Timeline for When would one carry a sword on a shoulder with grip upwards?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 1, 2022 at 6:59 | comment | added | Damion Keeling | There is some evidence for scabbards being worn on the back amongst warriors of the Arras culture in Eastern Yorkshire. This was a Celtic culture where a couple of swords were found behind the body in the grave and had a belt loop half way down the scabbard instead of at the top. There are also rough chalk figurines showing warriors with a sword down the middle of the back. These were not long swords though - Kirkburn sword has a 59cm blade. | |
| Jul 1, 2022 at 6:52 | comment | added | Damion Keeling | You've forgotten the gladius of the Roman legions which was the primary weapon of Roman infantry for centuries. It would seem that many of the Celtic nobility also used the sword as their primary weapon given accounts of them rushing into battle with sword in hand. | |
| Jun 30, 2022 at 22:59 | comment | added | njuffa | @DevSolar: Sorry for the confusion, brain fart. I meant a five-foot sword. If I recall correctly from the sources I read, the typical length of Landsknecht's two-handed swords was 150 to 165 centimeters. | |
| Jun 30, 2022 at 21:14 | comment | added | DevSolar | @njuffa: Three foot ain't two-handed by a long shot. Even a spatha is often longer than that. | |
| Jun 30, 2022 at 19:59 | comment | added | njuffa | It is correct that swords were typically side arms and as such carried in a scabbard on the hip, with a pole arm being the main battle weapon. An exception were the three-foot long, two-handed swords used by Landsknechts. However, while contemporary illustrations of Landsknechts often show them carrying them their swords on the shoulder, they did not grab them by the blade (which this question is about). Rather, the non-sharpened end of the blade (ricasso) rested on the shoulder. Example | |
| Jun 30, 2022 at 17:43 | history | answered | vsz | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
