[Ansteorra] Uselss swords

[Marc Carlson]

>From: ansteorra-admin at ansteorra.org
>[mailto:ansteorra-admin at ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Marc Carlson

Now, _that's_ odd.  Sorry, momentary confusion here.

==================
>From: "jay yeates" <jyeates at realtime.net>
>...let me rephrase ... useless as a *primary* weapon (those that relied
>on them as such probably died off early on ... grin), being relegated >to
>econdary backups (for close in grappling where the heavier weaponry >was
>less effective) or for symbolic status.  note that i exclude great
>swords from this general observation (german & swiss mercenaries can't
>be all wrong .. eh?)

Depends on who you ask -- apparently the Chivalry guys thought they were
wrong.

By the way, if you have never read it, you might enjoy _Chaucer's Knight:
The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary_, which suffers as a scholarly work
only by having been written by Terry Jones (some people feel there's a
credibility issue there - I don't).  An excellent look at different sides of
Knighthood in that particular era - and helps keep people like Fiore,
Talhoffer, and Ringeck in perspective

>but then war had evolved from a clash of warriors, through the social
>experimenst of chivalty, to the practicalities of the professional
>war-field where effiecency of killing, practicality to those needs, and
>the rise of the professional soldier drove the rapid development in
>weapons & armour - and trampled chivalry into the mud of that same
>field.

What can I say, I'm a big fan of the loud smoking sticks that spit rocks.

Marc/Diarmaid
"War without fire is like sausage without mustard" - attr. Henry V

'wolf
... love arms & armour evolution ....







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