Was half swording actually a common technique?

Was half swording actually a common technique?

dozens of halfswording techniques show up in dozens of manuals, so yes, it was a common technique.

Situational technique at best as a last resort against an armored opponent.
It seems to be gaining a lot of attention recently. Almost as much attention as spears...

I've heard that these manuals are pretty far removed to from how most people actually fought, as they're for wealthy people who can afford tution from a master.

We'll only rich people had Longswords anyway

Nope, the manuals are predominately for city slickers, nobility had its own Schirmeisters. And swords weren't that expensive anymore in the late medieval/early modern.

Common enough to be depicted in a fuckload of sources throughout the 15th and 16th century.

Here we see the King of France doing it in one of the illuminations on Froissart's Chronicles.

Also, you should consider that using the "half-sword" means to grab the blade with one hand and use the weapon like a short spear, i.e. using half the sword opposed to all of it, like the guy on the left does. The Mordhau, which you see depicted there is a technique of its own which may be related but technically isn't half-swording.

even more important than stabbing techniques are wrestling techniques with the half sword. pretty much every German source on armored fencing of the time has at least a couple of those techniques.

>tfw you will never unscrew your pommel and toss it at your opponent

why even live

I took a few long-sword courses and while I can't speak to the historicity of it (though its presence in manuals suggests it was used), I saw my instructor use it quite effectively. It definitely had a use.

These dudes are both armored. What advantage could the pommel throw possibly give you here?

Put your head in a metal bucket and have someone throw a rock at your head. It'll rattle your skull inside the bucket and hurt more than if there was no bucket at all. Blunt is the best attack against armor

Just to speak from HEMA experience, common as fuck. The moment you close enough to the other guy, it's a natural and correct response to switch to a half-sword grip and stabbity stab-stab.

>not wearing an arming cap

It was a pretty good idea if you didn't want to sit around fighting an armoured opponent while his peasants stabbed you to death. Different situations call for different manoeuvres.

HEMA is based on non-armoured combat. If you're getting in that close then you'd both die in the encounter as binds are fucking dangerous.
I get why you'd do it from a sport stand point but like, that method isn't very accurate.

The actual training part of warfare was a fairly elite concept for much of the middle ages and renaissance. Most people on the battlefield were armed with practical experience.
That doesn't invalidate the dueling manuals and such, it's just a bit of a fallacy to think that it was common to be trained at all during the time.

People have always had that misconception about soldiers across all time periods.

Half swording to Europe is Shaolin kungfu to China.

Retarded, but there will be people to defend it.

>These dudes are both armored. What advantage could the pommel throw possibly give you here?

"Gladiatoria" specifically covers the combats for the judicial duel - effectively, a fight to see who is in the right or not in a legal contest. God will protect the innocent, and thus, the guilty party will be defeated, is the thinking behind it.

the judicial duels were heavily ritualised, with layers of ceremony and action. to use Swabian law as an example, the two combatants would arrive at the ring, accompanied by their assistant, and their coffin.
The duel would open with proclamations, and then, given their spear and sword, they would be required to "cast a weapon" at the other. Normally, this was the spear. The possible interpretation of the Gladiatoria pommel is that it allows the casting of an object, while maintaining your spear, which may well confer an advantage for the person, as the spear can be used at range better.

that's the main reason for the pommel throw which is plausible.

>HEMA is based on non-armoured combat.

that entirely depends on the type of HEMA being studied.

Harnischfechten from Gladiatoria, Wallerstein, Lichtenaur tradition (particularly Thalhoffer, Ringeck and Kal), Mair, Fiore and Vadi all consist of fully armoured HEMA.

HEMA also includes pollaxe (Jeaux De La Hache, Lichetnaur, Wallerstein), it includes unarmoured (Meyer, Thalhofer, etc) it includes daggers, the iberian montante, wrestling in the form of Ringkunst from Ott der Jude, Messer in Lecuchener, Thalhofer and Durer, English Longsword from Ledall and Y Man yt Wol, It includes singlestick, smallsword from Hope, a hundred different rapier schools, Scottish basket-hilted sword and backsword, 19th century Bayonet, or Bartistu,

Unarmoured is only one aspect of HEMA.

How ells can you end them rightly?

>an arming cap is a magical forcefield that absorbs 100% of all energy

The wealthy would have been able to just hire a tutor to train them until the are good enough. Rather than train them a bit and leave then with a book to figure out the rest themselves.

Did they just come up with anime secret technique special moves because they sold? Somehow I doubt some of these things were tested, and some guy just thought it would be really cool.

I don't understand what the advantage of a sword over a short spear is. Why not just make that part round and grip shaped?

>HEMA is based on non-armoured combat. If you're getting in that close then you'd both die in the encounter as binds are fucking dangerous.
Well I suppose that the entire zogho stretto section of Fiore and the incrossada parts of the Bolognese sources are worthless then...

A sword is a sidearm that you can always carry with you in addition to other weapons while a spear is bulky.

It can definitely absorb the shock of a pommel-throw, though.

I suppose that just like in japanese schools, the book is more like a gift from the teacher to the student given at the end of training. Martial arts books are usually used to compile knowledge, more like a "don't forget this techniques" than a "try this if you have time". I guess that if someone was trained by say the Bolognese school, he could get the Marozzo's Opera nova to be sure not to forget stuff, rather than learning new stuff. Even more so in the late medieval era.

There would be no reason for a fencing master to leave their teacher unless they are being cast away. It was common for "book of knowledge" to be given as gifts to people already interested in the subject, rather than to enlighten people.

Sorry sir, but you are retarded.
>Put your head in a metal bucket and have someone throw a rock at your head. It'll rattle your skull inside the bucket and hurt more than if there was no bucket at all.
This is just beyond stupid.
>Blunt is the best attack against armor
That's why maces become obsolete later on with better armor introduction?

In addition to this, swords are much better in close quarter scenarios were the length of the spear can be disadvantages.

>maces become obsolete

literally what?

Literally yes.
Warhammers happened. In some ares maces were left as insignia of officers, etc.

So blunt isn't the best way to attack armor and that's why the mace was replaced... by the warhammer (which is also blunt) ?
That makes no sense, except to prove that using blunt weapons IS the best way to attack armor (directly).

Warhammers were not blunt.

this is the wound caused by a warhammer

This is a warhammer.

I'm going to give you one guess which side was the primary weapon, given the shape of that previous wound.

Think hard about this.

The tip?

No you fool the pommel

Chortled heartily at this you jester you

Against armour, you would use the beak end.

Plate armour protects exceedingly well against blunt trauma - much better than any other kind of armour - since it distributes the impact over the surface area of the plate and dampens it due to the padding underneath.

...

>rigid steel somehow doesn't adsorb energy
You are not as smart as you think you are.