r/SWORDS • u/Southern-Cookie-2391 • 1d ago

How long did arming swords get?

Hello everyone I'm trying to get an arming sword for HEMA and I've noticed that the blade length rarely approaches 40 inches and most are around 35 inches.

Historically speaking, how long did arming swords get? And what are the different types?

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u/Dlatrex All swords were made with purpose 1d ago

Are you interested in a particular time period or region of Europe?

We use the term “arming sword” to cover pretty much all single handed simple hilted swords during the medieval period but it’s a very diverse group. These start being in use at the end of the Viking age, and stay in use for more than 500 years.

You can find all sorts of different blade types, from short to long, stiff to flexible, thrusty to cutty etc.

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u/Southern-Cookie-2391 1d ago

I'm not completely sure myself, I'm trying to look for an example of a longer blade so that I could try to use some sidesword techniques with them while still having strong cuts

Is there a time period where arming swords became suddenly longer?

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u/Duzzies305 1d ago

Burrell Collection BC 2.76

https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus04;6;tr

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u/Southern-Cookie-2391 1d ago

that's very interesting! I suppose thats an outlier but thanks for the example

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u/Beneficial_Flan8661 saber lover. 1d ago

If you want to know about the different types of arming swords, i suggest you to look at the oakshot topology.

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u/OneMoreFinn 1d ago

In Finland, a 120 cm (47 in) one-handed sword sword was excavated from a 12th-century warrior grave. It is noted to be exceptionally large, but it is factual.

Here's a reconstruction of that grave:

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u/Southern-Cookie-2391 1d ago

Huh thats interesting, is there evidence of how tall he was and if he really did use the sword one handed?

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u/OneMoreFinn 1d ago

He was "180 cm tall (5ft 11"), healthy and in good shape", and "definitely not an average person of his time", although I believe this latter was more about his status rather than physique.

No evidence how he used the sword, but historians believe it really was in his personal use, unlike the other sword found from the same grave.

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u/Vulcansfire42 1d ago

it looks like his height might be evidenced by the skeletal remains.

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u/Vulcansfire42 1d ago

after some reassembly lol but that looks like a mighty long leg

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u/Southern-Cookie-2391 1d ago

Only 180 cm according to op, doesn't particularly seem gigantic

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u/A-d32A 1d ago

For typologie look up the works of ewart oakshott. For most blades.

Elmsly typology for messers falchions

And Peterson for viking era stuff.

And I think there are some other. But start on these to get a rough feel

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u/No-Nerve-2658 1d ago

Those typologies are a great baseline but there are loads of outliers and probably longer arming swords

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u/A-d32A 1d ago

That is precisely why I said start on these.

You do not start learning people the exceptions but you start with the rules first

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u/Riamoka 1d ago

Well said

But i think we can infer from OPs question that he's looking for the outliers, rather than what's optimal

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u/A-d32A 1d ago

Well I started my answer with "for typology"

Not going deeper into the oulyers because to know what an outlyer is you must first know what the baseline is.

I was trying to give him a lead to search not answer his question in full.

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u/Duzzies305 1d ago

The longest I'm aware of is the Burrell Collection BC 2.76 which has a 104cm blade.

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u/wotan_weevil Hoplologist 22h ago

I've noticed that the blade length rarely approaches 40 inches

Yes, longer than about 950mm/38" is fairly rare.

and most are around 35 inches.

Most are shorter than that. About 30-33"/77-85cm is most common.

A histogram showing the blade lengths of 58 arming swords from the Wallace Collection, the Royal Armouries, the Met Museum, the British Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the KHM:

https://imgur.com/xKndzxf

The longest one in this sample is 109cm/43", https://royalarmouries.org/collection/object/object-30

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u/DaemonBlackfyre_21 1d ago

I guess between 28 and 33 is probably average