Introduction

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Welcome to A Breefe Discourse!


I will be posting general discussions mostly surrounding Medieval and Early Modern warfare, especially those which have plenty of misconceptions.


For any and all inquiries (such as asking where I found something, or a question regarding the topics I will go over), send me a message on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Will_and_Co_.


- William

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Weapons at the Knight's Saddle

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The miles wields the lance and shield in hand, and the sword and dagger girt at the waist. However, his person is not the only place he can keep his arms, for he is a horseman first and foremost, and, therefore, has a saddle. Saddle weapons, particularly hand weapons at the saddle, is not the most common knowledge (I've even seen it argued that it wasn't done!), and it is rarely depicted; however, there are plenty of primary sources that explicitly prove that hand weapons were  carried at the saddle, and across a broad period of time. The focus on this article will be on the saddle weapons of the knight (and man at arms); though light horsemen likewise carried weapons at their saddles as well (especially in the 16th century), for the sake of brevity and my sanity, I will be limiting the scope of said article to the armed cavalryman. Depiction of Louis XII with a sword at his saddle,  Le Voyage de Gênes , ~1510 The Thirteenth Century The earliest source I've seen for saddle
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"They all hold swords, being expert in war" - The Sword in Combat

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It is a common belief that swords were useless in war, or hardly used at all (or only used when the situation was not ideal). And these are not strawmen! I have personally seen all of these things (and more) said! Even the some of the most generous claims are still quite harsh and backhanded ("only good for duels", "great civilian weapon", etc.). But the fact of the matter is, the sword was a weapon of war, carried for centuries, sometimes in areas where they didn't have refined metallurgy either! So how could that be if swords were useless against armor and defeated entirely by reach? I have gathered up quite the collection for this one over the years (which I posted on the internet before, so you may find them out there), so enjoy! The Reach Disadvantage These ideas regarding the sword are largely based on (poor) logic (and HEMA tests done by those who rarely train with mixed weapons; or hardly use spears at all, and fencing skills naturally transfer from one
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The Role of the Two Handed Sword in War

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Hello and welcome to my first post! This will be a big one, so get comfortable. Often it is said "We don't know how zweihanders/montantes/spadoni were used in war," but frankly, this is far from the truth. There is plenty of information as to their purpose and role in battle, but there is some piecing together to do. Before I continue, it must be noted zweihander, schlachtschwert, slaugh sword, slaughter sword, montante, spadone, espadon, two handed sword, and sometimes longsword are one and the same. Even though some of these names are more common today, and perhaps more clear, I will use the term "two handed sword," as it is the most common term in period English texts. Matthäus Schwarz in 1521,  Klaidungsbüchlein Why the Two Handed sword? Why a two handed sword and not a halberd or partisan? The two handed sword has a couple of advantages: it's mean, and it's (for the most part) all blade. This naturally lends itself towards being great at area denia
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