The longsword

A longsword (long sword or long-sword) is a type of European sword characterized by a cruciform grip that is primarily held with two hands (approximately 15 to 30 cm), a straight blade with two cutting edges of about 80 to 110 cm, and a weight of about 2 to 3 kg.

The type longsword was used simultaneously with the medieval knight sword (arming sword) and the Zweihänder from the Renaissance. It was common during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (approximately 1350 to 1550), with earlier and later applications reaching into the 13th and 17th centuries. 

The longsword has many names, including various spelling variants and terms such as bastard sword and hand-and-a-half sword. Of these names, bastard sword is the oldest, and its use coincided with the heyday of the weapon.

The French épée bâtarde and the English bastard sword originated in the 15th or 16th century, originally in the general sense of ‘irregular’ sword, which could be used with either one or two hands. But by the mid-16th century, it could also refer to exceptionally large swords, making the distinction between the term ‘bastard sword’ and ‘longsword’ increasingly synonymous.  

The competition Masters of Defence, organized by Henry VIII in July 1540, mentioned the ‘two-handed sword’ and the ‘bastard sword’ as two separate categories. It is uncertain whether the same term could also be used for other types of shorter swords, but usage in the 19th century clearly established “bastard sword” as referring to these large swords.

The term one-and-a-half sword is relatively modern and dates back to the late 19th century. The name refers to the fact that the sword could be used with either one hand or two hands due to its balance. In the first half of the 20th century, this type of sword was still regularly referred to as bastard sword, while the term longsword, if used at all, usually referred to the rapier within the context of Renaissance or early modern fencing.

The contemporary use of longsword only re-emerged in the 2000s, in the context of the reconstruction of the German fencing school, as a translation of the German langes schwert. Prior to that, the term “longsword” only referred to any sword with a long blade; “long” was simply an adjective and not a classification.

Historical terms (15th to 16th century) for this type of sword included:

• Portuguese: espada-de-armas, estoque or espada de duas mãos for the version with a longer grip, used exclusively with both hands

• Spanish: espadón, montante or mandoble

• Italian: spada longa (lunga) or spada due mani (Bologna)

• Middle French: passot

The German langes schwert (“longsword”) in 15th- and 16th-century manuals does not indicate a specific type of weapon, but the technique of fencing with both hands on the handle. This contrasts with kurzes schwert (“short sword”), which is used for fencing with the same weapon, but where one hand grips the blade (also known as half-swording).

The longsword is not so much characterized by a longer blade, but primarily by a longer grip, indicating a weapon designed for use with two hands. Swords with exceptionally long grips already appear in the high Middle Ages. For example, there is a longsword in the Glasgow Art and History Museum, designated as XIIIa, which researchers have dated between 1100 and 1200 based on the style of the grip and the specific tapering of the blade. The Oakeshott type XIIa can also be seen as an early example of a longsword. However, these types of swords were rare and did not represent a significant trend before the late 13th or early 14th century.

The longsword as a late medieval type sword appears in the 14th century, as a sword from the early phase of the Hundred Years' War. It remains recognizable as a type throughout the period from circa 1350 to 1550. The longsword was used as a weapon of war by bearers in full plate armor, both on foot and on horseback, throughout the late Middle Ages. From the late 15th century, it was also carried and used by unarmored soldiers and mercenaries. The popularity of the longsword was driven by the rise of plate armor in the 14th century. Previously, swords were mainly used for cutting and thrusting. After plate armor such as the coat of plates and early cuirasses were introduced, the need arose to better thrust at less protected parts of the body. 

In the first half of the 16th century, various distinctive grip styles of the bastard sword developed. Ewart Oakeshott distinguished twelve. These all seem to have originated in Bavaria and Switzerland. By the end of the 16th century, early forms of the developed grip appear on this type of sword. Around 1520, the Swiss sabre (schnepf) began to replace the straight longsword, with the grip styles being adopted. By 1550, the longsword had disappeared in Switzerland. In southern Germany, it persisted until the 1560s, but its use declined in the second half of the 16th century. There are two late examples in the Swiss National Museum, both with vertically grooved pommels and richly decorated with silver inlay. These belonged to the Swiss nobles Gugelberg von Moos and Rudolf von Schauenstein, who served in France in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The longsword, two-handed sword, and the bastard sword were also manufactured in Spain, where they appeared relatively late under the names espadon, montante, and bastarda or espada de mano y media.

The swords grouped as "longswords" are united by their design for two-handed use. However, in terms of blade typology, they do not form a single uniform category. In the Oakeshott typology of blade forms, longswords appear as subtypes of corresponding single-handed sword types.

• Type XIIa and XIIIa: represent the longswords from the 11th to 14th centuries. These are larger versions of type XII and XIII, the standard knightly swords during the Crusades. They are primarily designed for cutting, with grips suitable for hand-and-a-half or two-handed use.

  • Type XIIa: broad, flat, evenly tapering blade, lenticular cross-section, with a fuller (fuller) over two-thirds of the length.

  • Type XIIIa: broad blade, flat lenticular cross-section, parallel edges, groove over half of the length.

• Type XVa: the classic two-handed sword of the 14th and 15th centuries (early examples from the late 13th century). Strongly tapering, narrow and slimmer than the single-handed type XV, with a flattened diamond-shaped cross-section.

• Type XVIa: the classic “longsword” of the 14th and 15th centuries. Long, slowly tapering blade, flat hexagonal cross-section, and a fuller over a third of the length. A compromise between thrusting and cutting power.

• Type XVII: a briefly popular type from the mid-14th to early 15th century. Long, slender, sharp tapering blade (similar to XVa), but with a narrow hexagonal cross-section and a shallow fuller over a quarter of the length.

• Types XVIIIb and XVIIIc: later longswords from the mid-15th to early 16th century. Flattened diamond-shaped cross-section, often with a central ridge or hollowed fuller.

  • Type XVIIIb: slender, similar to XVa, but longer (90–107 cm) with a longer, often waisted grip for comfortable two-handed use.

  • Type XVIIIc: slightly wider and shorter (approximately 85 cm), sometimes with a short, narrow fuller.

• Type XX: broad blade, lenticular or octagonal cross-section. Characterized by three fullers: a shallow central fuller over half of the length, and two parallel shallow fullers over the first quarter. These were in use in the 14th and 15th centuries. Subtype XXa has a more sharply tapering blade and a more pointed tip.

Despite the classification, it remains difficult to distinguish between a longsword and a bastard sword. Both types frequently overlap in terms of dimensions. In principle, it can be assumed that a bastard sword is equipped with a shorter grip, allowing it to be used as a one-handed and optionally as a two-handed sword, while a longsword is equipped with a longer grip making it primarily usable as a two-handed weapon.