Two-Handed Sword

The quintessential two-handed sword of medieval Europe

The longsword is the two-handed straight sword most widely used in Europe from the 13th to the 17th century. With a blade of about 90 to 130 cm and a long grip of 20 to 30 cm, it can be handled in one hand or two, and so it is also called the bastard sword or the hand-and-a-half sword. Its traits are a straight double-edged blade, a cruciform guard, and a heavy pommel, and thanks to the balance of the pommel, which sets the point of balance about 10 cm forward of the guard, its handling is excellent. Its total weight is about 1.1 to 1.8 kg, far lighter than commonly imagined. It is a versatile weapon equipped with a wide range of techniques: cuts and thrusts, of course, but also half-swording, gripping the blade to thrust, and the Mordschlag, striking down with the pommel.

The massive two-handed sword of German Landsknechts

The Zweihander is the great two-handed sword wielded only by the elite Doppelsoldner, the double-pay men, among the German Landsknecht mercenaries of the 16th century. About 150 to 180 cm in total length and 2 to 3.5 kg in weight, it is more than twice the size of an ordinary one-handed sword. Its most distinctive feature is the Parierhaken, the parrying hooks: a pair of lugs jutting from the blade that catch an enemy weapon or hook it aside. The section of blade above these hooks, the ricasso, is left unsharpened so it can be wrapped in leather or gripped bare-handed, allowing half-swording, holding the sword short to handle it like a spear at close quarters. Long and heavy as it was, a single sweep could beat aside several pike shafts at once.

The great two-handed sword of the Scottish Highlands

The claymore is the great two-handed sword of the Scottish Highland warrior, its name coming from the Gaelic claidheamh-mor, the great sword. About 130 to 150 cm in total length and 2.2 to 2.8 kg in weight, its most striking visual traits are the V-shaped cross-guard sloping forward and the quatrefoil, four-leaf, terminals at the ends of the quillons. Its weight distribution suits wide, arcing cuts, so it is strong at sweeping cuts swung broadly in both hands. It was used by the warriors of the Scottish clans from the 15th to the 17th century and is widely known as a weapon symbolic of the Scottish martial tradition.