel in normal use
By the way Skall in so glad you have this game as a sponsor it doesn't have nearly as many players as it deserves way to pick a sponsor Feels kinda weird typing this out cuz in general if I see a sponsor for a video I become skeptical of how good their product is, I don't know y
hi skallagrim, i'm from brazil and i have been following your channel for about 3 months now and i'm loving it, nobrasil there is nothing like swords shields etc. etc. I am part of a swordplay group not with real swords and shields but what is it worth is the intention ..and your videos helped me, thanks.
I can't imagine adding tons of sharp spikes to the pommel of a sword that was intended to be held the normal way and be used as a cutting weapon. That would tear up your hand and quite likely inflict more damage on yourself rather than your opponent. It seems like a very purpose built sword-mace hybrid thing
That estoc with the super heavy pommel I think was used from horseback as a backup to the lance. That weight all on the pommel would make it easy to keep the point up in an extended hand.
Zyvgla just added some good information about the spiked Estoc on reddit: quoted here. A bit of context. The sword was received by the museum in the late 19th century, and the documentation of its origins was either not kept or lost during subsequent years. An old catalogue of the museum (Mažeikienė, 1979) still describes it as an original, but, if I am not mistaken, the plaque in the exhibition states that it is "a replica" of XV-XVI c. sword. It rests in the hands of this guy in the exhibition of Gediminas castle tower in Vilnius, Lithuania, and everybody can see it and even touch it The sword has a few problems. First of all, it is a solid cast iron construction, from tip to the pommel, the handle being made from the same chunk of metal as the rest of the sword. The blade is dull, fat, without an acute point. Judging by the fact that the sword is bent near the handle, it might be hollow, ant thus very flimsy, but still weighing a lot. In case it is not hollow, it probably weighs at least a dozen of kilograms. This is not a real sword, folks. It's a wallhanger from 19th (or a bit earlier) century made by someone who probably saw something like that in some manuscript and wanted to reproduce it with no regard to functionality. Still an interesting piece of history though. www.reddit.com/r/SWORDS/comments/f5ud86/15th_c_lithuanian_estoc_with_hilt_built_into_the/fj3lf6o/?
There’s a scene in the cartoon series “Prince Valiant” where he throws his sword at someone and hits them with the pommel. I mean talk about ending someone rightly lol ruclips.net/video/74FeFWKv6Bw/видео.html 18:13
@@GuitarsRockForever no he isn't, he lived in Germany for a bit, but I think he said he somewhere from skandinavia (don't really know how to spell it, sorry)
He’s from Canada, not Scandinavia, but he has also lived in Norway for some time (actually in Scandinavia) and can speak Norwegian bokmål fairly well, it seems
I remember seeing a longsword with its middle being flat and blunt. Such sword is intended for duel in armor and probably would be used in half swording most of the time.
Apart from the extreme weight of that one example, these designs seem pretty effective for intended purpose. If you fighting in full harness, you're protected against accidentally spiking yourself apart from colossal blunders. In the grapple, having extra spikes to leverage is useful, & they make swinging a murder stroke a bit more dangerous.
Also the spiked pommel swords are mostly, if not entirely, pictured in a judicial duelling context. This might be a clue as to having little evidence of them. 1) Dueling swords would be made less often than regular swords 2) I don't know for sure but did combatants provide the arms for a judicial duel or did someone else? If they were provided by the king, for example, then the same sword might be used for more than one duel. As such this might make the number that were be made even less. 3) I said might because what if dueling swords were destroyed after the duel? I've seen no evidence for it but given how in some periods swords were bent or broken when a person does or were dishonored...just guessing it might be true in a judicial duel. 4) if dueling swords were provided then if not destroyed they would be kept in an armory. Records should account for them. Someone with access to records should look. But if they do show up, then where are they now? Perhaps when judicial duels were no longer used, dueling swords were repurposed? Maybe rehilted, maybe scrapped then reforged?
I have a DelTin longsword that has a rather large pommel. It's sort of a flanged sent stopper but really large. It's solid & I've thought for years it should be hollow for that size, and it probably should be, but if that estoc had a heavy solid pommel...well maybe my sword is not as in inaccurate as I thought. It is a bit heavy for its size, but we'll balanced g definitely usable.
Just knowing there's so much versatility with a sword makes me want to see these techniques done in a video game. Doesn't have to be the most realistic thing in the world, I just would like to see peoples reaction to someone purposely hold the sword by the blade and swing it like a hammer.
The other day I saw Mr.SmartDonkey playing that Conquerors Blade game and I really wanted to try it. I hadn't heard of it before so I figured it wasn't on stream, but it was. Unfortunately though, according to the reviews, it's chinese run game, and the EULA has enough concerning points in it that many people gave it a thumbs down and said to stay away. It's too bad because it actually looks really cool.
Great video Skall. Embrace the memes. To think that people would come up to create such niche things. Being something of nobles explains a lot about the economic viability of it. Also, I've created you in Mordhau. I just don't know if you should have a Messer (since you love yours), or a Longsword (for Pommel glory). Maybe both.
You don't get weird, pointy pommels because swords are sidearms worn anywhere you can possibly take it. You don't want pointy shit all over it in the course of your day to day life, and you can't really rest your hand on the pommel of your sheathed sword to stop it misbehaving if the damn thing is covered in patented, totally-not-only-cool-to-13-year-olds Spikes Of Evil. Anyone with a pointier pommel setup is likely making a very aggressive statement that they care more about how well they can murder your face, than just hanging around in ease and comfort like a regular human.
These kindof swords, and also the duelling shield, should be more often in fantasy. It would be much better than a lot of that kind of swords and other weapons who are there now.
Hi Skall, so I find the topic of self defense very interesting and I really like your self defense videos, however could you perhaps tell or even make a video what do you use for self defense yourself? Or home defense at that matter? You could go into pros and cons, so maybe it could be an interesting video? Cheers
@Skallagrim These swords and the drawings seem almost like the idea of a combination weapon, crossing a sword with a mace so they have the agility of a sword with the striking power of a mace (or in some cases a Bec de Corbin). Only they never really took off.
I'm from Lithuania, nice. It's very interesting how you pronounced Vilnius. You did say it correctly... Just a weird accent has been put on to it. Don't really hear any Lithuanian place names from other foreigners. Love your vids skall!
The most intriguing concepts most undoubtedly came from adaption in combat and well fighters asking blacksmiths for a more unique design to suite their fighting style. I believe it is absolutely a huge mistake to look at historical references from manuscripts and pieces in current collections/museums and simply state they were the rule or the standard versus the exception, unless you can find instances of a design that is common with multiple items of reference it could very well likely could have been a prototype blade or an instance where a few blacksmiths in a region made blades like that, or they were custom ordered for richer nobility to stand apart from the standard. In this case the indulgence of letting imagination run rampant I would probably say these were incredibly specialized for specific fighters in specific types of combat, people can say and look at something and say "Looks Legit" but the reality is on a battlefield anything goes is it possible a hook was put on to rip parts of armor loose in an attempt to adapt swords, sure why not?, I mean I would absolutely use it to rip the D%$k plate off and hook my opponents scrotum, If it doesn't kill him it ensures he won't reproduce which for the time was a big deal, if you can't kill them now kill their future generations...……… like I said anything goes on the battlefield I can see many unusual custom blades that were made over history that were made specifically to counter or bypass defenses that realistically may have only been used for a war and then melted down afterwards to make a new blade for the new one.
If the rules of a judicial duel required the duel be fought with swords, you might see some of these designs making sense. They’re basically a sword-shaped poleaxe.
"The duel shall be performed in armor and with swords."
Dude shows up with a sword-shaped polearm/mace hybrid. "This counts, right?"
I actually believe that that is how these strange estocs came to be. Because certain laws stated that a duel should be fought with a sword an certain noblemen wanted a dedicated anti-armour weapon but it couldn't be a polearm. So they came up with these "swords".
Yeah those weapons look like someone went to a sword maker and said, “make me a sword-shaped poleaxe.”
It's a mace disguised as a sword.
it could really be like that,just an abuse of a legal loophole and it could also explain why these types of pommel-mace-swords are so rare,maybe the loophole was closed and this weapons werent made anymore
The two-handed pommel was banned by treaty.
True story
And now we are all still here alive and well. Thank the heavens.
cluster bombs are just exploding pommels
@@jonc8074
I am become death.
I hear it goes by a different name to get around the weapons ban, called a mace.
@@Voitan or staffs (staves?)
I can imagine someone over enginering the ponnel to the point they end up with a mace.
lmao
Dude that so hilarious
half swording
@siphosihle madondo
*10 years later*
A mace with a blade for the pommel
I can imagine one of his subscribers attaching a lucerne hammer head as a pommel.
2:00 In the Italian manuscript you can also read in an old Italian but still comprehensible and, being italian, here you have my translation of the part more meaningful for this video "the quillon should be as long as the grip of the sword: and pointed on both sides. And should be pointed the pommel as well so that you can wound with all of them". Or in italian: "L'elsa vuole essere lunga quanto il manico della spada: e vuole essere aguzza da ogni lato. E similmente vuole essere aguzzo il pomolo per poter ferire con ognuna di queste parti."
Neat.
Faigo
Based. Thanks.
Does anyone know the main languages in hema, English french, German,Italy, I’m assuming it’s that, maybe Latin as well
@@jay_idk337 it depend on the weapon, for longsword is mainly german but italian too. For rapier is mainly italian but spanish too. Sorey for the late response and my lack of knowledge in other weapons. I only know longsword and rapier.
The Ultimate Weapon to End them Rightly:
1. Pommel launching Trebuchet
NOOO!!!! YOU'LL KILL US ALL!!!!
I can see Joerg Sprave built something like that.
LET ME SHOW YOU ITS FEATURES!
What do you think inspired the nuclear bomb
Well, they evolved into hand grenades, but it's basically the same, not as powerful tho, as pommels don't follow the Geneva convention
Only the Trubuchet is made entirely of pommels.
All I have to say is ''Have fun unscrewing that pommel when it's practically a morningstar.''
And you have to keep in mind that the pommel will face its wielder for most of the time, which is already dangerous enough for the user :D
That' why they invented those sliding rondel things on the blade, why throw the pommel once, when you can have unlimited pommel sliding whacks.
@@TheZapan99 And stabs. That sliding guard provides extra hand protection for any half-swording action. It may have existed on more original swords and been confused with display mounting hardware by various collection maintainer during the centuries between the manuscripts and modern HEMA research.
Hey, at least it gives you leverage for unscrewing it. Almost like some old faucet knobs.
I like the estoc pommel there, that seems like a more practical design. Useful mace, not so spiky that you risk hurting yourself when you're using the weapon as a sword.
For this Krakow sword it has to be like this Dragon Ball trope of weighted clothing, you unsrew the pommel and it loses 1/4 of the weight becomeing much faster (in the mordahau configuration)
Skall, several years ago: "Pommel jokes aren't funny"
Skall now: Pommel Jokes.
Needs dem views
You either fight the joke or live with it.
He's done fighting.
It's not funny, it's very serious stuff 🧐
Hey, I never said pommel jokes in general aren't funny. My point was that too many people spam pommel jokes in very lame, uncreative ways. :)
@@Skallagrim Pommel pommel pommel
55% educational,
40% meme
5% shitpost
God, I love your channel Skall!
100% ended rightly
This is not a mere pommel.
This is the end game of pommels.
Half of the universe is ended rightly.
Pommel of mass DESTRUCTION!
He's the first English-speaking person I've heard who attempts to and actually can pronounce both versions of the German ch sound.
ZorroDood to be fair, I think he’s German.
When you can't decide on a sword or a mace. I call it a swace.
I'd rather call it a mword.
swoce
@@zackoz2202 Lamb saaaauce
Mord...hau!
Swooce right in
It might also have been the rule to fight with swords. "OK, I'll have a sword made for this specific use. The rules don't specify which *end* of the sword I use. "
Seems like I need to replace my sword's pommel with a hand grenade
"Oh lord! Blessed by a hand grenade!"
Then you can only use it once.
@@GeminibBorn Then, you may use a belt with a lot of pommels for replacement.
@@leonardo_pandaboff oh, good thinking
Blessed be the holy handgrenada attached to your sword in case you encounter a bunny.
I feel like a spiked pommel is like adding cool paint and spikes onto a nuclear bomb. It makes it look cooler but it is still just as incredibly powerful as before.
A Rogue Spartan You have to keep in mind that each pommel added onto a pommel exponentially increases the combined power of the pommels. Since most couldn’t afford to add so much power to their sword, most nobles settled with small spikes, which were basically “Pommel Lite.”
Does anyone miss "the yer old blade shoppe"
It was cringy but i liked it
no
Hey Skall, you mind making a video on how medieval people practised their swordsmanship and what kind of gear they used to practise with. I think it’s an interesting subject that hasn’t been covered yet
That's actually a good question. How did people train to use swords without losing a limb, back then?
@@Anino_Makata tis only a flesh wound
Miguel Rojas Not sure about training (though at a guess i’d say they’d have used mostly wooden and blunt steel swords) but my hema instructor told me about how historically, in some tournaments, fencers would have to make a ‘cut’ with the flat of the blade rather than the edge. The flats were covered in chalk so that a hit would leave behind a mark and be clearly visible on dark clothing. Its entirely possible that similar methods could have been used for training as being hit with the flat of a blade, even if its made out of steel, is a lot safer due to the larger surface area and increased flex.
Liam Morris thanks. In my head I came up with something along the lines of flat sides but the chalk thing is really interesting. Thanks again
I’m confused u guys know there’s wood?? 😂
They use wooden weapons and if they use metal there blunt and not sharp for training
This is like the medieval version of an AR15 with a million attachments
Might be someone trying to get around the rules of dueling. I can imagine the reaction. "Oh come on! That isn't a sword." "Yes it is."
The pommel throw is the most dangerous weapon in the world and this makes it more dangerous!
comedy genius
I wonder how the people that made those old drawings and books feel, seeing/knowing their arts and texts were beeing seen today by thousands of people.
Must be quite a sense of accomplishment, really.
Shad & Metatron and others also showed and study them too...
Keep it up, man.
I love that kind of content where you do some historical digging so i don't have to.
More like that please !
Hmmm. It’d be interesting to explore the practicality of those sliding disc guard on the blade.
They allow you unlimited pommel throws, just by wacking your opponent while holding on the disc guard and letting the pommel hit him like a sledge hammer.
Me: sees 'end them rightly'
Insta click.
Well researched video Skall. Stayed on point without flaws. The harnischfechten community applauds you for it.
Great video. This is vintage Skall. I watch and enjoy all your stuff, but this is where you're at your best!
skall you just unironically helped me find a perfect card for my yugioh deck.
Basically it's a sword or estoc with a mace for a pommel, I like it!
I've been waiting for a video on this estoc for a while now. Thanks for this.
That's not "estoc" - that's pointed handle mace. Made for usage of both ends at least.
This is actually really interesting. Earlier I was under the impression that such weird swords were just an idea of Hans Talhofer, but now I have to investigate it further.
Hello Skallagrim, regarding this topic:
The specialized swords were often used in trial by combat because other weapons were outlawed or you simply agreed to fight with the sword. Another thing is that there were laws that forbade certain types of weapons or pieces of armour. Sometimes they did it so that the combatants would injure each other but not necessarily kill each other.
In some german sources it is mentioned that spiked pommels and guards werent allowed. interestingly enough they also state that modified or specilized armour pieces mostly gauntlets were also forbidden. One example is that it was forbidden to put on spikes on your knuckles on your gauntlet which seemed to be quite a common practice or "cheat" to use in judical combat.
( One such example can be seen in the bavarian national museum, some gothic gauntlets have them)
Im not 100% sure but there seem to be some Harnischfechtschwerter in the Wiener Hofkammer in Austria which do have some of the features but not sure if they display them there anymore.
0:13 THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED! Yes, I like Sabaton.
Yes! Sí! Да! Kyllä! Ja!
Heard Skall saying "Winged Hussars" and scrolled down to find the reference 🤘
COMING DOWN THEY TURNED THE TIDE!
A man of culture.
Thought the same thing!
8:10, if your opponent gets to choose the weapon and they choose the sword, you can use this type of sword to get the advantage
1:02 Today I learned Yu-gi-oh referenced HEMA in the mid 90s.
I want your backyard, it's so lovely, even the snow.
maybe not feasible with medieval technology but imagine a pommel that has spikes that are kept retracted as long as it's screwed to the handle but automatically pop out when unfastened, to alleviate the pragmatics of a spiked pommel in normal use
By the way Skall in so glad you have this game as a sponsor it doesn't have nearly as many players as it deserves way to pick a sponsor
Feels kinda weird typing this out cuz in general if I see a sponsor for a video I become skeptical of how good their product is, I don't know y
Imma reinstall the game with your link
These videos have really grown on me lately
hi skallagrim, i'm from brazil and i have been following your channel for about 3 months now and i'm loving it, nobrasil there is nothing like swords shields etc. etc. I am part of a swordplay group not with real swords and shields but what is it worth is the intention ..and your videos helped me, thanks.
I can't imagine adding tons of sharp spikes to the pommel of a sword that was intended to be held the normal way and be used as a cutting weapon. That would tear up your hand and quite likely inflict more damage on yourself rather than your opponent. It seems like a very purpose built sword-mace hybrid thing
I'm so glad RUclips decided to finally give me my full notifications back. You're a scholar amongst plebs, sir Skallagrim.
Great video! Thanks for being so clear with your sources
Damm, the quality is awesome.
Elegant tomfoolery to brighten my day. Thanks skall.
1:34 If I didn’t know anything about HEMA, this would be the funniest meme I’ve ever seen.
I have seen this kind of alternative design of swords, and I have hoped for someone to look in to it.
Thank you , Skallagrim!
I would like you to know that after seeing it on your channel I finally got around to buying the Opinel NO.13. I love it man!
That estoc with the super heavy pommel I think was used from horseback as a backup to the lance. That weight all on the pommel would make it easy to keep the point up in an extended hand.
Zyvgla just added some good information about the spiked Estoc on reddit: quoted here.
A bit of context.
The sword was received by the museum in the late 19th century, and the documentation of its origins was either not kept or lost during subsequent years. An old catalogue of the museum (Mažeikienė, 1979) still describes it as an original, but, if I am not mistaken, the plaque in the exhibition states that it is "a replica" of XV-XVI c. sword. It rests in the hands of this guy in the exhibition of Gediminas castle tower in Vilnius, Lithuania, and everybody can see it and even touch it
The sword has a few problems. First of all, it is a solid cast iron construction, from tip to the pommel, the handle being made from the same chunk of metal as the rest of the sword. The blade is dull, fat, without an acute point. Judging by the fact that the sword is bent near the handle, it might be hollow, ant thus very flimsy, but still weighing a lot. In case it is not hollow, it probably weighs at least a dozen of kilograms.
This is not a real sword, folks. It's a wallhanger from 19th (or a bit earlier) century made by someone who probably saw something like that in some manuscript and wanted to reproduce it with no regard to functionality. Still an interesting piece of history though.
www.reddit.com/r/SWORDS/comments/f5ud86/15th_c_lithuanian_estoc_with_hilt_built_into_the/fj3lf6o/?
Cool videos Skall. Some of those swords looked very fantasy like. Also, that sword you are using for the demonstration is beautiful.
There’s a scene in the cartoon series “Prince Valiant” where he throws his sword at someone and hits them with the pommel. I mean talk about ending someone rightly lol
ruclips.net/video/74FeFWKv6Bw/видео.html
18:13
I just remember that the art of the Prince Valiant comics is really good.
When skall pronounces the soft german "ch" better than every swiss german in existance.
Maybe because he is German.
@@GuitarsRockForever no he isn't, he lived in Germany for a bit, but I think he said he somewhere from skandinavia (don't really know how to spell it, sorry)
He’s from Canada, not Scandinavia, but he has also lived in Norway for some time (actually in Scandinavia) and can speak Norwegian bokmål fairly well, it seems
@@davidrezendedasilveira7598
He currently lives in Canada, but he was originally from Germany. He said years ago, his native language is German.
GRÜEZI ICHHHHHH BIN SCHWIZER.
We Swiss just can't pronounce shit softely.
5:30 Pointy metal bar? YES! i WANT THAT!
Wow... that sword you're holding in the video is absolutely gorgeous. Thats what a sword should look like.
Love that Brescia Spadona from Lockwood Skall! Wish I could take it off your hands in the future ;)
14 to 16 century is a period when Kingdom of Poland and High Duchy of Lithuania were in personal union, before forming Commonwealth.
I remember seeing a longsword with its middle being flat and blunt. Such sword is intended for duel in armor and probably would be used in half swording most of the time.
I love how you pronounce Fechtbuch correctly.
Reminds me of some of my designs I drew as a teen before I knew about these things :)
Please never change the outro song it’s basically an icon at this point
Very VERY fascinating! Thank you!
Apart from the extreme weight of that one example, these designs seem pretty effective for intended purpose. If you fighting in full harness, you're protected against accidentally spiking yourself apart from colossal blunders. In the grapple, having extra spikes to leverage is useful, & they make swinging a murder stroke a bit more dangerous.
"Pole-arm"; best accidental pun EVER!
Full metal jacket armor-piercing estoc
The edgy kids of the middle ages bought them...
We survive in a monarchy
Also the spiked pommel swords are mostly, if not entirely, pictured in a judicial duelling context.
This might be a clue as to having little evidence of them.
1) Dueling swords would be made less often than regular swords
2) I don't know for sure but did combatants provide the arms for a judicial duel or did someone else?
If they were provided by the king, for example, then the same sword might be used for more than one duel. As such this might make the number that were be made even less.
3) I said might because what if dueling swords were destroyed after the duel? I've seen no evidence for it but given how in some periods swords were bent or broken when a person does or were dishonored...just guessing it might be true in a judicial duel.
4) if dueling swords were provided then if not destroyed they would be kept in an armory. Records should account for them. Someone with access to records should look.
But if they do show up, then where are they now? Perhaps when judicial duels were no longer used, dueling swords were repurposed? Maybe rehilted, maybe scrapped then reforged?
I like how that Blue Jay totally knew you were talking about it
I have a DelTin longsword that has a rather large pommel. It's sort of a flanged sent stopper but really large. It's solid & I've thought for years it should be hollow for that size, and it probably should be, but if that estoc had a heavy solid pommel...well maybe my sword is not as in inaccurate as I thought.
It is a bit heavy for its size, but we'll balanced g definitely usable.
Imagine trying to unscrew one of those spiked pommels, you're walking away with less fingers than you started.
He is holding a longsword (I think) with a bronze guard... Gods, that looks so COOL, why have I never thought that? I need a new D&D char, now!
Just knowing there's so much versatility with a sword makes me want to see these techniques done in a video game. Doesn't have to be the most realistic thing in the world, I just would like to see peoples reaction to someone purposely hold the sword by the blade and swing it like a hammer.
he has embraced the meme
Didn't expect a Yugioh reference. A pleasant surprise.
“Skals” best! video yet!!!
0:01
Skallagrim: Blue jays!
Arthur Morgan: Hello boah!
"One crazy person sitting down and doodling"
.....i feel hurt
Their are 2 of us
Love your content Skal. Thanks!
The other day I saw Mr.SmartDonkey playing that Conquerors Blade game and I really wanted to try it. I hadn't heard of it before so I figured it wasn't on stream, but it was. Unfortunately though, according to the reviews, it's chinese run game, and the EULA has enough concerning points in it that many people gave it a thumbs down and said to stay away. It's too bad because it actually looks really cool.
Now that's just a mace with a very sharp handle
I'm pretty sure that Jorg Sprave created the ultimate sword to end them rightly. A spring loaded pommel launcher with a vestigial sword blade.
You dig deeper and deeper into the topic "end them rightly" seems very obssesing :D
I don't know, 3 videos on the topic in 6 years doesn't seem very obsessive (yes, the first one is from 2014). :)
0:01 My cat allways told me that birds would take over the world
Great video Skall. Embrace the memes. To think that people would come up to create such niche things. Being something of nobles explains a lot about the economic viability of it.
Also, I've created you in Mordhau. I just don't know if you should have a Messer (since you love yours), or a Longsword (for Pommel glory). Maybe both.
You don't get weird, pointy pommels because swords are sidearms worn anywhere you can possibly take it. You don't want pointy shit all over it in the course of your day to day life, and you can't really rest your hand on the pommel of your sheathed sword to stop it misbehaving if the damn thing is covered in patented, totally-not-only-cool-to-13-year-olds Spikes Of Evil.
Anyone with a pointier pommel setup is likely making a very aggressive statement that they care more about how well they can murder your face, than just hanging around in ease and comfort like a regular human.
These kindof swords, and also the duelling shield, should be more often in fantasy. It would be much better than a lot of that kind of swords and other weapons who are there now.
Hi Skall, so I find the topic of self defense very interesting and I really like your self defense videos, however could you perhaps tell or even make a video what do you use for self defense yourself? Or home defense at that matter? You could go into pros and cons, so maybe it could be an interesting video?
Cheers
@Skallagrim These swords and the drawings seem almost like the idea of a combination weapon, crossing a sword with a mace so they have the agility of a sword with the striking power of a mace (or in some cases a Bec de Corbin). Only they never really took off.
Nice work
I'm from Lithuania, nice. It's very interesting how you pronounced Vilnius. You did say it correctly... Just a weird accent has been put on to it. Don't really hear any Lithuanian place names from other foreigners. Love your vids skall!
Greetings from Lithuania, Vilnius 😉
I would love to see Skall use half-swording with the Albion Principe... without a gauntlet!
That hilted spike is what happens when you asked for a poleaxe that you want to be able to have on your hip.
The most intriguing concepts most undoubtedly came from adaption in combat and well fighters asking blacksmiths for a more unique design to suite their fighting style.
I believe it is absolutely a huge mistake to look at historical references from manuscripts and pieces in current collections/museums and simply state they were the rule or the standard versus the exception, unless you can find instances of a design that is common with multiple items of reference it could very well likely could have been a prototype blade or an instance where a few blacksmiths in a region made blades like that, or they were custom ordered for richer nobility to stand apart from the standard.
In this case the indulgence of letting imagination run rampant I would probably say these were incredibly specialized for specific fighters in specific types of combat, people can say and look at something and say "Looks Legit" but the reality is on a battlefield anything goes is it possible a hook was put on to rip parts of armor loose in an attempt to adapt swords, sure why not?, I mean I would absolutely use it to rip the D%$k plate off and hook my opponents scrotum, If it doesn't kill him it ensures he won't reproduce which for the time was a big deal, if you can't kill them now kill their future generations...……… like I said anything goes on the battlefield I can see many unusual custom blades that were made over history that were made specifically to counter or bypass defenses that realistically may have only been used for a war and then melted down afterwards to make a new blade for the new one.
If the rules of a judicial duel required the duel be fought with swords, you might see some of these designs making sense. They’re basically a sword-shaped poleaxe.
Armor develops to a point to make swords obsolete. Pollaxe is developed to counter such armor.
Some nobleman: "But what if it was a sword?"
We don't have spikes in pommels anymore because they need to nerfed the pommel because it's too OP
One Pommel to rule them all, One Pommel to find them; One Pommel to bring them all and in the darkness end them rightly.
I accept anything that furthers the meme "End Him Rightly" as Sacrosanct, so I enjoyed this a lot.
I know you lived in Germany for some time.
But it's still nice to hear somebody, who isn't German, pronouncing Fechtbuch correctly.
The blue jay looked like "what? Why did no one tell me!?!"