Longswords

What a longsword is, and what it is not

A longsword is defined by its grip rather than by its blade. If the handle is long enough that the second hand has real work to do, it is a longsword. If the second hand can only crowd onto the pommel, it is an arming sword with a generous handle. Every other distinction people draw follows from that one.

The form appears in Europe around the late thirteenth century and stays in serious use for roughly two hundred and fifty years. It arrives because armour improves. Once a fighter is inside mail with plate over the vulnerable parts, cutting at him with a broad Viking style blade stops paying, and the answer is a longer sword with a stiffer, more acutely tapered blade that can be gripped in two hands and driven into a gap. The blades on this page reflect that: diamond sections, central fullers that stop well short of the point, and tips that come to a genuine point rather than a rounded end.

What a longsword is not is heavy. The persistent idea that a medieval two hander weighed eight or twelve pounds comes from Victorian writers rather than from surviving swords. The pieces here that state a weight run from 2 lb 15 oz to 3 lb 12 oz, and original longswords in museum collections sit in the same band. Anything genuinely heavier than about four pounds is either a ceremonial bearing sword or a modern piece built without regard to how a sword works.

It is also not a greatsword. A zweihander or claymore is a different category with a longer grip, a longer blade and often a ricasso to grip above the guard, and those live on their own pages.

Hand and a half, bastard sword and war sword

Three names get used for overlapping things and the overlap is genuine rather than sloppy. A hand and a half sword has a grip of roughly 5 to 7 inches, long enough to add a second hand for a heavy blow and short enough to use one handed with a shield. Bastard sword is a period term for the same idea, so called because the sword belonged to neither the single handed nor the two handed family. War sword, or grosse messer of the sword world, generally means the larger end of the same group, with a longer blade meant for the field rather than the street.

On this page the practical guide is the stated grip length. Pieces with 6 to 7 inch grips are hand and a half swords, whatever the title says, and will handle in one hand at a pinch. Pieces with 8 to 10 inch grips are true two handers and feel wrong with one hand on them. A 48 inch war sword with a 10 inch grip and parrying hooks above the guard is a different tool from a 41 inch knightly sword with a 6 inch grip, even though both are sold as longswords.

If you are buying for a wall, this matters less than the blade profile. If you are buying to handle, it is the first number to check.

The shapes on this page

Five families cover the collection. The differences are in blade section and guard rather than in overall length, which varies less than you might expect.

Knightly longswords

The main body of the page. Straight double edged blades of 31 to 35 inches with a central fuller through the upper half or a plain diamond section, a straight or slightly curved crossguard, and a wheel, disc or scent stopper pommel peened over the tang. Overall lengths run 41 to 45 inches, grips 6 to 9 inches. Listed weights are 3 lb 2 oz to 3 lb 9 oz. This is the shape most people picture when they hear the word, and it is the safest first longsword.

Flame bladed longswords

Undulating blades in the flamberge tradition, about 42 to 43 inches overall with 32 to 33 inch blades, some with an S curved crossguard and an engraved pommel, one supplied with a matching dagger. The waves add nothing to a cut, and the historical argument for them was that they caught and shivered against an opposing blade in a bind. On a wall they are the piece people ask about.

War swords and two handers with parrying hooks

The long end. Blades of 36 inches on a 48 inch overall length with a 10 inch grip and a stiff diamond section, and a pair of hooks set above the crossguard. The hooks let a fighter grip the flat of the blade above the guard, a technique called half swording, without the hand sliding down onto the edge. These need real wall space and a solid mount.

Fantasy, film and legend replicas

Elven style longswords, ranger swords, a Camelot king sword and an Excalibur replica, running 41 to 45 inches overall with 32 to 36 inch blades and listed weights from 2 lb 15 oz to 3 lb 12 oz. Most state a display edge as standard with sharpening available on request, which the product page says. Fittings lean towards engraved guards and risered leather grips stitched on the reverse.

Damascus longswords

The pattern welded versions of everything above, at 44 to 46 inches overall with 33 to 35 inch blades, hardened to 58 to 60 HRC. Forge welding a billet long enough to draw into a 35 inch blade is a great deal of work, which is where the price difference sits. One piece here is listed as sharpened and ready to use at 3 lb 6 oz.

Lengths, weights and steel across the range

Every figure below is taken from the specification panel of a product on this page. Nothing is estimated, and a blank is shown as not listed rather than filled in.

Overall length includes the pommel, and on a longsword the pommel and grip together account for eight to twelve inches. That is why a sword listed at 45 inches has a 35 inch blade while one listed at 41 inches has a 33 inch blade, a four inch gap in the total that shrinks to two inches in the steel that matters.

Balance, and why weight is not the only number

Two swords of identical weight can feel completely different in the hand, and the reason is where the mass sits. A blade that keeps its width far down its length carries weight forward and feels heavy and eager to swing. A blade that tapers hard from the shoulder carries weight back towards the hand and feels quick and pointy, at the cost of some authority in a cut. The pommel is the counterweight in both cases, which is why a longsword pommel is a solid lump of steel or brass rather than decoration.

None of the listings on this page state a point of balance, so the honest advice is to read the blade profile in the photographs. A wide blade with a fuller running most of its length is a cutter. A narrow blade in a diamond section with a hard taper is a thruster. Most of the knightly pieces here sit somewhere in the middle, which is exactly what the historical form was.

Grip length is the other half of feel. A long grip gives the rear hand more leverage against the front hand, which makes the sword change direction faster than its weight suggests. That is the whole argument for two handed swords and it is why an experienced person will pick up a 48 inch war sword and find it lively rather than ponderous.

Steel, edge, fittings and care

Two steels are presented as a house standard across this site. Plain 1095 hardened to 54 to 58 HRC, and Damascus of 1095 and 15N20 forge welded and etched at 58 to 60 HRC. On a blade this long the lower hardness range is the sensible default, because a 35 inch blade is a long lever and a blade taken too hard breaks instead of flexing. Where an older listing states a different grade in its own specification table, that table is the answer for that piece.

Read the edge line before you buy. Several pieces here state an unsharpened display edge with a rounded point. Several state a display edge as standard with sharpening available on request. One states sharpened and ready to use. Where nothing is said, assume a display grind. A blunt longsword is not a safe object. It is three pounds of hardened steel on a four foot lever and it will break bone through a coat.

Grips are leather or cord over a shaped hardwood core, often with raised cord risers under the wrap, and on the better pieces stitched down the reverse so the seam does not sit under the palm. Guards and pommels are steel or brass, peened over the tang, which makes the assembly permanent. Do not attempt to take one apart.

Keep a light film of oil on the blade, wipe fingerprints the same day, and store the sword out of any leather scabbard rather than in it. When you mount one on a wall, remember that these run three to four pounds on a 45 inch lever, so fix the brackets into studs rather than plasterboard anchors. Every sword on this page is made by hand in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped by Ransack Viking from Chicago, Illinois, with engraving added after arrival.

Browse related sword categories

• Arming swords, the single handed medieval sword
• Bastard swords with hand and a half grips
• Zweihanders and true two handed greatswords
• Flamberges with undulating flame cut blades
• Damascus swords in forge welded 1095 and 15N20
• Viking swords, the broad single handed Norse blade
• The full sword range across every period and shape
• Sword stands and wall display racks
• HEMA longswords, blunt two handed trainers made for sparring

Guides worth reading first

• How to buy your first sword without wasting money
• Display sword or battle ready: what the terms actually mean
• Steel and hardness explained, from 1095 to Damascus
• How to display swords and axes on a wall safely
• Excalibur, the legend and the replicas it produced
• The Lord of the Rings swords and the real forms behind them

Sparring with a longsword

A longsword to own and a longsword to spar with are two different purchases, and the second one usually means a feder. Our HEMA feder trainers are blunt 51CrV4 spring steel at 49 to 52 HRC, and what a feder is for explains the odd shape in plain terms. The Brimhalt feder with its shield schilt is a good first look.