Doctors Guy Windsor and Nathan Clough Examining an Original 15th Century Longsword

Today we are happy to host our good friend, acclaimed swordsman, researcher, and teacher Guy Windsor Ph.D. In this video Guy and Nathan examine an original German longsword from the 15th century and talk about how period weapons handle, and what this can teach us about reconstructing the martial arts of renaissance Europe.
Check out Guy's website with links to his scholarship, podcast, blogs, books, online instruction and more here: swordschool.shop
Check out Arms and Armor's reproduction of the sword in the video here: www.arms-n-arm...
As always, our swords and weapons are made by hand, by us at our shop in Minneapolis, MN. Sword blades from 6150 steel, hardened to 50-52 Rockwell, spears and axes from 4140 steel, differentially hardened. They are all hand-crafted to look, feel, and function just like the original pieces on which they are based.
Check out our full website here, with links to all of our products and our educational blog: www.arms-n-arm...
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Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is Vice President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985.

[@ciarandaly6769]

That was a joy to watch. These sorts of insights are a wonderful service to the community.

[@FiliiMartis]

The comment Guy was making about the grip swelling just at the right point for one hand or the other... that's why I started to like on longswords (and two handers) quite a lot oval grips that have flat sides but swell in both width and thickness such that you have a good pull/push/hand-support/edge-control while still having flexibility in how you handle the sword. And between a good balance and a good grip, a sword will feel 50% lighter in the hand than the reading on the scale would indicate.

[@TonberryV]

The handle has a very purposeful shape and design. It's like looking at older axe handles and how slim and contoured they were, all intended to give deliberate control of the tool.

[@armsarmorinc.4153]

absolutely

[@kevinjohanson5718]

Agreed. I was going to say the entire weapon was purpose-built and utilitarian in design. I feel the smith who built it wasnt trying to build something aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but knew that in crafting it for a single purpose: to be a balanced and effective tool and knew that in building it that way, the beauty would be self evident.

[@Eulemunin]

Yay

[@jarodmasci3445]

That is probably the most beautiful, functional object I've ever seen. And it looked alive in the hands of someone equally adept in its use.... just amazing

[@chrisfields8077]

Great video guys! Keep em coming!

[@j.enzinas]

You can practically feel the joy at being able to play with that sword radiating from Dr. Windsor.

[@raphlvlogs271]

a uniquely hand and a half design

[@Josh_Green44]

I'm stricken by how well-balanced this sword is, and how relatively delicate the crossguard is. I also love that you're able to share these replicas with us.

[@armsarmorinc.4153]

it is our pleasure!

[@richstone2627]

Good video and beautiful sword. Thank you for sharing.

[@thorshammer8033]

I think im in love

[@lehtju4waif5ahk49]

Once again what was the name of the finnish smith?

[@mdstmouse7]

maybe i missed it but what is the grip made out of?

[@armsarmorinc.4153]

It is wood covered in leather

[@ducontra666999]

the blade looks short... for some reason.

[@armsarmorinc.4153]

the blade itself is just about 36", and the whole sword is 45"

[@mdstmouse7]

​@@armsarmorinc.4153is that short for a bastard sword?

[@FiliiMartis]

@@mdstmouse7 I think you can even find 35" or so. But yes, 36" is the lower end, which makes sense for this type of grip and pommel. You have more flexibility with its use. And this is a longswords you would wear on you quite a lot (so think bodyguard rather than going into a designated battle). At least that's how I see it.

[@armsarmorinc.4153]

@@mdstmouse7 this is pretty normal for a sword designed to be used with either one hand or two. many arming swords and longswords/bastard swords have similar length blades with different length grips, but some longswords are true two handers and are much bigger.

[@armsarmorinc.4153]

not realy, but whats common in the market place today, does not match what the population of swords would have looked like in the period.