Specialized KNIGHTLY LONGSWORDS of Fiore dei Liberi & Vadi

Looking at the variety of swords used by medieval fencing master Fiore dei Liberi, for fighting in and out of armor, with Matt Lewis ( / siege_perilous ).
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[@realhorrorshow8547]

One of my favourite tabletop RPG ideas - which we speculated about but never tried - was the sword caddy. An essential NPC who hands you just the right sword at just the right time. I think our GM suspected that this luxury would be abused to destroy his scenarios, he was right.

[@johnladuke6475]

"Sure, just roll a dexterity check to see if you were able to get hold of the sword when the caddy offered it to you. Oh, you missed? Well, that's your actions for this turn all used up. Hope nobody hits you while you're unarmed and standing around like a fool."

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

This is historically accurate to a point. In Japan you'd have retainers whose sole job was to just carry extra weapons for when yours broke. Actually quite common in certain eras and often when a samurai would decide to go in wielding a sword as his main weapon. They'd carry a big ass nodachi and some other swords and have rhat shit on the ready for you to draw out quick time. Tachi on your hip for other shit plus probably a yaroidoshi armor piercing tanto. Could be cool just to have a rich npc who can give the players the idea on a quest. Dude just has hired hands handing him whatever he needs as he needs it, super under skilled but uber prepared lol.

[@catgirlforeskin]

Reminds me of a Final Fantasy 14 villains who has basically a golf club bag with a bunch of different swords in it at his hip and will take out different ones for different enemies

[@cadenceclearwater4340]

You need a Golf Bag for your swords. _"Oh, it's the French, pass the 9 iron Jeeves"_

[@SrGundisalvus]

hahaha That sounds straight out of monty phyton

[@nutyyyy]

Two Pollaxes and a spear as well.

[@keirfarnum6811]

“Ah faerht een your genairal dahrection!”

[@cadenceclearwater4340]

@@keirfarnum6811 😅

[@Lungorthin666]

You guys' shirt choices are on point today

[@markfergerson2145]

"What the..." "You said a sword, this is a sword!" Takes the concept of "sword shaped object" to a different level...

[@charlesmartin1121]

Long swords may indeed vary in form quite a bit...but they are all invariably beautiful.

[@killerkraut9179]

They can vary extremely !

[@TheFlyguywill]

Those specialty swords are friggin gorgeous

[@bavariancarenthusiast2722]

For me its mind-blowing how many variants they had and we don't even know about - loads of specialised versions. Love it!

[@kanrakucheese]

"That pommel gives me special feelings" Now we need pictures of him with it in the snow!

[@Lowlandlord]

The "That Guy" of swords that last one is :P

[@IHateThisHandleSystem]

Good stuff. I am really liking the way different KZbinrs are collaborating. It's helping to progress knowledge within the field much faster.

[@Sorrowshard]

I'm not a KZbinr tho. I'm an Instagrammaton monk 😁

[@IHateThisHandleSystem]

@@Sorrowshard I stand corrected, good sir.

[@Sorrowshard]

@@IHateThisHandleSystem Nah the point still stands really in regards to collaborations. I was just messing about 😁

[@mybrandnewsocks]

I really enjoy your videos with guests bouncing off each other - your passion really comes through!

[@MrLigonater]

I love y’alls’ sci fi shirts

[@Joeseph113]

This is in my opinion the best sword specific video you have produced that I have seen. Absolutely lovely watch

[@leorincon3635]

Greetings and great T-shirt’s btw 👏 great that you are referring to proper swords for practice and measurement on Fiore practice 👏 all the best from Colombia 🇨🇴 ⚔️

[@charlesmartin1121]

It would have been nice if you could have laid-out all the swords together, so we could better appreciate the differences. Or maybe just stand further away from the camera. And a less dark and busy background would also help. Cheers.

[@markfergerson2145]

I think that's the largest indoor space he has available for making videos. Can't argue the background could be better for viewing details, but as we've seen Matt has the habit of grabbing one of those background objects to illustrate a point.

[@charlesmartin1121]

@@markfergerson2145 I wasn't criticizing I was just suggesting. As for the background--maybe a sheet or curtains. Shadiversity who does not have anything approaching the armory Matt and his friend does, did a really cool comparison of various two-handed Medieval sword shapes made out of wood.

[@nenesundog]

Hey Matt! Maybe use the wall to display the items you're talking about. Cool video. Cheers.

[@Kwijiboz]

@@charlesmartin1121 Yeah but all the right wing mormonism made it difficult for me to watch, also, too much rape fantasy for me.

[@charlesmartin1121]

@@nenesundog Do you think that first reply actually came from Matt?

[@Red80008]

Can we please take a moment and also appreciate those AMAZING t-shirts!?

[@willfalley2875]

Drooling over that beautiful beast at the end with the half-sword cut out.

[@jacobvisor3034]

The Dune shirt….. amazing

[@Red-jl7jj]

"I am the sword, deadly against all weapons. Neither spear, nor poleaxe, nor dagger can prevail against me. I can be used at long range or close range, or I can be held in the half sword grip and move to the Narrow Game. I can be used to take away the opponent’s sword, or move to grapple. My skill lies in breaking and binding. I am also skilled in covering and striking, with which I seek always to finish the fight. I will crush anyone who opposes me. I am of royal blood. I dispense justice, advance the cause of good and destroy evil. To those who learn my crossings I will grant great fame and renown in the art of armed fighting." - Fiore dei Liberi "Since, when bearers of weapons are armoured in white and heavy armour and fighting on horseback, they use, above all other weapons, what is called stocchi [estoc] in the vernacular..." - Pietro Monte

[@siegfried_artificer]

Btw, this polish name can be (roughly) pronounced as "Mattsiey Koptchu" ;)

[@johnladuke6475]

I pronounce it "daily Facebook sword porn" when I see his lovely work. I wish I could justify paying what his swords are worth, and then justify the cost of shipping it halfway round the world.

[@TheUncleRuckus]

That sword at 11:37 is is gorgeous and the work on the pommel is exquisite, I wish I had the money I'd love to get a handmade piece like that.

[@jankarieben1071]

This is what it’s like when “Matt’s” collide! Are you ready for swords, cause I’m ready for swords, what you gonna do baby, baby!

[@tylerrobbins8311]

😵 Well that specialized monster of a "sword" is mind boggling. I wonder how it compares to a quarter staff and poleaxe for armored dueling. I didn't even know those existed, I suspect you're correct about a cheeky knight bending the rules of a duel with it.

[@dearcastiel4667]

I can picture the guy bringing the last sword at a duel, his opponent and all the witnesses looking at him with wide open eyes full of disaproval and him being like: "you said a sword duel...it's totally a sword. Do you really want to argue what a sword is right now ?"

[@andrewgillis3073]

Love the ‘Dune’ T-shirt!

[@Snikwald]

Dune and Nostromo, nice easter egg here boys :D

[@FellsApprentice]

Rules judge: You MUST use a longsword exclusively in this duel. Fiore: Bet.

[@DenshaOtoko2]

I use Fiore too. I learned about Long sword and Shield, Arming sword and Buckler and Rapier. Not halberd, Axe or spear yet for 4 years.

[@stormiewutzke4190]

Just a point to cutting through armor. You have two things to take into account. The first is always going to apply but it's going to be different a very different scale for both. The first is going to be sectional density. And with that you can add in that the edge is going to require sufficient mass to resist the force of hitting the target. When you think of it that way it's easy to see that armor has no problem draining the energy out of a cut but the thrust with the whole sword and the weight of your body behind it is something totally different. The next thing is hardness. Hardness is going to dictate what sort of failure will need to happen. There are two types of steel armor failure. The first one you could say is a ductile failure. This is where so much energy comes in that the armor is basically pulled apart. You will see the area elongate where this happens. The second type is going to be where you have something much harder and you can cause shearing. This takes far less energy. Metals tend to be weaker under shear forces and the energy required is localized and doesn't let the metal engage a larger area. Cutting and shearing are the same thing. The higher the superiority if hardness the less material needed to form the edge. As edge angle drops less material is being forced through leading to lower energy being required to start penetration and with less energy being required there is less strain being transferred into the surrounding material before shearing can begin leading to a lower total amount of energy required for a material to shear. Shearing cracking and tearing are all very similar. So once a hard point makes it through if it has some sort of edges and you can get cracking started in the armor it will lower the force required to open that gap compared to a smooth round point. This is why something like a war hammer spike may not have a huge advantage in hardness it has enough sectional density to punch through and once the tip is through the edges on the point can begin a shearing action that will gain leverage from the plate itself too help propagate that shear line like a crack.

[@regreegg]

Really interesting, great video! Would be glad to see Siege (Matt Lewis) back again at some point.

[@chrisfields8077]

Great vid! I went into this topic in our Sterling armory oakeshott series video on type XVs. There is such a variety!

[@BlindZizka]

Howdy Matt, I'd love to see a video on the flaws, weaknesses and limitations of the Fiore system. Fascinating stuff as always, cheers.

[@TaoistSwordsman]

In a historical context we have no clue, in a modern context I’d say it’s mostly limited due to fiore assuming you understand fundamentals

[@blitzkriegfritz2779]

OK one is wearing a Dune shirt, the other is wearing an Alien shirt. You are massive nerds, I love it.

[@johnnyjet3.1412]

Love seeing Matt wearing a reference to Joseph Conrad.

[@LuxisAlukard]

That shirt look great!

[@CtrlAltRetreat]

Last sword is evidence that rules lawyering is at least older than print

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

Thinking about this more seriously. I doubt the under performing cuts is really an issue on flesh. Katana are rather thick and narrow.. the curve isn't really enough to help in most cases unless we're talking antiques and even then. But there are modern blades and edo period swords that are beastly cutters. Some of these armored fighting swords might still be good for cutting through daily wear type clothing. Apparently some of the sempach type swords display rather good cutting ability along with thrust orientation for armored fighting. Remember the stiffness can help in the cut. With the right edges put on and really good edge alignment and technique you could probably still give someone a rather nasty cut with that sword.

[@s.w.4409]

Nice Alien shirt, Matt!

[@jm9371]

Love the ALIEN shirt.. Fantastic Colab.. I learned a ton!

[@EddietheBastard]

good examples and explanations - thanks.

[@happy_camper]

Fiore practitioners rejoice!

[@pipingbob720]

Dune shirt ftw 🤣❤️

[@TeutonicEmperor1198]

The last sword is a fantastic piece of craftmanship (as the other ones as well, but the last piece was outstanding)! Could we see in the future a reproduction of the specialized antiarmour swords that have a rondel guard near this secondary hilt?

[@pekkaseppala3999]

Love the Jurassic park reference 🎯

[@-RONNIE]

Good video & information. Thanks guys

[@Pavlos_Charalambous]

11:39 well a certain amount of stiffness will be needed in order for penetration to happen

[@incitatusrecordings473]

lol

[@texasbeast239]

Frontal cross-sectional area of a blade meeting flesh seems to experience drag more directly and dramatically than lateral surface area of a blade. So a blade's thickness is more of a detriment to cutting through the air and flesh than its width.

[@TalesForWhales]

Knights trapped in their horses underwater needed glass breaking pommels obviously.

[@eisenjobalquizaphoto]

Came for the weapons... now I want to know where to get those awesome shirts!

[@andreweden9405]

I hope you have a dedicated arming sword video soon! Please!😁

[@tylerrobbins8311]

One thing I've always wondered about the more thrust centric type IV blades, is are they more effective at draw cutting? Another thing is the compare to rapiers when used in the same cuts rapiers are recommended.

[@s.w.4409]

2:38 Ah yes, the nobility's favourite hobby: carving up peasants.

[@Seraphus87]

"Go on, whip it out, let's have a look."

[@billshepherd4331]

Seriously Love those T-Shirts! Where the heck did you get them? Sorry, 🤷‍♂back to the video.

[@almcdonald8676]

Hahaha “special feelings”! You two crack me up! You guys must represent the only community of internet nerds that nobody would ever dare call nerds lest they be cleft in Twain with a casual flick of the wrist

[@texasbeast239]

And the latter would likely give them special feelings, as well.

[@gusty9053]

For a channel focused on swords, armor and other things medieval i see a lot of sci-fi nerdom :)). Nostromo (i think that is from Alien) and Dune obviously :)).

[@frankmonagas6217]

Matt please do a review on the Albion Warwick

[@Moggy471]

Do we think that the heavy pommel on the Windlass is to provide a counterballance to the thick blade as well as giving one another weapon?

[@stormiewutzke4190]

Those custom swords are amazing. I would be interested to know if the first one is perfectly flat ground if if it might have a large diameter hollow grind. The are not common in modern blades but they cut so much better than a flat ground blade without thinning it to much. I would guess that the were far more common in original swords. Even swords that were not ground on a stone often were shaped with hardened scrapers. Besides cutting better a round scraper would have been easier to use like you see in fullers. Given that scraper and files were common tools in sword making I would think that it's likely that blade geometry was far more complex than we see on modern weapons. Those bar like swords could easily have had the center of percussion scraped into a mild hollow to improve cutting. That dueling sword could definitely be made to have a cutting area although there wouldn't be a reason unless you wanted something like it on the battlefield. Given it's offensive use on the handle end it makes sense for it to be sharp on all edges. At close range those edges near the handle could be used to cut straps.

[@jakestephens4868]

100%

[@bond007rules]

Great video! N.B. Fiore is a treatise (pl. treatises) and not a treaty (pl. treaties).

Maybe the variant at around 22:20 with blunt section / cutout in the middle of the blade for half-swording was to be sharpened to minimize the chance of grapping it? Just wildly guessing.

[@PJDAltamirus0425]

The longer sharpened edge could probably your could hamstring a guy while levering him in half sword. A man is not getting if you sever the tendons in the back of his knees while throwing to the ground or using his with severing his elbow.

[@petar.dj98]

Are you doing the LK Chen Ribaldo review?

[@annemadison7258]

Brilliant video.

[@jimandhamproductions2942]

I rate the shirts.

[@wompa70]

Fascinating! If you know exactly what situation you'll be facing, you'll want a tool specifically designed for it. But the battlefield is chaos. You want the best all-around weapon you can afford.

[@stellifriends7785]

could you post links to the various sword makers?

[@brookeballagh3967]

I have a 48" Broad or Long Sword that I have been trying to research. I have not found it's equal yet. Do you think you could help me out?

[@smsfte4699]

Will this video help me decide what weapon to use in Skyrim?

[@nathancallcott7749]

I could not find that windless sword :(

[@ricardorodriguez8469]

Do they have a Messer version of The last blade you guys had on the video?

[@matthewmillar3804]

Are any of those pommels solid throughout, or are they all partially hollow?

[@seanmiz6539]

Hot Matt on Matt swordplay

[@danielburgess7785]

Good steel.

[@Sirsethtaggart3505]

If the rondel managed that much armour penetration, imagine what an alspich? Alspitz? Would do. I literally know nothing about this weapon, but it must compromise plate harness more than anything else?

[@hillkiran]

these are cool, but id like to see more cut centric bastard swords

[@Lockke_]

Is "Mr Shanky Stab" any good as a cutter or just thrusting/half swording/bashing?

[@Sorrowshard]

It 'can' cut. Due to the necessary thickness/mass its quite blade heavy but you can still cut with it. Its not yet quite as optimised/evolved as the edgeless Estocs that appear later.

[@Ninjamanhammer]

Matt I was wondering what you know about the command structure of medieval armies. You've mentioned they had units, how large were the units and did they have commanders? Was there commanders in between unit commanders and the army general?

[@nevisysbryd7450]

This channel is an excellent resource for that sort of thing.kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIKrl5yqbcdpjKM

[@Ninjamanhammer]

@@nevisysbryd7450 Thanks for the recommendation, I'll give it a look.

[@willinnewhaven3285]

Here is a toityet, use it wisely

[@johnsmithe4656]

I ordered an Albion Mercenary last year... my first real longsword. Been 14 months and still waiting.... They say they are backed up. If you want one make sure to get the order places ASAP and be ready to wait like 18 months....

[@asmallchicken5836]

It also depends on the sword. My Albion Augustus Gladius only took 11 months to arrive while the Albion Crecy Longsword placed at the same time took 17 months.

[@mistformsquirrel]

So wait... apologies if this is a stupid question but... I'd always heard Falchions were for fighting against some forms of armor, since they had some of the weight of an axe? Is that not true then? (Sorry that bit just stuck out at me immediately, I'm far from an expert so I figure I'll just ask.)

[@Sorrowshard]

Sadly untrue. Falchions tend toward being thin ,flat and slicey. Terrible against armoured opponents but on the flipside very nasty on lightly armoured foes.

[@dace48]

I think that mostly comes from Buhurt where they make the falchions thick so that they don't have an edge and so are "safe" but they end up overly weighty and then hit like an axe. As Sorrowshard said above, real historic ones tend to be fairly thin.

[@mistformsquirrel]

@@Sorrowshard Ahhh... thank you! The more you know hah!

[@mistformsquirrel]

@@dace48 Ah I see!

[@discerningscoundrel3055]

As others have mentioned, falchions are quite thin and light, which gives them little if any facility against plate or mail, however, a broad, thin blade can have perfectly optimised geometry for a cutting edge, meaning they were probably quite effective against cloth armous such as gambeson and aketon.

[@DETHMOKIL]

Link to that polish dude?

[@samziegler4957]

I know your focus is on the manuals but I'm wondering if you could comment on the Oakeshott xviiie and it's similarity, if there's any relation to these armoured fencing swords.

[@Sorrowshard]

Its another design/solution for armoured combat. ( a regional variant of sorts ) It shares the basic feature of a long thick & stiff pointy awl blade optimised for thrusting.

[@squatch2461]

🍻

[@raphlvlogs271]

were there post medieval anti armour swords with more hand protection?

[@scholagladiatoria]

Estocs tend not to have much hand protection, but you don't really need it when you have gauntlets.

[@primafacie5029]

Your offsider seems to be a stern chap that only comes into his own once he picks up a sword.

[@tallonhunter3663]

Seige Perilous? As in the Balance of Judgement?

[@Sorrowshard]

Its an Arthurian reference. The throne of the 'Perfect' knight who was destined to find the grail & fatal to anyone unworthy who sat on it.

[@tallonhunter3663]

@@Sorrowshard it is good to know the reference the Andromeda used. I thought it might be a reference to the show.

[@mynameismin3]

Why dont you show us the sword you are talking about

[@elijahoconnell]

maille aka chainmail aka maille aka chainmail

[@dashcammer4322]

Much like guns, the jack of all trades is master of none.

[@biglc034]

I mean its a sword...technically.

[@Joe___R]

Even on the highly specialized armored dueling sword, you still want to sharpen the whole blade except for the halfswording grip. That allows you the most opertunites to injur your opponent as well as not giving him a safe place to grab your sword.

[@Sorrowshard]

Thing is, these types of specialist swords tend not to have much of an edge if any. Fiores other more specialist sword specifies only a sharpened tip area (as does Vadi's description) later Estocs are essentially edgeless spikes... So as much as your logic is probably correct in this case its a bit of an odd one out in the wider context of what we know about specialist armoured combat swords as a group.

[@eduardocavalcanti4193]

Wow is that a qualificated mordhau sword?

[@Sorrowshard]

Hau nice to see you **bonk**

[@user-ni1ct2xr1l]

DUNE

[@AlexanderWernerJr]

Back in the day I saw the movie First Knight where the evil knights had these jagged rusted swords with their unpolished, rough saw edges and lots of spikes on their hilts and pommels and I thought "Nah, that's ridiculous! They just made those guys look more like barbarians, typical Hollywood!" Alright, fast forward to today and I see that..."knightly sword" at 20:00 and I just have to laugh out loud.

[@manfredconnor3194]

I have heard the Italian schools were really flashy and became popular or all the rage in "fashion" as it pertains to duelling, but that the REAL schools of European swordsmanship and warfare were hidden in techniques of the "German" schools (or the schools that could be found within the bounds of modern day Germany, Austria and Poland as well as parts of Bohemia (Czech Republic) and were not "advertized" or bandied about nearly as much. Care to comment on that one?

[@Sorrowshard]

Possibly as it relates to Renaissance arts some might argue. In relation to late Medieval arts Fiore's system is the most 'complete' full6 illustrated system available for late 14th/early15thc. It's direct, brutal and martially sound.

[@manfredconnor3194]

@@Sorrowshard I know from Asian martial arts that many techniques are hidden and were not written down, but were passed down from teacher to student. Yet, I am not a believer in "the one superior style" theory, that some people seem to believe exists or search for. There are a limited number of physical ways the human body can move with or without weapons and the fact that we have been killing each other for thousand of years, sort of precludes some secret way or superior school. Yet, such knowledge can be lost, rediscoved and independently developed and there certainly are phenomenon, like the explosion of a particular "school" or "way" into some cultural "genre" of warfare, duelling or sport fighting. It is interesting how much warfare and especially duelling combat is influenced and impacted by the prevailing culture.

[@neutronalchemist3241]

Short comment. Bullshit. At that time, the effectiveness of a school was measured in survival rate of it's practitioners. There is a reason if Italian masters became famous, and it has little to do with "fashion". "Those Italians are all fashion. We have the real secret of swordmanship hidden in the closet, but we are not going to show it. Ha!". Seems like a quite obvious chauvinist reaction.

[@manfredconnor3194]

@@neutronalchemist3241 Filing your comment under "Troll who knows javk shit".

[@manfredconnor3194]

@@neutronalchemist3241 59 Million Italians 80 million Germans. Germans win!! 😆

[@EbefrenRevo]

LOVE the shirts.

[@beepboop204]

🙂

[@HobieH3]

Sword, long. 1 ea.

[@lordllewellynofdarkdelight2613]

Caveat. If you clicked on this to see swords. The swords aren't held up to the camera much. It's a video of two men.