The sword of knights. Antique cold steel

Antique cold steel does not leave anyone indifferent. It always carries an imprint of remarkable beauty and even magic. It creates a feeling that you get into the legendary past, when these subjects were used very widely.

Of course such weapons serve as an ideal accessory for interior decoration. The study, decorated with magnificent examples of ancient weapons, will look more imposing and masculine.

Such objects as, for example, swords of the Middle Ages, are becoming interesting to many people as unique evidence of events that took place in ancient times.

Antique cold steel

The armament of medieval foot soldiers resembles a dirk. Its length is less than 60 cm, the wide blade has a sharp end with blades that diverge.

Daggers a rouelles were most often armed with mounted warriors. Such an antique weapon is more and more difficult to find.

The most terrible weapon of that time was the Danish battle ax. Its wide blade is of a semicircular shape. Horsemen during the battle held him with both hands. The axes of the infantrymen were planted on a long pole and made it possible to perform equally effective piercing and chopping strokes and pull them out of the saddle. These axes were first called gvizarmas, and then, in Flamandia, goadends. They also served as a prototype for the halberd. In museums this antique weapon collects a lot of visitors.

The knights were also armed with wooden clubs with stuffed nails. The combat scourge also had a kind of club with a movable head. To connect with the shaft was a leash or chain. Such a weapon of the knights was not widely spread, as inept treatment could damage the owner of the weapon more than his opponent.

The spears were usually very long with the ash shaft, ending in a pointed sheet-shaped gland. To strike, the spear did not yet hold under the arm, not giving the opportunity to provide an accurate strike. The shaft was held level at the foot level horizontally, exposing about a quarter of its length forward, so that the opponent received a blow to the stomach. Such strikes, when the battle of the knights were going on, were repeatedly strengthened by the rapid movement of the rider, brought death, regardless of chain mail. However, manage with a spear of this length (it reached five meters). It was very difficult. To do this, we needed a remarkable strength and dexterity, a long experience of a rider and practice in the management of weapons. At the transitions, the spear was worn vertically, putting its tip into the shoe of the leather that hung near the stirrup on the right.

Among the weapons was a Turkish bow, which had a double bend and throws arrows at long distances and with great force. The arrow hit the enemy, which is two hundred paces from the shooting. Onion was made from yew wood, its height reached one and a half meters. In the rear, arrows were equipped with feathers or leather wings. The iron bolt had a different configuration.

The infantrymen used self-fire very much, since, despite the fact that the preparation for the shot took more time than archery, the range and accuracy of the shot was greater. This feature allowed this type of weapons to survive until the XVI century, when it is replaced by firearms.

Damascus Steel

Since ancient times, the quality of the weapons of the warrior was considered very important. Metallurgists of antiquity sometimes succeeded, in addition to the usual malleable iron, to obtain strong steel. Of steel were mainly made swords. Due to their rare properties, they represented wealth and strength.

Information on the manufacture of flexible and durable steel is associated with Damascus masters-gunsmiths. The technology of its production is covered with a halo of mystery and amazing legends.

A remarkable weapon from this steel came from forges that were in the Syrian city of Damascus. They were built by the Emperor Diocletian. Damascus steel was produced here, the reviews of which went far beyond Syria. Knives and daggers of this material were brought by knights from the Crusades as valuable trophies. They were kept in rich houses and passed from generation to generation, being a family heirloom. The steel sword of Damascus steel at all times was considered a rarity.

However, for centuries the master from Damascus strictly kept the secrets of making a unique metal.

The mystery of Damascus steel was fully revealed only in the XIX century. It turned out that alumina, carbon and silica should be present in the ingot. Special was the method of hardening. Damascus masters to cool the red-hot forgings from the steel helped a jet of cool air.

Samurai sword

Katana was published in the 15th century. Until it appeared, the samurai used the tachi's sword, which, by its properties, lost much to the katana.

Steel, from which the sword was made, was forged and tempered in a special way. In the deadly wound, the samurai sometimes handed his sword to the enemy. After all, the code of the samurai says that weapons are ready for the continuation of the warrior's way and service to the new master.

The sword of the katan was inherited, according to the samurai testament. This ritual remains in our days. Beginning at the age of five, the boy was given permission to wear a sword from a tree. Later, as the spirit of the warrior acquired firmness, he was forged a sword by himself. As soon as a boy was born in the family of ancient Japanese aristocrats, a sword was immediately ordered for him in a blacksmith shop. At the time when the boy turned into a man, his katana sword had already been made.

The master had to take up to a year to make one unit of such weapons. Sometimes the masters of antiquity had 15 years to make one sword. True, the masters were simultaneously engaged in making several swords. It is possible to forge a sword faster, but it will no longer be a katana.

Going to the battle, the samurai took off all the jewelry on the katana. But before the meeting with his beloved in every possible way decorated the sword, so that the chosen one fully appreciated the power of his kind and masculine solvency.

Two-Handed Sword

If the hilt of the sword is designed to require grip only with two hands, the sword in this case is called two-handed. In length the two-handed sword of knights reached 2 meters, and they wore it on the shoulder without any scabbards. For example, a two-handed sword was used, Swiss infantrymen were armed in the 16th century. Warriors armed with two-handed swords were assigned a place in the front ranks of the battle formation: they were given the task of chopping down and killing the enemy's long-spearing spears. As a weapon, two-handed swords did not last long. Since the XVII century, they performed the ceremonial role of an honorable weapon next to the banner.

In the XIV century, Italian and Spanish cities began to use a sword that was not intended for knights. He did it for the city and peasants. He had a smaller weight and length compared to a conventional sword.

Now, according to the classification existing in Europe, the two-handed sword should have a length of 150 cm. The width of its blade is 60 mm, the handle has a length of up to 300 mm. The weight of such a sword is from 3.5 to 5 kg.

The biggest swords

A special, very rare variety of direct swords was a great two-handed sword. He could reach 8 kg in weight, and in length he had 2 meters. In order to manage such a weapon, it required a very special power and unusual technique.

Curved Swords

If in the most ancient battles, each fought for themselves, often falling out of the general system, then later in the fields where the battle of the knights took place, began to spread another tactic of warfare. Now protection was required in the ranks, and the role of soldiers armed with two-handed swords began to be reduced to the organization of separate foci of battle. Being actually suicide bombers, they fought before the ranks, attacking the tips of the copies with two-handed swords and opening the way to the pikemen.

At this time, the sword of knights with a "flaming" blade became popular. It was invented long before this and widely spread in the XVI century. Landsknechts used a two-handed sword with such a blade, called the Flamberg (from the French "flame"). The length of the flamberge blade reached 1.40 m. The handle of 60 cm was wrapped in leather. The blade of the Flambers was bent. It was quite difficult to exploit such a sword, since it was difficult to sharpen a blade with a curved cutting edge well. This required well-equipped workshops and experienced craftsmen.

But the blow of the sword of the Flamberg allowed to apply deep wounds of a cut type, which did not succumb to treatment at that state of medical knowledge. The curved two-handed sword inflicted wounds, often leading to gangrene, which means that the enemy lost more.

Knights Templars

Few exist such organizations, which are surrounded by such a cover of secrecy and whose history is so controversially appraised. The interest of writers and historians is attracted by the rich history of the Order, the mysterious rites that the Knights Templars performed. Particularly impressive is their sinister death at the stake, which the French king Phillip the Beautiful lit. Knights dressed in white raincoats with a red cross on their chest are described in a huge number of books. For some, they appear as a stern form of impeccable and fearless Christian warriors, for others they are two-faced and arrogant despots or arrogant moneylenders who have spread their tentacles all over Europe. It came to the point that idolatry and the desecration of holy objects were attributed to them. Is it possible to separate the truth from lies in this multitude of completely contradictory information? Turning to the most ancient sources, let's try to figure out what this order represents.

The Order had a simple and strict charter, and the rules were similar to the rules of Cistercian monks. According to these internal rules, knights must lead an ascetic, chaste life. They imputed a haircut, but you can not shave your beard. The beard distinguished the Templars from the general mass, where most male aristocrats were shaved. In addition, the knights had to wear a white cassock or cloak, which later turned into a white cloak, which became their calling card. The white cloak symbolically indicated that the knight changed a dark life to serve God, full of light and purity.

Sword of the Templars

The sword of Knights Templars was considered the noblest among the weapons for the members of the Order. Undoubtedly, the results of his combat use largely depended on the ability of the owner. The weapon was well balanced. The mass was distributed along the entire length of the blade. The weight of the sword was 1.3-3 kg. The Templar sword of knights was forged by hand, using a hard and flexible steel as a starting material. Inside was an iron core.

Russian sword

Sword is a double-edged sword used in melee combat.

Approximately until the XIII century, the sharp point of the sword was not sharpened, since they were mainly smashed by striking blows. Chronicles describe the first stabbing strike only in 1255.

In the graves of the ancient Slavs swords are discovered from the IX century, however, most likely, this weapon was known to our ancestors even earlier. Simply to this era, the tradition is traditionally attributed to the sword and its master. At the same time, the deceased is supplied with weapons, so that in the other world it continues to protect the owner. In the early stages of the development of blacksmithing, when the method of cold forging, which was not effective, was widespread, the sword was considered a huge treasure, so the thought of betraying its land did not occur to anyone. Therefore, the finds of swords from archaeologists are considered a great success.

The first Slavic swords by archeologists are divided into many types, differing in the handle and cross. Blades are very similar to them. They have a length of up to 1 m, a width in the region of the handle up to 70 mm, gradually tapering towards the end. In the middle part of the blade there was a dol which, from time to time, was mistakenly called a "crook". At first the dol did rather broad, but then it gradually became narrower, and at the end it completely disappeared.

Dol served in fact in order to reduce the weight of weapons. Blood flow has nothing to do with it, since the stabbing blows with the sword at that time were almost not used. The metal of the blade was subjected to special manufacture, which ensured its high strength. The Russian sword had a weight of about 1.5 kg. Swords were not all warriors. It was a very expensive weapon in that era, because the work of making a good sword was lengthy and complicated. In addition, possession of the sword required the owner of his enormous physical strength and dexterity.

What was the technology used to make the Russian sword, which had a well-deserved reputation in the countries where it was used? Among the cold weapons of high quality for close combat is particularly worth noting bulat. In this special form, carbon has been contained in an amount of more than 1%, and its distribution in the metal is uneven. The sword, which was made of bulat steel, had the ability to cut iron and even steel. At the same time he was very flexible and did not break when he was bent into a ring. However, the bulat had a big drawback: it became fragile and broke under low-temperature conditions, so it was practically not used in the Russian winter.

To get damask steel, Slavic blacksmiths folded or twisted steel and iron bars and many times forged them. As a result of repeated execution of this operation, strips of strong steel were obtained. It was she who made it possible to produce fairly thin swords without losing strength. Often, the streaks of bulat were the base of the blade, and at the edge of the welded blades made of steel with a high content of carbon. This steel was obtained by carburizing - heating with the use of carbon, which impregnated the metal and increased its hardness. Such a sword easily cut the armor of the enemy, as they were often made of a lower grade steel. They were also able to cut through sword blades that were not so skillfully made.

Any specialist knows that welding of iron and steel, which have different melting points, is a process that requires a great master art from a master blacksmith. At the same time, in the data of archaeologists there is confirmation that in the 9th century our Slavic ancestors possessed this skill.

In science, there was a stir. It was often found that the sword, which experts attributed to the Scandinavian, was made in Russia. In order to distinguish a good bully sword, buyers first checked the weapon in the following way: from a small click on the blade a clear and long sound is heard, the higher it is and the purer this ring, the better the quality of the bulat. Then the bulat was subjected to the test for elasticity: will there be a curvature if you attach the blade to the head and bend down to the ears. If, after going through the first two tests, the blade easily coped with a thick nail, cutting it and not dulling, and easily cut the thin fabric that was thrown on the blade, it could be considered that the weapon was tested. The best of swords were often decorated with jewels. They are now the goal of numerous collectors and are valued literally in gold.

In the course of the development of civilization, swords, like other weapons, undergo significant changes. At first they become shorter and lighter. Now you can often meet them with a length of 80 cm and weighing up to 1 kg. Swords of the XII-XIII centuries, as before, were more used for chopping blows, but now they got the ability and prick.

Two-handed sword in Russia

At the same time, another kind of sword appears: two-handed. Its mass reaches about 2 kg, and the length reaches 1.2 m. The technique of combat with the help of a sword is substantially modified. It was worn in wooden skin-covered scabbards. The scabbard had two sides - the tip and the mouth. Sheaths were often decorated as richly as a sword. There were cases when the price of weapons was much more than the value of the rest of the owner's property.

Most often the luxury of having a sword could be afforded by the prince's retinue, sometimes a rich militiaman. The sword was used in infantry and cavalry until the 16th century. However, in the cavalry he was fairly pressed by the saber, which is more convenient in equestrian order. Despite this, the sword is, in contrast to the saber, a true Russian weapon.

Romanesque sword

This family includes the swords of the Middle Ages until 1300 and later. For them, a pointed blade and a handle of a longer arm were characteristic. The shape of the hilt and the blade can be very diverse. These swords appeared with the advent of the knight class. A handle from a tree is put on the shank and can be wrapped with a leather or wire cord. The latter is preferable, since metal gloves tear the braid from the skin.